Saatchi & Saatchi X

Rediscovering The Lost Art of Brief Writing

I guess I’mbecoming a bit

rational. Poor me.One of theproblems ofadulthood.

Grayson Perry, Turner Prize winning artist

Why the OIIC?

• It’s a place to put forward the most important elements of strategic thinking

• A shared language with Saatchi

• Adapted to demonstrate our shopper point of view

Essentially, the brief describes 3 things

• Where are we now?

• Where do we want to go?

• How are we going to get there?

What makes a good brief?

• Clearly defined objectives

• Avoids jargon and ‘marketing speak’

• Reflects the personality of the plannerwho writes it

• Reduces complex challenges

• You can ‘see’ the piece of communicationin your mind

• Just makes sense!

What makes a good briefing?

• Using stories to bring it to life

• Share inspiration from othercategories

• Creative first thoughts

• Acknowledges the brief’s scope (orlimits)

Quality ingredients make the recipe

• What’s the business objective?• What’s the target audience?• What’s the issue stopping us from• achieving it?• What insight do we have that will

help• us unlock the issue?• What is the creative challenge for• communications?• Heart of the Story• Tell me why this is the truth• Mandatories/Other thoughts

What’s the business objective?

• This is what we hope to achieve as a result of our communications

• It should be quantified

• It should reflect the objective for our shopper work rather than the entireinitiative

Target audience

• This should give the creatives a sense of who our target really is (not justthe demographic they are part of)

• It should also describe the motivations behind their behaviour in thatparticular category rater than generic statements about what they careabout

• The best target audience descriptions jump out of the page - ‘I knowsomeone like that!’

What’s the issue stopping us from achieving it?

• The most significant reasons why people aren’t buying this product currentlyor why they might not in the future

• This is where we put our barriers to purchase developed on the shoppingcycle

Examples of Barriers to Purchase

“I havenʼt heard of it”

“Iʼm not looking for it”

“I canʼt find it”

“I donʼt think I want or need that”

“I have no inclination to change from what Iusually buy”

“I donʼt understand why it is different”

“I donʼt believe it”

“I donʼt understand how to use it”

“I get the same benefit with X”

“I donʼt know which one is right for me”

“I donʼt think its worth the price”

What do we know about our target which wouldhelp?

• An insight relate specifically to overcoming our barriers

• They aren’t barriers themselves

• They are ‘nuggets’ of information that tells us for what motivates shoppers to behavethe way they do

What is the creative challenge?

• This is often the toughest part of the brief

• Our mistake is to ‘rewrite’ the objective

• It should be about what the piece of communications must DO (what behaviour shouldit change)

• The best ones have of a germ of a creative idea in them

What is the heart of the story?

• An idea that leverages the insight tomake the benefit more meaningful tothe target

• The core idea that the communicationshould express

• It should make sense without a lot ofbackground information

• In the cases when the creative idea isgive, it should transform what that ideameans for our shopper work

What should people believe us?

• The reason to believe - the rationale

• The product strengths rather than a listof all the product attributes

• The one thing about the product thatallows you to deliver on the challenge

Mandatories

• Mandatories isn’t a word!

• We need to avoid limiting creativity

• We need to outline the key brandguidelines that will help shape the work

– Visual look/feel

– Equity/tone

– Legal stuff - what we can say

Other thoughts

• Not an appendix for what couldn’t fit in the brief

• A great place for shopper cycles

• A great place for the articulation of the communications idea

Ariel StyleObjective

Use Ariel FusionTabs as a chance to get Ariel into at least 1 million new households.

Issue

She doesn’t use liquid tabs currently and doesn’t look to Ariel for anything new and different.

Insight

She loves her favourite clothes, but takes war with them in the laundry aisle when they become piecesof fabric.

Creative Challenge

Make Ariel the reminder of the feeling of wearing clothes, not the triumph of defeating stains.

Pampers Premium CareObjective

To relaunch Pampers Premium Care line in Russia (and eventually in China).

Although Pampers is considered to be good quality in Russia, it isn’t seen to offer the very best in nappiesby our target, Innovation Mums. Our ubiquity in supermarkets, range of offering, and perception of beinga ‘mass’ brand, works against us in the premium care tier. This isn’t helped by the fact that our premiumline is sold alongside our regular products in major stores. Pampers main competitor is a Japanesebrand which was born online and now is only sold in speciality baby care stores.

Issue

Mums feel as though they are already using the best nappies available, and Pampers isn’t seen as a brandthat would offer the very best

Insight

Mums believe that the proof of premium is in the details. This point is driven home when they canexperience these details for themselves. The brands that do it best seduce their consumers with thequality of the ‘finish’.

Creative Challenge

Romance the technological features of our premium nappy.

The OIIC Surgery

• The best way to improve your OIICs is to share them

• OIIC ‘surgery’ is an opportunity to share work-in-progress OIICs with other plannersfor their input

• We should treat OIICs the way we treat creative work: feed back with care and respectfor the author!

The OIIC Surgery exercise

• Take out your OIICs and individually spend 5 minutes looking at 2 things

– What’s working well

– What needs some improvement

• Write down your observations

• The pass your OIIC to the left and do the same exercise with a new OIIC

• Do this one more time

• Each group selects one OIIC to share

• Write each of the sections up as you go and debate its merits - the intention is tocreate a better brief

Top Tips for Writing a Good OIIC

1. If you’re struggling, write down your thoughts on a blank piece of paper.Then fill out the boxes.

2. Share it with other planners and other creatives as you go

3. Think of it as a ‘haiku’ not an epic poem

4. If it’s not interesting to you, it won’t be interesting to anyone else

5. Be rigorous with asking the question ‘so what?’ after each point you make

6. Use your instincts - if it doesn’t flow well, it probably needs some morerevision