Now that I’ve started my own company, I’m reminded of how critically important the Brief Document is to developing creative. And not just good creative, but insightful, smart, relevant and strategically sound creative.

If I had to assign a grade to the average Brief I’ve seen over the years, I’m afraid I’d be pulling the parents into the classroom to discuss my concern for the child’s future. In fact, the future of the Brief, I believe, is in serious jeopardy unless changes are made.

When I first started in this business, Briefs were treated with the respect they deserved — both by the account people developing them and by the creative people inspired by them. I use the word “developing” up there in the previous sentence because that’s really what should be happening — and back in the old days, that is what happened. Briefs were developed by account people who understood that Briefing Documents were their opportunity to inspire brilliant creative. They weren’t just filling out a form or transcribing the Client Brief from one template to another template. (Or worse, doing nothing at all.) They were developing a Creative Brief that added value, a unique perspective, clarity, and most importantly, inspiration.

Client Briefs and Creative Briefs are not the same thing.

Client Briefs contain marketing data, extensive background, customer data, research, the demands of several constituents (product managers, their bosses, marketing managers, their bosses, etc.).

Creative Briefs should be an important distillation of Client Briefs — not just a cut and paste of the Client Brief into the Agency Creative Brief template. The Agency Creative Brief is an opportunity for the agency to gain consensus. It should be used to ensure that there is a common understanding of what is being asked by the client. The focus should be crisp. Once developed, it should be discussed, face to face with the client to ensure that what they’re asking for is being understood and communicated.

When I became an Associate Creative Director, one of the Account Directors with whom I worked suggested that I review the Briefs his account team wrote before they went back to the client or were briefed into a creative team. At the time I thought that was an unusual request. But then I realized that the Creative perspective on a Brief is different than the Account Team’s or Client’s perspective.

I’ve reviewed Briefs ever since. Upon review, I would have a discussion with the Account Person and if I had any questions or if I needed clarification, they could be addressed either by said Account Person or by the client before using up valuable Creative Team time. (Too often, the strategy gets figured out during the Creative Development process instead of during the Briefing process.)

By the time the Creative Team was briefed, the Brief would be strategically sound, clear and creatively inspiring. And that means, the creative product would be right the first time. (Right the first time from the client’s perspective — because the work would fit the brief like a glove.)

So how do you know if your Brief deserves a passing or failing grade?

1. There can only be ONE Key Communication Objective. It should be one sentence. No longer. And it should be directly linked to the Customer Net Takeaway section of the brief.
2. Think about the Consumer Problem. The Brief should clearly and simply communicate what the consumer problem is. Your product or service is the Solution to that problem. And the features and benefits are the Proof that your product or service delivers. (I’ve just told you the secret structure to any campaign in any channel. I guarantee it works.)
3. The Features and Benefits. They are not the same thing! Knowing the difference and communicating them clearly make all the difference.
4. The Product is not the Offer. Make sure the offer is clear and it’ll be clearly communicated in the Creative.
5. There is such a thing as too much information. Say everything as economically as you can and everything will be that much clearer.
6. Target Audience. If there’s only one target, great. If there’s more than one target, then you probably need a matrix breaking down how the Key Communication Objective changes against each target.
7. What does the Target Audience currently think? And what do we want them to think once they’ve been exposed to our campaign? This is important because it gives the Creative Team inspiration for how to overcome customer objections to your offering.

There is so much more that could be written about the Brief. And you’re probably reading this and thinking how basic it all seems. But if you can answer YES to any of the following questions, then it might be time to think about briefing differently.

1. Does it ever seem like the Agency/Creative Team isn’t “getting it”?
2. Do you ever sit in creative presentations and think “this isn’t what I asked for”?
3. Do your Creative Teams ask too many questions after they’ve already been briefed?
4. Does it ever take more than one round of Creative to get what you thought you were going to get?
5. Do you feel like your Agency isn’t adding any value?

I guarantee that if you challenge your Agency to write a Creative Brief, (or as an Agency, if you take the time to develop a Creative Brief for your teams and your Client) you will get better Creative, faster. You will cut down on the rounds of changes/new concepts. And that means you will be paying for fewer hours.

People think “process” takes up too much time — then end up paying for the extra hours when the work needs to be done the second time.

Stop the insanity. Fix the Brief.