In search of the elusive creative brief.

With a nod to Leonard Nimoy, Scamp beat me to this topic. On the train home tonight, there I sat looking out the window, when I saw what appeared to be a large creature with an actual creative brief in its hand, er paw. Ironic that Bigfoot would have one because God knows I haven’t seen a good one in a long time, if ever.

Oh, I’ve heard they exist. But has anyone else actually seen one in captivity? Its characteristics: has been known to mention brand postitioning, hints at a USP, maybe has some relevant data on the target market that would allow us to soar to new creative heights. Instead, we grab the damn thing and call the client ourselves.

What most creatives get is a domestic brief that would die if released into the wild. Its main characteristics? It acts like a spec sheet as it features physical dimensions for how big the thing to be designed should be. Subsequent horizontal lines run vertically down it’s bright white surface. Lines where pertinent info should go, but said info is nowhere to be found.

Ironic that account teams who hate white space in a layout leave so much of it in a brief.

Then you say, hmmm, what about maybe listing one or two consumer touchpoints and a positioning statement from the brand? The voices in your head go “Shhhh, you worry too much.” Then, the job of filling in what planners and account teams should have is left to me and my partner. At the 11th hour. Like last night. Before today’s presentation.

I’m sure top agencies all have killer planners where this never happens, and I’d love to hear from you all about your experiences, but that’s not been mine.

So I have a theory. I call it the Seinfeld Creative Brief Fruitcake Theory. (SCBFT for short. SCAB works just as well too.) As you may know, Jerry Seinfeld did a joke in his routine about there being only one fruit cake in the world that gets passed around to everyone. No new ones were ever made.

Life was good.

And this applies to creative briefs. The SCAB theory says there are only two known creative briefs circulating. So good. So amazing that they are passed around now in attempt to have agencies recapture their ‘magic.’ Briefs so good they’re like a Bic pen - they work first time every time.

I can only imagine what they must have said to the creatives who first viewed them, as anyone who has seen them might have temporarily lost their eyesight - yes they were that powerful. (Think Vincent in Pulp with his golden suitcase.) Let’s cut to the most important part of the briefs:

“...People want change. We need to alter the way the masses of office workers slaving away on their computers think. Wake them up from their drone mentality in an unforgettable way. Some how, some way, forever change the landscape of technology and how people regard personal computing. We need to introduce a revolution in computing...”

Followd by...

“...The country is on a health kick. We need to get the casual runner, the casual athlete more involved and responsible for their own health. To get them to stop making excuses and get off the couch. To just go out and do it...”

Now those aren’t the real briefs, but you know the brands without me even having to mention their names. Imagine having that to work with every day. I can, because I don’t. But hey, I’m not bitter.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral