Understanding and Working With Creative Briefs

Note to Mentors

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Unit Purpose and Aims

The purpose of this unit is to;

The aim of this unit is to give the student a thorough understanding of how briefs work, their language and how to then create an internal brief based on the need to respond to an external brief.

Learning Outcomes

Learners will;

1. Be able to decode a creative brief

Learners can:

1.1 Analyse a  number of briefs and explain why they use the language they use and why they are structured the way they are.

1.2 Produce a summarised response to a brief highlighting key themes, underlying messages and necessary responses.

2. Be able to create a creative brief

2.1 Conduct and collate research in response to a brief from a client. This research will be used to form part of the  internal brief the  learner is creating in 2.2 This should include the background / overview to the brief, an explanation of the  purpose of the ad/campaign, who the target audience is, what’s the single most persuasive or most compelling statement we can make to achieve the objective, an explanation of why the consumer should believe what we say, and why they should buy. Consumer insights, a description of the brand personality, positioning taglines, creative thought starters, terms of the direct response offer, result expectations, and mandatory elements such as the logo and Web addresses.

2.2 Create a brief to be distributed within an agency in response to an external brief. This should include creative scheduling and desired process for outputs and responses.

Learning Tools, Resources & Links

Things that will help the learner develop understanding of this unit;

Mentors  please add your ideas, examples, case studies, links to articles, videos, etc. here.

Some useful tips about how to work with a creative briefs, I hope you enjoy.

This site offers some useful information about how to structurise and work on/with a creative brief. The layout is pretty horrible, but the info is good.

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Understanding the consumer.

Whenever working on creative briefs it is essential to understand whom it is aimed at and what the target market is interested in. If you want to sell a product, brand or service you need to take care of those little things which differentiate each consumer groups.

Design can play a very important role in how much a product is loved or hated.

Companies that are able to communicate a certain meaning (e.g. prestige) through the appearance of a product design can create a competitive advantage in the market and increase the product’s chance of success (Lewalski, 1988; Bloch, 1995; Hertenstein, Platt, & Veryzer, 2005; Yamamoto & Lambert, 1994; Chang & Wu, 2007). According to Krippendorf (1989), the products of design should be understandable or meaningful to someone. The meaning the appearance of a product communicates helps consumers to assess the product on functional, aesthetic, symbolic or ergonomic motives. These motives play a role in the overall product appraisal. For example, when a product looks modern, it has a positive effect on product appraisal when consumers are motivated to assess a product on its aesthetics (Creusen & Schoormans, 2005). In practice, designers often face the difficulty of how to incorporate an intended meaning in a product design. When the product meaning that is communicated is not clear to the consumer, he or she will have difficulty assessing the product and will appreciate the product less. Therefore, it is valuable to provide designers with guidelines that can be used during briefings at the beginning of the design process or in product evaluation studies at a later stage of this process.

Read further.

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Re-write, re-read, reform, re-design, re-submit: The creative brief can be handled in many different ways.

The starting point for most commercial creative work is the brief, interpreting exactly what’s required demands imagination and many say is an art form in itself.

Read more here.