How to inspire with your next creative brief (clue: it’s all in the delivery)
A major plus of being an account manager at a marketing agency is working on a diverse range of brands and projects. But, while some may immediately captivate our attention, others might not be quite as glamorous or exciting. For projects that aren’t so sexy, you may need to work a little harder to get the creative team inspired and on board.
In this blog, we will explore the benefits of delivering inspiring creative briefs and provide practical tips on how to inject creativity into your briefings.
Benefits of Delivering Great Briefings
A well-crafted and inspiring creative brief has the power to set the tone for the entire project. When you approach the briefing process with enthusiasm, it rubs off on the creative team. They’ll see you as a collaborative team member who understands their needs and supports their work.
An impressive brief delivered with flair demonstrates your commitment to the project and the client's goals. When the team sees that you have put time and effort into crafting a great brief, they will feel more motivated to deliver great work results. By delivering great briefings, you can demonstrate your commitment to projects, foster a positive mindset and become that client services person people love to work with.
Top tips for delivering better briefings
1. Cater to creative minds
The key ingredient to a good brief (once you have 100% clarity from the client) is to understand your internal audience, i.e. the designers, copywriters and wider creative team.
Every creative team is unique, with different skills, preferences, and working styles. Tailor your briefings to align with their strengths and passions; consider creating a ‘cheat sheet’ that outlines their preferred techniques, communication channels, or any other relevant information. By understanding and accommodating their preferences, you can work closely with your team and promote creativity and collaboration.
“They’re visual people by default,” says Steve Conchie, Creative Director at Continuous. “So handing them an A4 sheet printed on both sides in 7pt type is up there with fingernails down a chalkboard.
“Use a more visually friendly briefing template. In the past, I’ve worked with client services to create these in anything other than Microsoft Word. All with the aim to deliver a more visually stimulating and digestible brief. Think about it in bite-sized sections that will inform and inspire (the brand, the audience, the insight/tension, the deliverables etc.)”
2. Perfect your performance
To deliver a truly exceptional creative brief, you need to view it as the first step in the creative process. If you want the team to work collaboratively, develop innovative ideas and hit your project goals, then the briefing itself needs to foster that mentality.
Briefing a creative team is best done in person, so if you can meet with the team face to face then do so. Why? It can be more difficult to be excited about a project when you’re hearing about it over a screen share. Because it inevitably means the brief is being delivered as a PowerPoint, rather than an experience. It’s not impossible to do but it’s definitely harder than delivering a brief in person.
Delivering your presentation with confidence is key to success. The team needs to know that you believe they can deliver and that you’re just as excited about the brief as you expect them to be. When it comes to how to present a creative brief, think of it as your chance to shine.
“In-person creative briefing is like a mini performance. Your words and actions need to inspire.” Philip Slade, Head of strategy EMEA at Stein IAS says.
“You are asking people to go on a journey, to push themselves to the limit. This does not happen from a monotone delivery of endless stats and product features.”
3. Make it immersive
While client services is not an administrative role, it’s true, there are fewer opportunities to show your creative flair than if you work in the design team, for example. Briefing sessions are a chance for you to show your creativity.
Can you make your kickoff meeting more experiential? Go off-site for a location visit, experience the product or service firsthand, or even meet with key stakeholders. This helps give the team a better understanding of the brand's identity and gets them excited about the project.
Why not bring inspiration from other brands? Look for examples that have successfully tackled similar challenges or executed marketing campaigns. Share visuals, case studies, or even physical samples that can stimulate the team's imagination and spark new ideas. Or even better ask the team in advance to bring along a product in the sector that caught their eye (and let them expense it!).
4. Bring the problem to life
“We talk a lot about putting the customer’s needs or motivations first in marketing, but our creative teams are often dropped straight into the client’s mindset,” Explains Holly Steer, Director of The Marketing Steer. “Too often client services start with the end deliverable or the campaign rather than considering how we as end-users might engage with the product, and how that can be brought to life best.”
If you’re developing a campaign for a tea brand, it could be as simple as having the product delivered to everyone and building time in the briefing for everyone to make themselves a brew.
5. Take them on your journey
The process of writing a creative brief starts as a long, detailed analysis of the marketing team’s needs and category insights. Then over time you reduce and reduce until just the core truth survives. “This is why they take time to write.” Philip says. “ I do think including an example of your inspiration while writing the brief works well. This can be a film clip, song or visual, but allows the creative team to see what was going on in your head as you worked on the brief.”
Ultimately, there are lots of ways to deliver a brief. Clair Heaviside, Managing Director at Serotonin in Manchester says: “Good account management means making the right decision on which route to take, depending on time, project complexity, outputs required, and who needs to be directly or indirectly involved.
“The closer a team understands each other, and their communication needs, the smoother the briefing process is going to go, and the better the result is going to be.”
So we’ll ask the question: When did you last deliver a brief that you were really proud of, as opposed to one you’d simply ‘smashed out’ the night before the meeting?
If the answer is ‘I can’t remember’, we’d love to work with you and help your client services team learn the art of creative briefing.
Get in touch today to book a session and discover how Blueberry Spark can help.
