I sentence you to success! Can a good advertising brief really do that?
23.07.2024
Daria Romanowska, Strategy planner
A good advertising campaign is made up of many factors, but each begins with writing a marketing brief, creative brief or advertising brief.
Regardless of the nomenclature, the goal remains one – success. Can a poor start spoil the result at the finish line? The answer is clear, but don’t try it at home 😉
In the world of marketing, there are concepts that at first glance seem simple, but at second glance not necessarily so. Such a concept is the brief. Or, more precisely, an advertising brief. There are as many definitions of the term in the Internet space as there are marketing and advertising professionals. In this article, against all odds, we will not create another one. Instead, we will explain what a brief can become in the right hands and how to write a brief in a comprehensive yet understandable way.
If we were to give a more figurative representation of what a brief is, we would say that it is a tool as basic as a matchbook. The one that the client should hand over to the marketing agency so that it can not only make the fire shine, but also ignite the consumers’ desire to act. Which one? It remains to be seen. As soon as we get the brief.
And seriously – what is an advertising brief?
The advertising brief facilitates and improves communication between the client and the marketing agency. It is usually created as an outgrowth of a brand’s needs, clearly defining its purpose and expectations for planned activities, such as an advertising campaign.
Interestingly, and perhaps less obviously, there is no one right way to brief an agency. There are more classic and tried-and-true methods like a text file or PowerPoint presentation. Alternatively, a meeting can be arranged to simply discuss further elements of the brief. The ways are many, while one thing is important – the content. The more complete and thoughtful, the better the agency’s response will be, and the more satisfied the client himself.
A good advertising brief – an exemplary workshop
Let’s not kid ourselves, not everyone has eaten their teeth on writing creative briefs. For any conscious marketing agency, it is known that for many clients such a task can cause headaches. As a result, leaving it with a format to fill out is often counterproductive. He loses nerves, we lose time, and all of us together – the money behind it.
In such a situation, the best solution will be for both parties to work together. By combining the client’s knowledge of their own brand with the agency’s marketing know-how, we are able to create a complete picture of the business and its environment, and thus the perfect brief. It is for him that the workshop form of meetings is used more than once. This provides an ideal space for an unlimited exchange of thoughts, insights, ideas and implementable solutions. It is also an excellent opportunity to organize information about a company, brand or product. This is worth doing not only for the agency – such systematization of knowledge will certainly be useful for the client as well.
Do it yourself, which is how a ready-made advertising brief should look like
A sample advertising brief to develop and deliver to a marketing agency is nothing more than an answer to key questions about the company and/or its product. Such a basic brief should include
Brand highlights
What does it do and what is it like? What values does he hold? Does it have and what unique features does it have? What is its competitive advantage?
Information on the target group
Who are the recipients of the activities (here sociodemographic and psychographic characteristics will be irreplaceable)? What needs of the target group do we want to meet?
Competition data
What kind of communication activities does it carry out? How much of a threat does it pose?
Marketing and communication goals of the campaign
What measurable sales or image goals do we want to achieve?
Key message
What is the essential information/thought that the audience should hear, understand and remember?
Specific conditions
What is the timing and schedule of activities? What is the budget allocated for the activity?
The more information we pass on and the broader the knowledge and awareness of the other party gathered, the better results we can expect. Whether it’s brand research, market research, target audience research or simply observations and insights, each is extremely important from a marketer’s perspective and can bring his or her thinking back on track. So it’s worth taking the time to make sure that all the accumulated knowledge is systematized, synthesized and passed on. Because a decently written creative brief is half the battle.
Someone has to, not necessarily you
While preparing an advertising brief may seem easy, only good and comprehensive ones can carry truly impressive results. It is important to remember that there is always the possibility of reinforcing your knowledge of brief writing. Where to get it from? From posts like this one and the experiences of people for whom contact with the brief is their daily bread. The brief is not as scary as they paint it, and at Artegence we believe that the best brief is the one we paint together. Years of experience have given us the right tools to do this, and once you let us know – we will not hesitate to use them.
