Dave Moore, creative director of Williams Helde Marketing Communications, penned a smart article on creative briefs in the November/December issue of Marketing, a Seattle-area trade newspaper.
Moore begins by mentioning the “staggering number of creative-brief formats” in his career. I can relate to that statement. Clients and ad agencies have innumerable briefs, tools and methods for identifying marketing, brand and communications issues. There are all sorts of questions, prompts and formats used to solicit the input required to address them.
As Moore points out, the answers are far more important than the questions. Then he reveals three questions that uncover the answers that matter most:
- What is the single most important thing we need to say?
- What is the key or main message?
- You (audience) should (action) because (reason).
