Like many people I’ve woken up this morning and checked out the new
stories following the Golden Globes. The tectonic shift in Hollywood is a truly
wonder to behold and Oprah’s speech was clearly one of the more memorable ones
from the evening.
The images of Oprah already circulating on social media got me
wondering how many times the one above will appear in presentations from
agencies to clients in a diplomatic effort to try and convince them to start
writing briefs.
I’ve been lucky enough to work both sides of the fence and so have
seen the importance of the upfront brief from both sides. I’ve also encountered
a surprising number of people who’ve refused to write one with some even taking
a delusional pride in it.
I now think of the client brief as the first ad in the campaign. It
gives agency colleagues a strong mental picture of the challenge the extended
team is faced with. It’s core role is to inspire the best possible solution to
the business problem.
On the other side of the fence, the quality of the client brief
will determine how long the project stays in a creative department - typically
where staff not covered by a client’s retainer will begin working on the
project. Often times, non-brief writing clients will only be clear on their
requirements once work has been presented to them.
The time taken for creative team(s) to develop all those options
and the associated costs incurred will need to be covered by somebody.
In short, side stepping the brief will end costing you one way or
another.
