De – Coding briefs with

Patrick explained   Brief templates can differ largely from agency to agency.

  Companies can over write briefs so there is too much ambiguity and therefore makes the advertisers job more difficult as it is harder to decode and extract what the client actually wants.

  Over worded briefs which have a lot of information to sift through create a communication problem between the client and the advertiser.

Therefore we created a list of questions to ask ourselves when looking at briefs to help us decode the briefs and strip it down to its essential information, which included –

  What is the business issue?   What do we want to achieve?   What is the business problem/ opportunity?   Are there any   Exceptional considerations    

The proposition – what is the single most motivating aspect of the product or service that differentiates the brand to create a response from its target audience.

There can be many differed varieties of propositions

  Characteristics i.e. – ingredients, texture   User characteristics – celebs, experts   Ways of using the product – share it, give it.   How it is made   Surprising facts   Price   Image characteristics   Satisfying psychologies   Heritage   Disadvantages of non-use   Comparison with competitors

The proposition has to be simple, motivating, clean, a bad example of a proposition might be –

“Only the BMW M3 gives you high performance through legendary M precision”

It is unclear as there are 3 different benefits here rather than one.

Other aspects of the brief to look at and question is What does the client want the advert to do? This could be to -

  Familiarize the consumer with the product   Remind the consumer of the product   Spreads news   Overcomes inertia   Add value to product

Directory Magazine has been going for 2 years, but it lacks status. It is a magazine containing information about the best advertising and

creative talent from around the world

  Our brief was to create a proposition and support statement to help an advertising agency create a campaign fro this magazine.

  “How to raise awareness of directory and communicate the core proposition of “leading edge creativity” supported by key benefit of “read by your peers”

  The magazine is expensive, and is made with very high quality paper. It is aesthetically pleasing both visually and physically.

  In response to this we thought about the information Patrick had given us, considered the target market of industry professionals such as creative directors. They are at the top of the advertising ladder, they are elite, competitive

Considered the benefits of the magazine.   Exclusive   Interesting & Insightful,   Award wining work.

This then lead us to the single minded response of : Directory : I wish I had thought of that.

The support Creative Directors and industry professionals are top of their game, a campaign that is

so good and thought inspired that they would wish the had been apart of that campaign appeals to their competitive side. It also creates curiosity and asks the question how good is this magazine.

•  Four main questions to quickly and effectively communicate the brief.

•  The brief is simple and the questions follow in a logical order to aid information digestion

•  The simplistic approach means those writing the brief are less likely to include unnecessary info

• Clearly defined areas

• Background provides client to give relevant information about product or service.

• Target Audience field for market definition

Questions do not follow a logical path or order

Messy layout makes it harder to read and define.

Two questions asked in one field “ where and when…..”

The brief is also worded in an unclear manner .