Why creative briefs are so essential for ad agencies and their marketing clients. Plus how to use a brief to make sure you get strategic, inspired creative.

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April 2017
Jeff Tarran, Gunderson Direct, Inc.
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Why We Do Creative Briefs
Thoughts for the Account Group (and others)

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Contents
• What is a Brief?
• What’s in a Brief?
• Why it’s Good For The Agency
• Why it’s Good For Our Clients
• Using a Brief
• Building a Brief

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What Is A Brief?

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What Is A Brief?
The simple answer is
A document that communicates information relevant to creative
development.

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What Is A Brief?
The real answer is
A brief is what it takes for our agency to deliver a creative product
that
• Meets client objectives – is on the mark
• Is inspired
• Gets approved
• The client can sell to their internal stakeholders
Think of the brief as part of the creative ”selling” process for
getting work approved for all involved.

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What’s in a Brief?

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What’s In A Brief?
There are thousands of examples online. Ours works well and
should be the basis of what we always use.
Think of two components
• Client info – product, category, sales funnel, history of
marketing, competitors, etc.
• Project info – goals, target, benefits and features, key
messaging, offers, barriers, CTA, specs, timing, etc.
Modify your brief based on the circumstance.
ALWAYS strive to include any insight that can drive the creative
process, e.g., target insights, category insights, even offer insights.
See the Appendix for more detail.

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Why It’s Good For The Agency

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Why It’s Good For The Agency
It saves time – time spent upfront to complete a brief increases the
likelihood that we will get the creative right the first time
It makes us smarter on our client’s business – we get deeper insights
into many aspects of their business in the brief dev process
It engages the client and gets them invested in the process – a client
can’t say ”didn’t you know?...”, “I thought we agreed that…”, “why didn’t
you consider…”
It is the basis for how we judge creative internally
A good brief provides inspiration, not just facts to the creative group
It puts the facts in writing so everyone can check the details
It makes us more professional and more strategic
It builds confidence in our agency before we present creative
It helps to pre-sell our work
It can educate the client to what makes DM successful

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Why It’s Good For The Client

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Why It’s Good For The Client
It makes clients think through their program to maximize success
It gives them something to present to internal stakeholders for sign-off
and so they are protected from surprises
It provides a sense of confidence and comfort that the agency “gets it”
It protects them from internal comments and criticisms that are off-base
They get a forum to air their opinions and company biases
It gives them a guide for responding to creative

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Using a Brief

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Using a Brief
• To engage your client at the start of a project to make sure
they have a say in the work and that you know what you are
doing
• To start the internal creative process – so everyone gets it
and can ask questions
• Whenever you review creative. It is the very first consideration
when you are providing creative feedback
• To start client creative presentations by highlighting the brief
so clients understand the parameters of the presentation
• Since the client approved the brief already, they start the
meeting in agreement with the proceedings
• Pull creatives and clients back on point when they stray
• Flag comments that counter what is in an approved brief

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Appendix: Building A Brief

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Some clients prefer to do it for you
• If so, visit or call to walk through it with them. Never take a
client brief at face value unless you really know the client
and their business well
Some prefer to do it with you – on the phone or live
• If so, have a baseline understanding of the business and
project before you start so you can lead a good
conversation
• Present the final document for approval
Some prefer you write it for them
• If so, engage them so you have all the info you need
• Present it to them for approval
Always get approval to a brief before we start creative
development. Think of a brief as a “creative contract” with your
client.
Building A Brief

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Building A Brief
Consider who it’s for
• How well do they know the client?
• Have they worked on the business before?
Consider the situation
• First time client vs. existing
• Client’s DM experience
• Testing our way into DM or ongoing testing
• Special issues, e.g. competitive, new product, environmental

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Building A Brief
Make sure you know the business basics
• Business goals
• Product/service specs
• Category dynamics
• Competitors
• How they earn money
• Marketing history
• What’s worked and what hasn’t
• The brand
• Gather assets
• Etc.

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Building A Brief
• Program objectives and goals –
define success, benchmarks*
• Products/services*
• Positioning statement*
• Budget and timing*
• Target – Demos, psychos,
personas, size, etc.*
• Why the target buys it/Benefit
statement*
• Legal*
• Key features*
• Offer*
• CTA*
• How leads are handled – Landing
page, the funnel process, etc.*
• Barriers*
• Attribution and tracking*
• Integration with other channels*
• Competitive set*
• Financials
• Testing – What we want to learn*
• Production specs (if known)
• List/data specs
• And more…..
Make sure you know every relevant detail
*These are covered in our Gunderson Direct brief

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What’s your experience?
• Thoughts
• Input
• Questions
• Comments
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Contact
LET’S BE DIRECT
Thirteen years and a billion of pieces of mail later, we’re still focused
solely on direct marketing. It’s what we do, and we dig it.
As a result, Gunderson Direct is one of the Bay Area’s most experienced
and trusted direct marketing agencies.
Time and time again, we have developed direct mail packages that
surpass our clients’ current control and exceed their KPIs.
Jeff Tarran
VP, Director of Account Services
Gunderson Direct
jeff@gundir.com
510.501.3620
gundersondirect.com
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Thank you