“What do you want?”
That's the question. And not from an old-man-yelling-from-his-front-porch-at-strangers sort of way. But in a real way. When you’re an adult, you need to be able to answer and communicate what you want. If you can't ... well, then you’re in line for a mountainous pile of disappointment. In business and in life.
That's why everyone should learn how to write a brief. Because a brief requires you to cleary define what you want. To give the full context of the situation. To write it down.
Being able to write a great brief means that you are taking the ownership of the recipient understanding YOU. You're not relying on them to "figure it out". You are making it explicitly clear what you are looking for and where you expect them to add value.
A good brief makes everything easier. A bad brief (or no brief at all) results in disappointment. Let me give you a real world example:
"Husband, can you pick up some fruit from the grocery store?"
"Sure."
***Comes back with bananas***
"What the fuck? I wanted apples!"
"Why didn't you say that?"
It seems obvious, but we often forget that people cannot read our minds. We didn't all go to Xaviers School For Gifted Youngsters. We think that people will "get" what we mean without taking responsibility for communicating what we are looking for. Now take a look at this 100% fictional and not-based-on-real-life example:
"Husband, can you pick up some Mactintosh apples from the grocery store? I want to eat them as a work snack this week."
"Sure."
***Comes back with five delcious Macintosh apples**
"You're awesome. I love you."
Once again, I want to state that this is a 100% fictional example. Any resemblance to what may or may not happen in my life is purely coincidental. But the point is that taking the time to create a strong brief makes everyone's lives easier. And it's not just based in advertising. The opportunities for great briefs are all around us.
Shopping list? That's a brief.
Looking to hire an interior designer? You better write a great brief.
Hiring a real estate agent? You need a brief.
Prom dress? Get a brief.
Otherwise you're wasting time "shopping" to look for what you want. And that's just lazy. The whole "I'll know it when I see it" approach does not respect the time and expertise of the people you hired. By not doing the work to clearly define what you're looking for, you are forcing them to throw options at the wall and see what sticks. That's not effective. Time, energy and money and limited resources. Value them as such by crafting a strong brief.
A brief does the work for you. It provides direction for the people performing the service so that they come back with options that you want. If you don't do the upfront work of creating a great brief, you will end up doing more work on the backend trying to redirect and select from work that is completely outside of your scope.
And a brief holds people accountable. It makes people understand the constraints that you're working within and stick to them. (ie Our budget is $500k. Why the fuck are there only options that are $650k and up?) It also forced the tough conversation BEFORE the real work begins. You can understand whether everything you're asking for is reasonable or not. And you can adjust the brief and your expectations accordingly.
There are plenty of resources that get into the nitty gritty of writing a great creative brief. BBH has another more meta article on it. And here's even a sample one I wrote for a private label collection for the Toronto Raptors that people have found useful as a template.
Crafting a great brief takes time. But the biggest shift is in your mindset - taking full responsibility for the people you are briefing to understand what you want.
- Christian