Hush puppies creative brief

Creative Briefs The creative brief is the foundation of a creative campaign. Despite its importance, it is poorly understood, mostly because of its open-ended nature. This section will help you understand creative briefs and their purpose better.

What is a Creative Brief? A creative brief is a short 1-2 page document outlining the strategy for a creative project. Think of it as a map that guides its target audience - the creative team - on how to best reach the campaign’s stated goals. The creative brief is often created by the advertising agency account manager in close consultation with the client – or by the product manager To that effect, it’s an interpretation of the client’s ideas and vision for the brand and the product. Since this brief is usually created by and for the agency, it is open-ended in nature. You can - and should - include everything that will help the creative team understand the brand and product better. Most creative briefs include the following:

• A short brand statement • A brief overview of the campaign’s background

and objectives. • Key challenges that the campaign aims to

resolve. • Target audience for the campaign. • Chief competitors. • Primary message describing the brand’s values

and market positioning. • Communication channels on which the

campaign will run. For example, here’s a creative brief for Hush Puppies

Essentially, the creative brief describes the “what” of the project (i.e. its objectives) and “how” to achieve it (i.e. the creative approach).

Why Do You Need a Creative Brief? There is a long list of reasons to create a creative brief. The most important reason is also the simplest: it is standard agency practice. Your clients will expect a creative brief before they sign- off on a project. And your creative team will expect it before they can start working. For better or for worse, you can’t start a campaign without it. But there are other reasons to create a creative brief:

• Ensure that all creative messages are on- brand.

• Give creative team a broad vision of the brand, the business, and the product.

• Offer inspiration and give your team a starting point to brainstorm ideas.

• Give third-party contributors a quick understanding of the brand and its background.

• Reduce client-creative conflict by ensuring they're on the same page

• Align the client's budget and expectations with your creative media strategy

. You usually need input from a range of people such as: Creative team: to analyze whether the client’s

vision is viable and to brainstorm creative ideas.

Marketing team: to gather customer data, analyze competitors, and develop a viable media strategy. Accounts team: to analyze budgets.

For another example of an unorthodox creative brief, take a look at this one for Paypal. It eschews conventional sections and uses a bold visual design instead.

How to Write a Creative Brief Creative briefs don't have a fixed format. Most agencies have their own templates. Some have a simple text document, while others use more visual designs. Regardless of its format, your creative brief must revolve around the five elements we covered earlier. To write the creative brief, use the following template:

1. The Project Start your creative brief by writing a broad overview of the project. Establish the identity of the client, talk about the product, and list the goals of the campaign.

2. Key Challenge Every campaign has a key challenge. This is the "what" of the project. Describe this challenge in a few short sentences. You might have something like this: "[Client] wants to leverage a new feature to get new

trials" "[Client] wants to reposition the product so a new user will consider it" "[Client] wants existing users to consume more of the product"

For example, here’s the key challenge in the Quaker Oats creative brief I shared earlier:

3. Purpose of Communication A successful campaign needs a clear and distinct purpose. This purpose should ideally be trackable and measurable. It should also be tied to the key challenge you described above. Use this section to describe the action you want to inspire in your customers. Try something like this: "[Client] wants to increase awareness of [Product]'s

new feature" "[Client] wants to change opinion about

[Product category]" "[Client] wants to mobilize existing customers of [Product] to visit its website"

4. Competitors The client's competitors, as we learned above, have a big impact on the campaign. Use this section to briefly describe the key competitors and their media strategy. Some things you can include about the competition here are: Market share Media strategy SWOT analysis

5. Target Audience Refer to the audience research you did earlier to describe the following: Demographics Psychographics Current

perception/belief about the brand Target perception/belief about the brand Approach for motivating them to take action

6. Background or Context Briefly describe the background and context of the campaign. Include specific details for the following: Cultural context, i.e. current events and ideas you

could leverage to achieve campaign goals. Category context, i.e. how customers currently see the product category and how you can change it. Brand context, i.e. how customers currently see the product and its brand.