The marketing objective and
the brand promise with its proof points are key elements of the agency brief, a
document that communicates the strategic direction of a new advertising
campaign. Once you have completed the agency brief, your ad agency will use the
brief to develop campaign ideas/concepts (e.g., storyboards, print ads). They
will likely show you several different campaign ideas.
Elements of An Agency/Creative Brief
Background/Overview: (history, context, and a general overview of
the competitive environment and the problem)
Marketing Objective: (desired tangible result, usually in target
customer’s attitude or behavior; intended effect with quantifiable success
criteria)
- Current State: (what the customer thinks today)
- Desired State: (what we want them to think and what we want them to do)
Assignment: (deliverable, timing, and budget)
Product or Service: (if product/service-specific)
Target Customer: (be as specific as possible)
Brand Essence: (the “heart and soul” of the brand expressed as “adjective, adjective,
noun”)
Brand Promise: (only [brand] delivers [relevant differentiated benefit or shared
value])
Proof Points: (reasons to believe)
Brand Archetype: (choose and elaborate on one or two archetypes
that explain the brand’s motivation and drive its behavior)
Brand Personality, Voice, and Visual Style: (from the positioning statement, list
adjectives that describe the brand; for instance: voice: down-to-earth, assertive,
confident, warm, sarcastic, witty, reassuring, eloquent, simple, etc.; visual
style: bold, bright, energetic, soft, textured, ornate, understated, nostalgic,
futuristic, etc.)
Mandatories: (those items that are givens). It is best to provide as few
constraints as possible. I usually specify the brand identity standards and
system as the only mandatories. There may be legal or regulatory mandatories as
well.
Excerpted from Brand Aid, second edition, available
here.
