CRATIVE BRIEF

LET´S READ
Mr. Martínez: Good morning Mrs. Botzy, I understand you needed to talk to me!

Mrs. Botzy: Oh, yes. As you have heard, Mr. Martínez, the company developed a new
product and, since you have experience in marketing, I want you in charge of the cam-
paign for its launching to the market. You will receive an email with detailed informa-
tion about the product and how I want you to proceed. You go ahead and start on
that project, Mr. Martínez. Have a good day!

Mr. Martínez: Of course, Mrs. Botzy. You have a great day too!

Mr. Martínez: OK then! Let’s check what Mrs. Botzy wants.

Mr. Martínez, good morning.

I’m writing in reference of the new product the company has developed. Re-
garding your experience, I need you to be in charge of launching the prod-
uct to the market. Here’s what you need to do:

1. In the enclosed file, you’ll find all the new product features.
2. There’s also a list of publicity agencies I need you to contact in order to ask
for an
estimate of what you might need.
3. You can start with the Brief and then we will talk again.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Kind Regards,
Beatrice Butzy
Marketing Manager

Mr. Martínez: A brief! Hum, it’s been a while since I last wrote a brief. I might need to
check information to review how it’s made.
Let’s see… Brief, brief, brief… Here’s a good page. Let’s see what it says.

A Brief is a document that tells the creative team of the agency what to do, why
to do so and under what conditions when it refers to a new campaign.

It becomes the point of reference for any creative process. It includes informa-
tion about the target audience not only in terms of their sex and age, but also in
 the expected reaction they would have to the campaign. Another aspect that is
included sometimes is the history of the company; this just in the case it’s neces-
sary for the success of the advertisement.

Another relevant item to be included in the format of the brief is the time: dates
and deadlines. These must be agreed upon in advance by the agency and the
client. But only critical dates are to be included, like deadlines that refer to the
launching of the campaign or any deadline imposed by the government. The
fulfillment of these dates is important for the completion of the whole process.

A Brief also raises the necessity to look for ways and possible solutions to the
customer requirements. It becomes in a vital part of the process; although the
client knows about its company or project, he/she often ignores the process
design and media integration. The Brief would be the tool to see clearly what is
important for a successful solution project either in publicity, education or busi-
ness.

Well, now let’s see some of the aspects that are included in the basic form of any crea-
tive brief

- Company information

Here you write the name of the company, trade’s name and company’s activity.

- Company history

It includes the history

of the company in detail. It mentions whether advertising has been traditionally done,
what kind of advertising and to whom these issues were addressed.

It must also contain the previous campaigns objectives.

- The product or service

Here we find a description of the product with all its features. It must be described in
detail, taking into account the physical and chemical characteristics, lifecycle, benefits
and legislation. In addition, if the product has or not any kind of packaging, we men-
tion it. It must include the price of the product on the market.

- SWOT matrix (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)

Weaknesses: they are internal to the company.
Strengths: they are internal.
Opportunities: they are external, what the sale opportunities are).
Threats: they are external.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal, because the company is responsible for the
behavior of these. Whereas, the opportunities and threats are external factors, because
the company doesn’t have any control over these and can be affected by them.

- Budget

It’s the money assigned to the project.

- Consumer / Target Audience

First of all, it is important to clarify the difference between a client and a customer. The
first one is related to the company that hires the project services which products are
targeted to the consumers. The second one is classified in three types:

End consumer: is a person who consumes the product but doesn’t decide on the pur-
chase.

Real consumer or objective: is a person who makes the purchase decision.

Potential consumer: is a person who has a provisional contact with the product or who
could probably be the consumer in the future.

The costumers have several profiles:

Demographic profile: this profile takes into account the age group and sex.

Geographic profile: it contains information about geographical areas, such as coun-

tries, states, counties, districts communities or neighborhoods.

Psychographic Profile: this profile combines the two previous aspects, analyzing con-
sumer lifestyle and geographic dates.

- Competition / Positioning

It’s divided in three parts:

o Direct competition: two or more companies offer the same services or product
and satisfy the same needs.
o Hint competition: it satisfies the same needs but in a different category.
o Main Competition: this kind of competition requires keeping in mind aspects such
as the basic promises, the advertising campaign, the target marketing and the
positioning of the product or service.
- Project objectives

The goals of the project must be achieved in a time range and also the results should
be measurable.

- Market Research

It is a contribution to determine the market trends, which involves the latest changes
of consumers as well as the target audience.

- Place

This aspect is connected to the distribution channels of the products.

It must devise a strategy to publicize the product and the position. Likewise, the com-
pany looks for ways and resources to get the best performance. The strategy should be
focused on what the client wants about the market. For that reason, communication
plays a very important role because if there is any mistake it could lead the company or
project death.

- Schedule

This schedule is just the measure from the initial date until the deadline. The most criti-
cal dates need to be arranged and written here. It’s important to keep track of dates
such departmental or government process for approving licenses and others.

It’s advisable to allow enough time for the production process.

Mr. Martínez: Wow! It’s just incredible how one can forget things. I didn’t remember
most of the process to write the creative brief.

Mr. Martínez: Sweet Lord! Who can that be?

Hello! This is Martínez speaking…

LET´S LISTEN

Mrs. Butzy: Hello Mr. Martínez! It’s me, Beatrice! I’m a little busy here and I want you to
work on a radio spot to advertise the new product. Please, listen to this example; I want
you to do a similar one for the new product.

Mr. Martínez: Yes Mrs. Butzy, where can I listen to it?

Mrs. Butzy: I’ll send it to your mail. You have a great rest of day!

Mr. Martínez: You too, Mrs. Butzy!

Mr. Martínez: Well, more work to do. Let’s listen to what she sent me…

Garrison Keillor as voice of Honda:

Sometimes you get more done without a boss. Not that leadership isn’t valuable.
It’s just that, when you don’t have anyone looking over your shoulder, you often
come up with better stuff. At Honda, we run our research and development team
as a separate company, giving them room to mess around, doodle, try, fail, try
again - and eventually come up with something that surprises them as much as
it surprises us. Do you believe in the power of dreams?

Adapted with educational purposes from: Newton, Hollie. (2011). Campaign. The An-
nual 2011: Top 10 radio ads. Honda, ‘research and development’. Retrieved on May 27th
2013 from: http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1109411/

Now, let’s see how much we have understood from the radio spot.
Dear apprentice, you need to help Mr. Martínez to continue with the next part of the
activity.

Listen to the radio spot again and click on the correct answer. If you don’t answer cor-
rectly, you won’t be able to advance.

Mr. Botzy: Well done, now you can go on to do some writing and talking on your own!

LET´S TALK

Mrs. Botzy: After listening to the radio spot made by the voice of Honda (you need
to listen to it several times), check the material on Guidelines for creating an advertising
campaign and then you are going to record a similar radio spot, or a short video spot
advertising your company (it must last two minutes at the most).
 When you have recorded it, upload it as evidence and then send it to your tutor.

LET´S WRITE
Mrs. Botzy: Dear SENA apprentices, after reading the material found by Mr. Martínez,
it’s time for you to practice your own writing. Check the material again and download
the format below.

Then, fill the form with information about your company and send it to your tutor
through the platform.

In the case of any questions, contact your tutor using the forum.

Good luck!

VOCABULARY

Mr. Martínez: Well, now let’s practice some vocabulary that will be very useful when
we design a Creative Brief.

The activity is very simple: you need to match the definition and the concept that
describes it.

Just drag the concept on the right to the correct definition on the left.