Nope, not talking about going commando. Saw this excellent piece of advice in Marketing Week yesterday:
"The brief is the most important piece of information issued by a client to an agency.It's from this that everything else flows, so it's vital that every effort is taken to prepare the best documentation of what is required. Creative thinkers need the tightest parameters to produce the most inventive response."
Scott Knox, Marketing Communication Consultants Association
There aren't many excuses for not bothering to write a brief. If there's time to reject first concepts and drafts, there's always time to write a brief. Here's a few brief tales from both sides of the divide.
It's a rush job
During a stint in an agency I was given a rush job - 2 days to come up with concepts and 1st draft copy for a mail pack.
The AM (Agency Muppet, otherwise known as the Account Manager if they're any good) met with the client for a half hour meeting. He fed this back to me in 2 minutes and gave me his extensive notes, which nearly filled the post-it. He rejected 1st concepts without going back to the client because:
- "Oh yeah, there's no budget for photography."
- "Actually, I now remember that they specifically didn't want to say that."
- "Or that."
Day wasted. Deadline missed. Yep, muppet.
Chinese whispers
Freelancing often throws up some odd situations. Last year I worked on a letter for a copywriting agency who were working for a design agency who had been appointed by the client.
The client met with the design agency and briefed verbally. Probably over a nice cup of tea and some biscuits. The design agency then passed the materials provided by the client to the copywriting agency with some basic instructions. The copywriting agency forwarded what they had to me. The first draft of the four page letter I wrote was rejected outright as the client said "it didn't meet the brief". It became a rush job.
If only the brief had been an actual piece of paper that you could hold in your hands and share. Written communication is what separates mankind from the animals. Still, it was only the big Christmas campaign for a charity so it wasn't like it was important.
Make 'em earn it!
I swear this is true.
Working in a marketing department some years ago I stated my intention to write a brief for a project to my manager. Her commercially retarded response still makes me twitch, "No, make them (the agency) earn their money." Hmm, imagine having a builder start work without plans, would you get your money's worth?
No surprise, the job fell in a vat of poo and started running up chargeable re-work fees. And there's my final lesson - no brief, no guarantees.
Conclusion
If you're in a hurry - write a brief.
If don't' want to be disappointed - write a brief.
If you don't want to pay for extra work - write a brief.
If you need a bit of help with your briefs (chuckle), have a look at the Chartered Institute of Marketing's guide here.
I've been scribbling cartoons again.
I met this guy at a seminar who was so focused on his competitor that he forgot to be different. Fortunately the seminar helped him realise this, so I was there to witness that moment of epiphany. Or, as the great Homer said "doh!".
His next question was "how do I compete in a crowded market?". Hmm, tough one. If the product is similar and the price is about the same, there's not much left. Except perception.
Product features and price are rational considerations. But people bring emotions into buying decisions. Call it gut feeling if you like. Have you ever based a choice on something you couldn't put your finger on? That's the power of favorable perception.
Good news. You can manage perceptions through your communications. But, you need to know what your customers will favour. It could be something that you and your competitors all offer - but no-one else has made a selling point out of it. Do you have a service department? Tell your prospects how big it is - their perception will be that you care a lot about service.
Just one word of warning. Watch out for any gap between the perceptions you create and the experience your customers will get.
Following on from the last post, if you are ever in Dinan and the thought of another crepe makes your intestines quiver, there's a cracking alternative.Just off the Place des Cordeliers is a little place that looks like a sandwich shop called "Sur Le Pouce".Know this - They make THE BEST fish and chips!Fish and chips, in France, and yes, the best I've had for years. Not believable is it.Fear not, the secret of greasy British delicacies has not escaped our shores - the place is run by a Yorkshireman. This also means you get a nice cup of tea. Heaven.A recommendation well earned.
The dramatic story of this post starts in the pretty medieval town of Dinan, Northern France. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but the place still has a little bit of magic.
Especially in the morning, when it's still fairly quiet, and the cool air is warmed by the delicious odour of fresh bread. The smell oozes through the tangle of cobbled streets like a charm, and soaks the pores of the half timbered houses as it has for many lifetimes.
However, this is merely background to the event.
Besides, by lunchtime you can hardly move for kids on school trips and English tourists looking for something, anything, to eat other than crepes. Times change.
Lovely place though.
But it's only the setting.
Ground zero was where we stayed. A tiny haven of tranquility. A little town house snuggled in a side street. There it is in the photo, the one with the green shutters.
It was an old house with crooked walls and aged wooden floors, whose boards gently rubbed together, giving a satisfying percussion to even the softest step. And water would patter soothingly down the spiral staircase, whenever my wife's auntie or uncle used the shower in their room.
But this was little cause for alarm. You see, we could call Dennis, the ex-pat key holder and handyman. After leaving only three messages, Dennis was round in a flash, a couple of days later.
From our amateur description of the event, he was immediately able to deduce that the shower was was leaking. He went on to advise us, with every fibre of sincerity and reassurance that he could muster, that there was no-one staying in the house the week after we left, so he would fix it then.
"So what do we do until then?"
Dennis had clearly not anticipated this question. A little crestfallen, he thought for a moment and decided that the second shower in our bathroom was probably working fine, so we could all share that one.
OK, obvious solution, but it was an afterthought. He was thinking about it all from his point of view:
- Plumbing needs fixing.
- The owner will want it fixed before the next guests arrive.
- Need to leave quick (I wonder what's for tea?).
Pleased with the solution to his problem, Dennis had assumed that ours was much the same.And yet we have all smelt the pooey end of this stick at some time or other. I'll bet even Dennis has sucked such a lemon in his lifetime.
This is when we become most aware that we are a "customer" - when something goes wrong. What an opportunity! Ironic isn't it.
In the grand scheme of things, ours wasn't much of a problem at all. But see how easy a drama of poor communication develops. And that's what gets remembered.If only he had used the "so what?" rule. That is, if you think your audience is likely to say "so what?", your message might well be off target.
We had a lovely time though. If you get the chance you should go.
