How Bright the Future?
Could a Creative Brief be…Brief?
Not really. Brevity isn’t the point, it’s the concision of the document.
This is a talk that I was asked to offer at P&G, then later again at Mark Anthony Brands—the beverage group in Vancouver, BC., then progressively, in other team related educational contexts, including the Foster School at the University of Washington.
Start by think of brands as inordinately complicated mechanisms. They inherently involve relationships to humans, the idea of “briefness” is a less than valuable proposition. Instead, a “brief” should be as interesting as a story, enriched with depth and personality, the resonant string of strategy and market conditioning.
We think of it as a red thread—a kind of psychic weaving of deeper human insights—brands, being made by humans, have inherent qualities that attach to the human character of its makers. We’re not saying that a brand is an entity that is entirely anthropomorphic, but rather that the relationships are the key point of enchantment and attractiveness.
In the case of human brands, there are components that relate to the quality of that brand spirit—the human leadership—that will guide the characteristics of emotional connectedness—for the originator and the experiencer.
Brands, to survive, must flourish in their link to the personal connection—people relate to brands in emotional ways, there is a component of active analysis, but holistically, people relate instinctively.
Stories unfold. Legends emerge. Beauty in enterprise and richness in commerce can be embellished with robust layering of context.
Clients often ask—“can you write a creative brief on our brand transitioning, our refreshment—help us define where we’re going, our innovation?” There’s the need, during the present clime—the changes what is happening now—for virtually every enterprise to consider how to newly frame its evocation. And what is the new voice, and how does the vocation speak to community in a new way. We’re doing this for virtually every relationship that we have.
In human relationships—and brands—what is the archetypal question?
Think of it, when you meet someone for the first time,
the real question that pops into your opening conversation might be something along the lines of “what is your story?”
Simply enough, the story is the carrying-forth, it’s the relation—one to another—it’s the relating. And the word relationship is the distinction—sending forth, reaching out, it is the story shared. The narrative sequence lies in the nature of how we think about ourselves—how we recall our experiences in our lives—and, importantly, how we tell it.
The mind listens—and filters—experience and the telling of the construct in narrative.
The mind grasps the memory in a string of stories, not in the layered sentiment of “facts.” This emotional and instinctive response, lies in the nature of the story, the telling of a stringing of ideas. A red thread [den Røda tråden] of the mnemonic gathering, woven up as a tapestry of experiences.
That threading can be mapped as a singular cartography, a genetic tiering that connects everything.
It might be presumed that—either in, or outward—the layering of the story is starting with a human inspiration—it’s the breath of the brand, the inhalation, the exhalation.
Whether the strategy is to acknowledge the human connection: the foundation, the leadership, the family, the extended lineage, or to take that reach and invert it, either way, the links to the human bridge—and the hybrid nature of messaging and experience layering—are critical.
Deny them, and the brand will vanish as a commodity.
In that notion of the hybrid threading, there should be a frame—the flame of passion brands there are more questions to ask—which would be:
Precision, hand-craft, technology, insights—it will be a reflective proposition—the brand reaches to the inward community of foundational leadership, or outward to community of experiencers and relationships.
That intermixing is the inherent influence—the inflow, and the reflexive confluence—the cross-flow of commerce.
I was just in touch with friend and colleague Kate Newlin—she and I worked together on Cheerwine—a morning GIRVIN workshop examining the soul of the brand, its family of founders and the spirit of rebooting it, anew, in the market.
We’ve called it more to a flammable proposition—in referring to brand leadership—the enflamed, the committed and the impassioned—these are the people that have an inordinate capacity for the unbridled zeal of the commitment to focus, detailed attention and in this all, at the apex of the brand’s teams, involved, spirited leadership.
As in Guy Kawasaki’s evangelism, it is about the fevered community of the enthusiastic brand posse—another GIRVIN technique of engaging enthusiasts, ambassadors and brand storytellers, each—their own—which engages a connection that is rampant, even addictive. And we see that sequencing as enchantment, engagement and embracement.
This sequence is the: Magic—the song calls; Touch—a contact is made; Grasp—the contact holds, brought deeper to heart.
Listening to some people at a remote, country-side Starbucks, chatting passionately. What about? They were talking about their “bikes.” It was an infectious banter—brand specific: in the sharing and spreading of their love of their “Harleys.” It went on.
I was impressed by their unceasing storytelling.
One, to another, and another. All Harley storytelling. In a motorcycle gallery, more talk, more personal storytelling—their bikes, the why, what and where.
The relatus of Latin—carrying along, the storytelling, the relating and passing forward the storytelling.
In the quest of finding passionate brand fire:
these are good questions to answer.
There are sparks before a fire. And what comes after?
More smoke,
or more fire?
“If there is fire in your house, what is the first thing that you take with you?”
The Fire.
Creative briefing, ask—to know more:
The foundational questions will drive the path to the rightful alignment—but it will start with the heart. That eentering query is—what is the message that comes from the boringness of the brand, its heart-point? That’s where life is—defining the life of the brand starting at the heart of the enterprise.
Building the personality of the brand expectation—performance in the demands of the briefing itself. Like this one—Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger:
The sweet and artful allusion of Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol—“simple, please”—is a poetic opening to the interpretation of the creative brief—and the real point, is the notion of personality and artfulness in articulating, potentially, the power and beauty of the creative foundations. “Do whatever you want.” In the detailing of structure, brand leadership might position a creative brief as gathering this sequence of questions:
• Sales focus—are there goals?
• Promise—an expectation for performance?
• Equities—core historical brand-related valuations, attributes for acknowledgment and possessions.
• Opportunities—what are the potentials out there?
• Essence—if there are quintessential characteristics, what are they?
• Personality—thinking of a human-related brand experience, is there an exemplar of descriptive features—humanized?
• Values—what deeper initiatives are inherent to the enterprise?
• Benefits—and with that, what benefits are derived?
• Heritage—is there a legacy to reference, held to reference?
But is that enough?
Structuring the line of queries for the exploration of innovation and transition, defining the future and the tactical implications of creative outcome—it lies in supporting the values of what is held in the heart of the brand. Overall, ask: what assets are held—what values are shown?
Balance that examination against the foundation of the strategic considerations—what equity assets might be considered?
Start at the top, go deeper.
According to the nature of the human propositions—and aligning this with business considerations—character relates to the string of performance and community.
Characterize:
DO THE WORK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
These layers of examination move to how they ride out to action planning—if your brand, your story, stands for these series of attributes, can you build on them—defining what they mean for visualization? How to execute? This is a core query—expressing strategy and aligning creative outcomes.
Studying the legacy of the brand from one tier to another—how to build strategies that bridge the inherent values and how they can be bridged to concepts of attributes of functionality. And then to the layering of form, design, factoring of product, retail experiences, entertainment and finally performance and results.
Consider this, the deeper psychological needs and desires and their implications in the nature of psychic performance of brand—defining how the mind works in relationship to brand storytelling. What will be carried forth? Who is the ambassador—the carrier of the visioning? To that, find soul.
And walk into the deeper side of brand.
MAPPING BRAND STRATEGY AND DESIGN OUTCOMES
Examining the cartography of design strategy: defining the creative brief—an essay of expectations—as in a map-making query. How do we get there, and whither our journey:
WHERE ARE WE GOING, ANYWAY?
The definition of creativity, brand and the brief or essays of design strategy:
+ Think conversationally: Building briefs are like conversations – they need to be shared to be understood. It’s not email alone—a conversation helps.
+ Focus on intentionality: building briefs for new brands requires layers of intention – the principles of the brand’s premise needs to be foundational, but could be expanded – for testing – to multiple tracks for exploratory.
+ Brands and the Norse notion of the red thread, as we’ve noted above in den Røden tråden, red thread: briefs are the “snapping line” for creative development and efficiency—a poorly written brief will waste time, dollars and advancements towards the right outcomes and positioning.
EXPANDING THE RIPPLING OF THE IDEAL:
RICH AND ROBUST—Great briefs have insights, stories, legends of heritage, or new ideations– research insights should be included.
CONCISE AND ARTICULATE—Writing needs to be precise, but artful–the brief should begin to frame the attitude of the brand—where it’s been, where it’s going and what it shall be.
WHO / WHAT / WHY—the foundations are simple: who are we trying to captivate (and who are we trying to beat), what holistically are we saying – big picture, middle picture, smaller details, and most importantly, why should we be doing this offering?
SOME REQUISITES TO ADDED ACTION
THE CLIENT, THE CONTACT—Who’s driving this?
WHAT’S THE PROJECT? Code name, brand extension, new sku?
BACKGROUNDER—What’s happening in the market? What’s driving this internally – team insights, leadership initiatives, pet project, failing market, cannibalizations, trend analyses?
“This is our product, this is what we’re trying to say, here’s who we are speaking to, and this is our recommendation for what we think this should be looking like”—attributes, assets, textuality, stylistic reference, etc.
WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN?
Define the expected action: “creating greater audience alignment, expand market share (be specific—define deliverables, market expectations).”
CLARIFY:
MARKETS—WHAT GEOGRAPHY?
DEMOGRAPHICS—WHO ARE THEY?
RELATIONAL STRATEGY—HOW CAN ALIGNMENTS WORK ACROSS CATEGORY?
Centralizing the messaging of power:
Leading to the single most compelling statement of the uniqueness for the achievement of objectives: simple sentence, clear command.
THE MECHANISM OF BELIEF
Explaining the how’s and why’s of:
Functional and emotive belief
For example, these types of layers to “believe in:”
—There’s a story, it’s authentic (years in the making.)
—We have the best innovation minds in the business (on the edge.)
—Our flavorists have won awards for their new sensations (constantly improving.)
—It’s healthy, better for you (proof.)
—A perfect solution for relaxation with the perk of renewed energy (inventive convention.)
WHAT ELSE TO SUPPORT THE (R)EVOLUTION OF BRANDS?
How to sell: grasp, build, empower the defining marketing strategy—what are the promotional plans?
Stories in stories: gather-up user anecdotes, verbatims, research reports.
What’s happening out there: survey the landscape of trend commentaries and research.
Organized analyses: Brand bibles—anatomical overviews of the category, state of the art competitive reviews.
The crowd: study the Social circumstances in the way of community engagements and their relevance to market insights.
WHAT’S THE SCHEDULE?
HARD TARGETS—THE EXPECTATION OF ENGAGEMENT:
Concepts in written objectives/response
Responses and interpretations
Opening thinking and sketched ideals
Image assemblies and strategic references
RESEARCH TIMING:
—Interceptions and on-site, live engagements
—Interviews with customers, brand teams, enterprise partners
—Ethnographic insights
—Qualitative focus
—Quantitative online
—BASES® geographics
—Reasons to purchase final confirmations
—At shelf and epiphany learnings
PRESS PRODUCTION / ROLLOUTS
THE CRITERIA CHECKLIST
Audience responsiveness: relevant?
Is there a story that works: resonant?
Will this packaging concept extend: resilience?
Will the brandcode® expand: hybrid media applications?
Surprise at shelf: epiphany?
Fighting the competition: distinction?
Reason to believe: authenticity?
Strategic references: how do you get there?
Examining GIRVIN tools in design strategy:
We seek the anatomy of the physicality of the brand—identity is body, it is a landscape:
Explore, sketch, idealize, actualize:
Build the cart of examination and team-building, GIRVIN’s brand leadership charrettes—the BrandQUEST®—question, understand, explore, strategize, tacticize:
Then write and summarize the outcomes and recommendations—building the brand and design strategy essay—a holistic identity
A SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS
The consumer is everything (know them, dig in deep.)
It all begins and ends with them (every brand starts with a human, and serves humankind.)
It’s about fulfillment, engagement, embracement and helping them to live their dreams (brand relationships can be big as life.)
Brand equity is the story (and investment) that’s been told: it’s the genetic DNA of the brand.
Brands will be more than merely taste, sound, touch, color, product or packaging–they are levers back to the central story.
Think of the design strategy as the foundation to reach into the interpretation of the emotionality of the brand story, syncing with people, empowering the build to community.
The red thread is the string from the story to the knot of holistically integrated branding.
Let me know how I can help.
wishing well >
Tim
GIRVIN | Strategic Brands
Projects in strategy | story | naming | messaging | print
identity | built environments | packaging
social media | websites | interactive
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