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When you were born, the doctor declared, “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!,” and your height, weight, eye color, hair color and every distinguishable factor that made you “you” was written into the record books. You were given a name. Your parents began dreaming, set some goals and started you down a pathway 18 years long that they believed would ultimately produce the you “You” were destined to be. You were given a great gift at birth … an identity.
Identity — (n.) the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity. In other words, the stuff that makes you different from the next guy. It’s all of those things written into your baby book and then some — race, religion, mannerisms, personality… it’s EVERYTHING.
Seems like a really important thing, right? Something we’d want to protect? Then, why is it that so often in our world of marketing and advertising, many are willing to compromise their identities to be everything to everyone?
Whether print, web or just plain messaging, a strong identity will live longer, gain more respect and shine brighter. A strong identity will establish trust and loyalty in an audience. Sounds great! The big catch is that we have to be okay with who we are because it’s impossible to be loved by everyone and that’s not easy to swallow. That said, to compromise uniqueness and qualities that distinguish us from the next guy just to please a larger percentage of
"The Human Being"
the population only serves to dilute what it is that makes us special. I’m not ready to do that, are you?
A fantastic (and really funny) example of how being everything to everybody does NOT work comes in the form of the Greendale Community College (GCC) mascot, seen every Thursday night on NBC‘s, “Community“. In an episode call “Football, Feminism and You,” the school set out to develop a mascot that was representative of the entire student body, including age, race, culture and religious beliefs. What was intended to be a figure the students would embrace ended up being void of anything. Seriously, they call it the “Human Being.”
As marketing and creative professionals, we owe it to our clients to deliver solid, effective collateral versus just “human beings.” Even if they scream and kick for PC content that will please the masses, we need to reassure, respect and encourage their IDENTITY. Take the risk with your clients and continue to remind them (and ourselves) that confidence does not come without its fair share of fear. Risk at least offers a chance of yielding reward, while playing it safe will keep us … well, safe.
Today, I challenge us all to produce work that has a voice, to embrace identities and let them be reflected honestly, to be proud and not apologetic. No more “human beings.” 🙂
Cheers – Heather.
Follow up thoughts: After seeing the Super Bowl commercials last night, who were the real winners? Which brands stayed true to themselves and which ones strayed so far that they were almost unrecognizable? Were any “human beings” spotted last night? Let me know.
Follow up #2: I failed to mention that everyone should give “Community” a shot. It’s a great show on NBC, Thursday nights (check your local listings).
Follow up #3: The Google ad last night was a BIG WIN for me.
As the creative services manager at Griffin, I have the daunting (yet sometimes fun) task of being an unrelenting pest for information. Most of the creative projects we run through the agency begin and end on my plate which makes being organized (at least in my head) necessary to get through the day.
Speaking of…my day often starts with a meeting or phone conference to launch a project. We sit down at the table and I always hear the same thing – “the client says that they want something cool, hip, fresh, dynamic, etc., etc., (insert any other favorite, cliché adjective here.)” While helpful to a point–successful, efficient products and campaigns cannot be built on adjectives alone.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B…?
With a creative brief, of course! The main purpose of the brief is to set the stage of expectation for the project, to set goals (sometimes very targeted goals), to define the direction of a project and serve as the foundation for everyone involved – the creative team, the account team and the client- so that we are all working towards a common end-result. Without it, we end up with lots of assumptions of what the client “thought” they were going to see, many rounds of revisions and a budget that’s been blown out of the water.
It’s like “…starting off on a road trip without a map” as Matthew T. Grant says in this interesting post about “the brief.”
WHAT IS IT EXACTLY?
Creative brief is a fancy name for a list of flexible questions to:
• Identify project goals – what’s the call to action? what do we hope to achieve?
• Audience – who is the end user? what are their likes/dislikes?
• Messaging – what do we want the end-user to take away?
• Likes/dislikes – Out of respect, it’s always important to find out if the client has any extreme likes or dislikes, though these are not always directly related to the final deliverable.
• How will the final product be used?
• What’s the budget for the project? (good luck getting an answer to this one, but it’s always important to ask)
These may seem like simple questions but, believe me, it’s not always easy. Have you ever tried to define yourself with just one word?
We’ve revised our brief at Griffin several times over the years based on best practices and procedures but the foundation has remained the same. Take a look at some of the many references below on how to build and use your own creative brief.
• AdCracker
• GoTo Media
• Elise.com
• The Planning Lab
Do you use a creative brief when starting projects or accounts? What are your best practices for setting goals and client expectations?
Don’t be afraid of asking the questions that set the stage for a successful experience. We would love to hear your thoughts and answer any questions you might have.
Cheers!
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