Part of the reason agencies are stuck in a cycle of producing traditional solutions is because we still rely on outmoded tools.  Today, creativity is manifest just as much in how and where the message appears as what it says.  Just having a traditional creative brief to guide us is an incomplete solution.

To help us think and work differently, we need several different versions of briefs:

1. The Context Brief is a concise summary of key insights about the market, the brand, and the customer.
2. The Contact Brief maps out the customer journey and identifies major brand contact points.
3. The Content Brief identifies the messaging strategy.

Here are the questions these briefs should answer:

1. Market Context

• Market definition
• Market background
• Market size and growth
• Market seasonality and regionality
• Market segmentation
• Market share

2. Brand Context

• Brand characteristics
• Brand ratings
• Brand usage
• Brand distribution
• Brand pricing

3. Competitive Context

• Overview  and analysis of direct competitors
• Overview and analysis of Indirect competitors

4. Client Context

• Client expectations and objectives
• Key success metrics
• Client culture

5. Customer Context

• Customer profile
• Customer awareness and attitudes
• Customer behavior
• Customer relationship with the brand
• Customer’s place in social trends and popular culture

• Who is the best customer for the brand?
• What is the customer journey?
• What are the touch points or decision points at each stage of the customer journey?
• What channels can be used to address the touch points at each stage of the journey?
• Of all the stages in the customer journey, at what point is the brand most relevant in the life of the customer?

• What is the job consumers “hire” the brand to do?
• What do we know about the brand’s best customers?
• What is this effort expected to accomplish?  What problem are we trying to solve?
• Why do people use the brand?  If they didn’t use it, what would they do?
• What is it that people like about using your brand?  What are the rational or emotional rewards of using your brand?
• What is it people dislike about using your brand?  What are the frustrations and barriers to using the brand?
• What is the role of this brand in popular culture and how might we change that?
• How can we get customers talking about the brand?
• What would be the most effective brand message or brand interaction?
• How does this contribute to the brand’s positioning?
• What practical considerations or restrictions do we need to be award of?

Related content:

• Achieving Integration in the Marketplace »
• An agency positioning strategy is about trade-offs »
• “The Nine-Box Media Model” and what every agency professional should know about it »
• Better work on the back end from better work at the front end »
• Conducting an effective brand audit »