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The main problem doesn’t seem to be whether the creative director is “young” but that they aren’t fully on the same page as your brief. Honestly, this comes across as arrogant and sounds more like an excuse for why you’re not working together effectively or adjusting your approach.
But for sake of argument lets unpack what you’ve presented…
When it comes to brand building, it often involves three key areas: defining a clear brand purpose, creating a cohesive narrative (or “red thread”) that comes to life in a big creative idea / platform, and ensuring consistency of that work / experience across all brand assets. These are all important, but they can feel overwhelming without a clear order of priorities or focus on what needs to be developed or improved.
The term “mid-funnel” sounds very tactical, which might not align if your goal is to reposition the brand. Repositioning usually requires a broader, more strategic approach instead of focusing on specific funnel stages.
It seems like they want a brief with a clear, actionable insight and a focused strategy they can easily execute. That’s a fair ask—it’s essential for good creative work.
If the brief isn’t inspiring or guiding the creative team effectively, it might need a second look. As the person writing the brief, it’s your job to make sure it’s clear and inspiring enough to drive great results. If it’s not working, this is your chance to make it better. Strong creative work always starts with a strong brief.
Great points, sorry I don’t think I was clear.
1. Im in process of repositioning the brand, we’re currently in research and development of this. I’ve got a first pass that is 50% there. So it’s not yet defined. It’s in research stage. And each time I book in to show him progress of where we are he’s not engaging.
2. On performance briefs he’s wanting rewrite single minded props, when we’re needing more action based communications. He’s taking out the metrics in the performance teams briefs because he doesn’t think it’s needed.
3. On mid-funnel briefs, he’s deleting retargeting media as he doesn’t think it’s important.
4. We don’t do ATL campaigns but each performance brief he’s treating like it’s a ATL campaign. Which is leaving the teams in a spin.
Does that help give context? How do I bring this guy on the journey - we’re building a brand at speed so it’s needs a collaborative approach . As we’re in house not agency side
I’m not sure what an ATL campaign or performance brief means here. If it’s a creative brief for an assignment with a tactical deliverable or campaign, it should be straightforward for the team developing ideas.
A brief is simply an agreed direction with some inspiration. Clarity is key—if it’s overwhelming, simplify it. Keep a detailed master brief if needed, but only share what’s essential.
If his edits are causing tension, it might be better to approach this as a collaboration rather than a battle. Flexibility builds trust and opens the door for this creative to go on a limb with you. A brief is a tool to guide conversation, and co-creating it can ensure it works for the creative team.
If he is being knee jerk, not listening and just editing without considering your pov, then you need to possibly put the brief down and talk out what you are trying to communicate in simple terms.