What are all the steps that happen before I see a creative brief? From right before the client thinks of something to do, to when the agency gets the request, to when the creative team sits down for the briefing. I think I have a rough idea but I’d like to know more.

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Everyone is leaving off 2 CRUCIAL STEPS:

— Strategy sits on development for 3 weeks because who the hell knows why

— Account delays briefing for 2 weeks because why not.

**Creative generously given 3 days to concept.

likefunny

☝️ This!! Exactly my point!

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You need a clear and well defined business problem that can be solved through advertising and marketing. Short of that, any advertising is a waste.

And usually is.

likefunny

All right. The client’s business problem is defined. The solution is marketing. They haven’t fired off that email to the agency yet. That’s the starting point. They are not going in-house, they are contacting the agency. What happens in this step?

Then the agency gets the request, it goes through finance and strategy and whatever other departments that I can only speculate about, then back to the client for approval I assume, it gets seen by the CD in the midst if all of this, then at some point I get to see the brief.

It’s a mystery to me—all the steps before I see the brief. Which is why I asked.

Soooo every agency might have a slightly different process but ideally all brand/account LEADS (head account/head creatives/head strategist) are involved with the clients “problem” from the beginning- they should almost be able to anticipate what the issue is before the clients formalize it .

From there usually strategy will begin the write the brief . They will need input from account/project management and creative on feasibility (constraints with budget /timelines and who is on the team should be considered) at this stage .

After a few rounds of revision - how many depending on budget - and all leads (account/PM/Creative/strategy ) have agreed to present the brief to the client. The level of presentation depends on budget and what the ask is.

Creatives - especially the client facing leads - should be involved from the beginning and while they aren’t writing the brief they should be collaborating with strategy on it . Everyone should understand key milestones/ timing and budget before it goes to the client

So to answer your question - depending on the size and scope of the project - you should be involved from the beginning unless you have a CD or leader above you who owns the relationship from a client standpoint. If your briefs are smaller (under $250k) then as an ACD you should really own the partnership with strategy and be the main creative reviewing the brief.

Hope that helps and for a more accurate understanding you should ask your operations team or manager for more visibility on process.

likehelpful

All the steps?!?
Step 1. Invent product and become a brand

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Hilarious.

I wrote “From right before the client thinks of something to do.” Product and brand are already there, I assumed that was obvious but I guess not.

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In my experience, the client shares a brief for a new assignment with the account team. The account team works (usually with with strategy folks, if there is someone like that on the team) to help refine it, and often creates the agency’s more streamlined creative brief based off of that. These things go back and forth several rounds internally and then externally for client approval before creatives are briefed. It’s important to get a strong, clear brief, but so many times it seems like the crafting of the brief sometimes takes so long, and then there’s only a short window for creative development. Or, another pet peeve is when they try to make the brief sound so creative, and use executional language that could easily be in the creative concept. Except now everyone’s heard this language and it’s off limits. You get “I’ve heard that before, sounds like the strategy is showing.”

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And yes, McCann 1 nailed it- creative leads should always be a part of this before the formal creative briefing.

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Depending on the size and novelty of the assignment there is often a research phase to inform the brief.

And I know it seems like strategy is wasting time when a brief gets delayed (and I’m sure at some places they are), but in my experience the delay is often because we are asking questions and prompting pivotal decisions on the clients end, so the creative team doesn’t have to start over 4 times and uncover those decisions at the 11th hour.

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When is the research phase assigned? I would imagine the client maybe doesn’t assume research is needed at first. Is there a step before research to determine whether research was needed?

Strategy is the first line of defense.

Clients will come with a kitchen sink brief and an objective of “drive sales/trial/awareness” and a list of mandatory messages and RTBs that make an MBA scream in delight.

Oh, it’s also 12-25 pages long.

Let me start over.

You are Michelangelo carving the next David. You’re inspired by the beautiful marble in front of you and the lovely dream you had last night.

The client bought the land with the quarry on it. Strategy had to find the quarry through a process of research, trial and error, and experienced judgment, then dig into the ground until they found a big beautiful block of marble for you to carve into something amazing.

Are we responsible for the outcome? Not the artistry of it. But getting you a beautiful piece of marble makes your job much easier.

helpful

Sometimes, both client and agency are well aware of what marketing pieces will be necessary for the coming year (especially promos tied to Christmas, back-to-school, etc.), and start working on those 3-6 months beforehand, so the briefs are pre-written if the campaign is already developed and tweaked based on any unforeseen variables (TikTok is cancelled, re-think everything for Snapchat!). Other times, the client decides they need something for a conference that 's happening next week, or the agency pitches the client a project that wasn't on the radar (we should troll a competitor who just launched something or screwed up), and that usually means a scramble because it's based on current events. When you get a brief that Startegy or Account sat on for a long time it's most likely because the client kept changing their mind or taking their time because it's hard to get all fired up on a Christmas brief in July so they wait until media-buying deadlines force their hand, knowing the agency will come up with something whether they have 3 weeks or 3 days.

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