Getting the strategy right before writing a brief is essential. And as Mark Ritson outlines many marketers struggle with this. The data from the BetterBriefs Project research was a key catalyst in showing how bad the situation really is for marketers.
We will never put it as eloquently as Mark Ritson, but it surprised us too. We didn't realise how bad the situation was. We had an inkling that lots of marketers struggled with briefs through our experience working and leading creative agencies. But it was truly laid bare when we released the data.
Lack of strategic thinking comes to a head in a brief. Without it, briefs suffer from a lack of focus and clear intent. The best way to get alignment on a brief internally is get alignment on a clearly defined strategy first.
And we definitely agree with Mark on this point, "Because there is always a synapse between strategy and tactics, even within internal marketing teams, briefing is right up there as one of the most important skills that any marketer can have."
Read the full article on Marketing Week via this link:
https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-better-briefs/
Matt Davies is the co-founder of BetterBriefs, an advisory and training business that helps marketers write better briefs and deliver more impactful ideas. A highly awarded former agency strategist, having worked at Clemenger BBDO, Design Bridge, Arnold Worldwide, AJF Partnership, as well as running his own agency.
Together with co-founder Pieter-Paul von Weiler, he wrote the BetterBriefs Project and The Best Way for a Client to Brief an Agency, a practical guide for marketers to improve the quality of briefs, co-authored by Mark Ritson and published in partnership with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). Matt (together with Pieter-Paul) also led the BetterIdeas Project, a global study exposing the poor state of the creative evaluation process. The study aims to improve the creative decision-making and evaluation practices and was launched in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and the IPA.