Origin of the GET/WHO/TO/BY Model

This article explores the origins of the GET/WHO/TO/BY model of the creative brief and explains how to implement it correctly.

• An interview with the model’s original author, Martyn Straw, provides insights into the thinking behind the model.
• The model is sometimes misused from its intended structure by adding or removing elements, and a lack of emphasis on exploring consumer behavior and motivations.
• The article explains how to use the model correctly and how to spot a misleading GET/WHO/TO/BY brief.

Key takeaways:

• In 2004/2005 the BBDO NY office created a very unique form of the brief for their creative department called GET/WHO/TO/BY. This form had only 4 elements and was to be written on only one page. GET — was about the target audience, WHO their current behavior, TO — their desired behavior, BY — the core message.
• With the GET/WHO/TO/BY model, BBDO added an entirely new dimension to the creative brief — a behavioral change that would lead to business growth.
• The biggest problem is that people like to remove some elements or add something new to this brief form. In most cases, they distort this GWTB because they don’t know what its original purpose was. My advice would be to stick to the original form and get the meaning of each element right. And this article is written for exactly that purpose, to explain the origin.

Recently, new versions of how to use the BBDO model GET/WHO/TO/BY (further in the text — GWTB) are appearing more and more often. Sometimes we may see some elements disappear or appear. For example, the WHO element has been completely removed from the new versions. Or the BECAUSE element, which, on the contrary, is attached to the briefing form. In order to discover the original version of the model, I interviewed the author of the GWTB model — Martyn Straw.

A brief history of how the GWTB was created

Andrew Robertson, CEO of BBDO at the time, invited Martyn Straw to become the first head of planning in the New York office. Martyn was tasked with finding a solution to the missing element of the creative brief in the process.

Very soon, Martyn Straw realized that a creative brief should be very tight and very unobtrusive. Going to the creative department with a three-page document would not work.

For two reasons — 1) creatives wouldn’t read it, and 2) they would probably choose the wrong thing in the brief to execute. Some little insight or something else that they would find more interesting and execute that. Therefore, there could be no room in the brief to circumvent the insight. The brief had to be very tight and precise. And the idea had to be in brief. They wanted to give creatives freedom in the box to have good ideas. That was the point — how do you bring discipline to a highly creative agency? And that was how the GWTB brief form was born.

And let’s remember that at that time most agencies wrote only one goal in their creative briefs — awareness. And that wasn’t a very useful goal for the creative team. It was good that Martyn was trained in strategy at Ogilvy. Their philosophy was focused on where the client and consumer are now. And where do we want them to be? But this approach was primarily focused on perception. However, the ideological direction of BBDO’s GWTB model was inspired by the thinking of David Ogilvy, but in order to truly differentiate itself in the market, BBDO was looking for a different type of behavior change model. To get there, they hired an ethnographer to study whether consumers were interested in interacting with the product. Therefore, the behavioral model of the briefing format was critical. Not just consciousness, attitude, or perception. Their approach was, first, let’s see what consumers are doing. And then, let’s try to understand — why they do it. What is their perception?

It was critical that this brief worked for Ted Sann, at the time CCO of BBDO NY. He understood very precisely what the return on investment from advertising would be. He always wanted to know how advertising would affect business. Not only what happens to the consumer. He wanted to make sure the business would grow as a function of advertising, not just recognition. So the basic idea behind the GWTB is about behavior, feelings, and attitudes. The BBDO team was very specific about what they wanted the consumer to do when they saw the advertising.

How to use the GWTB model correctly?

Originally it was four boxes — GWTB. And it’s a shame no one wrote down the idea that drove the philosophy or guidelines of this briefing document. As Martyn Straw said, they were just trying to write a briefing format that the creative department would accept and that would help improve the work that was being delivered.

The GET part is about the audience. It should be a two-part thing — 1) demographics of the target audience (for example, women aged 25 and over or men aged 18–25) and 2) psychographic information — insight that helps the creative team understand who the target is. And in this box, the audience must be tied to the product. So the GET box will let you know who you are talking to.

WHO is the most important part of this brief format. Here you should clarify — what are people currently doing with the product? And why do they do it? So WHO — describes what people think, feel, and do now. Here the planner needs to write their insight into current customer attitudes and behaviors.

TO is described as the aspect of thinking, feeling, and doing that we want people to come to. So there is a current (WHO) and a desired (TO) component between the two.

The BY is the core message.

The GWTB box:

GET — the target audience — demographics and psychographics

WHO — the current behavior

TO — The desired behavior of people that you want them to change and transform

BY is a big idea, the core message

From the outside, this model looks very simple, but a lot of thought and research goes into this briefing format. That’s why so many people don’t like this format because it requires a lot of hard thinking. The other important thing about GWTB is that it is only one page. So you are allowed to put words in these boxes, but you are not allowed to go outside the box. This was another deliberate limitation to keeping the brief short but packed with information.

How to spot a misleading GWTB brief?

First, there is no insight in the brief. The execution only speaks for the product. It’s always a clue. It talks about the product but not the consumer. But GWTB makes you think about the consumer and how the product fits into their life. An account planner must be a consumer as well as a business expert.

According to Martyn Straw, BBDO’s short briefing form looks simple. Like a little formula that’s easy to fill in, but far from simple. And that’s why people like to destroy it. They add something outside the four boxes, such as the “because” element.

He assumes that people added the Because element because they didn’t understand the WHO. They added this extra element so that it addresses what motivates the current behavior. In the original GWTB model, the Think/Do/Feel part is included in WHO. In this new case, the Think/Feel/Do element would be included in the Because box. The GWTB author’s recommendation is to make the WHO part very comprehensive and exclude additional elements from the GWTB short format.

He adds that the real problem is that people steal ideas or briefs from others, but they don’t understand how to use them properly. So they will change them slightly and then use them sloppily. If you don’t know how to use it, the tool itself won’t give you any value. Usually, people who play with GWTB take the insight and separate it. It doesn’t have to be separate. The insight is in the WHO box.

In conclusion, Martyn Straw does not deny that there could have been other brief forms as sharp and focused as the GWTB model. But when they came up with this format, it was unique and original. The author of GWTB also believes that this briefing form does not need instructions because it is so simple and clear.

It is also interesting to note that changes in the use of the GWTB model follow the evolution of the advertising industry. Martyn Straw comments that “as ideas become less and less important to people, the GWTB model is being misused. And that’s a lack of discipline in the planning function, as well as changes in briefing formats.

Brief is just a small part of a bigger problem that most of us don’t want to acknowledge and see — the planning function is deteriorating.”

In general, the biggest problem with GWTB is that people like to remove some elements or add something new to this brief form. In most cases, they distort this GWTB model because they don’t know what its original purpose was. My advice would be to stick to the original form and get the meaning of each element right.