Brief me if you can
Whether you are in Paris, Milano, Chicago, Shanghai or anywhere else, the creative brief is for sure one of the key points in our advertising world. As a Lofter, on my way to this unique experience, I had in mind many questions about the brief (it was also one of my learning objectives) and about the relationship with creative teams during this process.
Usually in Paris (and maybe my bosses won’t like this part, so please stop reading) we don’t use any specific format or model of creative brief. I mean there are some, for example the one with the five H (Histoire, Humain, Honnête, Humeur, Hype) but people are not using it a lot for now. Moreover, I think there are as many ways to brief as there are people and projects in Havas Paris. Maybe because it depends on how you feel about the project and also on the people you are working with on the project. Now, I’m thinking about the Italian way to brief and I would say that we are the opposites. They have developed inside the Village in Milan a strong “Havas culture”. Although they put inside some Italian features and way of thinking, which is always a very good thing. I would say the Italian teams are great ambassadors of Havas Group. For example, they are always using Havas graphic charter, whereas we are such bad students in Paris (but it’s going to change soon), and it also applies to the tools used during the creative brief process. So maybe now you know what I’m going to talk about…the CREATIVE BUSINESS IDEA of course (also called the CBI). And saying that, I realize that I don’t know what is the status of the CBI in each agency. Is it something you learn as a beginner? Is it something you are usually using? Or maybe you have never heard about it… I don’t know but just for people like me, not using the CBI everyday, this is a little reminder.
CBI is a transformational idea that:
- drives profitable growth
- transcends media
- is adaptable to both traditional and emerging formats
And the process is this one: “We examine the intersections of all components (category, customer, brand) to identify areas in which we capitalize on a market opportunity, fulfill a customer desire and different the brand from competitors. We then work with to generate a number of forward-thinking strategic ideas that play into the insights identified. Finally, we agree on, articulate, and flesh out the single most powerful idea: the Creative Business Idea”.
To conclude, I’m perfectly aware with the fact that CBI is not a new or innovative tool, and maybe the Group is working on a new one because you cannot find it anymore on Havas Group website, but I think in some cases, when the brief is going wrong, you’re losing your goal, I think this is the kind of tool that can help.
Ciao!
