December
18
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It’s briefing Jim but not as we know it
It’ a tough job but someone has got to sort briefs out
In search of a little mojo
I was recently tasked with the job of helping a major mobile phone company rediscover their briefing mojo. The core of this kind of mission is not to underestimate, berate or patronise the group you are working with. Most clients and agencies still work on the basis of … “If you want a job done, give it to someone who is too busy to do it.” A tenet that sits at the root of uninformative and uninspiring briefing. The trouble is finding the time to think in the always on world isn’t easy. The mojo-lite solution is to cut and paste content from briefs long past their sell by dates. The result is a paperwork chore rather than a.. “Your mission Mr Phelps is to save the world” moment.
So how do we make time for briefs?
Step one: Look forward to the day you can actually stop writing briefs. You know that the agency and the team are not really reading or paying attention to them. So it is time for something else.
Step two: Think about how people learn in the digital age. I promise you it does not look anything like a brief.
Step: three: Develop a useful replacement process. This will test your resolve in ways you never thought possible.
Step four: Be peppered to innovate and then test the process to destruction as part of an iterative process. You will be loved and hated in equal measure but I can tell you from experience that productivity and creativity will go through the roof.
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it (insert your name), is to help clients and agencies rediscover their briefing mojo so that they can do the impossible: increase revenues and win awards at the same time.” Cue self-destruct sequence on this computer and Lalo Schifrin‘s Mission Impossible theme tune, a car chase or two, multiple shootouts, gratuitous six-pack shots, fleeting love interest and lots of cool digital tech porn. Who is with me?
