Can you imagine how the marketing folks at Eastpak asked their ad agency for this ad? “Please create an ad where a dead body sells our new back-pack.”

As a creative director, I  rely on a document, which if prepared correctly and accurately, serves as a roadmap that never fails to get us to our desired destination. This document referred to as a creative brief, has taken on various forms over the years but in a nutshell gave our creative teams clear direction as to the course we should follow as we developed the creative message for any given advertisement.

The creative brief outlines the market, the competition, the unique selling proposition, the features and benefits of the product, the objectives of the individual ad or campaign, what you the reader or viewer should do next, etc. Following its direction, the creative brief is essential for both our creative team and the client we are serving.

Whenever we missed the mark and a client felt our creative message recommendations were off target, we invariably could go back to the creative brief and demonstrate to the client we were indeed on target, or we would show the creative brief had flaws.  Since the creative brief is usually approved and sometimes created by the client, we could easily remedy the problem by adjusting the creative brief. (we seldom can adjust the client)

With that said, I often will take an advertisement that I find particularly interesting and try to develop a creative brief from the ad. I often chuckle when contemplating what went on during the creative session when a particular ad was conceived.  I recognize that great ads are sometimes generated from a single mind sitting all alone and being pressured by a deadline, while others come from a carefully selected team of creative types who collaborate in a free for all brainstorming session.

I imagine the session for this ad went something like this:

I’ve sat in on enough brainstorm sessions that this could easily be how this one played out. Each time I play this game with an advertisement whether it’s an online banner ad or a super bowl commercial, if I can’t figure out what they are trying to say and to whom they are saying it, I know the creative brief was lacking or the creative team was.  The sad thing is, the ad was approved by the client, so it’s ultimately his fault.

So here’s a fun exercise to help you understand the creative message process. Take an ad out of a magazine that is targeting you and answer these five questions.

• Is this ad really targeting you?
• What need do you have that will be satisfied by this product or service?
• What got your attention and got you to select this ad? Does what got your attention relate directly to the  need or the solution to your need?
• Does the ad make it clear what’s in it for you, do you want what it promises, do you believe the product or service offered will deliver on the promise?
• Do you understand what you can do to get/buy/use the benefit from this product or service.