As the Better Briefs Project will reveal this week, 90% of marketers fail to brief agencies effectively, and their failures begin with a total lack of strategy.
Mark Ritson writes:
It was the end of a long, hot meeting in Hong Kong. I’d spent it with my client briefing a big agency on an exciting new launch campaign we were planning for the following year. The discussion had turned to chit chat and everyone around the table appeared satisfied. It was Beer O’Clock. Briefcases snapped shut, computers powered down and people stood up.
“That,” said the senior agency director, “was a great brief. Thank you.” He shook my client’s hand vigorously and then walked around the table and shook mine too. “Great,” he said again. “Just great.”
We stood in the descending elevator waiting the requisite five seconds before it felt safe to speak. “Do you reckon he was just saying that?” my client finally asked as we watched the floors ticking down. “Nah,” I said to him. “He wouldn’t have told us if our brief was shit. But I reckon he was genuinely impressed.” My client contemplated this for another 10 floors and let out a contemplative “Hmm.”