The Dark Horse of Creative Strategy: A Brand Brief
The first time I started working with a big brand — I was nervous. I was under constant pressure to impress them with my creativity.
But when I got their brand documents, it turned my world upside-down.
Before this, I never saw such crisp & beautifully documented brand guidelines and creative messaging strategies.
Here’s Why!
1. I got an entire google sheets document about features and their corresponding benefits.
FYI — to a copywriter, that’s gold.
2. Well laid out brand voice guidelines, including the kind of words I can use plus the overarching tone.
This helped me nail the vocabulary. I no longer had to hunt words that I felt did justice to the narrative.
3. Access to previous well-performing copy in different variations based on creative angles.
Exploring previously used angles meant that I could better understand how the brand’s audience has reacted to these angles in the past.
4. Collection of reviews, testimonials, and ratings to highlight social proof.
This made it so much easier to pick & choose the exact words that customers were using, research deeply about pain points, and base some ad copy entirely on social proof.
I’m not saying that every brand has to send such detailed briefs, but one needs to understand that it’s necessary to give us context to do our best work as creatives.
I felt I produced such a good, creative copy (which my client loved btw!) because now that I had enough data — I could start using my creative potential to its edge.
I could wing it because I had everything that helped me spread those wings.
Takeaway
Never underestimate the power of good, contextual brand documentation & communication guidelines.
BONUS: A great brand brief resource.
