Breakthrough creative. Everyone wants it. Few achieve it. If you’re on the client side and want to get the most out of your creative partners, here are a few tips on how to play the muse to your creative team.
1. Provide useful background
In the “olden days” before the Internet, I used to ask all new clients for annual reports, articles, press releases, direct-mail samples and other printed materials to get a feel for the mission, tone and voice of the organization. Today, much of that background information is available online. It’s generally a good thing, but only if the client Web site is updated frequently. Sometimes a Web search can send a writer or artist in the wrong direction if your Web site features people, events and programs that no longer are relevant.
That’s why I like to have the client provide a brief “what’s hot?” document before beginning a new package. “Brief” is the key word here. We don’t need 10 press releases and every bit of information you have -- that’s information overload. Just give us a hot topic, like an emotional story of a person recently helped by your organization, a new program that’s experiencing great results or a research breakthrough that donors will find compelling.
2. Have a plan
A written creative strategy is a good way to outline the audience, goals, copy points, deadlines and sacred cows in a given creative project. In fact, just the exercise of going through this step with your agency will help clarify the project in your mind and provide a basis for judging how well the creative execution fulfills your needs.
If you don’t do a written creative strategy or brief, you should at least have a team meeting or conference call to describe what you’re trying to accomplish. The worst thing to do would be to have your creative team start a project without clear direction.
- Companies:
- DaVinci Direct