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F7-11·F7 — Communications Strategy

Briefing and Evaluating Creative Work

The productive tension

Strategic disciplineandcreative freedom

The synthesis

The brief is the bridge between strategy and creativity. Too much strategic prescription kills creative potential. Too little strategic discipline produces creative work that is entertaining but strategically useless. The Both/And: a brief that is strategically tight and creatively open. One clear problem. One clear proposition. Maximum creative latitude in how to solve it. And an evaluation process that judges creative work against strategic criteria without demanding strategic literalism.

Learning objectives

  • Identify the essential elements of a great creative brief
  • Articulate why briefing is the most undervalued skill in marketing
  • Evaluate creative work against strategic, emotional, and brand-linkage criteria
  • Compare pre-testing methodologies and understand their limitations
  • Navigate the organisational dynamics of creative approval
  • Apply the Both/And lens to the tension between strategic control and creative freedom

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