01 Jul ZIGAZIG AH

So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha) I wanna, (ha)
I wanna really, really, really wanna zigazig ah

Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Baby and Scary – they knew how to pen a pop anthem didn’t they? The zeitgeist of the 90’s with a powerful ode to ‘girl-power’. Straight to the point, and at the risk of being repetitive, very clear with what they wanted.

To “zigazig ah” of course.

If ever there was a theme tune for writing a creative brief, it might well be that. “Tell us what you want, what you really, really want”. And it’s the ‘really, really’ part that’s ‘really, really’ important here. Don’t be shy about being explicit. Once this is defined, the creative task is to present this desire in a beautifully compelling piece of content.

Try your darndest to avoid marketing lingo: ‘connect with the consumer to drive emotional consideration’, when what you really want is a product demonstration. Stop yourself short and delete the line about ‘owning the summer’, a fallacy and near impossibility that Coca Cola have been striving to achieve consistently for over 50 years, when what you really want is to ‘outsell last years sun hats when the UV index is above 3’.

The creative brief is the time for brutal, blunt honesty. By telling us what you really, really want opens up a world of possibilities. By being clear with what the real marketing objective is – change or reinforce a behaviour or a consumer opinion – your agency can fully understand what the content is to do.

Frame this intent with the realities of how much time and budget you have, and boom, you’re off to a cracking start. Without which, then you’ll spend far too much time shifting through a creative response that fails to nail the heart of what you really, really want.

 
David Flanagan, Director of Content & Strategy, P2.
flanners@p2.com.au