Recently
I’ve written my first proper creative brief. This is always something I
slightly coveted before I started planning. The brief’s not everything, but it
is crucial and writing it is a great way to get fully immersed and involved on
a project. I’ve been shown loads from our planners here. Big briefs, small
briefs. Paper briefs, deck briefs. Words, films, pictures. Like my experiences
with Planning Frameworks there’s no set template, which makes sense really.

In
the past I’ve seen a one-size-fits-all scenario where every brief follows the
same format and questions. These uniform bits of paper go into allocation and
that’s that. So whatever the idea, you approach it from the same starting place
and cross the same finish line. It doesn’t by any means make the idea itself
the same, nor the ad that comes out from it, but this way doesn’t give you any
flexibility. I like the lack of formulas here.

[One size clearly doesn't fit all]

The
freedom I had with my brief meant I questioned my own ideas more, and asked the
questions that were the most relevant to my client’s business problem. I think
pushed me towards a better final result. 
What’s also nice to see is how much the creative teams run with the
brief, and of course push the brief. It’s been great to see something evolve.

The
week was also one in which I joined the W+K netball team. Not having played
since I was fourteen I approached this with more than a little bit of
trepidation. What if they take it really
seriously? At university I kind of conveniently forgot that I used to play team
sport. And nowadays I’d completely forgotten that I enjoy it. Maybe because I’m
tall, but I’m actually quite good at getting in the way of the ball and the W+K
netball team rock. 

[we look just like this in action]

(Thoughts
from Planning newbie Alexa).