For the best results – keep your brief…. BRIEF!
I remember vividly once - very early in my career, being tasked with writing and producing a 20 second radio ad for a local fishmongers based on a 6 page ‘briefing document’ that the client – “Fishy Phil” (true!) had painstakingly put together and passed on to the radio sale executive.
This mighty missive was crammed full of really interesting facts. Like percentage quantities of Omega Oils per gram of fish meat, and sprawling details of European herring quotas. But nowhere did it contain the vital information required to give his campaign the chance of being deemed a success.
Namely: 1) WHO is the ideal customer you’d like to target? 2) WHAT exactly do you want them to do when they hear your ad? And 3) WHY should they come to you – as opposed to your competitors, for their seafood?
I got the answers I needed - eventually, by simply calling the client and asking him those exact three questions.
And during that conversation, every time he started to go down an Omega or Herring quota wormhole, I diverted him quickly back onto the straight and narrow using the simple roadmap of my 3 radio briefing questions. WHO? (are we talking to?) – WHAT? (do we want them to do?) – WHY (should they do it?)
You may have your own favourite briefing formular that you believe works well for you, and that’s great. As long as it’s simple and compulsive. Unlike Fishy Phil’s first attempt.
Whatever the format, here at Get Carter Productions we are the consummate audio brief-takers. We’ve got more experience doing it than anyone else, we work with more successful brief-taking formats than anyone else, and not only that…. we’re scientifically proven to ‘wash whiter than your usual detergent’. True!
If you’d like to have a chat about your next radio/audio brief, do give us a call. I look forward to hearing from you.
