How long does it really take to crack a brief?
April 7 2015, 9:15 am | | 2 Comments
By Simon Veksner
Creative Partner, DDB Sydney
We need to talk about time.
Self-evidently, we are being given less and less time to crack briefs nowadays.
And I doubt that’s going to change.
So we’re going to need to work quicker, smarter… all of that. READ ON…
2 Comments
This has been true since forever, thanks for the reminder. How long will it take the bean counters to understand this? Kudos for putting it in a graph to try and help them.
Since there is no one correct answer to a brief, ‘cracking it’ is purely subjective. I was always onto a brief like a pack of dogs, but my patience was somewhat limited. For that reason I preferred less time. Just smash something out and be done with it. I was always pretty confident that even my lesser ideas were better than most people’s best. Modesty was never my strong suit. Weeks and weeks, on the other hand, was pure murder. Too much time to wander up all sorts of blind alleys. If you have a limited amount of time you do the best you can and hope for something that makes you laugh with that feeling that you’ve come up with something really good. You’ll never know if there was a better idea – unless it comes to you out of the blue after the deadline has expired and you find your mind drifting back unconsciously to the problem. Of course all this is on the assumption that one really good idea is all that is required either by CD or client. If multiple choice – a smorgasbord – is required, that’s a different kettle of fish.