Does Your Creative Brief Pass the Birthday Card Test?
Sun, February 15, 2009 at 9:01AM 
Photo by Andrei Z on flickr.com, (cc) some rights reservedI just found a stack of old index cards from a guest talk I gave about creative development at New York’s The New School years ago.
It was a diverse audience, most of whom were not in communications, so I used the idea of birthday cards to discuss how many different ways there are to say the exact same thing: Happy Birthday.
It was a simple object lesson, but it worked. People started talking about picking “just the right card” for a family member or friend—and what it felt like to receive a greeting that was off the mark.
It strikes me, years later, that this unsophisticated point could be a lot deeper than I thought, especially when posed as a question:
Do you know your target consumer well enough to pick out the perfect birthday card for him or her?
Picture yourself at Hallmark or Kate’s and imagine that you’re shopping for your target audience. If you don’t know enough about who they are—and what makes them tick—to pick a card that will make them smile, then how in the world are you going to sell them something?
Reader Comments (4)
Great Frank!! I love it! I think I'll start teaching target that way (if you don't mind me stealing it - I'll of course give attribution).
Wow, what an uplifting note. Thanks, Mark. Yes, of course, please feel free to use the analogy however you like. Looking forward to seeing you in March.
Frank-
I love the idea. Annually for a few years I was "teaching" P&G interns and new hires the creative process and always had hard time explaining the simplicity that creative briefs need to be. So, like Mark, will have to steal your idea (hope you don't mind.)
A few years back I had a great way of showing that creative had to be single minded to be effective. One day I was driving home and I passed what most would consider typical "Lost Dog" sign posted on a telephone poll. But this particular flyer was incredibly simple and the creators resisted the many faults that most marketers would have made.
On tope it said in bold "LOST" and just below it had a dark filled in outline of a greyhound. And then just below it there was the contact number.
It resisted adding in what many people (and marketers) would have added if given the chance. It didn't say "Call" and then the number. Because of course if we see a number we know to call it. It didn't give you Fluffy's name, favorite toy, when the dog was lost, etc.
I hope they found that dog!
Having just received an 11-page creative brief, I couldn't agree more! Simple works, but it involves making tough decisions and most people don't like doing that. I'm glad the analogy works for you. By all means, use it.