Agency briefs on the nose

If you’ve been in marketing for more than five minutes you know about the importance of agency briefs.

If you want the best work you need the best agency, but even the best agency can’t deliver without a clear and detailed brief.

Yet it seems that many marketing departments don’t have a clue about briefs!

Well, that’s the conclusion coming out of a US survey reported recently in Advertising Age. The survey covered more than 250 senior US executives at a variety of top agencies.

The agency executives reported that at least 30% of staff time is ineffective or wasted due to poor communication from clients.

More than half of the survey respondents said fewer than 40% of client briefs give them a clear indication of what's expected.
Some 30% of agency respondents said only 1% to 10% of briefs provide clear performance expectations.

The survey results reflect an insight also gleaned from the experience of the person who commissioned the survey: Casey Jones, former VP-global marketing at Dell, who now runs a marketing consultancy called Jones & Bonevac that counts among its clients Microsoft and Walmart.

Mr. Jones said the study was prompted by observations from his time at Dell. "A lack of commitment to tight and coherent input to the agency was a major contributing factor to the struggles between Dell and the agency," he said.

There is obviously a real need for marketers to learn how to write a brief. But there’s even more to it than that. There’s the whole issue of clear thinking and a commitment to a strategic direction.

The survey highlighted a major problem about strategic thinking relating to the way briefs change along the way.

A massive 75% of agency respondents reported that client briefs go through an average of up to five significant revisions. This is AFTER the project is underway!

Maybe even more amazing, 8% said they've seen briefs go through upwards of 45 iterations.

Clearly, this is unforgivable. The marketing managers and directors responsible in these cases are obviously totally out of their depth. You have to feel sorry for the people working under them.