Jane Haas from ANA: The benefits of the brand are the most powerful weapon to create a brief that actually inspires creativity

Advertising industry veteran, Jane Haas, is a Faculty member of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA). She gave some recommendations to create a brief that actually inspires creativity. “Creative briefs need to synthesize complex ideas into clear direction that focuses the creative team on the job to be done” she explained.Haas offers five guidelines to help people who write briefs. The first is to be aware that the brand’s benefits are the most powerful weapon. Another is that it is important to limit the reasons a consumer might have to believe in a brand and buy it. “Don’t just dump in every possible good feature of your product or service. Discipline yourself to choose the one – or two, at most – that bests support the benefit.” Joining an emotional benefit with a rational Reason-to-Believe is usually a winning combination.”The third recommendation is to narrow the target audience. “If you try to talk to everyone, you will end up effectively talking to no one. The trick is to include as wide an audience as possible, yet one that is linked somehow by demographics or psychographics. This way, you can connect with your consumer instead of being blandly generic” added Haas. Another tip the veteran delivered is that a real insight is an enormous competitive advantage. Her last recommendation is to sacrifice information in order to communicate only what is most important.