art of client service

They are the ones who transform account manage-ment from the label “suit” to “tux,” from everyday ordi-nary to everyday extraordinary, from “of little value” how-to “can’t manage without

T H E A R T O F C L I E N T S E R V I C E

R O B E R T S O L O M O N

The Art of Client Service

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information

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Vice President and Publisher: Cynthia A Zigmund

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© 2003 by Robert Solomon

Published by Dearborn Trade Publishing, a Kaplan Professional Company

All rights reserved The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.

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F O R R O B E R T A

3 Live the Client’s Brand 9

4 Agree on a Strategy, a Budget, and a Schedule 12

5 Always Manage Client Expectations from the Outset 17

6 Take the Word Brief Seriously 21

7 Know When to Look It Up; Know When to Make It Up 26

8 Make the Creative Team Partners in the Brief 28

9 In Writing the Brief, Provide the Client’s Perspective 30

10 Get the Client’s Input and Approval on the Brief 33

11 Ask, “What Do My Colleagues Need to Create GreatAdvertising?” Then Deliver It 36

L o o k i n g a t c r e a t i v e

12 Always Ask, “Does This Advertising Pass the ‘So What’Test?” 39

13 Don’t Fall in Love with Good Work 40

14 Don’t Fall for Bad Work 43

15 Choice Is Good 45

16 Fight about the Work with Colleagues, Fight for It with

Clients 48

17 Do Not Sell 51

18 Bring Your Clients into the Process Early 53

19 Respect What It Takes to Do Great Creative 55

M a k i n g p r e s e n t a t i o n s

20 Client Presentations Are As Important As New BusinessPresentations 60

21 No Understudies on Presentation Day 63

22 No Scenery Chewers, No Dead Bodies 66

23 Be Prepared to Throw Away the Script 68

24 The More Informal You Want to Be, the More RehearsedYou Need to Be 70

25 Know Your Opening Cold 72

26 Better to Have It and Not Need It, Than Need It and NotHave It 74

27 Support What You Say 76

28 Listening Is More Important Than Talking 78

R u n n i n g a m e e t i n g

29 Start on Time, End on Time 81

30 Have an Agenda and Stick to It (Most of the Time) 83

31 Be Brief, Be Bright, Be Gone 85

32 Lead the Meeting, Don’t Tyrannize It 86

33 Always Follow Up 88

P A R T T W O R e l a t i o n s h i p s

A t t i t u d e

34 Judgment Overrides Any Rule 94

35 Credit Is for Creative Directors 96

36 You Cannot Lead an Account from Your Desk 98

37 Avoid the Dark Side 100

38 Great Work Wins Business; a Great Relationship

Keeps It 102

39 We Are Smarter Together Than We Are Alone 105

C o m m u n i c a t i o n

40 Make No Commitment without Consultation 108

41 There Is No No in Your Client Vocabulary 112

42 Before You Tell Clients or Colleagues What You Think, Tell Them What You Know 114

43 Before You Give Clients What They Need, First Give Them What They Want 115

Tr o u b l e

44 Always Think Endgame 118

45 No Surprises about Money or Time 120

46 Deal with Trouble Head-On 123

47 If Things Go Wrong, Take the Blame 125

S o c i a l i z i n g

48 Remember the Personal Side of Business

Relationships 128

49 Take On the Coloration of Your Clients, But Do Not

Compromise Your Character 133

50 No Matter How Social It Becomes, Never Forget That It’sBusiness 135

51 Once a Client, Always a Client 137

P A R T T H R E E S t y l e a n d S u b s t a n c e

52 Make an Investment in Your Personal Style 141

53 Invest Some Time in These Books 145

O n e m o r e t h i n g .

54 Remember to Say “Thank You” 153

Afterword: What Makes a Great Account Person? 157Index 165

F O R E W O R D

Long gone are the days when an account person couldget by and even excel with a credit card It should neverhave been that way Somehow, along the way, some ac-count people felt buying the relationship was more im-portant than earning the relationship Somehow, alongthe way, those who just showed up and created no value

came to be called suits—for empty suits That always

seemed degrading to me

That’s certainly not true with all account people, ever There are those who stand out from the rest, thosewho help build brands with a strategically sound, intui-tive, client-centric, and brand-centric approach to theircraft They are the ones who transform account manage-ment from the label “suit” to “tux,” from everyday ordi-nary to everyday extraordinary, from “of little value”

how-to “can’t manage without his judgement or her strategiccounsel.” They deliver for their clients, help brandsgrow faster, and help agencies be more successful andprosperous

How do you become one of these elite practitioners?Well, you really can’t study to be one, because accountservice is more art than science I know this because I

was a scientist—a cell biologist—who became an account

executive I became Director of Client Services, thenstarted my own agency business group It was acquired,and today I sit atop the world’s largest and most soughtafter aggregation of marketing services and communi-cations companies

The non-suit is in demand The account executivewho is intuitive, honorable, manages with integrity; who

is predictable in quality of counsel and judgment; whohears his or her client while listening to them; who re-alizes the distinct role of the client and the account rep;who is always prepared (a Boy Scout trait); and who hasthe intellect to totally understand the brand, is bothrare and at a premium today I look for them every day.When I find them, I hire them

If you’ve got the stuff that makes a great account ecutive, this book will help you develop your skills ifyou’re just starting out; hone your skills if you could bebetter; or refresh what you know if you already are a su-perb, respected, and sought-after account person So,regardless of what level you’re at—account executive,management supervisor, senior account director, VP,EVP, president, whatever—read this book I did, and I’mgoing to see to it that copies are in each of our 150+agencies

ex-Thomas L HarrisonChairman and CEODiversified Agency ServicesOmnicom Group, Inc

I N T R O D U C T I O N

I’ve been in account management for nearly twentyyears I’ve been a senior vice president, a general man-ager, a president, and a CEO I’ve done tours of duty atfour prominent, large advertising and marketing agen-cies: Ammirati & Puris; Digitas; Foote, Cone & Belding;and now Rapp Collins Worldwide I’ve also headed myown very small consulting firm: Solomon Strategic.I’ve worked with hundreds of clients at dozens of com-panies, including American Express, AT&T, Citibank,Compaq, Levi-Strauss, MasterCard, Pacific Bell, Pola-roid, Seagram, Sothebys, UPS, and VISA I’ve pitchedand won lots of accounts I’ve given speeches at majorindustry conferences and I’ve won a few awards

In short, I’ve had some success But that’s not why Isuggest you pay attention to this book

Instead, I suggest you pay attention because of all themistakes I’ve made I learned from my mistakes the hardway: by making them and then scrambling to recover

from them You can learn from them the easy way: by

reading this book and heeding its counsel If The Art of

Client Service helps you avoid even just one mistake—

with a client, with a colleague—it will have served youwell

This book had its genesis in an earlier one I wrote:

Brain Surgery for Suits: 56 Things Every Account Person Should Know Brain Surgery was a modest affair, but it at-

tracted surprising interest among agency people bothhere in New York City and around the country There

were even a few fans who likened the book to The

Ele-ments of Style, calling it the “Strunk and White of

ac-count management.”

But the book had detractors as well, and I admit Ipaid more attention to the criticism than to the praise.Some of the criticism was well founded

One reader complained that it felt like the book waswritten in “an hour.” While it took less than an hour to

read Brain Surgery, it took me a little longer to write it—

over six months, actually—and it was based on a lifetime

of professional experience I took the reader’s point,though The book didn’t explore its topics in depth,and it didn’t provide examples or stories to illuminatethe points I was trying to make

Another reader complained about the book’s tic” tone Still another complained that the book’s ad-vice was obvious

“pedan-When I sat down to transform Brain Surgery for Suits into The Art of Client Service, I considered those criticisms,

which is why I have included examples and anecdotes

that were nowhere evident in Brain Surgery, and why I

tempered the book’s tone Still, the rules and tions this book contains will seem rudimentary to some.

sugges-To others, however, the book will serve as a guide to viding outstanding client service

pro-Although this book is written primarily for accountpeople—especially those who are relatively new to theadvertising business—it also can be useful to veteran ac-count people who want to refresh or confirm what theyknow It can help anyone else in an agency who dealswith colleagues and, especially, clients It even has valuefor clients who want to better understand what theyshould expect from their account people

I tried to make the book useful to people workingnot only in brand advertising, but also in direct market-ing, sales promotion, public relations, event marketing,design, and other marketing and communication disci-plines People in agencies large and small should find

it helpful

Great account people are focused on two things: 1)making the agency’s work better, and 2) building strongerrelationships with clients and colleagues to help makethe work better In an account executive’s everyday worklife, it’s hard to separate the two However, to help orga-nize this book’s content and, I hope, make it more usableand useful, I’ve made a distinction between these twoareas of focus The first section of the book is devoted

to “The Work,” the second to “Relationships.”

The book’s third section, “Style and Substance,” ispersonal It provides tips on fashioning a personal style,and includes a short, highly selective list of books that Isuggest every account executive read

Within each section are prescriptions and proceduresthat, if followed, can make the difference between medi-

ocrity and excellence in account work They echo Brain

Surgery, but greatly expand on it.

This book opens with a foreword by Tom Harrison.Tom is chairman of Omnicom’s Diversified AdvertisingServices unit, and in that role oversees more than 150agencies and marketing services firms of every type, size,location, and culture This gives him an unmatchedperspective on client service, and what he has to say isinstructive

The book concludes with an essay, “What Makes aGreat Account Person?” If your curiosity gets the better

of you, read it first

In his introduction to The Elements of Style, E B White writes, “The Elements of Style does not pretend to survey

the whole field Rather, it proposes to give in brief spacethe principal requirements of plain English style Itconcentrates on fundamentals: the rules of usage andprincipals of composition most commonly violated.”

I tried to take those words to heart The Art of Client

Service concentrates on fundamentals: the rules and

principles that define outstanding account ment and client service And it strives for the brevity,levity, and clarity that make Strunk and White such aclassic

manage-P A R T O N E

T h e Wo r k

© 2002 The New Yorker Collection from cartoonbank.com All Rights Reserved.

At the start of an assignment

C H A P T E R 1

D e f i n e S u c c e s s

Aclient calls with an assignment As usual, the deadline

is tight You spring into action, gathering backgroundmaterial, organizing a team, developing a budget and aschedule

In that initial frenzy of activity, don’t forget to askyour client, “What do you want this advertising to do?”

It seems so obvious, and yet it’s so easy to overlook.You need to begin every client relationship, andevery client advertising effort, with a clear understand-ing of what the client wants to achieve Be sure to askabout the business goals, the sales goals, and the com-munication goals Ask about the response the clientwants from the key constituencies: customers, prospects,employees, company management, shareholders, thepress, and the competition

I’m all for clients having lofty aspirations, and forpushing agencies to achieve them, but you should en-courage your clients to set goals that are in line with

reality On more than one occasion my clients have setobjectives that were all but impossible to achieve A sit-uation like this can turn success into failure, where theproblem isn’t that the advertising fell short, but that thegoal was too tall This is something to discuss, and agree

on, at the outset This is not something you want toargue about after the fact

When it comes to goal setting, you should pay

atten-tion not just to your clients’ company goals, but also to their personal goals Most of the clients I know are ambi-

tious; they want to achieve success for their companies,

as well as advance in their careers Usually the companyand personal goals are aligned and mutually beneficial.Occasionally these goals are in conflict

A client might be more concerned about protectingpersonal turf and power than collaborating with otherdepartments to accomplish bigger and better things Aclient might be so fearful of making a mistake, so intol-erant of risk, that the agency is unable to do anythingbut average, safe work

Personal agendas like these—sometimes hidden,sometimes quite apparent—can undermine your ability

to do the best possible advertising You must be aware

of them, and take them into account when you sit down

to define success at the start of a relationship or a ect It can be a balancing act, but remember that your

proj-first duty is to deliver on the clients’ company goals.

I once went a little off course when it came to setting

a goal for a particular ad campaign My agency was ating some advertising for a client I knew well I thoughtthe advertising could achieve one result; he thought it

cre-could achieve a much higher result In a moment ofmisplaced certitude, I offered to make a little wager onthe outcome of the campaign My client was a clothes-horse, so I suggested the loser take the winner to a cer-tain very exclusive men’s store and buy the winner oneitem of his choosing With a smile and a laugh, he tookthe bet.

I was sure I would win, and figured I’d pick a pair ofsocks or something equally inexpensive I didn’t think

my client had a prayer of winning

It turns out the advertising achieved a result fargreater than even my client predicted A very happyproblem to have Because my client’s estimate was muchcloser to being right than mine, it was time to take himshopping

My client was very gracious He could have picked anew suit; he could have picked a new coat Instead, hechose a tie, and thereby let me off the hook Every time

I saw him in that tie, though, he would say, “Want tomake a wager? I need a nice suit to go with this tie.” Itwas our private joke

There’s no moral to this story except to say, definesuccess at the outset, but don’t bet on it

C H A P T E R 2

B e M u l t i l i n g u a l

There’s an old saying, “If the only tool you have is ahammer, every problem looks like a nail.” For advertis-ing agencies, the hammer has been television, and itcan make every problem look like one to be solved with

a 30-second broadcast television spot Sure there’s radio,print, and outdoor, but the biggest tool by far in theagency toolbox is network television

These days, network TV isn’t quite the hammer itonce was First came cable Then the Web In recentyears we’ve seen the rise of guerrilla marketing tech-niques and the power of product placement Clientsare investing more money in promotion, sponsorships,trade shows, and proprietary meetings and events Thenthere’s direct marketing, relationship marketing, andcustomer relationship management (CRM)

In a world of ever-expanding marketing choices andfragmenting markets, you need to be multilingual if youare going to provide your client good counsel You’ve

got to speak not only brand advertising, but also everyother discipline and medium available to your clients.That requires you to learn enough about each market-ing discipline and media option so that you can recom-mend the combination that will achieve the best results

at the most efficient cost

You don’t need to become completely fluent in everymarketing language; there are native speakers in everydiscipline and medium you can call on for help Thekey is to be thinking about the best combination ofmarketing disciplines and media options to meet yourclient’s needs, not about the next big TV campaign.The advertising business refers to this as being disci-pline and media “agnostic.” I take a slightly differentview I call it being deeply religious—about deliveringwhat’s right for your client

C H A P T E R 3

L i v e t h e C l i e n t ’s B r a n d

Years ago I worked for an agency that was one of threesharing a major financial services account The clientdecided to consolidate its work with one shop, and in-vited all three incumbents to pitch for the business Iled the team representing my agency

The shop I worked for was young, a little light on utation, and very short on capabilities We couldn’t begin

rep-to equal the depth of resources of our competirep-tors Thetwo other incumbents were bigger, better known, andbetter connected with the client

We knew we were overmatched, but instead of beingintimidated, we used our underdog status as motivation

We already knew the client’s business, having worked on

it for more than a year But we acted as if we didn’t, andwent “back to school” on the whole industry We dugdeeply into issues and worked relentlessly to uncoverinsights that would help the client grow its business Weinvested time in understanding what each person on

the client team expected from its agency, and we made

a strong final presentation

To everyone’s surprise, we were the client’s choice Itwas a big win for us

Sometime later, after having gotten to know our leadclient, I felt comfortable enough to ask him about thepitch and why we won

“All the agencies were good—any of the three couldhave done the job for us,” he said “What really im-pressed us about your shop was how you spoke our lan-guage You sounded like one of us You demonstratedthat you knew what we were about The other agenciesdidn’t appear to be as comfortable or as confident.That made an impact.”

It made an impact on me too It goes without sayingthat you should be a customer of your client (If, asDavid Ogilvy has written, he found a way to buy all hisclothes at Sears after his agency won that account, youcan find a way to use your clients’ products too.) Butyou need to go beyond that You’ve got to steep yourself

in the client’s brand Here’s what I mean

• Know the history of the company Know the peoplewho work there Observe the culture

• Talk with other people who buy the brand Ask themwhy

• Read what the press says Understand what Wall Streetthinks Pay attention to opinion leaders

• Form a point of view on the company and the brand’sstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

Always be open to, and seek out, new sources of mation and insight Think about the new ways yourclient can address a problem or capitalize on an oppor-tunity Present those thoughts whenever appropriateand in whatever form and forum are most effectivefor your client.

infor-At many companies, product and marketing agers come and go When new clients come in, theirfirst instinct often is to put the account in review Youryears of knowledge can help counter that impulse Youcan be an invaluable source of history and continuityfor new clients You can help them get up to speedquickly and be more effective in their jobs In so doing,you can help keep the account right where it is, at youragency

man-Just one more reason to live the client’s brand

C H A P T E R 4

A g r e e o n a S t r a t e g y,

a B u d g e t , a n d a S c h e d u l e

My client, Leslie, called in a near-panic “The product

group wants to announce a new promotion in USA Today and The New York Times,” she said

“Good,” I replied

“Not good,” she said, “They want the ad to run thisFriday.”

“Not good,” I agreed “Why Friday?”

“To drive traffic to the stores this weekend,” she answered

“Look, we’re used to turning around advertising in amatter of days,” I said, “but it’s Wednesday and there’s

no way to create anything even halfway respectable whenwe’ve got maybe 24 hours to do it They should havecome to you sooner What about next Friday?”

“I already tried that with the product group Theywere immovable They said next Friday is not an option

So we’ve got to do this; I don’t have a choice, and ther do you.”

nei-“What if we both spoke to them?” I suggested “Maybe

I could convince them this is a blueprint for disaster I’lltake the heat, instead of you.”

There was silence at the other end of the phone Finally, Leslie said, “I already told them we could do it.”

It took every ounce of self-control to keep from ing, “You told them yes! You know it’s insane to do this!Couldn’t you at least check with us first?”

shout-But I knew that would only make the situation worse.Instead, I simply said, “Give me an hour I’ll call youback.” I hung up the phone and went to work

I gathered a team and briefed them on the call Firstthere was disbelief, followed by a bit of hysterical laugh-ter, which quickly escalated into full-blown rage After

15 minutes of venting—at the client, at me—the groupweighed the trade-offs We could refuse to do the work;

we certainly would have been right The client knew weweren’t set up to do quick-turn retail advertising

But refusing could cost us the account Was there away to pull this off?

There was We could build the ad based on a format

we had used before We could get briefed by the client,and come back later in the afternoon with a couple

of headline ideas The client would choose one, we’dwrite copy and do a layout that night, send a comp tothe client in the morning, get sign-off with minimalchanges, go right to finished art, then transmit the finished files to the newspapers There’d be no crea-tive brief, no usual rounds of concepting, no face-to-face presentation, and no usual rounds of refinement,proofing, and quality control It was possible God knows

what kind of advertising would come out of this effort,but we were willing to try People decided to take it as achallenge “Advertising on speed,” one of the writerscalled it.

I called the client “Leslie, here’s what we can do,” Isaid I outlined the plan, and told her what she’d have

to do to make it work She agreed to the schedule

So we were briefed by the client product group Thewriters came up with not two, but three pretty cleverheadlines We slapped them into layouts and faxed these

to the client They selected one on the spot

That evening we worked on the copy and tightenedthe layout By midnight, we faxed them to the client andcalled it a day We were scheduled to speak with the cli-ent at 8:00 the following morning

That’s when things began to unravel The client layed our conference call two hours, costing us timewhen we had none to spare When we finally spoke at10:00, we expected the client to give us the go-ahead,with maybe a minor change or two How silly of us.The client had extensive copy changes That was anadditional setback, but the writers took it in stride andturned around the copy by early afternoon The clientapproved the revision

de-Then we had to scramble to get the finished ad to thenewspapers There wasn’t enough time for the normalrounds of proofing, but we made the Thursday eveningdeadline We were pretty proud of ourselves We en-joyed the moment—but it didn’t last

The ad ran as scheduled Except for the cal error, it looked pretty good

typographi-We couldn’t believe we’d missed it It was there, plain

as day The error didn’t affect the content of the ad Itwas not as if we got the name of the product wrong, orran an incorrect price Still, it was enough to make all

of us want to weep We had worked incredibly hard But

She ignored me “The product group is pretty upset,and so am I I look bad, you look bad, the whole thing isdisaster And my boss wants you to eat the cost of the ad.”

My answer was measured, but I didn’t hesitate, “I’lltalk to your boss, and I’ll explain why we’re not going

to do that I’ll also write you a letter detailing what pened and why.”

hap-“And why is it that you’re not willing to pay for thead?” Leslie asked, her voice just ever so slightly louder

“Three reasons,” I responded “First, we would havecaught the error had we seen a final proof The onlyreason we didn’t have time for the proof is because youdelayed our 8:00 AMmeeting to 10:00 AM Those lost twohours cost us that opportunity Second, the error oc-curred when we made the major copy revisions you gave

us We had agreed there would be only minor changes,not massive ones Third, the mistake doesn’t affect thecontent of the promotion It’s a stupid mistake, but not

a fatal one It’s not as if we got a product name wrong,

or a price wrong.”

All Leslie said before hanging up was, “I’ll wait foryour letter.”

She had it later that day In it I apologized again forthe mistake, and meticulously reconstructed how it hap-pened I also pointed out that if our clients refuse to adhere to the steps we use to ensure the work is doneright, and the work comes out wrong, the agency surelyshouldn’t have to pay for it

After some back and forth on the phone with Leslie,with her boss, and with the product group, the clientgrudgingly conceded the agency wasn’t truly at fault,and did not ask us to pay for the ad We had a long his-tory with this client before doing what became known

as the McAd disaster, and I’m glad to say we had a longhistory after We even did a few more McAds, but we in-sisted the client agree up front that if there were a mis-take, the agency was not financially liable

So what’s the point of this too-long story? The pointis: In a world where every client wants it yesterday andevery assignment is a rush job, it is tempting to takeshortcuts Forget the budget Forget the schedule Whoneeds a strategy? We’ll just wing it

You’ve got to start every assignment with a budget, aschedule, and a brief that your client buys into Thenyou’ve got to do everything you can to maintain the in-tegrity of those items as the assignment progresses

If you don’t, if you subvert the very processes that

help you and your colleagues get it right the first time,

you surely will find yourselves working to get it right the

second time As the saying goes, “There is always time to

do it over.”

con-We presented three ideas The client responded tively to all of them, but was absolutely passionate aboutone particular approach, which relied on an illustrationfor the visual.

posi-The creative director, who was also an art director, haddone a little sketch of the idea he had in mind for theillustration The client positively loved that sketch “It’sthe perfect payoff to the headline,” he said “It’s wittyand charming.” The creative director also had broughtalong examples of the work of the illustrator he wanted

to use to execute the sketch He showed the examples

to the client

The client wasn’t wild about the illustrator, and he had

a pained expression when we told him the cost Still hesaid, “You’re the experts If you say she’s the right person

to do the job, let’s spend the money and go with her.”This story should have a happy ending, but it doesn’t.The client was bitterly disappointed with the finished ad

To him, something was lost in the translation betweenconcept and execution “This just doesn’t work for me,”

he said “It was great when you first showed it to me, butthe finished ad just doesn’t work as well as I thought itwould.” It was especially painful to him that he had spentthousands of dollars on an illustration he didn’t like “Iwish we had just used the sketch instead,” he lamented

I don’t blame the illustrator; she executed the tion the creative director gave her I don’t blame thecreative director; he thought he had buy-in from theclient on both the concept and the choice of illustrator

direc-He was mystified by the client’s disappointment I tainly don’t blame the client, who was very supportive ofwhat we were trying to deliver

cer-I blame me

I did two things wrong: First, I missed the client’s nals about his lack of full endorsement of the choice ofillustrator and the associated cost Second, I didn’t man-age the client’s expectations about what the finished illustration would look like, and how it would differ fromthe creative director’s sketch

sig-When the client hesitated about the illustrator, Ishould have said to the creative director, “Tony, can youexplain how your sketch will translate into the finished

visual?” After Tony explained, I should have turned to

my client and said, “Are you okay with this? Have webeen clear on how the illustration will not look exactlylike the sketch?” Had I initiated that conversation, had

I drawn the client out, it would have revealed the client’sconcerns Then we either would have satisfied thoseconcerns and managed the client’s expectations, or wewould have concluded we needed to find another way

to execute the sketch into a finished illustration Welikely would have avoided the client’s unhappiness.That one incident had repercussions beyond the print

ad The client never again trusted us quite the way heonce did We had a harder time getting him to buy work

He became more risk adverse I’d even go so far as tosay the quality of work suffered

That was a long time ago These days, thanks to puter technology, agencies generally present initial cre-ative concepts in such finished form they look like finalads But the problem remains the same as before: If youdon’t manage the client’s expectations, the client willtake the concepts literally Unless you explain otherwise,clients buy exactly what they see, which can limit theagency’s ability to evolve the work to a better place

com-So the lesson is, manage your client expectations fromthe outset Make sure your clients understand how youand your colleagues approach a given assignment: Whatthe steps are What the agency will deliver at each step.When they will see the work, and in what form How tointerpret the storyboard or comp Who will present thework, and where you would like to conduct the meeting

Listen carefully for client concerns, even when theyare not stated overtly Especially when they are not statedovertly Ask questions Probe for answers Draw the cli-ent out

I missed a subtle signal that, in retrospect, was quiteclear If you observe and listen to your client, you can

do better than I did

so thorough, so exhaustive in their detail, so exhausting

to read

The agency hired a new creative director, who triedworking with these briefs for a few months One day heappeared in the doorway of my office, my latest master-work in hand (actually in two hands; it was a two-fisteddocument) His expression was a combination of exas-peration and despair “This isn’t a brief; it’s the anti-brief!” he exclaimed

He sat down and dropped the offending document

on my desk It landed with a solid thud “Here’s what weneed,” he said, as he pulled out a pen and scribbled thisoutline:

I resisted at first, but ultimately did what he asked

To my astonishment, he was right Our briefs becamesharper, tighter, and more focused The whole creativeprocess became sharper, tighter, and more focused Thecreative work that came out of those briefs was sharper,

tighter, and more focused Better still, instead of ing the work, the tighter briefs had the opposite impact.They had a liberating effect on our writers and art direc-tors, who now felt free to explore widely in and aroundthe direction provided in the brief

confin-Initially, it was a struggle to get creative people to tend sessions where we would work on the brief to-gether But ultimately, the whole agency adopted thenew format for the brief, and the collaborative processfor writing it, as the basis for creating work In fact, thecreative staff became so committed to the process thatthey would refuse to work on an assignment unlessthere was at least one session in which they participated

at-in the development of the brief

The version of the brief we actually adopted was not

as clipped as the one the creative director wrote out in

my office, but it remained very tight

Using a form like the one on the next page, we ated briefs that were always just one or two pages It led

cre-to some consistently excellent advertising

There probably are as many different kinds of briefs

as there are agencies And with the rise of account ning, the development of creative briefs has taken onnew dimensions since the days my agency first deployedthe form below So I’m not suggesting this is the defin-itive brief format and that you should promptly aban-don whatever your agency is currently using

plan-What I am suggesting is that you take the word brief

seriously There is a saying: “I didn’t have time to writeyou a short letter, so I wrote you a long one.” That says

it all