Brand and brief: how they relate?

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Creative briefs are used by design and advertising agencies to establish a client’s vision for an art project. The project typically influences the development of the company’s brand or the branding of one of its products or services. Consequently, there is a dependent relationship between branding and creative briefs, where the brief drives the development of branding components.

A company’s brand is probably its single most important intangible asset. It’s how consumers distinguish the company’s products from those of the competition. Brand recognition takes the company’s products out of the realm of the generic and into the enviable realm of customer retention based on reputation and an established standard. There are numerous components of a company’s brand, including its name, logo and slogan, which are often developed in collaboration with internal or external artistic professionals whose job it is to take management‘s vision and crystallize it into tangible expressions across a variety or medium.

Creative briefs are tools used by artistic professionals that allow clients to specifically define their vision. This is typically a series of questions designed to require the client to put into words her expectations. A creative brief provides an artist with direction, which ensures that the result of the artist’s work is in line with the client’s thinking.

The relationship between branding and creative briefs is simple. Creative briefs are typically used to develop all aspects of a brand. Using a brief ensures a level of consistency that transcends artistic variance. Regardless of how many artists work on brand components over time, the brief allows the company to control certain aspects of the final result. For example, the brief will typically inform a recently hired creative professional of the exact colors used in the company logo so that a consistent presentation can be made with the website.

Creative and branding briefs also have a mutual relationship in terms of professionalism. The better the creative brief, the more likely the client is to get top-notch work. Creative briefs work much like project roadmaps, setting out vision and expectations. A clearer map with better directions gets a business to its destination faster and with fewer hassles.

There are many companies, especially small businesses, that don’t use this type of tool to guide the creative process. Thus, the relationship between branding and creative briefs is not absolute. Management can commission quality branding work based on verbal instructions and general guidance. Often an entrepreneur is unable to publish a vision or does not have a specific vision in mind. In these cases, an artist is given plenty of room to brainstorm until something reaches the client.

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