Our friends at BetterBriefs, Pieter-Paul von Weiler and Matt Davies have delivered more scathing survey results. This time on the subject of evaluating creative ideas presented by agencies to clients. Why are ideas so difficult to judge? Why have rounds of creative presentation grown from an average of three to five before clients sign off? Henry G…

Kit Altin is chief strategy officer at The Gate London. And she made a splash last year at Austin's SXSW with queues round the block waiting for her workshop. She was so popular, she was invited back last month. And she's now a fixture at the annual festival that celebrates tech, film and music. Kit joins Henry Gomez and me to talk about her journe…

You're given only eight hours to write a creative brief. What now? According to our guest, Dan Carlton, it's not a common event, but it's not rare either. Dan is the CEO and founding partner of The Paragraph Project, a company that develops "human-centered strategies" for marketers and agencies alike. And he's created an online training for strateg…

Meet Kevin Le, content creator and podcast producer. A chance encounter on a business flight led to a three-hour non-stop conversation. And in invitation to join me on The Brief Bros. Kevin's enthusiasm for podcasting is infectious. And his deep experience opened my eyes. And since so many of Henry Gomez's and my colleagues are dabbling in podcasti…

Henry Gomez and I return to discuss an important "nuts 'n bolts" topic: why is there tension between strategtists and creatives? Alex Morris joined us a few months ago to share results from his own informal survey on this topic. But Henry and I decided it merited further exploration. When the relationship works, the results are magic. When it doesn…

Henry Gomez and I welcome Fab Nolan and Adam Green from 99Ravens.ai this week. 99Ravens is a new company in Toronto. And it makes a big promise: to improve the quality of client briefs to their ad agency clients. How? By using its AI-trained tool. Fab and Adam explain how it works and why they deliver on their promise. And they provided us with a d…

Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications student Alex Chrislu joins us today. She graduates in May and as you'll soon discover, she explodes with enthusiasm and confidence. And it's not hard to picture her in a senior leadership role in a short time. Henry Gomez and I revel in meeting young talent like Alex. For all the oldsters we talk…

Henry Gomez and I return with a Nuts 'n Bolts episode. Today we share with you a paper written in 2010. It's authored by Merry Baskin, a member of the World Advertising Research Center (WARC). And she writes on writing the agency brief. As Henry points out, this is the topic that triggered a debate between the two of us. The debate that motivated u…

Uri Baruchin joins Henry Gomez and me for the final segment of our conversation about frameworks. And today we tackle a brief construct designed to simplify and clarify. Yet too often practitioners flub it. Why? Uri tells us. But he's just getting warmed up. What is the biggest cost of AI? You've heard many pundits pontificate. But Uri's answer may…

Our friend Uri Baruchin returns for a two-part conversation. When he joined Henry Gomez and me three weeks ago, we simply ran out of time. It happens. Today, we asked him to expand on a thought: why have brand platforms failed us? It's a master class in strategy. Part 2 is next week.By Creative Brief Workshops LLC

Henry Gomez and I welcome back our friend Reid Holmes. And together, we celebrate the publication of his book Appreciated Branding. It's an enlightening and provocative examination of how to make mature brands, in Reid's words, "irreplaceable." His prescriptions for brands, according to reviewers, are timely and humane. We begin our chat with a lit…

We work hard as creatives, strategists and brand advocates. So when it comes to organizing our finances and paying taxes, how many of us are as buttoned-up with the numbers as we are with ideas? This week, we thought we'd pause for a moment and talk dollars and sense. And introduce you to a numbers person who knows creatives, Adeola Mosanya, Founde…

Thanks to our friend and a former guest, Baiba Matisone, Henry Gomez and I introduce you to Uri Baruchin. Uri is a consulting strategist in London with more than 20 years of agency and brand experience under his belt. And he has more than a few things to say about our industry as he looks back on his career. He is unflinching in his critiques. And …

With special thanks to our friend Marc Lewis, dean of the venerable SCA in London, we present Louie Scott (AD) and Giorgia La Vecchia (CW). Marc recommended both these young people who are deep into SCA's portfolio development classes. Louie's path appears like a long and winding road. Giorgia thought she found a creative outlet in the art world. F…

Our friend Vivek Kuchibhotla returns to talk about the challenges brands face when they search for a new ad agency. He's a veteran of Leo Burnett, where he worked on Proctor & Gamble, first in Venezuela, then Hong Kong, finally in Chicago. He was then put to work on the global MacDonald's business. Vivek is also on the faculty of the Association of…

Henry Gomez chats me up today about my latest training, a 90-minute webinar on writing the Single-Minded Proposition. It's one week from today, Wednesay, January 15. Today, I give you highlights of the webinar's take-aways. The training consists of 60 minutes of insights into real SMPs on real briefs, plus 30 minutes of discussion and Q&A with me. …

Henry Gomez and I welcome back an old friend, Bob Hoffman. He's here to talk about his new book, The Three Word Brief. It's an incisive and no-holds-barred examination of the ad business and marketing. When Bob speaks, people listen. And on his third visit with us, he has much to say. From the flaws in the agency world to fraud in digital adveritin…

Finally, and at long last, George Tannenbaum answers the question on everyone's mind: Is GeorgeCo LLC really a Delaware company? He talks about much more than that, of course. Henry Gomez and I delight in the return of our friend. He's our holiday present to all of you. Consider this our joint thank you for your support over the last year. And the …

Our guest, Alex Morris, is a freelance strategy consultant who authored a study Creatives on Strategy: Looking Outside Ourselves to Define What Strategy Offers. It is a survey of creatives' thoughts about strategy. And it's the topic of our discussion today. Alex is a strategist of high regard, as evidenced by the comments from his colleagues. “Ale…

Ed Tsue, Global CSO at Media Futures Group, a respected and admired strategist in our industry, tells us that the Creative Brief is Dead. Today on The Brief Bros., he defends and expands on his position, first posited in his Medium newsletter a year ago. And thanks to last week's guest Ed Cotton, who reposted Ed Tsue's musings on his blog, Provoke,…

When he launched his Substack blog Provoke six months ago, strategist Ed Cotton had a clear goal. He decided to post excerpts from and links to his favorite LinkedIn articles. But he didn't stop there. When a topic struck his fancy, he looked beyond LinkedIn and created a curio box of goodies. Most are strategy related. But his interests reflect th…

It's a too-familiar story. Derek Walker, copywriter and agency founder, came to advertising via journalism. When he graduated, he couldn't find work in ad agencies. Instead, he cut his teeth in corporate America. Radio Shack, for one, where as in-house ACD, he worked on the Howie & Teri television spots. As he tells it, his grounding on the client …

Part 2 with Christopher Owens, head of brand strategy at TRG, formerly The Richards Group. Today, Christopher continues to share his passion for strategy. He talks at length about the dangers of short-term thinking on building brands. Then he addresses the turn away information-driven creative back to creativity and story-telling to make emotional …

Our guest this week is the man who put us in touch with the author of the famous Kiwi shoe polish creative brief. Christopher Owens, head of brand strategy at TRG, formerly The Richards Group, hired Sarah Walker-Hall. He reached out to us years ago and asked if we wanted to meet this strategist. And that led to a two-part interview on The Brief Bro…

The second part of our conversation with TBWA Worldwide's Rob Schwartz. Today, guest-host David Moore and I talk with Rob about the heroes among strategists. The story behind the full-page ad for TBWA\Chiat\Day NY's move. What's the way forward for our industry? Is advertising creatively rewarding? And more. Reminder: For a 90-minute live webinar a…

Creative Director. Executive Creative Director. Chief Creative Officer. CEO. Chair. And now Certified Coach. All the aforementioned at TBWA\Worldwide. First in Los Angeles, then in New York. Rob Schwartz has worn many hats in his illustrious career. He was even my boss at Team One Advertising in the late 90s before he moved on to TBWA\Chiat\Day. An…

Part memoir, part textbook for all creative entrepreneurs, Nick Cohen's Honest! A True Story of a Ridiculous Attempt to Make Advertising More Truthful is a must read. It's fun, funny, and an improbable tale of 15 years of creative genius and ground-breaking work. And it's the unforgettable story about the founding of a brilliant shop, Mad Dogs & En…

What do you get when you combine erudition, deep research, and a copywriter's dexterous poise with a sentence? You get The Road to Hell: How Purpose Leads to a Worse World. Our guest on The Brief Bros. this week, Nick Asbury, tackles a timely and provocative subject, purpose. And Henry Gomez and I take a stroll down this road with Nick and we disse…

Join us for Part 2 of our first-ever all-creative panel discussion. We continue our talk about our industry, the state of creativity, and the role of AI. Co-host David Moore, who sits in for the traveling Henry Gomez, and I join seven of our friends and colleagues: Gene Payne in Chicago, Nic York-Bogen in LA, Monique Thomas in Minneapolis, Sara Ros…

In a first for the Brief Bros., we've assembled a panel of seven advertising creatives to talk about our industry, the state of creativity, and the role of AI. The discussion was so lively and robust, we talked for more than two hours. Today's episode is Part 1. Part 2 airs next Wednesday. Joining me and my friend and reliable substitute co-host Da…

A good strategist can walk a mile in the shoes of the customer. And a good novelist must do the same, except in the shoes of many characters. Henry Gomez and I are excited to introduce you to a practitioner of both skills—strategy and novelwriting. His name is Tim Maleeny and he is the chief strategist and innovation officer at Havas in New York Ci…

He's the first to appear on The Brief Bros. three times. And we're delighted and privileged to have him back. Cameron Day joins Henry Gomez and me today to talk about his new book, Stones & Sticks. It's the third book in his trilogy The Advertising Survival Guide: Stage Three: The Highest Altitudes of Your Career. Listen to a professional describe …

Creative briefs are a vital element in advertising, but so are brand manifestos. Our guest today is Lonnie Elliott, creative lead at Meta, and the founder of Manifestowriting.com. Lonnie shares with Henry Gomez and me examples of great manifestos, some of which you may recognize. And he talks about his plans to expand his growing collection of mani…

Four months ago, Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis created the postion of Chief Operating Officer. They created it with one person in mind, our guest today on The Brief Bros.: Stacy Janicki. A legacy advertising agency needs a great leader, and CL found it in Stacy. Join Henry Gomez and me as we chat with this dynamic and laid-back personality. CL's …

Luckett Vanguard oozes all the qualities you want in a strategic planner: curiosity, gregariousness, passion, the team player. FCB in Chicago hired him a year ago from the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Comm. Kudos to our friend Mark Jenson for the rec! And already he's made his mark. Henry Gomez and I quizzed him on the unusual path he took…

She was a founding partner at Mad Dogs & Englishmen in New York (thank you Dave Dye for your encyclopedic memory!). And today, she runs her own strategy consulting firm, Open Mind Strategy. Henry Gomez and I are thrilled to welcome Robin Hafitz to a sit-down chat on The Brief Bros. Robin was one of the first five American practitioners of account p…

Henry Gomez and I welcome Mack Saunders, the director of brand experience for The Annex, a boutique hotel in Toronto. Mack's background and perspective on branding came to my attention when I met him at The Annex on a recent trip to Ontario. Fans of The Brief Bros. will be intrigued by the challenges he has faced in his role. And the intrepid manne…

Lance Saunders, strategic consultant and adjunct professor at York University in Toronto, returns to The Brief Bros. to talk to Henry Gomez and me about the inaugural essay he contributed to my blog titled, "Beyond The Brief." It's all in celebration of the recent addition of more than 50 briefs to the Creative Brief Archive, a repository of finish…

Our guest this week is Vasanth Seshadri. He is the founder and creative director of The Sunnyside, a virtual ad agency in Singapore. Vasanth's story will resonate with creatives everywhere. The route he took from newbie copywriter to the founding of his own shop covers a journey of thousands of miles and tenures with many legacy agencies. Including…

Say "AI" to anyone in our industry, and it will likely cause a wince, a pucker, even a laugh. And probably a few other reactions. Say it to our guest, Ross Patrick, Creative Lead and Director of Advertising at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and you'll be in for a passionate discourse on the technology's many benefits. That's why Henry …

Henry Gomez and I welcome Tim Nudd, a journalist who covers creativity for AdAge. Tim was the host and narrator of a popular podcast called Tagline, sponsored by Muse by Clio. It was a feast of backstories and wonderful anecdotes about some of the most iconic ad campaigns produced by our industry. Henry and I talk at length with Tim about his role …

Jon Steel's book, Truth, Lies & Advertising is the bible for strategy, creative briefs and what makes great creative campaigns. Now in its 26th year, it remains fresh and relevant, even if the advertising referenced in it are from the 20th Century. His thinking proves that new and shiny pales against fundamentals and fundamental truths. Henry Gomez…

One of them did a trumpet solo and she doesn't play trumpet. The other did six minutes of stand-up comedy and she isn't a comedian. No, they weren't auditioning for Britain's Got Talent. In a return to our New and Emerging Talent series, Henry Gomez and I talk to two current ad students at London's famed School of Communication Arts—the most awarde…

In a first for Henry Gomez and me, The Brief Bros. hosts three...ghosts. You'll hear them, but you won't see them. That's because they prefer to let their creative work speak for itself on behalf of their clients. And that's their story. Which we are transparently delighted to share with you. For small group and corporate training in writing inspir…

Henry Gomez and I bring you two young advertising talents who started The Loudest Roar last year, which they call the "Cannes Lion Fantasy League." It's an online communmity for young professionals to predict the winners at Cannes, and it's growing in popularity worldwide. We're delighted to welcome Chirag Khushalani and Samita Balakrishnan, two st…

Meet the host of Stuff About Advertising Ashley Rutstein. She's a freelance copywriter, social media verteran, and the star of her own TikTok page where she talks about, well, Stuff About Advertising. And Henry Gomez and I had a fun and enlightening conversation with her. So many brands want to be on TikTok, but did you know the space is wide open …

This week Henry Gomez and I introduce you to the founder of DAIVID, Ian Forrester. Ian is the brains behind an AI tool that measures the effectiveness of ad creative by pinpointing which of 39 emotions a piece of creative evokes. Yeah, we know—another bogus way to test creative, right? Don't be so quick to judge. Ian demonstrates for us why this to…

Two advertising industry giants join us today to talk about their new book, The Howard Gossage Show. Both Steve Harrison and Dave Dye have talked to us before. But today they arrive together as co-authors of a book as big as its subject matter. And a necessary teaching tool for all of us in the ad game. Sitting in for the traveling Henry Gomez, our…

You need chutzpah to land an internship in our industry. Spell it any way you like, you gotta get the decision-maker's attention. Which is why Henry Gomez and I are so delighted to introduce you to Kristina Olsen Pinjusic, a.k.a. "The Kristina," your new favorite intern. She displayed enviable intrepidity and gutsiness and used LinkedIn to announce…

Todd Turner is a talented graphic designer who's carved out a fun niche in Out of Home. Lately, he's formed a partnership with Richard Molinaro called Up to Something in North Carolina. Todd and Richard create unforgettable OOH for brands, agencies and media companies. But it's Todd's side gig that grabbed our attention. Henry Gomez and I talked to…