An interesting way of describing the relationship between a brand, a campaign and a creative brief courtesy of TBWA London’s Executive Creative Director Dede Laurentino at MediaPro 2011.
Think of a chicken laying an egg.
Think of the chicken being the big idea and an egg being the creative expression of that idea.
A big idea serves a brand in all its expressions, whether they are internally facing (like newsletters or HR policy etc.), or externally facing (like posters, TV, website etc.). A big idea produces any number of eggs for the lifetime of the campaign.
However, a creative brief only addresses one element of the brand, one egg at a time.
But surely for a campaign to work, the same creative expression must apply to all eggs so that everything looks the same?
No.
And I can give you 26 reasons why not.
Think of an alphabet.
There are 26 different letters in the alphabet. In different fonts. In different colours. 26 different creative briefs.
Put them together and they still work to deliver a message. An integrated campaign. On brand.
If the letters are all the same beautifully crafted letter ‘A’, in the same font, in the same colour, then there is consistency. But there is no communication.
So no matter how many different creative treatments are produced, they all need to remain true to the big idea. To the brand.
That is why the big idea is like a chicken.
Allow a chicken to thrive, and you’ll keep getting new eggs.
It’s the chicken that comes first, not the egg.
