The life of a creative isn't easy.
Good. It shouldn’t be.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
That’s why an open brief can be the hardest one to create great work on. You need to make sure you have a problem. Something that you can rub up against, work and pick at.
Sometimes that problem’s what the brief is all about. That’s perfect, it lets you spend all of your time trying to find the answer that’s needed.
However, it’s not always that easy. If that’s the case then you need to find your own problems. They’ll vary by the brief but there are usual similar areas you can go at.
Try to find things in the strategy to disagree with.
Find the reason the audience aren’t already buying the product.
Question the preconceived and standardised category rules.
Challenge the recommended media.
Be held back by the budget or timings.
These problems might not, in reality, actual be a problem. The strategy, media choices, budget and timings are often good. Creating problems with them is solely a way to give you something you can kick around and find alternative ways of doing.
Ways that will open up new directions in your thinking. Stopping the creative process becoming a one track path, A to B to C to…
The easy way is often the obvious way, which is not going to be a very creative solution.
So, make it difficult. Box yourself into a corner and try to find a way out of it.
You have to think creatively to do that.
