Inspire Yourself with a Creative Brief

When I was in my twenties, I got my first job as an advertising copywriter at DDB Turkey. All thanks to a short and clear brief in the newspaper disguised as a job ad!

This was the 1990's. I had studied urban planning at the university, but I had realized that it was not for me. I moved to Istanbul and started looking for a job. I didn't know what to do.

I believed creativity was my thing, so I talked to a friend of a friend for advice. He was the head of account executives at one of the major advertising agencies.

The guy told me to forget about it. Creatives were either art directors or copywriters. To be an art director I should have studied fine arts, not urban planning. To be a copywriter, I should have been born as an extremely talented poet or a writer. I wasn't.

Completely discouraged, I went home.

Then came Sunday. In the newspaper, I saw a job ad that said:

"Wanted: A copywriter who likes to fly".

In Turkish, 'to fly' is slang for 'to make up stuff', 'to lie'. The ad was an open invitation to lie.

It was so exciting and fun that my fingers got itchy.

I sat down without much thinking and wrote a completely made-up story of my life. I explained how I could physically fly since I was a kid. How I first discovered I could jump really high, then after a few jumps that got higher and higher, how I would begin flying in my room, out of my window, over the city, and into space.

I lost track of time as I wrote the piece, as you do when you love what you do. When I finished, I printed it and faxed it to the agency on Monday. They called me right away and invited me to an interview on Tuesday. They offered me the job at the end of the interview!

The only catch was, they weren't planning to pay me anything. Feeling dizzy with my success, I still considered taking it, but fortunately, I had a few days to think and good friends who stopped me.

Next, I found the list of the advertising agencies in Istanbul. I faxed my "resume" to the top 50. The phone rang before I was finished with the fax machine.

Thanks to my fake resume, I got about ten interviews. Some of them didn't need a copywriter, they just wanted to meet me. I was offered three jobs. I took the junior copywriter position at DDB Turkey. I worked there for two years and I made the most important connections of my life which led me to screenwriting years later.

I definitely wasn't "born as an extremely talented poet or a writer" but I managed to write some successful ads and TV commercials, got involved in a few award-winning projects.

How did this happen? How did I get the job in the first place with zero experience?

The answer: I was inspired and energized!

The magical power of creative briefs

Advertising agencies know how to get the best work of their creative teams: They give them briefs.

Thanks to briefs, ideally, copywriters don't get writer's block. They never have to look at the ceiling for inspiration if they have a great brief. Someone else has done that part for them.

A creative brief doesn't only include the necessary information about the product or service to be advertised. It also has all the interesting, juicy bits of information, fun facts, insights to energize creativity. However, a great brief is never convoluted; its message is clear and concise. Sometimes all it takes is one sentence, an invitation to bring out your best ideas, just like the ad I saw.

A great brief functions as a 'springboard' that throws you high and deep into your creativity.

***

As independent writers, we don't have account executives who provide us with the briefs to bring out our best writing. This is something we need to do for ourselves.

We are responsible for finding our own inspiration.

Our brief for ourselves might be in the form of a great headline that summarizes and clarifies our message. It might be a mind map, or a freely written first draft exploring our idea, the interesting points we want to make.

If you find yourself blocked about an idea, try this. Write yourself a brief.

Write down your main message as clearly and shortly as possible. And then, write down the most interesting and fun points you can think of about your idea.

Let it rest for a bit. When you study it again, see if your fingers begin itching.

Happy writing!

This story was previously published on Medium.com.