Identity
"What consumer need is being addressed

As always, research on what the competition are doing / have done, and what your client's advertising history

is essential - if you were being asked to follow an advertising trend, you would expect this information to be volunteered, but if it isn't, and your

research suggests that this may be the case - ask.

Get into the habit of guiding a reluctant client gently towards the commitment of a brief - better still

educate them into providing a clear brief at the outset. To be fair, sometimes they would get it spot on first time - especially the ones who I'd used

before, and knew something about the product, and perhaps more importantly, about me!

It's so much easier, isn't it; to look at some text and say that you

like this, don't like that, this is going in the right direction, and this is a bit too wide of the mark; and you can't say that - the ASA will be on me

like a ton of bricks if this goes out! Marketing Managers and Brand Managers like to have things easy - well, we all do truth be told. Remember - it's

your time that you're going to be saving, and it makes for a good working relationship.
. Sounds good doesn't it? But it does sound professional, and it

will get the Manager thinking along the right lines.I have to admit that I've been on both sides of the fence. In earlier days, when commissioning adverts

and brochures, I have been the one who has been reluctant (lazy) to spend time thinking about what it was that I actually wanted to communicate.

But this is one of those situations that you have to be strong, and fight your corner.

Demanding a brief is not only unproductive, it will probably get you taken off the list of outsourced agencies the company prefers to use.

Ask your client if he can "establish a positioning statement". All you're trying to do is tie down some bases. It was much easier to get the poor copywriter to compose a piece to say what they thought I was trying to, and then have a discussion

with them to safety fence explain that their offering was

missing some salient points, and could they please try again. What you need to do is point the client in the general direction of what is required, and

here are some pointers as to what you might suggest. So you need to educate your client into furnishing you with a brief