smelly briefs

This is a great example of a bad brief.

It comes from a fascinating article in the New Yorker, by Chandler Burr; about the creation of a new scent for Hermes.

This a French perfume executive describing the typical brief that marketing give to the perfumiers:

"Basically, it's 'We want something for women.' OK, which women? 'Women! All women! It should make the feel more feminine, but strong, and competent, but not too much, and should work well in Europe and the US and especially in the Asian market, and it should be new but it should be classic, and young women should love it, but older women should love it, too.' If it's a French house, the brief will also say, 'And it should be a great and uncompromised work of art,' and if it's an American brief it will say, 'And it should smell like that Armani thing two years ago that did four million dollars in the first two months in Europe but also like the Givenchy that sold so well in China.'"

Comments

[Luca Vergano]

Oh God, how many of these have we seen or heard from clients and accounts? the other side of a bad brief is: the creative comes out with a campaign with a white horse. The account/client looks at the layout for five seconds and goes:"great, really great. Can we just do it without the white horse?"