There's no such thing as a small brief. Only an opportunity for something bigger. Whether it's a B2B classified ad for industrial lubricants, a leaflet warning you about flu season, or a tweet for attention, the job remains the same: take what you’re given and turn it into something better than it deserves to be.
This is especially prevalent for juniors, those entering the industry wide eyed but wondering where all the 'big' juicy briefs are. The ones that will see them on the podium at Cannes.
Here's the thing about the 'big' briefs. The bigger the brief the bigger the expectation. That means more scrutiny, more layers of approval, which can mean the more blunt and boring a sharp idea becomes. Smaller briefs on the other hand have less scrutiny, less expectation, less layers to navigate.
Instead, make every brief count. Take the small brief, with the lower expectations and knock it out of the park. Make a small space press ad unignorable and you too will become unignorable, and when the big briefs do roll in, your name will be on the list.
Take the legendary "Pregnant Man' ad. A leaflet that inspired a pub. The brief was for an ad to be placed inside Family Planning Clinics, the equivalent of a D2C social post today. Bill Atherton saw opportunity and created a concept so compelling and, at the time so controversial that it won every gong in adland. The small brief became so famous it inspired the name of Saatchi's own pub and was the ad that launched the UK's first global hot shop.
Pregnant Man : Cramer Saatchi / Saatchi & Saatchi
As a placement creative, Mike Nicholson got saddled with a stinker: a brief demanding the dreaded multiple pack shots. No one else in the department wanted it. His creative director even apologised while handing it over. But Mike and art director Daryl Corps saw magic in the mandatory: pack shots as plunger. The poster cleaned up at the award shows, got them hired and made the rest of the department jealous.
Tunes : AMV BBDO : Mike Nicholson & Daryl Corps
A junior team at Leo Burnetts took a John West trade brief and turned it into a Grand Prix winning poster campaign. The team refused to 'knock something out and wait for the big brief' and instead saw an opportunity to show what they were capable of. The team sketched an idea that the Creative director's believed in so much they got a photographer to shoot and produce it before showing it to the client. The team at John West loved the 'trade ad' and ran it as a nationwide billboard campaign which went on to dazzle the juries at Cannes.
Trade Ad to Billboard Glory : John West : Leo Burnett : Julie Adams and Richard Connor
Another 'apologetic briefing' was transformed into Cannes Gold by copywriter Justin Moore. What was briefed as a 'little internal video for a sales conference' became Johnnie Walker's most famous ad ever. There was no budget and no reason to believe it would ever amount to anything. But Moore had a vision and the nerve to email Robert Carlyle’s agent to pitch him the idea. The rest is advertising history.
Johnnie Walker, The Man Who Walked Around The World : Justin Moore.
Even if you're making something that wont necessarily set the world alight, look at everything as an opportunity. You’re on a set with cameras, a crew, actors, directors and photographers who all have a general appetite for creativity and making fun stuff. Ask nicely and you might get to make some things on the side; the execution the client didn't buy or sometimes, if you’re lucky, a music video for a local band.
Ad Shoot to Music Video : Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis : Win Like An Eagle
Even if the brief in front of you feels like a dead end, treat it like an open door. The biggest opportunity is the one sitting on your desk right now. Go grab it.