How to Make Every Brief Count

A brand spanking new brief lands on your desk and upon investigation, it feels... Underwhelming. It’s no snazzy Super Bowl spot, or groundbreaking brand launch. Instead, it’s a single social post, or a dull B2B ad for a trade brochure. As a creative, it’s easy to feel deflated when you’re dreaming of those big, shiny projects. But ask anyone who’s got to the big stuff and they’ll tell you there’s potential in every brief.

Speaking to dozens of creative folks, we got down to the details on how to really make every brief count. As Collaborate’s creative director, Merlyn Gray, puts it, “every brief holds the potential to be something extraordinary. The challenge isn’t the assignmernt – it’s how you see it.”

Attitude, it seems, is everything. “In advertising,” says Emily Stanney, creative at Drummon Central, “there’s no such thing as a ‘small’ brief – only small thinking. The brest creatives flip their perspective to see even the tiniest assignment as an opportunity, rather than a chores.

It’s a mindset shift that can turn what seems like “vegetables” into “dessert” – or so believes Alexandra Frazier, associate creative director at Mythic. “I’ve always believed that there are desert briefs and there are vegetable briefs,” she tells me. The latter may not inspire an immediate buzz, but Alexandra believes those little assignments are what can make you a better and smarter creative in the long run. They force you to stretch new muscles, and refine your craft in ways the easy, indulgent projects might not.

Glass Half Full > Glass Half Empty

Seeing that magic in every brief begins with changing your mindset. “It’s a mindset shift,” agrees Brian Eagle, group head of design at Oliver. “Start valuing each task as a chance to refine your skills and try something new.” Even a seemingly unimportant job can be a platform for discovery if you look at it that way. Ben Pfutzenreuter, executive creative director at Barkley OKRP, reframes advertising creativity as “nothing but eccentric helping – solving problems in interesting, unexpected ways.” In other words, a “boring” brief is just a problem waiting for a clever solution.

For young creatives especially, attitude can be a superpower. “Being a junior is your superpower. And that superpower is how you make every brief count,” declare Georgia Parker and Jasmine Watt, a mid-weight creative team at Neverland​. With less baggage and precedent to cloud your view, you’re able to question assumptions and see brands with “fresh, unbiased eyes – just like a new customer would,” they explain​.

Inexperience, in their view, isn’t a weakness – it’s an asset that frees you from the “right way” of doing things. The duo even proved it on a notoriously dry automotive brief: by embracing their outsider perspective, they pitched a wildly offbeat idea (involving a Viking preparing for battle in a Scottish castle) that their client loved and produced. Enthusiasm and open-mindedness turned a yawn-worthy ask into something memorable.

Freedom in Constraints?

Another recurring insight is that smaller or “unsexy” briefs often come with an unexpected perk of more creative freedom. Thomas Heyen, partner and managing creative director at Jung von Matt Hamburg, admits that early in his career he too wanted the big-budget TV spots. But he quickly learned to love the “hidden champions” – those unnoticed little projects.

With fewer eyes on the project, he didn’t have to fight through layers of approval and hierarchy, which meant he could take risks and follow his instincts. One of those “unattractive” briefs – a low-budget employer branding campaign for an airline – ended up winning him several awards precisely because he had the freedom to make it great.
It’s a perspective shared by Charlie Pendarves, associate creative director and partner at BBH. “Sometimes the best brief isn’t the biggest brief,” he notes​. Big projects come with big pressures and many stakeholders, whereas the best thing about smaller briefs is that “Nobody is looking at them. Or even expecting anything interesting from them.”

It enabled Charlie and his partner to turn an unwanted ten-second soup advert into a ninety-second mini-film for Valentine’s Day – an outrageous over-delivery that surprised and delighted the client. Ana Cavalcanti, executive creative director at Droga5 São Paulo, goes further, believing there is “no bad or small briefing” whatsoever. Every brief for Ana has a powerful insight waiting to be extracted, and sometimes a so-called small brief can actually give an idea more room to flourish. “There are countless cases where a tweet gets more buzz than a TVC,” Ana tells me, citing Volvo’s Super Bowl “Interception” stunt and other recent examples where a little idea earned Grand Prix honours​.

“When a briefing is ‘small,’ we often have a better chance of getting something fun through,” she explains​ – with fewer approvals and less budget at risk, bold ideas can escape intact. In fact, at her agency, they joke that with any brief, they can “turn lemons into caipirinhas,” turning seeming constraints into creative fuel​.

Rowan Powell, junior 3D designer at Imagination, wholeheartedly agrees that such constraints can be liberating. “Every brief is an opportunity, and smaller ones can be the biggest creative playgrounds,” says Rowan​. He actively reframes an uninspiring task by asking himself how he can inject something fresh or personal into it. Recently, he was simply asked to gather mood imagery for a pitch – a minor task on paper. But instead of doing the bare minimum, he chose visuals based on where he imagined the concept could go. Those bold mood boards actually helped shape a new design direction for the project.

History itself is full of small briefs that yielded big ideas once creatives looked at them differently. Who would have thought a technical demo for truck steering would result in Jean-Claude Van Damme performing an “epic split” between two moving Volvo trucks? Yet that 2013 Volvo Trucks spot became one of the most famous car ads ever.

Humour and Curiosity

When a brief feels especially mundane, many creatives suggest injecting a dose of humanity – whether through humour, curiosity, or a personal perspective. Esther Scriven, strategist at Imagination, likens the process to “panning for gold.” As a child, she once sifted mud for gold flecks at a theme park, and now she does the same with client information, hunting for tiny insights that shine.

“Every client brief holds the potential to create truly meaningful work. For me, the key to this is keeping the human need at the centre,” says Esther. Instead of fixating on how dry a task seems, she dives deeper into the audience’s motivations and the client’s goals, immersing herself until she “comes across a truth that sheds light on the task in front of you.”

Other times, the trick is to lighten up and play. A bit of humour or absurdity can alchemise a dull brief into something delightful. “The brief you’re dreading might be your ticket to creative glory,” says Lizzy Bilasano, head of creative strategy for North America at Whalar.

Her team once got handed a bizarre grab-bag of products – lactase pills, sunscreen, moisturiser, and diarrhoea medicine – essentially “the marketing equivalent of a kitchen junk drawer,” as she puts it. Instead of groaning, they welcomed the absurdity. The insight they found was that “camping mishaps happen to everyone,” resulting in a cheeky campaign embracing the awkwardness of upset tummies and sunburns on a camping trip.

Nick Spink, creative director at Cheil UK, also believes no brief is too boring if you bring your own fun to it. “Call me bonkers, but in all my years I’ve never had a problem with a ‘small’ or ‘dull’ brief,” he says​. Early in his career, Nick learned this by observing a tiny black-and-white press ad for canal boat holidays that became an unexpected award-winner. Its headline mimicked the puttering “put…put…put…” of a boat engine, delighting its niche audience and driving record brochure requests​.

Curiosity is another essential tool. Amy Butterworth, creative director at Born Social, encourages creatives to harness the “power of ‘what ifs’.” When faced with a bland brief, she asks questions like, “What if this small idea could go viral?” and, “What if this post sparks a bigger brand movement?” She also recommends stepping away from the desk to seek inspiration – eavesdrop on conversations in a café, visit a museum, have a guilt-free scroll through TikTok. These everyday moments can plant the seeds of a fresh concept.

It’s all about staying curious enough to find an unexpected angle and refusing to settle for the obvious execution. Creativity thrives on curiosity; if you treat even a one-line brief as a chance to explore, who knows where it might lead? If the brief doesn’t excite you, make it exciting.

Big Isn’t Always Better

Finding motivation in routine briefs can also be the key to building trust with clients and teammates. Artem Bjork, associate creative director at Above & Beyond, views every assignment as “a chance to build a stronger relationship.” Prove you can handle the everyday asks, he says, show passion for their business, and they’ll trust you when it comes to bigger, riskier opportunities.​

When a bizarre lawsuit once alleged that Subway’s tuna wasn’t real fish, the initial brief to Artem’s team was just to put out a quick rebuttal on social media. But thanks to years of trust developed with the client, the team pitched a more playful response – a tongue-in-cheek “#TunaForTuna” challenge, where Subway rewarded players who caught virtual tuna in Animal Crossing with free subs in real life. The client went for it, the quirky idea won awards, and it completely reframed the conversation around Subway’s tuna​.

Open communication is also a non-negotiable Robyn Freye, chief growth officer at Stagwell North America, suggests that agencies and clients should have a relationship where “if you receive an uninspiring brief, you can pick up the phone and have a candid conversation about their business challenges.” If a brief isn’t sparking anything, don’t be afraid to challenge it. Often, a boring brief is just a symptom of a boring ask – maybe the real problem to solve is hidden or hasn’t been framed right.

That means working with the client to push beyond the obvious. Her colleague Helen Lafford, chief growth officer and SVP at Stagwell EMEA, agrees: “When I receive a client brief, I always try to remember that its arrival is just the beginning of a conversation... What might seem mundane doesn’t mean the outcome has to be so.” Helen sees “all briefs as a creative springboard” – a starting point, not a final decree​.
When that isn’t an option, perspective is everything. “You can’t always change the brief.

But you can change the energy around it,” says Ryan Linder, global chief marketing officer and EVP at Stagwell. Leaders set the tone: if they treat a small project as unimportant busywork, the team will too (and the work will suffer). But if they frame it as a fun challenge, the team will rise to it. “Do people feel ownership? Are they motivated to turn small opportunities into big ones?” Ryan asks. The best teams don’t sit around waiting for an inspiring brief to magically appear – “they create it, together,” he says​. When everyone buys into the idea that any brief can be great, that belief tends to become self-fulfilling.

Even on the production side of the industry, this holds true. “The best opportunities aren’t always the biggest ones. They’re the ones you take seriously,” says Luke Lashley, founder of production company, Departure​. Luke’s team makes every brief count by treating each one – even the tiniest pitch – with the same respect and thoroughness as a major job. They read “every single bit of it – not just the topline, not just the budget, but the intent behind it,” and then go the extra mile to propose the perfect director and execution for the script​.

For Jackson Morton, executive producer and founder at JOJX, the ambition should always remain high. “We don’t want to execute; we want to craft work that resonates, disrupts, and shapes culture no matter what size the project is,” he tells me​. It might not get the same glory, but it contributes to a body of work that stands for something.
“Remember, not every brief will light a fire in you,” Ryan Linder admits. “Sometimes the task is uninspiring, the constraints are real, and the timeline is tight.” But how you respond in those moments defines you as a creative professional. “At the end of the day, we don’t always get to choose the brief. But we do get to choose how we respond. And that’s where the magic happens,” he says​.

When it comes down to it, making every brief count is about just that. As all of our contributors agree, if you’re going to do something, do it well.