Do you work in advertising? Are you supposed to be working on a brief right now? Are you trying to make it funnie? Maybe a little wackee? Thinking about making it funkee? Stan thinks you should re-think…

As I’m sure you know, the iPad went on sale in Australia last Friday. We’ve had one in the office for a couple of weeks, so I fully understand why people were queuing up at the crack of dawn to get one.

What I’m going to talk about today though, isn’t the iPad, but the iPad advertising campaign.
This has consisted primarily of posters of people reclining on couches with the iPad on their knee. No headline to be seen. And that’s it!

So what would you do if you got hold of the iPad brief?

I’m sure you’d agree that a portable tablet computer that operates with nothing more than the swipe of a finger on the screen is typical of the kind of product that you see in a student brief.

So how come the creatives who worked on the launch resisted the opportunity to do something weird and wonderful? Why do you think they didn’t write a “clever” headline?
Because they’re not students. They’re smart and experienced enough to let the product speak for itself.
Now ask yourself what you would have done with the iPad brief.

If it involves an idea that demonstrates how clever you are, rather than why someone would want to buy the product, then maybe you might want to have a think about the type of work you have in your folio.

Seriously. Stan couldn’t make it much simpler than this.

When you see an ad on the television does it have subtitles running across the bottom of the screen explaining what the brief for the ad was?

No, of course not.

Ever seen a poster on the highway with a copy of the brief attached to it?

No, didn’t think so.

So why oh why do so many juniors have creative briefs in their folios?

If your ad needs a copy of the brief alongside it in order to help someone understand it, then the ad is a failure.

In the real world ads have to do all the talking.

So please apply some rigour to your folio and ditch any briefs, labels explaining the ideas, and all those sticky notes with the proposition scribbled them. And do it now!

Hey kids, don’t forget that Stan is a Creative Director in Melbourne. He’s not just some guy reeling off random facts hoping they’ll stick. When he suggests you do something, it’s a pretty good idea to follow his advice. And this week he couldn’t be more specific…

As I’m sure you can imagine, lots of aspiring creative types in Melbourne come to see me with their folios.
Yet very few of them ask me if I have a brief they can work on.

Which makes me think that they’re not making the most of every opportunity to get a foot in the door.
By asking for a brief they’re showing initiative. That’s a much sort after quality in a creative person.
If they get a brief they have a reason to get in touch with me again.

Whether it’s by email or phone, they can contact me to ask questions about the brief.
Of course the brief also gives them a reason to come back and see me. And if I like what I see, who knows where it may lead.

So if you’re putting in the hard yards making calls and hustling your folio, don’t let the opportunity to ask for a brief pass you by.