Ineffective advertising

Since a mountain of time + effort has been devoted to the inverse of this subject in every conceivable medium, I’m going to focus on a core advertising fundamental which, as I near the end of my career, I finally understand – and wish that I had understood in the beginning. Here’s my epiphany:

A SUPERIOR AD CAMPAIGN IS BORN OF A SUPERIOR BRIEF.

I predict that a superior creative brief will come along once or twice in your career. A great one - maybe a few more times. 

MOST CREATIVE BRIEFS YOU’LL WRITE OR WORK WITH WILL BE WORTHLESS FOR THREE FUNDAMENTAL REASONS.

1. The client has not clearly identified the business problem that marketing + advertising will need to solve.
2. The client + agency have not clearly identified the role of advertising and what the commissioned work needs to do. 
3. The client and the agency account team have agreed to a specific solution before they involve the creative team to save the agency + client (billable) time + effort. 

A BAD CREATIVE BRIEF SETS YOU + THE AGENCY UP FOR FAILURE.

1. If the business problem has not been identified properly, the creative brief + expectations will be off the mark.
2. If the creative brief is off the mark, the creative solutions that the ad agency proposes might solve the "brief” but they won’t help solve the business problem.
3. Poor ads contribute to a poor ad campaign performance, a poor marketing campaign ROI and poor brand sales.
4. Poor advertising performance erodes the fundamental trust that brands place in the power of great advertising.  
5. Poor marketing results reduce the brand’s perceived value + make competitive inroads easier to achieve. 
6. Poor results reduce the brand + parent company's ROI.
7. They tarnish the Agency’s reputation as a source for great advertising + marketing solutions.
8. They diminish the Agency’s reputation as a business-building partner; a brand or an organization that can reliably be turned to when the client needs to solve a tough business problem and sort out alternate solutions.
9. And . . . it will mess with your career for years to come because business leaders + the headhunters that work on their behalf are looking for people who will make a disproportionate business contribution. Not a deficit.