How to Write a Creative Brief That Drives Better DTC Ads

Every razor brand in history showed smooth skin in their ads.

In 2018, Billie showed body hair.

That one decision is worth your attention.
Because it's one of the cleanest examples of a brief done right.

"Project Body Hair" was the first razor campaign to show what their customer looked like before using their product.

A real body, instead of airbrushed ones.

Here are 3 things they got right:

1️⃣ They identified what the category was avoiding and went directly there.

→ Every other brand was showing the outcome of using the product.
→ Billie showed the person over the outcome.
→ They closed the gap between what the category showed and what their customer looked like.

2️⃣ The creative was built around the customer.

→ Their customer didn't feel seen by the razor category.
→ This tension went directly into the brief so that it resonated with their customers.
→ The product was almost secondary.

3️⃣ One decision did the work of a much larger budget.

→ Billie had limited media spend.
→ The campaign earned attention because the signal was strong enough to travel.
→ That's what strong creative does. 

So many DTC brands respond to a creative problem by adding more creative. 
Billie solved it with one insight and the guts to act on it. 

When you understand your customer well enough, your creative will say something your competitors can't.

And that starts with a high-quality brief that's honest about who the customer is.

What's your biggest struggle with creating new briefs?
Drop it in the comments.

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Follow me, Jacob Rokeach, for more on performance, creative and building systems that scale.