Short And Skimpy Briefs - How To Brief Your Producer

We receive Production Briefs from Radio Stations all over the UK – and believe me the last thing we want to hand on to our writers are flimsy briefs! Here are a few GOOD BRIEF TIPS that will not only ensure a smile on my face but will guarantee you receiving the radio commercial of your dreams!

Details darling!

As the eyes and ears of our writers you can pick up on those idiosyncrasies that can ignite a writer’s imagination. If you notice that your client has an ardent love of football, why not tell us.  We could use this to inject some atmosphere to a script advertising the 10th used car dealership that week.

Turn-offs

Equally as important is to know what they don’t like, loathe, things in fact we should steer well clear of.  If we come up with a great concept for the client’s business and you are faced with a flat “I don’t like it” there’s not much room to manoeuvre.  (Although as ‘the professionals’ a ‘we know best’ argument could be brought up at this point, but we’ll get to that in a bit).

USP

The Golden Goose of all scripts. This is where you tell us about the deal of the decade we can promote, or the Michelin Star chef now working for the restaurant kitchen, or unique state of the art technology offered only by your client… or that they have good service and atmosphere, oh and did we mention free parking…? Alas, not everyone can have an obvious USP or any at all. So this is where we need to dig a bit deeper, or get creative with the script. A good radio commercial does not always need a bells and whistles USP to get people beating down the door. But if no one is looking at the business to find what makes it tick, who else will?

Are you talking to me?

Who are we targeting? Your client may well like the latest in Drum & Bass, but is that going to sell baby clothes? Knowing who we are writing for will affect the writing style and delivery. In some instances, divorcing your client’s personal tastes from what is going to appeal to their target audience is vital. They are paying after all for professional writers and an experienced radio team to advise what will work for them.

Remember me?

How long does it take you to learn your new mobile number? A few days, weeks more likely? A bit unfair and unrealistic then to expect the listener to recall 11 digits whilst driving to work with no means to record the number – we can’t exactly slip it seductively across a bar top on the back of a napkin à la Bogart! I digress…unless a mobile is the only contact for the business, forget it. Equally, bombarding the listener with a phone number, address and website can be overwhelming.  Whilst providing all the contact details for the client will be useful to research the client, a single call to action will be much easier to retain in the script.

Spend a penny

Knowing how much budget the client has will ensure you receive a script that will work within the client’s budget. Being aware of the budget boundaries will shape the direction of a script, and not giving any indication of budget could result in being presented with a script 3 xs over your production costs. And so it’s back to the drawing board and re-writing the big idea on a shoestring. We want to achieve the most with the script and create a champion campaign for the client that will have them coming back for more, because that’s the point isn’t it?

Now, if there is the potential for a larger spend, we can start to open up the magical musical door of jingles and idents. Larger still and why not and use a Personality Voice to work the script. But if we don’t know we have the budget to get the latest Bright Young Thing to voice the script and really create a stir, the client has missed out. We have failed in reaching the most potential for them.

However, that’s not to say we need hundreds and thousands for a script to be a success.  A single voice atmospheric script could be a better choice for the client than a hefty investment in a celebrity voice. Simply knowing how far the creative can be unleashed will result in the right script being written for the client.

I want it NOW!

Fast food, speed dating, supermarket express aisle; we all want things fast. And asking for a script that will really knock the socks off the client is great, we want that too. But try to combine the two and write a brilliant, imaginative, persuasive script in 1 hour. Are they really going to be getting the best? There will be occasions when time is a luxury that has to be sacrificed and turning a script around quickly just has to be done. However, allowing time for a quality script to be written will usually mean the writer can research the client, consider multiple angles for the script and ultimately get it right first time.

This article is posted courtesy of The JMS Group, a long established radio commercial production company in Norwich, UK. You can find out more about us at http://www.jms-group.com