How Should the Creative Brief Change in the Always-On World - Evolving Creative Brief for Always-On Advertising

Sep 12, 2026

The article examines why the creative brief remains largely unchanged despite advertising becoming more agile, mobile-first, and driven by real-time, intent-based micro-moments. It argues for evolving the brief so it supports relevance and quicker execution while still guiding creative work. Insights come from agency and client leaders who show how brief structure can reduce approval layers, improve focus, and enable modular ideation that ladders up to a campaign’s core idea.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Work in three-person teams

Develop mini creative briefs for your advertising

Plan for advertising creative beyond the launch

How Should the Creative Brief Change in the Always-On World? Written by Ben Jones Published December 2015 In this edition of Firestarters, we focus on a topic near and dear to planners’ hearts: the creative brief. Industry leaders share how they’ve adapted creative briefs at their agencies to help drive projects in an always-on world. A dvertising has radically shifted to be more agile, useful, and relevant in the always-on age of mobile. Yet the foundation of creative work, the creative brief, remains largely unchanged. It’s time for an evolution. The brief was designed for a world that no longer exists: a world of scarce media, in which brands could easily attract people’s attention with cleverness and creativity. Now, people have endless media options. And the consumer journey features hundreds of real-time, intent-driven micro-moments. Advertising must still be creative—but also relevant—in these moments to win hearts, minds, and dollars. So, how does the creative brief need to change to keep up? As part of our on-going Google Firestarters series, we gathered leaders from top agencies (Droga5, Deep Focus, and betaworks) and clients (Mondelez) to share how they’ve adapted their briefs to this new world. Here are some of their tips on how the brief, and the creative process it kicks off, should evolve. 1. Work in three-person teams What kills creative work? Often, it’s layers upon layers of review that lead creative teams in circles, wasting weeks or months of effort. After transitioning to the client side, Eliza Esquivel, the VP and global head of brand strategy at Mondelez, found large companies often succeed by systematizing processes (like, say, marketing briefs) . But “with too many templates, too many cooks in the kitchen, and too many layers of approval, the deck can get stacked against the possibility of great creative work,” she said.“We cannot have 20 layers of approval for campaign work.” Instead, Mondelez is experimenting with working in three-person teams that brief, decide, and create all of the work. Two people on the team are from Mondelez, including a strategist and a person with expertise related [thinkwithgoogle.com](thinkwithgoogle.com) 2 Eliza Esquivel believes too many layers of approval can get in the way of great creative work.creative work. to the brand. The third person, a creative or technology partner, comes from the outside. “It starts with a conversation among three people who design an experience that allows us to define and solve the right problem with the right people,” Esquivel said. Not only does this new model create an environment where creativity can flourish, cutting out complexity and layers of approval, but it also allows Mondelez to get work to market more quickly. 2. Develop mini creative briefs for your advertising Too many ideas can destroy focus. Many agencies avoid this by elevating one simple brief to serve as the foundation for the big idea of a campaign. But sometimes new pieces or side projects can arise midstream. Droga5’s process is designed to ensure the big idea brief isn’t forced into serving as a catch-all for every part of a campaign. [thinkwithgoogle.com](thinkwithgoogle.com) 3 Droga teams use insights about the audience along the customer journey to develop mini briefs. Each mini brief then ladders up to the big idea, tackling a specific purchase behavior. Chet Gulland, head of strategy at Droga5, said he works to keep the big brief consistent, but he’s found it’s best to let mini briefs be flexible. “Once in a while we think we should formalize what all these mini briefs look like, and then we decide to keep it flexible and really simple,” he said.“Designing them specifically around what you’re trying to brief makes the most sense as long as you really know what problem you’re trying to solve.” “We have to think beyond ‘we need an idea that works in social media.’ That cannot be the brief. We need ideas that are actually

FAQs

Why does the article say the creative brief must evolve in an always-on world?

Advertising has become more agile and real-time in the mobile era, with many micro-moments driven by consumer intent. The article argues that the brief was designed for a world with scarce media, so it needs changes to stay relevant and effective now.

How does working in three-person teams affect creative work and approvals?

The article links excessive review layers to slower progress and wasted effort. By briefing, deciding, and creating within a three-person team, the process cuts complexity and reduces approval layers, helping teams get work to market faster.

What is the role of mini creative briefs in the approach described?

Instead of forcing one big-idea brief to cover every campaign element, teams develop mini briefs aligned to specific purchase behaviors or audience insights. Each mini brief remains flexible while laddering up to the big idea, supporting modular executions.

Sep 12, 2026

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