If you haven’t seen it by now, you owe it to yourself to take a few minutes and watch Close to Home, the latest in the It Can Wait campaign from AT&T.
Go ahead, we’ll wait.
As good as this piece is, for those of us in the ad world, the story behind it is even better.
Recently, Ad Age published The Story Behind AT&T’s Disturbing Phone-Safety Ad, Ann-Christine Diaz goes inside baseball on the film, how it was made, and the thinking behind it.
A few notable nuggets from the article:
AT&T research found that while the general audience, namely, consumers in their 30s, had agreed with messages from the previous ads, they were “rationalizing, giving reasons why they could [use their phones and drive] safely, whether it’s because they’re an experienced driver, or doing it at a stop sign,” among other things, said Ms. Kuckelman. Moreover, it showed that not just texting or email, but social media and other phone activities were contributing to accidents.
And this:
“The agency brief started with, ‘think of this not as an advertising campaign but an opportunity to save lives,'” Mr. Planchon said. “They wanted the tone to be raw and emotional.”
Take a few minutes and read the entire article. It’s worth it.
In the end, however, this a fact that we’ve seen over and over — in the right hands, a well-crafted creative brief provides the framework, and the opportunity, to do some amazing work.
If you’re on the creative side, insist on them. If you’re on the account side, write them. Then rewrite them. Make them better. Your client — and your agency — with thank you for it.
Nicolet Laursen is a graphic designer and developer who joined CLM in June. She spent her childhood roughing it in the resort towns of South Lake Tahoe and Coeur d’Alene before attending Boise State University to pursue her career in design. From 2008-2011, she worked as an interactive designer at Balihoo before starting her own company. Outside of the day job, she spends her time painting in her studio, running in the foothills and volunteering for worthy causes.
Oscar Mariscal is a media planner, who graduated from the College of Idaho in May with a degree in business and an emphasis in marketing. When he’s not identifying media opportunities for our clients, you’ll find him running around town setting PRs in his half marathon training or serving aces on the tennis courts.
Former East Coaster Danielle Strollo graduated from Dartmouth College in 2007 with a degree in History, or as she puts it, “Cocktail Party Factoids.” She came to us this May after a stint with Boise-based Tick Tock Media Productions, and before that worked in writing and fundraising in the Bay Area. If she’s not wordsmithing, she’s playing soccer or training for a triathlon, so look out for her speeding through Ann Morrison Park.