Creators have become an important part of how brands keep up with the amount of content the world seems to want from them. Most brands simply can’t produce all of it themselves, and frankly, they probably shouldn’t try. A good creator brings something the brand doesn’t have: their own creative instinct, and a unique a point of view of the community they’ve built around them. They know the language, the humor, what people are talking about, what they’re tired of and what might actually make them stop scrolling for a minute. That’s valuable. It’s also why we’ve moved beyond simply calling these people influencers. Their real value isn’t just their ability to influence someone. It’s their ability to create something people actually want to engage with.
Today’s creators didn’t come out of agencies or traditional creative departments, and that may be part of what makes them so good at what they do. Handing them a giant creative brief, brand book or strategy deck and expecting them to dig through it for the good stuff can be more intimidating than inspiring. When someone is staring at a blank screen trying to find the idea, you want to get their creative juices flowing, not give them homework. What they need is efficiency, simplicity and clarity. What world am I stepping into? What does this brand stand for? What’s actually true? Who am I talking to? How does this brand behave? Give me something I can sink my mind into. Something that can spark a concept, an idea, a story, a moment or a way into the brand that becomes engaging, relatable, entertaining and fun. Get me up to speed and let me get to work.
A good Brand DNA earns its keep. We recently did exactly this with Pilotfish, an outdoor lifestyle brand we’ve been working with for the past 4 years. We already had a completed Brand DNA, so we weren’t starting another strategy exercise or inventing a new creator brief from scratch. We simply distilled the intelligence we already had. Eight fairly complicated strategic ideas became eight answers you could understand in about two minutes. Enough to see the brand, understand the boundaries and start creating. The deeper strategy is still there when the agency or creative team needs it, but the creator doesn’t have to dig through all of it before they can have their first good idea.
If you already have a Brand DNA, try boiling it down to these eight questions. If you don’t, start with the BXC Brand Strategy Cheat Sheet. Do the thinking once, capture the intelligence, and put it to work wherever your brand goes next.
Here’s what that looks like.
We are attainable outdoor lifestyle brand built around authentic time outside with friends, partners and family.
The gear people rely on most deserves better design, quality and consideration. We make gear we woild be proud to use.
Thoughtfully designed gear that fits in, holds up and works without destraction or worry. Stay focused on the moment. Not on your gear.
Prepared. Relaxed. Confident. Capable.
People who value time outside and care how their gear performs and fits into their life.
Low-key confident, natural, candid and grounded in real use.
Thoughtful. Adventurous. Relaxed.
Hold on to what matters most.
That’s the Creator's Creatve Brief. Eight questions, eight answers. The deeper DNA exists behind it if the agency or creative team needs more context, but this is the short and sweet version any creator can actually use and remember.
More importantly, we didn’t invent any of it for the creator brief. It was already there. That’s what a good Brand DNA is supposed to do. Once you’ve done the work to understand who you are, what you believe, your history, who you’re talking to and where you’re going, that intelligence should keep working for you. It should help your agency, your designers, your photographers and now your creators get up to speed quickly without starting another strategy exercise every time someone new touches the brand.
And that’s the exchange I find most interesting. Give creators enough of your Brand DNA to understand the world they’re stepping into, then give them room to bring back the things you hired them for in the first place: their creative instincts, endemic focus, community knowledge and a perspective you probably don’t have.
Get them up to speed. Give them something good to create from.
Then get out of the way.
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