You’ve often heard people like me, or the Wizard of Ads Roy Williams, and even some of the Internet gurus say “copy is king” or “content is king”.
 But copy can’t be king without royal input! I’ve often counselled advertisers that “There is no such thing as a media which does not work; there are only messages which do not work.”
Working with creative and production people is much like working with a computer…..garbage in = garbage out.
If most radio account executives would devote a fraction of the time they spend in pursuit of an order to completing a proper Creative Brief, your team would be happier, your clients would get better results, and your attrition rate would drop dramatically.
Alternately, I’ve seen where alleged copy information is scribbled on the back of a napkin, or the only information provided is a clipping of a newspaper ad; or ‘see client’s website’.  In case you haven’t heard, in the media mix, radio and TV perform totally different, yet compatible roles, from that of websites. Broadcast should inspire, while Internet informs.
So here is your Creative Brief challenge. Pick a number of previously-completed Creative Briefs or copy information sheets your team has given to your writers in the past. Pick one per account executive.
Then pass them around in a sales meeting so that each account executive has a Creative Brief from one of the other account executives.
Now ask each of them to write an award-winning sales-producing spot from the information they have.
Be prepared for them to look like a deer caught in the headlights!
Content can be king only with royal input.
P.S. You are welcome to use the Creative Brief on our website at http://www.wensmedia.com/files/6313/6995/0229/Creative_Brief.pdf