Surviving The Creative Brief

Your creative strategy just got approved by your client and now you’re sitting in a room digesting the material and warming up your brain to having to bring the plan to life. This is the moment every creative person goes into sleep paralysis. You’re starting to panic, nothings coming out, and the deadline is approaching. What do you do?

We got our first official creative brief last week. Whew! Exciting times, but as a copywriter i must say, having to turn on that creative lightbulb before deadline can be painful. So here are some things you can do when you feel the pressure of having to be creative but you have no inspiration.

Routine

A good routine is monumental. Being creative is a meditative process, you have to be able to put your mind in a space that allows it to be innovative. Being able to identify a process that allows you to go to that creative zone is vital. It’s what makes writing your profession and not a hobby.

Playlist

A go to playlist of music that inspires you is helpful. Whether it's Lofi, classical, Hip-Hop, Jazz, asmr, it doesn’t matter, the goal is to find a vibe that lets you relax and have fun. Thinking about how hard it is to get creative is a disservice. Personally, I like music with no words since I’m writing sometimes words can be too cloudy for me, so I listen to either Jazz or classical. This seems to always allow me to feel creative.

Movement

Music not doing the job? Fear not, here's something else you can do. Take a walk, jog in place, create some sort of movement your body can do. This may sound unreliable, but it's better than looking at a blank screen stressing because nothing is coming out. Moving gives your mind something else to focus on until you sit down in front of your screen. I like going outside for a walk and if I have enough time working out.

Blah

This step is what I call blah, it's my way of saying idea vomit. Just start putting things out, whether it's good or bad, work through the mud until you find the gem. This is one of my favorite ways to create, just freestyle and or brainstorm, doodle, all the above, eventually like clockwork something always comes out. Trust me, I’ve been in a tough spot plenty of times, and then I blah and voila I have something I feel less embarrassed about.

Since you’re on deadline you don’t have the privilege of being able to completely walk away from the task, you have to stick it out and that’s what makes the process feel less than enjoyable. As a creative we hate feeling restrained and one of the best ways to make us feel restrained is putting rules and deadlines on our creativity, but you’re an adult now and have a job to do so… get it done.

By: Kurtis Hilliard