On Clarity And Honesty

In the last decade and a half, I have suffered through countless creative briefs, project proposals, emails, faxes, and other pointless documents whose aim seemed to be this: Transforming simple, clear instructions that should normally take a few paragraphs to convey, into 73-page monuments to muddled confusion and bureaucratic inefficiency.

This brief written by Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol in April of 1969 (typed on wonderfully unremarkable letterhead) is an example of the exact opposite:

1. It consists of a grand total of 3 paragraphs.

2. It is entirely devoid of bullshit, corporate lingo, fine print or filler “content”.

3. It conveys everything it needs to convey, and does so with both refreshing candor and succinct efficiency.

4. It is the type of correspondence which – even if it didn’t come straight from Mick Jagger’s desk – would be worth framing and hanging on a wall.

What else could anyone ever ask for in a creative brief? For that matter, what else could anyone ever ask for from all of your organization’s communications, digital or otherwise?

Cheers.