What is about digital projects that makes them so challenging?
For starters, interactive campaigns come with expectations around “push and pull”. That is, they come with expectations around getting information out to prospective customers and the attainment of customer response (e.g., click through’s, likes, etc.). They also come with expectations around sharing and other proliferation channels. This puts pressure on the Creative team, with the desire to go viral as a key metric because , more and more, ads are becoming content. It also puts more pressure on those responsible for execution (making it all work on multiple platforms, versions, etc.).
Given these realities, how can you ensure that your digital projects are successful on a consistent basis? While producing brilliant digital work is critical to your success, no matter how great the work, if execution isn’t flawless, your clients will be unhappy and your profits will shrink.
Digital Project Brief: The Keys to Success
A good digital project brief will enable you to identify and clarify important details around five aspects of your digital projects. They include:
- Clarify the key roles and key players: The new norm is for multiple agencies to be involved in a digital campaign. On digital projects, there can be so much overlap in responsibilities that, if not clearly defined up front, can be a big problem. Make sure that your role, and that of your agency, is clearly defined: what you will do/produce and by when. Find out what access you will have to the client (obviously, the more the better).
- The Big Picture: Be sure to nail down the drivers, goals and relevant metrics for the campaign. Getting into the details before you’re clear on the big picture will almost certainly invite rework later on.
- Be sure you understand the end customer/user environment: Do an assessment that answers the obvious (and not so obvious) questions: Who’s the target, where are they now, and what do you want them to do? If the research doesn’t exist, you may need to do it yourself.
- Clarify the campaign/ project requirements: Make sure everyone’s on the same page on the deliverables, mandatories, key interdependencies and timing. Force a discussion on those the details that can cause technical headaches, and don’t forget about QA: who’s testing, what, when, and who signs off on it?
- Understand the expectations and requirements for the technical information infrastructure: All the details that need to be clarified early and often. Know how to separate the “knowns” from the “unknowns”. Here’s where, based on what you’ve learned from the topics above, you will deal with everything from high level architecture and platform targets to security and access protocols and content management system requirements.
Addressing these five keys won’t guarantee a successful digital project. Failing to address them will almost certainly result in rework and lower margins. In every case, a good project brief will expose risks that, when managed carefully, will result in a successful outcome along with higher margins and satisfied clients.
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