Campaign Creative Direction
Assets are cheap. Ideas worth producing are not.
A $1,650 Creative Audit reviews what you are running against what is performing, and tells you whether the problem is the execution or the idea underneath it. Two weeks, fixed price.
The problem
More assets, same result.
The instinct when a campaign underperforms is to make more of it. More variants, more formats, more channels. If the underlying idea is not distinctive, volume just distributes the same forgettable message more widely and more expensively.
Creative direction is the work that happens before production: deciding what the campaign is actually saying, to whom, and why anyone should care. It is the cheapest stage to change and the most expensive one to skip.
Anatomy
Four things a concept has to settle.
Before anyone opens a design tool.
The idea
A single organising thought the campaign hangs on, that a stranger could repeat back after seeing one ad.
The message hierarchy
What leads, what supports, what is deliberately left out. Most B2B creative fails by saying everything at once.
The territory
The visual and tonal world the campaign lives in, consistent enough to be recognised across formats.
The proof
What makes the claim believable, and where it appears in the sequence rather than crammed into every asset.
Message matrix
One message per audience, not one for everyone.
B2B buying committees contain people measured on different things. The technical evaluator, the economic buyer and the eventual user each need a different argument for the same product.
The matrix maps message against segment so every asset knows who it is talking to. It is also what makes creative testable, because you can attribute a result to a specific argument rather than to a general impression.
Testing
Concepts get tested, not defended.
Creative disagreements inside companies are usually settled by seniority. That is an expensive way to make a decision when the audience can settle it in a fortnight for the cost of some ad spend.
We produce multiple concepts, run them against each other, and let performance decide. The concept nobody in the room liked wins often enough to make the process worth having.
Deliverables
What you receive.
Direction and specification. Production of finished assets is scoped separately, in-house or with whoever you already use.
Campaign concepts
Two or three distinct strategic ideas, developed far enough to judge properly rather than as one-line pitches.
Messaging hierarchy
What each audience hears first, second and not at all, tied back to your positioning.
Creative territories
Visual and tonal direction with enough specificity that different producers deliver consistent work.
Asset briefs
Written specifications per asset and channel, so production does not reinterpret the idea.
Testing plan
Which concepts run against each other, on what budget, measured how, and what would kill one.
Production oversight
Review of what gets made against what was briefed, in-house or with your existing producers.
Process
Five weeks to a briefed campaign.
Fixed timeline, fixed price, agreed at kickoff.
Week 1
Immersion
Product, buyers, sales calls and what has already been tried, plus what performed and what did not.
Week 2 to 3
Concept development
Two or three strategic ideas developed independently, each with its own argument and territory.
Week 4
Selection
Concepts presented with the trade-offs of each made explicit. You choose, or the test does.
Week 5
Briefing
Message matrix, asset briefs and testing plan handed over ready for production.
Scope
Direction, not production.
This service delivers the thinking and the specifications. Producing finished video, photography and design is separate work, commonly billed at $500 to $5,000 a month depending on volume, and often best done by producers you already trust.
Keeping the two separate protects the idea. When the same team invents the concept and bills for the assets, the concept has a way of requiring a great many assets.
Fit
When direction is the bottleneck.
Right time
- Campaigns perform inconsistently with no clear reason
- Creative decisions get settled by seniority not evidence
- You produce plenty of assets that all feel the same
- A launch or new market needs an organising idea
- Positioning is settled and needs expressing
Wrong time
- Positioning has not been decided yet
- You need assets produced rather than directed
- Nobody can approve a concept without a committee
- The offer itself is the problem
- You want execution of an idea already fixed internally
Pricing
Published creative pricing.
Creative production is commonly billed separately at $500 to $5,000 a month. These prices cover the direction and specification that decides whether that production is worth paying for.
Creative Audit
Idea or execution?
$1,650
one-time
- Current creative reviewed against performance
- Message and positioning consistency check
- Competitor creative benchmark
- Ranked recommendations
Most chosen
Campaign Concept
One campaign, fully briefed.
$7,950
one-time project
- Two to three concepts developed
- Messaging hierarchy
- Creative territory
- Asset briefs per channel
- Testing plan
- Five week delivery
Campaign System
Multi-audience, multi-channel.
$16,950
one-time project
- Everything in Campaign Concept
- Full message and audience matrix
- Concepts per segment
- Asset specifications at scale
- Production oversight
- Nine week delivery
Creative Partner
Ongoing direction.
$4,450
per month
- Continuous concept development
- Direction across live campaigns
- Asset briefs as needed
- Performance review and iteration
- Three month minimum
All prices in USD. Asset production and media costs are separate.
What is campaign creative direction?
Campaign creative direction is the work that decides what a campaign says and why, before any assets are produced. It covers the organising idea, the messaging hierarchy per audience, the creative territory and the briefs that production works from. It is distinct from producing the finished assets themselves.
How much does creative direction cost?
marive publishes fixed prices: $1,650 for a Creative Audit, $7,950 for a single campaign concept, $16,950 for a full campaign system, or $4,450 per month for ongoing direction. Asset production is separate and commonly runs $500 to $5,000 per month depending on volume and format.
Do you produce the finished assets?
No, and the separation is deliberate. We deliver concepts, messaging and written briefs; production happens in-house or with producers you already use. When the same team invents the concept and bills for the assets, the concept tends to require a great many assets.
How is this different from brand positioning?
Positioning decides what you stand for and is relatively permanent. Creative direction decides how a specific campaign expresses that, and changes with each campaign. Positioning comes first, and creative built without it produces well-made work arguing nothing in particular.
Why develop several concepts instead of one?
Because internal creative disagreements are usually settled by seniority, which is an expensive way to decide something the audience can settle in a fortnight. Running concepts against each other replaces opinion with evidence, and the one nobody in the room favoured wins often enough to justify the process.
What do you need from us?
Access to product knowledge, recent sales call recordings or transcripts, performance data on what has run before, and someone who can approve a direction without assembling a committee. Around five hours of your team time across the project.
Can you work with our existing design team?
Yes, and that is usually the best arrangement. Your team knows your brand assets and moves faster than any external producer. We supply the strategic direction and the briefs, they execute, and we review the output against what was briefed.
Questions
Common questions.
Including why we do not produce the assets.
Related services
Either side of creative.
Brand Strategy & Positioning
Settle the claim before expressing it.
Paid Advertising Management
Where campaign creative gets tested.
Social Media Marketing
Concepts distributed organically.
Find out whether it is the idea or the execution.
The Creative Audit costs $1,650 and takes two weeks. Your current creative reviewed against performance data and competitor work, with a ranked list of what to change first.