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Salmon Theory

🍣 If you want memorable work, you need to do this first

Published 6 days ago • 1 min read

Hey friend – Rob here.

At its peak, Crispin Porter + Bogusky lived and died by a thought:

“Don't write the idea, write the news headline.”

This is true for creatives, but should also be true for our briefs.

Sure – back them up, add context, explain where we’re coming from.

But never lose sight of the headline of what you're asking.

Friedrich Nietzsche once said:

"I want to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book."

How often do you see briefs that are comprehensive, but not clear?

Loads of information, with very little intention on what you’re asking.

I know i've seen my fair share, i’ve even written a few (and tried to learn).

But increasingly i love to read advice for creatives as advice for planners.

  • What's the idea in a sentence?
  • What would the news say about it?
  • What would a bystander say about it?

All of these are proxy questions for:

  • What sticks in your creative team's mind?

Titles aside, strategy is also a deep act of creativity.

So, similar rules of thumb should apply.

You maximise the odds of memorable comms by writing memorable briefs.

So as you write your next one, consider the headline you put in.

Because that’s probably going to be what creatives take out.

Keep swimming,

Rob

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Rob Estreitinho

Strategist, writer, maker

Whenever you're ready, here's 2 ways i can help you:

  1. ​Join the Salmon Crew. Access our private WhatsApp group, where you'll find a safe space to help you stop overthinking strategy. You'll get memes, questions, quotes and links, help from other smart folks, you can be a guest on future panels, and get to shape the future of Salmon Theory. Join smart minds from Leo Burnett, Genius Steals, System1, Flight Studio, VML, Miami Ad School, and more.
  2. ​Hire Salmon Labs. We help savvy brands swim upstream. From brand, comms and content strategy, to training on creativity and how to use AI, we like to do things in a fast and bespoke way. No fixed methodologies, moments of grand reveal or complicated language. Just pure shared problem solving.
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Salmon Theory

By Rob Estreitinho

Helping savvy strategists swim upstream.

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