By Andrea Swangard, Felip Ballesteros

Image by Emily Zheng

Creative projects rarely go off track because of execution alone. More often, the root cause is a lack of alignment at the start. The audience or message isn’t clearly defined, or success means different things to different stakeholders. That’s where a strong creative brief comes in: not as a formality, but as a way to get everyone on the same page before the work begins.

I sat down with 2A consultant Felip Ballesteros to unpack what actually makes a creative brief useful and how it changes the way teams work.

Q: Let’s start simple. What is a creative brief, really?

Felip: Most people think of a creative brief as a form or a process. That’s where things go wrong. A creative brief is a point of view. It’s your perspective on what you’re building, who it’s for, and why it matters. It pulls from the client’s goals, the team’s experience, and most importantly, the customer’s reality.

Q: Who should own the creative brief?

Felip: It’s a shared process, but it needs a clear owner.

On the client side, you want one stakeholder who’s accountable for aligning internal perspectives. That doesn’t mean they work alone—they should bring input from marketing, sales, and SMEs. But too many voices directly shaping the brief usually leads to something vague that tries to do too much.

On the agency side, we often end up driving the process. In many cases, the brief doesn’t exist when a project starts, so we build it based on the SOW, early conversations, and what we know.

Q: What makes a strong creative brief stand out?

Felip: Two important things! First, it defines how the asset should feel. Not in abstract terms, but in a way the team can actually interpret and execute. Second, it defines what not to do. A good brief narrows the path forward without having to list constraints. It gives direction. That’s what makes it powerful. It’s simple, but it drives decisions.

Q: What are the most important elements to include?

Felip: The specifics matter, but what matters more is how clearly you define them. A strong brief gets very precise about the audience and why they should care right now. Not just who they are, but what’s happening in their world that makes this asset relevant.

It also anchors the work in a real moment. For example, where does this animation show up? What’s happening right before someone sees this first call deck, and what do you want them to do next? If you can clearly connect the audience, the moment, and the outcome, the rest of the brief tends to fall into place.

Q: How does a strong brief impact the creative process?

Felip: It speeds everything up, because the brief forces early decisions. It clarifies the full story up front, not just the asset, but the transformation we’re trying to create. With that clarity, the team isn’t debating direction later. Feedback becomes sharper, revisions are faster, and you get to a solid first version sooner.

It prevents expensive mistakes, too. If you miss something early, you might be reworking design or animation later, and that’s where timelines and budgets start to slip.

Q: Do creative briefs need to be perfect before you start?

Felip: Not at all. A brief is inherently imperfect. Waiting until you have every detail figured out is one of the biggest reasons teams don’t create one. Even if it’s incomplete, it gives you direction. And even if it’s wrong, it’s something you can react to and refine. That’s much better than starting with nothing!

Q: Any advice for teams that struggle to make briefs feel useful or inspiring?

Felip: Focus on conviction, not creativity. A brief doesn’t need to sound bold or innovative, it just needs to make sense. When the brief has a strong, believable point of view, that’s what makes it useful. That’s what gives the creative team something to build on.

Q: Thanks for these insights, Felip! Any final guidance for teams building a creative brief?

Felip: If you’re not sure where to start, focus on asking the right questions to make sure the brief is doing its job:

• Who is this for, specifically?
• Why should they care right now?
• Where and how will this asset be used?
• What are the 2–3 key messages?
• What tone and energy should this have?
• What do we want the audience to do next?

If you can answer those questions clearly, you’re already ahead of most teams. And if you need some expert guidance, we’re here to help.

By Carolyn Lange, Erin McCaul, Felip Ballesteros

Image by Nicole Todd

For some folks, the concept of remote video case studies conjures early-pandemic memories of pixelated webcams and talking heads in spare bedrooms. But today’s remote videos are a different story. With planning, direction, and editing, they can look sharp, feel personal, and bring customer voices forward in a way that matches the channels people actually use.

Think of them as the right tool for the right job. You wouldn’t hire a film crew to record a podcast snippet, and you wouldn’t use a remote video for a keynote opener. Each format has its place. And for authentic stories that need to move fast and travel far, remote is built for the moment. Here’s why:

More reach for your story 

A customer win captured in video gets more traction than one tucked inside a PDF. Remote videos extend the life of your written case studies, with attention-grabbing snippets for social or the ability to embed in campaign pages.

Polished, not overproduced 

Remote video delivers professional quality without the need for a studio. What you get is storytelling that feels approachable and credible. It’s exactly the tone most audiences expect in their social feeds today—casual enough to fit in amongst a sea of workplace hot takes, and polished enough to shine.

Easier to get the right voices 

Coordinating travel and multi-day schedules for leaders or customers can stall a story for months. Remote recording removes those barriers, so you can include folks across time zones without disrupting the workday. The result is a broader set of voices and perspectives, captured without logistical headaches. 

More value for time and budget 

Remote production eliminates airfare, hotels, and days away from the office. Instead of tying up resources, you get high-quality storytelling that respects people’s time and saves budget, leaving more room for additional campaigns or assets.

Faster campaign turnaround 

Without the need for location scouting or pre-production setup, remote videos move from idea to final cut quickly. That speed means your content can keep pace with campaign timelines and market moments while they’re still relevant.

Flexible and evergreen 

Case study video doesn’t have to be one-and-done. Remote formats make it simple to refresh graphics, swap in updated B-roll, or adjust messaging without a full reshoot.

It’s time to revisit remote

It’s a smart, polished way to amplify customer voices fast, authentically, and in the formats people are actually consuming.

Our remote video team—writers, editors, designers, and videographers included—makes “remote” look anything but DIY. Ready to roll? Let’s talk. 

By Andrea Swangard, Felip Ballesteros

Image by Nicole Todd

Marketing content often starts with a strong, clear message. Maybe it’s a compelling value proposition, a punchy pitch, or a narrative everyone’s excited about. But as that message is adapted across campaigns, formats, and partner collaborations, things can quickly spiral. Like the Hydra from Greek mythology, which grew two new heads for every one that was cut off, efforts to scale your story can quickly split into multiple directions.  

The challenge isn’t having too many heads—it’s making sure that they’re in sync. Without clear direction, your hero asset spawns offshoots that feel disconnected from the origin story you and your partners are trying to tell, drifting from repeatable, core ideas into vague or even competing narratives. If you’ve tried to scale a strong message across a joint campaign and ended up with a tangle of inconsistent materials, you’ve met the messaging Hydra.  

The good news? You don’t need to slay the Hydra. You just need a smarter way to guide it. 

Scaling without losing the thread 

The best place to start is by creating a shared story. Without that foundation, assets start to drift: a blog post might highlight different benefits than the sales deck, and a co-branded ebook might clash with your product page. That’s where a messaging and positioning framework (MPF) becomes essential. A strong MPF doesn’t force a one-size-fits-all message. Instead, it offers a consistent set of foundational messages, benefit language, and partner positioning that can be customized for each audience. Think of it as a flexible toolkit, not a script. 

To be useful, your MPF should be concise, accessible, and built to support creativity. If it’s a 20-page PDF no one reads, it’s time for a rethink. The most effective frameworks help teams work faster and stay aligned, while still leaving room for the nuance that makes content resonate. That’s how you scale your story without losing the plot.  

The myth of one-size-fits-all messaging 

Repurposing a strong message for a new vertical sounds easy: swap in a few industry terms and publish. But that surface-level approach rarely resonates. Customers know when content has been stickered over. It’s vague, it’s boring, and it often misses what actually matters to the audience. Effective scaling doesn’t mean repeating the same message everywhere. It means starting from shared core ideas, then adapting them to match the context. That means digging into the details: talking to subject matter experts, addressing timely industry concerns, and reshaping language, use cases, and tone accordingly. Whether it’s public sector efficiency mandates, AI scrutiny in healthcare, or tariff talk for supply chain folks, your story should feel rooted in what each audience is currently navigating. 

Course correct before chaos multiplies 

When you’re trying to scale a campaign, it’s tempting to spin up every format at once: an ebook, a deck, an infographic, etc. But if the content underneath isn’t strong and you’re missing data points, customer stories, or clear value props, those assets can end up looking good but saying very little. You risk ending up with a lot of Hydra heads with no brain! That’s when it’s worth pausing to evaluate what you’ve got. Do your current materials tell a complete, compelling story? Do they map to what your audiences actually care about? We can help assess your core content, flag gaps, and guide which formats will land best with the resources you have. Sometimes the smartest move isn’t to create more, but to sharpen what’s already there or to hold off until you’ve got the inputs to make a new asset worth building. 

Mitigate messaging mishaps 

Taming the Hydra isn’t about fighting it, it’s about guiding each head with intention. With the right starting point and a smart, flexible strategy, your core content can scale into a full ecosystem that’s as useful to your internal teams as it is compelling to your customers. 

Whether you’re planning a joint campaign with partners or trying to bring structure to your co-branded content, we can guide you down the best path (and keep those Hydra heads working in harmony). 

By Felip Ballesteros

Image by Emily Zheng

From buzzword-filled eBooks to websites that use more words than necessary to explain a simple concept, we have all been on the receiving end of marketing fluff. As a marketer with a multicultural background, I’ve spent my career recognizing the impact that words can have (or not have), particularly in creating lead-generating assets for clients. While fluffy marketing exists in every industry, tech is especially prone to weak messaging. Technology products often involve complex and rapidly changing components that may be difficult for marketers to explain to a broad audience. This leads marketers to rely on aspirational messaging and emotional appeals instead of technical details.  

So, I joined our skilled storytellers in pinpointing the top four tips for writing about technology in a way that is both informative and fun to read.  

1. Get factual with your figures: Want to make a bold statement about a tech product or service? Back it up with facts and figures. Use data, case studies, and research to support your claims and show your audience what makes your technology special. “Let’s say a process used to take 24 hours to complete, but now because of [enter tech solution] the process takes you one hour. Run the math on time saved as a percentage, and voila, you’ve got yourself a metric,” says our Editorial Lead Forsyth Alexander.  

Don’t forget to place numbers in your titles, too (see what we did here?). “People like to see real numbers to denote benefits, improvements, or value, which increases your click rate,” Forsyth adds. Using this tactic is how we beef up case studies and eBooks to get more eyeballs on our clients’ stories. And they get a lot of eyeballs.   

2. Buzzwords can be buzzkill: The tech industry has its own language, and it can be tempting to use buzzwords to sound like an expert. But resist the urge! When words are overused, our brains tend to skip them. Instead, explain complex concepts in plain, easy-to-understand language that everyone can follow. As 2A Storyteller, Richa Dubey, notes, “You might think you’re getting everyone’s attention by using buzzwords, but the reverse might be happening, and it can be counterproductive.”  

For example, instead of describing something as agile or data-driven, demonstrate how your product or service enables those approaches. 

3. Keep it short and sweet: No one likes to read a long-winded case study, especially when it comes to tech. Be concise and use examples to illustrate your ideas. As the 2A tech news troubadour, Jane Dornemann, puts it, “Fluff, to me, is too high-level and takes too long to get to the point. Don’t waste time explaining a scenario your audience is very familiar with. You don’t need to define CI/CD to developers, for example—just explain how you solve their problems, and don’t spend so much time expanding on what the problem is. They already know what it is.”  

And, if you must use highly technical terms but don’t want to shut out a broader audience (like an IT lead), briefly explain them in simple terms, make them somewhat understandable in context, or link to another resource with more details—but don’t use precious real estate defining things that your reader likely already knows. It just becomes filler and makes your target audience feel like the content is meant for someone else. 

4. Honesty is the best policy: Technology is amazing, but it’s not perfect. Don’t underestimate your readers’ ability to sniff out bravado. Avoid exaggerating the capabilities or benefits of a product or service and be transparent about its limitations. Our Managing Senior Storyteller Kimberly Mass suggests keeping it real. “Words have meanings. When you use precise language—exactly those words that mean what you intend to say—you have a much better chance of being understood and believed.”  

For example, is your product really “leading edge,” as in “at the forefront of technological development,” or would it be more honest to simply call it new or upgraded? Your audience will appreciate your honesty and trust your brand more in the long run. Acknowledging a product is in beta and that not everything is going to run amazingly is OK, friend.  

Ready to create content of substance and sizzle? Contact us.