A better creative brief
Your school should sound like your school.
We know you could write “warm community”, “small classes” and “academic excellence”. So could every other school.
This is a quick way for us to learn the details, instincts and language that make your advertising harder to copy.
No polished answers needed. Tap what feels right, skip what doesn’t, and write as you’d speak to us on a call.
Around 6 minutes
First things first
Which school are we talking about?
Just enough context to make the rest of this feel relevant.
The little words matter
What do you call the young people at your school?
There’s no house style we want to impose. We want yours.
Voice, without the workshop
Where do you sit between these?
Don’t overthink the middle. We’re looking for your instinct, not a brand-book score.
Your personality
Which five feel most like you?
We won’t just stuff these words into adverts. They help us decide how the writing should move.
Choose up to 5.
Give us the good stuff
What should we bring to the surface more often?
Think about the details you wish parents noticed sooner — the things that make the school feel real, specific and worth asking more about.
Choose whatever feels richest. We’ll decide how to turn it into an ad.
Parents don’t buy bullet points
What should a parent feel after seeing your ads?
Pick the two feelings you most want the advertising to leave behind.
Choose up to 2.
The useful detail
Where are you genuinely hard to copy?
Pick up to four. We’ll ask for the evidence next — so choose areas where there’s a real story behind the claim.
Choose up to 4.
Claims are cheap. Mechanisms aren’t.
What makes those things true?
You don’t need to make this sound good. Give us the facts, quirks and specifics and we’ll do that bit.
What the website can’t quite tell us
What do parents only really “get” once they visit?
This is often where the strongest advertising idea is hiding.
“You can read about us online, but you don’t really understand ______ until you’re here.”
Language you already own
Are there words or phrases that are unmistakably yours?
Mottos, programme names, a phrase your Head uses, internal shorthand, prospectus language — anything families or pupils would recognise.
Headline instinct
Which style would you stop on?
Ignore the exact subject. We care more about the way it’s written.
How hard should we push?
What feels comfortable for your calls to action?
We’ll still adapt by funnel stage. This just tells us where the school’s natural comfort zone sits.
One last useful question
A parent is choosing between you and another very good school. What do you want them to notice?
Not why you’re “better”. What should feel meaningfully different?
That’s the thinking done
Who should we come back to?
We’ll use this as a creative filter when writing your campaigns. You don’t need to turn any of it into ad copy — that’s our job.
Done. Plenty to work with.
Your school’s Copy DNA is taking shape.
This isn’t a brand book. It’s a practical filter for making the next round of ads sound more like you — and less like the rest of the sector.
Your answers have been prepared.
Built to help 15th Media turn your school’s own language into sharper, more distinctive campaign copy.
The best bit: we can keep using this across future campaigns, so you shouldn’t have to explain the same preferences every time.
