01 Choose the customer problem
“starting with a deep understanding of people’s needs and desires” (opens the source)
A clear brief starts with a customer need. Interviews can explain a problem without telling you how common it is.
Marketing interview prep when AI drafts the campaign
Choose the promise, critique the creative and test what people understood.
Start a practice interviewWhat companies say they’re looking for
02 Make a promise the product can keep
“we need people around the world to understand this shift” (opens the source)
Name the change in customer understanding. Separate a verified feature from an attractive claim that nobody has proved.
03 Show what the audience needs to understand
“When girls don’t see it, they don’t believe it” (opens the source)
Connect the image, words and audience. Ask whose perspective shaped the brief before calling a polished concept effective.
04 Separate recognition from a business result
“evaluating what actually creates incremental demand” (opens the source)
Recall, message understanding and stated intent answer different questions. A study cannot measure purchases it did not observe.
05 Carry the idea into a local context
“El hogar es donde ponemos nuestras propias reglas” (opens the source)
Our translation: Home is where we set our own rules. Test what the local wording means to the intended audience.
Sources
- Esi Eggleston Bracey, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at publication, at the time. Unilever, “Unilever reinvents product shoots with digital twins and AI”, Mar 18, 2025. Open the source. Checked against the published text.
- Brian Chesky, Co-founder and CEO, at the time. Airbnb, “Rebecca Van Dyck joins as Chief Marketing Officer, Hiroki Asai named Chief Experience Officer”, Jun 5, 2025. Open the source. Checked against the published text.
- Julia Goldin, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, at the time. LEGO Group, “TIME and the LEGO Group Partner to Celebrate Extraordinary Girls”, Aug 14, 2025. Open the source. Checked against the published text.
- Nipoon Malhotra, VP, Ads Analytics, Insights, and Measurement, at the time. Google, “Drive profitable growth with new data and measurement tools”, Sep 10, 2026. Open the source. Checked against the published text.
- Gabriel Ladaria, Director of Marketing, IKEA Spain, at the time. IKEA Spain, “IKEA lanza la segunda ola de su campaña global Intente esto en casa”, Mar 28, 2025. Open the source. Checked against the published text.
Last reviewed Nov 10, 2026