When it comes to crafting creative, brands can get too focused on the product and forget to include the creativity: the stuff that evokes some sort of emotion. T-Mobile’s long-running partnership with comedic actors Donald Faison and Zack Braff has elevated that brief into beloved campaigns that have gone all the way to the Super Bowl.

This year at Brandweek, Adweek’s senior TV reporter Mollie Cahillane sat down with Faison and Braff, alongside Brian Klugman of Panay Films and T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy and products Mike Katz to discuss their creative process and redefining how campaigns are made.

Listen to all of your creatives

Instead of cold briefs passed across a table to agency middlemen, many of T-Mobile’s ideas and concepts come about through initial thoughts and collaborating directly with its talent. “Wouldn’t it be cool if we did this, or wouldn’t it be cool if we did that?” said Faison about pitching to the carrier. “That’s how a few of those Christmas spots came out, actually.”

There was no complex method to ideating T-Mobile’s “Cards: Price Lock Guarantee,” inspired by the Christmas film Love Actually. It was an idea that Braff, Faison and the creative team bandied about during a break while making a completely different commercial. They ended the day by shooting a quick spec ad and took it to T-Mobile, who convened a proper shoot a few months later.

Improve is your friend

When making films or TV shows, some of the best lines are improvised on set. The same can be true for ads by trusting your creative partners with the freedom to go off book.

“[Producer] Brian Tracy just said, ‘Why don’t we just shoot it, bang it out?’ … It all came out of brainstorming the day of on the sidewalk,” said Braff when describing the “Cards: Price Lock Guarantee” spot.

Pivoting during a creative process is key because sometimes, stepping out of your comfort zone and letting go of the original idea can block out creativity as it sparks in the moment.

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