A request for "copy and images" arrived without a confirmed audience or format. Rather than wait for the medium to be defined, I developed the communication around the decision a future franchise partner would need to make.
I was asked to prepare copy and images, with very little information beyond a previous example.
The audience, publication channel and final format had not yet been confirmed, so the useful decision was not to guess the layout, but to decide what the communication needed to say.
Instead of waiting for those answers, I approached the project as if I were defining the communication strategy myself.
Rather than writing copy around individual menu items, I looked at the business from a different perspective. If someone was considering becoming a franchise partner, they weren't simply buying food. They were investing in a repeatable operating model.
That changed what I chose to communicate. The narrative shifted from products to scalability. From menu items to operational consistency. From individual dishes to a business designed for growth.
I also prepared the supporting imagery, editable copy and content structure so the material could be adapted regardless of its final format.
Only after I had delivered the work did I learn the content was intended for a franchise newsletter. I don't know exactly which parts of my copy were used. What I do know is that the final communication adopted the same strategic direction.
The emphasis shifted beyond food and towards the business itself.
This project wasn't about writing better copy. It was about contributing to the direction of the communication before the direction had been fully defined.
Even without ownership of the final publication, I was able to influence its strategic perspective through the way I framed the story.
"I wasn't trying to predict the deliverable. I was trying to anticipate the decisions that still hadn't been made."