A campaign concept board
with every route side by side.

Build it in five parts. Put the brief's objective, audience and proposition across the top, so every route is judged against the same three lines. Give each route a column. In each column, write the idea in one sentence, add the key visual (a reference image or rough frame), the headline, and one execution per main channel. Under each route, write in two lines why it answers the brief and what it risks.

Two or three routes is the usual number. One gives the client nothing to choose between and can feel like a take-it-or-leave-it. More than three spreads the team's effort thin and makes the meeting a vote rather than a decision. Many agencies show three: one that sits close to what the client expects, one that stretches it, and one recommended route.

The concept board is different from the presentation. The board is where the team develops and compares routes; the presentation is the order in which you take the client through them. Build the board first. Once a route is chosen, the same board becomes the start of the presentation, which our campaign concept presentation page walks through.

A worked example. An agency is briefed on Monday by a supermarket launching an own-label coffee range. The objective is 15 percent trial among existing shoppers in eight weeks. The proposition: 'Café-quality coffee at supermarket prices.' Route A, 'Barista at home', shows shoppers making coffee that looks like it came from a café, with the headline 'Your kitchen just got a barista.' Route B, 'Price on the cup', prints the price per cup beside café prices on shelf and outdoor. Route C, 'Morning people', follows three real shoppers' first coffee of the day. Each column holds four reference images, the headline, a poster, a 15 second social idea and a shelf wobbler.

The team reviews the board on Thursday. Against the brief, Route B answers the proposition most directly but risks feeling cheap; Route A is the most visual; Route C is the strongest emotionally but hardest to produce in the timeline. They write those notes under each column, recommend Route A with Route B's price message on shelf, and present on the following Tuesday with the board in Storyflow's full-screen presentation mode.

The timing in that example is typical of a small pitch: brief on Monday, routes drafted by Wednesday, an internal review on Thursday, a day to fix what the review found, and the client meeting the following Tuesday. The board saves time in two places. Nobody rebuilds the routes as slides the night before, because the board is what gets presented. And the internal review is faster, because every route is visible at once and built to the same shape, so the conversation is about ideas rather than about which file is the latest.

Decide how routes will be judged before you look at them. Three questions against the brief line on top work for most campaigns: does this route reach the audience, does it carry the proposition, and could it help hit the objective in the time and budget given? Add a fourth when it matters, such as whether the route can be produced before the launch date. Write the answers under each route. A route that needs a long spoken explanation to pass the second question will not survive a busy client meeting, let alone a busy street.

Keep the cut routes. A route that loses this pitch is often right for the next brief from the same client, or for a different client. Move it to a separate part of the board labelled 'not presented', with a line on why it was cut. Over a year, that area becomes the agency's own library of ideas, each with the brief it was made for, and Storyflow's AI can read it when it drafts routes for a new brief.

A concept board is a working surface first and a pitch tool second. Rough frames, reference photos from other campaigns and handwritten headlines are all fine at the review stage. What matters is that the client, when they see it, can tell the routes apart in a few seconds and understand why the agency recommends one of them. Everything on the board should serve that moment.