The brief

I’ve seen a lot of briefs. Client briefs. Creative briefs. Media briefs. Here’s what I’ve observed.

A good brief is…

• Succinct: Someone has taken the time to remove all the unnecessary information so you are working with only what’s most pertinent. It takes longer to write a shorter brief, but the work up front will save everyone time in the long run.

• Clear: Written with simple language with goals matching the success metrics.

• Single-minded: If a brief is trying to do more than one thing, it should be two briefs.

• Realistic: While ambition is never a bad thing, when it’s disconnected from the parameters (timeline, budget, audience, objectives) then it’s a distraction.

• Specific: It doesn’t talk about generic audiences (“millenials”) or broad product benefits. It gives audience and product / service specifics that become springboards.

• Honest: It identifies something in the audience or product / service that is truly interesting. And when that’s not possible, it provides functional information but is self-aware.

And finally, if there is one phrase I could strike from all briefs, it would be…

• “We’d like a media first”: This puts innovation for innovation’s sake ahead of everything else, and undermines everything we do. No thank you.

📸 Header photo by Alex Padurariu on Unsplash