We get briefs in every format you can imagine. Forty page PDFs with brand guidelines attached. A two line email that says "we need a video for the conference". Voice notes. A slide someone made at eleven o'clock the night before. Honestly, we'll work with any of them.
But there's a big difference between a brief that's long and a brief that's useful, and it's rarely the length. So here's what we'd tell a friend who was about to brief an agency, us or anyone else, for the first time.
Start with the problem, not the video
The most useful briefs don't start with "we want a two minute film with drone footage and interviews". They start with the thing that isn't working. "We can't get enough applicants for our apprenticeship scheme." "Our new site opens next year and the local community has no idea what it is." "Sales keep saying customers don't understand the product."
When you lead with the format, you've already made the creative decision, and you might have made it before anyone has really thought about what would solve the problem. Sometimes the answer is a film. Sometimes it's a set of short clips. Sometimes, if we're being honest, it's a page of photography and a better written job advert. We'd rather tell you that than sell you a film you don't need.
Tell us who you're trying to reach, in detail
"Young people" or "stakeholders" isn't quite enough. The more specific you can be, the better the work gets. Who are they? Where do they spend their time? What do they currently think of you, if they think of you at all? What would make them stop scrolling?
If you've got research, send it. If you haven't, tell us what your colleagues on the ground hear every day. The recruiter who sits at careers fairs, the site manager who deals with neighbours, the account manager who's on the phone to customers. Those people often know your audience better than any survey does, and we'll ask to speak to them if we can.
Be honest about the budget
We understand why people hold back on budget. There's a worry that if you name a figure, the agency will spend all of it whether it's needed or not. We get it. But without a number, every agency you speak to is guessing, and you end up comparing proposals that aren't remotely like for like.
A range is fine. "We have somewhere between this and this" lets us come back with an idea that actually fits, and tell you where the money is best spent. Sometimes it's one more shoot day. Sometimes it's a better set of cut-downs. Sometimes it's spending less on the film and more on getting it seen.
Tell us about the constraints early
Every project has them, and they're much easier to plan for at the start than to discover halfway through. The kind of things worth mentioning:
- Sites with safety inductions, permits or restricted areas
- People who need to appear but are hard to get hold of
- Legal or compliance sign-off that takes time
- Brand guidelines, or a parent company with its own rules
- Fixed dates you can't move, like an event or a launch
- Anything that's been tried before and didn't work
That last one is underrated. If a previous film didn't land, tell us why you think that was. It saves everyone from repeating it.
Say who signs it off
It sounds administrative, but this is one of the most important lines in a brief. Who has the final say? Will they see the treatment, or only the finished film? Who else needs to be consulted along the way?
Projects that run smoothly usually have one clear decision maker who's involved from the start. Projects that wobble usually have a senior person who appears at the final cut with a completely different idea of what the film should be. Nobody's fault, but it's expensive and frustrating for everyone.
Tell us what success looks like
How will you know this has worked? More applications? A better turnout? People on site actually understanding a change? Sometimes the honest answer is "the board needs to see that we've done something", and that's fine too. It just changes what we make.
If you can measure it, tell us how you'll measure it. It shapes everything from the length of the film to where we put the call to action.
Send us stuff you like, and stuff you don't
References are hugely helpful, especially when you tell us why you like them. "I like the tone of this one, but not the music." "This feels too corporate for us." It gives us a sense of your taste far faster than adjectives like "authentic" or "dynamic", which mean something different to everybody.
A brief can be short
If you take nothing else away from this: a single page that covers the problem, the audience, the budget range, the deadline, the constraints and who signs off is a brilliant brief. You don't need to have the creative answer. That's our job.
And if you're not sure what to put down yet, just get in touch anyway. Half of our best projects started with a phone call where the client said "I'm not really sure what we need", and we worked it out together.