How To Write A Brief. Main Ingredients (2/2)

In part one we covered the first four ingredients used to write a creative brief: company overview, project objective, target audience and problems. In this second part, we are going to look at the latter four parts that will complete your brief, ready to send out and get the project underway!

Before we jump in, I wanted to make a point about getting all of this down on paper. At the end of the two blog posts, you will have a complete understanding of the structure of a brief, but it doesn’t end there. An undeniable addition to the project will be a face-to-face meet (or zoom if you are reading this in lockdown v1.0-7.3). It’s important that whoever you are hiring can have the brief to look at, but, based on your criteria, you must have a conversation with the chosen company. Both sides will get a much greater understanding of the project. This can be the difference between a good conclusion and something that will take it to a whole other level.

If you missed the list in the previous post you can view that here. But, if not we can just move straight on and talk about competitors.

Competitors

The competition. Time for another overview. The idea here is to determine where you sit in the market with your competitors. Are you disrupting the industry? Are you trying to stand out? Or just fit in? All are on a case by case basis, individual to your brand. At the end of it all, your competitors are there to be respected and understood. Having an understanding of their business and their values can be extremely helpful when designing a brand identity, an ad campaign or any aspect of design.

Project Specifics - Key Message

One of my personal favourite aspects of branding is 'tone of voice'. This is such a powerful tool in branding, it can help connect with your audience and make your messaging sing. Think of all the ads you’ve seen that just connect with you, it’s likely their tone of voice was aimed in your direction. It can be as basic as if you sound happy and humorous, or serious and stern. It can be the type of words your brand uses.

Having said that, dependant on the project this can alter slightly. If your project is a company report to your shareholders, it will more than likely have more of a serious tone, even if your last ad campaign used words showing that you are 'down with the kids.’

Technicals

This is another real key part of the brief. This is what can whittle your potential agencies down to the perfect fit. Let's face it if you need this done in a couple of months but agency A is booked up until 2022, then it simply won't work. So lay your cards on the table; when do you need the project delivered, what is the overall budget for the project and lastly, how will you be selecting the agency. I know that last one might sound a little odd but there is real value in being honest about how you will be choosing. Will you be selecting the cheapest quotation? There’s nothing wrong with that, every company needs to look after their bottom line. Or perhaps it is simply on availability of who can start soonest.

It’s important to think about your timescales carefully. Do you have a product launch, shareholder meeting or event that the project will need to be done by? Now is not the time to take things for granted.

Contact info

This one may seem obvious but it can be overlooked. After all, too many cooks. Dependant on the size of your business it could be that the brief has been written by your founder if it’s a small company. Larger companies may use their accounts or project manager. Just remember, it’s important to get the input from every area of the business. Whoever is in charge of budgets should get a word on what the proposed budget is for example, and so on.

In the same way that your chosen agency will make sure you have one point of contact that looks after the communication throughout the project, you must do the same. When adding in the contact info to your brief it is immensely helpful to have one point of contact, how to get hold of them and when they are available. The focus here is that both sides have one person that knows the project inside and out. The designer can relay the information appropriately once the project is underway and the client can aid in balancing the discussion.

Conclusion

I think the last thing to add is to try to be fair when dishing out your projects to various agencies. It’s not a fair use of anyone's time to give the brief to loads of agencies. I have seen it recommended that you aim for between 3 and 5. That does seem fair. You will have undoubtedly been recommended someone or read something, just do a little research to see if they are the right fit. Do their projects look like the sort of thing you are after?

There you have it. Your A to Z of a creative brief. Pretty simple really. As always, if you have made it this far, I appreciate your time and hope it has brought some value to your journey.