We’ve been introducing brands and marketers to agencies for more than a decade, which means we know all about the challenges of finding the right team, building a relationship and making great work together.
AUFI Guides is a series of creative manuals, designed to help with whatever stage of the process you’re at – whether you’re working out the business challenge, preparing your brief, assessing an agency shortlist, or in the middle of a project.
This one’s for anyone in the early stages of writing or editing a brief, and we share it in the hope that it helps you create more concise, more inspiring and ultimately more effective documents to share with potential agencies.
A good brief is a springboard
A well-written brief is an inspiring, conversation-starting document that gives an agency as much information as possible to think about a brand’s challenge.
“A brief isn’t about giving an agency the answer. You’re writing a brief because you want them to come up with an answer. It’s about saying who you are, what you value, and what you want the project to do, so they can see how that all adds up for discussion. Give them creative licence to think about things.” – Lotte, Account Director, AUFI
“You’re writing a brief to put your best foot forward, and give an agency a head start on understanding your business. It’s the first step in a collaboration so give them the best possible idea of what you’re thinking and what your ambitions are.” – Alex Lenzan, Head of Growth, AUFI
“It’s about how you give an agency room to be creative. Don’t tell an agency what to give you; instead, tell them what your challenge is, and ask them how they’d solve it.” – Sarah Davies, Consultant, AUFI
A brief should be brief
Length and detail will vary from project to project, but the best briefs are easy to read, digest and understand
“Some clients think briefs should be 20-page documents with every possible bit of information about the company – and on certain projects an agency will need more background. But that level of extensive detail isn’t necessary for first conversations. A brief should be brief. Bullet-pointing allows the key areas to be highlighted, and then you can earmark actual deliverables, the timings and the budget. Make sure it’s clearly outlined and structured so it isn’t a wall of text, or stream of consciousness.” - Lotte
“The main thing is to keep it short and concise. We always encourage clients to create a template with key points, and – where possible – keep it to a one-pager. If you can do that, it’ll be a clear brief.” – Sarah
Be concise, but include any non-negotiables
Share critical details – such as timelines, regulations, deliverables or tech requirements – at an early stage
“A brief has to be clear from a scoping perspective. If, for example, you’re a consumer goods company and you have 50 SKUs and need new packaging for those, an agency needs to know. If it’s a digital product, what’s the functionality? And include what’s important in terms of agencies. If you want someone with specific experience, be upfront about that. Be as clear as possible about what you need – and that then leaves room for the more interesting conversations.” – Toby Wilkinson, co-founder, AUFI
“Have all the details at the ready – for example, do you have examples of other websites that are like this? What platform are you building on? Do you need to connect other platforms, and what are the considerations for the backend? All of that is crucial at the start of the project, so it can be assessed from the outset and no details are missed.” – Alex
“A brief is a place to share the dos and don’ts of what you want. Is there a particular aspect of your brand that can’t be changed? If it’s a website, what tech stack do you have? Is it a marketing-only site? Does it need to have a login state? Share what the ask is, at a broad range, and document the ins and outs based on what that is. If there’s something left unsaid, you might get to the proposal stage and find key things missing.” - Lotte
Create a verbal thumbnail of the brand
Pique agencies’ interest by telling the story of the business so far, and what it might be like to work with you
“They need to know who founded the business, if it’s in a good financial state, who’s running the project, and what they’re intending to invest in it. Mentioning brands you’re inspired by is also really, really informative. Give the agency an all-round view of the brand – where it’s coming from, and what they’re looking to achieve. Write as if you’re telling the story to somebody. ” – Sarah
“Sharing key information – such as the company background, the founding story, and the why behind this particular project – gives the agency the context and drivers behind the brief and the engagement you’re hoping to enter into. It’s getting across the tone and personality of a company and what it would be like to work with you.” – Alex
“Specifics are important – in terms of the history of the company, and where they see themselves against competitors. But it has to be relevant to the project – for example, we’ve been around 20 years, and we have long standing stakeholders who like to work in a certain way. That information is useful, because it means they need a team that can handle that situation. Always ask: is this a useful insight? Is it going to help the agency understand what I need, and is it relevant to the project? Work out what’s important for the process, and don’t overload the team with information.” – Lotte
Express the big ambition
Set the stage for what you’re hoping to achieve – whether that’s more sales, better awareness, future investment, or any number of tangible and intangible outcomes.
“Share what you’re trying to get out of this piece of work. What does success potentially look like? What does failure look like? What brands in the real world do you look to for inspiration, for whatever reason? And that doesn’t have to be specific to your sector. It can be as broad as saying you like a brand because of the way they talk.” – Toby
“The checkbox and list of deliverables are important, but what’s going to get an agency excited about a brief is when it hits their values, and piques their interest. You’re not going to get that from a brief that only says, ‘we are x company in x sector’. It’s the other stuff that comes along with that. Getting across a sense of what you want to achieve as a company is really important.” – Alex
Be as transparent as possible, as early as possible
Wherever possible, be fully open with a potential agency around possible budget, follow-on work, and your thoughts and feelings about the challenge
“If you have a budget range, ask to see proposals that fit within that budget. But if there’s flex, let people know. Be transparent on budget and timeframes, so agencies can assess whether that will work for them or not. If there is flexibility in the scope and budget, maybe there’s an alternative solution if you do want to work together. Ultimately, be transparent around what you’re expecting when you brief an agency, and what you want to see at each stage.” – Alex
“Have a really strong idea of what the budget is, and be as transparent about that as possible. And then also think about follow-on once that initial piece of work is done, whether that’s activating a brand, spending money on media, maintenance of a digital product or whatever it might be. And be really open and share how you’re feeling or how the company is feeling about what the issue is and what they want to achieve.” – Toby
And accept things might change
Truly great briefs remind both sides of what the big ambition is, while allowing space for things to evolve and grow
“One reason for having a brief is so that when the agency comes to the first presentation of their initial solutions, you have that as the foundation, and the place you’re starting from. But it’s fine to veer away from. You might hold up the brief and say, ‘We started going in this direction but the further we got into things, the more we realised we needed to do something different.’ Brave clients will listen to that recommendation, and think slightly differently.” – Sarah
“Briefs are a good way for the client team to align on a viewpoint. But it’s really important to see the brief as something with a level of fluidity. In most instances, it doesn’t have to be a rigid thing that can never change. It can adapt and evolve in a number of ways that are reactive to conversations being had, or changes in the market. A good brief is something that changes over time.” – Toby Wilkinson
