The brief agencies actually need

Agencies deliver against what they are told. When the result disappoints, the cause is more often the instruction than the execution.

The eight questions

1. What is the business problem? Not "we need a campaign" but "enquiries from the north of the region have halved since a competitor opened".

2. What should happen? One measurable objective with a number and a date. "300 enquiries by the end of November" is an objective. "More visibility" is a wish.

3. Who exactly? Not a demographic sketch. A description of the person, their situation, and what they are currently doing instead of buying from you.

4. Why you? The single reason a customer should choose you. If you cannot name one that a competitor could not also claim, that is the real project.

5. What must appear? Legal requirements, mandatory claims, the logo, the guarantee, the phone number.

6. What must not appear? This is the most valuable section and the one usually left out. Colours you have rejected before, tone you dislike, claims your legal team will block, imagery your industry has exhausted.

7. What exists already? Brand guide, photography, previous campaigns and how they performed, existing materials that must remain consistent.

8. Budget, deadline, approval route. The real budget, not a fifth of it. Who approves, in what order, and how long each stage takes.

What a good brief refuses to do

It does not propose the solution. "We need a video campaign on social" is an answer, not a brief, and it removes the reason for hiring anyone.

Describe the problem and the constraints. Let the proposal come back with the channel.

Approval is a project risk

Name one decision-maker with the authority to say yes. Everyone else advises.

Test the brief before sending it

Give it to a colleague who has nothing to do with the project. Ask them to explain back what is wanted, who for, and by when. If they cannot, the agency will not either.