Craft the Outcome with your Agency Brief

I’ve seen hundreds of them over the years. They are often the most important piece of paper when it comes to developing work for brands:?

It’s the Agency Brief

This document sets the foundation for the work the agency will do. Depending on the agreement, it dictates the scope of work and becomes the cornerstone of all work done. No pressure!

During my time at agencies, I’ve seen many different types of briefs. From the data download of multiple documents to the verbal kick-off, or the calculated kick-off.

The agency brief is crucial to lay the foundation for what you need from the agency.

The agency will work to translate this into the creative brief. They will work to understand your business and target audience to identify the greatest territory for the creative work. They take on the heavy lifting of making it inspirational for the team.

The reality is that it’s hard to figure out what to share with the agency.

They typically ask for everything you can share in case there’s something useful. However, this often leads to many hours spent reviewing, discussing, and determining what the key nuggets of information are. It is only revealed if the kick-off was done right based on the creative brief (if it’s presented back to the brand team) or by the time you see the creative.

If you research what you should include in the brief, you’ll see a pretty wide range of content to include. However, we’ve distilled down to some key pieces of information.

The Essentials of an Effective Agency Brief

To best support this, there are key components that should be included in the agency brief. This can vary slightly based on overall familiarity with your brand and business.

Background

Detail your business, how you make money, and any other key details about the category and/or competitors.

Problem to Solve

This is why you’re looking for an agency. What is the hurdle that you need their help to overcome? Keep it clear and simple.

Assignment Overview

Include your expectations for what will be delivered as part of this assignment. Is it TV, social content, experiential - or is it wide open?

Brand + Audience

Detail the audience and your brand - and why your audience would be motivated to engage with or purchase from your brand. This is not just the details; it includes the why.

Key Takeaway

Consider what message and feeling you want your audience to take away from the work. It’s important to be specific here.

Insights

Include any research or intel that delivers on the key takeaway. Don’t include the full report; instead, pull out the key details that support the message/takeaway.

What Does Success Look Like?

Detail which business and marketing goal this work will help achieve. Don’t forget to include how you will measure its effectiveness. How you measure can have a greater impact on the work than you think - it should not be an afterthought.

Budget

Set clear expectations for the budget. This should only include the budget for the agency and detail what needs to be included within the budget (creative development, production, influencer, etc.).

Timing

When do you need the work in the market, and why?

Team Responsibilities

Detail who will be the point person on the project and who the decision-makers are. If multiple rounds of approval are required as it’s shared with team members, that is important to include as well.

For the Appendix

You may have some additional information you’d like to share with your agency, such as previous campaigns and results or research you’ve done. That is always helpful to have - and can be shared as an appendix or follow-up.

Final Tip

The final, most important detail when developing these briefs is that all internal stakeholders should review and sign off on this document before it is shared with the agency. This ensures full alignment and that there are no surprises when work is being done.

Having a strong agency brief is essential to getting the most impactful work for your brand. It’s all about crafting the outcome. Reach out if you’re looking to get more from your agency partners; we’d love to chat more!

CraftedBrandStrategies.com

Let's chat: https://brittanytangsrud.as.me/