To brief an agency is simpler than you think
We often imagine that preparing a brief and briefing a communication agency is a long and arduous task, very time-consuming. In reality, it is often much simpler, intuitive, and natural than one might think. The most important thing is to approach the brief as a means of presenting the situation, expressing your need, detailing your expectations, and setting your constraints.
What's the Question?
A brief is primarily a problem to solve, a goal to achieve. Therefore, it is always interesting to approach the brief in the form of a question. What question do you want to ask the agency? Synthesizing the brief in this form forces you to get to the point and will help you later to define the information that the agency really needs to respond.
The formulation could be: “How can [this result] be achieved given [the current situation] and that we have [these constraints]?” It may seem trivial, but formulating the brief in this way allows you to sort out and prioritize.
A short Brief
A brief does not need to be exhaustive and delve into all the details. These will come later, after the agency has begun to reflect and may want to deepen certain points. They will then ask questions, ask for clarifications, or do their own research to find answers. A brief should convey the essentials: who you are, what you do, the environment you operate in, and what you expect from the agency. Focus on conveying these key pieces of information without overloading the document. Provide a clear and concise overview of your project, allowing the agency to delve into the details if necessary.
Transparency and Frankness
A brief should not set traps; on the contrary, it is the first step towards a solution. Clearly express your expectations, share your experience, your doubts, and even your ideas. This will help direct the agency's proposals in the right direction. If you have an idea of what you want (or what you do not want), say so. The agency can then enrich your idea or take another direction, explaining why. If you wait to see if the agency naturally proposes what you had in mind, you may be disappointed. Transparency from the beginning avoids misunderstandings and facilitates effective collaboration.
Precision
Wanting to be succinct and concise does not mean being vague or superficial. On the contrary, the briefer you are, the more precise you must be. In a brief of one or two pages, every word counts. In a document of 30 pages with 5 annexes... All the more reason for this brief to have been reviewed and approved by all decision-makers. The precision of the brief ensures that your needs are understood by the agency and thus the quality of their response. Finally, a written brief is also a guarantee of precision. It ensures you have a reference document for you and the agency.
Briefing an agency should not be seen as an obstacle, but as a crucial step on the path to a successful collaboration. Preparing and writing a brief, which can be on a single page, forces you to clarify your vision and order your priorities, which is in itself a beneficial exercise for any communication campaign. Never lose sight of the fact that the most effective briefs are often the simplest and most direct.
The artwork for this article was created with Midjourney.