Client Brief Summary
Why do clients write briefs?
1. Better work
A brief is the most important piece of information issued by a client to an agency. Therefore it’s essential that every effort be taken to prepare the best possible documentation of what is required. The client brief can be considered the platform for a communications campaign. The better a company’s corporate or brand position is defined and the more thoughtfully its key business issues are described, the more likely it is that strategic and creative thinkers in agencies will be able to apply their specialist skills to produce the best possible solutions.
2. Saving Time and Money
The biggest waste of resources is putting staff through a process without giving them appropriate direction on what they are doing. Therefore it is costly in wasting staff time because they are not being productive without proper orders. They need agencies to get more work right first time because it saves time and money. A proper written brief makes the process more efficient, that’s good for clients and good for agencies.
3. Fairer Remuneration
One of the criticisms that marketing people face from their colleagues in finance and in the boardroom in general is that they lack accountability for the very significant sums of money they spend. Over 90% of agencies and 84% of clients agree that: “Payment by results is impossible without fully agreed business objectives”. But, whatever the task, a written brief that includes ‘objectives’ and ‘success criteria’ is the foundation stone for accountability and demonstration of the
1. Better work
A brief is the most important piece of information issued by a client to an agency. Therefore it’s essential that every effort be taken to prepare the best possible documentation of what is required. The client brief can be considered the platform for a communications campaign. The better a company’s corporate or brand position is defined and the more thoughtfully its key business issues are described, the more likely it is that strategic and creative thinkers in agencies will be able to apply their specialist skills to produce the best possible solutions.
2. Saving Time and Money
The biggest waste of resources is putting staff through a process without giving them appropriate direction on what they are doing. Therefore it is costly in wasting staff time because they are not being productive without proper orders. They need agencies to get more work right first time because it saves time and money. A proper written brief makes the process more efficient, that’s good for clients and good for agencies.
3. Fairer Remuneration
One of the criticisms that marketing people face from their colleagues in finance and in the boardroom in general is that they lack accountability for the very significant sums of money they spend. Over 90% of agencies and 84% of clients agree that: “Payment by results is impossible without fully agreed business objectives”. But, whatever the task, a written brief that includes ‘objectives’ and ‘success criteria’ is the foundation stone for accountability and demonstration of the
effectiveness of advertising, media, PR, direct marketing, sales promotion and indeed all forms of commercial communications.
The three principles behind a good brief
The first principle is written briefs. Research shows that 94% of clients and 98% of agencies believe that a combination written and verbal briefing is ideal. This is because both parties agree with a written brief made by the client that is then analysed by the agency and debated by both parties. A written brief may be preferred because it forces clients to consider the request of the agency. Verbal communication is also important so they can discuss any inconsistencies or problems with the written briefs. By writing a brief the client are focusing on what they expect from their involvement and what they expect the agency to contribute with.
The second principle is clarity of thinking. A great brief is not the longest or most detailed, it is the one that is clear and focused on a great strategic solution. Briefs are called briefs because they are meant to be summaries of your thinking. Relevance and context are more important than streams of information that may prolong the process. The client brief should therefore be a concentration of your thinking. It should contain the key nuggets of information and focus on setting out the objectives of the project. Although the brief should be focused it should not prevent your creativity.
The third and final principle is clearly defined objectives. At the start of the brief, the objectives should be clear and outlined. Concrete business objectives should be used rather than vague terms such as ' to improve brand image'. The desired improvement of what you want to achieve should be stated. Almost all agencies and 82% of clients believe that client briefs should focus on making sure that the business problems are clearly defined. Furthermore 72% of agencies and 84% of clients think that all briefs should have effectiveness criteria and evaluations written into them.
8 Elements a good brief should contain
1. Project Management- Basic facts of the project should be provided. The information that is required is; date, project name and type, purchase order, job number, if it is a PLC/group company, Operating company/brand owner. The client and agency should state names, titles and contact details.
2. State where the project is at?- Describing the current position of the brand, background and key issues it faces, defines the start point. The brief should try to contain; product or service description, manufacturing or service delivery, distribution channels, market size (volume and value), customer usage data, the brands positioning, the history of brand communications and competitive brands/products and their communications activity.
3. State where you want to be?- This section defines the desired destination of the journey on which successful communications will have taken you. The goal should be set in context of the overall business and marketing plan and what will be achievable on this specific project based on the proposed expenditure.
4. State what is being done to get there?-
Marketing Strategy
Make sure that they agencies involved in developing the communication fully understand the marketing and communications strategy and the programmes you have already put in place. It is also essential to make sure that the strategy supports the overall corporate business plan.
Campaign Strategy
The campaign that is being briefed will likely involve more than one medium and agency so they should all be informed of the campaign strategy and the specific advertising, media,public relations, selling point etc.. with in it.
5.Who you need to talk to- All communications are designed to target a response from a particular group of people. These target groups should be defined as accurately as possible via demographics, lifestyle, attitudes and feelings etc... It is is important to find out insight into your target audience so you can gain leverage to create a desired effect on them.
6. How will you know you've arrived?- We will need to know what success and failure looks like before putting anything into place. Measures should be put into place to establish whether or not the campaign delivers against its desired objectives.
7.Practicalities- The agencies response to the brief will have many implementable consequences, so it is important that all key practicalities are included in the brief. The three main areas are:
Budgets- An upfront tackling of budget issues will reduce the reworking of solutions, reducing total costs and improving integration across the campaign. A budget should be clearly stated in the brief and broken down into its component parts.
Timings- Key dates and milestones should be clearly stated and logged. Logistics of production should be considered as well.
Other considerations- Each communications discipline will have different practicalities that should be thought through before the agencies are put to work. Legal constraints in the market should be considered as well as identifying legal and regulatory restrictions that should be confided with the agencies to ensure sensitive sectors such as alcohol, finances, food and drink are not brought up. Finally it should be ensured that agencies are briefed on corporate codes and ethics.
8. Approvals- The final piece of detail needed in the brief is authority to sign off the work that the agencies produce. This person(people) should be the one(s) who sign off the brief before it is given to the agency and attend the resulting presentation.
The three principles behind a good brief
The first principle is written briefs. Research shows that 94% of clients and 98% of agencies believe that a combination written and verbal briefing is ideal. This is because both parties agree with a written brief made by the client that is then analysed by the agency and debated by both parties. A written brief may be preferred because it forces clients to consider the request of the agency. Verbal communication is also important so they can discuss any inconsistencies or problems with the written briefs. By writing a brief the client are focusing on what they expect from their involvement and what they expect the agency to contribute with.
The second principle is clarity of thinking. A great brief is not the longest or most detailed, it is the one that is clear and focused on a great strategic solution. Briefs are called briefs because they are meant to be summaries of your thinking. Relevance and context are more important than streams of information that may prolong the process. The client brief should therefore be a concentration of your thinking. It should contain the key nuggets of information and focus on setting out the objectives of the project. Although the brief should be focused it should not prevent your creativity.
The third and final principle is clearly defined objectives. At the start of the brief, the objectives should be clear and outlined. Concrete business objectives should be used rather than vague terms such as ' to improve brand image'. The desired improvement of what you want to achieve should be stated. Almost all agencies and 82% of clients believe that client briefs should focus on making sure that the business problems are clearly defined. Furthermore 72% of agencies and 84% of clients think that all briefs should have effectiveness criteria and evaluations written into them.
8 Elements a good brief should contain
1. Project Management- Basic facts of the project should be provided. The information that is required is; date, project name and type, purchase order, job number, if it is a PLC/group company, Operating company/brand owner. The client and agency should state names, titles and contact details.
2. State where the project is at?- Describing the current position of the brand, background and key issues it faces, defines the start point. The brief should try to contain; product or service description, manufacturing or service delivery, distribution channels, market size (volume and value), customer usage data, the brands positioning, the history of brand communications and competitive brands/products and their communications activity.
3. State where you want to be?- This section defines the desired destination of the journey on which successful communications will have taken you. The goal should be set in context of the overall business and marketing plan and what will be achievable on this specific project based on the proposed expenditure.
4. State what is being done to get there?-
Marketing Strategy
Make sure that they agencies involved in developing the communication fully understand the marketing and communications strategy and the programmes you have already put in place. It is also essential to make sure that the strategy supports the overall corporate business plan.
Campaign Strategy
The campaign that is being briefed will likely involve more than one medium and agency so they should all be informed of the campaign strategy and the specific advertising, media,public relations, selling point etc.. with in it.
5.Who you need to talk to- All communications are designed to target a response from a particular group of people. These target groups should be defined as accurately as possible via demographics, lifestyle, attitudes and feelings etc... It is is important to find out insight into your target audience so you can gain leverage to create a desired effect on them.
6. How will you know you've arrived?- We will need to know what success and failure looks like before putting anything into place. Measures should be put into place to establish whether or not the campaign delivers against its desired objectives.
7.Practicalities- The agencies response to the brief will have many implementable consequences, so it is important that all key practicalities are included in the brief. The three main areas are:
Budgets- An upfront tackling of budget issues will reduce the reworking of solutions, reducing total costs and improving integration across the campaign. A budget should be clearly stated in the brief and broken down into its component parts.
Timings- Key dates and milestones should be clearly stated and logged. Logistics of production should be considered as well.
Other considerations- Each communications discipline will have different practicalities that should be thought through before the agencies are put to work. Legal constraints in the market should be considered as well as identifying legal and regulatory restrictions that should be confided with the agencies to ensure sensitive sectors such as alcohol, finances, food and drink are not brought up. Finally it should be ensured that agencies are briefed on corporate codes and ethics.
8. Approvals- The final piece of detail needed in the brief is authority to sign off the work that the agencies produce. This person(people) should be the one(s) who sign off the brief before it is given to the agency and attend the resulting presentation.
Excellent and detailed responses to the questions you were set for home learning.
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