It may seem commonsensical, basic even and it has certainly been said before, but great agency work needs a great brief. Importantly, getting a great brief isn’t a passive process. It requires a bit of work. Whilst the person giving you a brief may think it gives all the detail you need, it’s common to find it doesn’t contain everything required. So how do you get a great brief?

Whenever possible the brief should come from the person commissioning the work. The further you get away from the person commissioning the work the more likely problems will occur later on, avoid playing Chinese whispers.

When reviewing a brief ask why does your client want to conduct the work in the first place? What is the benefit for their business? You must be crystal clear about this from the very beginning because it’s the foundation of any great project. Ask your client to clarify and expand upon key points. Take a collaborative approach to fleshing out the brief, improving it without hurting anyone’s ego. It’s ok to ask questions about things which may seem “obvious” or implied.

More often than not there’s more than one person who has as an interest a project. Try and talk-to, chat, interview and positively milk these stakeholders for clarifications and additional information. When it comes to rules to live your life by - “assume nothing”.

The client or whoever is giving you the brief may not be able to provide all the information needed. Often clients are juggling several projects at once, focusing on a single brand; they may not be able to see the brief as clearly as you do. The best agency partners will not accept an incomplete brief before they start a project. It’s all to easy to meet a client, discuss the brief in general, have a coffee, shake hands and go back to the office. When this happens problems will occur later on. Some pre-research maybe needed to help develop the brief. This can be a straightforward as reviewing existing information or conducting a few interviews, whilst this can take time up front it will pay dividends later on.