Having a solid brief before any work begins is absolutely key to project success. It achieves alignment between client and agency on your needs and goals.
If you feel your agency doesn’t communicate back to you in a way that demonstrates a full understanding of the project, it’s probably not a good fit for your organization. You want to work with a team that understands you, who you like and respect, and shares your values.
Here is our no-fail methodology for developing an effective Creative Brief:
- Discover the Need – Our first step with any new engagement is a Discovery process. We ask a lot of questions in order to understand your needs.
- Identify the Goal – What are you trying to achieve with this project? What do your stakeholders need from it? What is your ideal outcome?
- Set the Budget – Our instinct as an agency is to overdeliver, because we want to cover all bases. It’s important to align on budget ahead of time so we can determine what’s possible.
- Understand Approval cycles – We factor in your internal approval processes, as these will affect timing and costs. Building in appropriate approval and revision cycles avoids delays and allows us to manage agency workflow efficiently.
- At the end of this process we deliver you a Creative Brief, before any work begins. Review it carefully. This is the point at which you should identify any gaps and provide clear feedback to us. Once you sign off on the Creative Brief, work begins!
At the end of a successful briefing process we have set clear expectations, we are aligned, and are set up for a successful project!