How to brief an agency.

A brief is a decision

A good brief is short. It says what is happening, when, for whom, and what success looks like. The rest can come out on a call. A long brief often hides the one decision nobody has made yet.

Write the brief for the person who has to make the work, not for the meeting where it gets approved. If they can read it once and know what to make, it is done.

The five things a brief needs

These are the same things we ask on a first call (the brand, the moment, the date) and in the Listen step that opens every MUUS strategy: the brief, the brand, the moment and the audience.

• The brand: who you are in a sentence, and what is new.
• The moment: the launch, season, opening or event the work is for.
• The date: when it has to land, and any dates that cannot move.
• The audience: who should care, and where they already spend their time.
• What you need: strategy, film and photo, design, live coverage or creators, and the formats inside them.

Add a range

Share a budget range, even a wide one. A range does not lock you in. It tells the agency whether you need a single shoot or a full campaign, and it saves both sides from a proposal that misses.

What drives scope is simple to name: how many moments, how many places, how many people on camera, when it has to land, and how many sizes it has to run in. Say which of those matter most and the agency can shape the rest.

What to leave out

A brief gets stronger when it gets shorter. Cut these before you send it.

• The solution in pixel detail. Name the problem and let the idea surprise you.
• Every stakeholder's wish list. Pick the goal that matters most.
• Old decks pasted in whole. Link them and say what to take from them.
• Vague success. 'Make it pop' is not a measure. Views, sales, sign ups or press are.

Show what good looks like

Attach a few references and say why each one works: a frame, a film, a feed. References say more than adjectives, and the reason matters more than the picture. If something is off limits, a look, a word, a competitor's world, say that too.

Say where the work will run

Where the work runs changes how it is made. A film for TV, a vertical for the feed, signs for a store and stills for press can all come from one shoot, if the brief says so up front.

Name who decides

List who signs off and when. Approvals are where timelines slip. One named decision maker, with a date for each review, keeps the work moving and keeps feedback from arriving in pieces.

Say what is fixed

Some things cannot change: a product date, a retailer's window, a logo lockup, when the talent is free. List them. Fixed points make a brief easier, not harder, because the agency can design around them instead of discovering them late.

What happens after you send it

Send it through Start a project or bring it to a call. We start with the brand, the moment and the date. If the idea is still open, a Strategy Sprint takes it from brief to plan in two weeks. If it is ready to make, it goes straight to the team that makes it.

The template

Copy the fields below. The first five match our Start a project form, so a brief written here drops straight in. The rest are what we ask once we start listening.

• Service: Strategy, Studio, Design, Live or Creators
• Formats: the pieces you need
• The moment and the date
• Budget range
• Contact
• The brand in a sentence, and what is new
• The audience
• Where the work will run
• References, each with a reason
• How you will measure it
• Who signs off, and by when

The checklist

• The brand in one sentence
• The moment it is for
• The date it has to land
• The audience, and where they spend time
• The services and formats you need
• A budget range
• Where the work will run
• A few references, each with a reason
• The goal you will measure
• Who signs off, and by when