The term ‘advertising brief’ refers to the statement of the goals of an advertising campaign. Another term which is used to refer to this document is ‘agency brief’. This document is agreed to between an advertising agency as well as a client. In the advertising brief, there is a brief history of the product (such as idea and organisation) that is to be advertised. The advertising brief is the beginning point of the work that the agency’s account management group undertakes. Without a good brief, misunderstandings as well as confusion may result.
Step one of developing a good advertising brief
In order to develop a good advertising brief, you need to understand the following concepts as well as how to apply them:
Purpose
The purpose of an advertising brief is to promote a product or service to a consumer
Strategy
This is your ‘roadmap’ or plan to achieve the purpose
Intention
What exactly do you expect to get out of the assignment, i.e. what is the desired outcome.
Most advertising briefs have standard components to ensure that all the required information is supplied to the service provider. Some briefs may also include non-standard components if additional information or requirements must be included in the brief to ensure that all the necessary information is included in the brief.
Your first step in developing a brief is gathering all of the information which is required. You would normally be given a specification for the assignment and you will use the specification requirements to determine what information is needed for briefs.
