How to write an effective video brief

Download the brief template

A good brief does not take ten pages. It takes ten minutes of honest thinking and a few clear answers. That is what prevents off-target quotes, endless back-and-forth and videos that please everyone without serving anyone.

Here is how to build one, in the order in which we ask our clients.

Step one: say where you are starting from. The project in one sentence, and what triggers it: a launch, an event, a request from management. Add the colleague test: can you explain it in two sentences to someone who does not know the subject? If you cannot yet, that is fine. It is even valuable information: that is where we will start together.

Step two: write the video in three verbs. When viewers have finished watching, what should they understand, feel, do? Three short sentences, no jargon. Then a single priority: if only one verb could count, which one? That hierarchy guides everything else: the format, the tone, the length.

Step three: describe the audience and the tone. Who is watching? A busy executive, teams who have no choice but to follow, sceptical customers? The same message is not delivered the same way to a curious audience and to one that is already convinced. Also say what must absolutely not be said or shown: it is often the most useful instruction.

Step four: show what already exists. Brand guidelines, scripts, previous videos, reference documents. And above all a few videos you like, with the reason. Three annotated links are worth more than a page of adjectives. Saying what you do not like saves just as much time.

Step five: choose the format, or accept being advised. Motion design to explain, filming to bring things to life, live to bring people together, digital content to personalise, localisation to roll out in several countries. Many projects are hybrid and many clients hesitate: answering “advise me” is a perfectly valid answer.

Step six: frame the distribution. Intranet, LinkedIn, website, trade show, convention, in-store screens: a video is not designed the same way depending on where it lives. This is the moment to specify the planned length, the image format (landscape, portrait, square) and the languages. If the video must be adapted internationally, say so from the brief: planning for it costs far less than catching up later.

Step seven: give the schedule and the approval process. A delivery date, a fixed event if any, but also who approves, in how many rounds, and what reassures the approvers. Delays come far more often from approval than from production.

Step eight: do not wait until you have everything. An incomplete brief is still useful. Gaps are not a problem: filling them is part of our job. What costs a lot is a brief that is wrong or vague about what really matters: the message, the audience, the date.

To save you time, we have put these questions into a template you can fill in online. It takes about ten minutes. You receive a copy of your answers as a PDF, and we reply within 24 hours with a format recommendation, two or three creative angles, a detailed quote and a schedule built around your date.