Today I’ll try to bring a little portion of my everyday’s life at work through this article about briefings.

Briefings are a crucial document for all creative and communication processes. It’s the most efficient way of organising all the phases of creation, from the very first “informal” brainstorming meeting, until the release of the final product to the client and market.

I will enumerate the steps we take, for the creation of such document:

Project Summary
The first and probably most indispensable steps in the creation of the briefing, is to collect all available information about the project, in the form of a summary, where we will specify among others, the expectations and objectives of the client, and the goals to achieve of both the client and the creative team. (or Agency).
For this phase, exhaustive research must take place, including thorough studying of the Client’s vision, the activity it develops, its background, and the current image/perception of it in the market.
We will consider all present campaigns or those who took place in the past and post-evaluate them.
We will also discuss the competitors.

Specify the Target Audience
The target audience can be classified by primary and secondary, individually or collective.
The parameters of definition can be anything from gender, to social-cultural-economic status, professional activity, age range, etc, depending on the product to be advertised.
We will define a (psycho-social)profile, according to research or customers and potential customers.
This is a key point, since most of the creative process will be focused on the target.

Define a Communication/Advertisement Strategy
The very first step is to define a USP or Unique Selling Proposition, which means to develop a listing of benefits that differentiate the product from all competitor’s products, from there, we will:
Discuss the current social and economic situation to adjust the product to the present needs of clients.
Enumerate all the stages of the campaign, isolating and explaining each of them in detail.
Describe marketing and promotional solutions to be executed and the expected impact/response from Target Audience.
We will also define Market Positioning and SEO strategies based on USP.

(This is also where all graphic images/slogans, messages (conceptualization) are to be presented and all methodologies are proposed, considering the Company’s image and graphic guides, for a later design and production.).

Execute Process Management
Here we will consider all execution aspects of the campaign, such as Budget and Deadlines, including those for client’s approval.
We will also assign tasks and responsibilities and define the sub-contracts and collaborators. (Media –tv and radio broadcasting, internet hosting/website development, newspapers/magazines advertising, urban advertisement points and the agencies that manage them, print-shops, etc.) all that will make possible the effective communication of the campaign


General Overview
The briefing meeting is the first part and probably the most exciting part of the whole process. It’s the chance you have as a team, to get to know and get involved with the Client and their vision and also, and most importantly, with the Product/Service to be communicated/advertised.
It is a great chance to make emphasis on the importance of team-work and re-create a unique language between members.
It is more likely for the campaigns to be successful when the Commercial/Creative and Executive teams work with trust and harmony in each other, making sure that everyone is focused in the same objectives and truly believe in the potential of the Brand/Product/Service.


This is of course a briefing of a Briefing, but it enumerates a few important steps of the process. There is a lot more to evaluate, especially when it comes to online communication and media; what are the objectives, what are the expected levels of performance and effectiveness, etc.

Hope this is helpful and thanks for reading.