Give a BRIEF!
Remember, in childhood, all the girls at school (and boys too, by the way) had special thick notebooks – Questionnaires. The list of questions was sweet and funny, like everything childish – “your favorite color,” “favorite music,” “favorite season,” etc. There were also “trick questions,” for example – “your favorite girl’s name.” Why trick questions? Because girls thought that this question could reveal who the boy liked. If he wrote Tanya, then that very Tanya would immediately understand he 
had a crush on her. The silliest question, also from the “trick” series, was encountered by one of OmStudio’s employees at a rural school: “your favorite color at home.” Apparently, the question was meant to find out whose windows the respondent sighs for with longing and trembling….
It’s a pity that the questionnaire trend has passed. Oh, how many mistakes, doubts, and awkward situations could have been avoided if we all answered the right and important questions when meeting each other. And those answers would become a real guide to productive and positive communication.
However, questionnaires have not disappeared without a trace everywhere. Where two worlds meet – the Client’s World and the Contractor’s World – questionnaires are still indispensable nowadays. Only these surveys have different names now, although their goals are very similar.
Let’s talk about what
should start productive and positive cooperation between Client and Contractor – His Majesty the Brief.
A Brief is a list of questions that helps the contractor better understand the client, their vision of the project, and ensure the expected cooperation results.
This term comes from English and translates as “instruction” or “summary.” A brief looks like a questionnaire filled out by the client. But in reality, both parties work on it to outline tasks, indicate work stages, and reflect technical details.
After all, every project is like a child, so you need to know everything about it to raise it healthy, strong, successful, and happy. Therefore, before starting to prepare a brief, regardless of the scope of work ahead, imagine you are trying to choose a future for your own child right now. To choose and realize it to the fullest.
After receiving a detailed and careful brief, we contact the Client again to discuss what w
e received, clarify some points, and possibly adjust something. Together with the Client, we once again imagine the future of our shared child, voice our doubts and dreams, and agree on them.
After mutual understanding of the tasks, which have become ours together, work begins on the project products. And here new questionnaires appear – Technical Specifications (TS). What is the difference between a Brief and a TS?
BRIEF TS
When formed? Early stages of cooperation Before starting work
Always necessary? No Yes
Purpose Provides the contractor with understanding of what the client wants Clear assignment and work criteria
Has legal force? No Yes, if attached to the contract
and complies with formatting requirements
Who prepares? Contractor prepares, client fills out Client prepares and fills out
If working with a Client involves creating a single product, for example, a video, then the Brief immediately includes questions related to production, i.e., the Brief includes the TS.
But if cooperation with a Client is more extensive and involves creating multiple products, then each product requires its own separate Technical Specification.
Example of a brief without TS:
1. Company Name
2. Description of activities
3. Description of goods/services
4. Company positioning
5. Company marketing materials (brand book – logos, corporate colors, fonts, slogans, mission, etc.)
6. How the Company is represented online (social networks, website, landing pages, etc.)
7. Target audience
8. Unique Selling Proposition (what makes the Company and/or its products better than others in the same field)
9. Competitors
Example of a brief for video production with TS included:
1. Company Name
2. Description of activities
3. Company positioning
4. Company marketing materials (brand book – logos, corporate colors, fonts, slogans, mission, etc.)
5. How the Company is represented online (social networks, website, landing pages, etc.)
6. Target audience
7. Unique Selling Proposition (what makes the Company and/or its products better than others in the same field)
8. Competitors
9. Goals of the video?
10. Description of the product or service the video should be about (if available – links to online materials). If the product is complex, additional materials and links to similar products are needed.
11. Channels for promoting the finished video
12. Estimated video length
13. Video format (filmed, dramatization, interview, expert opinion, presentation, product usage example, etc.)
14. Expressive means (infographics, 2D, 3D, voice-over(s), music accompaniment, interactive, multimedia, et
c.)
15. Production deadlines
16. Technical requirements
17. References (examples of videos or specific techniques or expressive means) that are liked.
Particularly meticulous colleagues from OmStudio also like to ask the Client for examples of what they DO NOT like. Honestly, this is a real life hack. Because there is a good chance, in the huge sea of creativity based on examples the Client likes, to accidentally create exactly what triggers an allergic reaction. But if we didn’t ask at the start, the Client won’t say. So it’s better to clarify “upfront,” as they say.
In production studio work, unfortunately, cases where the absence of a brief and/or TS leads to the Client receiving something completely different from what they wanted, and the contractor is forced to redo the finished product repeatedly, are common.
Example: a c
ertain developer wanted to place a light atmospheric video at their exhibition stand that carried no specific information but created a special mood – something like a summer languor of a wealthy person on vacation. Apparently, the developer wanted to evoke in exhibition visitors a desire to be carefree, happy, and always rested, so that pursuing these associations, people would buy housing from this developer. The production studio made what was agreed – a fifteen-minute video full of sunshine, sea views, southern winds swaying palms, pools, and happy tanned people. With a sense of accomplishment, the finished product was sent for approval. And… After 16 minutes, the angry developer was raging like a tropical typhoon. “Not that!” “What do Thai landscapes have to do with it?!” “Where are the palms from?!” The core of the Client’s harsh speech was the complete mismatch between his vision of the video and the production studio’s vision, despite the fact that the request was fulfilled impeccably.
Do you think the Client then provided a TS? Yes, he tried to formulate the tasks. But it still was not a full and clear Technical Specification. And, of course, no one returned to the nonexistent Brief. In the end, in response to the new video made according to the developer’s new wishes, the production studio again experienced several unpleasant moments of doubting their own adequacy. Naturally, this story has a happy ending. The video was eventually made to meet all the Client’s requirements (and, by the way, was absolutely unlike what the parties originally agreed upon). However, both participants in this creative process lost a lot of time, nerves, and energy trying to reach understanding and, in the end, create what was needed.
What if the cooperation of these two companies had started with creating a brief and/or TS? The Client would have been able to formulate everything he later shouted over the phone in a much more civilized and understandable way for himself and the contractor. The contractor w
ould have fully understood the tasks, goals, mission, directions, and vibe of the company and would not have made mistakes in producing video products.
No matter how you look at it – the BRIEF is not a fashion trend or a way to “blow up cheeks” in front of the Client (as it is sometimes perceived). It is, first and foremost, a very cool tool. It helps the Client clearly formulate their needs and expectations. And for the contractor, the Brief becomes that very beacon, guide, and sensible dictionary that allows understanding the client’s requirements and creating the best possible outcome.