The agency brief template: the client's business brief to every agency

The agency brief, or business brief, is what a client writes before any agency or internal team starts work. It states the business problem, the objectives, the audience, the budget, the timing, the rules and how success will be measured. It is not the creative brief: the agency's planner writes that from this one. In an integrated programme, the same agency brief goes to every agency and team, so each answers the same question.

The template follows the industry's joint guides. The Client Brief, a best-practice guide to briefing all types of communications agencies, was dated 2006 in one international edition¹; it was produced by the agency trade bodies in the Communications Agencies Federation (the IPA, MCCA and PRCA) together with ISBA, which represents advertisers^2, 3. Its central idea is to make clear where the client stands now and where it needs to go¹. An updated guide, Briefing an Agency, led by ISBA with the MAA, PRCA and IPA, was written because digital channels and the rise of specialist and consolidated agency groups had changed how clients brief⁴. The IPA's listing says it covers the principles of a good brief, why a written brief matters but is not enough, the role of the briefing meeting, and written briefing forms⁵.

The evidence for taking care is stark. The 2021 BetterBriefs global study found that 80% of marketers think they write good briefs while only 10% of agencies agree, with respondents estimating that a third of marketing budgets is wasted through poor briefs and misdirected work⁶. The IPA's guide The best way for a client to brief an agency, co-written by Mark Ritson with BetterBriefs, puts marketing strategy before the brief and treats "briefing the brief" as a step of its own^7, 8.

• Background the market, the brand's position and the problem, with evidence. Attach research rather than summarising it badly.
• Objectives in three layers (business, marketing, communication), each measurable. See objectives and KPIs.
• Audience who, what they think and do now, what we want them to think and do.
• Scope the disciplines involved and what each agency is asked for; who leads the integration.
• Budget and timing a figure or range, key dates, and when the agency responds.
• Rules mandatories, brand assets, legal and regulatory constraints, languages and markets.
• Success and approval how results will be measured, and who signs off.

Illustrative: the fictional Ourika Roasters briefs its creative, media and PR agencies together.

• Where we are a respected café brand with no direct customer list; competitors sell on price.
• Where we need to be a subscription business alongside the cafés within a year.
• Who café regulars who brew at home, then new home brewers.
• What it will take creative for cafés, social and email; media for social and search; PR for the launch story. The creative agency leads the integrated idea.
• Budget and timing a stated range; responses in three weeks; launch in week five of the plan.
• How we will know subscribers, churn, café sign-ups and prompted awareness, reviewed at week eight; the head of marketing signs off.

• A separate brief per agency They will optimise their own channel and contradict each other.
• Hiding the budget Agencies then guess, and propose work the client cannot afford.
• No problem, only a task "We need a campaign" is not a brief.
• No briefing meeting A written brief matters but is not enough⁵.
• Changing the brief mid-way without saying so Re-issue it, dated.

• The Client Brief¹ and the bodies behind it^2, 3; Briefing an Agency^4, 5.
• The BetterBriefs research⁶ and the IPA's guide^7, 8.
• On IMC Report: organising for IMC and planning frameworks.