Advertising Brief
The brief should be a short and focused explanation to the advertising agency of what kind of
communication/advertising you need.
Background
An overview of the market,
category, product and/or brands
concerning this communication.
Competitive market
situation
Type of products/packages/brands
available in the market and how
competitive the current market
place is. Which competitors lose
the sales we gain? What is our
competitive frame in this execution?
Product description
Describe the product in a rational
way, i.e. its features, packaging,
distribution, etc.
Objectives
Why are we communicating? What
is the problem or opportunity we
are addressing? What is the
communication task? What should
this communication include?
Communication goals
What do we expect this
communication to do?
How will this exploit the problem or
opportunity? What do we ultimately
aim to communicate and achieve?
What is the role of the
communication and how will we
measure its success?
Target group
Whose behaviour are we trying to
affect? Describe/profile the
consumption target group and the
communication target group. What
helpful insight do we have about
our audience? Their behaviour,
beliefs and feelings. Describe the
consumers as people, in relationship to the brand/product, in terms
of new insights. How do they
behave, think and feel now?
What is our desired state?
Positioning
The brand/product should be
positioned as … (See Brand
Positioning Statement).
Including what benefits can be used
to verify the product.
Desired brand
perception/image
What aspects of the brand’s
personality are important to this
communication? How should
consumers feel about the
brand/brand character?
Key values?
Advertising Brief Template
Template provided by VAMS
Page 1(2)
Tone & Manner
What is the tone-of-voice? e.g.
conservative, formal, informal,
humours, relaxed, harsh, etc.
What other brand assets can we
leverage? How will this advertising
look, feel, sound so they can hear
and best relate to us, and still be
true to the brand?
Single minded
proposition / USP
What single-minded response do
we want from this advertising?
What is the one thing we want
people to take away? What is the
one thing you can say that will
convince them to buy this brand
instead of others?
Support
Why is the above true?
What could be the best evidence to
help stimulate this? Emotional,
sensual or rationally
Mandatory
Any mandatories.
Timing/deadlines
Critical dates e.g. introduction to
trade and campaign launch dates.
Evaluation criteria
List the criteria against which the
proposal will be evaluated.
Budget
Our budget limitations.
Advertising Brief Template
Template provided by VAMS
Page 2(2)