How to write a brand brief that gets you better work

Start with the business problem, not the deliverable

“We need a new logo” is a solution. The brief should describe the problem behind it: sales have stalled in a new segment, the brand looks cheaper than the product, investors are confused about what the company does. When the problem is clear, the agency can tell you whether a logo is the right answer or only part of it.

Write two or three sentences that a person outside your company would understand. If you cannot, the strategy work needs to happen before the design work.

Describe the audience as people, not segments

“Women aged 25 to 45 in large cities” does not help anyone write a headline. Describe what your best customers are trying to achieve, what worries them and what makes them switch from a competitor. Real quotes from sales calls or reviews are worth more than any persona template.

Name the competitors you actually lose to

List three to five brands your customers compare you with, including indirect ones. For a regional bakery chain that might be the bakery aisle in a supermarket rather than another bakery. Add one sentence on why customers choose each of them. It shows the agency where your brand needs to look and sound different.

Set constraints early

Constraints are not a limitation for creative teams. They are a starting point, so put them in the brief rather than in feedback after the first presentation.

• The budget range for the whole project, including production and media
• Hard deadlines, such as a trade show, a store opening or a funding round
• Elements that must stay, for example a name, a colour or a mascot people recognise
• Legal or category rules, such as labelling requirements in food or finance
• Who signs off, and how many people will give feedback

Define what success looks like

Agree on how you will judge the result before you see it. That can be a business metric, such as more qualified leads or a higher average order value, or a perception goal checked with a short customer survey. Without it, the discussion after the first presentation turns into a debate about taste.

What to leave out

Skip long company histories, internal org charts and mood boards of logos you like. References can help later, but at the brief stage they push the agency toward copying rather than solving. If you have strong visual preferences, describe the feeling you want instead: calm and precise, warm and local, bold and slightly provocative.

A brief is not a form to fill in. It is the first decision you make about your brand.