A brief both sides can use
Replace assumptions
with a shared plan.
Use these fields to agree what the campaign needs to do. The example is illustrative; your actual scope belongs in the agreement.
See how real campaigns differ ↗01Objective
Show how the product fits into the driver’s race-weekend routine.
02Audience & idea
Give racing fans a useful look at one part of preparation, with the product naturally involved.
03Deliverables
One vertical edit for the driver’s Instagram account. Agree the length, posting date and delivery deadline.
04Usage
Driver’s organic post plus brand organic reposting. Paid advertising is outside this example scope; agree any additional rights separately.
05Approval
One named brand approver reviews the first cut before publication. Agree the deadline and number of revision rounds.
06Reporting
Share available platform views, reach and engagement after the agreed reporting window. Confirm the reporting date.
Two documents, two jobs
The brief is not
the agreement.
Most campaigns that go wrong were agreed in one conversation and recorded in neither document. Keep the creative decisions and the commercial terms separate, and put each where it belongs.
The briefDecides what gets made.
- The objective, in the brand’s words
- The idea, and why this driver can tell it
- Formats, lengths and how many pieces
- The filming date and who is present
- Who gives creative feedback, and by when
The agreementDecides what is owed.
- Fees, invoicing and payment terms
- Usage: organic, paid, duration, territory
- Exclusivity, and against which categories
- What happens if a deliverable slips
- Confidentiality and required disclosures
Anything in the right column that is only in an email is not agreed. Anything in the left column that is only in someone’s head will be rebuilt three times in the edit.
Settle it in this order
Each answer
narrows the next.
- FirstWhat does the brand need this to do?
Not "awareness". Ask what changes for them if it works: a product people do not understand, a launch with no footage, a retailer who wants to see activity. Every later decision follows from this one, and nobody can answer it but them.
- SecondWho is this for, and why you?
The audience the brand wants and the audience you have are rarely identical. Say where they overlap, honestly. An overlap of a few thousand relevant people is worth more than a large number of the wrong ones.
- ThirdWhat is the idea, in one sentence?
If it takes a paragraph, it will not survive the edit. "The product in the part of my weekend where it actually gets used" is an idea. "A partnership announcement" is not.
- FourthWhat exactly is delivered, and where?
Count the pieces. Name the formats, the lengths, the accounts and the dates. Separate what you post from what you hand over for the brand to post, because those are different rights and often different edits.
- FifthWho approves it, and how long do they have?
One named person, one deadline, and an agreed number of revision rounds. Unlimited rounds with an unnamed committee is how a campaign misses the window it was built for.
- LastWhat gets reported, and when?
Agree the metrics each platform actually gives you and the date you will send them. Keep paid delivery separate from organic. Promising numbers you cannot pull is worse than promising fewer.
Resolve these
before recording.
What must appear? Confirm the product, message, disclosure and any factual claims.
Where will it run? A driver’s social post and a brand’s paid ad need different permissions.
Who signs it off? One clear approval route prevents conflicting edits and missed deadlines.
