Our top 5 tips to communicate your requirements effectively.

Working with a creative agency can be incredibly rewarding – but only if your brief sets the project up for success. A clear, thoughtful brief helps the agency understand exactly what you need and gives them the direction to deliver work that hits the mark.

Whether you're briefing an agency for a new website, a rebrand or a multi-channel campaign, here are our top 5 tips to make sure your next creative brief gets results.

1. Be clear on your objectives

Start with the why. What are you hoping to achieve with this project? Are you trying to increase brand awareness, generate leads, boost online sales, or refresh tired visuals?

Agencies are problem-solvers at heart – but they need to understand the problem first. Be specific about your goals and how success will be measured. The clearer your objectives, the more strategic and focused the creative solution will be.

2. Know your audience

It’s not enough to say “everyone is our customer.” A good creative agency will tailor their ideas to resonate with your target audience – but only if you can tell them who that is.

Include any relevant insights you have: demographics, behaviours, challenges, needs, and what currently resonates (or doesn’t) with your audience. If your agency doesn’t have to guess, they can jump straight into creating something meaningful.

3. Share your brand foundations

Your brand is more than just a logo – it’s your tone of voice, values, personality and positioning. Make sure your agency understands what your brand stands for so their work aligns with it.

If you’ve got brand guidelines, share them. If you don’t, describe your brand in words: are you bold, playful, premium, disruptive, down-to-earth? The more context you provide, the easier it is to create work that feels on-brand.

4. Define the scope – and the stuff that’s off-limits

Being upfront about timelines, budgets and deliverables helps your agency work smarter and avoid wasted time. Tell them what you need (and when), how many rounds of amends are expected, and any must-haves or no-gos.

It’s also useful to flag anything that mustn’t be done. Are there words, colours, messages or approaches you don’t want to use? Don’t be afraid to set boundaries – it actually gives the agency more confidence to explore creatively.

5. Leave room for creativity

While it’s tempting to prescribe every detail, try not to write the solution into the brief. The best creative agencies thrive on solving challenges in unexpected ways – so give them the freedom to do what they do best.

Instead of saying “we want a video with a voiceover and text on screen,” describe the effect you want to achieve: “we want people to feel inspired and take action after watching.” Let the agency surprise you.

Final thoughts from 63

A strong creative brief is a conversation starter – not a strict instruction manual. It’s your chance to inspire your agency, set expectations and build a foundation for brilliant work. Whether you're working with a creative agency for the first time or refining your internal processes, following these five tips will help you get better, more effective results from your partnership.