Most video production briefs suffer from one of two problems. Either they're so high level they lack the strategic insight crucial for success. Or they're so prescriptive, they throttle the creative before we've even got out of the start gate.
A good animation brief should give a solid foundation, rather than get in the weeds of creative decision-making. For example, what does success look like? Where will the animation be shown? What's your audience's key pain point?
The thing is, whilst you're clear you need a brief, you might be less clear on how to structure one that helps, rather than hinders the creative process.
Think of your brief as the foundation for all the creative decisions that will follow. Get it right, and creative decisions not only become easier, but crystal clear.
Get it wrong, and you'll spend weeks in revision cycles trying to fix problems that started on page one.
In other words, a solid video brief helps avoid the usual pitfalls: endless revisions, unclear messaging, and wasted budget.
Most importantly, it lets the creative team make smart decisions on your behalf. The kind that keep the process smooth, the story strong, and ones that actually deliver the ROI you need.
Firstly, consider a high level approach to your brief. Ask these three killer questions. They might seem simple enough, but they can have a profound effect on the creative direction. These questions form the strategic foundation that makes everything else clearer:
Getting clear answers to these questions is crucial, and they connect directly to understanding the full production process that follows. Once you've got this foundation, writing the brief becomes much more straightforward.
Here's how to structure a brief that gives the creative team everything they need:
If you've asked the questions we outlined above, you'll already know what success looks like. Now we're going to get a bit deeper into exactly what ROI looks like.
It's temping to keep it high level, but the real value comes from peeling back another layer. Here's an example.
Instead of writing: "Increase brand awareness among potential customers"
Ask yourself: Do I mean brand awareness as in people simply knowing your brand exists? Or do I want potential clients who interact with us to understand the value of our product?
The former suggests a brand story (high in concept, low on detail). The latter points towards an explainer video (purely a conversion tool). The approaches are very different.
The more specific you are, the better creative decisions everyone can make. In other words, a video designed to build brand recognition will be completely different from one meant to explain product value.
Here's a way to walk though it:
Demographics matter less than psychographics. We want to know who they are, such as CTO, but we also want to know how they think.
How do they see the world? In their own words, how would they describe the problem? And the solution they need?
The more we understand how your audience actually think, the better we can relate to what they want.
Also, be careful of not making your audience too broad. You will make it significantly harder to relate to them, and in turn, water down your engagement metrics. Imagine you have a room full of your perfect audience. What one thing could you say that will relate to their pain point? If you can't, chances are your audience targetting is too broad.
In addition to demographics, ask these questions too:
If your audience remembers nothing else, what should it be? Write this as a single, clear statement.
This becomes your video's North Star. Every creative decision should serve this central message. This is your promise statement. What you're promising to deliver. And it should perfectly match up with your audience's core desire.
We've outlined one of the most effective script narrative arcs below to give you flavour for the flow:
Examples of strong promise statements are:
When done well, the narrative arc of the script will take your viewer on a journey from initial curiosity, to a desire to act.
But it's not just the script content we need to consider. It's your unique brand voice.
Here's some questions to help you hone in on ToV.
If your brand was a person...
These questions, along with choosing the right animation style, have a big impact on the overall feel of your animated video. Including casting the right voice over artist.
This is where you outline the aspects that may influence key creative decisions.
Timeline: Outline if you have any specific deadline, such as for an event. Typically, an animated video production will take around 6-10 weeks. Understanding how long video production actually takes can help set realistic expectations.
Distribution: This affects video dimensions and how we approach the project from the start. For example, we'd approach a video for a homepage very differently from an event video. We'd also design the video differently if we know it needs to be both 9:16 and 16:9 aspect ratios.
Budget: If you already have a budget in mind, that's super helpful. If not, grab our price guide including examples. Or you can share examples that inspire you and we'll give you an idea of how much they cost to produce.
Anything else: Let us know if there are any other aspects we need to be aware of. For example, an upcoming brand refresh, a key person on holiday, or anything else that might affect production.
Here's a quick recap of what to include in your video production brief.
Project Overview (2-3 sentences about what you're creating and why)
Objective (What type of video do you need and what should it achieve)
Audience (Who are they, what drives them, and how they see the world)
Promise Statement (The core message that becomes your North Star)
Tone and Brand Personality (If your brand was a person...)
Practical Requirements (Timeline, distribution, budget, technical needs)
Success Metrics (How you'll know it worked)
Background Context (Anything else that might be relevant)
Keep it to 1-2 pages maximum. If it's longer, you're probably including too much detail.
We should also mention that this is exactly what we'd uncover together on a discovery call. We don't expect clients to come to us with all the answers. In fact, the skill and the fun is exploring them together and refining the brief.
Often the most valuable insights come from questions you hadn't thought to ask.
Or from challenging assumptions you didn't realise you were making. Many of these considerations come up in our FAQ about video production, which is why getting the brief right matters so much.
We believe the brief writing process should be collaborative, and often working together creates a much stronger brief.
So while having a well-thought-out brief is incredibly valuable, don't worry if you can't answer every question perfectly. That's what we're here for.
What's the difference between a brand video brief and an explainer video?
Brand videos focus on building awareness and emotional connection with your company. Explainer videos focus on helping people understand a specific product, service, or concept. The brief objectives and audience considerations will be quite different.
Should I write a new brief for each video, even if they're part of the same campaign?
Usually, asbolutely. Even videos in the same campaign often target different audiences or stages of the customer journey. A homepage explainer and a case study video need different approaches, even if they support the same overall goal.
How detailed should I be about our competitive landscape?
Include context that directly affects messaging or positioning, but don't write a comprehensive competitor analysis. If there's a specific misconception in your industry or a key differentiator that needs emphasis, mention that.
What if our audience includes multiple stakeholder types?
Choose the primary decision-maker as your main audience and note the secondary audiences. Trying to speak to everyone equally often results in speaking to no one effectively.
A great video production brief isn't about having all the answers. It's about giving your creative team the right information to make smart decisions.
The time you invest in getting the brief right will save weeks in the production process. More importantly, it'll help ensure your video actually achieves what you set out to do.
At Outmost Studio, we work with brands to create animated explainer videos that move the needle. But those results only come from gaining clarity about what needs to happen and why it matters.
Ready to get started? Drop us a line and we'd be more than happy to walk you through the process.
