Creating the Best Video Brief

Briefs are an essential part of working on any project. For us to understand what our clients need from us as their video partners, a well-constructed brief can be valuable. They’re helpful at the beginning, and throughout the production process as reference material to us focused on the client’s needs.

Considering how valuable briefs are, certain elements are beneficial to include. Specific information about the product, brand, core features, and more can aid us in crafting the best possible video for our clients in a way that works best for them and their customers.

Background Information and Platforms

Early on, we like to understand what our video will be for, whether it’s a product video, brand, or performance marketing video. If we’re making an explainer video for a product, crucial information for us to know is its unique identifiers, and functionality, in addition to details about the client’s company in general.

Understanding the target platforms early also gives us an advantage. From a technical standpoint, this allows us to prepare the video for different aspect ratios. It’s not unusual for a client to request that a video is prepared for several platforms!

References can be crucial if a client is seeking something specific that’s in line with their existing marketing material. Anything like blog posts and white papers that contain the required language and visual elements is especially helpful.

Target Audience and Key Messages

Briefs can change as a project progresses, but the target audience is constant and significantly impacts the style we aim for. If we’re working on a product video for earbuds aimed at young adults, we’d likely produce something fast-paced and direct that has a higher chance of appealing to that demographic.

A video’s distribution is also indicative of the target audience. If we’re creating a video for a client’s website, this suggests that it’s aimed at already-interested potential customers. Knowing this information while writing the script can help us make the best video possible for every platform required.

Knowing what messages we need to impart and which are the most important ones is beneficial to our creative process. Knowing if we need to communicate how easy a product is to use or how beneficial a brand can be for a particular audience helps us craft the most targeted videos possible.

An advantage of understanding key messages is that later in the process, it’s efficient to insert any specific language that the client requires. Company terminology can be more easily used in the video when we’ve crafted a script that accommodates them.

The Importance of Briefs

For our team to create the best video possible, it helps to get relevant information presented in an organized way. It’s helpful to get details about the target audience, messaging, and technical aspects, and even better to have it presented neatly. Focused information saves both our team and the client time!

This information is a great start, and as projects progress, we keep in contact with our clients and consult on changes that could benefit the project. The target audience won’t be altered, but we’re forthcoming in stylistic, messaging, and technical suggestions that could help connect with that audience even more.

Igloo is part of the Magic Media and we pride ourselves on our ability to create second-to-none videos for your projects, whether that is a video trailer, in-game animation or anything else you require. If you’re looking for a video partner who understands how to communicate with an audience for your brand, product, or performance videos, take a look at our reels and see what we can do for you by getting in contact with us today!