At a glance
A useful agency brief makes the assignment priceable: define the business problem, scope, responsibilities, constraints and success criteria, then compare proposals against the same work rather than the quality of the pitch.
An agency proposal can be beautifully presented and still leave the most important question unanswered: what, exactly, are we buying?
A marketing agency brief should define the problem, the scope of the assignment and the working relationship needed to solve it. It gives agencies enough context to propose useful work and gives the client a fair basis for choosing between them.
Explain why you need outside help
Are you buying specialist expertise, extra capacity, a fresh strategic view or responsibility for an ongoing service? Those are different assignments. An agency cannot price them sensibly if the brief treats them as interchangeable.
Describe the current situation, the commercial consequence and the constraints. “We need more leads” is a symptom. “We have strong enquiry volume but few conversations with the company sizes we can profitably serve” is a more useful problem.
The IPA’s guide to briefing an agency, developed with BetterBriefs and Mark Ritson, connects strategy, the written brief and the briefing conversation. That distinction matters: sending a document is not the same thing as establishing shared understanding.
Separate the outcome from the deliverables
The outcome might be a stronger position in a new market. The deliverables could include audience research, a proposition, campaign creative and a distribution plan. Describe both, but avoid deciding every production detail before the agency has understood the problem.
If the assignment is deliberately narrow, say so. A team asked to produce six landing pages should not have to guess whether it is also expected to redesign the brand strategy.
Our preference is to make the boundaries explicit enough that a good agency can challenge the proposed scope. A useful challenge at briefing stage is worth more than easy agreement followed by change requests.
Share the material that could change the recommendation
Provide relevant customer research, commercial performance, previous work and lessons from failed attempts. Explain what has already been decided and what remains open.
Be candid about operational capacity. If sales cannot handle more than twenty qualified conversations a week, the demand plan needs to know. If the internal team cannot maintain a complex content programme, do not commission one on the assumption that enthusiasm will create capacity.
Use a stack and process review where the agency’s work depends on existing tools. Access, data quality and approval delays can shape the scope as much as creative ambition.
Make the commercial terms comparable
Give a budget range when you can. Ask suppliers to show assumptions, staffing, deliverables, revision rounds and exclusions. A low headline fee may omit research, production or ongoing optimisation that another proposal includes.
Clarify ownership of source files, accounts, data and completed work. Agree how handover will work if the relationship ends. These are practical operating questions that should not be left until everyone is disappointed.
Compare the people who will do the work, not just the people who present the pitch. Ask how senior input is used, who manages day-to-day delivery and how specialists become involved.
Agree how disagreement will be resolved
Name the client decision-maker. Set review stages and explain which colleagues need to contribute. An agency should not discover at final presentation that an unseen stakeholder can restart the assignment.
Ask for recommendations with reasons. Give feedback against the agreed audience, objective and evidence, rather than combining everyone’s personal preferences into one list.
Use budget planning to reserve enough for execution and learning after the initial strategy. A good presentation with no money left to use it is an expensive stopping point.
A short brief an agency can actually price
Here is an illustrative assignment: “Help our regional sales team explain one integration offer to operations buyers at mid-sized manufacturers. Deliver an interview-based message recommendation, one campaign page and a sales discussion guide within six weeks. The client supplies product facts, access to interviewees and one consolidated approval at each agreed stage. Paid distribution and CRM implementation are outside this phase.”
Ask each agency to identify missing information, propose the research required and show the effort behind its price. Compare the same interview access, revision allowance, handover files and delivery responsibilities. A proposal that quietly assumes the client will write the page is not equivalent to one that includes writing.
The example is a scope, not a promise of qualified pipeline. Add a baseline and later campaign evaluation once distribution and follow-up are funded. A clear assignment should also let an agency explain why six weeks is unrealistic before you appoint it.
Choose the proposal that makes the work clearer
A strong proposal explains what the agency believes, what it still needs to learn, how it will work and what the client must contribute. It should make the assignment easier to understand.
Before appointing anyone, ask both teams to describe success after three months. If the answers differ, repair the brief. That conversation is much cheaper before the contract than after the first invoice.
