Begin with the audience’s situation
Describe the situation in which the audience encounters the problem or the brand. Include what they currently believe, do or avoid, and distinguish observed behavior from your interpretation. A demographic label alone does not explain why the communication should matter.
State the communication task separately from the business ambition. Increasing revenue is an ambition; helping a particular audience understand a new use case is a task that a creative team can address.
Extract a mechanism from each reference
For every campaign reference, write what made the idea relevant to its audience and how the execution expressed it. Separate the strategic mechanism from the visible format. A film, event or social post can carry very different ideas.
Record the conditions that enabled the work: existing brand associations, access to participants, media context or production capability. These conditions help determine what can be adapted and what would be imitation without the supporting context.
Write the brief as a set of choices
Include one audience priority, one problem to address, the intended change in understanding or behavior, and the evidence supporting the proposition. State the boundaries: claims that cannot be made, practical limits and necessary brand elements.
Keep inspiration separate from mandatory requirements. If every reference becomes a requirement, the team inherits a collage rather than a coherent assignment. Explain what each example is meant to illustrate.
Review concepts against the task
In an illustrative launch brief, a concept may be visually striking yet fail to explain when the product is useful. Ask reviewers to state the idea and intended audience response in their own words before debating execution details.
Record which uncertainty a concept test should address, such as comprehension, relevance or credibility. Do not ask a small review group to predict total sales. Use the feedback to refine the brief as well as the creative work.
Use this worksheet for your decision
Copy this into your notes. Leave unknowns visible instead of filling gaps with guesses.
Audience situation: Observed problem: Communication task: Desired change: Proposition and supporting evidence: Reference mechanism: Conditions that differ: Mandatory constraints: Concept-test question:Download the text worksheet ↓
Find evidence in the archives
Choose a supporting case and a counterexample with a different outcome. Read their sources and check whether their conditions match yours.
Cases to practice with (read and check the underlying sources):
Bring your question to the cases
Search a company or topic in the app, read the cases and ask follow-up questions to compare approaches.