You sent the creator the product, a paragraph about the launch and a link to the brand guidelines. Ten days later the video arrives: the logo in the first frame, the product name said three times, and the one thing customers keep asking about nowhere in it. Your manager asks what went wrong. Read the brief again: the creator did what it said.
A longer brief won't fix it. What fixes it is deciding, before you send anything, the few things that have to be in the video, and leaving the rest to whoever holds the camera: a creator, an agency crew or a colleague in a store. Here's what people send, where each one breaks, and a one-page brief to copy.
What people send before the shoot
A one-line ask
"Can you film something for the new range by Friday?" It's fast, and it's fine for someone who has filmed for you ten times and knows the account. For anyone else it leaves every decision to them, and you get their idea of your brand. Clip, a UGC platform, describes the brief creators complain about as "too vague, no clear direction, no examples of what 'good' looks like, no defined goal", and the creator's side of it as "I didn't know what they actually wanted" (Clip).
A full creative brief
Background, objectives, audience, key messages, tone, mandatories. It's the right tool when legal signs off on claims or several creators work from the same page. It breaks when it gets long or reads like the website. Twirl's list of over-scripting signs is worth checking against your last brief: "Every line from the script must be delivered word for word", "The language comes directly from your website", "Several product benefits need to fit into one video" (Twirl). On length, Billo calls one to two pages "the sweet spot" (Billo). A platform's brief form, like TikTok One's with its "Must include or Must avoid requirements" (TikTok), makes you list requirements, but not decide how the video opens.
Reference videos
"Make it like this one." A short example shows pace and tone better than a paragraph does, and Insense suggests "links to 2–3 of your best-performing ads as visual benchmarks" (Insense). Where it breaks: you get a copy of the reference, including the parts you didn't like. Say what you want from each one: the pace of this video, the opening of that one.
A shot list with the opening written out
The first shot, the few shots after it, the line that's said, the ending. It's the closest you get to the video you pictured, and it's what a colleague who doesn't film for a living needs. It also puts the work where TikTok says it matters: TikTok's ad guidance is to "Introduce your content proposition in the first 3 seconds" and "Prioritize your hook in the first 6 seconds" (TikTok).
With a creator, a shot list for every frame removes what you hired them for. The middle ground: write the opening and the shots you can't do without, and offer the rest as options. Insense asks for "at least two hooks per video and make sure they are genuinely different" (Insense).
A call before the shoot
It catches the misunderstanding before anything is filmed, when it's cheapest. It costs a calendar slot per person, gets hard with ten creators at once, and what's agreed isn't written down unless you send a note after.
A scenario from a research tool to start the brief
Rankfield is one source: each scenario it ranks arrives with the opening, a shot list and the reason, built from your account and the accounts around you, ready to paste under "The opening" in the brief below. It decides what the video is, not who films it or on what terms.
Which one to send
| Who's filming | What to send |
|---|---|
| A creator who has filmed for you often | One line and one reference, with what you like about it |
| A new creator, or one from a UGC platform | The one-page brief below, with two openings to choose from |
| A colleague in a store or on site | A shot list with the opening written out, and a phone-filmed example |
| An agency or production crew | The full brief, and a call before the shoot |
| Several creators at once | The one-page brief through the platform's form, no call |
For the first job with a new agency or colleague, I'd send the brief and book the call; for a platform creator, the brief alone. After two or three videos, you'll know how much of it they need.
A one-page brief you can copy
What this video is for. Who should watch it, and what they should do afterwards.
The one thing it has to say. One sentence. If there are three, pick one and save the others for the next video.
The opening. What's on screen in the first seconds, plus two alternatives the creator can choose between.
Must include. A short list: the product shot, the claim exactly as approved, the offer, how to say the brand name.
Must avoid. Competitors' names, claims legal hasn't approved, anything that dates the video.
Your call. Setting, wording, transitions, everything not listed above.
References. Two or three links, each with one line on what to take from it.
Deliverables. Length, vertical 9:16, how many versions, whether you need raw footage, where it will run (organic, paid, your site) and for how long, and, on TikTok, whether you need a Spark Ads code to boost it.
Feedback. One combined round from us by a named date, and how many rounds are included.
I'd check the deliverables line twice before sending. Billo's advice is to settle raw footage, revision rounds and where the content can run, and "Get this in writing before anyone starts filming" (Billo).
When it comes back wrong anyway
A good brief can still be undone by the feedback. Collect every reviewer's comments and send them once: Twirl's advice is to "Send one clear set of feedback after all relevant stakeholders have reviewed the content", because separate rounds "create conflicting instructions" (Twirl). Then check your notes against the brief. If you're asking for something the brief never said, Clip puts it bluntly: "At that point it's not a revision, it's a new project" (Clip).