16 questions to answer when giving a brief to a video agency

Knowing where to start with a video agency brief can be a daunting task. Do you focus on your objectives, or get straight into your creative direction? The good news is, you don’t need to wonder anymore, because we sat down with our Studio Manager, Lisa, to get the questions our Studio finds most helpful to get started on creating our clients' amazing videos.

But before we get into the juicy details, let’s give you a quick introduction to Lisa and our Studio. Lisa heads up our video agency, Sparkol Studio (we just call it Studio - join the cool kids club!), and if you’re a client of ours you’ve probably had the pleasure of working with her. Lisa is essential in helping our clients achieve their video goals with Studio while managing the delivery from our incredible team. Our Studio is made up of talented animators, illustrators, designers, script-writers, and our friendly Sales team that will be there for you every step of the way. The Studio is dedicated to creating jaw-dropping video animations for you - just check out our latest showreel to get a feel for all the styles we can create.

So Lisa, what are the first questions you cover off with our clients?

For us to get started, we need to know the foundations. The first few questions are all about the details, like who you’re wanting to create the video for, is it for a specific campaign, or even if it’s the first time you’ve worked with an agency. This will help us understand the type of creation you’re after, and to make it as appealing to your target audience as possible. Here are some foundational questions for you to walk away with:

Foundational questions: setting the scene

1. Who is the audience?
   
   
2. Can you shed some light on the background of your company?
   
   
3. What is the context or objective that the video is aiming to achieve? E.g. raising awareness, educating, brand engagement, directly generating sales, etc.
   
   
4. Why have you chosen video for this message?
   
   
5. Have you used video in the past? If so, why was it successful and what’s made you want to make more?
   
   
6. What is your budget for this video work?

The next set of questions really help us hone in on the message and overall style for the video. If we’re writing the script for your video, do you have information to hand that can help our script-writers get stuck in? Do we need to look at translating the script to appeal to multiple audiences as well? And what animation style are you leaning towards? Because when it comes to style, our Studio provides a broad range of animation styles to choose from - 2D animation, whiteboard animation, 3D animation, mixed media - this isn’t always an easy decision because each style is fantastic in their own, unique way. Those are just a few of the questions to ask, but here they are in more detail for you:

Content questions: focusing on the message and style

1. What information is available if we’re going to write the script?
   
   
2. Do any of your competitors use video, and to what end?
   
   
3. Have you seen any examples of video content that stands out as particularly good to you? Or, especially bad?
   
   
4. Will the video be used alongside other marketing collateral as part of a campaign?
   
   
5. Is there any particular visual style/brand guidelines/tone of voice to follow?
   
   
6. Are there any mandatories e.g. logos, subtitles, language variations?

And finally, it’s all about understanding where and how the video will be reviewed and promoted. For example, if it’s a video for a social media campaign, we may suggest multiple variations of it - a 10-second version, 30 second, and full-length option - to use across your platforms and as ad variations. Check out the questions below. 

Review questions: polishing your video 

1. Who are the stakeholders that need to review and sign off on your video?
   
   
2. Success measures: how will you know if the video has achieved what you wanted it to?
   
   
3. What platforms will the video go on?
   
   
4. What format(s) do you need the video supplied in?

Thank you to Lisa for sharing the 16 questions to answer when giving a brief to a video agency. We hope this article helps you nail your video briefs to agencies, and leaves you with a video that best showcases exactly what you wanted.

Don’t forget, our Studio is always here to help you share your message through jaw-dropping video animation. Get in touch with Lisa or our amazing Sales team by contacting us here! We'd love to work with you.