This post is part of an ongoing series called Going Deeper where we look at branded content production through the lens of the world’s most important question: why.

As we mentioned last week, you should be prepared, at the bidding stage, to provide a written brief. Not only is it helpful for the companies you’re looking at so they can accurately estimate the job, but you’ll also find it’s a great exercise for you to clarify your vision for the piece you want to produce and communicate that much more effectively with colleagues and potential production partners.

Here’s an example of what that might look like:

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Background

Started in 2016, Acmify is a tech-accelerated manufacturing company based in Oakland, California. We produce a revolutionary widget – The ALCHEMIZER – that zaps a laser at any piece of base metal – like lead – and turns it into gold.

Project Details

We are looking to produce a brand mission video that highlights our company’s social initiative – to bring manufacturing jobs to an underserved community and hire non-violent ex-cons who are struggling to find other employment, to work in our factory, making the ALCHEMIZER.

We’d like to feature interviews with key personnel from the company, including:

• The CEO of the company, who can talk about the why of our mission and the history behind the decision to manufacture locally employing rehabilitated felons.
• The head of the facility, who can talk about some of the people he’s hired to work in the factory and the change he’s seen in them.

Output

We want a 3-4 minute film about the company’s mission, as well as some shorter cuts that we can share on social media: 1-minute extracts for Instagram feed, 15-second cuts for Instagram stories, a version with embedded captions for Facebook, etc.

Locations

Our HQ is in Palo Alto, which is where we’ll need to conduct the CEO’s interview, and there’s a good opportunity for some office b-roll. All other interviews and b-roll will need to take place at the factory in Oakland. We thought some drone footage of the factory exterior and the neighborhood could also be valuable to get.

Look and feel

We want this video to feel very cinematic and glossy so we elevate the awesome people who are involved with our company at all levels. 

Budget

We’re looking to spend $35k – $50k, expenses included.

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This brief is great for a number of reasons. It gives some background on the company, expresses clear goals for the marketing message that they want to communicate and includes ideas about the style and content of the piece.

Next week we’ll going to get real and talk about budget – and why you should be prepared to share a budget range before you get bids.