Why AI can't write the brief for you

There isn’t a webinar or training that goes by without us getting asked THE question by someone in attendance: How is AI impacting brief writing? And for some reason it seems, our answer often disappoints.

 
Lots of marketers are already sparring with AI, which is great. Some are filling knowledge gaps, some are analysing and refining, some are even using it to take the next step into creative and media planning. And those who haven’t yet, will.

It’s important to acknowledge that widely available AI engines do an ok job when tasked with generating information. So, the obvious answer is that AI can assist and support the brief writer in the absence of a complete picture or when there are specific prompts around what needs refinement. 

But often people in the audience don’t feel content with this response; it’s like they want AI to write the brief for them. And here lies the error in thinking. When did writing a brief for an agency become a chore for a marketer? The document that is designed to inspire creative and media thinking and is the exciting kick-off to every project? 

Articulating the problem for comms to solve, painting a rich picture of the target audience and setting guidance through the right message are satisfying endeavours. They are the moment for a marketer when data and imagination collide. The moment we show that we can connect our brand to our audience for the promise of a financial return.

Maybe marketers are turning to AI because they see the brief as a box to tick, or they are ill-equipped to write a brief in the first place because they lack the skill? In both these instances, you will get a mediocre result with AI. A poor brief written with AI or not, is still a poor brief. We also hope that the companies imposing AI on its teams have more than efficiency in mind. That they might actually consider training their team first in what great briefs look like.

So, to elaborate on the answer we give when posed with the question on AI and briefs: a specially trained AI that understands what it’s looking for, spot errors and guide the marketer’s thinking on the elements that every great brief contains is going to be highly useful. However, it’s not going to do the thinking for you.

Stay tuned for BetterBriefs’ BriefCoach® launching in 2026. The AI brief writing tool that complements your thinking rather than substitutes for it.

Register your interest here.

Matt Davies is the co-founder of BetterBriefs, an advisory and training business that helps marketers write better briefs and deliver more impactful ideas. A highly awarded former agency strategist, having worked at Clemenger BBDO, Design Bridge, Arnold Worldwide, AJF Partnership, as well as running his own agency. 

Together with co-founder Pieter-Paul von Weiler, he wrote the BetterBriefs Project and The Best Way for a Client to Brief an Agency, a practical guide for marketers to improve the quality of briefs, co-authored by Mark Ritson and published in partnership with the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA). Matt (together with Pieter-Paul) also led the BetterIdeas Project, a global study exposing the poor state of the creative evaluation process. The study aims to improve the creative decision-making and evaluation practices and was launched in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and the IPA.