MKTG3600 · Marketing in Practice
Execution: Briefing Agency Partners
Week 6 opens the Execution module with the skill that separates good marketers from bad: writing a brief. It covers the BetterBriefs evidence on why briefs fail, the principle that "a brief is about thinking, not writing" (Dave Trott), Ritson's strategy-is-sacrifice rule, the brief backbone (objectives + target + budget), the three linked objective types (commercial, behavioural, attitudinal) and the GET/WHO/TO/BY creative-brief framework. This maps directly onto the Agency Brief participation task (Part C) and is a likely exam short answer — "write a creative brief" or "why do briefs fail".
What this chapter covers
- 01The BetterBriefs problem — 80% of marketers think they brief well; only 10% of agencies agree; ~1/3 of budgets wasted on poor briefs
- 02"A brief is about thinking, not writing" (Dave Trott) — a roadmap for creative thinking
- 03Ritson's rules — strategy before tactics; strategy is sacrifice (Porter: what you're NOT going to do); complexity breeds simplicity
- 04The brief backbone (BetterBriefs) — objectives + target audience + budget, intrinsically linked; "one brief = one strategy"
- 05Three linked objective types — commercial (sales/profit), behavioural (behaviour change), attitudinal (shift in thinking/feeling)
- 06Single-minded message + relevant proof points (message is not a tagline, not a shopping list)
- 07GET / WHO / TO / BY — get [audience] who [current belief] to [desired action] by [how]
- 08"A brief is not a briefing" — the delivery matters as much as the document; align on evaluation criteria upfront
Short-answer: write a GET/WHO/TO/BY brief and link the objectives (15 marks)
- +3LAYER 1 — Define. State that a brief is "a roadmap for creative thinking" (Trott: about thinking, not writing) and that its backbone is objectives + target audience + budget, intrinsically linked — "one brief, one strategy." Name the GET/WHO/TO/BY structure.
- +3LAYER 2 — Apply GET/WHO/TO/BY. Write it: GET [young drivers who feel insurers are opaque and unfair] WHO [currently see all insurers as the same and default to price comparison] TO [consider and quote with our brand] BY [showing transparent, app-based pricing that rewards safe driving with a single-minded message]. Label each part.
- +3LAYER 2 (cont.) — Link the three objectives. Commercial: grow quotes/policies among 20-40s. Behavioural: get them to request a quote. Attitudinal: shift the belief that "all insurers are the same/untrustworthy." Show the attitudinal shift triggering the behaviour that delivers the commercial result.
- +3LAYER 3 — Application & examples. Add a single-minded message with proof points (fast quotes, transparent pricing, safe-driver rewards) — not a shopping list — and note the emotional hook. Show the brief is tight enough for a creative to act on.
- +3LAYER 4 — Critique. Invoke strategy-is-sacrifice (Ritson/Porter): a good brief says what you are NOT doing; a brief that tries to say everything says nothing. Note "a brief is not a briefing" — the verbal delivery and agreed evaluation criteria matter as much as the document. A vague, multi-objective brief is the main failure mode BetterBriefs identifies.
Key terms
- The BetterBriefs problem
- The IPA/BetterBriefs finding that ~80% of marketers think they write good briefs but only ~10% of agencies agree, with around a third of marketing budgets wasted on poor briefs — the evidence for taking briefing seriously.
- GET / WHO / TO / BY
- Annabelle Rogers' creative-brief structure: GET [audience] WHO [current belief/state] TO [desired action] BY [how — the single-minded idea]. A compact way to force clarity of audience, insight and action.
- Brief backbone (objectives + target + budget)
- BetterBriefs' three intrinsically linked essentials of any brief. Change one and you change the others; "one brief = one strategy."
- Three linked objective types
- Commercial (sales/profit — what the CFO watches), behavioural (the behaviour change needed) and attitudinal (the shift in thinking/feeling that triggers the behaviour). A good brief links all three.
- Strategy is sacrifice
- Ritson's rule (after Porter): the essence of strategy is deciding what you are NOT going to do. A brief that refuses to sacrifice anything gives the creative team nothing to hold on to.
- Single-minded message
- One clear proposition the work must land, supported by relevant proof points — not a tagline and not a shopping list of features.
Execution: Briefing Agency Partners FAQ
Why do so many briefs fail?
The BetterBriefs research found a perception gap — around 80% of marketers rate their briefs highly but only about 10% of agencies agree — and roughly a third of budgets are wasted on poor briefs. The usual causes are trying to do everything in one brief (no sacrifice), a fuzzy target and insight, and no single-minded message. The fix is clarity, one strategy per brief, and a good verbal briefing, not just a good document.
What is the GET/WHO/TO/BY structure?
It is a creative-brief framework: GET [the audience] WHO [their current belief or state] TO [the desired action] BY [the single-minded idea that gets them there]. It forces you to be specific about who you're talking to, what they currently think, what you want them to do, and the one idea that bridges the two — which is exactly what a creative team needs.
How do the three objective types connect?
They form a chain: an attitudinal shift (change how people think or feel) triggers a behavioural change (what they do), which delivers the commercial result (sales/profit). A good brief makes that logic explicit rather than stating a sales target with no behavioural path to it. In the exam and the Agency Brief task, show the links, not just the labels.
Can Sia help me write a brief for MKTG3600?
Yes — Sia can walk you through GET/WHO/TO/BY, check that your brief is single-minded and that its commercial, behavioural and attitudinal objectives connect, and set practice briefs to critique. It teaches the method and checks your reasoning; it does not complete your graded Agency Brief or exam, and University of Sydney academic-integrity rules apply.
Exam move
This chapter is both an exam topic and a graded skill (the Agency Brief, Part C), so practise it by doing. Learn GET/WHO/TO/BY as a fill-in template and write several briefs for the live-brief client until each part comes naturally, always keeping the message single-minded. Rehearse linking the three objective types as a chain (attitudinal → behavioural → commercial) rather than listing them. Commit the BetterBriefs statistics and the strategy-is-sacrifice principle to memory for the definition and critique layers, and remember "a brief is not a briefing" — the delivery and agreed evaluation criteria matter too. Confirm the Agency Brief due date and exam format on Canvas.
Working through Execution: Briefing Agency Partners in MKTG3600? Sia is AskSia’s AI Marketing tutor — ask any MKTG3600 Execution: Briefing Agency Partners question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how MKTG3600 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
