Getting started
The basics
Quick logistics so we can get moving. Takes about a minute. The deeper brand work comes right after.
The outcome that would make this partnership obviously worth it.
Part two
Now the real work. Teaching us who your brand is.
The next six sections go deeper. The more specific you are, the sharper everything we make becomes. Anything not marked required, you can skip and we'll cover it on our kickoff call.
Section 1 of 6
Brand identity
The foundation. Who this brand is, what they believe, and what they're not. Specificity here makes everything downstream sharper.
Complete: "We exist to ___" in the honest version, no jargon, not a tagline.
3 to 5 specific things: competitors, adjacent aesthetics, postures they actively reject.
Age, energy, wardrobe, how they speak at a dinner party, what they'd find embarrassing.
The one thing this brand genuinely believes that most of their industry doesn't. This is the edge, the thing they'd put in an op-ed.
Why this brand exists: the founder's actual motivation. 2 to 4 sentences. Used for About pages and press.
Section 2 of 6
Audience
Generic audiences produce generic creative. Write these as portraits of real people, not demographic summaries.
A specific person. What they do, how they think, what they need before they trust you.
Approximate ethnicity + gender split. This directly governs how people are represented in visuals.
Not the product, but what they actually want beneath it.
The real first touch: word of mouth, a specific platform, an ad, a referral loop.
Walk the ideal path step by step, from first interest to becoming a customer.
The single biggest point where interested people hesitate, stall, or drop off before converting.
The recurring "yeah but..." that you have to overcome to close.
Section 3 of 6
Visual system
Color, type, photography, and video direction. The more specific, the less briefing required on every shoot.
Add each color with its role. Hex preferred. We'll extract from logo files if unknown.
What a photographer should understand before arriving on set: lighting, subject, environment, post.
Camera movement, pace, color grade, music. What should a 60-second brand film feel like?
3 to 5 brands, photographers, films, or campaigns. Be specific about what to draw from each.
Logo files, brand guides, existing templates. SVG/PNG preferred for logos.
Section 4 of 6
Voice and tone
How this brand sounds. The owned words, the banned words, and the specific ways copy tends to go wrong.
Describe how the brand sounds the way you'd describe a person's voice to someone who's never met them.
Formal ←→ Conversational
Very formalVery casual
Reserved ←→ Bold / assertive
Very quietVery direct
Clinical / professional ←→ Warm / human
Very professionalVery human
Words that already appear in their best copy. 4 to 8 entries, one per line.
Industry defaults that make the brand invisible. 6 to 12 entries, one per line.
Paste 1 to 3 examples, real pieces they love. Include source (caption, web, email). Most valuable thing in this section.
Examples of the voice they hate. Explains by contrast.
Specific ways their copy tends to go wrong: over-explaining, false warmth, hedging, brand-speak. Name each one.
Section 5 of 6
Content rules
Where they show up, what works, and the hard stops: content that never gets made.
What content actually does for this brand. Not a mission statement, the real job.
3 to 5 content types or approaches that fit the brand and perform. Be specific.
Hard stops. No exceptions.
Topics the AI must flag before producing any output that touches them.
Instagram handles, websites, campaigns. Specify what exactly they like.
Section 6 of 6
Competitive context
Who else is in this space and what makes this brand impossible to mistake for them.
Names or descriptions. Who else operates in this space locally or nationally.
The real moat. Not features, but the thing that comes from conviction.
The visual and verbal defaults that make every brand in this space look identical.