How to brief a launch video
Five questions that give a video a point of view before anyone opens a timeline.
A launch video is only as clear as its brief. Most weak launch videos fail before production starts, because nobody decided what the video had to do. A good brief is short. It answers five questions.
1. What is launching, in one sentence
Write what the product does and who it is for, as if you were explaining it to someone who has never heard of you. If it takes more than one sentence, the video will try to say too much.
2. Who must act, and what should they do
Name one audience and one action: book a demo, join a waitlist, start a trial. A video with two calls to action usually earns neither.
3. The one thing to remember
Pick the single idea you want viewers to carry away. Everything on screen should serve it. Anything that does not should be cut.
4. What must be seen, and what must not
List the screens, features and brand elements that have to appear. Then list what to avoid: old logos, features that are not live yet, claims that have not been approved.
5. Where it will run first
A film for a website hero, a feed ad and a story are three different videos. Say where it runs first, because that decides the shape, the length and the pace.
What to send with the brief
- Your site URL.
- Your logo and brand colors, or a brand guide.
- Footage, screenshots or product recordings, if you have them.
- One or two videos you admire, and what you like about them.
With that, a studio can start. Without it, the first round is spent guessing.