Get your brief right or risk getting your photos wrong.
If you’ve ever got your final images back and thought, “these are decent, but they’re not us,” here’s the uncomfortable truth.
You didn’t get the wrong images. You wrote a weak brief.
I work with challenger brands that want to punch above their weight and look nothing like the category. The ones that get standout work are not the ones with the biggest budgets. They are the ones who are brutally clear about what they want and why.
If your brand is about making brands misbehave visually, your brief cannot play it safe.
Here’s how to write one that actually delivers.
Start with the job, not the vibe
“Make it bold” is not a brief. It’s a mood.
What is the job?
Be specific:
Do you want them to be full of colour and texture?
Dark and moody?
Do you want them as stand alone shots or with people interacting?
What do you need them to do for you? Press? Stop the scroll?
How are you rebelling with the images to make you stand out? Playing with oversizing? Juxtoposition?
These are completely different creative problems.
Example:
Look at Liquid Death’s ad work
https://liquiddeath.com/pages/ads
Their images are not trying to look premium in a traditional sense. They are engineered to interrupt. That only works because the job is clear. Stop attention first. Sell second.
If your job is unclear, your results will be average by default.
Define your audience like you actually know them
Most briefs say something like “millennials” or “health-conscious consumers.” That tells me nothing.
Tell me:
What do they already buy?
What do they roll their eyes at?
What feels overdone to them?
What would genuinely surprise them?
Example:
If your audience loves brands like Aesop
https://www.aesop.com/uk/
Then hyper-polished, glossy, over-lit imagery will feel wrong.
If they’re into brands like Gymshark
https://www.gymshark.com/
Then energy, movement, and aspiration matter more than restraint.
If you skip this, you end up making work that appeals to you internally, not to the people spending money.
Tell me exactly where the images are going
This is where so many shoots quietly fall apart.
Where your images live changes everything:
Instagram ads need instant impact and simple reads
Website banners can afford a bit more nuance
Amazon images need clarity, hierarchy, and information
Print needs resolution and composition discipline
Example:
Go look at Apple’s product pages
https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone/
Every image is built for web clarity. Clean, minimal, zero confusion.
Now compare that to something like Jacquemus campaigns
https://www.jacquemus.com/
Those images are about mood, scale, and cultural impact. Completely different intent.
If you do not state placement upfront, you force your photographer to guess. Guessing kills sharp creative decisions.
“On brand” means nothing unless you prove it
Every brand says “make it on brand.”
Almost none explain what that means.
Instead:
Share your brand guidelines if you have them
Show what you’ve done before and say what worked and what didn’t
Call out what you want to move away from
Example:
“Here’s our current work. It feels too safe and generic.”
“Here’s a campaign we love. It feels disruptive and confident.”
Better yet, use a tool like Milanote to build a proper board
https://milanote.com/
Or Pinterest, but annotate it properly -
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/
Which brings me to the next point.
References are useless without context
Dropping a moodboard with no explanation is lazy.
Two people can look at the same image and take away completely different things.
Instead, annotate:
“We like the harsh flash here. It feels raw.”
“We love the colours or splash work on this one’
“This composition feels chaotic in a good way.”
Example:
Look at Glossier’s early campaigns
https://www.glossier.com/
Some people see “minimal.” Others see “effortless and human.” Those are not the same thing.
If you do not explain why something is there, you are increasing the risk of missing the mark.
Call out the non-negotiables early
What has to be right?
Specific products or SKUs
Hero features
Packaging visibility
Legal requirements
Example:
If you are shooting food or drink and the product level in the bottle needs to be exact, say that upfront.
If your packaging must face forward for retail consistency, say it.
Fixing this later is painful and expensive. Getting it right on set is simple.
Decide how much you want the creative to misbehave
You cannot say “push boundaries” and then panic when things get weird.
Be honest about your risk tolerance.
Do you want safe but elevated?
Do you want disruptive but still recognisable?
Do you want something that might divide opinion?
Example:
Look at Oatly
https://www.oatly.com/
They fully commit to being different. Their visuals and copy take risks constantly.
Compare that to a traditional dairy brand. No surprises which one gets remembered.
If your brand is about misbehaving visually, your brief needs to give permission for that. Otherwise, you will default back to category norms.
Be upfront about budget and constraints
This is not awkward. It is essential.
Your budget defines:
Scale of production
Locations
Talent
Set design
Post-production
Example:
A £2k shoot and a £20k shoot are not the same thing creatively. Pretending they are wastes everyone’s time.
Also include:
Timeline
Deliverables
Internal approval process
If there are five stakeholders who all want input, say it early. That affects how the project is run.
Define what success actually looks like
Most briefs skip this. It is a mistake.
What does winning look like?
Higher conversion rate?
Better ad performance?
Stronger brand perception?
More press coverage?
Example:
If success is ad performance, we might prioritise clarity and speed over artistry.
If success is brand building, we might push for more distinctive, unexpected visuals.
Without this, you are just aiming for “good.” Good is forgettable.
A quick reality check
If your brief is vague, safe, and full of generic language, your images will be too.
If your brief is sharp, honest, and slightly uncomfortable, your images have a chance to stand out.
Challenger brands do not win by blending in. They win by making deliberate choices that others are too cautious to make.
Your photographer is not there to guess what you mean. They are there to execute and elevate a clear vision.
Give them something worth pushing.
Because “making brands misbehave visually” does not start on set.
It starts in the brief.
And, after al that, if you’re sat there thinking I’ve got no idea - get in touch, I help with all of this!