# Campaign brief — Ecommerce

The campaign brief with four fields a store needs: which slice of the catalogue is being sold, the margin on it, how much stock stands behind it, and the promotion the campaign sits inside.

Everything else is the general brief, unchanged. One outcome, one metric, one message, one approver by name, and a definition of done with a date in it.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Write the business outcome before anything else, and write it without a marketing metric in it.
3. Read the baseline off your own account over a window you name, then set the target from it.
4. Write one message, not three, and check that a person could repeat it without the ad in front of them.
5. Name the approver by name, and the definition of done with a date in it.
6. Leave Baseline and Target blank until they are read rather than guessed.
7. Close the brief on its end date by writing the result against the baseline, whatever the result is.

## The columns

**Brief name** (Text). What this brief is called and the season it covers, in the words the trading meeting will use. The same name goes on the campaigns it produces, so a result traces back to the decision that caused it.

**Business outcome** (Text). What the business gets if this works, said the way a buyer or a finance lead would say it: the spring range sold through, the end of a line cleared before the new season, repeat purchase lifted in a category.

**Primary metric** (Text). The one number this brief is judged on. In a store that is usually a cost per first order or a return on ad spend on a segment whose margin you actually know.

**Baseline** (Number). What that number is today for this segment, read from your own account over a window you name. Blank until it has been read; a baseline from another store is a number about somebody else's range.

**Target** (Number). What the metric has to reach for this to have worked, set after the baseline and after the margin, because those two together decide what an order can cost to win.

**Audience** (Text). Who this is for, and in a store the audience is usually the stable part. Past buyers, a lookalike seed, a broad prospecting pool — specific enough that somebody else could build it.

**Offer** (Text). What is actually being offered: free returns, a bundle, early access, a price. In a store the offer moves the result more than the creative does, and it is the field briefs leave vaguest.

**Message** (Text). The one thing the reader has to believe about this range, in a sentence a person could repeat without the ad in front of them.

**Proof** (Text). What makes the message credible on the page as well as in the ad: the return window stated, the delivery promise visible without scrolling, the review that supports the claim.

**Landing page** (URL). The exact destination: the collection, the product page, the page built for the offer. Not the home page. A brief that leaves it blank inherits whichever page was handy.

**Channels** (Text). Where this runs, and what each channel is there to do. A channel that appears in the account later without a job attached will be judged on whichever metric is nearest.

**Flight start** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The first day this may spend, and never before the photography, the collection page and the offer at checkout are all ready.

**Flight end** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The last day, inclusive, and in a store that is usually set by a promotion window or a delivery cut-off rather than by the end of a month.

**Budget (minor units)** (Integer). The whole budget for this brief, in the smallest unit of its currency, as a whole number, so the season's briefs sum to the figure the trading meeting approved.

**Currency** (ISO 4217 code). The ISO 4217 code the accounts behind this brief bill in. A store selling into several markets needs a brief per market rather than one with a conversion buried in it.

**Guardrails** (Text). What this brief may not do whatever the results say: the retention campaigns it must not touch, the budget move that needs a second approval, the clearance stock it must not promote.

**Approver** (Text). The person who can say yes to this, by name. Not the trading team. A brief approved by a department is approved by silence and disowned when the season is reviewed.

**Definition of done** (Text). What has to be true for this to be closed: the date, the number against the baseline, and the person who writes it up once the returns from the season have landed.

**Catalogue segment** (Text). The slice of the range this brief sells: best sellers, new arrivals, a hero product, the long tail, clearance. It sets the margin, the creative and the target together.

**Gross margin** (Percent). The margin on that segment after discount and after expected returns. Blank rather than guessed. It is the number that decides what an order can cost to win.

**Stock cover** (Text). How much stock stands behind this brief, in weeks or units, with the date it was read. A campaign pointed at four days of cover is a plan to create disappointment.

**Promotion window** (Text). The sale, drop or seasonal peak this brief sits inside, or Full price. The offer changes at the edges of a window, and a brief that spans one is two briefs.

## The campaign brief

| Brief name | Business outcome | Primary metric | Baseline | Target | Audience | Offer | Message | Proof | Landing page | Channels | Flight start | Flight end | Budget (minor units) | Currency | Guardrails | Approver | Definition of done | Catalogue segment | Gross margin | Stock cover | Promotion window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- The business outcome contains no marketing metric.
- The catalogue segment is named, and its margin is read rather than guessed.
- Stock cover is written down with the date it was read.
- The promotion window is named, and no brief spans the edge of one.
- Baseline and target are both read from your own account, or both blank.
- The approver is a person, by name.
- The definition of done has a date and a named writer in it.