Most disappointing AI content projects trace back to a vague brief, not a weak tool. The discipline that makes a normal production brief good — specificity, references, and a clear definition of done — is exactly what makes an AI content brief work too.
What to include
- Reference imagery or footage showing the exact look, not just an adjective like "modern" or "premium."
- Brand colour values and any elements that must appear exactly — logos, specific products, exact typography.
- What "done" looks like — how many variations, what format, what it needs to sit alongside.
- What must never appear — competitor references, anything that could be misread as a real claim about the product.
A mistake worth naming
Treating AI generation as a one-shot request instead of an iterative process wastes more budget than almost anything else. Plan for several rounds of refinement, the same way you would with a designer — the first pass is a starting point, not a delivery.
Where to draw the line
Decide upfront what genuinely needs to be AI-generated versus what should be shot or designed properly. A brief that tries to force AI generation into a job it's not suited for — an exact product shot, a specific person's likeness — will cost more in revisions than a real shoot would have from the start.