Free working guide

Review the campaign.
Keep the evidence.

Turn a message or customer question into a brief: the audience, the assumptions and what to test next. Fill it in below or download the blank version.

See the fictional running-club review — opens in a new tab

Your working copy

Fill in the fields you can answer and mark missing information as unknown. Entries are not sent to B&F. Save a TXT copy for work you want to keep.

People and buying contextActual age range, country, category and situation. Who uses, chooses and pays? Name the group you can reach; “Gen Z” alone is not a segment.Campaign and decisionRecord the proposed message or offer, the decision owner and deadline. What could change after this review?Evidence, assumptions and other explanationsWhat do you know, from which source and date? What are you assuming? Record a plausible alternative explanation and anything that contradicts your first view.Questions for a customer conversationAsk about a recent real situation, what the person understands and what might stop them acting. Avoid suggesting the answer. Keep expected answers separate from actual observations.Next test and decision ruleWhat needs checking, with whom and by what method? Name the owner, required access, timing and measure. What result would change your decision? A preferred line is not proof of sales.

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Prepare a conversation

Start with one defined adult audience. These are original B&F question prompts to adapt, not a validated questionnaire.

Before showing the concept: “Tell me about the last time you tried something like this. What happened?”
After showing it: “What do you think is being offered? What would you expect to happen?”
Before interpreting the answer: “What would you need to know before deciding? What, if anything, would stop you?”

Record what the person said separately from your interpretation. Look for disconfirming cases. A small qualitative sample helps refine questions; it does not represent a generation or establish campaign performance.

Sources for the brief

Read each source for the job it can do. These notes inform the questions; they do not validate this worksheet or the example campaign.

Pew Research Center · Kim Parker · 22 May 2023

Define people more precisely than a generation

Age, life stage, period and cohort can be confused. For this brief, specify a real audience and buying situation rather than treating a generation as one personality.

Methodological policy, not evidence that a particular message will sell.

Read Pew’s methodological note

Reading scope

The substantive article was reviewed. Source access checked 9 October 2026. No campaign or slang-usage study was conducted here.

eCornell · Teaching tool · 2018

Separate the user, decision-maker and payer

Map whose problem you are discussing and ask about a concrete situation before introducing a solution. The roles may belong to different people.

Teaching guidance, not a validated measure of demand or willingness to pay.

Open the free teaching tool (PDF) Read the full B&F note

Reading scope

The existing library note records review of all 3 tool pages and all 11 companion worksheet pages. No full course, videos or assessment was completed. Source access was checked 8 October 2026; this application was prepared 9 October.

Ofcom · UK media-use research · 21 May 2026

Put children’s media use in its family context

Age bands and who answers the questions matter: parents report for younger children, while older children also respond directly. For an Alpha brief, distinguish the child’s use from a parent’s account and purchasing role.

UK observations are not universal US or CEE behaviour, and media use is not evidence of advertising effectiveness. Survey changes also limit strict year comparisons.

Open the 2025–6 Ofcom report (PDF)

Reading scope

Reviewed: foreword, overview and methodology, PDF pages 3–10. The complete 63-page report was not read. Source access checked 9 October 2026. Any research involving children needs a separately agreed approach.

Notes and worksheet by Brief & Field. Reuse our original work with attribution — opens in a new tab. Linked publications retain their own terms; their authors do not endorse B&F.