# The brief in one line

The whole brief in one sentence, in four slots. Written last, put first. It is not a problem statement, which is written from the audience's side and names no answer; it is the strategy, the audience and the message made to agree. If the four slots do not agree, the pages under it are not finished.

Format: BBDO New York, credited to Martyn Straw, about 2004. Adopted as the first line of every Workhorse brief in 2026.

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**GET** ____ (the audience, specific enough to picture: not a demographic, a person in a situation)

**WHO** ____ (the insight: what they do or believe today, and why)

**TO** ____ (the one response: what they do as a result, not what they feel)

**BY** ____ (the one idea that earns it)

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## Rules for each slot

- **GET** names a person you could point at. "Millennials" fails. "Couch-dwellers who keep meaning to work out" passes.
- **WHO** is an observed truth, not a wish. It should be something they would recognize about themselves.
- **TO** is a verb they can do tonight. If it is "feel confident," keep going until it is an action.
- **BY** is one idea. If you need "and," you have two briefs.

## Examples

Reebok (Selfstorming's worked example): GET comfortable couch-dwellers who keep meaning to work out WHO sink into the sofa after work and let the evening quietly swallow the plan again TO get off the sofa and go out for a run tonight BY casting the sofa as the villain literally trying to drag them down.

Brown's association search engine: GET logged-in members who need a job posting or an event WHO open Google in the next tab because the Guild's search shows them stale results TO search the Guild first BY a search that knows who they are.

## Sources

- https://strategyfinishingschool.com/how-to-use-the-creative-brief-get-who-to-by/
- https://www.selfstorming.com/tools/frameworks/Get-Who-To-By

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Other formats on the class page: [the one line](/course/business-of-design/handout/brief-one-line) · [Goodby, Silverstein](/course/business-of-design/handout/brief-goodby) · [Ogilvy DO](/course/business-of-design/handout/brief-ogilvy) · [the design studio's](/course/business-of-design/handout/brief-design-studio) · [Workhorse's](/course/business-of-design/handout/brief-workhorse) · [the course template](/course/business-of-design/handout/creative-brief-template)