How we define a brief, a margin and a match
A brief, a project margin and a service match: what each means, how it is computed and where the numbers come from. No customer data in any aggregate.
Method, sample, date
- Method
- Definitions from the products themselves, shown on our example agency, Meridian & Co.; the arithmetic is 's margin and 's service match.
- Sample
- Meridian & Co., our example agency: 92 people in New York and Mexico City, 22 clients and the projects, campaigns and tools behind them (example data). No live customer data is aggregated.
- Date
- Published 2026-08-30, updated 2026-10-12. Updated whenever a definition changes.
A brief
Five fields: objective, audience, constraint, deliverables and source. From a call or a short intake, fills them, flags the vague field and holds the brief until every field is cleared and approved. The approved brief is the deliverable, not an email about it.
A project margin
The fee minus the cost of the hours logged, each priced at the rate in effect that day, divided by the fee. While the project runs, works it out and marks a project at risk when its hours burn faster than its timeline.
A service match
A service lists the skills it needs, each required or preferred, with a minimum level. With a fixed formula on those levels and on experience, scores everyone, ranks the result and shows which skills made each person fit. No model decides.
What this does not claim
No benchmark, no aggregate telemetry, no per-client breakdown. Customer data is never aggregated for a public figure; until volume makes an aggregate unidentifiable and a stated consent basis exists, the only honest sample is the example agency above. A number that drifts between pages is worse than a smaller one that holds.