It’s a fact: without the right information to hand, a copywriter is as useful as a pencil without a lead. The most important facts are covered in a brief.
However, a close second place comes odds and ends of information that add substance to a creative proposition, such as when writing a report.

Over the years I have discovered that some facts are always needed. I used to keep scraps of paper with these miscellaneous tidbits scrawled all over them. Yet now I feel that for the sake of an orderly office and your sense of purpose it’s time to note down the most commonly used ones.