Bilingual campaign brief template for Quebec and federal clients

What to take away

• A bilingual campaign brief template for Quebec work puts French first in every section, not as a translation afterthought.
• Bill 96 tightened commercial language rules, and the OQLF expects French to be markedly predominant in contracts, signage and campaign collateral.
• Federal clients face their own bilingual obligations under the Official Languages Act, and they overlap with Quebec rules when work runs in both markets.
• The brief needs a Quebec Enterprise Number field, a legal review section and a named reviewer sign-off step before French copy ships.
• One template can serve both Quebec and federal clients if the order of sections and the sign-off chain are fixed.

What Bill 96 changes for commercial documents in Quebec

Bill 96 amended the Charter of the French Language in 2022. It widened the reach of Quebec commercial language rules beyond storefronts and packaging into contracts, invoices, websites and campaign material. For marketers, the practical change is that French is no longer a courtesy version. It is the version the client is legally exposed on.

The OQLF enforces the charter. It can ask a business to justify why French is absent or not predominant in a commercial document. That request usually arrives with a deadline and a request for copies of the material. A brief that never named a French reviewer leaves the agency scrambling.

Bill 96 also raised the bar for businesses with 25 or more employees, who must register with the OQLF and report on the use of French. That reporting obligation sits with the client, but the agency supplies the campaign evidence. If your brief does not record which French assets ran, the client cannot answer the OQLF cleanly.

The Quebec government's business portal is the starting point for owners who need to understand these obligations alongside Law 25 privacy duties. It is written for operators, not lawyers, and it is a useful link to hand a client who is new to the province.

See the Quebec businesses portal for the current framing of both laws.

A template built before 2022 will not carry a French first field, a legal review step or a reviewer sign-off. That is the gap this brief closes. The same discipline applies to any campaign brief template must contain if the work touches Quebec.

French first, not French only: how the brief template is ordered

French first means the French copy is written before the English, not translated from it. The brief reflects that order. Every section that carries copy opens with the French version, then the English, then any other language.

This matters for tone. French Quebec advertising reads differently from translated English. A line that works in English often lands flat in French. When the French is written first, the English adapts to it, and the campaign keeps one voice.

French only is a different thing and rarely the right call for a federal client. The template assumes both languages ship unless the client confirms otherwise in writing. That confirmation goes in the legal review section, not in a passing email.

Order the sections this way:

1. Campaign overview and client identifiers, including the Quebec Enterprise Number.
2. French audience, message and tone.
3. English audience, message and tone.
4. Legal review flags for Bill 96 and federal rules.
5. Reviewer sign-off and dates.

The order is not cosmetic. It forces the writer to solve the harder language first, while the strategy is still fresh. It also makes the influencer marketing brief template easy to audit when a client asks why French came first.

Federal bilingual obligations and where they overlap with Quebec rules

Federal bilingual requirements come from the Official Languages Act. They apply to federal institutions and to communications with the public where the act requires both languages. A federal department running a campaign in Quebec must offer equivalent quality in French and English.

That is a different legal basis from Bill 96, but the practical output is similar: two complete language versions, neither treated as a translation. Where a campaign runs for a federal client in Quebec, both sets of rules can apply at once.

The overlap is where briefs fail. A federal client may assume the act covers everything, while the OQLF expects French predominance in commercial material. If the campaign includes paid ads, signage or a contract, the Quebec rules bite harder.

The Competition Bureau also watches advertising claims in both languages. A claim that is true in English but softened in French can be read as misleading. The brief should carry one approved claim set, translated with the same meaning, not two different promises.

For federal work, add a line to the brief naming the act and the department's own bilingual policy. For Quebec work, name Bill 96 and the OQLF. When both apply, list both, and let the legal reviewer decide which governs the piece in question.

OQLF expectations for contracts, signage and campaign collateral

The OQLF expects French to be markedly predominant in commercial documents. Markedly predominant is a higher bar than merely present. It means the French version draws more attention, not just equal space.

For contracts, the rule is strict. A contract of adhesion, the take it or leave it kind, must be in French unless the parties agree otherwise. If the client attaches a contract to a campaign, such as a contest or a subscription, the brief should flag it for legal review before the creative is approved.

For signage, French must be markedly predominant when another language appears. A bilingual sign with equal French and English can fail that test. The brief should note the sign dimensions, the language split and where the French sits.

For campaign collateral, the same principle applies to flyers, packaging, websites and paid social. The OQLF can request samples. A brief that lists the French assets and their run dates gives the client a clean paper trail.

A useful habit is to keep a canadian marketing budget template of past Quebec campaigns and how each handled French predominance. It turns a legal argument into a precedent the client can see.

Writing the brief sections: audience, message, tone and legal review

Audience comes first, and it is split by language. The French audience in Quebec is not simply the English audience translated. Age, region and media habits differ. Write the French audience profile on its own terms.

The message section carries one approved claim set in both languages. Do not let the French and English drift into two different offers. If the English says free delivery, the French says livraison gratuite, and both say it with the same conditions.

Tone is where French first pays off. French Quebec copy often favours warmer, more direct phrasing than a literal translation allows. Give the writer a tone note for each language, not one note for both.

Legal review is a section, not a step you remember later. It lists the laws in play, the assets affected and the questions the reviewer must answer. For a Quebec campaign, that means Bill 96 and the OQLF. For a federal one, the Official Languages Act.

The client identifier block belongs here too. It should carry the legal name, the address and the Quebec Enterprise Number. The NEQ is the province's ten digit business identifier, and it is the fastest way for a reviewer to confirm the entity.

The Quebec Enterprise Number (NEQ) page explains what it is and where to find it.

A client new to the province may not have an NEQ yet. The start an enterprise guide walks through registration, and the brief can note the registration status as an open item.

For agency research, the enterprise register search confirms the legal name and NEQ before the brief is locked.

If the campaign involves hiring or staffing messages, the client's bilingual workplace duties also matter. The hiring and managing staff guidance covers the employment side, which is a different obligation from the commercial one but often appears in the same campaign.

Build the brief so it can be reused. An email marketing templates approach drawn from past Quebec campaigns saves the legal review from starting at zero each time.

Reviewer workflow: who signs off on French copy and when

French copy needs a named reviewer, not a group. The reviewer is accountable for the French version and signs off before the asset leaves the building. Without a name, sign-off becomes everyone's job and no one's.

The workflow has three gates. The first is the brief itself: the reviewer confirms the French audience, message and tone are sound. The second is the draft: the reviewer checks the French against the approved claim set. The third is the final asset: the reviewer signs the version that ships.

Use this checklist before any French asset is released:

• French copy written before English, not translated from it.
• Reviewer named in the brief with a role and a date.
• Bill 96 and OQLF flags recorded for the asset type.
• Quebec Enterprise Number present in the client block.
• Approved claim set matches in both languages.
• Sign-off recorded on the final version, not an earlier draft.
• French asset list and run dates saved for the client's records.

The reviewer should be fluent in French and familiar with Quebec advertising norms. A translator can produce accurate French that still misses the market. The sign-off step is about fitness, not just grammar.

When the client is federal, add the department's bilingual policy owner to the sign-off chain. Two sign-offs are normal for federal work that runs in Quebec. Record both dates.

A how to create marketing plan templates is a good place to keep these gates visible across campaigns. The point is that the sign-off step is part of the brief, not a favour asked at the end.

Adapting the same brief for a federal client outside Quebec

Outside Quebec, the federal bilingual requirements still apply to federal institutions, but the OQLF does not. The brief keeps its structure and drops the Bill 96 flags. The French first order can stay, because it produces better French regardless of the legal driver.

For a federal client in Ontario, the Prairies or Atlantic Canada, the audience section notes where French speakers actually are. Northern Canada and official language minority communities need their own audience notes. Do not assume the Quebec French audience profile travels.

Signage and contract rules differ by province. Ontario has its own French language services rules for government work. New Brunswick has its own official languages obligations. The brief should name the province and the rule that applies there, rather than defaulting to Quebec language.

The reviewer workflow stays the same, but the reviewer may sit in a different region. A federal client often has a French language champion in Ottawa or Moncton. Name that person and give them the same three gates.

The Quebec Enterprise Number field can be left blank for a client with no Quebec establishment. Mark it not applicable, with a note. A blank field reads like an oversight; a marked field reads like a decision.

One template, two rule sets, one sign-off chain. That is the whole point of a bilingual campaign brief template that serves Quebec and federal clients without pretending the two are the same.

Common questions

Does Bill 96 require all campaign copy to be in French only? No. It requires French to be markedly predominant in commercial documents, and French only in some contract situations. Most campaigns run in both languages, with French first.

What is the Quebec Enterprise Number and why put it in the brief? The NEQ is Quebec's ten digit business identifier. It confirms the legal entity, which matters when the OQLF or a client's legal team reviews the campaign.

Who should sign off on French copy? A named reviewer who is fluent in French and familiar with Quebec advertising norms. For federal work, add the department's bilingual policy owner.

Can one brief cover a federal client and a Quebec client? Yes, if the legal review section names both rule sets and the reviewer workflow stays intact. The audience and language notes change; the structure does not.

Do federal bilingual requirements replace the OQLF rules in Quebec? No. Both can apply at once. A federal campaign running in Quebec must meet the Official Languages Act and the Quebec commercial language rules.

Where do I check a client's legal name and NEQ? The Quebec enterprise register search returns the registered name and NEQ. Use it before locking the client identifier block in the brief.