What is a Creative Brief?

A creative brief is the sum up of the strategy for a creative project. It contains the mission, goals, messaging, and other key data about your project. It can make the team understand the project even from the start. The brief will be presented to the stakeholders and clients. It has a great layout that detailed the project. Planning is involved when creating a creative brief. You can use work management tools in making this. You can customize a design that will cover the data that is needed for your project. It will be effective if it relies on good questions.

Whether you are making a creative brief in advertising, a creative brief for social media campaigns, or a video creative brief, you need a plan so that you can design something. You need to have expectations and objectives that can justify its benefits. You have to plan how you can target your audience. You have to know how you can have everyone on the same page as you launch the project. You need to have thorough communication even at the start of the project. Prevent any misunderstandings and conflicts in the design process. You have to know how to value the time of your team.

Famous creative briefs have accountability when it comes to communication. Maybe you are wondering, ‘Why is a creative brief important?’. Through the creative brief, you can establish the parameters that you should have for your project. Your team can agree on the scope, deliverables, and objectives. You can trust an outset that will have a smooth process. Goals may be easier to achieve by having a creative brief. It gives clarity and can minimize the challenges that you can face. You can be sure that your final product will have a higher quality. The result will be clear objectives.

The time and expectations of your team will be valued by having a creative brief. Everyone can be motivated and proud of their work. The creative brief will be an instrument to guide you so that you can have a higher quality for your output. A good relationship can also be built between the team and the client. It is a roadmap that can lead every team member on how you can achieve success. It is easier to work with a creative brief. You will know the steps that you have to take. You can be guided on all of your tasks. By having a creative brief, you can surely accomplish your project at your best.

Elements of a Creative Brief

Do you want to know the elements of a creative brief? Knowing them can help you to create a better creative brief. You do not have to struggle with the content of your project. You will know how you can make the design process more effective. Read and consider the following elements of a creative brief:

Project Context: The project context should be included in the creative brief. You must explain the concept of the project. You should tell what the project is all about. Explain why the project is needed. What are the opportunities and challenges of the project? What will be the possible things that your team will experience because of the project? You do not need to provide the historical detail of the project. But the team must know the depth of your project.Target Audience: The target audience is a strong element of the creative brief. Who is going to see or read the creative brief? Make sure that you know who your target audience is before you are going to start the project. You are not just going to pinpoint your potential customers. But you should have complete data about the demographics. You should know their age. You should know where they come from. You even have to know their salary. You also have to be aware of their interests. Knowing enough data can make you have a successful campaign.Description of Deliverables: You have to know what the team should do. You can provide your overall mission by having the deliverables. Be sure that your client will want what you are going to give. So, it is very important that you will be detailed about the deliverables. Give a definite description of the deliverables so that the clients will know what to expect. Give great details when having the description. The clients should know what they can get from you. This way, they will not hope for other things. They will know what you are going to give to them.Messaging: The creative brief should contain the communication that you will have for your team. You should have key messages that can make your campaign successful. You need to have the right messages to evoke interest from your audience. Through the right messaging, you can communicate your purpose and objectives and the audience will know what to expect from you.Campaign Details: The campaign details are very important in a creative brief. You should know how you can make the campaign successful so you have to relay all the details that you have for your campaign. Your creative brief should follow all the needs of your campaign. It should be aligned with all the data of your campaign.Core Business Objective: You need to clarify the reason for your creative brief. You have to reach the core of your business objective. You have to explain your ultimate goal that can give value to your campaign. Discuss your core business objectives with your team. Share it with the stakeholders. Identify your work strategy with them. Make them familiar with the creative asset that can build your business objective.Stakeholders: Stakeholders are a vital element in a creative brief. You have to address them because you have to know who will work on the project. You have to know who will be the decision-makers for the client. Who is going to approve drafts and everything? Without considering the stakeholders, you cannot create an effective creative brief.Timeline: This is the time frame for the project. You must have a due date for the project. Create milestones that you will finish at specific times. Determine the actions that you have to take during the dates when you have the campaign. You have to monitor your project properly. Having feedback every week will be good before the deadline. But you must identify all the deadlines even at the start of the project. The client has to understand that you have a good timeline for your campaign.Promotion Venue: You have to consider the venue for your campaign. The audience should have the right expectations for their engagement. One thing that you can do is write a social post. Lead your audience to a good customer journey. Hone how your clients can engage in your product.

How to Write a Creative Brief

Do you need a creative brief template? Are you going to write a creative brief? Maybe you need some steps that you can use in writing. Well, we can offer you some steps that you can use. They are the following:

1. Create a Name for the Project

The first thing that you have to do is to create a project name. This may be simple but you have to know that this is vital. When you are having a campaign for a new product or service, the campaign name is very important. Without a campaign name, your team can create their terminology which can change the intent of the project. In creating a campaign name, you need to be creative. Create a good project name in a few words. You can make a call-to-action that will revolve around the name of the project.

2. Summarize the Background of the Project

This is an important section where you have to state the company background. This will not be just a general history of your company. Or a copied text on your about page. You should tailor a summary of your background for your creative brief. Make one or two sentences about the summary of your mission statement. Then, continue by giving a background of your brand. Explain the development of your project. You do not have to make a quick paragraph. You can separate headers that can talk about your brand’s background.

3. Highlight Your Goals

You have to be specific in highlighting your goals. You should explain the purpose of your campaign. Justify its timeline. Consider your target audience. You can make a sentence or two in emphasizing your objectives. You need to give an emphasis on why the project needs to happen. The aspects of your objectives can make you align your expectations. You have to focus on this part of your goals. You should tell what you expect for a successful project. State how your goals can benefit your company.

4. Identify the Target Audience

Now, you have to identify your target audience for the campaign. You will know the benefits of the products that you are going to launch. Have an audience segmentation that can separate the primary audience from the secondary audience. By doing this, you will have more freedom in having creative ideas. You can have ideas that can help your group. When having a target audience, you should consider the demographics, behaviors, and psychographics. The demographics will tell who your audience is. The behaviors will reveal the customer history. The psychographics can let you know how the target audience thinks and feels.

5. Analyze the Competitive Landscape

You should have a competitor analysis. You should know what your competitors are doing. This will give a great benefit to your team. You can use the competitive data to have ideas that you can use for your creative brief. You can have a lesson from their failed projects. You will not commit the mistakes that they have committed. You can have a campaign with an improved strategy from the tactics that they have used in the past. Make a list of your competitors. Know what you have with them in common. Know also how your brand can be differentiated from theirs. Know how you can get ahead.

6. Prepare a Great Message

The key message is the most vital part of a creative brief. This is hard to develop. Every stakeholder has a different opinion so you have to be careful in creating a key message. To do a simple trick, you should know what will happen after you have launched the project. You can create a great key message if you consider the result of your deeds. This will justify why the target audience should give attention to your campaign. The key message will have the pain point. It will tell the benefits that the target audience will receive from you. It will show that the solution for your company is the best. Its framework will give the spotlight to your project.

7. Pick an Attitude

You need to develop a good voice for the campaign. This will dictate your attitude toward the project. Select a few adjectives that will describe your attitude. You can use the correct messages to have the right context. You can also use colors and techniques to have a good tone for your campaign. Know the appropriate voice that you will have for your audience. Most audiences may prefer formal language, but some may want a casual tone. Make your decision to pick a specific brand voice. Your tone should speak effectively to your target audience.

8. Make a Call-to-Action

The audience should have something to do after seeing your campaign. That is why you need to create a call-to-action that will guide them on the steps that they have to take to respond to your creative brief. Though, the CTA may not have to be physical actions. They may have a change of thoughts and perceptions about your brand. Add different CTAs in your creative brief. But create a primary CTA which will point to your main objective.

FAQs

What is the goal of a creative brief?

The goal of a creative brief is to solve the problems in your campaign. It aims to attain your purpose. So, you need to define your goals in your creative brief.

How can you identify your target audience?

Have a specific target demographic for your campaign. To do this, you must understand the buyer’s journey. Know what makes the audiences the same and how they differ.

Who is involved in the creative brief?

The people that are involved in the creative brief are the marketing and creative teams. They are essential in the execution of the project.

Without a creative brief, the team may not be able to work properly. You will not know where to start and what things you should give importance to. Make a creative brief so that you can direct your team in all the things that they should do. You all can work better with a creative brief. Well, do you need a template for a creative brief? This post has 20+ SAMPLE Creative Brief in PDF. You can create a great creative brief by having these templates. Wait no more. Download now!