Every successful project starts with a game plan. In most cases, businesses and organizations concisely utilize a framework for their objectives. Here lies the use of a creative brief template. A creative brief is your roadmap for transforming the projects from conceptualization to completion.
What is a creative brief?
Creative briefs are short documents summarizing the advertising, marketing, design project goals, hurdles, messaging, demographics, and other vital details. A creative manager or a consultant usually creates the creative brief. It aims to achieve alignment with all stakeholders before the project begins.
Before writing a creative brief, one of the first few things to remember is to discuss it with project stakeholders. The discussions will help you know the company’s mission, challenges, and project goals. With this, you’ll have sufficient information in writing the creative brief focusing on your client's or your company's vital aspects.
When to use a creative brief?
The following are 3 essential situations when a creative brief is necessary.
- When dealing with highly-conceptual work. An excellent example of this is an entire advertising campaign. This project can be complex, which might confuse members on where to begin. A team must have various and specific directions from the client or manager before everyone starts the work.
- When executing previous works across several deliverables. A creative brief is also essential in an already completed and defined work. An example of this would be the website landing pages for internal clients. While you might have made several landing pages in the past, it’s always essential to secure all necessary information before the team starts the project.
- When editing and revising works. You only need a quick, creative brief template for these projects. Managers and consultants must use the brief to identify possible mistakes in the project. This way, you’ll avoid problems as you proceed with the project.
Benefits of using a creative brief template
- A creative brief template documents the creative plan. Even if you all have the steps in mind for the project, you will have to refer back to the brief at some point.
- It’s time efficient. The use of a creative brief template allows businesses to work more efficiently. For example, if the creative brief states that a specific color code will be used for campaign materials, the graphic designer won’t need to ask about it in the middle of the project.
- The creative brief template prompts accountability. The brief also lets managers define the roles of every member involved in the project. Along the way, you improve accountability. Besides the tasks, teams can also see the final deadline from the document.
- It improves processes. The processes can be repeatable and predictable upon using the creative brief template. This means companies would know what to do for their future projects, resulting in increased efficiency.
Best practices for writing a creative brief
Consider some tips below as your guide while developing a creative brief. Of course, you can include other helpful practices if you have written successful creative briefs before.
- Create a summary for your project. State why you must achieve such a project and other specific details your team must know.
- It’s also fitting to explain the objectives. Some consider this the most crucial section of a creative brief. You can include the process for achieving your goals and the standards you use to measure success.
- Ensure to identify your target market or audience. Include the demographics about who these customers are and the behavioral insights they have.
- Consider the tone, style, and message of your creative brief. These elements must be consistent and align with your brand. Otherwise, stakeholders might get confused as they read your brief.
How to write a creative brief?
There are no fixed steps in writing a creative brief. Each manager or consultant has a way of developing the brief. Most of them use templates that are available on online platforms like Boardmix. Here is a simple guide on how to formulate your creative brief.
- Give your project a name. It’s simple, but it’s also one of the critical aspects of creative brief writing. The name will be the first to be noticed by stakeholders and provide a quick project idea.
- Write about your brand and the project’s background. You can have to do 3 sentences to summarize your brand’s mission and a few sentences about the brand’s background and reason for project development.
- Emphasize the project objective. This includes specifying the project’s purpose, target audience, and timeline.
- Illustrate the competitive landscape. Besides knowing about your company, it pays to interpret your competitors' actions.
- Prepare your key message. You can use the 'so what' question to launch creative ideas on the vital message of the project.
- Draft your creative brief and share it with your team once done.
FAQs about the creative brief
What is in a creative brief?
These essential components should be present in your creative template. See the list below.
- Project background
- Target audience
- Tone/message
- Primary objectives
- Competition
- Key benefits
- Reference materials
- Distribution
- Essentials
What is the key to a good creative brief?
In writing an effective and excellent creative brief, one must ensure the document is clear about the things to be done and their timelines. The brief must clarify the objective, specify deadlines, and give as much information about the service or product as possible. If you’re a consultant, the agency and your client must have input into the brief.
What is the difference between a creative brief and a marketing plan?
The creative brief focuses on the creative side of a campaign or a brand. It provides design guidelines, messaging, and copy. Meanwhile, a marketing plan has a relatively broader scope. This includes public relations, advertising, promotions, and social media. In short, creative briefs are more focused and can be part of a company’s marketing plan.
