Short, Sweet & Powerful: Crafting Creative Briefs
Does my marketing project need a creative brief?
What are the elements of a strong creative brief?
How do I write one?
Imagine that Frank has a business called Fromage by Frank that express-ships fine cheeses from France.
Cheese aficionados love his business, but Frank needs a wider customer base to be successful. So he hires a designer-and-copywriter creative team to create an “eye-catching online ad” that he’ll run on popular food blogs.
The creative team takes a lot longer than Frank had hoped to come up with a concept. And when they finally show him their “edgy” idea, it involves a beret-wearing mouse blowing up a wheel of cheese in slow-motion.
Is that ad concept eye-catching? Yes.
Does it fit Fromage by Frank’s brand, help Frank achieve his business goals, and appeal to his target audience? No, no, and no. So where did Frank go wrong?
No matter what your marketing initiative or campaign is – site redesign, branding, online ads, etc. – writing a creative brief is a smart idea.
It’s a simple document that acts as a roadmap for your creative agency or team. It shows creatives the right ways to navigate your marketing project and lets them know what goals you want to reach.
A well-written creative brief makes sure the creatives understand the project’s background and your vision. It should also be...well, brief. It’s an outline, not an essay or a brand book.
TIP
To write a good creative brief, you should do some prep work first.
Start by defining the problem you’re trying to solve clearly, and then gather any research or data that can help you frame your problem in cold, hard facts.
After you’ve clearly identified and framed the problem and set a goal, it’s time to write your creative brief.
The brief should include the problem, objectives or goals, who the target audience is, what action you want your audience to take, your key selling points, the creative mandatories, and approval timelines. Let’s break down one that Frank made.
First, Frank explains the need for this marketing in 60 words or less. Then, he describes his business’ current position and the problem he wants to address, also in 60 words or less.
Next, come 3 short sections, each 40 words or less: info on his target audience (where they live, what they believe, etc.), the central message to communicate (AKA the key takeaway), and the work’s exact objectives.
He then lists the types of media and key deliverables. He also details any rules like style guides, legal issues, or design and copy dos and don’ts, along with other considerations. Lastly, there’s a project schedule.
So let’s say you’ve written a nice, short creative brief. What happens if you have more information (like brand guidelines) you need to give to the creatives?
No matter how tempting it is to add that background material into your brief, keep it separate. Your brief should always be a quick, straightforward way for creatives to find the project mandatories only.
For brand guidelines, create a separate presentation or document (like the brand book we mentioned earlier). The same goes for other information you think is relevant to the project, like a deeper analysis of your target audience.
DO THIS NOW
Let’s see what information you have that you can put in a creative brief. To start, think about an upcoming marketing initiative, campaign, or business issue you have right now.
If you’re participating in the course, go to the next section to access your self assessment.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
A creative brief outlines your initiative or campaign's goals and rules for your creative agency.
Include your business problem, objectives, target audience, key message, mandatories, and timeline.
Before writing one, state your problem clearly and gather data to find the right marketing channels.