A creative brief is the blueprint that takes a project or a campaign from an idea to a visual rendition. It acts as the foundation for any successful marketing initiative. It combines all the necessary pieces of information on the campaign or the project to enable the creative agency to deliver a design.
A strong creative brief can be the key to success or failure of any marketing project or campaign. A creative brief has the following benefits:
Many creative agencies have their own templates for briefs based on best practices honed over years. Most good creative briefs have the following constituents
The first thing in a creative brief is to clearly narrate the details of the campaign or the project. This should include the background of the organization and current business state, name of the project or campaign, why it is being done, what are the various activities involved, and the timelines or the schedule of the activities.
The creative brief outlines the purpose of the project or campaign. Typically, objectives are classified into three main marketing objectives - Awareness, Consideration and Conversion. The objectives are further broken down into goals which should ideally be quantifiable.
The creative brief must also clearly identify the target audience for the project or campaign. Clearly defining the target audience is critical for the creative agency as it will form the basis of their design work. The target audience should be defined in terms of
The creative brief also maps whether the competition is doing similar projects or campaigns, what are their strategies, creatives, messages etc. It also analyses what is working and what is not working for competition.
What should be the message that will be most relevant to the target audience? The key message defines the target audience’s pain points and the how the solution being offered by the organization will benefit them
This includes defining the Call to Action, Brand Guidelines, any cultural or social nuances, types of creatives required, sizes & dimensions. It is also a good idea to define the approval structure and budget specifications
Adding reference material of previous work will help the team to better understand the brand and what has worked and not worked in the past. In addition, sharing reference from peers and other brands to help fuel creative thinking
Drafting a creative brief is not a linear process and will probably be iterative. Also, before the brief is sent to the creative agency, all the stakeholders must be aligned and in agreement with the brief. A well written and organized creative brief will ensure expectations are met, time is saved, and ultimately guarantee the final product will be of the highest quality.
