Given creative, marketing, or campaign briefs exist in all areas of business \u2014 advertising, media, PR, design, architecture \u2014 understanding the art of how to produce a good one is important.<\/p>\n
Whether you’re a client tasked with creating a content brief for freelancers or a content creator charged with writing or dissecting creative briefs from a client, there are 10 key sections you’ll want to know.<\/p>\n
![\"main](\"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/main-elements-creative-brief.png\")
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What are the main elements of a creative brief?<\/h2>\n\n- Objective <\/strong>\u2014 Premise for what the campaign needs to achieve<\/li>\n
- What <\/strong>\u2014\u00a0Information about your product or service<\/li>\n
- Why<\/strong> \u2014 Why your product or service is important<\/li>\n
- Who<\/strong> \u2014 The audience you are targeting<\/li>\n
- Key takeaways<\/strong> \u2014 Key points you want the audience to remember<\/li>\n
- Metrics<\/strong> \u2014 The metric goals that determine success<\/li>\n
- Tone of voice<\/strong> \u2014 The way you communicate your message<\/li>\n
- Thought starters<\/strong> \u2014 Ideas to kick off brainstorming<\/li>\n
- Budget<\/strong> \u2014 The scope of investment, whether time or money<\/li>\n
- Timeline<\/strong> \u2014 The calendar of deliverables and action items<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
10 key creative brief sections<\/h2>\n
![\"Setting](\"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/objective.png\")
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The objective<\/h2>\n
The best way to set the right tone for a creative brief is to lay out the campaign goals in a clear, concise objective section at the top.<\/p>\n
Doing this may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many marketers put ambiguous filler here that creates more questions than answers.<\/p>\n
So, what is the objective? The simple premise for what this campaign needs to achieve in terms of overall success, awareness, and impact. Essentially, the most relevant thing you hope will be accomplished with this work.<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- “Develop an integrated, multi-platform campaign and unforgettable content experience” <\/em><\/li>\n
- “Create a ‘must-see’ level of anticipation across all consumer touch points.” <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
These\u00a0<\/strong>objective morsels give the reader an immediate grasp of what’s expected, a snapshot at the deliverables, and a peek at the high bar desired for the first round of ideas and, ultimately, the final work.<\/p>\nAs the author of a creative brief, your objective should be to take the objective seriously. That way, you’ll engage the newly enlightened reader and keep them reading down the page to the next section…<\/p>\n
The what<\/h2>\n
Here’s where the brief<\/a> should give the right amount of background about the product for the team to create \u2014 be it a toy, a deodorant, or a new TV show season. The context, insight, and background into what<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>it took to bring such a radically innovative thing to fruition.<\/p>\nHere’s where the marketer should hold nothing back to instruct, inform, and enthrall when it comes to letting people know about their spectacular product or service. But, beware: Don’t go into so much detail that the most important details get lost.<\/p>\n
![\"Understanding](\"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/the-why.png\")
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The why<\/h2>\n
“Why” is one of the most important parts of the brief template next to the objective. It’s the part that isolates why<\/em> this thing you’re being asked to market was created, why<\/em> people should care, and\u00a0why<\/em> it should be separated from the rest.<\/p>\nFor example, is your product an answer to all the things currently wrong with the world? Is it a solution to a human problem? Does it give people something they never knew they needed? Does it tell a story<\/a> people need to hear? Why is it… different?<\/p>\nHere’s an excerpt from a creative brief for Avi\u00f3n Tequila<\/a>. It has a great angle for expressing why <\/em>they were different from other tequila makers:<\/p>\nMeticulously Inefficient:\u00a0<\/strong>The process of creating Avi\u00f3n is one of painstaking passion and dedication to tradition – which elevates Avi\u00f3n to an art. It is inefficient in every aspect of the process: Agave from only the highest elevation is used, the Agave is allowed 7-10 years for maturation before harvesting, it is hand-made and hand-processed rather than mass produced or outsourced, and it is slow roasted for 3 days allowing for ultra slow filtration and aging. An almost forgotten path of craftsmanship and love – that’s the meticulous part. Where the art form of tequila takes all precedence over time and money. When you are elevating Tequila to an art, efficiency becomes meaningless.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe who<\/h2>\n
Is there any more valuable section than knowing exactly who<\/em> you’re targeting with your work \u2014 and sharing any insights around what you know about them?<\/p>\nIn this area, we’ve seen the gamut of explanations, ranging from short and sweet (i.e., “People who are health\/fitness conscious, runners, athletes”) to in-depth and thoroughly researched segmentation studies that break down the psychographics of who you’re trying to appeal to.<\/p>\n
Either could work depending on the context of everything else in the brief. Just make sure you give a snapshot of not just who your desired audience<\/a> is, but the aspirational targets as well. Markets both current… and untapped.<\/p>\nSometimes you’ll even see a first-person description from the desired audience that gives you a quick peek into how they think. Here’s one such Who<\/em> section from a brief for a high-end luxury audio manufacturer:<\/p>\nI want to hear music as the artist intended and I search for equipment that offers the absolute best listening and q<\/strong>uality construction. I don\u2019t buy that often so I want something that will last and provide me with a warm, intimate l<\/strong>istening experience with my music; whether it\u2019s on vinyl, SACD or wide-bandwidth, online listening.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"What](\"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/key-takeaways.png\")
<\/h2>\nThe key takeaways<\/h2>\n
In a world fueled by distraction, the occasional synopsis summing things up in the form of a few brief bullets is never a bad thing. In that realm, a nice and tidy key takeaways section serves a dual purpose by doing the following:<\/p>\n
\n- Sums up in a few short words what you want the audience to ultimately take away.<\/li>\n
- Delivers a short\/sweet buffer against people who don’t like reading \u2014 the scanners of the world \u2014 who are too busy to digest your entire brief.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Essentially, here’s your chance to convey the central idea you want your audience to ultimately take away from your impressive, well-thought out, insanely well-executed content campaign.<\/p>\n
For example, if you were marketing a fictitious board game for the holidays called “The Board Game for the Bored” where people get to play embarrassing practical jokes on each other, your desired takeaways for the audience might sound something like this:<\/p>\n
\n- “The Board Game for the Bored” is a dark, fun, must-have stocking stuffer that will make you and your family LOL for years to come.<\/li>\n
- This stunt-y aspect sounds a lot different from all other board games before it.<\/li>\n
- “The Board Game for the Bored” is going to create amazing social media moments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The metrics<\/h2>\n
It always helps to know at the launch of a brief how the success of a campaign will ultimately be judged by the client putting it out. So, when you’re filling out this section, ask yourself:<\/p>\n
\n- What are reasonable guardrails to expect given the work and media budget allotted for this campaign?<\/li>\n
- How many impressions do you hope to gain?<\/li>\n
- Likes, shares, and comments?<\/li>\n
- What amount of earned media will make this your best case study yet?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This doesn’t just create transparency, but it gives the content creators the gift of focus at the beginning of ideation to steer their explorations and creative development in a refreshing and healthy way.<\/p>\n
The tone of voice<\/h2>\n
A creative brief is a great place to give a general sense of how a client perceives their product in terms of voice, tone, and style<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn that realm, come up with simple adjectives that indicate how creative teams should be communicating your message and the overall emotions you’re looking to evoke with the creative work, campaign, or video executions.<\/p>\n
For instance, using the previous example of “The Board Game for the Bored,” your tone-of-voice description might look like this:<\/p>\n
10 key creative brief sections<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
The objective<\/h2>\n
The best way to set the right tone for a creative brief is to lay out the campaign goals in a clear, concise objective section at the top.<\/p>\n
Doing this may seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many marketers put ambiguous filler here that creates more questions than answers.<\/p>\n
So, what is the objective? The simple premise for what this campaign needs to achieve in terms of overall success, awareness, and impact. Essentially, the most relevant thing you hope will be accomplished with this work.<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/strong><\/p>\n These\u00a0<\/strong>objective morsels give the reader an immediate grasp of what’s expected, a snapshot at the deliverables, and a peek at the high bar desired for the first round of ideas and, ultimately, the final work.<\/p>\n As the author of a creative brief, your objective should be to take the objective seriously. That way, you’ll engage the newly enlightened reader and keep them reading down the page to the next section…<\/p>\n Here’s where the brief<\/a> should give the right amount of background about the product for the team to create \u2014 be it a toy, a deodorant, or a new TV show season. The context, insight, and background into what<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>it took to bring such a radically innovative thing to fruition.<\/p>\n Here’s where the marketer should hold nothing back to instruct, inform, and enthrall when it comes to letting people know about their spectacular product or service. But, beware: Don’t go into so much detail that the most important details get lost.<\/p>\n “Why” is one of the most important parts of the brief template next to the objective. It’s the part that isolates why<\/em> this thing you’re being asked to market was created, why<\/em> people should care, and\u00a0why<\/em> it should be separated from the rest.<\/p>\n For example, is your product an answer to all the things currently wrong with the world? Is it a solution to a human problem? Does it give people something they never knew they needed? Does it tell a story<\/a> people need to hear? Why is it… different?<\/p>\n Here’s an excerpt from a creative brief for Avi\u00f3n Tequila<\/a>. It has a great angle for expressing why <\/em>they were different from other tequila makers:<\/p>\n Meticulously Inefficient:\u00a0<\/strong>The process of creating Avi\u00f3n is one of painstaking passion and dedication to tradition – which elevates Avi\u00f3n to an art. It is inefficient in every aspect of the process: Agave from only the highest elevation is used, the Agave is allowed 7-10 years for maturation before harvesting, it is hand-made and hand-processed rather than mass produced or outsourced, and it is slow roasted for 3 days allowing for ultra slow filtration and aging. An almost forgotten path of craftsmanship and love – that’s the meticulous part. Where the art form of tequila takes all precedence over time and money. When you are elevating Tequila to an art, efficiency becomes meaningless.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Is there any more valuable section than knowing exactly who<\/em> you’re targeting with your work \u2014 and sharing any insights around what you know about them?<\/p>\n In this area, we’ve seen the gamut of explanations, ranging from short and sweet (i.e., “People who are health\/fitness conscious, runners, athletes”) to in-depth and thoroughly researched segmentation studies that break down the psychographics of who you’re trying to appeal to.<\/p>\n Either could work depending on the context of everything else in the brief. Just make sure you give a snapshot of not just who your desired audience<\/a> is, but the aspirational targets as well. Markets both current… and untapped.<\/p>\n Sometimes you’ll even see a first-person description from the desired audience that gives you a quick peek into how they think. Here’s one such Who<\/em> section from a brief for a high-end luxury audio manufacturer:<\/p>\n I want to hear music as the artist intended and I search for equipment that offers the absolute best listening and q<\/strong>uality construction. I don\u2019t buy that often so I want something that will last and provide me with a warm, intimate l<\/strong>istening experience with my music; whether it\u2019s on vinyl, SACD or wide-bandwidth, online listening.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In a world fueled by distraction, the occasional synopsis summing things up in the form of a few brief bullets is never a bad thing. In that realm, a nice and tidy key takeaways section serves a dual purpose by doing the following:<\/p>\n Essentially, here’s your chance to convey the central idea you want your audience to ultimately take away from your impressive, well-thought out, insanely well-executed content campaign.<\/p>\n For example, if you were marketing a fictitious board game for the holidays called “The Board Game for the Bored” where people get to play embarrassing practical jokes on each other, your desired takeaways for the audience might sound something like this:<\/p>\n It always helps to know at the launch of a brief how the success of a campaign will ultimately be judged by the client putting it out. So, when you’re filling out this section, ask yourself:<\/p>\n This doesn’t just create transparency, but it gives the content creators the gift of focus at the beginning of ideation to steer their explorations and creative development in a refreshing and healthy way.<\/p>\n A creative brief is a great place to give a general sense of how a client perceives their product in terms of voice, tone, and style<\/a>.<\/p>\n In that realm, come up with simple adjectives that indicate how creative teams should be communicating your message and the overall emotions you’re looking to evoke with the creative work, campaign, or video executions.<\/p>\n For instance, using the previous example of “The Board Game for the Bored,” your tone-of-voice description might look like this:<\/p>\n\n
The what<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nThe why<\/h2>\n
The who<\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\nThe key takeaways<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
The metrics<\/h2>\n
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The tone of voice<\/h2>\n
![\"Include](\"https:\/\/www.clearvoice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/thought-starters.png\")
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