Creative projects can be a nightmare to handle. It’s not enough just to be inspired or excited to work on them. For successful project outcomes, it’s also crucial to:
- Have a clear idea of what your clients want,
- Align your team’s efforts with campaign objectives,
- Consider all the technical requirements,
- And produce content that is sure to hit your target audience in the right spot.
Sounds like a challenge, right? And the more people and details are involved in your project, the more challenging it tends to get.
However, there is a thing that can help your team grasp the main ideas behind the planned campaign, learn essential project specifics, and work to fulfill them effectively. This thing is called a creative brief.
Fill the form below to get a free creative brief template and read on as we discuss how and when to apply it to your own creative projects.
What Is a Creative Brief?
A creative brief is a concise description of your project strategy. It includes a list of project deliverables, some essential information about your target audience, key campaign messages, and so on.
It is usually developed during the planning phase of project management and then shared with relevant stakeholders before the actual work begins. By communicating important project information to team members and clients, a creative brief allows you to avoid misunderstanding and achieve high process efficiency.
When Do You Need a Creative Brief?
- When you’re working on a highly conceptual or complex campaign and want to make it easier for everyone to understand how to approach it.
- When you need to agree on deadlines, work scope, and other project details with your clients, gain mutual understanding and minimize miscommunication risks.
- When a large number of creatives is involved in the project, and it’s vital to bring structure and consistency into the work process.
Creative Brief Elements
- Client details | Who asked you to work on a creative project? Outline some key points about that individual / brand / company and add their contact details.
- Project context and the background story | Why does the client need to launch a creative campaign? Which problem do they want to solve with its help?
- Client objectives | What are some measurable aims of the planned project? What does the client expect to gain after your work is successfully completed?
- Competition | Does your client have some major competitors in the industry? How will your campaign differ from what they do to promote their products?
- Target audience and consumer persona | Whom the campaign is intended for? How old are these people? What are their gender, social status, interests, and values?
- Key messages | What will your campaign try to tell the target audience? What kind of benefits will it promise, and how will you make that promise trustworthy? Which arguments will you use to support it?
- Campaign voice and tone | What kind of mood will your campaign try to instill? Which style and language will you use to deliver the message?
- Media | Which promotion venues do you plan to focus on: social media platforms, magazines, TV, or radio?
- Key project requirements | Which mandatory elements does the campaign have to include, and which conditions must it meet?
- Budget | How much money do you expect to invest in the project?
- Dates and deadlines | When will the work on the campaign start, and when does your team have to finalize it? Develop a realistic project timeline, identify major milestones, and set feasible deadlines for them.
- Deliverables | Which specific outcomes do you bank on having at the end of the project? For instance, how many pieces of content do you want your team to produce? How long should that content be, and what criteria should it fulfill?
How to Use Our Creative Brief Template
Creative brief writing doesn’t have to be challenging or time-consuming. As proof of that, our creative brief template already contains all the sections described above. Just download it and fill the fields in – easy!
Note that the length of your creative brief and the number of details included will always depend on the nature and complexity of the project. You can describe your campaign as concisely or comprehensively as you wish. And if you feel like some parts of the creative brief template are unnecessary or missing, be sure to exclude or add them accordingly.
Lastly, if you’re looking for ways to improve your creative project management, take a minute to check out some of the most useful tools for creative teams. They will help you stay on track and achieve success with less effort invested.
