How to write a creative brief: a comprehensive guide

Do you know how to write a creative brief? This document can help your team understand every stage of a project's development and its role in it.

Do you know how to write a creative brief?

Your business probably deals with content publishing every day. Blog posts, promotional images, sponsored ads, you name it. The possibilities are endless but they all require the proper processes to work well.

A creative brief helps you document everything important relating to the piece you are creating.

It does not matter what it is — ranging from a simple image to an app —, it is a helpful step in the planning process that helps you deliver quality.

Being able to write a good creative brief is not just a formality. It is a fundamental ability that will help your company develop its projects in a much more productive way.

Your team will be completely in harmony about what needs to be done, by who, and how.

Would you like to learn how to write a creative brief? This article is a complete guide on how to do that. And we will use our own collaborative platform in Visually to show you how to do it.

We will address the following topics:

Check it out!

What is a creative brief?

A creative brief is a kind of document that is used by marketers and creatives to organize all the relevant information regarding the project that is being developed.

Throughout its sections, there are details on its goals, the target audience, the type of content, the execution, who will take care of what, and other pieces of data.

With it in hand, creative professionals have everything they need to start working on the project steps required to conclude it. However, for it to contribute to the process positively, the creative brief must be complete and appropriately written.

This means having all the important sections that describe each critical aspect of the project so that there are no doubts about who is doing what, when, and for which purpose. Its vital role in the completion of any project makes the creative brief a crucial part of the documentation.

Even though the term creative brief is often only associated with marketing campaigns, it is also used when making promotional videos, building websites, creating apps, and any other projects where it might be necessary.

What is the importance of writing a great creative brief?

Creative projects do not just appear out of thin air. For them to have quality, deliver the expected results, and contribute to the brand’s growth, they need the right elements during their planning stage. That is the role of a good creative brief.

The greatest benefit of using a quality creative brief is that everyone on your team stays on the same page regarding each step of your project’s development. No matter what it is — an infographic, a website, or even a mobile app —, it needs the proper planning stage to be documented correctly.

A bad creative brief can highly damage your company’s ability to deliver a quality product, piece, or service. It will contribute to huge communication gaps among your team that affect your ability to complete your project the way it was intended to.

What topics a creative brief should cover?

Now that you know what a creative brief is, you probably already understand the value of creating a proper one. For it to add value to your project development and help your team reach its objectives, you must make sure your creative brief covers the appropriate sections.

Below are the most important topics that need to be in your document and what each of them means.

Objective

This is where the key goals of the project are highlighted. Every project needs objectives since it is the whole reason they even exist. In this part of your creative brief, it is necessary to describe what your company aims to achieve with the completion of the described project as well as its most important metric goals.

Such objectives need to be measurable and concrete. Working with vague goals can make your job harder since you will have no idea if you were successful or not. Also, specifying your objectives correctly on your creative brief helps the rest of your staff to be aware of your aims.

Example: with this animated infographic, we intend to increase the engagement rate of our blog by at least 10%, focusing on social shares.

Creative inspiration

In this section, you should add a curated set of references that identify the vision that matches the project. Having the right set of images, text, videos, and other pieces of media can help your team understand your scope and approach — a highly important element that should not be forgotten when creating your creative brief.

Do not forget that creative inspiration is not only related to image references. This is also where the brand tone is set, which is like your company’s voice. By focusing on that, you can make sure that all of your content has an unmistakable tone identity.

Audience

This is the section where you will describe your target audience with as much detail as you can. Who your public is can greatly alter the approach to the development of your project. With that in mind, understanding these people’s needs, motivations, and expectations can help all members of your team.

For that to work, make sure to go into great detail when describing your target audience. Do not limit yourself to only talking about gender and age. Try to describe someone that could be real and part of a broader cluster of people that your company is trying to reach.

Example: with this animated infographic, we intend to appeal to junior marketers who are looking for quick and effective information on how to do their work.

Existing materials

Your brand’s history must be respected whenever you come up with a new project. This information can be added to your creative brief in a section for existing materials. The goal is to provide images, logos, colors, and any other kinds of pre-existing designs that must be included in the finalized product you are creating.

This will also spare your team from having to search for these pieces of information themselves, risking getting them wrong and negatively affecting your project.

Remember that the creative brief is a document, and as such, it must act as a reference for achieving your goals.

Execution

Here is the most practical section of your creative brief. This is where you will specify what will be done and how. Be as detailed as possible, since the information here needs to be able to guide every one that is involved with your project.

To make everything easier to read, try to split your execution based on each aspect of your project. For example, if you are creating an animated infographic, this is where you specify elements such as the size, design, type of animation, and the data that will be in it.

The execution is where your project will begin to take form to help you achieve the goals you described in your objectives.

Project management

A creative brief is an organizational tool. As such, you must have a section that is reserved for project management information.

This includes the members of your team and what part of the project they are responsible for. Make sure to specify their specialties and how they are contributing to your goals.

You can also benefit from adding a project timeline with the estimated dates for each milestone you intend to reach. This helps you plan and keep your development at an appropriate pace.

How to write a creative brief?

A good creative brief can compile all the important information on a project. It must bring everyone up to speed on the necessary components for it to be completed, which requires attention when filling it up.

After all, it is an important documentation process that your business can greatly benefit from.

Below are the top recommendations on how to write a creative brief.

And selected images from our creative brief running on our collaborative platform.

Give a project overview

Just as an article usually requires an introduction, your creative brief also needs an overview that sums up the information contained in it. At a glance, whoever reads the document must be able to understand the project’s most important traits, its goals, and the tools it will use to achieve them.

The overview should also bring your project’s context forward. What series of events led to its development? Why is it important? Besides, explain why the decisions were made.

Talk about your brand

Whoever reads your creative brief should get all they need to know about your brand. This knowledge is crucial so that your project can be completed in complete alignment with your company’s vision and identity.

Avoid being vague or throwing around too many disconnected ideas. Collect the most important information that can help your staff complete your project successfully while keeping it true to your brand’s history and current service or product offer.

Explain your objectives and challenges

Every creative piece or project is always born with a goal in mind. Their purpose should be highlighted in this document, as you have already learned when reading about the various sections it requires.

While writing these, make sure to contextualize everything. Explain why you have these goals and the main challenges that need to be overcome when completing your project.

List some creative inspirations

You can help your team come up with the right elements your project needs by assembling a good collection of creative inspirations and references. Make use of every kind of media you have available to you and create a compilation that captures your project’s essence.

For instance, if you are creating an animated infographic, you must bring together several other examples of such media so your team knows what they should be aiming for. In addition to that, try to keep a balance between references related to your project’s form and content.

Point out your audience

Depending on the audience you wish to reach with your creative brief, your project can change entirely. That is why you must be as specific as you can when describing the target public of what you are building.

Context is highly important in all sections of a creative brief, especially this one. Besides highlighting your audience’s traits and needs, make sure to contextualize why your business is trying to reach these people and how your project can be a solution to them.

Provide existing materials of your brand

Any logos, voice guidelines, previous designs, and established visual elements must be detailed in your creative brief. After all, such valuable information is required to make sure your project fits within your brand’s identity no matter what it is.

This means getting highly specific when describing these elements. Point out the appropriate uses of your logo, what colors are associated with your business, and the most common shapes that are used when creating content for it. The best way to illustrate all that is by bringing multiple examples of past materials.

Signalize the tone and writing style

Just as it is important to provide examples of past visual pieces for reference, the same must be done about the tone of your content and writing style. Whenever your brand speaks, it needs to have the same voice, which requires extra attention.

Whether it is subtle or explicit, a company’s way to talk must be highlighted in your creative brief. After all, your project must replicate that style so it fits with the rest of your brand’s content and still appeals to its usual audience.

Specify the technical requirements for the deliveries

By now, you probably understand that your creative brief needs to be as specific as possible. This also applies to the technical requirements for its deliveries, which refers to what is being created. Your team needs this information to work on your project.

For instance, if you are creating an animated infographic, then your creative brief needs to address requirements such as the image format, the frame rate of animation, the average size, and precise dimensions it needs to have to fit your distribution channel.

Highlight publishing or releasing channels

As a part of your creative brief, you also need to indicate where you want to publish and share the project. This varies depending on the kind of material your team is creating but it’s still an important aspect of your planning that needs to be properly documented.

Also, take the time to describe the particularities of these channels, how they differentiate, and how your project needs to adapt to them.

Define deadlines and availability

As an internal document for your business, a creative brief also has the role of organizing your project schedule. This includes determining deadlines for each step during its development as well as the availability of the team for meetings and feedback sessions.

Those are essential to a productive environment and must be planned as part of your project. Forgetting about it might negatively affect your team’s ability to deliver quality.

What is an example of a great creative brief?

Taking a look at a practical example is a great way to learn what quality means. This is especially true when talking about how to write a creative brief the right way.

Check out below for an example of how you should create one for an animated infographic.

Objective

Increase the engagement rate of the company blog by 10% while prioritizing the content’s share rate.

Creative inspiration

  • examples of infographics with similar shapes and colors;
  • examples of equivalent writing style on other infographics;
  • snapshots of how infographics look on blog posts by other businesses;
  • references of good animated infographics from any industry.

Audience

  • young marketers who are looking for quick and effective content that answers their questions;
  • ages from 20 through 30, those who work either for a marketing agency or department within a company;

Existing materials

  • a visual guide for the brand’s logos, colors, and font families;
  • previous infographics created by the brand (animated or not);

Execution

  • use the data attached to come up with an animated infographic that can communicate it to our audience;
  • make sure to use the appropriate colors for our brand;
  • the animated infographic should be in GIF form with a size no larger than 2 MB, so it loads quickly even on mobile;
  • the width should not be larger than 700 pixels, as that is the blog’s maximum width.

Project management

The team will hold a meeting to approve the piece during each step of its development — concept, design, and conclusion.

It is expected that the project concludes in a week starting from the publication of this creative brief.

Now that you know how to write a creative brief, it’s time to start using that knowledge in your business.

Remember that such documentation helps you develop any kind of project but requires attention to detail when filling it up. Use this article as a reference for the next time you create anything in your company to make sure it contributes to achieving your goals.

Working with a good creative brief also requires the use of a tool that optimizes your content creation. Learn more about Visually and get a quote for your project within one business day.

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