The creative brief provides a foundation for any creative project by outlining objectives, pertinent details, and keeping everyone aligned throughout the process. It includes the client and team contact information, creative strategy statement, key facts about the client/job, the primary advertising problem and how the product solves it, communication objectives, target market details, primary competition, key consumer benefits, reasons to believe the product delivers on its promise, desired tone, and mandatory guidelines. The brief assumes the team knows nothing, highlights the core challenges to be solved, strikes a balance between brevity and including all necessary information, uses clear language without jargon, and is vetted by others to ensure it is understandable and mistake-free.

1. Creative Brief Blueprint
Something you can actually use
Excerpts from article by Katy French

3. Why a Creative Brief Matters
• the foundation of any creative project.
• NOT a cursory piece of communication

4. Creative Briefs several
specific purposes:
• outlines objectives
• provides all pertinent project information
• keeps everyone on the same page
• acts as anchor for every stage of creative process

5. What it includes

6. Client Name:

7. Client Name:
Team Name & Contact Details:
• team name
• Contact w/email & phone
• Contributors: team members

8. Creative Strategy Statement
• The statement you crafted as part of your research.

9. Summary of Key Facts
• Brief summary of the client, job and requirements.
• Should sort out info from SWOT
• What is this job about?
• Paint a picture for your team that answers the who,
what, and where of the project.

10. Definition of Primary Advertising Problem
Describe unmet consumer need that this product or service fills
or how this product addresses a need in a unique way
• This grows out of the Key Facts
• MUST BE A PROBLEM THAT ADVERTISING CAN SOLVE

11. Communication Objectives
• State the desired effect your advertising
will have on the target
• Your research should direct your objectives
• Clearly detail the main goals you hope to
achieve

12. Target Market
Identify your consumer
• use information from your Consumer Profile

13. Primary Competition
Identify the brands which your consumers trade in and
out of on a regular basis

14. Key Consumer Benefit or Promise
• What are you offering your target?
• Is the benefit perceived to be important, believable
and unique?

15. Support or Reason Why
• You must give reasons to the target that your product
will do what you say it will

16. Tone Statement
Indicates the “mood” of the execution (i.e. humor, upbeat,
youthful, serious, authoritative)
• Specify how you would like to communicate.
• Include adjectives or feelings that might influence
your creative approach.

17. Mandatories & Limitations
• The brand’s logo, slogan, website or contact info
• Consistency with existing communication materials
• Any legal requirements
• Are visuals in place or must be created?
• How will the visuals convey the message?
• What visual style do you want?
• Historical design specifics
• References or inspiration

18. 1) Assume Your Team Knows Nothing
• Your creative brief influences your ideation
• cover both small and big picture issues.
• include everything a person would need to know if they
were just brought on to the project.
• COMPREHENSIVE / CONCISE

19. 2) Highlight the Problem
• Your purpose is to educate everyone on the
core challenges you are trying to solve
through creative work.
• Make sure it is clear on primary objectives

20. 3) Strike a Balance
• Take the word “BRIEF” seriously!
• Only include necessary info
• Distill & Disseminate the most relevant info

21. 4) Clarify Your Language
• Cut back on jargon
• Avoid acronyms, buzzwords, or slang
• Define concepts in plain language

22. 5) Vet Your Brief
• Have someone outside the discussion vet
your brief.
• Do they get it? Any mistakes?

23. Creative Brief as Guide
• Use Brief in every state of creative process
• Stay on message