How to write a creative brief

A creative agency is a great partner for building meaningful relationships with your target audience. Clear and concise communication helps to guide your agency to successful project outcomes. A creative brief is the key to achieving this. As one of the most important elements of a project, the creative brief can make the difference between timely delivery of an outstanding product, or a long, drawn-out process to achieve a final result. Here's a breakdown of what to expect and include in a creative brief. 

The summary: what you want, and why

In essence, a brief serves as the guidelines you want your creative agency to follow. It will ask for details such as what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. These are possibly the trickiest sections to answer as they require considerable thought - but trust us, they're crucial for your creative agency to meet your needs as best as possible. You can treat this part of the process as a way to look more deeply into your project, helping you to really hone in on the purpose, value, and desired outcome you're hoping for. 

There are two things to keep in mind when filling these sections out. You should include enough details to give a clear picture, but you want to keep things open enough for the creative agency to be, well, creative. That way you'll get the best results. 

Objectives

The objectives section of a brief allows your creative agency to understand the outcomes you want to achieve. In this section, you should aim to be as straightforward as possible. The more direct and clear-cut you can be the better, as this will help to better guide the creative team in their decisions. 

Audience

You want to reach the widest audience possible - that's a given. However, when you try to reach too many people at once, your message can become diluted. The most successful outcomes will narrow their focus down to a targeted group, and create a campaign that is specifically designed to appeal to them.  

References and inspiration

There's inspiration to be found anywhere and everywhere! If there's something in particular that has sparked your imagination or appeals to you in any way, it can help to share it. Your creative agency won't copy someone else's work, but it can help the team to understand what you like. Similarly, you could share examples of things you're not so keen on. 

Outcomes

Not to be confused with objectives, outcomes will determine the next step in the creative process. This is the section where you let your creative agency know what you're expecting to see next - such as a rough concept, a well-rounded storyboard, perhaps even a brainstorming session with the team to help flesh out your ideas more. If you're unsure of the process and don't know what to include in this section, your creative agency will be happy to guide you through the possibilities. 

Budget

It's good business sense to assign a number to a project. As tempting as it may be to leave this open, the reality is that there will be an upper number that you won't want to surpass. Including a budget will help your creative agency to determine the best methods to achieve your desired objectives in the most cost-effective ways. After all, it isn't always the biggest-budget campaigns and activations that make the greatest splash. A clever, well-thought-out and meaningful approach that targets exactly the right audience and makes use of a limited budget can be equally, if not even more successful. 

And remember, your creative agency is a partner you can go to at any step of the process. We believe in open communications, providing the right guidance and advice, as and when it's needed, and, of course, in delivering outstanding creative work that leads to tangible results.