A creative brief is the very foundation of any advertising/marketing campaign. Making a simple (but relatable) analogy, the briefing is the metaphorical treasure map that creatives follow. The brief shows the creative professionals not only where to start digging to find the golden ideas but also how to open the treasure chest.
By definition, a creative brief (or creative briefing) is a document produced by the requesting party (the customer) with the goal of establishing the defining aspects of a creative piece of work, such as a print ad or website banner. The term is often heard in the advertising market where it represents the first step in the journey of producing all sorts of material such as promotional videos, websites, etc.
Why should I develop a Creative Brief?
As stated above, the creative brief’s main function serves as a guide written by the person requesting a creative service (the customer) to the responsible for the activity in order to clearly define what’s expected of the deliverables as well as the communication strategy it should be aligned with.
Great creative briefs have one primary function — to inspire your creative team to come up with the most brilliant and effective communications response to solve a particular problem. While a collection of facts, the brief should put your creative team in the right frame of mind to come up an innovative and creative solution.
Having a well written, compelling briefing is essential for guiding creative professionals towards developing messages and materials that not only fit within the company’s communication strategy but also make it as successful as it could possibly be.
It’s safe to say that normally, under the usual circumstances, developing a creative brief is not a one man job. It takes a small team of professionals from various fields to thoroughly explain the message the creative piece should convey.
The reason why it’s so important to have more than one person from different work areas working on a creative briefing is that it ensures it won’t convey a single person’s point of view and, consequently, be less accurate. It also ensures that the definitions and concepts within are clear enough for the receiving team to understand.
If there’s only one person responsible for writing a creative brief, his or her personal opinions can get into the way and make the briefing less clear and detailed as it should be.
All creative briefs must be developed after a thorough situation and audience analysis. The reason why it’s so important to analyze the context for the campaigns is simple: as cliché as it may sound, knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have, the more specific you can be about what’s expected from the service provider.
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