How to Write a Good Creative Brief

Understanding the Elements of Briefing for Better Creativity

Mar 23, 2009

Before any creative work starts, any time spend getting the brief right, will pay dividends later, and cut down time wasted on unnecessary work.

Finding the best way to express anything creatively starts better when everyone involved is agreed on the direction the process should take, and even if there is only one person in the process. Generally and more prolifically the creative brief as a working document, discussion or as a presentation exists in the domain of :

It is by and large a process most good creative organisations will use to ensure that their client and they themselves are agreed on the direction the creative work should take.

Think of it as Bridge Building.

There are number of ways to look at The Creative Brief, but largely it is a conversation between a client and their prospective or incumbent creative agency or internal individual or creative department that ensures the right flow of aspirations and intentions, and the desired end result is achieved.

Chris Herd in a UK Chartered Institute of Marketing fact file offers the suggestion, “Forget just for a moment that you are briefing an agency. Instead pretend you are standing on a bank of a river about to build a bridge.” He proffers therefore that if the person giving the brief or the direction in the discussion makes it clear where they are now, and where they want the end of the bridge to be, a satisfactory bridge is more likely to be built.

The mechanics and workings of the bridge with salient and appropriate suggestions and recommendations should be the job of the creative contractor, albeit with only some client input about such things as what travels over it or handrails. This way he suggests, a better and more workable brief will be achieved and any completed work is more likely to achieve the common goals.

There are More Questions Than Answers, Initially.

To stimulate the discussions necessary to ensure the creative work being commissioned, there are as many briefing forms as there are creative institutions, but by and large they all contain the same three important questions.

The “Who” tells everything about the market the work is aimed, the “What” is the action that this group is required to take and the “Why” gives reason for the “Who” to do the “What.” These may be simple questions initially but if each is given sufficient time, research and both parties are clear to each other about the answers, a better brief and therefore better and more effective creative work will result.

As the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK itself, sums it up. “The better the brief, the better and more accurate the results.” CIM Fact File

The copyright of the article How to Write a Good Creative Brief in Business Writing is owned by Dan Mccurdy. Permission to republish How to Write a Good Creative Brief in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.