Writing a Good Creative Brief Ensures Project Success

By John “JR” Rickinger

There’s an art to writing a creative brief that outlines the intent, scope and ultimate objective of an advertising or communications project. It represents the important first step in getting the project off on the right foot and down the right track. In the end, it’s about time and money.

At its essence, the creative brief is the base upon which an agency team formulates strategy and ideas. It should identify your communication needs, objectives, target audiences, budget, timetable and relevant background information. As such, the quality of the brief is critical in the success of your communications project.

A good creative brief will:

• Explain why you need the project
• Define as closely as possible the objectives of your project
• Place the project into the overall framework of your communications program
• Include positioning statements and main messages from which creative concepts will flow

What is a communication strategy?

A communication strategy provides the backdrop against which a comprehensive, integrated campaign is set. It’s a plan that outlines the rationale and desired outcome of your program through the course of the year. In the brief, you’ll define specific campaign or project objectives that tie directly to your overall communications program. Your agency team will benefit from seeing the bigger picture, as will the project.

In the development of the communication strategy, key decisions need to be made about:

• The range of integrated information to be implemented
• What research strategy to employ
• How external consultants will be used
• The roles and responsibilities of all key stakeholders in the strategy
• The available budget and timetable
• Measurement criteria and desired outcome

The communication strategy should clearly articulate how all the various components of the campaign will be coordinated and managed to achieve objectives efficiently and effectively.

Do I need to write a communication strategy? Yes. Before you write a brief for a creative team, you need to outline your communications strategy. Advertising or public relations is only a single component of an integrated, comprehensive program. Look at your organization from 10,000 feet and sketch out the overall goals for the year. With this information in hand, you can drill down to the building blocks that will drive your efforts through the year.

The creative brief is your greatest contribution to the team that will be working on your project. Make it clean and straightforward with clearly defined deliverables and you’ll get the gift that never stops giving: great work.