Creative Brief Template

Published By: DWS Associates (651) 315-7588 Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved

Use this template to prepare the creative strategy, objectives, and activities that are required to support marketing communications activities. A creative brief defines your project in such detail that everyone involved on the project will have a clear understanding what the end product is intended to be and what it's intended to accomplish from a marketing perspective. It's a road map for the creative team and a checklist for the marketing team to make sure that nothing is missed so that the project will produce the best results.

Creative Brief Template

Creative Brief
CAMPAIGN / PROMOTION NAME: Click here to enter text. LAUNCH DATE: Click here to enter a date. BRIEF PREPARATION DATE: Click here to enter a date. CONTACT: Click here to enter text. ORGANIZATION: Click here to enter text. PHONE: Click here to enter text. EMAIL: Click here to enter text. BACKGROUND/BASIS FOR OPPORTUNITY: (What is the current situation? Why will the advertising make a difference? Why are you advertising at all? Efforts to date?) CONCEPT: (What are you trying to communicate with the promotion to the audience about your product/service, your organization, your brand, etc.? What components need to include in the promotion: calls to action, included gifts or information? Will the respondent have to register or sign up for some information or offer? Is there a website, micro website? Will there be multiple ways for the customer/prospect to respond to the promotion?) PRODUCT OR SERVICE DESCRIPTION: (What is the product or service? ) COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVE(S): (What do you want to convince targets to believe and to do? Business Objective: What are the quantitative measures of success?) TARGET AUDIENCE: (Who is your product/service and the campaign targeted to? ) TARGET AUDIENCE CHARACTERISTICS: (What do you know about them? What are the targeted demographics, psychographics? What do you know about target behavior and decision-making processes? What are the targets goals, fears, and perceptions of the product or service?)
Creative Brief Template 2

BUYER PROBLEM: (What buyer problem is your product/service trying to solve?) TARGET AUDIENCES CURRENT BELIEF/BEHAVIOR: (What is the target thinking today? Do they know about the product? Focus must be on what targets are buying, not what youre selling.) DESIRED CUSTOMER ATTITUDE: (Perceptions, behavior, take-a-ways) PRINCIPAL COMPETITION: (Is it indifference? What are they using now? Is there a pre-disposed mindset that might prevent people from buying it? What is the competition advertising?) UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: (What distinguishes the product or service from other choices? Does it have a parity attribute that you can preempt and own? How should the product or service by positioned?) BRAND CHARACTER: (What image does your product or service have?) KEY BENEFITS: (What are the key consumer benefits of your product/service? What are the beliefs that you want targets to have about the product or service that will make them buy and use it?) KEY FEATURES: (Key features that support the key benefits; supporting points or reasons why. What are the features or aspects of your product/service that make your product/service different? What points support the key benefit? Place them in order of most importance.)
Creative Brief Template 3

INSIGHTS RELATED TO PRODUCT/SERVICE: (Are there any other aspects of the brand, product, or offer that you feel are important and necessary to communicate the overall function and value of the product to asset the buyer in making a decision to respond to the advertisement or campaign?) POSITIONING: (What is the positioning of the product/service? What is the key point of difference? What one thing should someone think of this product/service?) KEY MESSAGE: (What is the main idea? What is the most important thing that you want to convey to the target through your advertisement?) SECONDARY MESSAGE: (What are the secondary messages that you want the advertisement to convey?) CALL TO ACTION: (What do you want targets to do? Call to apply or order? Accept our call? Request more info? Remit something? Other?) RESPONSE MECHANISMS: (Will there be a order form, business reply card, email hyperlink, website landing page, 800 phone number, etc., for the customer to respond to the offer by?) OFFER/MOTIVATION: (What kind of offer is your marketing piece making free trial, $3 off etc?) PACKAGE COMPONENTS: (What are the individual components of the advertisement/campaign: letter, outer envelope, business reply card, brochure, email message, white paper, landing page, micro website, TV or radio, magazine or newspaper advertisement, out door advertisement, etc?)
Creative Brief Template 4

CREATIVE OBJECTIVES: (What are the objectives of your marketing campaign that you are developing a creative strategy for?) THEMES OR IMAGES: (Are there any particular themes or images that you would like your advertising to include?) TONE/PERSONALITY: (The tone of your advertising must reflect and be consistent with your brands personality traits. How does you brand speak to your audience? What human personality traits are important in communicating your brands personality: seriousness, warmth, imagination, etc.? What feeling, style or approach will create a living personality for the product or service?) LOOK AND FELL: (What kind of visual or written tone would you like your advertising to convey?) OTHER CONSIDERATIONS: (Are there things to avoid? Client directives? Budget, size and schedule? Legal disclosures/restrictions?) PRODUCTION CONSIDERATIONS: (Filming, printing, paper usage, etc.) DISTRIBUTION/CIRCULATION CONSIDERATIONS: (Is the advertisement/campaign being distributed via mail, ride along, electronically? What are the quantities of the advertisement/promotion?) CREATIVE EXECUTIONAL/LEGAL MANDATORIES: (What are the mandatory creative or legal considerations must be included in the
Creative Brief Template 5

campaign/advertisement or must be taken into consideration as the campaign is developed. Are there legal disclaimers that must be part of the campaign/advertisement?) DEADLINES: (What are the design, production, launch, etc. deadline dates that must be adhered to?) RESEARCH: (Any insights relating to your product/service?)

Creative Brief Template