While a creative brief is most often associated with preparation for an advertising campaign, being able to address many of the same questions in a creative brief can help when you’re planning a communication or event. Your efforts will be more successful if you consider the questions below and share the answers with others who are helping you to create communications or plan your event.
Why are we taking action? Provide a simple description of the current business situation and the problem or opportunity we want our communication/event/advertising to address.
What are we trying to achieve? State the objectives of your communication/event/advertisement. If there are several, prioritize them. Objectives need to be realistic and limited to the outcomes the communication/event/advertising itself can achieve.
Who are we talking to? Define our target audience as precisely as possible. Even when the message or event can benefit “anyone and everyone,” it’s more realistic to acknowledge there is a subset of people that will be most interested in the communication/event/advertisement. Where available, use both demographic information and qualitative insights to create a portrait of our audience that reveals who they are on a deeper, more individual level.
What is their unmet need? Identify a goal our audience wants to achieve or a problem they want help solving. Describe their attitudes and pain points around their goal/problem and note any specific challenges or advantages we may have.
What do we want to tell them? State the central message we want to communicate. It should be a single idea, expressed in a single sentence, that highlights our unique solution to the audience’s unmet needs.
Why should they listen to us? Provide key supporting statements or proof points that substantiate our central message and differentiate us from competitors. Be specific about why the audience should care and what the value is to them. Identify functional and emotional benefits we provide.
What do we want them to do? Describe how we want our audience to respond to our communication/event/advertisement. If we have a call to action (CTA), define the next logical step we want them to take and how they’ll be rewarded if they do.
How will we measure success? Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) we’ll use to measure the outcomes of our communication/event/advertisement.
Where and how are we going to speak to them? Media specifications: specific platforms, channels, placements, and vehicles we’ll use to best reach our target audience. List all deliverables and who’s responsible for execution and production for each.