What is required from a creative brief

A creative brief is a unifying document that identifies the important key benefits for a project or task. It tells the story and explains why it’s important to the audience, serving as a guide for the creation of new materials. It seems simple. Yet developing an effective creative brief is far more difficult than it may at first seem.

A poor creative brief can waste time and money, and creates frustration because the resulting concepts do not nail it.

A well thought out creative brief is imperative no matter the scale of the project. From quick turnarounds, amends or longer projects, a solid creative brief is the one document all parties refer to throughout the life of the project or task.

The key aspects of a creative brief are as follows:

1) Background/summary.
This is where the brief provides all the supporting, contextual and target audience information, as well as any customer insights or knowledge gained from previous projects and research.

Always provide more information than you think is relevent. Remember the person working on the job
may not be as familer with the task or a projects history as the person who created the brief.

2) Proposition.
What are the problem(s) which needs solving.  Keep it short, and to the point.

3) Requirements.
This is where any other supplementary information is confirmed, this includes (but is not inclusive):

- Brand guidelines, styleguides and technical specifications.
- Supporting copy and headlines.
- Assets - Brand supplied or campaign imagery, logos, lockups or illustrations.
- All links/CTAs and their destinations.

4) Deliverables and objectives.
What is required and what do you expect to gain from it.
Eg. A webpage, banner, email, logo, page takeover, etc.

5) A reasonable deadline.
Liase with the creative department to get an idea of timescales if unsure.
If it is a large project, set intemediate targets/deadlines along the way.

6) Approval.
Before starting confirm everyone involved with the project and all stakeholders are happy and onboard.

It is then the job of the creative(s) to consider the brief, carry out suitable research (as required) and
present back solution(s) which answer the brief once completed.

Remember: Briefs are in their nature, brief. Use bullet points, keeping each point short and concise.
Avoid: Stating or illustrating how you want the final design to appear.

Further reading:

http://advertising.about.com/od/tipoftheweek/ht/How-To-Write-A-Creative-Brief.htm
www.bbrmarketing.com/blog/how-to-write-a-great-creative-brief/
http://chempetitive.com/chemunity/importance-creative-brief
http://www.jetfuelcreative.com/marketing/benefits-of-a-creative-brief/
http://www.creativeoncall.com/2013/08/19/7-simple-steps-to-an-effective-creative-brief/
http://www.commarts.com/columns/creative-briefs-shifting