How to Write a Creative Brief for an Ad or Commercial

Writing a great creative brief for a creative assignment such as a print ad, web banner or TV or radio commercial is demanding but ultimately rewarding. Often an ad is only as good as the input supplied in the creative brief itself. Following these steps can greatly improve your chances for writing a great brief.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A clear understanding of your product or service
• Knowledge of your target market
• Knowing what your medium or media is
• Having a fair estimate of the production budget

1. Research your product.
   
   Know everything there is to know about the product or service as well as its competition. Most importantly, figure out what might be uniquely different about the product. Look for that little “edge” to give you something important to talk about. Is it “better”, “cheaper” or “new”?
2. Pick your medium.
   
   Decide which advertising medium you will run the ad or commercial. Creating a radio commercial is very different from a print ad.
3. Define your target audience.
   
   Focus here on the person or people most likely to want to consume your product or service. Define the target as descriptively as you can. Start with demographic terms such as young women 18-24 years old living in urban areas in the East and the West. Define their psychographics as well: are they trendy or conservative? Social or solitary?
4. Decide how the product or service fits into the lives of the target.
   
   Are they current users of the product or not? Do they have a current perception of the product and will your ad complement or modify that perception? How and when will they use it? What will it replace? Are you introducing the product to them for the very first time?
5. Be selective; focus the message.
   
   You can’t say everything there is to say about a product or service in 30 seconds or on an interactive banner. What is the most important, most powerful statement you can make about your product? No matter if you are creating a simple outdoor poster or a 60 second television spot, your message must be single-minded for people to understand, grasp and associate it with your brand.
6. Involve the creative team early and often in the development of the creative brief.
   
   Don’t simply draft a creative brief and shove it at the team who is expected to work with it and create a brilliant ad. Get their input and “ownership” of the project during its development so they can have a hand in the direction.
7. Define the tone.
   
   Is the ad expected to be humorous or straight? Informative or simply a reminder? Steeped in emotion or just the facts?
8. Give the details.
   
   This is where you lay out the timetable for reviewing work, all necessary approvals and production. You provide the estimated production budget, format for the ad and any other specs for the assignment.

Tips & Warnings

• The main purpose of a creative brief is to inspire the creative team to do brilliant work. This requires discipline of being selective as to what you need to say.
• A good rule of thumb is to obtain approval to the creative brief from whomever will have approval over the final product.
• This is the time to set the direction for the ad and be clear about everyone’s expectations. This will avoid surprises after creative development or production has been done.
• Often, there are many constituencies involved in the creation and approval of an ad from agency personnel and management to the client team. It is best to keep complete open and transparent communication during the process.