I’ve been taking a lot of advertising classes and have found the creative brief very helpful. Inside and outside of marketing. The creative brief is a marketing strategy for a company, normally for a specific product. When they want to create ads and promotions, they write a creative brief.
But because of the layout and the information gathered, I’ve actually used the creative brief for general design projects. To sort my thoughts and learn more about my topic. So, here’s how to write a creative brief and how it can be used for marketing and design.
Part 1: Key Message
The key message is the one idea you want to get across. Not five ideas, one. Whether it’s a company with lots of products or just you and your massive personality, there’s a lot of options and aspects to sell people on. But when introducing yourself, do you give them a bullet point list of who you are? Probably not. You say the one thing that’s specific to you, that you feel defines you. It’s not a motto or a tagline. Your key message is something attached to you. So honesty would be a key message. Stopping irritation (that’d be an eye drop company). Find the one point that you consider the key to your message.
For general design like posters and such, the key message will be your topic or an aspect of your topic that you want to develop. Let’s take the cover I designed for my short story Moments (I didn’t use this process, but it’s a good example). This short story is about a dog and his boy growing up. A key aspect is the dog, which could translate to the key message of the cover. If I wanted to change the cover, I could select another aspect like growth, school, or the boy. The key message is what you want to communicate.
Part 2: Audience
Audience is huge, especially for marketing. You talk differently to a woman than you would a man. You react differently to an elderly person than you do to a child. Demographics are everything, and a successful brief for a successful campaign requires a clearly defined audience. All genders is okay, depending on the product/service, but you need to get the age range. How much they make, where they work (how hard they work), what they do in their daily life. Some of these aspects might be assumptions or stereotypes, but that’s okay because it’s a guide. You’re not saying “these people fit this stereotype,” you’re saying that you want to reach people that have some or all of these aspects. Research is the better route to go, but not everything people believe and think is on the web.
Audience works the same for design. There’s a group you’re trying to reach with your piece and you have to know who you’re reaching. Looking at my cover again, it’s very generic. Cute, but generic. It’s not speaking to anyone in particular. A design speaking to older people might have more photography, be more detailed. Something geared to kids might have a cartoony feel and lively colors. Figure out who you’re speaking to.
Part 3: Perception
Marketing is all about creating a perception and reputation for yourself and/or a company. Most cases, there’s already a perception, an idea people have when they see that product. The creative brief looks at the current perception and chooses the perception they want to attribute to the product. Even if they’re starting from scratch, a company or person needs to have a perception in mind beyond “we’re awesome.” They probably are, but everyone says that. If something’s old-fashioned, you might aim to make it modern or vintage. The perception could be that no one knows them and the product needs to be seen as the answer to a huge problem. Think of perception like a first impression.
For design, the perception would be art direction. How do you want to communicate the key message? What first impression will you give? This comes with color palette, illustration, photography, just about everything.
Part 4: Mandatories
Mandatories are features that have to be included in an ad. Product shot, tagline, copy. A company will define piece they want to always be included. For a personal brand, it’s up to you. It could be a logo/signature, a filter, a piece of clothing. Totally up to you, but something should be added for consistency. To let people know it’s you.
Design can have mandatories too. Maybe your professor requests a certain color or certain illustration. Maybe you want something in particular. A trait that’s unique to your work. You can list these out or just keep them in mind.
Part 5: Extra Pieces and Format (for the Advertising Fans)
Technically I said that I’d show you how to “write” a creative brief, so that’s here. The basic format and order of everything is as follows. Sometimes there’s a little more or a little less, but the top four are pretty consistent:
- Communication Opportunities (where will ads go, what ads will be made)
- Target Audience
- Current/Past Perception
- Desired Perception
- Key message
- Reasons to believe (research specific to the company, product/service; supports the key message and can be used in the copy to further define the product)
- Mandatories
Usually a creative brief is only one page because it’s summarizing the main points not adding lots of details. The main idea should be prominent.
Final Thoughts
Before my advertising courses, I thought ads were designed for everyone. I mean, why be selective when you’re reaching the masses? In actuality, companies and people brand and market themselves for certain audiences. I learned very early that you can’t cater to everyone. You can try, but the best market strategies do a great job of serving one audience.
Now, that audience doesn’t need to be tiny. Niche is good in some cases, but reaching ten people isn’t a huge accomplishment. Try 20-30 year-olds with jobs, living on their own. There’s a few stages in life included in there, but you can cater to that group no matter the stage. Just don’t fall into the trap of trying to appease everybody. Because if you try to cater to everyone, you’ll exhaust yourself and probably lose the core of your message.
