Crafting Concise Project Briefs

The creative brief is the most underrated document in our business. And most of them are terrible. I've seen thousands of briefs over 30 years. Award-winning briefs and briefs that should never have left the building. Here's what separates them: 01 - A bad brief tells the creative team what to make. A great brief tells them what problem to solve and trusts them to find the answer. 02 - A bad brief has six objectives. A great brief has one. If everything is important, nothing is. 03 - A bad brief describes the audience as a demographic. A great brief describes them as a human being in a specific moment, feeling a specific thing. 04 - A bad brief is written by committee. A great brief is owned by one person willing to defend every word in it. 05 - A bad brief asks for something safe. A great brief gives the creative team permission to surprise you. The best creative work I've ever seen didn't start in a studio. It started in a room where someone wrote a brief that was brave enough to demand something extraordinary. You can't get great creative output from a mediocre brief. It's not possible. What's the worst brief you've ever been given or written? #Advertising #CreativeStrategy #BriefWriting #Design #BrandBuilding #CreativeLeadership The One Club for Creativity

Briefs should be… well… brief. I wrote my fair share of really shitty briefs. I still remember the first one. I think it was like 20 pages long. And I got home really proud thinking that my brief was able to answer any question the agency may have had. Well, little I knew that most likely no one ever read that brief 😂 The quote from Mark Twain was repeated multiple times to me by my former boss, mentor and friend Steve Miles. And it’s so so so true. It’s really hard to write a concise, to the point and insightful brief. To do that you need to know what is the one most important thing to communicate. And leave out the temptation of adding a laundry list of things. And believe me: It is indeed very tempting to ask for more and more and more. The issue is that the more you put in, the less consumers will take out (and I will illustrate that with data in a future post). And if the creative team cannot put their finger on the one thing that they need to communicate (and understand the insight/ tension behind it), chances are you will get average creative. The best work I had the chance to be part of had a very simple, unforgettable, one line sort of brief. “Let’s make women feel more beautiful” triggered Dove Real Beauty Sketches. “Our food is not crap” triggered Moldy Whopper. “Play with fire” was the brief behind Burning Stores. That’s the thing. I still remember all of them. And so does the creative team. My first ever 20 page brief? Can’t remember what was in there. #Advertising #Creativity #Marketing

If you write a lousy brief, you'll get lousy advertising. Garbage in, garbage out. I've seen too many creative briefs that try to do everything: → Drive trial AND increase usage frequency → Target everyone from 18-65 → Deliver 7 different messages → Show up on every media channel Then marketers wonder why the creative work misses the mark. Here's what actually works: ✓ ONE strategic objective (not three) ✓ ONE tightly defined consumer target (not "everyone") ✓ ONE desired consumer response (not think, feel, AND try) ✓ ONE main message (not a laundry list) ✓ TWO reasons to believe (maximum) The best creative briefs force brutal decisions. You can't say: "Drive penetration and usage frequency" — Pick one. They require different targets, different messages, different media. You can't target: "18-65 year olds who shop at grocery stores" — That's everyone. No one will feel "this brand is for me." You can't deliver: Seven unrelated messages and expect consumers to remember anything. The discipline starts at the brief. The brief sets up everything that follows. Strategy before execution. Always. [Link] Read the full line-by-line breakdown with examples of good vs. bad briefs → https://lnkd.in/epk9F-cK What's the biggest flaw you see in creative briefs? P.S. Follow me for daily insights on brand strategy that challenge how you think about planning and execution. We have a 1-day training session on writing smarter Creative Briefs. I make marketers smarter.

The Brief I Wish I Got more...   The briefs that get me fired up aren’t the ones that give me “freedom.”     It’s the ones that actually make space for creativity. And oddly enough, those tend to be the most prescriptive.     Not prescriptive like “do this, say this, use this font.”     Prescriptive like:   → We know the human truth we’re solving for   → We’ve got one emotion we want to land   → We’re clear on what not to do   → And are willing to be honest about what we are Those are the briefs that let you run. Because the playground is defined, and now you get to decide how wild you want to go inside it.     Too loose? You’re guessing.   Too tight? You’re stuck.   The best ones? They guide without gripping.  

I studied Chris Nolan's Interstellar pitch to Hans Zimmer. He ignored every "rule" of creative briefs. The results were wild. Instead of telling Zimmer he was making a sci-fi epic, Nolan gave him a single page of dialogue about a parent and child. No context. No genre. No scale. Zimmer composed from his heart, writing about his relationship with his son. The result? A deeply personal score that became the foundation of a groundbreaking film – proving that authentic emotion transcends genre. 3 tactics you can steal for your next creative brief: 1. Constraint breeds creativity • Remove every buzzword • Remove industry expectations • Strip away preconceptions • What remains is pure creative truth 2. Technical mastery serves emotion • Lead with emotion, and back it up with data • Zimmer used a massive church organ • But first, he nailed the story • The real power came from the human breath behind each note 3. Limit information strategically • Give your creative team 50% less context than you think they need • They'll focus on what matters • Misdirection creates magic • By focusing Zimmer on the emotional core rather than the sci-fi spectacle, Nolan achieved something remarkable: a space epic that never lost its humanity The greatest creative breakthroughs often come when we stop trying to fit the brief and start speaking from the heart.

What I learnt the hard way about writing influencer briefs 👀 No one else cared about them as much as I did. Harsh? Maybe. True? Definitely. Here’s the problem: Brands who send creators (and their agents) never-ending-slide-decks stuffed with brand vision, campaign context, KPIs, tone of voice, and more. It feels thorough, but in reality, the core message often gets buried under text bulk and over-explaining. I’ve been guilty of this myself. Hours spent perfecting every word choice, adding layers of context that felt essential, but overwhelming (and sometimes confusing), for the person on the other end. Even today, I still see briefs like the one in my slideshow circulating (😭). They’re heavy, uninspiring, and often suppress creativity instead of sparking it. Psychology backs this up: 💡 Information overload makes it harder to prioritise what’s important. 💡 Paradox of choice shows us that more options often make decisions harder, not easier. Creators are operating in fast-paced environments, competing for attention. Recruiters are pitching roles in 2-minute Loom videos. If you’re asking for creativity, you need to meet them in the same spirit. Guide on best practices and strategic frameworks, but ensure the core of your brand shines through in a simple, clear-cut way. My recommendation for briefs that actually work: 📲 A short TikTok esque video: deliverables, vibe, do’s/don’ts. 📄 A one-pager/Notion: clear, to the point, starting with overview, deliverables, non-negotiables. 📷 A moodboard: bring the creative direction to life visually 🤝🏼 Make it collaborative: share a Pinterest board, jump on a 15-minute vibe check call. Pressure-test: if your core message and brand can’t fit in 5 slides, it’s probably too much. For complex industries like health or fintech, extra detail is valid, but that makes it even more important to cut jargon and put clear do’s and don’ts front and center. Every brand’s process will differ, but it’s worth asking: is your brief actually doing its job? A brief is the first touchpoint with a creator. It’s your chance to inspire, not bore. 👀 If you’ve ever sent an influencer brief or received one yourself - what are your thoughts on this?

We see a ton of creative briefs at GetAds, so this post made sense to dissect what makes a brief, a great one. It’s not just about filling in the blanks → it’s about setting up your team for success. Let’s break it down: 1️⃣ Clarity Over Complexity  ↳ A strong creative brief is concise, free of jargon, and gets to the point. Overloading it with unnecessary details only slows the process and creates confusion. Focus on simplicity without sacrificing purpose. 2️⃣ Start with the Why  ↳ The purpose of your campaign should be crystal clear. Why does this campaign exist? What problem does it solve for your audience? This gives your team direction and creates alignment from the start. 3️⃣ Know Your Audience  ↳ Go beyond demographics. Understand what motivates your audience, their pain points, and aspirations. The deeper your understanding, the more your creative resonates. 4️⃣ Define Success  ↳ Establish clear, measurable goals. Whether it’s increasing CTR, driving conversions, or boosting brand awareness, everyone on the team should know what success looks like. 5️⃣ Inspire, Don’t Dictate  ↳ While a brief provides structure, it should also leave room for creativity. Share tone or examples for guidance, but avoid being overly prescriptive. Creativity thrives in flexibility. 6️⃣ Pinpoint the Message  ↳ What’s the single most important takeaway? If your message tries to do too much, it risks losing its impact. Keep it focused and powerful. 7️⃣ Deadlines + Deliverables  ↳ Be explicit about deadlines and formats. Ambiguity derails projects. Set expectations early to keep everything on track. Why it matters: A well-crafted brief saves time, aligns your team, and sets the stage for impactful work. Great creative starts here—it’s non-negotiable. Found this helpful? Like, follow, and share ♻️ so others can too! ps. struggling with creative bottlenecks? We can help.

The creative brief is a choice. A decision. I think that's why it intimidates so many people. You have to have a point of view to write a good one. You have to decide what is important and what is not. You have to bring incisive clarity to the table. A problem that cuts to the quick. An insightful take on the audience that makes them relatable and interesting. Human. Sure you may know a lot of stats that define them as a "cohort" but do you really know them? And can you help the team know them ? More deeply, more respectfully? More like real people and less like "cohorts". And then you need to land a strategic idea. A line in the sand. Something that feels as fresh as it is dead simple. It doesn't have to be poetry, but it should be poetic. So, next time someone on your team wants to skip the brief and just start ideating, think again. Putting in the work to get to a brief is an important step toward a great idea. It's not the endgame but it is a much better start. It forces conversations. More importantly it forces decisions. Don't be afraid to make them. Sure, you might be wrong. But you just might be right.

Three Ways to Get the Most Out of the Creative Talent You Hire One of the first things I ever learned to do as a Creative Director was write a creative brief. At first, I thought writing it with the client in mind was enough; if they signed off, then surely the creative team would be good to go. But the more I worked with creatives (and later, with AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney), the more I realized: the level of clarity and context you provide directly impacts the quality of the output. It’s not about control. It’s about creative alignment. Here are three ways to set your creative team up for success; without boxing them in: 1. Set the vision, not the execution. Instead of prescribing what a piece should look like, define what it should do. Give your team the “why” and the “what”—then let them own the “how.” 2. Provide reference, not restriction. Share inspiration that sets the tone or evokes the right feeling, but don’t ask your team to copy it. They’ll surprise you when you give them space to translate the idea in their own language. 3. Think like a prompt engineer. If you’ve ever used AI, you know that what you get depends on what you put in. Writing briefs for creatives is no different. Be detailed. Be clear. Don’t just describe what you want; describe what matters. The best creative partnerships happen when expectations are clear, the vision is shared, and the team feels trusted.

𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘂𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀. Target this person. Tell them this message. Give them a reason to believe. Make them change their behavior. But advertising rarely works that neatly. Paul Feldwick calls it the "message myth". Most of the time, people are not sitting around waiting to be persuaded. They are busy, distracted, moving through life, making low-attention choices in familiar buying moments. So maybe the better brief does not start with: “What message will convince them?” Maybe it starts with: “What should come to mind when they are ready to buy?” That is the thinking behind brandLingual's Memory-First Creative Brief Field Guide. To Baiba Matisone and me, this is, to our knowledge, the world’s first creative brief designed specifically to take salience head on. It reframes the creative brief around mental availability, buying moments, and distinctive brand cues. Not as theory for theory’s sake, but as a practical tool teams can actually use. Inside the guide, we show how to move from message-first briefing to memory-first briefing. From persuasion theatre to salience strategy. From narrow personas and forced behavior-change tasks to sharper questions about the moments, memories, and cues that shape real-world buying. We also show how familiar brief formats, including Get / Who / To / By, can be translated from persuasion tools into memory-first tools. All through a practical simulation, where a mid-sized coffee brand moves from vague strategy language to a clearer salience strategy. This is not another decorative strategy PDF. Not another Canva deck pretending to be a framework. Not another “single-minded proposition” with nowhere to live in memory. It is a compact field guide for writing better briefs, having better creative conversations, and making advertising more memorable in the real world. Originally developed as part of our global online training sessions, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆-𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗙𝗶𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 is now available as a standalone eBooklet in the brandLingual eStore. For strategists, marketers, creative teams, educators, and anyone who suspects the industry has spent too much time worshipping persuasion and not enough time understanding memory. Get the guide here: https://lnkd.in/guDgdFs8 Less myth. More method. For more on this topic, check out our ep6 podcast on the subject ( 🔗 in comments)