How to write an effective creative brief (with free template)

Creative briefs align teams on the vision, direction and deliverables for creative projects. They assemble key details and expectations to keep teams on the same page and ensure successful work completion.

By the end of this article, you’ll learn what a creative brief is, when to use one and how to create a brief that drives desired outcomes.

What is a creative brief?

Let’s look at a creative brief example to see how this works.

Say FreshBloom, a hypothetical mid-sized company specializing in organic skin care products, wants to launch a new eco-friendly product line targeting Millennials and Gen Z. The company’s goal is to increase brand visibility, build trust with potential customers and boost sales.

The marketing team produces a detailed creative brief outlining the following information to ensure team members and other stakeholders work toward the same goal when executing the creative work:

• Their objective. To boost sales by positioning FreshBloom as the top choice for eco-conscious skincare.

• The target audience. Millennials and Gen Z, who prioritize sustainability and natural ingredients.

• The key message. “Glow sustainably – skincare that loves your skin and the planet.”

• Project deliverables. A content marketing campaign for the new product launch, including Instagram ads, a product landing page, influencer partnerships and a TikTok hashtag challenge.

• The tone of voice and style of imagery. Vibrant, modern and eco-focused copywriting and imagery to appeal to the target audience.

Thanks to the creative brief, the marketing, design and social media teams work cohesively, aligning content to appeal to the target audience.

The TikTok hashtag challenge trends for two weeks, generating 1.5 million impressions. Influencer collaborations lead to a 25% increase in website traffic.

FreshBloom solidifies its reputation as a leader in sustainable beauty, attracts​​ new leads and boosts customer loyalty. All of this leads to sales growth. Within a month, sales of the new product line exceeded projections by 30%.

What’s in a creative brief?

A good creative brief must include specific components to ensure teams get the information they need to perform their work effectively. These include:

Depending on your project goals, you may also want to include information like the following in your own brief:

• Your creative assets and resources

• Your budget and any cost constraints

• A list of project decision-makers and contributors

• Key performance indicators (KPIs)

• Points of contact for different departments

• References to your creative inspiration

• Channels or platforms where you’ll share the final deliverables

• Information about the competitive landscape

Choose the details that best support your teams and keep their work on track.

Free creative brief template

Use this template to create a clear structure for guiding creative projects:

The template covers all the essential elements and some “nice-to-haves”. Feel free to adapt the content to suit your project needs.

When to use a creative brief

Use a creative brief for any project that requires creativity, alignment and efficiency. Creative briefs eliminate ambiguity and reduce unplanned revisions (also known as scope creep), helping complex projects stay on track.

Here are a few examples of when to use a creative brief:

• Marketing campaigns. For instance, a creative brief for a B2B lead generation campaign outlines the target industries, key value propositions and call-to-action (CTA). This information ensures digital ads, email sequences and landing pages all support the overall goal – to generate more leads.
• Branding and rebranding projects. Say a company rebrands to a more eco-friendly focus. The brief clarifies the branding requirements for the new logo, website and marketing materials, ensuring all content reflects the new identity.

• Website or app development. Imagine you’re designing a customer portal for a financial services firm. The brief defines features – like easy navigation and secure access – so you know which to prioritize to create a user-friendly, on-brand experience.

• Creative content projects. For example, a brief for creating a sales demo video specifies the key features to highlight, the tone (professional yet approachable) and the desired outcome (increasing demo requests).

Why a creative brief is essential for success: the biggest benefits

Creative briefs help teams work more efficiently toward project success. Here are the top benefits of using a brief:

• Increased alignment. Use creative briefs to ensure all teams and key stakeholders are on the same page regarding the project’s goals, target audience and messaging.

• Improved clarity. Provide a clear roadmap for the project’s goals and deliverables to prevent off-target work and ensure project success.

• Easy consistency. Maintain brand messaging across all materials – regardless of who’s managing them – to enhance your brand identity.

• Scope creep prevention. Define clear project boundaries to prevent unapproved changes or additions that delay timelines or exceed budgets.

• Boosted efficiency. Save time by minimizing misunderstandings and reducing revisions so teams can work as efficiently as possible.

Each of these outcomes helps focus your efforts to ensure you reach your objectives.

Who benefits from a creative brief?

Creative briefs benefit individuals from all over the business, ensuring everyone has a clear picture of what they’re working toward and how to get there.

Here’s a breakdown of how creative briefs help different personas in (and outside of) your business:

How to write a creative brief

Here’s a simple step-by-step overview that breaks the process down and helps you create a clear and effective creative brief.

1. Define the project’s background and objectives

The project background provides context for the project, while the objectives help you define success.

Here’s how to define the project background and objectives:

Write a project statement

A project statement clarifies your project’s purpose. Also known as a project purpose statement or a statement of purpose, it typically outlines:

• What you hope to achieve from the project and why it’s necessary

• The market, including key trends and changes

• The benefit your target audience will gain from this project

All of this information explains the need for the project. Here’s an example:

The statement can be anywhere from one or two sentences to an entire paragraph, but it must be concise. Only include the necessary information to ensure the statement is clear and easy to understand.

Clarify project goals

Project goals define the project’s direction and provide a clear framework for measuring success. They build upon the project statement, outlining the desired outcomes needed to address the project’s original purpose.

For example, if the project aims to highlight your product’s unique value, your project goals should support this. Here’s an example of what one such goal might be:

Use the SMART goals framework to create specific, clear and measurable project goals and metrics.

2. Identify your target audience

Pinpoint your ideal audience to ensure all teams are on the same page and project activities align with your ideal demographic.

For example, if one of your creative project goals is to increase brand awareness and your target audience is Millennials, your project team might:

• Use relevant social media channels to appeal to this audience

• Collaborate with relevant influencers to amplify messaging

Create an ideal customer profile (ICP) to identify your target audience. An ICP (also known as an ideal persona) outlines the demographics, firmographics and psychographics of your target customer.

Take a look at Pipedrive’s template below to see a full ICP:

Use this template to create your own ideal customer profile, customizing it to suit the needs of your creative project.

3. Outline deliverables and timelines

Clarify your project timeline and key deliverables to set clear expectations on:

• What you need to deliver

• When you need to deliver it

Follow these steps to clarify your deliverables and timeline for project completion:

Outline the timeline

Plot the starting point of your project and the estimated end date. To do this, identify your ideal kickoff date and the duration of each project task.

To calculate task durations:

• Review previous projects with similar tasks. Look at past projects and historical data to inform your current estimates. For example, if creating website wireframes in previous projects typically took 5 hours, use that as a benchmark.

• Consult team members with previous experience. Speak to relevant team members from different areas of your creative project. If you need information on how long it takes to create a social media calendar, ask the head of social media for their input.

• Research third-party data. Review online data to inform your estimations. Head to social media sites like Reddit or LinkedIn for real insight from others creating timelines, or use the Project Management Institute site to gather research and industry insights.

After this, pinpoint dependent tasks (tasks you must start or finish before starting the next one) to identify the critical path.

Set milestones to measure success and identify deliverables

Milestones represent critical moments in your project, such as completing a phase or approving a deliverable. They help you track progress and measure success when your project is live.

For example, if you’re planning a content delivery project, milestones might include:

• Concept approval by January 1

• First drafts by March 1

• Revisions by May 1

• Final delivery July 1

Each milestone appears at a certain date in the project timeline, allowing you to measure project progress. If March 1 approaches and first drafts aren’t complete, you know you’re falling behind.

Milestones also help you identify project deliverables. For example, in a website development project, a milestone might include the completion of wireframes and design approval, which is also a project deliverable.

4. Specify tone, style and messaging

Establishing a unified tone, style and messaging ensures that your deliverables align with your brand identity, project goals and marketing strategy.

Here are some tips for clarifying your style in your creative brief:

• Define your brand guidelines. Describe your brand’s preferences for written and visual elements. These guidelines keep your brand image consistent across all activities.

• Add specifics that apply to the project. There may be certain brand guidelines that you want to prioritize in the creative project. For example, if you’re running a paid ad campaign to promote new features, you might prioritize the “modern and innovative” wording or design elements within your guidelines.

• Outline key messages. Include the main takeaways or value propositions for the project team to focus on. In the previous example, the key takeaway might be “Our new AI-driven task automation saves users 10+ hours a week by streamlining their workflows”.

5. Use tools and templates for consistency

Online tools and templates allow you to quickly and easily pull together a creative brief. You can use the same format and structure for each brief without starting from scratch, keeping them consistent and ensuring you don’t miss any key details.

Here are a few options to consider:

• A platform like Canva provides ready-made creative brief examples and a simple interface so you can plot your brief as quickly as possible. Use existing templates (or create your own) to streamline the process.

• Google Docs is another good option for creating briefs. It’s simple, shareable and easy to customize.

• Pipedrive’s free template covers all the essential elements of a creative brief. Download the document and customize it to suit your project needs.

6. Share the brief with your team

After creating the brief, share it with your creative team and store it in a central and accessible location for anyone else who needs to access it. For example, sales teams can get to the information in a few clicks if they want a refresher on the ideal audience.

You can share briefs from both Canva and Google Docs.

With Canva, you typically download the brief and share it with your team via email or by uploading it to a central system (like a CRM or project management tool). With Google Docs, you can share directly from the document itself.

Click “File > Share > Share with others” and add the email addresses for your project team. Update sharing permissions and hit send.

The document goes straight to their inbox.

How to store and share creative briefs in Pipedrive

Pipedrive integrates with Google Drive, meaning you can store creative briefs directly in the CRM. You can also create new Google documents inside Pipedrive and link existing ones from Google Drive to items (deals, people or organizations).

Here’s how to sync Pipedrive with Google Drive:

• Go to personal preferences (click on your name at the top-right corner of your main dashboard) > Google Drive to access the sync options

• Select “Connect now” to connect your Google Drive account and click “Allow” to enable the sync functionality

When you’re uploading files, the “Share” option provides all Pipedrive members with read and write access to all Google Drive files in the CRM system.

You can change these settings by changing access to “can view” or “can comment”. All Pipedrive users can view but not edit your files when set to “can view”. “Can comment” allows other users to comment on files.

You can also set specific files to private, but you’ll have to edit the sharing permissions within Google. Files will still show up in your file queue on Pipedrive, but others can’t open them.

Final thoughts

Creative briefs are valuable for aligning teams, streamlining workflows and achieving project outcomes. Clarifying project details in a central location allows individuals to access key information quickly, ensuring their work supports the project’s direction and vision – no matter their department.

Keep your creative briefs organized and accessible with Pipedrive’s CRM. Start your free 14-day trial today and see how it can support your creative projects from planning to execution.