The creative brief template: one problem, one insight, one proposition

The creative brief is the short document that turns strategy into a problem a creative team can solve. It comes after the client's business brief and before any idea (the term is in the glossary): one audience, one insight, one proposition, the proof, the tone, and what the work must change in people's minds and behaviour. A good one fits on a page; a great one fits in a sentence.

The creative brief is the most visible product of account planning, the agency discipline that brings research and the consumer's view into strategy and creative work. The Account Planning Group names Stephen King of J. Walter Thompson and Stanley Pollitt of BMP as its forefathers¹.

The industry's own guides set the standard. The Client Brief, a best-practice guide to briefing communications agencies, was published by the UK agency and advertiser bodies and circulated internationally². In 2021 the BetterBriefs global study, presented with the IPA, found that 80% of marketers think they write good briefs while only 10% of agencies agree, and respondents estimated that a third of marketing budgets is wasted through poor briefs³. A 2022 UK follow-up found only 6% of agencies clear on the strategic direction of the briefs they received⁴. The IPA then published The best way for a client to brief an agency, co-written by Mark Ritson with BetterBriefs^5, 6, and an IPA paper sets out the recurring issues with briefs and how to fix them⁷. Work made from the brief can be judged with the joint IPA, ISBA, MCCA and PRCA guide to judging creative ideas⁸.

• Problem start from the business brief's objective and write the communication problem in one sentence.
• Audience and insight describe people, not demographics. The insight is something they would recognise as true, that the brand can act on.
• Proposition one thing. Test it by asking whether a single advert could carry it.
• Proof and tone the reasons to believe, from the message house, and the tone from the brand platform.
• Practicalities deliverables, channels, mandatories, budget, timing, and how and when the work will be judged.

Illustrative: the fictional Ourika Roasters' subscription launch.

• Problem café regulars love our coffee at the counter but do not think of us for coffee at home.
• Audience regulars who brew at home and buy supermarket beans out of habit.
• Insight "It never tastes like it does in the café, and I don't know why."
• Proposition freshness is the difference, and we deliver it to your door.
• Proof the roast date on every bag; weekly roasting.
• Response think "fresh is the difference"; feel that home coffee can be as good; scan the in-café code to start a subscription.

• Two propositions The team will choose one, and it may not be yours.
• A brief that is a list of everything The planner's job is to leave things out.
• No insight, only a fact "People drink coffee in the morning" is a fact; an insight explains a tension.
• Judging by taste Agree in advance how the work will be judged⁸.
• Never briefing the brief Talk it through and ask the team to play it back⁵.

• The APG on account planning¹; The Client Brief².
• The BetterBriefs research^3, 4 and the IPA's guide^5, 6; the IPA on the issues with briefs⁷.
• The joint guide to judging creative ideas⁸.
• On IMC Report: planning frameworks and organising for IMC.