Whether you write a promotional campaign in house or give it to an external organisation such as an advertising agency, two documents are crucial; a campaign brief and a creative brief.
Campaign Brief : This document states what the firm would like the promotional campaign to achieve and is effectively the promotional campaign instructions for the team writing the promotional campaign.
Creative Brief (or creative response) : This is the document that the team writing the promotional campaign give back to the firm, it is the response to the campaign brief. The creative brief states the creative ideas for the promotional campaign and the information used to develop it.
The Diagram below lists what is contained in the Campaign Brief and what is contained in the Creative Brief. The diagram also provides a definition for Campaign Brief and Creative Brief.
Contents of a Campaign Brief
The campaign brief will include the following information:
- Background to the campaign so that the creative team or (advertising agency) understand relevant events preceding the campaign.
- The objectives of the campaign so that the creative team fully understand what the firm want the campaign to achieve e.g. increase sales, enter new markets. Effective objectives will be SMART.
- A full description of the products and services that the campaign is about, so that all of the product benefits can be promoted. Product descriptions should include detailed product specifications, unique selling points (USP) and relevant product reviews and feedback whether they are negative or positive.
- Target market information such as social demographic, social class, geography, behaviour, lifestyle of the people that the promotional campaign will be aimed at.
- The budget for the campaign so that the creative team know how much you have to spend.
- Promotional campaign timings so that the creative team know when you would like your campaign to start and end and whether it should cover a specific event e.g. Christmas, Valentine's day, religious events, summer holiday period.
- Firm branding, mascots, logos and slogans.
- Mandatory and legal requirements.
- Requests such as use of celebrities.
- Any other information which the firm believes the creative team should be aware of.
Contents Of A Creative Brief
Creative teams will respond to the campaign brief with a creative brief. A creative brief will usually include the following information:
- Background to the campaign.
- Creative team's interpretation (description) of the products and services that the promotional campaign is about.
- What the promotional campaign will be consist of.
- The target audience for the promotional campaign, this is usually made up of the target groups set out in the campaign brief but they may be differ if the creative team feel that the target audience listed in the campaign brief is incorrect or should include other groups.
- Objectives of the campaign and how the campaign will help the firm reach them.
- Essential messages that the campaign aims to communicate to the target audience, including the tone of the messages and how messages should be executed.
- A clear break down of the campaign costs showing where and how the budget will be spent.
- Recommended promotional campaign timings and if applicable a statement explaining why they differ from those listed in the campaign brief.
- A statement explaining how legal and mandatory requirements have been met and if applicable how and which celebrities will be used.
Conclusion
If we imagine that the campaign brief is a question document then the creative brief should be the document with the answers to those questions. The creative brief should contain a promotional campaign satisfying all requirements that the firm stipulated in the campaign brief. A good creative brief will aim to achieve the firm's objectives within budget and on time.
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