Writing a Creative Brief for Video
Image courtesy of @lucasdixsept via Unsplash
At some point in your video production career, it’s going to become important that you learn how to organize and write a clear, concise creative brief. Many times it will be the difference in landing the job, or sitting on the sidelines while a competitor lands the job.
But why is a creative brief important?
It’s important for several reasons, including:
It ensures that your vision for the video lines up with the client’s expectations and goals.
It demonstrates to your potential client that you have done your research and understand the client’s brand and the client’s needs.
It helps the client understand how the video will ultimately look and feel.
So, what do you include in a creative brief , and how should it be organized?
I’ve found that people write creative briefs in slightly different ways, but you will see some content overlap from one brief to the next. Here’s what has worked well for me.
TITLE PAGE
Use the first page for very general information about the project: the title, the client’s contact info, your contact info, and the date on which the brief was prepared. I like to include an image on my title page, front and center. Choose an image that best sums up your visual approach to the project.
SUBSEQUENT PAGES
Most creative briefs will start with a “bird’s eye view” of the project, moving to more and more specific elements of the job as you move further into the brief.
Objective - Generally speaking, what will this video be and what do you hope to accomplish?
Goals - What are the specific goals you want for the video? These goals could be centered on the video content itself (like messaging), or it could be centered around actions you want your audience to take after watching the video. Or, the goals might be centered on measurable results, like an increase in sales.
Target Audience - Who is the audience?
Tone - Overall, how will the video look and feel?
Execution - How do you (the Video Producer) plan to tackle the production? What assets will be needed? What’s your approach to the material?
Visuals - To me, this is the most important part of the brief. Despite your best efforts to describe the video, sometimes it’s difficult for a potential client to visualize what it will ultimately look like. That’s why it’s important that you do you research and find stock images that reflect the visual style you have in mind for the video. By creating this mood board you not only help the client to understand your visual approach, but you can also help demonstrate the flow of the story by arranging the images in order, creating a rough storyboard for the piece.
Deliverables - What, exactly, will you be handing the client at the end of the project? How many videos? What length? What orientation?
Budget - Provide the client with a number, under which you can go into much detail about what the budget will cover. General bullet points usually suffice here, but some clients might require a full line item breakdown.
Once delivered, it’s important to set up a follow-up phone call or face-to-face meeting with your potential client. You want to make sure everything in the brief is understood correctly and that there are no points of clarification that need to be made.
How do you structure your creative briefs? What has worked well for you in the past? Leave your thoughts in the Comments section.