Creative Brief Template

A complete creative brief – objective, audience, insight, message, deliverables, budget, timings, approvals, rights and compliance – with a brief-quality checklist.

Editable Word document
10
10pages
Guidance notes included
aml consultancy solutions

Creative & agencies

Creative Brief Template

About this document

What it’s for

A structured brief that tells a designer, photographer, agency, creator or in-house team exactly what is needed, for whom and why, and the practical limits they must work within. A good brief is the single best way to avoid wasted rounds of revisions and disputes about scope.

When to use it

  • Before any creative project, campaign, shoot or content commission
  • As the brief attached to an Influencer Agreement, Commission Agreement or agency Statement of Work
  • Internally, to agree what the business actually wants before briefing anyone

What’s inside

The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.

  • Part 1 – The thinking
  • 1. Project summary
  • 2. Background
  • 3. Objective
  • 4. Audience
  • 5. Insight
  • 6. The single-minded message
  • 7. Brand, tone and look
  • 8. Deliverables
  • 9. Mandatory elements
  • 10. Budget
  • 11. Timings
  • 12. Approvals and stakeholders
  • 13. Rights, usage and AI
  • 14. Measuring success
  • 15. Compliance checklist for this project
  • Clarity
  • Scope
  • Decision-making
  • Rights and compliance

How to complete it

  • Complete every section – write “not applicable” rather than leaving gaps
  • Keep the single-minded message to one sentence
  • Agree the brief with all decision-makers before issuing it
  • Run through the brief-quality checklist in Part 3

Key points to check

  • Usage rights and AI permissions should be decided now, not after the shoot
  • Restricted products need their compliance rules in the brief
  • Have the final brief signed off and version-controlled

Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.

Included in the pack

Creative & agencies

£20

for every document in this category

Editable Microsoft Word files

Guidance notes in every document

Written for UK businesses

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