# Creative brief

A creative brief is one row per asset. Not one per campaign and not one per concept: one per thing that has to be made, because each of them has its own format, its own ratio, its own hook and its own due date.

The row carries what the asset has to do — the hook, the one message, the proof behind it, the action it asks for — and what it has to satisfy: the specs, the things that must appear, and the things that must not. The last column is the one that saves the most money.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Write one row per asset, not one per campaign.
3. Write the hook specifically enough that two people would build roughly the same thing.
4. Name one message per asset. A second message is a second row.
5. Fill Specs before the work starts, including the safe areas and text limits.
6. Write Must avoid honestly, because that is where rework comes from.
7. Set the due date earlier than the run date, with room for review and re-edit.

## The columns

**Asset ID** (Text). A short stable identifier for this asset. It goes on the file name, the ad name and the test row, so a result can be traced back to the thing that produced it.

**Concept** (Text). The idea this asset expresses, in a phrase: product in use, founder to camera, before and after, the objection answered. Assets that share a concept are judged together.

**Format** (Text). What is being made: a vertical video, a static image, a carousel, a set of text lines. The format decides the craft, the cost and how long it takes to change.

**Placement and aspect** (Text). Where it runs and at what ratio. An asset made at one ratio and cropped into another loses its framing, which is the most common reason good work performs badly.

**Hook** (Text). What happens in the first moments or the first line, written specifically. Not make it engaging. The hook is the only part of the asset most people will ever see.

**Message** (Text). The one thing this asset has to make the viewer believe. One. An asset carrying three messages delivers none of them, because nobody watches long enough for the second.

**Proof** (Text). What makes the message credible: a demonstration, a number with a source, a review, a process shown. An asset with a claim and no proof is an assertion with production values.

**Call to action** (Text). What the viewer is being asked to do, in the words the landing page uses. A mismatch between the two is a drop-off nobody will find by looking at the ad.

**Specs** (Text). Duration, dimensions, file type, safe areas, text limits. Written here so the asset is built once. A specification found after delivery is a re-edit somebody pays for.

**Must include** (Text). Anything that has to appear: a logo placement, a disclosure, a legal line, a product shot, a price. List it rather than assuming the person making it knows.

**Must avoid** (Text). Anything that must not appear, and why. This is where the expensive rework is prevented, because most of it comes from something nobody thought to say out loud.

**Due date** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day the finished asset is needed, which is earlier than the day it runs. Leave room for review, re-edit and upload, or the flight starts on the old creative.

**Owner** (Text). The person who answers for this asset: commissions it, reviews it against this row, and says whether it is finished.

## The creative brief

| Asset ID | Concept | Format | Placement and aspect | Hook | Message | Proof | Call to action | Specs | Must include | Must avoid | Due date | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- There is one row per asset, not one per campaign.
- Every hook is written specifically enough to be built from.
- Every asset carries exactly one message.
- Every claim has a proof named beside it.
- Specs include ratio, duration or dimensions, and safe areas.
- Must avoid is filled in honestly, not left blank.
- Every due date leaves room for review and a re-edit before the run date.