Briefing creators without killing the content

Two failure modes on every creator brief we see. Brands overwrite a 14-page document covering brand history, tone of voice, fourteen mandatories, and seven no-go's. Or they undershoot with a one-line ask and hope the creator figures it out. Both kill the content.

The five-section brief

• Why this campaign exists (one paragraph, the business goal)
• The audience we want to move (who, on which platform, why)
• The single message (one sentence, not three)
• Mandatories (max five, all hard requirements)
• No-go's (max five, all dealbreakers)

What we leave out on purpose

We don't tell creators how to make the content. That's why we hired them. The brief stops at what to communicate; everything about how is theirs. The campaigns that broke our results were the ones where the brand kept overwriting the creator's instinct.