Creative Brief Questionnaire Date: Client: Project: Job #: In Attendance: •The objectives: 1) 2 •The target audience: •The features: •Customer/user benefits: •Support for benefit claims: •The competition: •Considerations/preferences/limitations: •Distribution considerations: •The single most important point: ©Copyright 1989/2008 Creative Business www.creativebusiness.com Permitted granted for individual use only. Questionnaire Instructions This form, supplemented with additional material as necessary, can help ensure that one always get the basic creative and positioning information needed when starting an assignment. Here are exam- ples of the types of questions to ask when using it: The objectives. What is the purpose of the project? Examples: raise market awareness by 25%, sell 2,000 widgets, educate exist- ing customers, enthuse salespeople, upgrade the company image, meet a legal requirement, build company loyalty or esprit de corps. A creative approach should be developed around a primary and secondary objective only; no creative vehicle can be expected to accomplish more. The target audience. Who are the readers/viewers/customers? Determine sex, age, job titles, social/economic conditions, employ- ment, geographic concentration. Are they already knowledgeable about the product, or not? What motivates them? The features. Ask about specifications, components, manufacture, delivery, warranty. How is it used in everyday application? What is it that’s different, unusual, or unique? Customer/user benefits. How will he or she be better off? Does it save time, effort, money? If so, how much? How relatively impor- tant is this to the customer? What are the trade offs (example: higher quality usually means higher price)? Determine all benefits, but rank them—concentrate on the one or two strongest. Be as objective and specific as possible. Support for benefits claims. Ask for proof of benefits: test data, focus group reports, user testimonials. Accept only facts, not opinions; only specifics, not generalizations. If possible, get infor- mation that is quantified. The competition. What similar products/services are available and how good are they? Get names, specifications, prices, good and bad features. Insist on objectivity, not opinions. Considerations/preferences/limitations. What constraints are there? For example: budget, schedule, size, paper, use of color, site navigation, photographs/illustrations, corporate standards, personal likes/dislikes. Where will complementary creativity (writ- ing/design/illustration/photography/programming) come from? Distribution considerations. Where will the ad run, the brochure be distributed, the mailer mailed? How does the distrib- ution affect budget, creative time, use of color, and mechanical requirements? The single most important point. Most communications leave only one overall impression. Ask the client: “If you could choose just one thing the reader/viewer would remember, what would it be?” Make this the primary focus for the creative concept. ©Copyright 1989/2008 Creative Business www.creativebusiness.com Permitted granted for individual use only. Additional notes and other considerations: