1. Office of Health Communications CDC National Immunization Program
Strategy for Helping Creative Teams Develop Effective Materials Lessons Learned from the Flu Campaign
Jayne B. Gaskins
Office of Health Communications
CDC National Immunization Program

2. A creative brief IS A list of questions A roadmap to an endpoint
You supply the answers based on the project at hand. Only three of these questions are cast-in-stone: the definition of the audience, the core message, and what you want the audience to do when they get that message. The rest can vary somewhat, depending on the needs of the project. This is not a one-product-fits-all; it’s a one-process-fits-all.
A roadmap to an endpoint
Answering these questions helps you organize your thoughts and the message you want to convey to your audience. The process of developing the creative brief forces you to define the challenge; and once defined, the challenge then becomes part of the objective. Once established, you can then channel the creative process and use the creative brief as a bridge between your expectations and the creative team to keep everyone on the same page. Your answers to these questions are critical because they form the basis for all decisions made by the creative team.
Mercifully short
The creative brief should be no more than one to two pages long. The shorter and more concise it is, the more likely the creative team is to use it. This is a strategic blueprint to get the creative process moving on a specific project – not a marketing plan. Your marketing plan may have four or five goals, while the creative brief should have only one or two, which is stated in the key message. No matter how well-educated or sophisticated, your audience isn’t going to be able to digest or remember a dozen key messages. Keep it simple.
A list of questions
A roadmap to an endpoint
Mercifully short

3. A creative brief is NOT An evolving document A factual data-dump
It is static. Once written, the creative brief will not change. It will be referenced throughout the process to ensure that the end result meets the overall objective. The creative brief keeps everyone focused so that nobody (including you) can go off on a creative tangent that, however innocently, undermines the project. These parameters do not inhibit creativity – they enhance it. The idea is to avoid creating a beautiful display of prose and art that misses the point. Remember, if it doesn’t move your audience to a desired action, it isn’t creative.
A factual data-dump
The creative brief is not the place for production specifications, detailed audience profiles, and reams of background data on the “product.” All of this information is vital and necessary, but it should be provided separately. The creative brief stands alone and gives meaning and direction to use of all other material.
Verbal
A written creative brief moves the process from talk to action. If it isn’t on paper it can’t guide the process, nor can it be referenced. When deadlines are tight there is great temptation to give this information verbally to get the job done fast; however, the result is often miscommunication that takes far more time and money to repair.
If disputes arise over the best creative approach (they often do), the creative brief also serves as an impartial referee. The design that best relates to the creative brief will give you optimum results — not the flashiest or prettiest one. When the project is completed, a written creative brief serves as an assessment tool to determine if the completed product has met the stated objective.
An evolving document
A factual data-dump
Verbal

4. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Primary audiences
Adults
Adults at high risk of complications from the flu
Household and medical contacts of those at high risk
Pediatric
Parents with children in a high-risk group
Parents of children older than 6 months of age

5. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Secondary audiences
Adults
All other adults who can receive a flu shot
Especially those between 50 and 64 years old
Pediatric
Parents of healthy children between 6 months and 23 months of age
Parents of children getting their first flu shot

6. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Key Messages
Best protection you can get from the flu
Children need a flu shot too
High-risk groups and their contacts should get the first flu shots, and everybody else should wait until November or later

7. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Conduits
Healthcare providers and pharmacists
Mass news media

8. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
What do you want the audiences to do?
High-risk groups and their contacts
Get first flu shot available
Parents
Strongly consider getting their child a flu shot
Everyone else
Wait until November, or later

9. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Why should they do that?
High-risk groups and their contacts
To protect their own health and their high-risk contacts
Parents
To protect their child’s health
Everyone else
To protect their own health and those around them

10. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
Why wouldn’t they want to do that?
Allergic to eggs
Believe myths
Not aware of danger to children
Too time consuming

11. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
How can they do this?
Healthcare providers
Pharmacists (some states)
Mass vaccinators

12. Creative Brief 2002-03 Public Flu Immunization Campaign
What are the barriers?
Insurance doesn’t cover
Time-consuming
Public health clinics and mass vaccinators hard to locate

13. The creative brief is not a solution to a problem.
It is the problem defined.