Creative Brief Examples for Ads and Video, Plus a Free PDF Template

Below are four filled-in creative brief examples for video and advertising work: a 30-second TV and online ad, a paid social campaign, a short explainer video, and a client brief a brand sends to an agency. Each one uses the fields in our free template, which you can download as a PDF or copy as a Google Doc.

The brief is the first document in preproduction, and the script, storyboard and edit all get judged against it. That's why every example names its deliverables, its approvers and how many review rounds the fee covers.

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Free Creative Brief Template (PDF)

Fields for deliverables and formats, mandatories, named approvers and review rounds.

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What is a creative brief?

A creative brief is a one- or two-page document that sets out what a piece of creative work must achieve, who it's for, the single message it carries, what gets delivered, by when and for how much, and who signs it off. The agency or production team works from it, and the client judges the finished work against it.

You'll see three names for related documents. A client brief is what the brand sends the agency. A creative brief is the version the creative team works from. A project brief covers resourcing and milestones. On smaller video jobs, one well-filled brief often covers all three.

Creative brief template: what to include

Most templates leave out the last two rows. Without them, nobody knows when a stage is finished.

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Creative Brief Template for Google Docs

Make your own copy, fill it in with your team and share it with your agency or client.

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Creative brief examples

All four brands and everyone named in them are made up. The numbers are realistic but invented. Use any of them as a sample creative brief to start your own.

Example 1: a 30-second TV and online video ad

Why it works: the cutdowns are named up front, so the director boards the 15s and 6s with the 30s instead of hacking them out of it in the edit.

Example 2: a paid social ad creative brief

Why it works: the hooks are the variable under test, so the agency shoots enough openings to run a fair comparison instead of nine unrelated ads nobody can learn from.

Example 3: a 90-second explainer video

Why it works: the approach row settles the two choices that move an explainer budget most, who's on camera and what the screens show, before anyone writes a line.

Example 4: a client brief for briefing an agency

Why it works: every agency pitches against the same problem and the same budget range, and each one knows who decides at every stage before it's hired.

Creative brief questions to answer before you start

If you can't answer one of these, find out before the brief goes out.

Objective and audience

• What business problem does this work solve, and why now?
• What should the audience do, think or feel after seeing it?
• How will you measure success, and by when?
• Who exactly is it for, and what do they believe today?
• What stops them acting now?

Message

• What's the single message, in one sentence?
• What proof makes it believable?
• What tone should it have, and what must it never sound like?

Deliverables and formats

• What's the hero length, and which cutdowns do you need (30, 15, 6 seconds)?
• Where will it run, and in which aspect ratios?
• Does it have to work with the sound off?
• Do the first 2 or 3 seconds need to work as a hook on social?

Mandatories, budget and timing

• What must appear: end card, legal lines, claims, music or talent restrictions?
• What's the budget range, and does it include post and usage rights?
• What are the decision dates for script, storyboard and edit, and the air date?

Approvals

• Who signs off at each stage, by name?
• Who collects feedback so the agency gets one set of notes per round?
• How many review rounds are included before changes cost extra?

How to write a creative brief

1. Talk to the approvers first. Ask what a good result looks like to them and what they'd reject. Their answers become the objective and the mandatories.
2. Write the single message. One sentence, in plain words. Test it on someone outside the project.
3. Fill in every field. Leave nothing as "TBC". A blank budget field is a field the agency will guess.
4. Add references and mandatories. Include what to avoid. Legal notes that arrive after the shoot are the expensive kind.
5. Get it signed off. Walk the approvers through it, then send the final version in writing before work starts.

How to brief a creative agency (brand side)

Two gaps in a brief cause a lot of late changes: nobody said who decides, and nobody said how many rounds the fee covers. Our template works as an agency brief template too. Before you send it, check it has:

• The business problem and the result you need, not the ad you've already imagined.
• A budget range, with what it covers: production, post, usage rights, media.
• Every mandatory, including legal lines and claims wording.
• One named approver per stage, with the authority to say yes.
• One person who consolidates feedback into a single set of notes per round.
• The number of review rounds in the fee, and what happens after that.
• Decision dates, not only delivery dates.

A sign-off plan for a 30-second spot might look like this. The week is when each decision is due.

If someone senior will see the final cut, put them on the list for the storyboard too. A CMO who first sees the work at the edit is a reshoot waiting to happen.

Budget the rounds, but don't expect to use them all. In a 2026-10-12 snapshot of Boords data, 86% of the 377 storyboards that went through review were approved without being sent back for a round of changes. Our storyboard approval checklist covers what to agree before a board goes to the client.

From brief to script, storyboard and client review in Boords

Once the brief is signed off, the job moves to a script, then a storyboard, then client review. In Boords, set up one project per job, so the script, the storyboards and every round of comments for that job sit in one place. Boords for preproduction shows the whole flow.

Add your producer to the team

1. Open the team menu and click Invite members. Or, inside the job's project, click Share, then Invite to edit. Only owners and admins see these options.
2. Type the producer's email into Invite by email, choose a role and click Invite.
3. Full access lets them edit every project. Admin also lets them manage the team, statuses and projects. On Team and Agency, Restricted limits a freelancer to the projects you assign.

Each teammate takes a seat. Your client never does. Details are in inviting and managing users.

Write the script from the brief

1. In the project, click New, then Script.
2. Write it in Script Editor, or open the Agent tab and use Draft from a brief to paste the brief in for a first draft. The agent needs your team's AI features switched on.
3. Copy the script's review link from the Settings tab in the sidebar, or click the facepile in the script header to open Share script (owners and admins). Your client comments on the exact words they mean, with no account.

Free teams keep 3 active scripts at a time. Paid plans have no limit. See scripts, writing scripts and script review.

Turn the script into a storyboard

When the words are agreed, click Storyboard in the script header, then Create storyboard. Boords builds a new storyboard in the same project, one frame per scene, with your fields filled in. It's a one-off copy, so later script edits don't carry across. More in script to storyboard.

Get the client commenting

1. Open the storyboard and click Share storyboard in the header (owners and admins), or switch the Edit / Review toggle to Review and open the share settings.
2. On the Review link tab (or Share settings in the Review view), check that Allow comments is on. It's on by default for new storyboards.
3. Copy the link, or type your client's email into Add reviewer emails and click Send. Sending from Boords lets you see when they open it in the Activity tab of the Review view's share settings.
4. Your client opens the link, enters their name and comments on the frames. They don't need an account, they don't take a seat, and it works on every plan, Free included.
5. When the notes are dealt with, someone on your team moves the storyboard to Approved. Turn on Show storyboard status pill if you want the client to see where it stands.

See sharing links and commenting for the settings, or client review in Boords for an overview.

Boords Team plan

Keep freelancers to one job and internal notes away from your client

Team gives you 10 seats, and guest reviewers never take one. Give a freelancer access to one project only, and leave team-only comments your client never sees. $125 a month, or $85 a month billed yearly.

See Team pricing

Frequently asked questions

What is a creative brief used for?

It's the agreed reference for the whole job. The team writes the script and plans the storyboard against it, and the client reviews each stage against it, so notes get measured against what was agreed at the start.

What is an ad creative brief?

An ad creative brief is a creative brief for advertising. On top of the usual objective, audience and message, it lists every ad you need by length and aspect ratio (a 30-second hero with 15- and 6-second cutdowns, or 9:16, 4:5 and 1:1 social versions), the legal lines and end card, and for paid social, which hooks or concepts you plan to test.

What should a creative brief include?

The objective, the audience, the single message and the proof behind it, the tone, the deliverables with their lengths and aspect ratios, the mandatories, references, the budget and what it covers, key dates, a named approver for each stage, and how many review rounds are included.

What's the difference between a client brief and a creative brief?

A client brief is what the brand sends the agency: the business problem, the budget, the deadlines and who decides. The creative brief is the agency's version for its own creative team, boiled down to one message, a tone and a list of deliverables. Some brand teams write one document that does both, like the agency brief example on this page.

How long should a creative brief be?

One to two pages. A brief that runs longer is usually trying to answer questions the creative team should answer. If yours needs more space, the scope probably needs tightening first.

Who writes the creative brief?

Brand side, the marketing lead writes the client brief. At the agency, the strategist or account lead turns it into the creative brief, and the producer fills in deliverables, budget and dates. Whoever writes it needs direct access to the people who approve the work. The creative team should push back on anything unclear, but shouldn't write it.

How many review rounds should a brief include?

Two rounds per stage (script, storyboard, edit) is a common starting point, with one round on the final cut. Write the number into the brief and say what happens after it, for example that further rounds are quoted before they start. The number matters less than having one named approver at each stage.

How do you present a creative brief to a client?

Walk through it in a meeting rather than sending it cold, with the decision-maker in the room. Go section by section and ask for objections there and then. After the meeting, send the final version in writing and get it signed off before creative work starts.

Free template bundle

Free Creative Brief Template (PDF)

Fields for deliverables and formats, mandatories, named approvers and review rounds.

Download PDF

About the author

James Chambers

James Chambers is the co-founder of Boords, and one of the founding directors of Animade