> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snowdoughnut.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Brief creative

> How a creative brief gets written, approved, filed, and linked back to the finished assets, and which brand documents it pulls from instead of restating.

Use this when something has to be designed, shot, or produced: an ad, a video, a landing page visual, a social asset.

## Before you start

| You need                   | Where it lives                                                                                |
| :------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| The campaign this serves   | [Marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief)                                         |
| A named customer profile   | [Customer profile library](/customer-profile-library-overview)                                |
| The brand system filled in | [Visual identity](/visual-identity), [logo usage](/logo-usage), [brand assets](/brand-assets) |
| The message this carries   | [Messaging](/messaging)                                                                       |

If you're briefing words rather than visuals, use [write copy](/write-copy) instead. If you're briefing both, you need both documents.

## The path

<Steps>
  <Step title="1. Read the concepts once">
    [Creative brief concepts](/creative) explains what each section is for. Read it the first time, not every time.
  </Step>

  <Step title="2. Copy and fill in the brief">
    Copy the [creative brief](/creative-brief) and fill in the strategic core: objective, customer profile, offer, format, and the single idea the work has to carry.

    Full detail: [creative brief process](/creative-brief-process).
  </Step>

  <Step title="3. Link the brand system">
    Point at [visual identity](/visual-identity) for color, type and imagery direction, [logo usage](/logo-usage) for how the logo may appear, and [brand assets](/brand-assets) for the files to work from. Link to them. Don't paste their rules in.
  </Step>

  <Step title="4. Add the specs">
    Name the exact deliverables and their platform requirements: [Meta](/meta-creative-specs), [Google Performance Max](/google-pmax-creative-specs), [YouTube](/youtube-creative-specs), [Google display](/google-display-creative-specs), [LinkedIn](/linkedin-creative-specs), [TikTok](/tiktok-creative-specs), or the general [image and video specs](/image-and-video-specs).
  </Step>

  <Step title="5. Get it approved">
    If the job needs sign-off, run the [brand approval process](/brand-approval-process) on the brief before production starts, not on the finished work.
  </Step>

  <Step title="6. File it, then hand it over">
    Save the completed brief to the [creative brief library](/creative-briefs). Hand the filed version to the creator, so there's one brief rather than an emailed copy that diverges.
  </Step>

  <Step title="7. Review the work against the brief">
    Run the [creative review checklist](/creative-review-checklist). Review against what the brief asked for, not against taste.
  </Step>

  <Step title="8. Link the finished assets back">
    Name the final files with [file naming conventions](/file-naming-conventions), save them where [brand assets](/brand-assets) says, and link them from the brief in the library. This is what makes the brief useful a year later.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What you should have at the end

* A filled creative brief in the creative brief library.
* Finished assets named to convention and saved to the agreed location.
* The assets linked from the brief, and the brief linked from the campaign.

## Related resources

* [**Creative brief**](/creative-brief) The workbook.
* [**Creative brief process**](/creative-brief-process) The detailed process.
* [**Creative brief concepts**](/creative) The reasoning behind each section.
* [**Write copy**](/write-copy) The parallel path for words.
* [**Make a campaign**](/make-a-campaign) Where creative briefing sits in the campaign path.
* [**Creative best practices**](/creative-best-practices) What makes briefing and review go well.