Crisp graphics. An arresting intro. A story that plucks just the right emotions from your audience's heartstrings.
From quick explainer videos on social media to short film features about clients, case studies, or your business, video content has the power to move, persuade, and motivate. In modern marketing, it's one of the most useful tools we have.
But video assets are only as effective as the creative briefs behind them. You need a clear creative brief to define each video project and keep everyone — from team members to stakeholders — in alignment.
Let's talk about how a video brief can keep your project on track. And, as every filmmaker knows, showing is better than telling — so we've even included a video brief template to get your production process started.
What we'll cover
Table of contents
What is a video brief?
Like any creative brief, a video brief sets out project goals and describes how the video asset will fulfill them. But unlike other creative briefs, many of the details in that roadmap are specific to video content.
For example, while a design brief might talk about image dimensions, or a brand brief might discuss the competition, a video brief will include things like a storyline, visual style, tone of voice, and file formats to use.
Video briefs aren't static documents. It's likely that your team and stakeholders will discuss and adapt the brief as the project moves along. However, as long as everyone agrees to the changes and has the latest version of the brief, the video production project will stay on track.
Who should write the video brief?
It's usually a good idea to have a single person write the video brief. Although everyone involved will have ideas and expertise to contribute, you still need someone to be the final direction-setter and decision-maker.
For an in-house team, that person could be a creative director, strategist, project manager, or marketing manager. In large video production companies, you might even have a creative operations manager or creative services manager.
If you work for a video production agency that takes on external clients, then it's more likely that an account manager would write the brief in consultation with the client.
Why do production teams need a video brief?
A video production creative brief makes your life easier. It sets out your goals, target audience, and key project milestones. It makes a shopping list of the resources you'll need and the deliverables you'll produce.
Above all, it keeps everyone on the team in alignment, so that you don't waste time on work that doesn't fit the brand guidelines or marketing strategy.
Let's take a closer look at how video briefs can help you create the perfect asset for your needs.
Clarity of vision and goals
Every year, companies waste up to a third of their marketing budgets. The cause: bad creative briefs.
While 78% of marketers believe their briefs provide “clear strategic direction,” only 5% of creative agencies agree. And no, that’s not a typo. It’s really only 5%.
This results in inconsistent branding, stories that don't make sense, and late delivery of assets.
For video projects, which can be costly and time-consuming, the stakes are even higher. A focused, comprehensive brief will ensure that everyone on the creative team understands the vision, objectives, key messages, and deadlines.
Consistency in messaging
One of the most important parts of a creative brief is its notes on brand voice. The video’s core message, tone of voice, and visual identity must be consistent with the brand.
Brand consistency can increase revenue from a marketing strategy by 10–20%. It also makes your work more unique and recognizable, increasing brand awareness down the line.
Stakeholder alignment
Every video project has a long list of stakeholders, from clients to creatives, marketing teams, brand managers, and potentially freelance contractors too.
A video brief ensures that everyone involved is on the same page about their purpose and responsibilities, the brand guidelines, and the deliverables. It can even speed up projects, since clients are more likely to approve video assets when they can see the link between the brief and the final product.
Without a brief, you're at risk of project mis-alignment, which can result in setbacks like rejected assets, clients losing interest, or a tense working environment.
How to create a video brief: Essential components to include
A comprehensive video brief takes projects from their starting point through post-production. The elements you'll need along the way include:
Project information
Start by outlining the basics:
- The project's name
- The project owner or point person
- Any and all stakeholders involved
Project background
Put the project in context. This is especially useful if you're working with outside contractors, freelancers, or simply a team member who's new to the brand. In this section, you’ll discuss the context of the video you're creating and why it needs to exist.
Project objective
With the context clear, you can define the project's objective. Illustrate it by laying out the goals under that objective. You might set out key dates for those goals, too.
This is also a good place to outline the outcomes you expect for the video, whether that's going viral on TikTok, doubling your conversion rates, or winning a Cannes Lion.
Storyboard
The storyboard is a basic outline of the video's content, using both still sketches or images and text captions. The details will vary between types of video assets — for example, the storyboard for an animation might look quite different from a storyboard for a social media clip.
It might seem early in the process to create a storyboard, but remember that you can always make tweaks later on. At this stage, you're just creating a framework so that everyone has the same vision.
Target audience
You can't make a video until you know who you're making it for. Understanding the target audience will guide everything from the storyline to the people (or lack of them) on screen, the tone of voice, and the visual style.
Each video brief should include a short overview of the target audience's demographics and psychographics, as well as any preferences that might shape the content you produce.
Distribution channel(s)
If you already know your project goals, then you should have a pretty clear idea of how you’ll distribute the video asset.
It's important to spell it out though, because different distribution channels impact details like file formats and video resolution. For example, each social network has specific requirements for things like video orientation and size.
Deliverables
Make a list of the deliverables that the project will create. Describe each item in detail and note who is responsible for its delivery — and when!
Technical requirements
Spell out the technical requirements that your video needs. This might include:
- Resolution
- File format
- Horizontal or vertical orientation
- Any special effects needed
- Any graphic design or animations needed
- Any interactive elements
Copy to be included
Copy gets its own section in the brief because almost every video uses text somewhere. And particularly for marketing campaigns, text can be the final push that gets customers to convert.
So make a list of any copy elements that your video needs, such as:
- Script
- Tagline
- Subtitles
- Social media captions
- Call to action
Priority
Not every creative team does this, but it can be helpful to set a priority level for each project. It can be as simple as "high/medium/low."
This puts the project in context with other tasks and helps people plan their work, leading to more efficiency over time.
Deadline
You can set small deadlines throughout the creative brief for individual goals and deliverables. But it's also useful to have a final project deadline, at the beginning or end of the brief, so that everyone who views the brief keeps it in mind.
Video brief template for production teams
You'll want to adapt the process above to fit your team, resources, and workflows, but here's a free creative brief template to get you started.
Project Information:
- Project Name: [Insert project name]
- Project Owner: [Insert project owner's name]
- Project Stakeholders: [List key stakeholders]
Project Background:
- [Provide context and reasons for creating the video]
Project Objective:
- [Define the main goals and expected outcomes of the video]
Storyboard
- [Map out a basic storyboard or script outline]
Target Audience:
- Demographics: [Insert demographic details]
- Psychographics: [Insert psychographic details]
- Specific Characteristics: [Insert any other relevant audience details or preferences]
Distribution Channel(s):
- [Specify where and how the video will be shared or published]
- [If the video asset is for social media, list specific social networks]
Deliverables:
- [List individual project deliverables, along with their due dates and owners]
Technical requirements:
- [List details such as video resolution, orientation, file format, and maximum file sizes]
- [Note any extra resources, special effects, or design elements needed]
Copy to be included:
- [Write a brief outline of the types of copy needed and what they should say]
Deadline:
- [Add the final deadline and note the project's priority level, if applicable]
Streamline your feedback on video assets with Ziflow
A video brief is a living document that describes your project and guides everyone toward its completion. It covers everything from big-picture goals to tiny details about resources and file size requirements.
A thorough, well-written brief can improve efficiency, speed up approvals, and create more impactful work.
Ziflow is enterprise-grade software that you can use to more effectively collaborate on briefs and video feedback. From the initial project outline to the final post-production touches, our cloud-based collaboration tools are here to make you a better creative.
