Campaign Brief

What it is

A campaign brief is your single source of truth for campaign planning and execution. It documents the strategic thinking, creative direction, tactical approach, and success criteria that everyone – internal teams, agencies, stakeholders – works from. A good brief prevents scope creep, aligns expectations, and gives teams the clarity they need to do their best work.

Think of it as the contract between strategy and execution: everything you commit to achieving and how you’ll achieve it.

When to use it

Use a campaign brief when you’re planning:

• Multi-channel marketing or communications campaigns with defined start and end dates
• Product or service launches requiring coordinated activity
• Awareness or behaviour change campaigns with specific objectives
• Agency-led creative development or media buying
• Internal campaigns (recruitment, culture change, policy adoption)

Don’t use a campaign brief for:

• Always-on communications activity (use Editorial Calendar instead)
• Single-tactic executions (a press release doesn’t need a full brief)
• Crisis response where speed trumps documentation
• Early-stage exploration before strategy is clear

Inputs needed

Before you start, gather:

• Business context: What’s happening in the organisation/market that makes this campaign necessary?
• Campaign objective: What specific outcome are you trying to achieve?
• Audience research: Who are you targeting? What do you know about their behaviours, motivations, barriers?
• Budget: What’s available to spend? Any constraints?
• Timeline: When must this happen? What are the immovable dates?
• Assets: What do you already have? What needs creating?
• Stakeholders: Who needs to approve what?

---

The template

1. Campaign Overview

Campaign name:

[Working title for internal reference]

Campaign period:

[Start date] to [End date]

Background & context:

[What’s happening in the organisation or market that makes this campaign necessary? 2-3 sentences on the situation we’re responding to.]

Campaign objective:

[One clear sentence: what does success look like? Make this specific and measurable.]

---

2. Target Audience

Primary audience:

[Who is this campaign primarily designed to reach?]

Demographic profile:

• Age range:
• Location:
• Income/socioeconomic:
• Other relevant demographics:

Psychographic profile:

• Values and motivations:
• Current attitudes toward [topic/brand/issue]:
• Key barriers or objections:
• Media consumption habits:

What we want them to do:

[Specific behaviour change or action we’re asking for]

Why they’d care:

[What’s in it for them? What problem does this solve or benefit does it create?]

Secondary audience(s):

[If relevant, who else needs to hear from us? How does messaging differ?]

---

3. Strategic Approach

Single-minded proposition:

[The one thing we want the audience to take away. One sentence, maximum 15 words.]

Key messages:

1. [First supporting message]
2. [Second supporting message]
3. [Third supporting message]

Tone of voice:

[How should this campaign sound? Choose 2-3 descriptors: authoritative, playful, urgent, empathetic, innovative, etc.]

Creative direction:

[What’s the creative idea or approach? This could be a concept, a format, a narrative device. If working with an agency, this might be “to be determined” but include any mandatory elements or creative constraints.]

Mandatories:

• [Required brand elements, logos, disclaimers]
• [Legal or regulatory requirements]
• [Accessibility standards]

---

4. Channel Strategy & Tactics

Channel mix:

Channel	Role	Tactics	Budget allocation
[e.g., Paid social]	[e.g., Audience reach & targeting]	[e.g., LinkedIn sponsored posts, Meta campaigns]	[e.g., £15,000]
[e.g., Owned content]	[e.g., Depth & credibility]	[e.g., Blog series, email nurture]	[e.g., £5,000]
[e.g., PR/Earned]	[e.g., Third-party validation]	[e.g., Media outreach, thought leadership]	[e.g., £8,000]

Channel rationale:

[Why this mix? How do channels work together?]

---

5. Campaign Timeline & Milestones

Pre-campaign (preparation):

Date	Milestone	Owner
[Date]	[Activity]	[Team/person]

Campaign period (live activity):

Date	Milestone	Owner
[Date]	[Activity]	[Team/person]

Post-campaign (evaluation):

Date	Milestone	Owner
[Date]	[Activity]	[Team/person]

---

6. Budget & Resources

Total budget: [Amount]

Budget breakdown:

• Creative development: [Amount]
• Media/paid amplification: [Amount]
• Production: [Amount]
• Agency fees: [Amount]
• Contingency (10%): [Amount]

Internal resources:

• [Role]: [FTE commitment]

External resources:

• [Agency/vendor]: [Scope of work]

---

7. Measurement & Success

Success looks like:

[Qualitative description – what does “working” look like in practice?]

Primary KPIs:

Metric	Target	Measurement method
[e.g., Leads generated]	[e.g., 500 qualified leads]	[e.g., CRM tracking]
[e.g., Awareness lift]	[e.g., +15% brand recall]	[e.g., Pre/post survey]

Reporting:

• Frequency: [Daily/weekly/monthly]
• Format: [Dashboard/presentation/written update]
• Audience: [Who receives reports]

---

8. Governance & Approvals

Approval workflow:

Stage	Approver(s)	Deadline
[e.g., Creative concept]	[Name/role]	[Date]
[e.g., Final assets]	[Name/role]	[Date]

Sign-off authority:

[Who has final say on campaign go/no-go decisions?]

Escalation process:

[What happens if timeline slips, budget is exceeded, or results underperform?]

---

9. Risks & Contingencies

Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Mitigation
[Potential issue]	[High/Med/Low]	[High/Med/Low]	[How you’ll address it]

---

AI prompt

Base prompt

Write a campaign brief for [CAMPAIGN NAME OR WORKING TITLE].

What I know so far:
- Organisation and team: [WHO WE ARE AND WHO IS RUNNING THIS CAMPAIGN]
- Why this campaign is needed: [THE BACKGROUND, IN 2 OR 3 SENTENCES]
- Objective: [THE ONE MEASURABLE OUTCOME WE WANT]
- Primary audience: [WHO, AND WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THEM FROM RESEARCH OR DATA]
- What we want them to do: [THE ACTION OR CHANGE WE ARE ASKING FOR]
- Campaign period and fixed dates: [START, END AND ANY DEADLINES THAT CANNOT MOVE]
- Budget: [THE TOTAL, OR "NOT YET SET"]
- Mandatories: [BRAND, LEGAL, REGULATORY OR ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS]
- Sign-off: [WHO APPROVES THE CAMPAIGN, BY NAME OR ROLE]

Use these nine headings, in this order:
1. Campaign overview: name, period, background, objective.
2. Target audience: primary audience, what we know about them, what we want them to do, why they would care, any secondary audiences.
3. Strategic approach: a single-minded proposition of 15 words or fewer, three key messages, tone of voice in two or three words, creative direction, mandatories.
4. Channels: a table with the columns Channel | Role | Tactics | Budget, then two sentences on why this mix.
5. Timeline: three tables (preparation, live, evaluation), each with the columns Date | Milestone | Owner.
6. Budget and resources: a breakdown that includes a 10% contingency, then internal and external resources.
7. Measurement: what success looks like in practice, then a table with the columns Metric | Target | How it is measured, then how often results are reported, in what format and to whom.
8. Governance: a table with the columns Stage | Approver | Deadline, then who holds final sign-off and what happens if the campaign slips or underperforms.
9. Risks: a table with the columns Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation, with three or four rows.

Make it detailed enough to brief an agency or align a cross-functional team, and short enough to read in one sitting.

How to work:
- Use only what I have given you. Where you fill a gap yourself, mark it [Assumed: what you assumed]. Where the draft needs a fact, figure, name, date or quote I have not given you, write [Confirm: what is needed] rather than inventing it.
- Do not estimate numbers such as audience sizes, budgets, targets or results unless I have given you data to base them on.
- Where a whole table or list rests on the same assumption, say so once above it rather than marking every line.
- If I have left a gap in [CAPITALS] unfilled, treat it as unknown. Do not fill it with an example.
- Use UK English and plain language.

Finish with two short sections:
Questions for you: the 3 to 5 answers that would most improve this draft, most important first.
Check before use: the facts, approvals and judgements a person must confirm before this is used.

Variations

Briefing an agency

Use this when the brief is going to an external creative, media or PR agency.

This brief will go to an external agency: [AGENCY AND WHAT THEY ARE BEING ASKED TO DO]. After the nine sections, add a short "For the agency" section: the deliverables we expect, the brand and legal guidelines they must follow, what is fixed and what is open for them to propose, and the date and format we want their response in. Do not write the creative idea for them.

Behaviour change campaign

Use this when success means people doing something differently, not just hearing about it.

This campaign aims to change a behaviour: [THE BEHAVIOUR, AND WHAT PEOPLE DO NOW INSTEAD]. In the Target audience section, set out what stops people doing it now under three headings: capability, opportunity and motivation (the COM-B model). Tie each key message to one of those barriers. In Measurement, include at least one measure of the behaviour itself, not only awareness or reach.

---

Human review checklist

Before using your campaign brief, verify:

• Objective is actually measurable – Can you track whether you achieved this or not?
• Audience insight is real, not assumed – Have you based this on research, data, or actual audience conversation?
• Single-minded proposition is actually single-minded – Could you say it in one breath?
• Channel mix is justified, not just listed – Have you explained why this combination?
• Timeline is realistic – Have you accounted for approval time, production lag, holidays, other campaigns?
• Budget adds up correctly – Do all line items plus contingency equal total budget?
• KPIs are achievable – Based on benchmarks or past performance, are these targets realistic?
• Risks are real – Are these actual threats or just “might be a bit challenging”?
• Approval workflow is clear – Does everyone know what they’re approving and when?
• Stakeholders have bought in – Have key decision-makers reviewed and approved this direction?

---

Tips for success

Involve stakeholders early: Don’t brief the campaign and then ask for approval. Get input during brief development to build buy-in.

Be specific about constraints: “Limited budget” is vague. “£140k total, with 55% minimum allocated to media” is clear.

Make the creative direction actionable: “Be innovative” doesn’t help a creative team. “Show future/present self interaction, avoid stock photography, use real customer scenarios” does.

Budget for contingency: 7-10% contingency isn’t pessimism – it’s acknowledging that production costs vary and opportunities emerge.

Plan the evaluation upfront: If you decide how you’ll measure success after the campaign launches, you’ve already lost the opportunity to gather baseline data.

---

Common pitfalls

Confusing campaign objective with business objective: “Increase revenue by 15%” is a business objective. “Acquire 15,000 new customers” is a campaign objective. The campaign contributes to business goals but isn’t solely responsible for them.

Generic audience descriptions: “Women 25-45” isn’t an audience insight. It’s a demographic bracket that includes hundreds of different people with different needs.

Too many messages: If you have six key messages, you don’t have any. Three maximum, ideally one single-minded proposition supported by proof points.

Timeline ignoring approval reality: If legal review typically takes two weeks and you’ve given them three days, your timeline is fiction.

Briefs written for the file, not for use: If your campaign team never refers to the brief during execution, it was a compliance exercise not a strategic document.