Creative brief prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this before you ask a designer, a freelancer or an AI tool to make anything for a campaign. A creative brief puts the goal, audience, message and rules on one page so everyone works from the same facts. The prompt builds it from your notes and lists what's missing, which is usually the part that causes rework later.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are the marketing lead at [BRAND], writing a creative brief for [BRIEF READER]. Context: Campaign notes: [CAMPAIGN NOTES]. Brand rules and words we never use: [BRAND RULES]. Deliverables, channels, character limits and dates: [DELIVERABLES]. Use only these facts; don't invent offers, product claims or results. Task: Write the brief: objective in one sentence, audience, one key message, up to three proof points from the notes, mandatories, don'ts, deliverables with limits and due dates, and who approves. Then list questions my notes don't answer. Format: One page, under 400 words, those section names as headings, bullets under each. No sample copy.
Fill in the blanks
[BRAND]- Your business or client brand.
[BRIEF READER]- Who will work from it: a designer, a copywriter, an AI tool. It sets how much the brief explains.
[CAMPAIGN NOTES]- What you're promoting, the offer, dates and audience, in rough notes.
[BRAND RULES]- Voice, banned words and claims you never make. Paste your brand guide's rules section if you have one.
[DELIVERABLES]- Every asset with its channel, size or character limit and due date.
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Build an n8n AI Agent That Plans Your Content Calendar. Harbor & Pine Coffee Roasters is the made-up online coffee brand in the marketing lessons, launching its Holiday Ember Blend on Monday, Nov 2. Before the freelancers start, the team writes a brief.
Role: You are the marketing lead at Harbor & Pine Coffee Roasters, writing a creative brief for a freelance designer and a copywriter. Context: Campaign notes: Holiday Ember Blend launches Monday, Nov 2. Offer: free shipping over $35. Small-batch roasting, every bag roasted the week it ships. Audience: home coffee drinkers and people buying coffee as a gift. Brand rules and words we never use: warm, plain and specific about flavor, never pushy; no emoji or all caps; never "best," "ultimate," "amazing," "life-changing" or "world-class"; no health claims; no fake urgency. Deliverables, channels, character limits and dates: no more than 2 emails a week; Instagram and Facebook posts; Google search headlines (30 characters) and descriptions (90); Facebook and Instagram ad primary text (125) and headlines (40); all drafts due Oct 23. Use only these facts; don't invent offers, product claims or results. Task: Write the brief: objective in one sentence, audience, one key message, up to three proof points from the notes, mandatories, don'ts, deliverables with limits and due dates, and who approves. Then list questions my notes don't answer. Format: One page, under 400 words, those section names as headings, bullets under each. No sample copy.
What a good answer looks like
- One key message, not three competing ones.
- Proof points that are real facts from the notes (roasted the week it ships, free shipping over $35), not "premium quality."
- Every character limit and the Oct 23 due date carried into the deliverables exactly.
- Open questions instead of guesses: here, who approves final copy and what the blend tastes like, since the notes don't say.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Check every claim in the proof points and offer against your notes; an invented offer in a brief ends up printed.
- Compare the don'ts with your brand voice rules word for word. A freelancer will rely on that list.
- Answer the open questions before you send the brief, or send them along with it.
- Ask the person receiving it to say the key message back in one sentence. If it doesn't match, sharpen it.
Why this prompt works
A creative brief is a prompt for people. Building it with Role, Context, Task, Format forces the same discipline: who it's for, the facts, the deliverable and the shape. The open-questions list turns the model's urge to fill gaps into a to-do list for you.
Practice it in the free lesson
Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format: Ask ChatGPT for the same customer email twice, once vaguely and once with a four-part prompt, and see exactly why structure gets a better answer. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Build an n8n AI Agent That Plans Your Content Calendar · Build a Custom GPT Ad Copy Writer for Search and Social Ads
Terms used here
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