The One-Page Brief

Free one-page brief template · No sign-up

A creative brief on one page that you send as a link.

Answer eleven questions, then send the link to your client and team. They comment on the section they mean and approve it with their name, so feedback stops living in a PDF and three email threads.

Write a brief See one that's been through review

Prefer a template file? See the $19 Strategy Kit below: fillable PDF and Word templates for a creative brief, messaging framework and measurement plan. One-time purchase.

New to briefs? Read how to write one on one page, see ten creative brief examples, or browse twelve customer experience examples.

How it works

Built for the part after you write it.

01 / Write

Questions that push back

Every section has harder questions if you're stuck. "If we do nothing" comes before anyone writes a deliverable, because that's usually where the real problem shows up.

02 / Check

A pressure test before you send it

One click checks it against the things that usually go wrong, like a demographic where a person should be, two ideas in the one thing to say, or TBD in the timing.

03 / Approve

Comments and sign-off in one place

Feedback sits under the section it's about. Approvals are tied to the version someone read, so if the brief changes afterwards, the page says so.

The template

What's in the one page brief template

  1. 01BackgroundWhat the client sells, what changed, and why we're being asked now.
  2. 02The problemOne sentence the team can work from.
  3. 03If we do nothingWhat happens to the brand in a year if nothing changes.
  4. 04Who this is forReal people, described the way a friend would. Not a demographic.
  5. 05What they think nowThe honest current belief, in their words.
  6. 06What we want them to thinkThe belief after the work lands. A short step from the line above.
  7. 07The one thing to sayA plain sentence the creative team can build from. Not a tagline.
  8. 08Reasons to believeTwo or three proof points. Product facts beat claims.
  9. 09MandatoriesLogo, legal, offers, and anything the client won't move on.
  10. 10DeliverablesWhat we're making, by channel and format.
  11. 11TimingKickoff, reviews and launch, with real dates.

Copy the questions into a doc if you need a file, or fill them in here and send the link. To see them answered, read ten example briefs or how to write each section.

Also on one page

The rest of the strategy, same format.

The Messaging FrameworkPositioning, the promise and three message pillars, each with its proof.→ The Measurement PlanOne KPI, a real target, guardrails and the decision you agree on before launch.→ Deck Red TeamNew in FigmaBefore the presentation: your deck read the way a skeptical client reads it, slide by slide. A free first read, then $19 once.→ The One-Page WeekThe one thing, what matters, and what you protect. Checked on Friday.→ Customer experience examplesTwelve real moments sorted by journey stage, printable as workshop cards.→ Capability KitsUnbranded packages for the disciplines clients keep asking for. Read the argument free, buy the document.→

Maybe next

Team workspaces

I'm thinking about team workspaces: your logo on every brief, private team briefs, and the full approval history in one place. The free version stays free.

$15a month, whole team

Need it as a file?

The One-Page Strategy Kit

The creative brief, the messaging framework and the measurement plan as fillable PDFs and Word files, for when a client wants a document.

$19one time
Get the files

From the same desk

The Rationale

A weekly note on account planning for agency strategists. One thing that changed, the tension in it, and what I'd do Monday. The first three parts of every issue are free.

Latest issue · No. 9 · Oct 26Safari now blocks email-based ad IDsApple's WebKit team confirmed last Monday that Safari 27 blocks the services that turn email addresses into ad IDs. A lot of open web plans lean on those IDs.Read the free part →

Made by Cody Simmonds. I've written a lot of briefs over fifteen years in agencies, and this is the format I keep coming back to. I also write The Rationale, a weekly note for agency strategists. Briefs are private to whoever has the link and aren't listed anywhere. The site counts anonymous actions, like a brief being saved, but never what's in them.

Also made by the same person