Creative brief template: persona, tension, angle, story

A creative brief should answer one chain of questions before anyone writes a line: who the work is for (persona), what is bothering them (tension), why it happens (angle), the one line that says it (story), when they feel it (moment) and what the brand promises at that moment (proposition), followed by how success will be judged. Copy the template below, fill each field from evidence, and leave a field empty rather than guess. The worked example is filled in from a real SOMIN study of 229 ads in the audience research category.

How to use this page

Copy the template into your own document and fill it in from top to bottom, because each field depends on the one before. Use the guidance under each section to decide what to write, then compare your draft with the worked example and run the checklist before the brief goes to the creative team. Write one brief per audience and message: if you find yourself filling a field with two answers, you need two briefs. The template follows the framework in persona, tension, angle, story, and how to turn a social listening insight into a brief walks through the same example step by step.

What goes in a creative brief?

• Context: the background, the objective and who owns the brief.
• The insight chain: persona, tension, angle and story, each traced to evidence.
• The trigger and the promise: the moment, the proposition and the proof.
• The message: one single-minded sentence and the think, feel, do response you want.
• Delivery: tone, channels, formats, mandatories, timing, budget and the measure of success.
• Accountability: the evidence trail and who approves each decision.

Copy-ready creative brief template

1. Project and owner: [campaign name, brand, brief owner, date, version]
2. Background: [what is happening in the category or the business that makes this work necessary, in two or three sentences]
3. Objective: [the business result the work serves, with the target number and where the target comes from]
4. Audience (persona): [who, in plain words: role, goals and context; link to the persona and the data behind it]
5. Tension: [what they want and what stops them, in their words; how many posts, ads or responses carry it]
6. Angle: [why the tension exists, named by a theory, in one sentence]
7. Story (insight line): [the one line the persona would recognise and only we could say]
8. Moment: [when and where the tension shows up: trigger, state of mind, place]
9. Proposition: [what we promise at that moment, joined to one product truth]
10. Proof: [the reason to believe, something the work can show rather than claim]
11. Single-minded message: [the one thing the audience should take away, in one sentence]
12. Think, feel, do: [what we want them to think, feel and do after seeing the work]
13. Tone of voice: [how the work should sound, and how it should not]
14. Channels, formats and deliverables: [where the moment happens; each asset with size, length and language]
15. Mandatories: [brand, legal and claims rules; logos, disclaimers, required wording]
16. Measurement: [the primary metric, how and when it will be judged, and the pre-test plan]
17. Timing and budget: [key dates, including local holidays in each market; budget range]
18. Evidence trail: [study, insight, moment and proposition IDs, and the posts or ads a reviewer can open]
19. Approvals: [who signs off the tension, the proposition, the creative and the measure]

Guidance for each section

Background and objective

Keep the background to what changes the decision, not the brand's history. The objective is a business result, such as qualified sign-ups or trial requests, with a number that comes from the commercial plan. If nobody can say where the number comes from, mark it as a placeholder and get it confirmed before the brief is signed off.

Audience (persona)

Describe one segment by what its members do and want, not only by age and job title. Say which data the persona was built from, such as audience research, the people who engage with category content or competitor ads, and how many items sit behind it. How to build personas from audience data and competitor ads covers the method.

Tension

Write the tension as two forces pulling against each other, in the audience's words: "I want this, but that stops me." A topic ("AI in marketing") or a complaint with one side ("data is messy") is not a tension. State how often it appears and from which sources, because a tension carried mostly by one brand's content generalises less. Our guide to what a consumer tension is explains how to find and test one.

Angle

The angle explains why the tension exists, ideally by naming a theory such as trust theory, loss aversion or self-determination theory. It is the field teams skip most often, and the one that gives the creative an argument to make rather than a mood to set.

Story (insight line)

One sentence that turns persona, tension and angle into something the audience would nod at. Test it by swapping in a competitor's name: if the line still works, it is not yours yet.

Moment

The moment is when and where the audience feels the tension and can act on it: a search, a purchase decision, a festival, a frustrating day. It gives the brief a trigger, a state of mind and a place, which is what channel and timing decisions need. Check the dates against the APAC and MENA marketing calendar if the work runs across markets.

Proposition and proof

Join the story to one product truth that resolves the tension, and pick one proof the audience at that moment would accept. Prefer proof the work can show, such as a product screen or a customer result, over adjectives. Generated taglines are raw material for the team, not copy.

Single-minded message and think, feel, do

Reduce everything above to one sentence. Then write the response you want in three short lines: what the audience should think, how they should feel and what they should do next.

Delivery: tone, channels, mandatories, timing

Choose channels where the moment happens, list every deliverable with its specifications, and put legal and claims rules in the mandatories rather than in the creative team's inbox later. Add local holidays and blackout dates to the timing.

Measurement, evidence and approvals

Agree one primary metric and how it will be judged before launch, and say whether creative will be pre-tested, for example with a clickability score. Record the IDs and sources behind each field, label anything a model generated, and name one person accountable for each decision.

Worked example: a brief filled in from SOMIN data

This example comes from SOMIN's audience research workspace, which tracks GWI, Nielsen, Milieu and Euromonitor alongside SOMIN. A Perspective Study of 229 ads published by the brands in that workspace between 8 April and 6 July 2026 produced the persona and the tension; SOMIN then generated the insight, a moment and propositions for the SOMIN product itself. Quoted text is reproduced exactly from the SOMIN records. Fields marked "illustrative" are assumptions made for the example, and generated material is labelled as such.

The generated sample tagline for the chosen route was "Start with People, End with Insights: SOMIN Redefines Data." It shows the direction, but it is raw material: the useful parts for the creative team are the takeaway and the proof.

How to fill in the brief, step by step

1. Write the objective. State the business result the work serves in one line, with the target and where the target comes from.
2. Choose one persona. Pick a single audience and describe it in plain words: role, goals and context, with the data the persona was built from.
3. State the tension. Write what the persona wants and what stops them, in the words they would use, and count how often it appears in the evidence.
4. Name the angle. Explain why the tension exists in one sentence, naming the theory from psychology, sociology or behavioural economics behind it.
5. Write the story. Turn persona, tension and angle into one line the persona would recognise and no competitor could say as easily.
6. Find the moment. Describe when and where the tension shows up: the trigger, the state of mind and the place, and check it fits the tension.
7. Pick one proposition and one proof. Join the story to one product truth that resolves the tension, and add a reason to believe that the work can show rather than claim.
8. Write the single-minded message. Reduce the proposition to one sentence, then write what the audience should think, feel and do after seeing the work.
9. Add delivery details. List channels, formats, deliverables, mandatories, timing and how success will be measured, agreed before launch.
10. Attach the evidence trail. Record the study, insight, moment and proposition IDs and label anything generated by a model, so a reviewer can check every field.

Brief checklist

• Can you quote the tension in the audience's own words, with two sides?
• Can you count it: how many posts, ads or responses, from which brands, over what period?
• Is the angle named, and does it explain the tension rather than restate it?
• Would the story line still work with a competitor's name in it? If yes, rewrite it.
• Is the moment specific enough to choose a channel and a date?
• Is there exactly one proposition and one proof, and can the work show the proof?
• Is the single-minded message one sentence with one idea?
• Was the measure of success agreed before launch, with one primary metric?
• Are generated personas, moments and taglines labelled as generated?
• Have dates been checked against local holidays in every market?
• Is every field a decision, with background moved to an appendix?

Common mistakes

• A topic instead of a tension. "Sustainability" or "AI" tells the team what to talk about, not what problem to solve.
• A demographic instead of a persona. "Marketers aged 25 to 45" gives the creative team nobody to write for.
• Skipping the angle. Without a reason for the tension, the work defaults to the category's usual mood and sounds like everyone else.
• Several messages called single-minded. Three benefits in one sentence is a list, and lists are hard to remember.
• Claimed proof. "Trusted by leading brands" is an assertion; a product screen or a named result is proof.
• Pasting generated taglines into the brief as copy. Model output is a starting point for the team, not the finished line.
• Evidence from one source. In the example, GWI supplied 31 of the 51 ads behind the tension. That is usable, but the brief should say so.
• Presenting generated thoughts as customer quotes. A model-generated moment or persona is a hypothesis to confirm with search data, sales calls or research.
• No measure until after launch. If success is defined afterwards, any result can be called a win.
• Ignoring market timing. A global launch date can land on Lunar New Year in one market and Ramadan in another.

Related guides

• How to turn a social listening insight into a campaign brief
• What is a consumer tension in marketing, and how do you find one?
• Persona, tension, angle, story: an AI copywriting framework that works
• Why marketers distrust AI insights, and how to make them verifiable
• QA for AI marketing content: a practical checklist
• Marketing intelligence glossary for persona, tension, angle, moment and proposition
• SOMIN Strategy, which runs the chain from listening to a brief on your own category with every step linked to its evidence

FAQ