AI Creative Brief Kit

Give your campaign a clear direction

For this imagined Magda Butrym campaign, Wimbledon sets the scene. The clothes lead: their silhouettes, textures, and movement. The creative direction needs to make the pieces desirable while staying faithful to the brand’s luxury positioning.

Before you open ChatGPT or Claude

Gather these decisions and references first. Short notes are enough. Mark anything you’re unsure about so you can work through it together.

Brand positioning. What does the brand stand for, and why would someone choose it?
Visual identity. Which colors, typography, styling, and existing campaign references should guide the look?
The actual product. What are you selling? Gather accurate photos and note the details that cannot change.
The customer. Who is it for, and what matters to them?
The campaign’s job. Are you introducing a collection, highlighting a feature, or helping someone decide to buy?
The focus. What should someone notice about the product first?
The placements. Where will the images appear, and what does each one need to show?

Bring those notes to ChatGPT or Claude as your thinking partner. Use the five steps below to turn them into a clear e-commerce campaign brief.

Review the prompt before generating. This campaign took several rounds. Once your brief is approved, ask for the image prompt first, read it, and edit the details before generating in Higgsfield or another tool. That review can reduce avoidable revisions and wasted credits.

1. Start with the brand, product, and customer

Begin with a moment your customer recognizes and a reason the product belongs in it. Use actual customer reviews, questions, and product information. Separate what customers have said from what you suspect.

Write down the brand’s positioning: who it is for, what it offers, and why someone would choose it. Then translate that into visible choices. For this imagined luxury fashion campaign, I wanted considered styling, believable fabric, and clear garment details. “Make it premium” on its own leaves too much open.

Keep the exact product references beside the brief. A beautiful image still needs to represent what the customer can actually buy. For clothes, that includes color, cut, fabric appearance, proportion, and distinctive details.

Prompt 1 · Find the customer moment

Help me identify a customer desire for this e-commerce campaign. Product: [product page link and verified product details] Brand positioning: [audience, promise, price positioning, and differentiators] Brand identity: [guidelines, approved campaigns, logo, colors, and styling] Product details that must remain accurate: [color, shape, material appearance, proportions, distinctive details] Customer evidence: [paste relevant reviews, questions, or research] Campaign purpose: [introduce / explain a feature / launch / support a buying decision] Find three customer situations supported by the evidence. For each, state what the customer wants, the product fact that supports it, and what an image could communicate. Quote the evidence used. Label any inference. Do not invent product benefits or customer quotes. If you cannot read the linked page, ask me for its contents. Recommend one situation and explain why it fits the brand positioning and product. Flag missing evidence instead of inventing it. Do not generate images.

Returns: three evidence-based situations and a recommended direction.

2. Choose a concept that fits the brand

Give each concept a clear message and explain how it serves the brand. Wimbledon is the theme in my example. The campaign idea is to show the clothes through tennis-inspired settings and movement while keeping their fashion details visible and the overall presentation premium.

The setting should help someone notice or understand the product. If the props, pose, or effect become the main thing you see, revisit the direction. A surprising idea still needs to feel believable for the brand and what it sells.

Finish this sentence for each option: “The customer should take away ___.” If every answer is “this looks expensive,” you have styling variations rather than distinct concepts. Choose one idea before writing the image brief.

Prompt 2 · Explore the concepts

Using the customer situation I chose, propose three distinct campaign concepts. Chosen situation: [paste] Verified product facts: [paste] Brand positioning and identity: [paste approved rules and references] For each concept, give me a short name, one customer takeaway, the product fact behind it, one concrete hero image idea, how the product stays the focus, how the idea fits the brand positioning, and what to leave out. Explain how the concepts differ in meaning, not just color or location. Flag any claim that needs evidence. Recommend the best fit for the campaign purpose, then wait for my choice.

Returns: three different campaign ideas to choose from.

3. Give each reference a specific job

Choose references for light, composition, and surface. They can come from different images if you explain exactly what each contributes. Keep your existing brand palette and real product details separate from inspiration.

Borrow: soft side light and a gentle shadow.
Keep: your product's actual color and packaging.
Leave behind: the reference's props, logo, and full campaign idea.

Label the reference roles: this image is for the outfit, this one is for the pose, this one is for the lighting, and this one is for the AI model. Say what must remain consistent. Otherwise, the tool may borrow details you never intended to change.

If you can’t name the look, describe what you see and ask ChatGPT or Claude to help you put it into words. Review its interpretation against the reference before adding it to the brief.

Prompt 3 · Translate the references

Turn my reference notes into a visual direction worksheet for the chosen concept. Chosen concept: [paste] Lighting reference and what I like: [describe] Composition reference and what I like: [describe] Surface or material reference and what I like: [describe] Exact product reference: [attach or describe] Model reference, if needed: [attach and state what must stay consistent] Fixed brand choices: [palette, typography, recognizable styling, and logo rules] For each reference, write: borrow this / leave this behind / why it supports the concept. Flag conflicting directions. Translate vague words such as premium into visible choices. Do not copy another brand's full campaign. Ask about any choice you cannot resolve from my notes.

Returns: an annotated reference worksheet with conflicts identified.

4. Give every image a product-focused job

Build the shot list around what the customer needs to understand. Then assign each image a destination.

For clothing, a full view can show the silhouette, a closer crop can show texture or a distinctive detail, and a movement shot can show how the garment drapes. Plan the crop so the important detail stays visible. Motion blur should communicate movement without making the product impossible to inspect.

Assign each image a destination. A website hero may need room for copy; a carousel needs useful variation across frames; a reel needs a sequence that still gives the viewer time to see the clothes.

For video, define one simple action and what it reveals. Do not ask a short clip to introduce every benefit.

Prompt 4 · Write the shot list

Build a shot list from the approved concept and visual direction. Approved concept: [paste] Visual direction: [paste] Needed destinations: [website / email / social / product page] For each proposed image, state the customer question, the feature or feeling it communicates, framing, setting, which product detail must remain visible and accurate, headline space if needed, and destination. Flag repeated information so I can remove unnecessary shots. Include only product features supported by my facts. If I need a video, describe one simple action, its beginning and end, and what must remain unchanged. Do not generate media yet.

Returns: a purposeful image plan, with optional simple video direction.

5. Approve one page before generating

Combine the decisions into a brief you can reuse. Keep facts, creative choices, and open questions visibly separate. This is your reference when a new idea arrives halfway through production.

An example direction

“Create an imagined Wimbledon-inspired fashion campaign for Magda Butrym. Keep the clothes as the focus. Use tennis settings and natural movement to show silhouette, texture, and drape. Preserve the garments’ details from the supplied references and maintain a premium editorial feel through considered styling, lighting, and composition. Keep the chosen AI model consistent. Leave out props and effects that hide or compete with the clothes.”

This is my creative direction for an imagined campaign, not an official brand brief. Your working brief also needs the exact product references and shot-by-shot decisions.

Prompt 5 · Create the one-page brief

Condense our approved decisions into a one-page creative brief with these fields: Product and exact version: Brand positioning and intended audience: Brand identity and fixed visual rules: Campaign purpose: Customer moment and supporting evidence: Customer desire: One-sentence campaign idea: Verified product facts: Lighting, palette, surfaces, and framing: Reference notes, including what not to borrow: Product details that cannot change: Shot list and intended destinations: What to leave out: Open questions requiring my decision: What makes an image ready for my approval: Prompt-review checkpoint before any paid generation: Preserve the decisions I approved. Do not silently fill gaps or introduce another concept. Keep this concise enough to use beside the image work. If an idea conflicts with the brand positioning or changes the actual product, flag it for my decision. Do not generate media.

Returns: a reusable brief ready for your approval.

Read the image prompt before spending credits

Once the brief is approved, ask ChatGPT or Claude to translate one shot into a generation prompt. Check the product, pose, framing, light, reference roles, and exclusions. Make your edits in text first. Generate one image, check it against the brief, then use what you learned to guide the rest.

Production handoff · After the brief is approved

Using only my approved campaign brief and the attached references, write the image-generation prompt for this shot: [shot name]. State the job of each reference. Preserve the brand positioning, exact product details, and approved model appearance. Specify the pose, framing, setting, lighting, and any motion. Keep the product visible and the focus of the image. Include what must not appear or change. Flag missing or conflicting details. Show me the prompt first. Do not generate an image or spend credits until I approve it. When I request a revision, change only the specified details and preserve the rest.

Check the result against your brief

Is the product still the first thing you notice?
Are its shape, color, proportions, and details faithful to the reference?
Does the styling and overall feel fit the brand’s positioning and identity?
Do the pose, shadows, materials, and movement look believable?
Does this image do the job assigned in the shot list?

If something is wrong, name it specifically and say what should stay unchanged. Keep successful choices in the brief so you don’t have to explain the entire campaign again.

The thing that breaks the brief: treating an assumption about the customer or product as a confirmed fact. Resolve that gap before using it to direct the campaign.

Examples are illustrative. Replace the bracketed fields with your own product details.