How to write an

inspiring brief.

A creative director reveals the essential ingredients of inspiring creative briefs.

In-person and virtual workshops packed with insights from a former creative director.

I’ve taught brief writing for 20 years and wrote two critically acclaimed books on briefs.

I’ll show you what makes a creative brief that inspires creatives to do their best work.

Select brands that hired me:

Select brands that hired me:

My workshops show you what great briefs have in common.

You’ll learn by studying briefs for award-winning campaigns.

You’ll leave with practical skills you can use right away.

Ask me about your biggest brief-writing headaches. We’ll solve them together.

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Let’s talk about my workshops or customized training for your company.

I’m on the faculty of the Marketing Training & Development Center of The Association of National Advertisers. I do virtual training for Fortune 500 companies every year. I can help you, too.

Two guys,
200+ episodes,
and we’re not done
talking about
the brief.

Two guys, 150+ episodes, and we’re not done talking about the brief.

Industry leaders, nuts ‘n bolts explanations, timely topics, and a lot of fun every Wednesday.

Watch here

Lots of pictures, big type, and packed with practical advice on writing briefs.

Dave Butler, retired TBWA\Chiat\Day creative director, said it’s “…a well-nigh essential foundation on which to build a successful advertising career.”

Buy now

Luke Sullivan, author of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This said, “It’s the best, and briefest, book on briefs I’ve read.”

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You write the brief for creatives. So here’s
what creatives say about my training.

You write the brief for creatives. So here’s what creatives say about my workshop.

“Howard is a master at helping brief writers get to the point & learn how to inspire. After the course I realize it’s not as hard as I thought.”
Survey Response April, 2017
“In the future, all creative briefs will be BS-proof and Jargon-free, and we’ll have this summit to thank.”
Survey Response, February, 2020
“Definitely recommend this workshop for anyone looking to enhance their creative brief process. Makes you want to actually write and review briefs!”
Survey Response April, 2017
“I attended your morning Zoom prezo today on briefs and you did a great job. Just nailed it! Great stories. Great quotes. Great examples. Well done!”
Reid Holmes, Partner/ECD, Mojo Strategy and Consulting, Minneapolis, MN
“I would recommend this workshop to anyone who never has used creative briefs or even if you already do. The tools and exercises given will change your mind on how you create these briefs. It’s an easy and interactive workshop to get through and the instructor was engaging and on point.”
Survey Response February, 2020
“Thank you for inspiring me to be more, well, inspiring! I got a lot out of your session today - both as a brief writer and as a training lead. I bought some of your books on Amazon to share with my team.”
Survey Response April 2020
“I loved that Howard came in hot and pushed us out of our comfort levels. He called marketers out on things we can do better. The existing…creative brief process has been painful for our creatives, but also for our marketing teams as well. But from this exercise, we have all learned that the creative brief process truly needs to be collaborative.”
Survey Response July, 2020
“Great reminder of what the creative brief is supposed to do and how to get there! Thanks!”
McGuffin Mornings attendee
“Valuable information about how others develop briefs. Big emphasis on what really matters and our own team’s input was very important/helpful.”
Survey Response March, 2021
“He hits at the key points that really make a creative brief easy to tackle and execute.”
Survey Response November, 2021
“As someone who doesn’t write briefs, I never knew how helpful this would be. This will help me ask better questions and push my teammates so we can create better work.”
Survey Response November, 2017

Creative Brief Archive.
It’s about time.

A growing collection of finished briefs for real products. Listed by Brand and by Agency. And it’s free. Seriously.

Explore the Archive

Fifteen years of blog essays on brief writing.

If you can’t find it here, it doesn’t exist or I haven’t gotten to it yet.

Dig into my Blog
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