As part of the creative process, the creative brief is arguably THE most important part. It's what defines the creative, what points efforts in the right direction, and makes success possible. It's definitely not a step that should be missed, rushed, or otherwise halfheartedly attempted.
Truly the time spent on writing a great creative brief pays dividends over the long term. It's both the foundation and the guiding light for the creative. It's what we test our ideas and our strategies against. Surely it's worth the time and effort to write a good one.
A creative brief is not a design request. It's not a laundry list of requirements transferred from client to creative team. It's not a vague description of 35 generic objectives.
A creative brief is focused, specific, and actionable. A good one is created when Account Managers lose the fear of irritating someone, and persistently dig and dig, looking for that pain point that's the root of the problem. Every client has pain points...not every client knows exactly how to articulate them. Sure, they know things on the surface level, but what's driving it? That's where a good account person can make the difference.
Any Google search for "how to write a good creative brief" will reveal plenty of relevant info about what to include, like target markets, demographics, objectives, tone, audience takeaway, etc. Rehashing that is not the point here. The point is to convince you of the importance of doing that Google search, studying the results, and then applying it to your workflow. Maybe not all at once, but bit-by-bit, in ways that make sense for you and your client.
From a creative standpoint, a well-researched, and well-written creative brief is like gold. Good ideas come fast because the objectives and target markets are specific and well understood. Decision making mid-stream in the creative process is streamlined because we have a solid road map to refer back to that everyone has agreed upon. In the meeting, when the client asks "why this?" then we point to the brief and explain.
Don't shortcut this step. You'll be surprised how some extra effort at the beginning of the process can produce a much quicker and easier client approval.