In the mood to grow your brand? This guide delves into the key elements, aiming to spark your creativity and assist in the creation of your unique mood board. Starting with identifying your brand pillars, from there we build upon it with images, colour scheme, typography fonts, keywords and example content from fellow creators. The amalgamation of visual elements and descriptive words will make your brand’s personality pop, providing a dazzling trailer of the blockbuster campaign to come.
In successful brand-influencer partnerships, like a painter’s palette for a masterpiece, a well-crafted mood board provides the colours of clear communication, mutual expectations and a vivid brand identity, guiding creators to bring your campaign visuals to life.
A mood board achieves the following:
- Removes any friction between the brand and the creator
- Maintains brand consistency while inspiring the creator
- Sets the campaign’s tone and vibe
- Translates abstract descriptors into visual concepts
- Significantly minimises back-and-forth during revisions
1. Setting the mood 📝
First things first, you need to grasp the very soul of your brand as well as what message, feeling, or story do you want to convey through your campaign? Mood boards lay the groundwork, providing a solid foundation for your campaign and the essential aesthetic direction for the desired end result. It serves not only as a guide for the creator but also sparks a dialogue between your brand and the influencer, aligning the brand's vision with the influencer's personal brand. Consider identifying three keywords that encapsulate your brand’s campaign and allow ideas to naturally evolve from those.
See how these below examples have distinct styles and clearly convey feelings at first glance:
2. Curate with Finesse 🧑🎨
Now comes the fun part! Start curating images, colours, textures, and fonts that resonate with the essence you want. While Pinterest offers a great starting point, refrain from going on a ‘Pinterest spree’ and selectively choose images that authentically reflect your brand to prevent overwhelming the creator. This is your opportunity to visually reiterate general themes and overall objectives in your creative brief. If you envision a minimalist aesthetic, iterate images with clean lines and clutter-free vibe. If your brand embraces the outdoors and summer, incorporate tropical colours and images that showcase nature’s vibrant hues. This is your chance to set the overall mood of the campaign, which may consist of images, colour, typography, key words and sample content links. See these further explained below to get the best out of your future collaborations on theright.fit.
Images
Consider featuring a hero image and start strong with a captivating ‘first look’ that epitomises your campaign’s essence. Select an image from a previous campaign or from another brand that aligns perfectly with your vision. It’s hard not to judge a book by its cover and images are the first thing a creator’s eyes will pivot to, making them the most influential part of your mood board. Image impact: choose each image thoughtfully to convey your brand’s story and evoke specific emotions. Annotate them to define your brand’s language for creators. Creators interpret these reference images quite literally when generating their content. Hence, it's vital to include only images you would readily approve if they were submitted for your campaign.
Colours
Utilise core brand colours to create a palette that resonates with your brand or campaign message. This palette can inspire the rest of your mood board and main consistency.
Typography
When requesting creator’s to include titles and text overlay in their content, showcasing core fonts can ensure consistency across different creators’ content. Whether it’s a sleek sans serif or a bold, groovy font, use it to tie your campaign content together. Tip: pair your brand font with a core colour for your creator’s to use.
Keywords
Just a sprinkle of wording on your mood board to establish your overall objective.
Choose keywords or short phrases that reflect the campaign’s look, feel, or target audience. Warning: avoid providing too much info; save those extra details for your creative brief and contract. Check out our blog on “Creating Irresistible Briefs for the Ultimate Influencer Collabs on The Right Fit”
Creator Content Inspo & Video Links
Scrolled past a particular post or TikTok trend that was perfect to use as inspiration for your current campaign? Link it! Tapping into current trends and viral audio’s will help push your campaign to broader audiences. Remember to only link content you would be happy to approve if submitted for your campaign, or provide a description of what aspects you’d like the creator to focus on within this content. Tip: This is definitely one of the most powerful aspects of a mood board especially if your campaign requires video content. Links to other examples from real-life creators and brands expertly shows the creator what type of content you envision with a clear example they can use for inspiration to make it their own.
Here is a moodboard we whipped up on Canva for a vibrant, playful, confident beauty brand:
3. Tools for Crafting Your Moodboard 🛠️
Now you’ve got all your pieces scattered on your desktop like an IKEA flat pack, it’s time to pin these onto your moodboard! Now if you’re more of a writer than a designer, never fear, we have listed a few free digital marketing platforms below where you’ll find a treasure trove of aesthetic mood board templates for your next campaign:
- Canva: the ultimate G.O.A.T with a vast collection of customisable templates, stock imagery, fonts and powerful editing tools
- Pinterest: Collaborate seamlessly with your team, gathering inspiration images and organising them into a unified board
- Google Slides: You’ve probably already used this tool! Easy to use for piecing together or tweaking your mood board with real-time team collaboration and editing
- Adobe Express: A free, online moodboard maker with accessible templates, enabling you to design moodboards in mere minutes, designed for all skill levels
4. Create With Your Creator (Not against) 🎨💕
A picture is worth a thousand words. A moodboard is more than a visual aid - it’s a conversation starter. Encourage creators to share their thoughts, interpretations, ideas, and refine your campaign’s messaging collaboratively. This dialogue builds a stronger understanding and helps refine the key brand or campaign messaging.
Crafting the perfect moodboard is an art that can elevate your influencer campaigns on theright.fit to new heights. This visual roadmap eradicates friction, enforces brand consistency, and breathes life into your campaign’s vibe. The hero images, colours, fonts, and sample content links are the stars of your moodboard, setting the tone for a spectacular campaign. Together with the creator, you’ll bring your brand’s story to life in a campaign that connects with your existing audience, captivates new ones, and makes a lasting mark.
Tip: It's crucial to confirm if the creator's vibe matches your campaign’s vision before booking them for the job. Just like you wouldn't hire someone by simply skimming their resume, you’d usually progress to a discussion to determine if they are right for the job. The same rule applies at TheRight.fit—having a brief discussion with your ideal creators about their style, alignment to the moodboard/brief and gauging how they plan to bring your content to life is the key to a successful yet smooth collaboration!
Now that you’ve curated your moodboard, let’s get into the nitty gritty details on “A Client's Code On Creating Irresistible Briefs for the Ultimate Influencer Collabs on The Right Fit”.
