Ad Creative Brief

Generate creative briefs for ad designers and video teams. Extracts messaging angles from copy skill outputs, adds visual direction, format specs per platform, and A/B test variants. Outputs a structured brief ready for design production.

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Doctrine inherited (Step 7 — 0626 rollout, locked 2026-06-04)

Output complies with:

• output-tenets.md, output-simplicity.md, design-production.md
• Step 6 calibration: see [[feedback_execution_doctrine_refinements_step6]]

Refinements applied to this skill:

Code	Refinement	How it lands in ad-creative-brief
R1	Source placement	Brief is client-team review surface (designer hand-off). Cleaned [VERIFIED:...] tags in a collapsed appendix. No tags on the per-platform spec sheets.
R2	Single-doc-with-toggles	Multi-platform brief ships as one doc with toggle per platform (LinkedIn 1.91:1, LinkedIn 1:1, Meta 1:1, Meta 4:5, Meta 9:16) — not 5 sub-docs.
R3	Product-update tone	Ad copy directions frame as "[Product] does X" not "thrilled to introduce."
R5	Blog as voice anchor	When the campaign has an anchor blog, the brief specifies the blog's opening line as the hero headline across all formats.
R6	CTA hierarchy	Market-facing ads → sign-up primary, blog as fallback. Retargeting / warm-base → product-action.
R9	Action-oriented section names	"Strategy / Hero overlay / Visual direction" — action/noun-led.

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Triggers

Run this skill when:

• Ad copy is written (via /google-ads-copy or /linkedin-ads-copy) and creative production needs to start
• A designer or video producer is being briefed for new campaign creative
• Existing creative is fatigued and needs refresh angles before re-shoot
• A new platform/format is being added to an existing campaign

Do NOT run when:

• Copy isn't written — run /google-ads-copy or /linkedin-ads-copy first
• The ask is a single image (not a brief) — use a designer directly
• DESIGN.md doesn't exist — pause and run /brand-kit

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The Iron Law — voice-locked

VISUAL DIRECTION IS NOT A MOCKUP.

The creative brief bridges copy and design. It tells the designer what the ad should communicate and what it should feel like — not pixel-perfect layouts. Overly prescriptive briefs kill creative quality. Under-specified briefs waste revision cycles.

No exceptions:

• "Make it blue with the logo top-left" → That's art direction, not a brief. Describe the feeling and message, let the designer compose.
• "Just use the copy as-is on a background" → Every format needs a visual concept. Text-on-gradient is not a concept.
• "We need 20 variants" → Test fewer, learn faster. 2-3 variants per test variable. Start with concept/angle, not color swaps.
• "Skip the specs, the designer knows" → Platform specs change constantly. Always include dimensions + file size limits. Google will reject non-compliant assets.

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DESIGN.md token contract — voice-locked

Every brief consumes the client's DESIGN.md at projects/consulting/{client}/brand/{MMYY}-brand-kit.md and cites tokens explicitly. Same brand contract as the rest of the marketing surface.

Required in every brief	Forbidden
DESIGN.md path referenced at top	Color descriptions without token references
Token-cited colors (colors.primary etc.)	Type styles outside typography.* tokens
Token-cited type (typography.headline-lg etc.)	Off-brand corner radii, custom font sizes
Component specs cited (components.button-primary)	Ad treatments that compete visually with brand surfaces
Do's/Don'ts as guardrails (one primary per screen, two weights max)	Inventing colors or fonts when DESIGN.md doesn't have them

Authority: Full integration contract in .claude/rules/design-production.md (auto-loaded). When in doubt, that file wins.

If no DESIGN.md exists: pause and recommend running /brand-kit first. Do not invent tokens.

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A/B test hierarchy — voice-locked

Test in order. Each level has diminishing returns compared to the one above:

Priority	Variable	What to test
1 (mandatory first)	Concept/angle	Pain point vs outcome vs social proof
2	Layout/composition	Image left vs right, text overlay vs clean
3	CTA	Direct vs soft vs proof-led
4 (lowest)	Color/style	Photo vs illustration

Never test color before concept. Concept gets the largest delta in performance; color almost never moves the needle when the angle is wrong.

Which concept to test first is the angle matrix's job ([the premium reference](the premium reference)) — it scores the candidate angles by evidence so the mandatory first test starts from the highest-opportunity cell, not a guess.

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Inputs

Input	Description	Required
google-ads-copy or linkedin-ads-copy	Source copy with headlines, descriptions, formats	Required (at least one)
product-messaging	Value props, differentiators	Required
paid-campaign-strategy	Campaign architecture	Required
DESIGN.md (brand-kit)	Tokens for color, type, components	Required
tov-guidelines	Voice patterns for hero text overlays	Recommended
linkedin-ad-teardown	Competitor gaps → the matrix's competition-density axis	Recommended

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Process

Six-phase flow: Platform/format identification → the angle matrix (score angle × persona × awareness on evidence, brief the top band) → Visual direction per angle → Format specs per platform → A/B test plan → Structured brief output. Full flowchart, image specs per platform (Google Display + LinkedIn), test rules, and brief quality standards in the premium reference; the scored-matrix method in [the premium reference](the premium reference).

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Anti-Hallucination Guardrails

1. Never invent customer stats. "2,000 advisers trust us" needs a verified source. Otherwise mark [NOT AVAILABLE] and remove.
2. Never invent token values. If DESIGN.md doesn't define a needed color, pause — don't guess.
3. Never approximate platform specs. Use the table in process.md or pull current values from platform docs.
4. Never collapse angles. If you can only generate 2 distinct angles, say so — don't pad with paraphrases.
5. Never strip the caption requirement from video briefs. 85% of LinkedIn video is watched muted; captions are mandatory.

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Quality

Self-evaluation checklist (token coverage, distinct angles, spec accuracy, test ordering), worked example (suitability-report time-savings), anti-examples (orphan hex, pixel art direction, paraphrase angles), failure-mode triage in the premium reference.

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Integration with Other Skills

Upstream (consumes)

Skill	What it provides	Required?
google-ads-copy or linkedin-ads-copy	Source copy	Required (at least one)
product-messaging	Value props, proof points	Required
paid-campaign-strategy	Campaign architecture	Required
brand-kit	DESIGN.md tokens	Required
tov-guidelines	Voice patterns for overlays	Recommended

Downstream

Terminal deliverable — output goes directly to a designer or video producer. No Genesys-internal downstream skill consumes this output.

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Final ship gate

Run /premortem --output before ship. See /premortem skill for the 5 execution domains (will-it-resonate / will-it-convert / will-it-stay-on-brand / will-stakeholder-push-back / will-it-degrade-over-time) and output template.

Trivial-case escape: ## Premortem\nNo failure modes — trivial change satisfies the contract for genuinely trivial outputs.

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Persuasion & stickiness pass

Output complies with persuasion-and-stickiness.md — Cialdini's 7 persuasion levers + Heath's SUCCESs. Deploy the 1-2 Cialdini levers that fit the reader's barrier (never all seven; every lever must be TRUE), run the SUCCESs diagnostic (Simple / Unexpected / Concrete / Credible / Emotional / Stories) over the near-final draft, then the rule's pre-ship gate.

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