Ad Creative — AI ad agency in Claude Code

Generate a full multi-format ad pack (static + animated + UGC, LinkedIn + Meta) from one brand URL. Chains Firecrawl → GPT Image 2 → Seedance 2.0 via the Higgsfield MCP. Brand-bound to DESIGN.md tokens; outputs ready to upload to LinkedIn Campaign Manager and Meta Ads Manager.

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Doctrine inherited (Step 7 — 0626 rollout)

Output complies with:

• output-tenets.md — the seven tenets
• output-simplicity.md — length caps, three-layer source placement, robot-tells ban
• design-production.md — DESIGN.md contract + banned visual patterns (composes with The Iron Law below)
• Step 6 calibration: see [[feedback_execution_doctrine_refinements_step6]]

Refinements applied to this skill:

Code	Refinement	How it lands in ad-creative
R1	Source placement (three layers)	Ads are end-customer-facing. No sources block in the ad copy or on the creative. Run manifest captures prompts + sources for QA; not surfaced in the deliverable.
R2	Single-doc-with-toggles	Multi-format ad pack ships as one run-folder + one summary doc with per-platform toggles (LinkedIn 1.91:1 / 1:1 / Meta 1:1 / 4:5 / 9:16). Not 8 separate sub-docs.
R3	Product-update tone	Ad copy frames as "[Product] now does X" not "we're thrilled to announce." Even hero-launch ads default to even-keeled product framing.
R5	Blog as voice anchor	When the campaign has an anchor blog, the blog's opening line becomes the hero headline across LinkedIn + Meta + variants. Verbatim. Cross-platform voice consistency is what makes the pack read as one campaign.
R6	CTA hierarchy	Market-facing ads → sign-up or trial primary. Blog/whitepaper as fallback for cold awareness. Never both. Retargeting / warm-base ad sets → product-action CTA.
R9	Action-oriented section names	Brief sections + asset captions verb-led. "How to start with [Product]" beats "Get started."

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Triggers

Run this skill when:

• A campaign needs creative for both LinkedIn and Meta simultaneously and a human design queue is too slow.
• A new launch needs a same-day asset pack to A/B test angles before committing to bigger spend.
• A client wants UGC-style video without booking a creator shoot.
• The operator already has a brand-kit DESIGN.md and wants on-brand AI generation, not a generic stock-photo look.

Do NOT run when:

• The output is going to a human designer for production — use /ad-creative-brief instead.
• There's no DESIGN.md and no brand URL — the skill needs at least one to bind brand identity.
• The campaign needs a single hero shot with art-directed humans (still a creator-shoot job; AI UGC is not photoreal humans).
• The Higgsfield MCP isn't installed (see Prerequisites).

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The Iron Law — voice-locked

ASSETS ARE BRAND ARTIFACTS, NOT AI OUTPUTS.

Every asset the skill produces must read as if it were made for this brand specifically — not as a generic AI render. The DESIGN.md token contract is the floor, not the ceiling.

No exceptions:

• Off-palette colors → reject the render, re-prompt with explicit hex tokens.
• Fabricated stats, testimonials, or customer logos in overlays → strip them. Mark [NOT AVAILABLE] if the brief implies a number we can't source.
• Generic UGC personas with no ICP grounding → re-roll with the brand-kit's audience description.
• Em dashes in ClientCo overlays (or any client with a no-em-dash rule) → re-prompt without them.
• Mixing rounded + sharp corners in the same asset → reject; pick one per design-production.md Do's/Don'ts.

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Prerequisites — Higgsfield MCP

This skill depends on the Higgsfield MCP for GPT Image 2 + Seedance 2.0 calls (Higgsfield also exposes Soul V2, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0, Flux 2 from the same server), plus the already-installed Firecrawl MCP for the brand-brief stage.

Higgsfield uses an HTTP MCP server with OAuth-based authentication — no API keys to manage. Auth happens once per machine, on first tool use, via a browser sign-in to your Higgsfield account.

One-time setup (run before first invocation):

# 1. Install the Higgsfield MCP at user scope (persists across all worktrees):
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user higgsfield https://mcp.higgsfield.ai/mcp

# 2. Verify it registered:
claude mcp list | grep higgsfield
# higgsfield: https://mcp.higgsfield.ai/mcp (HTTP) - ! Needs authentication

# 3. Authenticate via OAuth:
# Open a Claude Code session and run the /mcp slash command.
# Higgsfield will print an auth URL — open it in a browser, sign in to your
# Higgsfield account, copy the returned code, and paste it back in Claude.
# Alternatively, authentication is triggered automatically the first time
# any mcp__higgsfield__* tool is called.

# 4. Confirm tools are surfaced:
# In a fresh Claude Code session, look for tools named
# mcp__higgsfield__* in the deferred-tool list.

Startup check (the skill runs this on every invocation):

The skill calls a no-op Higgsfield tool (e.g., mcp__higgsfield__list_models or equivalent) before stage 1. If the call returns "tool not found" or "needs authentication," the skill aborts with:

"Higgsfield MCP not detected or not authenticated. Run claude mcp add --transport http --scope user higgsfield https://mcp.higgsfield.ai/mcp then /mcp to authenticate. See SKILL.md."

No partial runs — if the MCP is missing or unauthenticated, no Firecrawl credits get spent either.

Cost gate: Higgsfield credit spend is non-trivial. The skill estimates total run cost before stage 2 (image generation) and asks the user to confirm if estimated cost > $5 USD-equivalent. See the premium reference."

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Inputs

Input	Description	Required
Brand URL	The brand's website root (e.g., https://ClientCo.com) — Firecrawl scrapes for hero copy + visual hints	Required
--client {slug}	Routes output to projects/consulting/active/{slug}/paid/execution/. Triggers brand-kit lookup at brand/{MMYY}-brand-kit.md	Recommended
DESIGN.md (brand-kit)	Token frontmatter (colors, typography, components) — the brand contract	Recommended; falls back to transient brief if absent
--brief {path}	Path to a pre-existing /ad-creative-brief output to consume — overrides Firecrawl extraction for angles + copy	Optional
--copy {path}	Path to a /linkedin-ads-copy or /google-ads-copy output to use as text overlays + UGC scripts	Optional
--mode	full (default), statics-only, ugc-only, animate-only	Optional
--platforms	Comma-separated subset of linkedin,meta (default both)	Optional

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Process

Seven-stage deterministic chain (Stage 7 is an optional pre-ship gate). Each stage has explicit MCP tool, model pick, prompt template, expected output, and failure mode. Full reference in the premium reference.

#	Stage	MCP / Model	Output
1	Brand brief	Firecrawl scrape + DESIGN.md merge	brief.md
2	Hero static	mcp__higgsfield__generate_image → marketing_studio_image (default; ads-tagged Higgsfield model) or gpt_image_2 (text-heavy variants)	per-aspect static PNGs
3	Text overlay	Sharp/Jimp local OR flux_kontext for context-aware edit	static-with-overlay PNGs
4	Animated hero	mcp__higgsfield__generate_video → seedance_2_0 (default; identity-consistent)	6s MP4 per aspect ratio
5	UGC persona	mcp__higgsfield__generate_image → soul_2 (UGC + portrait specialty; supports soul_id for identity persistence)	persona portrait PNG
6	UGC clips	mcp__higgsfield__generate_video → seedance_2_0 or wan2_7 (lip-sync)	9:16 + 1:1 MP4s
7	Virality predict	mcp__higgsfield__virality_predictor (optional gate)	scores written to manifest; ranks A/B variants

Mode flags skip stages: --statics-only runs 1→3; --ugc-only runs 1+5+6; --animate-only runs 1+2+4. --no-virality skips Stage 7.

Aspect-ratio honesty: LinkedIn 1.91:1 renders as native 16:9 (no model supports 1.91:1 directly; LinkedIn auto-crops 16:9 cleanly). Meta 4:5 static is native to marketing_studio_image but NOT gpt_image_2. Meta 4:5 video is not native to any model; spec ships 1:1 + 9:16 for video, not 4:5.

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DESIGN.md token contract — voice-locked

Every prompt to GPT Image 2 + Seedance 2.0 cites brand tokens explicitly. Same contract as the rest of the marketing surface.

Required in every prompt	Forbidden
Token-cited colors (e.g., colors.primary: #1A1C1E)	Free-form color names ("a warm blue")
Token-cited typography (typography.headline-lg.fontFamily: Inter)	Off-brand font names from the model's defaults
Brand-kit's signature_elements (logo treatments, photographic style)	Generic stock-photo aesthetics
Voice overrides (e.g., ClientCo no-em-dash) on every overlay	Em dashes / banned tokens leaking through

Authority: Full integration contract in .claude/rules/design-production.md (auto-loaded). If DESIGN.md doesn't exist, the skill builds a transient brief from Firecrawl and flags the gap — it does NOT invent token values.

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Design cycle (post-authoring phases)

After producing the happy-path output, walk these phases before ship. Each references the shared design-quality library at ../../../meta/catalog/design-reviewer/the premium reference. Run /design-reviewer` as the final ship-ready gate.

• Layout — layout-tenets.md (rhythm, alignment, density across aspect ratios)
• Distill — distill-principles.md (strip generative noise; one message per asset)
• Typeset — typeset-principles.md (overlay measure, leading, scale — esp. on 9:16 mobile)
• Polish — polish-principles.md (16 details; verify caption legibility on muted video)
• Cognitive load — cognitive-load-tenets.md (when overlay copy is dense)
• Delight — delight-patterns.md (1–3 motion moments per video; nothing more)
• Final review — run /design-reviewer (5 dimensions × 0–4, P0–P3 severity)

Skip Harden + Onboarding — they apply to code/app output, not ad creative.

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Anti-Hallucination Guardrails

1. Never invent customer stats. "2,000 advisers trust us" needs a verified brand-kit source. Otherwise strip from overlays.
2. Never invent token values. If DESIGN.md doesn't define a needed color, pause — do not guess.
3. Never approximate platform specs. Use the table in process.md.
4. Never let the model improvise voice. Pass brand-kit voice overrides into every prompt (ClientCo: no em dashes; ClientCo brand-name = single word).
5. Never strip captions from video. 85% of LinkedIn + Meta video is watched muted; auto-generate caption tracks.
6. Never ship without /design-reviewer pass. Review-gate 3 is the floor for external publication.

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Quality

Self-evaluation checklist (token coverage, aspect-ratio compliance, overlay character limits, caption presence, voice override compliance), worked examples (ClientCo + ClientCo), failure-mode triage, and the rerun-loop pattern in the premium reference.

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Integration with Other Skills

Upstream (consumes)

Skill	What it provides	Required?
brand-kit	DESIGN.md tokens	Recommended (falls back to transient brief)
ad-creative-brief	Angles + visual concepts	Optional (overrides Firecrawl extraction)
product-messaging	Value props, taglines	Optional (used in overlays)
linkedin-ads-copy / google-ads-copy	Headlines for overlays	Optional

Downstream

Terminal deliverable — assets upload directly to LinkedIn Campaign Manager / Meta Ads Manager. Run through /design-reviewer as the final gate. Track results via /paid-audit after spend begins.

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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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