ADS & LANDING PAGES

Social ad creative brief for a designer

Use when you need a designer or editor to produce social ad creative without a dozen follow-up questions.

social-ad-creative-brief.md

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Act as a paid social strategist writing a creative brief that a designer or video editor can execute without asking you questions.

Brand: {{BRAND}}
Platform and placement: {{PLATFORM_AND_PLACEMENT}}
Objective and the action being optimized for: {{OBJECTIVE}}
Audience and what they currently believe: {{AUDIENCE_BELIEF}}
Offer: {{OFFER}}
Assets already available: {{EXISTING_ASSETS}}
Brand rules and things we must never show or say: {{BRAND_RULES}}

Write the brief with these named sections:
1. One sentence on the job this ad must do.
2. The single message. One sentence. If you need two, the brief is not ready.
3. Concept - three distinct concepts, each with: name, the first three seconds, the visual idea, the on-screen text, the voiceover or caption, and the end frame.
4. Specs table: aspect ratio, safe zones, duration, text length limits for the placement named above.
5. Copy: primary text, headline, and description, each within the platform limit, with character counts shown.
6. What to shoot or source, as a numbered shot list.
7. What would make this fail - three specific risks.

Constraints:
- Concepts must differ in approach, not just in color or music.
- Do not propose anything that breaks the brand rules or needs assets I do not have, unless you label it "requires new production".
- No invented claims or statistics.
- Avoid em dashes and stock marketing phrasing.

Fill in before running

Replace each placeholder with your own detail. The more specific you are, the less the model invents.

{{BRAND}}
{{PLATFORM_AND_PLACEMENT}}
{{OBJECTIVE}}
{{AUDIENCE_BELIEF}}
{{OFFER}}
{{EXISTING_ASSETS}}
{{BRAND_RULES}}

Getting a better result

Name the placement precisely - a Reel and a feed square need different first frames.
List existing assets honestly so concepts stay producible this week.
Insist on one message per concept; briefs with three messages produce weak ads.

Questions about this prompt

When is a written brief worth it rather than a conversation?

When someone else produces the creative and you will not be in the room while they do. A verbal brief and a link produce three rounds of questions and a first cut that misses. This forces one message, three distinct concepts and a specs table before anyone opens an editor. For copy on creative you already have, it is overkill.

What do I need before running it?

The exact placement rather than the platform, since a Reel and a feed square need different first frames. Then {{EXISTING_ASSETS}} listed honestly, {{BRAND_RULES}} including anything you must never show or say, and what the audience currently believes. Overstate the asset library and you get concepts that cannot be produced this month.

What comes back?

Seven named sections: the job the ad must do, the single message, three concepts with first three seconds and end frame, a specs table, copy with counts, a shot list and three failure risks. Argue about the single message line. If it needs two sentences the brief is not ready and every section below inherits the confusion.

What is the mistake?

Accepting three concepts that are one concept in three colourways. The constraint says they must differ in approach, so check that the first three seconds and the end frames differ, not the music. Watch for anything labelled requires new production as well, because that is a concept your timeline may not survive.