Purpose
Turn a campaign objective, audience, and channel into a complete, execution-ready creative brief — with defined hooks, format specs, copy direction, and 5 concept variations — so designers, copywriters, and UGC creators can produce ads without a back-and-forth discovery round. Removes the "what should this ad actually say and look like" bottleneck between strategy and production.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a creative brief for a paid social campaign
- Brief a designer, copywriter, or UGC creator on a new ad concept
- Turn a product or offer into ad creative direction
- Plan creative concepts for a Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, or Pinterest campaign
- Generate multiple ad concept variations to test
- Translate a marketing objective into hooks, angles, and visual direction
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Channel(s): Meta / TikTok / LinkedIn / Pinterest / YouTube Shorts — one or more
- Campaign objective: Awareness / traffic / lead gen / conversion / retargeting
- Product or offer: What's being advertised, including price point or promo if relevant
- Target audience: Who they are — demographics, role, and one core pain or desire
- Funnel stage: Cold / warm / hot (retargeting)
- Brand voice: 3–4 adjectives describing tone
- Assets available: Product shots, UGC, founder video, stock, or "creative team to produce"
If funnel stage or brand voice is missing, default to cold audience and a clear, confident, non-hype tone — and note the assumption.
Instructions
Step 1: Audience Insight & Message Strategy
Establish the strategic foundation before any creative direction:
- Core tension: The one gap between where the audience is and where they want to be
- Primary message: The single idea the ad must land — one sentence, not a feature list
- What NOT to say: Objections or claims to avoid at this funnel stage (e.g., don't lead with price to a cold audience)
- Awareness level (Schwartz): Unaware / problem-aware / solution-aware / product-aware / most-aware — this dictates how much education the creative must carry
Step 2: Channel & Format Specs
Match the brief to how the channel actually consumes creative:
- Meta: Feed (4:5 or 1:1) and Reels/Stories (9:16); first 3 seconds must stop the scroll; text overlay under 20% for feed
- TikTok: 9:16 native, sound-on, UGC-style; must feel like content, not an ad; hook in first 1–2 seconds
- LinkedIn: 1:1 or 4:5; professional framing; leads with insight or outcome, not lifestyle
- Pinterest: 2:3 vertical; text overlay and clear subject; optimized for save/discovery intent
- Specify primary format, aspect ratio, and duration (for video) for each named channel
Step 3: Hook Angles (Generate 5)
Write 5 distinct opening hooks tuned to the funnel stage and awareness level. Each hook uses a different psychological entry point:
- Problem/agitation hook — name the pain out loud
- Curiosity/pattern-interrupt hook — an unexpected line or visual
- Social proof/authority hook — result, number, or credibility signal
- Direct benefit hook — state the outcome plainly
- Story/relatability hook — a first-person or scenario opener
Each hook must be written as an actual line, not a category label.
Step 4: Copy Direction
Provide the copywriter concrete direction, not vague vibes:
- Primary text: Recommended length and structure (short punch vs. narrative) with one drafted example
- Headline: 1–2 drafted headline options
- CTA: The exact button/CTA and any urgency framing
- Voice guardrails: 2–3 do's and 2–3 don'ts pulled from the brand adjectives
Step 5: Visual Direction
Give the designer or UGC creator a shot list, not a mood word:
- Format: Static / video / carousel / UGC — and why it fits this objective
- Visual concept: What the viewer sees, framing, and the focal subject
- On-screen text/captions: What key text overlays or captions appear and when
- Color/energy: Bright & fast vs. calm & premium, aligned to brand voice
- First-frame direction: The exact thumbnail/opening frame that earns the scroll-stop
Step 6: 5 Concept Variations
Package the above into 5 ready-to-produce concepts. Each concept includes:
- Concept name (short, memorable)
- Angle (which hook + message combination it uses)
- Format (static / video / carousel / UGC)
- One-line pitch of what the viewer experiences
- Primary copy + headline + CTA drafted
- Test rationale — what this concept is testing vs. the others (angle, format, or audience)
Ensure the 5 concepts test genuinely different variables — not 5 versions of the same idea.
Output Format
- Structure: Strategic foundation up top, then channel specs, then 5 hooks, copy direction, visual direction, and a 5-concept production section
- Length: 900–1,300 words
- Format: Structured document with labeled sections; concept variations in a repeating block or table
- Sections: Message Strategy → Channel & Format Specs → 5 Hook Angles → Copy Direction → Visual Direction → 5 Concept Variations
- Tone: Creative strategist — decisive, production-ready, specific; drafts real copy rather than describing it
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All 5 hooks are written as actual lines, not category descriptions
- [ ] Format specs match the specific channel(s) provided (aspect ratio, duration, placement)
- [ ] Copy direction includes at least one drafted primary text, headline, and exact CTA
- [ ] All 5 concept variations test genuinely different variables — not restyled duplicates
- [ ] "What NOT to say" is specific to the funnel stage — not a generic caution
- [ ] No bracket placeholders remain — all copy is written for the actual product and audience
Notes
- The single most common brief failure is a great strategy paired with vague visual direction — the first-frame direction in Step 5 is what actually earns the scroll-stop, so make it concrete
- For cold audiences, weight concepts toward UGC and problem/curiosity hooks; for retargeting, weight toward direct benefit, social proof, and offer clarity
- If the user provides no assets and no production team, flag which concepts require net-new creative vs. which can be produced from existing product shots
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills