| name | fraser-cottrell-paid-ads |
| description | Fraser Cottrell's performance ad creative system — creative strategy as the last lever, villain-vs-hero script architecture, and the 6-format static ad library, validated across ~$300-450M in managed Meta spend and 8,000+ creatives/month at Fraggle |
| version | 2.0 |
| format | completion-engine |
| workflows | 3 |
| source | claude.ai export 2026-07-01 |
Fraser Cottrell — Paid Ads Creative Strategy
Fraser Cottrell is co-founder of Fraggle, a performance ad creative studio producing 8,000+ creatives per month for seven-, eight-, and nine-figure DTC brands, tied to roughly $300-450M in Meta ad spend across 15 years in performance marketing. His core thesis: media buying and optimization are fully automated now, so creative strategy is the only lever left — and a creative strategist is a director, not an ideas person, owning research through production through the data readout. This skill packages his three engines: the research-first strategy process, the 5-part villain-vs-hero video script formula, and the 6-format static ad library that actually holds spend.
Available Workflows
| # | Workflow | Produces |
|---|
| 01 | engineer-ad-script | Villain-vs-hero Meta video ad scripts (hook → villain → hero → proof → CTA) with objection injections |
| 02 | design-static-ad-set | Static ad concept set built from the 6 spend-validated formats, with design direction per concept |
| 03 | diagnose-and-iterate | Metric-to-fix diagnosis (hook/hold/CTR) and a one-variable-at-a-time iteration test plan |
Quick Reference
- The last lever: media buying and optimization are automated — the thought that goes into the ad is the only remaining differentiator. Creative strategy decides whether an ad makes $10 or $100,000.
- Research > writing: spend more time in the customer's shoes than in the doc. Never blindly trust the brand's own read of who buys — research surfaces segments the brand never saw (the one-handed bra demo came from discovering a disability audience).
- Strategist = director: understand editing, lighting, design, and camera movement well enough to know what's possible and to review drafts against the vision — without becoming the editor or UGC creator.
- Script skeleton (5 parts): Hook (visual + verbal, curiosity-driven) → Villain build (twist the knife) → Hero introduction (your product saves the day) → Demo/proof (never claim without showing) → CTA (tell them exactly what to do). Inject a benefit block that answers the top comment-section objection.
- Hook relevance check: a great hook rate with a terrible hold rate means the hook was irrelevant bait — people came for the hook, not the product.
- Static formats that held spend: color-block SKU callout, AI headline-image/mascot, social-proof comment frame, headliner, collage/grid, Instagram organic disguise. Color stops the scroll before copy is ever read.
- Demographic mirror: the hands/person in the image must look like the target customer's own. A woman's hand holding the product tells women "this is for me."
- Test like a scientist: one variable at a time (same message, different production vehicle isolated a 47.5% vs 34% hook-rate gap). Metric-to-fix: weak hook rate → new hook; weak CTR → better CTA; high production flop + UGC win → production style was the problem, not the message.
- Storytelling now wins: AI slop flooded the feed; a real founder story is the separation a strategist should deploy.
Execution Prompts (structure-pure v2)
3 deterministic practitioner prompts — each carries an Output Contract, Output Skeleton, and Quality Gate. When a deliverable matches one, Read it and honor its contract instead of improvising the output shape.
- Fraser Cottrell — Metric Diagnosis & Iteration Plan —
skills/fraser-cottrell-paid-ads/references/prompts-v2/metric-diagnosis-iteration-plan.md
- Fraser Cottrell — Static Ad Concept Set —
skills/fraser-cottrell-paid-ads/references/prompts-v2/static-ad-concept-set.md
- Fraser Cottrell — Villain-vs-Hero Ad Script —
skills/fraser-cottrell-paid-ads/references/prompts-v2/villain-hero-ad-script.md
