creative-brief

name

creative-brief

description

"Builds a complete creative brief from research outputs. The brief defines the angle, awareness stage, hook direction, creative mechanic, format, specs, and success criteria. Use after audience-research and customer-reality. Trigger on: 'build a brief', 'creative brief', 'we're preparing a campaign', 'I want to run ads'. This is the central strategic document — nothing goes to production without it."

Creative Brief

Output Routing (Dual-Mode)

This skill follows references/notion-output-protocol.md. Run the routing logic before producing output.

Standalone output	Connected-mode target
creative-brief-[brand]-[date].md	1 entry in 📋 [DB] Concepts (Persona relation × Angle relation, next Concept No. in the client's sequence, Creative Type) + 1..N entries in 📝 [DB] Briefs (#NNN-B1 naming, Format, Angle Category, Awareness Level, Concept relation, Client (direct))

Connected-mode rules (hard):

• Hypothesis first — ask which 🗺️ [DB] Roadmap hypothesis this concept tests. If none exists, create it (Type, Objective mandatory, Probability/Impact/Effort scored) BEFORE creating the concept. A creative without a hypothesis cannot be learned from.
• 1 Concept = 1 Persona × 1 Angle. N hook variants live INSIDE one brief's page body — never one brief per hook, never the Hook Type property for multi-hook briefs.
• Never touch Status on Briefs — it is automation-driven (checkboxes + dates).
• Reuse: search Concepts for an existing Persona × Angle combo before creating a new one (an iteration belongs on the existing concept).
• Page body = narrative only (brief content, hooks, references); properties are the single source of truth for IDs/status/relations.

Before Starting

Confirm before starting:

• brand-context.md available
• persona-[name].md available (audience-research completed)
• emotional-map-[persona].md available (customer-reality completed) OR verbatims available
• Business objective clear: acquisition / lead / awareness / retargeting?
• Primary KPI defined: target CPA, CPL, or ROAS?
• Budget and production capacity defined

Without these inputs, the brief will be based on hypotheses — label them clearly.

---

Phase 1: Map Pain × Persona

Before choosing an angle, build the pain × persona matrix.

Many-to-many principle: The same pain can resonate with several different personas. The same persona can have several pains. Each pain × persona combination is a potentially distinct brief.

Step 1A — List available pains

From Buckets 1 & 3 of the review-audit and the persona's Layer 2:

• Pain 1: [short description]
• Pain 2: [short description]
• Pain 3: [short description]

Step 1B — List available personas

One or more personas from audience-research:

• Persona A: [Fictional first name] — Awareness [#]
• Persona B: [Fictional first name] — Awareness [#]

Step 1C — Choose the brief's combination

Select the most priority pain × persona combination for this brief.

This brief targets: [Persona X] suffering from [Pain Y] at awareness level [Z].

This sentence is the strategic anchor of the brief. Everything else follows from it.

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Phase 2: Define Strategic Context

Synthesize from available documents:

1. Target persona — Who? Which dominant layer?
2. Pain addressed — Which specific pain does this brief address?
3. Awareness stage — Where is this persona relative to the problem and the product?
4. Creative objective — What action should the creative produce?
5. Funnel phase — TOF / MOF / BOF / Re-engage

---

Phase 3: Select the Angle

Choose from the 4 angle categories.

For the full framework: See references/ad-angles.md

Angle	When to use
C1 — Problem	Problem Aware audience, strong and identifiable pain
C2 — Result	Solution/Product Aware audience, social proof available
C3 — Education	Sophisticated market or Unaware/Problem Aware audience
C4 — Identity	Very sophisticated market or Most Aware audience

Frame the angle in 1 sentence: "This creative speaks to [persona] who [situation] and shows them [promise] via [angle]."

---

Phase 4: Choose the Creative Mechanic

Select the mechanic that matches the angle and dominant emotion.

For the 8 mechanics framework: See references/creative-mechanics.md

---

Phase 5: Define Format and Specs

Choose the visual format in coherence with the mechanic and awareness stage.

For the full library: See references/visual-formats.md

Decision	Options
Visual format	F01–F45 (see visual-formats.md)
Medium	Video / Static / Carousel
Duration (if video)	15s / 30s / 60s / 90s+
Ratio	9:16 (Stories/Reels) / 4:5 (Feed) / 1:1 (Multi)
Style	UGC / Talking head / Product / B-roll / Animation
Sound	With voice / Music only / Silent (subtitles)

---

Phase 6: Write the Brief

# Creative Brief — [Brand] — [Date]
*Status: Draft / Validated*

## Strategic Anchor
> "[Persona X] suffering from [Pain Y] at awareness level [Z]."

## Context
- Persona: [Fictional first name] — [Awareness stage]
- Pain addressed: [Specific pain from the pain × persona mapping]
- Objective: [Acquisition / Lead / Awareness / Retargeting]
- Funnel phase: [TOF / MOF / BOF]
- Primary KPI: [CPA / CPL / CTR / ROAS target]

## Creative Angle
[C1 / C2 / C3 / C4] — [Angle statement in 1 sentence]

## Core Promise
[What the creative promises — 1 sentence, customer language]

## Main Proof Point
[The proof that makes the promise credible]

## Objection to Address
[What might prevent action — and how we address it]

## Mechanic
[M1–M8] — [Mechanic name] — [How it applies here]

## Hook Direction
[Direction of the first line / first second — do not write the hook here]
Dominant trigger: [TR1–TR8]
Recommended tactic: [T01–T42]

## Format
- Visual format: [F##] — [Format name]
- Medium: [Video / Static / Carousel]
- Duration: [Xs]
- Ratio: [9:16 / 4:5 / 1:1]
- Style: [UGC / Talking head / etc.]
- Sound: [Voice on / off / silent]

## CTA
[Call-to-action text — precise and adapted to awareness level]

## Constraints
[Compliance, tone, forbidden visuals, claims to avoid]

## Success = ?
[What defines good performance for this brief]
Target CPA: [X€] / Target CTR: [X%] / Other:

---

Phase 7: Validate Before Production

Ask these questions before moving to production:

• Would the persona recognize themselves in this creative?
• Is the promise credible without needing to know more?
• Is the main objection addressed somewhere?
• Is the format adapted to the platform and the scroll moment?
• Has the angle already been saturated by competitors?

---

Related Skills

• 02-research/audience-research — persona
• 02-research/customer-reality — emotion + micro-moment
• 02-research/market-research — angle vs competition
• 03-strategy/hook-writing — next step after validated brief
• 03-strategy/message-sequencing — if the campaign is multi-touchpoint
• 04-production/static-production — brief → static execution
• 04-production/video-production — brief → video execution