Creative Brief

Write a performance-marketing creative brief: a per-concept test specification, not a brand brief with metrics bolted on. The classic agency brief centers on a single-minded proposition, is written once per campaign, and stays deliberately loose so it can inspire. The performance brief replaces that proposition with a falsifiable creative hypothesis, is written per concept per sprint, and is prescriptive about hooks, specs and decision thresholds because dozens of variants ship each cycle.

The stakes are documented. The BetterBriefs Project (IPA, 1,700+ marketers and agency staff, 70+ countries) found respondents estimate ~33% of marketing budget is wasted through poor briefing, and that 80% of marketers think they write good briefs while only 10% of agencies agree. Agencies name the gaps as focus (83%), clarity (79%) and inspiration (65%).

One honesty check frames everything else. Motion's 2026 analysis of $1.29B in Meta spend across 578,750 creatives found roughly 5% of creatives become winners - a hit rate no brief can repeal. So the brief's job is not to promise a winner; it is to maximise the quality, cleanliness and diversity of every at-bat.

This skill ends at the approved brief document, and never produces final creative. Writing the finished ad copy belongs to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-copy-variants; the shot-by-shot creator script - spoken lines, shot list - belongs to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ugc-ad-scripts. This brief writes hook direction, never hook scripts; that line is the boundary.

Hand off elsewhere too: scoring an existing video opening to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-hook-analyzer, deciding a running ad is worn out to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-creative-fatigue, sample-sizing and structuring the test itself to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-creative-test-plan, and the targeting plan to mbfinotti/advertising-skills@ad-audience-targeting.

Interview

Ask before drafting anything. One question per message; offer multiple-choice answers where possible; skip anything already answered or visible in supplied material.