How to brief an AI ad studio: a one-page template

A good brief fits on one page. It says what the product is, the one thing the ad must make people feel or do, who it’s for, where it will run, the language and the deadline, and it arrives with clear product photos and the packaging artwork.

That’s all. Most briefs we receive are either three words (“make it viral”) or a twelve-page deck. The first leaves everything to guesswork. The second hides the one sentence that matters. Here’s the version in between.

What should an AI ad brief include?

Eight fields. Fill these in and a studio can come back with a script plan and a fixed price without a single follow-up question.

1. Product. What it is, in one line: “A ragi and jaggery snack bar, 40 g, sold online and in Chennai supermarkets.”
2. The one message. The single thing the ad must say. Not three things. One.
3. Who it’s for. The buyer, as specifically as you can. “Working women in their thirties who snack at their desks” beats “everyone”.
4. The feeling. What should they feel at the end? Pride, relief, craving, belonging, trust.
5. Where it runs. Reels, Stories, Feed, YouTube, a showroom screen. This decides the formats.
6. Language. Tamil, Telugu, Hindi or English, and which register. Tamil ads that don’t sound translated explains why that second part matters.
7. Deadline. The date the ad has to go live, not the date you’d like to see a draft.
8. Files. Product photos, packaging artwork, logo, fonts and colours.

What files should you send with the brief?

Files matter more in AI production than on a shoot, because every frame with your product in it is matched against them.

• Product photos from every side. Front, back, both sides and a three-quarter angle, on a plain background, in good light. Phone photos are fine if they’re sharp.
• Packaging artwork. The print file of your label or box, as a PDF, an Illustrator file or a high-resolution image. This is what keeps the label readable in every shot.
• Logo and brand fonts. Vector files if you have them.
• Anything you’ve already run. Past ads, especially the ones that worked, tell us more than a mood board does.

How do you write the one-line message?

Finish this sentence: “After watching, I want people to ___ because ___.” For example: “After watching, I want people to order the snack box because it’s the one office snack they won’t feel guilty about.”

If you can’t finish it, the ad isn’t ready to be made yet, and no amount of production will fix that. If you can finish it three different ways, you’ve found the angles for a pack of five.

What makes a brief hard to produce?

A few things reliably slow a project down or make the ad worse:

• Five messages in thirty seconds. Each one gets six seconds and none of them lands.
• No product photos. We can’t match a pack we’ve never seen.
• “Make it viral.” That’s a hope, not a brief. Tell us the feeling and the audience instead.
• Claims nobody has approved. Health claims, “number one”, “best in Chennai”: if it goes on screen, you need to be allowed to say it.
• A missing channel. An ad for Reels and an ad for a showroom TV are different edits.
• A deadline of tomorrow. Sometimes possible for a simple product ad. Never for a story.

Copy this brief template

Paste this into WhatsApp or an email, fill it in, and attach your files.

AI AD BRIEF
1. Product:
2. The one message:
3. Who it's for:
4. The feeling at the end:
5. Where it runs (Reels / Stories / Feed / YouTube / other):
6. Language and register:
7. Go-live date:
8. Files attached: photos / packaging artwork / logo / fonts / past ads
One ad or a pack of five?

What happens after you send it?

We read it and ask about anything missing. Then we come back with a script plan, a fixed price and a delivery date, usually within 24 hours. Nothing is produced until you approve the script, and the first conversation carries no obligation.

You can send the brief on WhatsApp, or check the prices first.