# Creative brief — Ecommerce

The creative brief with three columns a store needs: which slice of the catalogue this asset sells, exactly which product is in frame, and whether the offer appears on screen.

Everything else is the general creative brief, unchanged. One row per asset, a hook written as what happens, one message with a proof beside it, the specs up front and an honest must-avoid.

## How to use it

1. Copy this file, or the CSV version if you would rather work in a sheet.
2. Write one row per asset, not one per campaign.
3. Write the hook specifically enough that two people would build roughly the same thing.
4. Name one message per asset. A second message is a second row.
5. Fill Specs before the work starts, including the safe areas and text limits.
6. Write Must avoid honestly, because that is where rework comes from.
7. Set the due date earlier than the run date, with room for review and re-edit.

## The columns

**Asset ID** (Text). A short stable identifier that goes on the file, the ad name and the test row, so a season's best performing asset can be found again when the next shoot is planned.

**Concept** (Text). The idea this asset expresses: product in use, unboxing, before and after, the offer card. Assets sharing a concept are judged together, which is how a store learns what its range responds to.

**Format** (Text). What is being made: a vertical video, a static from existing photography, a carousel of three rooms, a set of text lines. In a store the format decides whether this needs a shoot day or an afternoon.

**Placement and aspect** (Text). Where it runs and at what ratio. A set composed for a portal-style horizontal listing loses its sides in a vertical placement, and a product centred in one ratio sits under the interface in another.

**Hook** (Text). What happens in the first frame, written specifically: the product already in use, no logo, no title card. In a feed the first frame is the only part of the asset most people will ever see.

**Message** (Text). The one thing the viewer has to believe about this product. One. An asset carrying three reasons to buy delivers the first badly and abandons the rest.

**Proof** (Text). What makes it credible, and in a store that is almost always a demonstration: the task performed end to end, the fit shown on a real person, the thing unpacked. Quality claims are cheap and weak.

**Call to action** (Text). What the viewer is asked to do, in the words the collection page uses. A mismatch between the ad and the page is a drop-off that never appears in any report about the ad.

**Specs** (Text). Duration, dimensions, file type, safe areas and caption requirements, written before the shoot rather than discovered at delivery, because a re-edit costs more than a specification.

**Must include** (Text). Anything that has to appear: the range name spoken once, captions burnt in, a logo placement. List it rather than assuming the editor knows the brand's habits.

**Must avoid** (Text). Anything that must not appear, with the reason: no discontinued colourway, no price on screen, no delivery promise operations has not agreed, no music that cannot be licensed for paid use.

**Due date** (Date (YYYY-MM-DD)). The day the finished asset is needed, which in a store is before the season's build week rather than on the launch date, with room for a review and one re-edit.

**Owner** (Text). The person who commissions this asset, reviews it against this row, and says whether it is finished.

**Catalogue segment** (Text). The slice of the range this asset sells: best sellers, new arrivals, a hero product, clearance. It decides the offer, the proof and how long the asset will stay usable.

**Product in frame** (Text). Exactly which product, variant and colourway appears. Vagueness here produces footage of something that is out of stock by the time the asset runs.

**Offer shown** (Text). Whether the offer appears on screen and in what words, or explicitly not. An offer burnt into a video is an asset that expires the day the offer does.

## The creative brief

| Asset ID | Concept | Format | Placement and aspect | Hook | Message | Proof | Call to action | Specs | Must include | Must avoid | Due date | Owner | Catalogue segment | Product in frame | Offer shown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

## Before you commit it

- There is one row per asset, and every row names the exact product in frame.
- Every hook is written specifically enough to be built from.
- Every asset carries exactly one message with a proof beside it.
- Offer shown is answered explicitly, including where the answer is no.
- No asset depends on a product with thin stock cover.
- Must avoid names the colourways, claims and props that are out.
- Every due date leaves room for review and a re-edit before the run date.