# Ad Copy and Creative Briefs

How to write ads that sound like the owner, and how to hand a visual off to Canva.

Read [the shared voice profile](../../../shared/voice-profile.md) first. Ads carry the owner's name and their neighbors see them. Generic ad-speak in a local market is worse than no ad.

---

## Three variants, three different bets

Draft three per ad slot. Each variant tests one thing, and you say what.

| Variant | Tests |
|---|---|
| A | The offer — what is being promised |
| B | The angle — the reason to care, usually a different pain |
| C | The format — question versus statement, short versus specific |

Three headlines that differ by a word teach nothing after USD 600 of spend. If the owner only wants one, give one and say which bet it is making.

---

## The structure that works for local service

1. **Say who it is for, in their words.** "Bergen County homeowners" beats "valued customers."
2. **Name the actual problem.** Specific beats broad. "AC quit in the middle of a heat wave" beats "HVAC issues."
3. **Say what happens next.** A real, small next step.
4. **One call to action.** Not three.

Under 40 words for the body on most placements. People are scrolling.

---

## Worked example

Okonkwo Mechanical, spring tune-up campaign. Ray's voice profile: short sentences, contractions, "the work" not "solutions," never "reach out."

```
Variant A — tests the offer
  Headline:  USD 89 AC Tune-Up Before the First Hot Week
  Body:      We check the whole system, clean the coils, and tell you
             straight if anything's about to go. Takes about an hour.
             Booking now for May.
  CTA:       Book a time

Variant B — tests the angle (fear of the July breakdown)
  Headline:  Nobody Wants To Call Us In July
  Body:      Most emergency calls we get in summer were fixable in spring
             for a fraction of the cost. An hour now saves the 95-degree
             phone call later.
  CTA:       Book a time

Variant C — tests the format (question, shorter)
  Headline:  When Did You Last Have The AC Looked At?
  Body:      If the answer is "no idea," it's time. USD 89, about an hour,
             and a straight answer on what shape it's in.
  CTA:       Book a time
```

All three sound like Ray. None uses a word he has never written.

---

## Rules that keep ads out of trouble

- **Never invent a price, guarantee, discount, or credential.** If the owner has not said it, it does not go in the ad. This is a legal exposure, not a style preference.
- **Never state a response time the owner cannot meet.** "We answer in 15 minutes" written into an ad becomes a promise they will be held to.
- **Avoid superlatives the owner cannot back.** "Best in the county" invites a challenge and reads as noise.
- **Match the ad to the landing page.** An ad promising USD 89 that lands on a page with no price is the fastest way to waste a budget.
- **Watch platform rules.** Personal attributes, health claims, and before-and-after imagery are restricted on most platforms. A rejected ad wastes days.

---

## Creative briefs

When Canva is connected, generate the asset. When it is not, the brief is the deliverable — hand it to the owner or their designer and it is complete work.

```
Creative brief — Spring Tune-Up, Variant B

Message:      The July emergency call you can avoid in May
Format:       Square 1080x1080 for feed, 1080x1920 for stories
Visual:       Technician at an outdoor condenser unit, daylight, real work
              clothes. Not stock-photo polished.
Text on art:  "Nobody wants to call us in July"  — large, top third
Secondary:    "USD 89 spring tune-up" — bottom, smaller
Brand:        Okonkwo Mechanical logo bottom right. Navy and white.
Avoid:        Cartoon thermometers, sweating-emoji visuals, stock smiling
              families in living rooms
Deliverables: Both sizes, PNG
```

Confirm brand colors, logo, and fonts against what the owner has actually used before. If none is on file, ask once and note it, rather than picking.

---

## Sizes worth having on hand

| Placement | Size |
|---|---|
| Feed, square | 1080 x 1080 |
| Feed, portrait | 1080 x 1350 |
| Stories and Reels, TikTok | 1080 x 1920 |
| Right column and misc | 1200 x 628 |

Generate the square and the vertical at minimum. Vertical placements are where most of the cheap impressions live, and a square image stretched into a vertical slot looks like a mistake.

---

## After the ads run

Come back with the variant comparison against the minimum volumes in `diagnostics.md` — 1,000 impressions and 15 results per variant before naming a winner. Then say what the winner taught, not just which one won: "the fear-of-July angle beat the price angle by 40%, so lead with consequence, not discount, in the next round."