ads-creative

Cross-Platform Creative Quality Audit

Process

1. Brand context check — look for ./branding.md. If not found, run the Brand Info Collection flow below before proceeding.
2. Collect creative assets or performance data from active platforms
3. Read ads/references/platform-specs.md for creative specifications
4. Read ads/references/creative-volume.md for per-platform volume and refresh requirements
5. Read ads/references/benchmarks.md for CTR/engagement benchmarks
6. Read ads/references/scoring-system.md for weighted scoring algorithm
7. Evaluate creative quality per platform
8. Run Brand Consistency Audit using branding.md (advisory, not scored)
9. Assess cross-platform creative consistency
10. Generate production priority recommendations
11. Offer to generate new creatives using /infographic-v2 for any flagged gaps

Brand Info Collection

Run this at the start if ./branding.md does not exist in the project root.

Goal: Extract the brand's actual styling, copy, and identity — primarily from their website — to personalize the creative audit and enable on-brand creative generation via infographic-v2.

Step 1: Ask for brand name and website

"Before I audit your creatives, I need your brand context to check consistency. What's your brand name and website URL?"

Ask for the brand name and website URL first. If the user provides a URL, immediately run the website extraction (step 2) before asking any further questions.

Step 2: Website extraction (when URL provided)

Do not guess or assume anything. Extract the actual values from the live website.

2a — Fetch the homepage

Use WebFetch on the homepage URL. Extract ALL of the following:

Visual identity:

• All colors used prominently: backgrounds, buttons, headers, links, text, borders, footer. Report exact hex values. Identify which is primary (most prominent brand color, usually on CTAs and headers), secondary, accent, background, and text color.
• Font families: read the actual font-family declarations used on headings and body text. Look in CSS, <link> tags for Google Fonts / Typekit / custom font URLs, and inline styles. Report the exact font names (e.g., "Plus Jakarta Sans", "DM Sans", "Geist"), not generic fallbacks like "sans-serif".
• Logo: describe the logo from the header/nav. Note if it's text-based, icon-based, or both.
• Visual style: describe what you observe — minimal with whitespace? Bold with saturated colors? Dark mode? Gradient-heavy? Illustration-driven? Corporate?
• Button styles: rounded, square, pill-shaped? What color? What text color on buttons?
• Spacing and density: tight and information-dense, or airy and spacious?

Copy and messaging:

• Tagline / slogan from the hero section
• Hero headline: the main H1 or hero text
• Value proposition: what they do and why it matters
• Key benefits: any benefit sections, feature highlights, selling points
• Social proof: testimonials, customer logos, metrics, awards, trust badges, star ratings
• CTAs: every call-to-action button text on the page
• Navigation items: main nav labels reveal product/service categories

Brand voice signals:

• Tone of the copy: formal or casual? Technical or plain? Playful or serious?
• Person: first person ("We help...") or second person ("You can...")?
• Specific words/phrases: any repeated brand language, trademarked terms

2b — Fetch additional pages (if needed)

If the homepage left gaps, also fetch:

• /about or /about-us — company story, mission, team, more voice signals
• /pricing — pricing model (free trial, freemium, tiers, contact-us)

Only fetch if there are genuine gaps. Don't fetch for the sake of it.

2c — Present extraction to user

Show everything extracted clearly:

Here's what I found on [website]:

  Brand: [name]
  Tagline: "[extracted tagline]"
  Industry: [detected industry]
  Business model: [detected model]

  Colors:
    Primary:    [name] #[hex] — used on [CTAs, headers, etc.]
    Secondary:  [name] #[hex] — used on [subheadings, etc.]
    Accent:     [name] #[hex] — used on [highlights, badges, etc.]
    Background: #[hex]
    Text:       #[hex]

  Fonts:
    Headings: [exact font name]
    Body:     [exact font name]

  Visual style: [description of what you observed]
  Button style: [pill/rounded/square], [color], [hover behavior if visible]

  Voice: [formal/casual], [serious/playful], [technical/simple]
  Hero: "[exact hero headline]"
  Value prop: "[extracted value proposition]"
  CTAs found: "[CTA 1]", "[CTA 2]", "[CTA 3]"
  Social proof: [what's shown — logos, metrics, testimonials]

Does this look right? Anything to correct or add?

The user confirms or corrects. Only after confirmation, proceed with remaining questions.

Step 3: Fill gaps with questions

After website extraction, only ask about things that could not be determined from the website. Skip any section where the website gave a clear answer.

Likely still needed (websites rarely cover these):

• Target audience: who they sell to (job title/role, age), pain points, buying triggers, where they spend time online
• Ad-specific guidelines: confirm extracted CTAs, pricing in ads?, required elements (trust badges, ratings), anything forbidden
• Brand voice refinement (only if ambiguous from the site): words they always/never use

Do NOT re-ask about colors, fonts, tagline, visual style, or value proposition if the website extraction already captured them.

Step 4: No-URL fallback

If the user does not provide a website URL, collect everything manually:

1. Brand colors — primary, secondary, accent (hex codes)
2. Typography — headline and body fonts
3. Visual style — clean/minimal, bold/colorful, professional, playful, premium
4. Tagline / value proposition
5. Brand voice — formal vs casual (1-10), serious vs playful, technical vs simple
6. Target audience — who they sell to, main pain points
7. Approved CTAs
8. Anything forbidden in ads

Step 5: Save branding.md

Write ./branding.md in the project root using the canonical format from ads/references/brand-context.md.

Every value in branding.md must come from the website extraction or the user's direct answers. Never fill in defaults or placeholders. If a field has no data, leave it blank or omit the section.

Validate before writing:

• Brand name is not empty
• At least one color with hex value exists
• At least one audience description exists
• Business model is identified

Step 6: Confirm and continue

Brand context saved: ./branding.md

  Brand: [name]
  Colors: [primary hex] [secondary hex] [accent hex]
  Fonts: [heading font] / [body font]
  Voice: [tone summary]
  Audience: [persona summary]

Proceeding with creative audit...

Then continue with the normal creative audit flow (step 2 onward in the Process section).

Per-Platform Assessment

Google Ads Creative

• RSA: ≥8 unique headlines, ≥3 descriptions per ad group
• RSA ad strength: "Good" or "Excellent"
• Pin usage: minimal and strategic (over-pinning kills RSA flexibility)
• Extensions: sitelinks (≥4), callouts (≥4), structured snippets, image
• PMax asset groups: text + image + video + optional product feed
• YouTube: video quality, hook, subtitles (see ads-youtube sub-skill)

Meta Ads Creative

• Format diversity: ≥3 formats active (image, video, carousel, collection)
• Creative volume: Standard ≥5 per ad set (ideal 5-8 for Andromeda); ASC ≥50 (ideal 50-150)
• Fatigue detection: CTR declining >20% over 14 days = FAIL; top brands refresh every 10.4 days
• Video length: 15s max Stories/Reels, 30s max Feed
• UGC/testimonial content tested
• Advantage+ Creative enhancements enabled
• Headline under 40 chars, primary text under 125 chars

LinkedIn Creative

• Thought Leader Ads active, ≥30% budget for B2B
• Format diversity: ≥2 formats tested (single image, carousel, video, document)
• Video ads tested
• Creative refresh: every 4-6 weeks
• Professional tone appropriate for platform

TikTok Creative

• ≥6 creatives per ad group (Critical; top performers: 10-20/campaign; Smart+ launch: ≥4)
• All video 9:16 vertical 1080x1920 (non-negotiable)
• Native-looking content (not corporate)
• Hook in first 1-2 seconds
• Fatigue onset: 3-5 days; typical lifespan: 7-10 days; refresh every 10-14 days
• No creative active >7 days with declining CTR; hard ceiling: 30 days regardless
• Spark Ads tested (~3% CTR vs ~2% standard)
• Sound-on optimization (never silent)
• Safe zone compliance: X:40-940, Y:150-1470
• Trending audio used

Microsoft Creative

• RSA: ≥8 headlines, ≥3 descriptions
• Multimedia Ads tested (unique rich format)
• Ad copy optimized for Bing demographics (older, higher income, professional)
• Action Extension utilized (unique to Microsoft)
• Filter Link Extension tested

Creative Fatigue Detection

Signals of Fatigue

| Signal | Threshold | Action | |--------|-----------|--------| | CTR declining | >20% over 14 days | Refresh creative | | Frequency (Meta) | >5.0 prospecting, >12.0 retargeting | New audience or creative | | Watch time declining (TikTok) | <3s average | New hook needed | | QS declining (Google) | Drop of 2+ points | Refresh ad copy | | Engagement rate drop | >30% decline | Full creative overhaul |

Refresh Cadence by Platform

| Platform | Recommended Refresh | |----------|-------------------| | Google Search | Every 8-12 weeks | | Meta | Every 10-14 days (top brands avg 10.4 days); hard ceiling 90 days | | LinkedIn | Every 2-4 weeks; 80/20 winner/testing split | | TikTok | Every 10-14 days (fatigue onset 3-5 days, lifespan 7-10 days); hard ceiling 30 days | | Microsoft | Every 8-12 weeks | | YouTube | Every 4-8 weeks |

Format Diversity Matrix

Evaluate which formats are active per platform:

| Format | Google | Meta | LinkedIn | TikTok | Microsoft | |--------|--------|------|----------|--------|-----------| | Static Image | RSA image ext | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | Multimedia | | Video | YouTube, PMax | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (required) | ❌ | | Carousel | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Collection | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Document | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Shopping | PMax, Shopping | Catalog | ❌ | Shop | Shopping |

Universal Creative Best Practices

Cross-Platform Safe Zone

• 900x1000px usable area works across all vertical placements
• Keep critical elements centered and within safe margins
• Test on mobile devices (75%+ of ad impressions are mobile)

Ad Copy Principles

• Lead with benefit, not feature
• Include clear CTA (what should they do next?)
• Match ad message to landing page (message match)
• Use numbers and specifics over vague claims
• Test emotional vs rational appeals

Video Production Standards

• H.264 codec, AAC audio, MP4 container
• Minimum 720p (1080p preferred)
• Subtitles/captions always (accessibility + sound-off viewing)
• Brand mention within first 5s (awareness) or at CTA (performance)

Brand Consistency Audit (Advisory)

Using ./branding.md, evaluate these dimensions. Results are advisory only — they appear as "Brand Consistency Notes" in the report but are NOT included in the health score.

| Dimension | What to Check | |-----------|--------------| | Color compliance | Ad visuals use brand primary/secondary colors (hex match) | | Typography | Headlines and body text match brand font guidelines | | Tone alignment | Ad copy matches brand voice dimensions (formal/casual, etc.) | | CTA consistency | CTAs match approved CTA list from branding.md | | Visual style | Photography/illustration style matches brand guidelines | | Forbidden elements | No forbidden words or elements present in ads | | Audience match | Messaging addresses documented persona pain points |

Creative Generation with Infographic v2

After the audit, when the production priority list identifies creatives to produce (static images, infographics, data visuals for ads), offer to generate them using /infographic-v2.

Flow:

1. Identify the highest-priority static creative gaps from the audit
2. Ask: "I can generate ad creatives for the top gaps using the infographic tool. Want me to start with [highest priority gap]?"
3. If yes, invoke /infographic-v2 — it will pick up ./branding.md for brand-consistent output
4. The infographic skill handles concept selection, visualization approach, and generation
5. After generation, return to the next creative gap or wrap up

What infographic-v2 uses from branding.md:

• Brand colors → color palette for the infographic
• Typography → font selection
• Visual style → style anchors
• Brand voice → headline and copy tone
• Approved CTAs → CTA text in ad creatives

Output

Creative Quality Report

Cross-Platform Creative Health

Google:     ████████░░  X/X checks passing
Meta:       ██████████  X/X checks passing
LinkedIn:   ███████░░░  X/X checks passing
TikTok:     █████░░░░░  X/X checks passing
Microsoft:  ████████░░  X/X checks passing

Deliverables

• CREATIVE-AUDIT-REPORT.md — Per-platform creative assessment
• Fatigue alerts (any creative past refresh cadence)
• Format diversity gaps per platform
• Production priority list (most impactful creative to produce next)
• Quick Wins (format conversions, CTA changes, Spark Ads setup)
• Generated ad creatives via infographic-v2 (if user opts in)