Use this when a campaign is live and an asset is needed urgently: speed beats perfection. A variant running in four hours beats a perfect asset delivered in two days. The brief needs to be enough to build, not enough to be beautiful.
When to use and when not to
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Creative fatigue, CTR decay, high frequency, variant needed today | This skill (48) |
| Testing a new angle on a creative that already works | This skill (48) |
| Entirely new asset, new concept | 42-image-brief-global (full brief) |
| Landing page, video, email | 12, 44, 49 — these cannot be rushed |
| No winning creative to build from | 42-image-brief-global |
Information gathering
Ask once, in a single message, up to 4 questions:
- What asset and what size? Static, carousel, or story — for which channel?
- Which creative is the base? The highest-CTR creative currently running (file or share link). If unknown, pull the data from
21-ads-audit-global. - What is the new angle or message? What changes versus the running creative? Is the copy written or does it need writing now?
- Deadline? The exact hour it must be delivered — hard, not flexible.
Principles
- Duplicate, do not create. Find the creative that works and change one element. Cloning a winner is faster than inventing.
- One main change per variant — not five at once, so the data still explains why it won or lost.
- Brief only what is DIFFERENT from the base creative. Everything else stays.
- The deadline is hard. If it will slip, say so immediately — silence is not an option.
- The lead or media buyer commits to feedback within 30 minutes of submission. No feedback within one hour counts as approved.
- Fast approval checks three things only: right message, right size, CTA present.
Workflow
1. Identify the base (5 minutes)
Which live creative has the highest CTR? That is the base. Get the link to the source file (Canva, Figma, Adobe Express) — always duplicate the source, never an exported file.
2. Write the one-page quick brief (15-30 minutes)
Use the template below. Fill in only the "specific changes" table — everything else inherits from the base.
3. Designer builds in 2-4 hours
Duplicate the base, change exactly the listed elements, export at the stated sizes, submit.
4. Review in 30 minutes on 3 points
Right message? Right size? CTA present? If yes, push it live. No feedback within one hour means the designer treats it as approved and submits the final file.
Output structure
File name: quick-brief-[campaign]-[YYYYMMDD].md
# QUICK BRIEF — [Asset name] — [date]
Deadline: [HH:MM on date] (not flexible)
Build time: 2-4 hours
Base: [link to source file — the highest-CTR creative]
## Base template
- Duplicate from: [link]
- Keep unchanged: [layout / background / logo / fonts]
- Change only: [copy / color / image / CTA — pick one main change]
## Specific changes
| Element | Current | New |
|---------|---------|-----|
| Headline | | |
| Subtext | | |
| CTA | | |
| Visual / image | | |
## Sizes required
- [ ] 1080x1080 — Meta Feed
- [ ] 1080x1920 — Story / Reels (if needed)
- [ ] 1200x628 — link banner (if needed)
## Export and submission
- Format: JPG
- Submit via: [Slack channel / shared Drive folder]
- File name: QUICK_[Campaign]_[Date]_v1.jpg
## Review
- Three checks only: right message / right size / CTA present
- Feedback within: 30 minutes of submission
- No feedback within one hour = approved
## Context (1-2 sentences)
[CTR has decayed from X% / frequency has passed the threshold / testing a new angle: ...]
Overall SLA
| Step | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Write the quick brief | Lead / media buyer | 30 minutes from spotting the problem |
| Build the asset | Designer | 2-4 hours |
| Review | Lead / media buyer | 30 minutes after submission |
| No feedback | — | After one hour, treat as approved |
| Launch-day standby | Designer | Respond to requests within 2 hours |
Triggers that justify a quick brief
| Signal | Typical threshold | Action |
|---|---|---|
| CTR decay | Down 25-30% or more from the creative's own first-week baseline | New variant on the same offer, new hook |
| Frequency climbing | Above roughly 2.5-3.0 in a 7-day window on a prospecting set | Refresh the creative, not the audience |
| CPA drifting up | Materially above the campaign's own target, with stable CVR | Test a new angle before touching bids |
| A new angle worth testing | Any time a hypothesis emerges from comments or support tickets | One variable changed, per 19-ab-test-setup-global |
Use the account's own trailing baseline as the reference, not an external benchmark — decay is relative to how the creative started.
Related skills
21-ads-audit-global: the data source for creative fatigue (frequency, CTR) and for identifying the winner to clone.19-ab-test-setup-global: quick variants should still fit a clean test frame — one change equals one variable.41-campaign-asset-list-global: add the new asset row and update its status.42-image-brief-global: fallback when there is no winner to clone — write the full brief.50-asset-resize-global: once a variant wins, resize it into the remaining sizes.47-design-review-global: urgent assets get the 3-point check, not the full 40-point review.
Quality checklist
- A concrete base exists (link to the winning creative's source file)
- Exactly one main change — every other element stays
- The change table states current versus new
- The deadline names an hour, and the designer has confirmed it is achievable
- Sizes, format, and submission location are stated
- One or two sentences of context so the designer knows why it is urgent
- The 30-minute review SLA is committed by the approver
- After the variant runs, its result (win/lose) is recorded in the asset list