“Make a banner that sells” does not explain who the advertisement is for, what offer to show or where the click will lead. The designer has to guess the content, and the first draft becomes a way to discover information that could have been agreed in advance.
A brief communicates the task, materials and constraints. It also helps distinguish developing a new idea from adapting an approved design to another format.
State who will see the advertisement and what they already know about the company. Someone encountering the offer for the first time and a visitor who has explored the service may need different explanations.
Identify one main action: open the catalogue, request a quote, book a meeting or buy a specific product. Explain what happens after the click.
Provide a link to the landing page or current form. The designer needs to understand the terms and promises the user will encounter next.
Write down exactly what the customer receives, its limits and why it is worth considering. If you use a price, discount, deadline or restriction, provide the approved terms.
Separate substantiated information from preferences. Reviews, specifications, figures and benefit statements need an identifiable source. Do not ask for convincing results that the business does not have.
The advertisement's content should match the destination page. If a banner offers a free consultation, users should understand its terms and how to book after clicking.
“For Google and Meta” is not enough. Provide the ad type, selected placements, dimensions or aspect ratios, language and technical requirements. Check these against the platform's current documentation and campaign settings.
Distinguish a finished banner from a set of separate assets. For example, Google's responsive display ads are assembled from headlines, descriptions, images and logos: the task goes beyond a single file with text already placed on it. See the Google Ads specifications.
Record the number of concepts and adaptations separately. One idea in several sizes and several different ideas involve different workloads. Also agree on whether editable source files are required.
Provide the current logo, typefaces, palette, design guidelines, photographs and copy. State the materials' usage terms and which elements must not change.
For a product, supply accurate specifications and images of the relevant variant. For a service, provide substantiated features of the offer and a clear context for its use.
Explain advertising references: what you like about their composition or legibility and what does not suit your task. A link to a competitor without commentary does not replace a brief or grant permission to copy their design.
To keep advertising part of the company's broader identity, follow the guidelines in the article on consistent brand identity.
If some information is not ready, say so explicitly. Defining the offer and placements is particularly important: without them, estimating the scope and choosing a composition are difficult.
Imagine a company offering an installation quote. The advertisement's goal is an enquiry through a form. Customers need to understand which work the company performs and what information is needed for the estimate.
Useful inputs include the services covered, the service area, a photograph of actual work and a link to a form with the necessary fields. A few generic quality slogans give the designer less information.
This is a hypothetical example. Choose the message to fit the offer and audience, rather than following a rule that “every banner must show a price”.
Check whether the offer is clear, the main elements are legible at their display size and the action matches the destination page. Verify facts, terms, language and placement requirements.
Base comments on specific observations: “the discount conditions are hard to read” or “the image does not make the product clear”. Collect the team's feedback into one list.
This check establishes whether the creative is ready to launch, but does not prove its effectiveness. The process for checking hypotheses after launch is covered in the article on testing advertising creatives.
When commissioning advertising banners and creatives, use the brief as the basis for estimating the work. Specify the number of concepts, adaptations and approval stages in the commercial proposal.