Learn/New ads
How to make an ad from a brief
A brief arrives with no footage. How to get from a page of words to a finished video ad, with every decision made while it is still cheap to change.
The short answerTurn the brief into one sentence and a list of facts the ad must carry, then write the script shot by shot with the words on screen and the length of each shot. Draw a still frame for every shot and approve the frames before any video is made, because changing a frame costs little and changing a clip costs a clip. Then bring each approved frame to life, check every clip against its frame, and lay the cut out for each placement.
- Decide in the cheapest form first: words, then still frames, then moving clips.
- A frame approved before it moves is the main thing that keeps a generated ad on brief.
- Instagram Stories plays videos under 16 seconds in full, so a script for Stories is written short from the start.2
- Meta labels ads made or significantly edited with generative AI “AI info”, including some made with outside tools.4
On this page
Most ads start from footage someone already has. This guide is for the ones that do not: a launch with no shoot booked, a product that exists only as photos, a brief due on Friday. Generated video can fill that gap, and it is also where an ad drifts furthest from what was asked for, unless every decision is made in order, on purpose, before the expensive part.
- The brief: the product, the offer, who it is for, where it runs.
- Real photos of the product, and the brand’s fonts, colours and logo.
- The claims the product is allowed to make, and the legal line.
Step 1Turn the brief into one sentence and a list of facts
Write what the ad has to make someone think, in one sentence, before you write a shot. Then list the facts it has to carry. Everything later is checked against these two things, so they come first and they come from the brief, not from the script.
Meta’s Advertising Standards require the products an ad promotes to match the ones on its landing page, and every part of the ad to be relevant to what is offered.3 A list of facts written before the script is how that stays true after the script has been through three rounds of ideas.
Step 2Write the script shot by shot
Write the script as a table: each shot on its own row, with what is seen, the words on screen, the voice if there is one, and how long it lasts. A script written as a paragraph cannot be checked shot by shot, and it cannot be timed.
| Shot | What is seen | Words on screen | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The product in hand, close up | First mile. | 0:00 to 0:04 |
| 2 | The product in use, outdoors | No warm-up. | 0:04 to 0:08 |
| 3 | The product in motion, a second angle | Just go. | 0:08 to 0:12 |
| 4 | End card: the product, the price, the button | The offer and the legal line | 0:12 to 0:15 |
Example. A 15-second script in four shots, for a running shoe. Your brief sets the shots and the words.
Write it to the shortest placement first. If the plan includes Instagram Stories, which plays videos under 16 seconds in full, a 15-second script runs there as one piece; a longer script for Reels can be made by adding shots, never by stretching these.21
Step 3Draw every frame, and approve the frames
Before any video is made, make one still frame for each shot: the picture the shot will open on, with the real product in it and the words placed where they will sit. This is the storyboard, and it is where the ad is really decided. A frame can be redrawn in seconds; a clip that comes back wrong has to be made again from the start.
Approve the frames with whoever approves the ad. It is the cheapest moment to say “not this shot”, and it means the approver sees the finished video as something they already agreed to, not as a surprise.
Step 4Bring each frame to life, and check each clip against its frame
Make the video one shot at a time, each starting from its approved frame. Describe the movement you want, not the whole scene again: the frame already holds the scene. Then watch each clip beside its frame and ask one question: is this still the shot we approved?
| What goes wrong in a clip | What to do |
|---|---|
| The product changes shape or its label blurs | Make the shot again with less movement of the product |
| A word on screen is misspelled or melts | Keep words off the generated picture; add them in the edit |
| The camera move ends somewhere unplanned | Shorten the shot to the part that matches the frame |
| Hands, faces or text look wrong | Reframe the shot so they are not the subject |
Common faults in generated clips, and the usual fix. Make again only the shots that fail.
Keep the words out of the generated picture altogether. Captions, the price and the end card are added in the edit, on their own layers, where they can be spelled right, kept in the brand’s font and laid out again for each shape.
Step 5Cut it together and lay it out for each placement
Assemble the approved clips in the script’s order, add the words and the end card, and then make the cuts the plan needs, laying the words out again for each shape. Before it goes to the platform, know how it will be labelled: Meta applies an “AI info” label to ads made or significantly edited with its own generative tools, and says it detects ads made with outside AI tools through industry-standard signals and labels those too.4
Common mistakes
- Making clips straight from the script.Every wrong guess about the picture costs a whole clip to fix.
- Letting the generator write the words on screen.They come back misspelled or out of the brand’s font.
- Approving the video without having approved the frames.The approver meets every decision for the first time at the most expensive moment.
- Writing a long script and cutting it down for Stories.Write the short version first and add shots for the longer placements.
Say the idea and attach the product. eonik writes the script, draws every frame, then brings it to life. You see each frame, and the price on the button, before a single clip is made.
See new ads →Questions
How long should the script be?
As long as the shortest placement in the plan plays in one piece. Instagram Stories plays videos under 16 seconds in full, so a script that has to run there is written to 15 seconds, and longer cuts add shots to it.2
Do generated ads have to be labelled?
Meta applies an “AI info” label to ads made or significantly edited with its own generative tools, and says it labels ads it detects were made with outside AI tools. Ads about social issues, elections or politics have stricter disclosure rules of their own.4
Why not generate the whole ad in one go?
Because one long generation hides every decision inside it. Making a frame per shot, approving the frames, then making each clip from its frame keeps every decision visible and every fix small.
Sources
- Video ad specs on Instagram Reels, Meta Ads Guide. 9:16, 1440×2560, the same safe zone.Checked 25 Oct 2026
- Video ad specs on Instagram Stories, Meta Ads Guide. 9:16, 1440×2560, the safe zone, and videos under 16 seconds playing in full.Checked 26 Oct 2026
- Introduction to the Advertising Standards, Meta Transparency Center. No misleading claims, and the ad must match the product on the landing page.Checked 26 Oct 2026
- Expanding GenAI transparency for Meta’s ads products, Meta Newsroom, 3 Feb 2025, updated 1 Jun 2026. The “AI info” label on ads made or edited with generative AI, including third-party tools.Checked 26 Oct 2026