/production-brief

The aha: Before: Helena starts a creative update for Pier West. She opens a blank ClickUp task and writes the brief from scratch — platforms, languages, key messaging, scope of work. She looks up the account ID in a spreadsheet, copies the copy sheet URL from an old task, and tries to remember which formats the client uses. Two hours later, the brief is done. A week later, the digital team is launching and asks: "Where's the copy sheet? What's the Pixel ID? Which ad sets are we using?" — and Helena has to dig through ClickUp comments to find the links she already shared. Now she types /production-brief pier-west, answers a few guided questions, and everything is generated — the ClickUp brief, the production spec, the copy file stubs, and a visual preview. The digital team opens one document and has everything they need.

What you need to know (2 min read)

/production-brief is the starting point for any creative update or new campaign launch. It replaces the manual process of writing briefs and hoping everyone finds the right links.

You give it a project name, answer guided questions about what you're launching (platforms, languages, messaging, scope), and it generates a complete production spec. The spec includes everything the digital team needs to launch — account IDs, copy, creative assets, UTM parameters, ad set mapping — all in one place.

It also posts a formatted brief to your ClickUp task automatically, so the team sees the same information in their normal workflow.

Nothing changes about how you work day-to-day. Caroline still writes copy in the Google Sheet. Cindy still designs in Figma. You still manage subtasks and client feedback in ClickUp. The skill just makes the beginning (brief creation) and the end (launch handoff) faster and more reliable.

How it works

Creating the brief

When you run /production-brief, Claude walks you through ~18 questions. Most have defaults already filled in from the project's context files — you just confirm or adjust:

• Project details — which project, what type (creative update / new launch / always-on refresh), description, launch date
• Campaign setup — platforms (Meta/Google/both), languages, objective (Conversion/Lead/Traffic), landing page
• Messaging — primary message, secondary message, CTA, special instructions for the copy team
• Scope — how many creatives per format per language, which campaign types to run
• Links — ClickUp task, copy sheet, Figma, Drive folder (all optional at this stage)

The skill auto-fills account IDs, pixel IDs, naming conventions, and team assignments from the project's existing files. You never need to look these up.

What it generates

Everything goes into a campaigns/ folder inside the project:

clients/rennie/pier-west/campaigns/2026-04-spring-update/
├── campaign.md # This campaign's targeting, budget, structure
├── production.md # The main production spec
├── copy-meta.md # Meta ad copy (starts empty, filled when copy is ready)
├── copy-google.md # Google ad copy (starts empty, filled when copy is ready)
└── preview.html # Visual preview — open this in your browser

The preview.html is a visual page showing the brief, messaging, scope, and mock ad previews showing how the ads will look. As copy and assets get added, the preview updates to show real data.

The production pipeline

After the initial brief, the skill has sub-commands for each stage:

1. Copy is approved in the sheet → run /production-brief pull-copy 2026-04-spring-update → copies the ad copy from the Google Sheet into the structured files
2. Assets exported to Drive → run /production-brief add-assets 2026-04-spring-update → maps creative files to copy entries
3. Both confirmed → run /production-brief build-matrix 2026-04-spring-update → generates the launch manifest (which copy + which creative + which ad set)
4. Ready to go → run /production-brief status 2026-04-spring-update approved → marks everything approved, digital team knows it's ready

Try it yourself

1. Open Cowork in a project folder (e.g., Pier West, Harlin, Elmwood)
2. Type: /production-brief
3. Answer the guided questions — most are just confirming defaults
4. When it's done (~5 minutes), open preview.html in your browser to see the visual overview
5. Check your ClickUp task — the formatted brief should be posted there

To test the sub-commands later:

• /production-brief pull-copy 2026-04-spring-update — after Caroline finishes copy
• /production-brief add-assets 2026-04-spring-update — after Cindy exports creatives
• /production-brief build-matrix 2026-04-spring-update — when both are confirmed

Quick reference

Tips

• Run it at the start of every creative update or new campaign launch. It replaces the manual brief-writing step. The earlier you run it, the sooner the team has a structured spec to work from.
• You don't need all the answers upfront. Figma URL, Drive folder, and copy sheet can be added later via sub-commands. Start with what you know (project, messaging, scope) and fill in the rest as the production progresses.
• Open preview.html to QA. It's faster than reading through markdown files. The mock ad cards show how the ads will look based on your messaging — useful for catching issues before copy is even written.
• The folder name matters. It uses YYYY-MM-<description> format (e.g., 2026-04-spring-update). This is what you pass to sub-commands later.
• If the project's context files are outdated, update them first. The skill pulls account IDs, audiences, and naming conventions from the project's CLAUDE.md and campaign.md. If those are stale, the production spec will have stale data. Run /context-sync first if needed.

Related

• context-files-explained — The project files that power auto-population
• context-sync — Keep context files updated so production briefs are accurate
• campaign-status — Check campaign health before planning a creative update