How to Brief an AI Advert: A Guide for South African Businesses

One of the most common questions we get from new clients isn’t “does AI advertising work” — by the time a business reaches out, they’ve usually already seen enough to believe it does. The real question is: “what do you actually need from me?”

It’s a fair question, and the answer matters. As a South African agency for AI adverts, the single biggest factor in how good the final advert looks isn’t the AI technology itself — it’s the quality of the brief and source material we’re given to work with. A good brief takes ten minutes to put together and makes the difference between a decent result and an exceptional one.

What We Actually Need From You

Unlike a traditional shoot, there’s no crew, no studio booking, no models to coordinate. What replaces all of that is a clear, well-organised brief. Here’s what goes into one:

1. Product Photos or References

This is the foundation. Clear, well-lit photos of the actual product — from multiple angles if possible — give the AI production process something accurate to work from. Phone photos are fine as long as they’re in focus and show the product clearly; you don’t need professional photography to start.

2. Brand Assets

Your logo, brand colours, and any existing visual identity guidelines. If your brand already has a look — a colour palette, a font, a mood — we want to match it, not create something that feels disconnected from everything else you’ve published.

3. The Goal of the Advert

Is this for a product launch, a seasonal promotion, brand awareness, or driving traffic to a specific offer? The goal shapes the tone, pacing and call to action of the final piece. An advert built for a flash sale looks and feels different from one built for long-term brand building.

4. Where It’s Going to Run

A video for Instagram Reels needs different pacing and framing than one for a website hero banner or a WhatsApp Status update. Telling us the platform upfront means the advert is built correctly the first time, rather than reformatted after the fact.

5. Examples You Like

If you’ve seen an advert — yours, a competitor’s, or something completely unrelated — that captures a mood or style you want, share it. It’s one of the fastest ways to close the gap between what’s in your head and what we produce.

6. Any Non-Negotiables

Specific claims that must appear, compliance requirements (especially common for professional services and education providers), and things that absolutely cannot be shown or implied. Better to flag these upfront than catch them in revisions.

What You Don’t Need to Worry About

You don’t need professional copywriting, a shot list, a storyboard, or technical specifications. You don’t need to know what “cinematic” or “macro” mean in production terms — that’s our job to translate from your brief into the finished advert. The goal of the brief is to get us the raw information; how it becomes a finished piece of content is on us.

What Happens After You Send a Brief

Once we have your product references, brand assets and goals, we get to work producing the advert. Most projects are delivered within 3–5 business days, and every package includes revisions if the first draft needs adjustment. See what AI video ads cost for what’s included at each tier. Want to compare two ideas? Ask for two clearly different versions, and see our guide to A/B testing adverts. Planning around a sale date? Our festive season planner works backwards from your launch day.

Getting Started

If you’re not sure whether your brief is “good enough,” the honest answer is: send what you have. A rough brief with clear product photos is enough to start a conversation, and we’ll ask for anything specific we’re missing.

Message us on WhatsApp with a few product photos and a sentence about what you’re looking for. We’ll take it from there — including a free demo advert before you commit to anything.