How to brief a banner campaign

Most questions that come up during a banner campaign, such as which offer, which sizes or which link, have an answer that belongs in the brief. This guide goes through what a banner brief needs, field by field, and ends with an example brief for a fictional brand.

Start with the goal

Give the campaign one goal. A banner has room for one message and one action, and the goal decides which. Sizewright’s brief offers seven:

The goal shapes the rest of the brief. A sale needs an offer, an event needs a date, and hiring needs a role. In Sizewright, the goal also steers which layouts the art director reaches for, and suggests a call to action when you leave that field empty.

What you promote, and to whom

Describe what the campaign promotes in plain words: the product, what makes it worth a click, and any proof you can show. “Our new summer ferry route from Rotterdam to Bergen, daily from June” gives a writer far more to work with than “our ferry service”.

Then say who it is for. Name the people, what they already know, and what they want. “Families planning a summer road trip” is an audience. “Everyone” is not. The audience decides the tone, the image and the angle, so a brief without one leaves all three to chance.

What the copy must carry

Some details are set on the banner exactly as you give them. Others steer what the copy may and may not say. Both belong in the brief.

The offer and its conditions

If the campaign carries an offer, write it the way it should read on the banner:

• The value: “−20%”, “€89”, “2 for 1”
• A caption: what it applies to, such as “on your first box”
• The conditions: who qualifies, the minimum order, what is excluded
• The end date: when the offer stops

Other facts follow the same rule. An event needs its date, and if it has them, a time and a place. A quotation needs the exact words and the name of the person who said them. Listing facts, such as “3 bedrooms, 120 m²”, should be written as they will appear. Sizewright sets offers, prices, dates and quotes exactly as you type them, and never invents a quote.

Must-say and must-avoid

List what the copy has to include and what it must never say. Must-say lines might be a product name, a claim legal has approved, or a phrase the client insists on. Must-avoid lines cover claims you cannot prove, competitors’ names, and words the brand never uses.

Keep both lists short and specific. “Mention free returns” helps a writer; “sound premium” does not. In Sizewright, a brief takes up to five must-say and ten must-avoid lines. The brand kit holds up to twelve of each for every campaign of that brand.

The call to action and the landing page

The call to action names what the reader does next: “Book a service”, “See the jobs”, “Get tickets”. It should match what the landing page offers, in the language of the banner.

The landing page itself needs three checks:

1. It uses https. Sizewright accepts only https landing pages. Campaign Manager 360 requires https only for the addresses inside the banner’s code, such as assets and scripts, and says a plain http landing page is fine.^[1]
2. It works. Display & Video 360 requires every creative to have “a functional click-through URL that leads the user to a working landing page.”^[2]
3. It is tagged. UTM parameters such as utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign tell your analytics which banner sent the visit. Sizewright can add UTM tags per export destination, so Google Ads and Meta clicks arrive labeled separately.

Imagery, formats and languages

The last part of the brief covers how the campaign looks and where it runs.

Imagery

Say where the imagery comes from: your own photos, stock, generated images, or a mix. In Sizewright, “best fit” uses your images first, then stock photos from Unsplash and Pexels, then generated images. You can pick up to twelve images from your library for a campaign.

Add a note for the art director about what to show and what to avoid. “The roastery at work, not beans on a sack” is a useful note. “Nice photos” is not. Images are checked by a vision model for stray text and marks, and images that fail are dropped. The banner itself, with its text, logo, button and layout, is always composed by Sizewright’s engine, never drawn by an image model.

Formats, languages and motion

• Formats: list the sizes your media plan books, per channel. The guide to banner sizes helps you choose. Sizewright offers ready-made sets per channel, and takes up to 60 formats per brief.
• Languages: name the lead language and every language that follows. Sizewright writes up to 12 per campaign.
• Motion: static, or animated in a calm, confident or energetic style.

An example brief

Here is a complete brief for Noordkaap, a fictional coffee roaster.

That fits on one screen, and it answers the questions a writer, a designer and a trafficker would otherwise have to ask.

From brief to banners

In Sizewright, the brief is the first step. From it, AI art direction develops six concepts and shows the best four, each with a layout, copy in three lengths, an imagery plan and a motion style. You choose one, and the engine builds every format and language from it. How it works walks through the whole flow, and AI art direction explains how the concepts are made.