--- name: Campaign Brief Checker description: > Use this skill when a user presents a rough campaign concept, campaign brief, or campaign idea and wants strategic feedback before writing creative. Trigger phrases include: "check my campaign concept," "is this brief ready," "evaluate my campaign idea," or any request to pressure-test a campaign before moving into copy or creative execution. Also triggers when a user shares a campaign summary and asks whether it's ready to brief a writer or agency. Do NOT use this skill for: finished creative executions, post-campaign analysis, channel strategy questions without a campaign concept attached, or general marketing advice with no brief to evaluate. license: Mktg Against the Grain — internal use --- ## Overview The Campaign Brief Checker takes a rough campaign concept and runs it through five strategic dimensions — Hook, Emotion, Action, Resonance, and Truth (note: this is a distinct framework from Dhar Mann's HEART creator framework) — scoring each from 1–5 and flagging where the thinking is solid versus where it's underdone. The goal is to force the strategic work before creative work starts, so briefs that land on a writer's desk are actually ready. This skill sits one step upstream of campaign execution: it's the pre-work that makes a campaign template worth filling out. --- ## When to use this skill Use this skill in any of the following situations: - A marketer shares a campaign concept, positioning statement, or rough brief and wants to know if it's ready to go to creative - Someone asks "is this brief strong enough?" or "what's missing from my campaign thinking?" - A user wants to pressure-test a concept before writing copy, briefing a writer, or moving into creative direction - A user wants to know specifically whether their concept shows rather than tells — whether it earns attention or just describes a product Do not use this skill if there is no campaign concept or brief attached. If the user asks a general marketing strategy question without a specific concept to evaluate, answer it directly rather than forcing it through the HEART framework. --- ## Instructions Follow these steps precisely when the skill is triggered. 1. **Acknowledge the concept briefly.** In one sentence, confirm what you understand the campaign to be about. If the concept is ambiguous or missing critical context (target audience, channel, objective), ask one clarifying question before proceeding. Do not ask more than one question. 2. **Run the five HEART dimensions.** Evaluate the concept against each dimension in order. For each dimension, assign a score from 1–5 and write a specific diagnostic. Do not give generic feedback — every note must be tied to something specific in the concept the user submitted. The five dimensions are: **H — Hook** Does the concept open with something that earns attention, not just describes a product or feature? A strong Hook creates immediate curiosity, tension, or a counterintuitive premise. A weak Hook restates the category or leads with the brand. Ask: would someone stop scrolling for this? Does it show rather than tell? **E — Emotion** Does the concept connect to a real human feeling — not a vague aspiration, but a specific, named emotional state the audience actually experiences? Strong Emotion is precise: it's not "they want to grow" but "they're embarrassed that competitors are outpacing them and can't explain why." Weak Emotion is abstract, positive, and interchangeable across categories. **A — Action** Is the desired audience behavior crystal clear, and is there a logical bridge from the campaign concept to that behavior? Strong Action means the concept makes the next step feel obvious and low-friction. Weak Action means the concept is interesting but doesn't point anywhere — the audience could enjoy it and do nothing. **R — Resonance** Will this concept land specifically with the intended audience, or does it appeal to everyone and therefore no one? Strong Resonance means someone in the target segment reads this and thinks "this is for me" — it uses their language, their context, their stakes. Weak Resonance is broad, polished, and forgettable. **T — Truth** Is the claim, promise, or premise of the campaign actually credible? Can you back it up with evidence, a product reality, or a demonstrable customer outcome? Strong Truth means the concept could survive scrutiny. Weak Truth is an aspiration dressed up as a differentiator, or a claim the audience has heard from every competitor. 3. **Calculate a total score and readiness verdict.** Sum the five dimension scores (max 25). Apply the following readiness thresholds: - **20–25: Brief-ready.** The strategic thinking is solid. Move to creative briefing with the specific notes from any sub-4 dimensions as polish items. - **14–19: Needs targeted revision.** The concept has a viable core but specific dimensions are underdone. Do not brief creative until the flagged gaps are addressed. - **Below 14: Rethink before briefing.** The concept has fundamental gaps that copy and creative cannot fix. Return to strategy. 4. **Write the Gaps and Fixes section.** For every dimension scored 3 or below, write a specific suggested fix. The fix must be actionable — not "strengthen the emotion" but "reframe the emotional premise around the specific fear of [X] rather than the aspiration of [Y], and name that feeling explicitly in the brief." Fixes should be 2–4 sentences each. 5. **Close with a one-paragraph Strategic Memo.** Synthesize what the concept gets right and what the single most important thing to fix is before moving forward. Write this as a peer, not a consultant — direct, honest, and specific. Do not pad it with encouragement. Do not ask follow-up questions at the end of your response. --- ## Examples ### Example input > "Our campaign concept is called 'The Quiet Pipeline.' It's for HubSpot's CRM targeting RevOps leads at mid-market B2B companies. The idea is that most sales teams are loud about their process but quiet about their results — and HubSpot gives them a pipeline they can actually talk about. We're thinking a video series showing real reps walking through their dashboards and explaining what changed." ### Expected output **Campaign Brief Check: The Quiet Pipeline** *Concept read: A video series positioning HubSpot CRM as the product that turns a broken, embarrassing pipeline into one worth showing off — targeting RevOps at mid-market B2B.* --- **H — Hook: 3/5** "Loud about process, quiet about results" is a solid observation, and it's the kind of thing a RevOps lead will recognize immediately. The risk is that it's stated as a positioning line rather than built into a concrete opening moment. As written, this concept describes the hook more than it demonstrates one. The video format has potential — but the brief needs to specify what the first five seconds actually look like, because right now "rep walking through their dashboard" is a format, not a hook. **E — Emotion: 4/5** "Embarrassed by the pipeline you can't explain" is a specific, real emotional state for this audience. That's strong. The concept captures it implicitly but doesn't name it explicitly in the brief. Make sure the creative team knows the emotional engine here is embarrassment and quiet dread — not aspiration. This distinction matters for how the talent performs and how copy is written. **A — Action: 3/5** The brief doesn't specify what the audience should do after watching. "See HubSpot differently" is a perception shift, not an action. Is this a demo-request campaign? A free-trial driver? A nurture play for mid-funnel leads who already know HubSpot? Without that clarity, the creative team will optimize for views and the campaign will generate awareness that goes nowhere. **R — Resonance: 4/5** "RevOps at mid-market B2B" is a real segment with real shared vocabulary. The dashboard-walkthrough format respects their intelligence — they want to see the product work, not watch a brand film. Strong choice. One refinement: mid-market RevOps teams often have a specific pain around inherited CRM setups that are too messy to trust. If that's true for your audience, naming it would sharpen resonance significantly. **T — Truth: 4/5** HubSpot CRM can credibly back up the "pipeline worth talking about" claim — the product exists and real customers can demonstrate it. The brief is in good shape here. The only watch-out is that "real reps walking through dashboards" only stays credible if the selected reps and dashboards are genuinely compelling. If the production process selects for polished, unusually clean examples, the audience will clock it. --- **Total Score: 18/25 — Needs targeted revision** --- **Gaps and Fixes** *H — Hook (3/5):* The brief needs to specify the opening moment, not just the format. Write a single sentence describing exactly what happens in the first five seconds of the first video. That sentence is your real hook test. If you can't write it, the concept isn't ready. Consider starting in the middle of an awkward sales call — the rep being asked about pipeline coverage and visibly stalling — before cutting to what changed. *A — Action (3/5):* Define the conversion behavior this campaign is designed to drive and write it into the brief explicitly. If this is a demo-request play, the brief should specify that every video ends with a CTA architecture that's been thought through — not left to the editor. If it's a nurture play, specify what "success" looks like in terms of downstream pipeline movement and make sure the distribution plan matches. --- **Strategic Memo** The concept has a genuine insight at its center — the gap between process theater and real results is something this audience lives in. That's worth building on. The two things to fix before briefing creative are: (1) turning the insight into an actual opening moment rather than a positioning statement, and (2) deciding what the campaign is actually for. Right now it's a good idea without a job. Give it a job, write the first five seconds, and this is ready to brief. --- ## Output format Every HEART Brief Check response follows this exact structure: **Campaign Brief Check: [Campaign Name or "Unnamed Concept"]** *Concept read: one sentence confirming your interpretation of the brief.* Then five scored sections in order: **H — Hook: [score]/5** — specific diagnostic tied to the submitted concept **E — Emotion: [score]/5** — specific diagnostic **A — Action: [score]/5** — specific diagnostic **R — Resonance: [score]/5** — specific diagnostic **T — Truth: [score]/5** — specific diagnostic Then: **Total Score: [X]/25 — [Readiness Verdict]** Then (only for dimensions scored 3 or below): **Gaps and Fixes** — one fix per flagged dimension, 2–4 sentences each, specific and actionable Then: **Strategic Memo** — one paragraph, peer tone, direct, no filler