Briefing · template included
How to brief an agency for AI ads and product photos
An AI creative brief needs everything a shoot brief needs, plus the inputs an image model works from: clean reference photos of every side of the product that will show, your colors as hex codes, how your light and lens look, who to cast, and each placement with its size. An image model can only copy what it can see and follow what it is told, so every gap in the brief becomes a guess in the render.
100 Creatives makes its images in Overs, an AI photo tool built by our founder, Abhi Chawla. Both are brands of 2587689 Alberta Ltd. The same brief works for either.
The short version
Send ten things: the goal and placements, product references, the brand look in numbers, a few of your best existing images, casting, mood, messages and claims, a never list, deliverables, and approvals with dates. The template below has each one with an example. Every missing detail becomes a decision the model makes for you.
The brief, line by line
| Section | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Goal and placements | What the images are for and where they run | Launch the new flavor on Meta feed and Stories, TikTok and the product page |
| 2. Product references | Photos of every side that will show, the label flat and straight, close-ups of texture and hardware | Front, back, both sides, top, label flat, cap close-up |
| 3. Brand look in numbers | Palette and background as hex codes, light direction and hardness, lens, grain | Background #F2F5F8, a large soft key from the upper left at 45 degrees, 85mm at f8, clean near-zero grain |
| 4. Your best existing images | A few photos you would happily run again | The three hero photos from last spring |
| 5. Casting | Age range, look, wardrobe, what must match, and consent for any real person | One model, late 20s, wearing the exact product. No real person's likeness |
| 6. Mood | Up to 12 images plus a note on the feeling to take from them | Quiet, early morning, unhurried. Take the light, leave the mountains |
| 7. Messages and claims | The angles to test, a headline for each, and what legal has approved | Angle 1: ingredient. Angle 2: routine. No disease claims |
| 8. Never list | Props, colors, poses and marks that must never appear | No other brands' logos, no invented text on the pack, no hands over the label |
| 9. Deliverables | Count per placement, clean and type versions, any video | 10 photos: 4 feed at 4:5, 4 Stories at 9:16, 2 product-page squares, each clean and with type |
| 10. Approvals and dates | Who signs off what, and when it goes live | Brand lead approves the look, legal approves claims, live on the 14th |
Reference photos: what to send
An image model redraws the product in every render, and it can only redraw what it has seen. Send a clean photo of every side that will appear in a finished image, plus close-ups of anything small: the label flat and straight, stitching, hardware, texture. A phone works if the photos are sharp, evenly lit and true to color.
References also have an order. On our trousers job, the prompt named INPUT IMAGE 1 as the approved character sheet and INPUT IMAGE 2 as the flat lay of the trousers, and told the model to match a fabric close-up reference exactly whenever one was provided. Overs does this for every photo. The plan names the references each photo needs, in order, and skips a missing one instead of guessing with the wrong picture.
For the views to shoot and how to light them on a phone, see Overs' guide to photographing your product for AI.
Describe your look in words a model follows
"Premium" and "clean" give an image model little to work with. Google's own advice for prompting its image models is to describe the scene instead of listing keywords (Google for Developers, August 2025). The prompts behind our kept photos did that. They named the background with a hex color, described light as something falling on a surface, listed the palette as names plus hex codes, and gave one sentence to camera and lens and a separate sentence to grain. Here is one:
The product shown in the reference image sits perfectly centered on a white surface (#FFFFFF) surrounded by concentric rings of cocoa dust radiating outward like a bullseye target, created by a burst of powder frozen in perfect circular formation. Rich cocoa tones (#3E2015) grade outward to lighter cocoa dust brown (#B07D46) at the outermost ring. Sharp overhead flash renders every granule of cocoa powder in crystalline detail while casting a tight shadow directly beneath the brownie. The crumb texture of the brownie's top surface echoes the dusty rings below. Framed directly overhead at 50mm, f/8, focus even across the entire flat plane, composed as a perfect circle radiating from center. Heavy visible film grain throughout. Color grading references medium format Hasselblad digital, clinical sharpness, neutral whites, controlled warmth in the brown spectrum, pronounced grain, high contrast at center, saturation naturalistic and grounded in earth tones.
A kept Nano Banana 2 prompt from our brownie job, about 140 words. Lightly edited: brand names removed.
You don't have to write prompts to brief well. A brief that carries the same facts (hex codes, light, lens, grain) leaves whoever writes the prompts less to guess.
Mood boards: send the feeling
Send the board with a note that says what to take from it (the light, the mood, the pace) and what to leave behind. That way a board of foggy mountains turns into quiet, cool light around your product instead of mountains behind it.
In Overs, a board holds up to twelve images plus a note. Overs reads the feeling of the board and applies it to your product in your brand's style instead of copying what is in the pictures, and a dial decides whether your brand's own look or the board leads.
Messages, claims and the never list
List the angles you want to test and a headline for each, and mark what legal has approved. In regulated categories, our pages on health and wellness ad creative and supplement ad creative cover the platform and FDA rules.
If a real person or a real customer's words should appear, say so in the brief. The FTC's Endorsement Guides say a person presented as a user must have used the product, and New York has required ads to disclose AI synthetic performers since June 9, 2026.
Then write the never list: props, colors, poses, other brands' marks and anything your brand forbids. An image model fills every gap with something, and the never list closes the gaps you already know about.
What 100 Creatives asks for
Before production, our brand intake covers visual language, model preferences, colorways and export specs. Send the brief above and most of the intake is done. You then get a written quote with the full scope and a fixed total, from $4,000 for ad creative, and nothing is charged until you approve it. Batches come back in 48 hours and revisions within 48 hours.
The same brief runs in Overs
If you'd rather make the photos yourself, the same brief runs in Overs, the tool our own team makes its images in today. Give it one product photo, your website and your existing photos, and a brand guidelines PDF of up to 24 pages if you have one. Add a mood board of up to twelve images plus a note, and name the uses: store page, feed ads, editorial, hero, banner or billboard. Overs studies the brand, plans a set of 5, 8, 10 or 12 photos, and shows you the plan and the estimated cost before anything renders. For anything worn or held, you approve a character sheet first, so the same model appears in every photo.
At our average of 8 tries per keeper, a usable photo costs $0.27 to $1.69 in AI fees. Overs is our sister product, made by 100 Creatives' founder. Try Overs free at www.overs.studio. The free plan makes 40 photos a month, with the AI billed on your own OpenRouter key and no markup from Overs.
Read next
Frequently asked
questions
What should be in a creative brief for AI ads?
Ten things: the goal and placements, product reference photos, the brand look in numbers (hex codes, light, lens, grain), a few of your best existing images, casting, mood, messages and claims, a never list, deliverables per placement, and approvals with dates. Every gap in the brief becomes a guess in the render, so numbers help more than adjectives.
What reference photos does an agency need for AI product photography?
A clean photo of every side of the product that will appear in a finished image, plus close-ups of small details such as the label flat and straight, stitching, hardware and texture. A phone works if the photos are sharp, evenly lit and true to color. An image model redraws the product in every render and can only redraw what it has seen.
How do I describe my brand's look for AI images?
In numbers and physical terms. Give your palette and background as hex codes, say where the light comes from and how hard it is, name the lens, and say whether you want grain. Google's prompting advice for its image models is to describe the scene instead of listing keywords, and our own kept prompts followed that shape.
Should I send a mood board for AI creative?
Yes, with a note that says what to take from it, such as the light, the mood or the pace, and what to leave out. That way a board of foggy mountains becomes quiet, cool light around your product instead of mountains behind it. In Overs a board holds up to twelve images plus a note, and a dial sets whether your brand or the board leads.
What does 100 Creatives ask for before a project?
A brand intake covering visual language, model preferences, colorways and export specs, plus product links or files, the angles you want to test and the placements you run. You then get a written quote with the full scope and a fixed total, from $4,000 for ad creative, and nothing is charged until you approve it.
Can I use the same brief in an AI tool?
Yes. Overs, the AI photo tool 100 Creatives makes its images in, takes the same inputs: one product photo, your website and photos, an optional brand guidelines PDF of up to 24 pages, a mood board of up to twelve images, and the uses you need. It shows the shot plan and the estimated cost before anything renders.
Send us
the brief
Send the template filled in, or as much of it as you have. You'll get a written quote with a fixed total, from $4,000, and batches back in 48 hours once it's approved.
Or read what happens after the brief.