How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads

A structured brand intake process that combines an interview with web research to produce a comprehensive brand context document. The required foundation before any creative strategy work begins.

Last updated 2026-04-17

This does two things in sequence:

  1. Interviews the user to collect essential seed information about the brand
  2. Researches the brand using that information to build a comprehensive brand context document

The output is a structured markdown file (brand-context.md) that all downstream modules — Creative Strategy Engine, Hook Writing, Creative Mechanics — can reference as the foundational context layer.

PHASE 1: INTAKE INTERVIEW

Before researching anything, ask the user the following questions. Ask them all at once in a single message — do not drip them one by one. Group them clearly so the user can answer quickly.

Questions to Ask

Brand basics:

  1. What's the brand name?
  2. What's the brand website URL?
  3. What product(s) are you running paid ads for? If multiple, list them. If all, say "all".
  4. Is there a specific product or product line you want this context document to focus on, or should it cover the full brand?

What you already know: 4. What do you know about this brand and its audience that is important to use in your workflow? (e.g. Age, gender, lifestyle, pain points, values.) 5. Do you know who their main competitors are? 6. Are there any brand constraints you're already aware of? (e.g., can't make health claims, family-friendly tone, sensitive topic, regulated category)

Creative context: 7. Do you have any existing creative or messaging you've already seen from this brand that you want to keep in mind?

After the User Answers

Once you have their answers, confirm before proceeding:

"Got it — I'll use this as my starting point and go research the rest. I'll come back with a full brand context doc. Give me a moment."

Then proceed to Phase 2.

PHASE 2: RESEARCH

Using the brand name and URL provided, conduct web research to fill out the full brand context document. Use the web_search and web_fetch tools.

Research Checklist

Work through each of these areas. For each one, gather what you can from the brand's website, ad library, reviews, press, and competitor sites.

1. Brand Story & Origin

Research approach: Fetch the About page. Search "[brand name] founder story" and "[brand name] how it started."

2. Full Product Catalog

Research approach: Fetch the product/shop pages. Look at site navigation.

3. Product Differentiation & Unique Mechanism

Research approach: Fetch product detail pages and any "How it works" or FAQ pages. Look for any clinical claims, certifications, or patent language.

4. Known Competitors

Research approach: Use Phase 1 answers first. Supplement with a quick search only if the user named no competitors.

5. The Alternative Solution

Research approach: Look at reviews, the brand's own problem-framing language, and any "vs. traditional methods" content.

6. Core Audience(s)

Research approach: Analyze homepage copy, ad creative (Meta Ad Library if accessible), product page language, and review language.

7. Brand Voice & Tone

Research approach: Read website copy closely. Look for patterns in headlines, CTAs, email popups, FAQ answers.

8. Inferred Creative Constraints

Based on everything you've found, identify likely constraints that would affect ad creative. Think about:

Label each constraint as confirmed (explicitly stated somewhere) or inferred (reasonable assumption based on category/signals).

9. Must-Know Strategic Context

Anything else that a creative strategist needs to know before writing a single hook. This might include:

PHASE 3: BUILD THE CONTEXT DOCUMENT

Once research is complete, compile everything into a structured markdown document.

Output Format

# Brand Context: [Brand Name]
*Generated: [Date] | Focus: [Product/Product Line or "Full Brand"]*

---

## Brand Overview
[2–3 sentence summary of who this brand is, what they sell, and where they sit in the market.]

---

## Brand Story & Origin
[Founder story, mission, origin. Keep it factual and concise.]

---

## Product Catalog
[List of products with brief descriptions. Flag the hero product if identifiable.]

| Product | Key Differentiator | Audience |
|---|---|---|
| ... | ... | ... |

---

## What Makes Them Different
[Unique mechanism, proprietary ingredient, format advantage, or positioning edge. Quote their own language where possible.]

---

## Known Competitors
[List of 3–5 known competitors with one-line descriptions only. No deep analysis here.]

| Competitor | What They Are |
|---|---|
| ... | ... |

*For full competitive profiling — messaging angles, ad creative, positioning map, and strategic opportunities — run the `competitor-analysis` skill.*

---

## The Alternative Solution
[What the customer was doing before this product. The "old way."]

---

## Core Audience(s)
**Primary:** [Description]
**Secondary (if applicable):** [Description]

Key signals: [Pain points, lifestyle, language patterns, what they care about]

---

## Brand Voice & Tone
[Adjectives. Patterns. Examples of actual copy that demonstrate the voice. What they avoid.]

---

## Creative Constraints
| Constraint | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ... | Confirmed / Inferred | ... |

---

## Must-Know Strategic Context
[Anything else a creative strategist must know before writing creative. Bullets OK here.]

---

## Research Notes
*Sources consulted: [list URLs fetched]*
*Gaps / low-confidence areas: [anything you couldn't verify — flag it clearly so the user can fill in or correct]*

PHASE 4: DELIVER & CONFIRM

After building the document:

  1. Save it as brand-context-[brandname].md
  2. Present it to the user using present_files
  3. Flag gaps — call out anything you couldn't verify or are inferring vs. confirming
  4. Ask one closing question:

"Does anything here look off, or is there anything important I'm missing? Once you confirm, this becomes the working context for all creative strategy on this brand."

After confirmation, this document should be referenced by all downstream modules (Creative Strategy Engine, Hook Writing, Creative Mechanics) for this brand.

Notes for Downstream Handoff

When handing off to the Creative Strategy Engine or Hook Writing, reference the brand context doc explicitly:

"Using brand-context-[brandname].md as the foundation — the audience, differentiation, constraints, and voice are all defined there."

This prevents downstream modules from making assumptions that conflict with the established brand context.

For competitive intelligence: After brand intake is complete, suggest running the competitor-analysis skill if the user needs to understand the competitive landscape before building creative strategy. Brand intake captures competitor names only — deep profiling, positioning maps, and strategic opportunities live in that skill.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads?

A structured brand intake process that combines an interview with web research to produce a comprehensive brand context document. The required foundation before any creative strategy work begins.

PHASE 1: INTAKE INTERVIEW?

This is one of the key sections of How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads. See the full methodology above for details.

PHASE 2: RESEARCH?

This is one of the key sections of How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads. See the full methodology above for details.

PHASE 3: BUILD THE CONTEXT DOCUMENT?

This is one of the key sections of How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads. See the full methodology above for details.

Brand Overview?

This is one of the key sections of How to Research a Brand Before Writing Ads. See the full methodology above for details.