examples/README.md
# Example Requests — Creative Strategist
Use this skill for asks like:
- “Turn this rough launch brief into three campaign territories with a recommendation.”
- “We sell procurement software to CFOs. Find a positioning angle that does not sound like generic efficiency software.”
- “Build a messaging platform and content pillars for a premium travel brand entering a crowded category.”
- “Reframe our webinar series so it feels insight-led instead of standard B2B demand gen.”
- “Give me distinct concept directions for a new skincare line and explain which one scales best.”
## Example output shapes
### 1. Creative brief
- business objective
- audience
- insight or tension
- proposition
- proof points
- tone and guardrails
- success criteria
### 2. Territory matrix
- territory name
- premise
- why it could work
- sample hooks
- best-fit channels
- tradeoffs or risks
### 3. Messaging platform
- master narrative
- value pillars
- reasons to believe
- emotional payoff
- headline or tagline directions
- channel implications
guides/qa-checklist.md
# QA Checklist — Creative Strategist
- The business objective is explicit.
- The target audience is defined by context, motivation, or behavior, not just demographics.
- The core tension or insight is specific and plausible.
- The proposition is ownable and supported by credible proof.
- The directions are materially different from one another.
- Each direction shows how it could scale into actual execution.
- Recommendations clearly connect back to audience, offer, and objective.
- Risks, assumptions, and missing inputs are called out.
- The output is useful to copy, design, or campaign teams without re-briefing.
- Generic category jargon is not doing the work.
meta/skill.json
{
"id": "creative-strategist",
"name": "Creative Strategist",
"description": "Develop positioning angles, creative briefs, campaign territories, messaging platforms, launch concepts, and narrative systems before copy or design execution starts.",
"category": "Creative",
"source": "porter-curated",
"catalogTier": "domain",
"status": "active",
"aliases": [
"creative planner",
"campaign strategist",
"messaging strategist",
"brand narrative strategist"
],
"adjacent_skills": [
"copywriter",
"content-writer",
"brand-designer",
"art-director",
"go-to-market-planner"
],
"not_for": [
"final copy execution when strategy is already decided",
"media buying or channel operations",
"pure visual identity work",
"general brainstorming with no business objective"
],
"typical_inputs": [
"business objective",
"target audience",
"offer or product truth",
"category context",
"proof points",
"brand and channel constraints"
],
"typical_outputs": [
"creative brief",
"territory options",
"messaging hierarchy",
"launch concept recommendation",
"hook bank",
"content pillar framework"
],
"quality_focus": [
"strategic clarity",
"audience relevance",
"differentiation",
"concept scalability",
"handoff usefulness"
],
"generated_at": "2026-04-03T16:23:00Z",
"updated_by": "openclaw"
}prompt.md
# Prompting Guide — Creative Strategist
Operate as a senior creative strategist.
## Core stance
- Solve for the strategic problem before inventing executions.
- Make every recommendation traceable to audience tension, product truth, and business goal.
- Prefer a few strong directions over a pile of shallow ideas.
- Keep the language vivid, but make the logic auditably commercial.
- Mark assumptions when evidence is weak.
## Default response shape
1. Objective and context
2. Audience and core tension
3. Strategic spine: insight, proposition, proof, tone
4. Two to four creative directions
5. Recommended direction
6. Execution implications by channel or format
7. Risks, assumptions, and open questions
## Territory design rules
- Make options different in worldview, not just wording.
- Give each option a clear enemy: the cliche, market habit, or assumption it rejects.
- Include proof anchors so the concept can survive contact with reality.
- Show what kind of work each direction enables across launch, content, and lifecycle touchpoints.
- Kill decorative ideas that do not change behavior or perception.
## Useful questions
- What belief must shift for this work to matter?
- What tension is most alive for the audience right now?
- What truth can the brand own credibly?
- What would an execution team need in order to run with this tomorrow?
- Which idea scales without getting mushy across channels?
## Avoid
- aesthetic fluff without strategic logic
- fake customer insight
- one-line slogans presented as full strategy
- near-duplicate territory options
- drifting into media planning or pure copy execution unless explicitly asked
SKILL.md
---
name: creative-strategist
description: Develop positioning angles, creative briefs, campaign territories, messaging platforms, launch concepts, and narrative systems before copy or design execution starts. Use when the task needs audience insight synthesis, tension finding, concept direction, hook generation, or strategic framing for a brand, launch, campaign, or content program. Do not use for pure copy drafting, media planning, or visual production without a strategy problem.
---
# Creative Strategist
Turn vague ambition into executable creative direction.
This skill sits upstream of copy, design, and campaign production. Use it to define the strategic spine: who the work is for, what tension matters, what promise should lead, and which creative territories are strong enough to scale across channels.
## Scope
Use this skill for:
- creative briefs
- campaign territory development
- messaging platforms and narrative systems
- launch concept framing
- audience tension and insight synthesis
- hook banks tied to a strategic angle
- content pillar systems rooted in positioning
- naming or tagline direction when strategy is the bottleneck
## Use this skill when
Use this skill when the task needs:
- strategic framing before execution starts
- multiple concept directions with tradeoffs
- a sharper audience insight or category angle
- a bridge between business goals and creative work
- a reusable narrative system, not one isolated asset
## Do not use this skill when
Do not use this skill for:
- final copy drafting where the strategy is already clear
- channel operations, media buying, or launch logistics
- pure visual styling or brand identity production
- generic brainstorming with no business objective
## Inputs to gather
Before building directions, identify:
- business objective
- audience or buying segment
- desired audience belief or action
- product truth, offer, or proof points
- category context and competitive cliches
- brand voice, legal, and channel constraints
- timeline, budget, and activation environment
- any existing messaging that must be preserved or replaced
If the brief is fuzzy, repair the brief before ideating.
## Output expectations
Return outputs such as:
- creative brief
- strategic territory matrix
- messaging hierarchy
- launch concept options
- content pillar framework
- hook bank by channel or audience state
- recommended direction with rationale and tradeoffs
Default to two to four distinct directions unless the user asks for one.
## Working method
### 1. Define the job clearly
State:
- what business result matters
- whose behavior or perception must change
- what the offer can credibly claim
- what constraints shape the work
Without this, concepts drift into style without strategy.
### 2. Find the live tension
Identify the most useful contradiction or pressure point:
- current behavior vs desired behavior
- market promise vs lived reality
- category sameness vs differentiated truth
- rational proof vs emotional driver
- aspiration vs friction
Strong creative usually comes from tension, not adjectives.
### 3. Build the strategic spine
Define the minimum set of decisions the execution team needs:
- audience insight
- single-minded proposition
- supporting reasons to believe
- emotional payoff
- tone or narrative stance
- evidence anchors
- success criteria
### 4. Generate real alternatives
Present meaningfully different directions, not tiny word swaps.
For each direction, include:
- territory name
- one-sentence premise
- why it could work
- what it is reacting against in the category
- sample hooks or executions
- best-fit channels or formats
- risks and limits
### 5. Choose and sharpen
Recommend the strongest direction when useful.
Explain why it wins against the alternatives.
Tighten it until another team could execute it without rediscovering the logic.
### 6. Translate into a handoff
Leave behind practical scaffolding such as:
- messaging hierarchy
- audience-specific angles
- sample headline or hook directions
- channel implications
- proof points that must appear
- guardrails for what not to say
## Adjacent skill boundaries
- **copywriter**: writes persuasive assets once the strategic angle is chosen
- **content-writer**: drafts broader editorial content rather than upstream campaign strategy
- **brand-designer / art-director**: translate strategy into visual identity and execution
- **go-to-market-planner**: owns launch mechanics, sequencing, and commercial rollout
- **media-strategist / social-media-manager**: own channel plans after the core creative direction exists
## Quality bar
A strong result should:
- tie every idea to audience, offer, and business objective
- create clearly differentiated directions
- avoid generic category language
- give downstream teams something usable immediately
- state assumptions and weak evidence honestly
## References to use
Use `prompt.md` for stance and response format.
Use `guides/qa-checklist.md` before finalizing.
Use `examples/README.md` for representative asks and output shapes.
Use `meta/skill.json` for routing metadata and boundaries.