The Creative Construction Program

Session Two
Creative Concepting

Last week we built your brief. This week we decide your concept.
Hacking Advertising  ·  Wild Gravity  ·  Aug 26, 2026
→ next  ·  F = full screen  ·  A = all at once  ·  P = print
Where we are

Everything is built on the brief.

✓
The brief
Who you're talking to, and the one thing you'll say. Written. Yours to sign off.
→
The concept
Built to deliver that one thing. Today.
Script and board
The concept, made buildable. Next week.
Production
The board, made real.
Media
The ad, put in front of the right person.
Every one of you came back with feedback, and every brief got rebuilt on it. The version in your inbox is the one we concept from today. Real numbers, real client stories, in every single one.
Still the test every concept has to pass

The cheat code hasn't changed.

01
Hook
Visual, contextual, or both. It gets them to look up.
02
Product name
Compelling, and said three to five times.
03
Value prop
Cheaper, faster, better. Pick one.
04
Utility
It educates or entertains, or it doesn't move us.
05
Offer
Easy to understand, or nobody moves.
Your brief already carries the value prop and the offer. Today's concept has to deliver them, and earn the other three.
The shape your ad will probably take

You, on camera, telling the truth.

01
Piece to camera
The owner, speaking to one person. In your business, trust is the product, and trust buys a face.
02
B-roll underneath
Your proof, cut under your voice. The building, the crew, the dashboard, the numbers.
It's the fastest format to shoot, the cheapest to do well, and the hardest for a competitor to fake. Most of the bits today get spun into this shape.
To get you started

First
Concepts

Three seed ideas per business. Sparks, not scripts, and nothing here is final. Same format for everyone: Concept 1 is the simple piece-to-camera, you on site explaining your business. Concept 2 brings in a client. Concept 3 is the conceptual one. React, steal from them, and we shape your pick together one on one this week.
Pacific Continental Realty  ·  The CRE Retirement Guy

PCR

"Your real estate should fund your retirement.
Not become your retirement."
1   It's Not for Everyone — the simple PTC
2   Months in Kauai — with the client
3   The Empty Chair — the conceptual one
PCR  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  Ryan at a building he manages

It's Not for Everyone

The spot
Ryan walks the lobby of a building PCR manages and opens with the question nobody has asked this owner: "Would you like to never deal with a tenant call again, and collect more than you do now?" Then he explains it all: Pacific Continental Realty has managed commercial property for fifty years — the leasing, the maintenance, the tenants, the books. "Your NNN leases may already pay for professional management." More income, less work. Then the close that makes it land: "It's not for everyone. Find out if it's for you." The free Performance Review. PCRnw.com.
Key lines
"Would you like to never deal with a tenant call again, and collect more than you do now?"
"Your NNN leases may already pay for professional management."
"It's not for everyone. Find out if it's for you."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Claim guardrail, per the brief: the promise stays a question and the mechanism stays "may." Nothing categorical, no "free," no guarantee.
PCR  ·  Concept 2  ·  With the client

Months in Kauai

The spot
The Marina Building story, ideally with the owner in it. He ran 47,000 square feet himself, from Seattle. PCR took over in 2019 and converted the leases: "He built it himself. He ran it himself. Then he got his life back." Net operating income up 51.7 percent — on screen once, cited: "NOI up 51.7%. Documented." The owners went from weeks in Kauai to months. Ryan closes: this is what professional management is, this is what it did here, and the Performance Review tells you what it could do for your building.
Key lines
"He built it himself. He ran it himself. Then he got his life back."
"Net operating income up 51.7%. Documented."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
The figure runs as a documented historical outcome of one property, never as a promise of the viewer's.
PCR  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

The Empty Chair

The spot
A family photo at the lake — arms wrapped around the space where he should be. A boat that never leaves the slip. An anniversary dinner where his phone sits face-up, and rings. His own voice carries it: "I thought the buildings would buy me freedom. What I got was family vacations without me." Then Ryan, one line: "He owns four buildings. The buildings own his calendar." And the exit: "Your real estate should fund your retirement. Not become your retirement." The Performance Review shows what it would take.
Key lines
"I thought the buildings would buy me freedom. What I got was vacations without me."
"He owns four buildings. The buildings own his calendar."
"Your real estate should fund your retirement. Not become your retirement."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Softwired  ·  The AI Business Growth Guy

Softwired

"Stop losing the leads
you're already paying for."
1   Operator to Operator — the simple PTC
2   The Skyline Story — with the client
3   The Leaky Roof — the conceptual one
Softwired  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  directed interview at a client's site

Operator to Operator

The spot
Tony, straight to camera as a directed interview, shot at a client's site with a real crew working behind him. If you run a home services company, you're losing leads you already paid for — the estimate nobody followed up, the caller who hired whoever called back first. "Stop losing the leads you're already paying for." Softwired installs the systems that do the follow-up, the nurturing and the booking, on ASCENT, its named 90-day method — and "we don't automate anything you haven't proven manually." Installed in 90 days or the work continues. One client went from under $1M to $3M in three years. "Find out what your leads are worth." ask.softwired.ai.
Key lines
"Stop losing the leads you're already paying for."
"We don't automate anything you haven't proven manually."
"Find out what your leads are worth." ask.softwired.ai
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Copy speaks to home services broadly; the B-roll shows roofers — the proof lives there, and the trades recognize themselves.
Softwired  ·  Concept 2  ·  With the client

The Skyline Story

The spot
Angie at Skyline Roofing, on her lot, trucks behind her: "Under $1M to $3M in three years. Same trucks." Same crew. What changed is that no lead falls through a crack anymore: "We didn't buy more leads. We stopped losing the ones we had." The systems answer, follow up and book while her people roof. Tony appears once, as the guy who built it, and closes with what Softwired does and the free assessment. ask.softwired.ai.
Key lines
"Under $1M to $3M in three years. Same trucks."
"We didn't buy more leads. We stopped losing the ones we had."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Runs on Skyline's written permission and quote — already in motion.
Softwired  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

The Leaky Roof

The spot
It opens looking exactly like a roofing ad — that's the switcheroo. Close-up: a bucket on an office floor. Drip. Drip. Every roofing owner watching thinks it's a competitor's spot. Then the pull-back: it's raining leads through this ceiling, into a row of buckets, each bucket labeled: LOST LEADS · MISSED QUOTES · THE FOUR-DAY CALLBACK. Tony, calm, under the leak: "You'd never leave a customer's roof leaking. Your lead list leaks every day." Softwired patches it — the follow-up, the nurturing, the booking — and everything that lands, stays. "More leads isn't the answer. Fixing the leaks is." Close: "You fix leaks for a living. So do we."
Key lines
"You'd never leave a customer's roof leaking. Your lead list leaks every day."
"More leads isn't the answer. Fixing the leaks is."
"You fix leaks for a living. So do we."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Visual  ·  The Home Reno Simplification Guys

Visual

"Frank and Carl run the whole renovation. You see
every dollar and every decision, the whole way through."
1   The Dashboard — the simple PTC
2   Right Now — with the client
3   Eight Months In — the conceptual one
Visual  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  Frank + Carl at a live project

The Dashboard

The spot
Open on Frank and Carl at a real project — establish them first: two modern, white-collar guys who got sick of the inefficiency and blind spots of home renovation. There had to be a better way, so they built it. Then zoom into it: the dashboard, full frame. A real kitchen remodel — budget, decisions, milestones, moving. "This is a renovation. Tracked like anything you manage at work." No contractor ash on your kitchen floor, no "maybe next month": "Frank and Carl run the whole thing. You see every dollar and every decision." It starts with 90 minutes in your house: "Book your 90-Minute Walkthrough" at visualpnw.com/walkthrough.
Key lines
"This is a renovation. Tracked like anything you manage at work."
"Frank and Carl run the whole thing. You see every dollar and every decision."
"Book your 90-Minute Walkthrough."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
The word software never gets said. The right buyer recognizes the interface on sight; everyone else hears control. No price on the ad — the page carries it.
Visual  ·  Concept 2  ·  With the client

Right Now

The spot
A homeowner at the kitchen counter, laptop open: "This is my renovation. Right now." Budget, decisions, milestones — moving. "I run projects for a living. Nobody ever offered to run my home renovation like this." Underneath it, the real sell: you know exactly who is in your house, what they're doing, and when it ends. "Every dollar. Every decision. The whole way through." Frank and Carl close: this is how Visual runs every job, and it starts with the walkthrough. "Book your 90-Minute Walkthrough."
Key lines
"This is my renovation. Right now."
"Nobody ever offered to run my home renovation like this."
"Every dollar. Every decision. The whole way through."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Needs: which of the three live dashboard projects goes on camera, and the homeowner's yes.
Visual  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

Eight Months In

The spot
A homeowner walks her half-finished renovation, dictating voice-to-text to a builder who doesn't answer. The bubbles stack on screen as she passes the open walls: "When's the plumber coming?" Nothing. "I need to know — I'm out of town next week." Nothing. "It's been eight months. You said six." Delivered. Read. Nothing. Then the cut: a Visual homeowner's phone, answering on its own — schedule, budget, next milestone, finish date. Frank and Carl, in a finished space: "Every dollar. Every decision. In the open." Close: "Book your 90-Minute Walkthrough."
Key lines
"It's been eight months. You said six."
"Every dollar. Every decision. In the open."
"Book your 90-Minute Walkthrough."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Mesnick Group  ·  The Downsizing Guy

Mesnick

"The hardest move of your life. Handled."
1   Handled — the simple PTC
2   Thirty Years, One Week — with the client
3   The Height Chart — the conceptual one
Mesnick  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  Jason + Molly at a kitchen table

Handled

The spot
Jason and Molly at a kitchen table, talking to one person. Molly opens with the real problem: the hardest part of selling a house you've been in for thirty years is knowing where to start. Then they explain the business, trading lines: Mesnick Group handles the whole move — the stuff, the repairs, the bids, the movers — and it starts with a written plan: what happens first, what happens second, who does the work. "Every other agent lists your house. We handle the thirty years inside it." Fifteen years of vendors they trust; the home goes to market at its best, not as it was left. Free consultation, and you leave holding the plan: "One conversation today saves you years of someday." Close: "The hardest move of your life. Handled."
Key lines
"The hardest move of your life. Handled."
"Every other agent lists your house. We handle the thirty years inside it."
"One conversation today saves you years of someday."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Fair housing, per the brief: tenure and the contents of the house on screen, never age.
Mesnick  ·  Concept 2  ·  With the client

Thirty Years, One Week

The spot
One family tells it — thirty years in the house and no idea where to start. Then the part nobody ever shows: the overwhelm becoming a process. A slow dolly move past four giant boxes in the hallway — DUMP · DONATE · SELL · KEEP — the dumpster filling in time-lapse, the Habitat truck loading, the appraiser tagging the antiques, while the family talks: "They handled everything. I mean, everything." Then the new place, at ease, the one framed thing from the KEEP box already on the wall. "Thirty years in that house. Sold in a week." Jason and Molly appear as helpers in someone else's story: "Give us the hard part. You get the fresh start."
Key lines
"Thirty years in that house. Sold in a week."
"They handled everything. I mean, everything."
"Give us the hard part. You get the fresh start."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Conditional on the open item in the brief: which of the four documented families says yes to camera.
Mesnick  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

The Height Chart

The spot
A closet door jamb, pencil marks climbing it: names, dates, heights. The reason they can't leave, drawn in graphite. Careful hands pop the jamb off and fit a clean piece in its place. Last shot: the original jamb, framed, hung on the wall of a bright new condo — the first thing out of the KEEP box. The house was never the thing. The thirty years were, and they came along. Voice close: "The house isn't the memories. Take them with you." Then what Mesnick Group handles, and: "The hardest move of your life. Handled."
Key lines
"The house isn't the memories. Take them with you."
"Every other agent lists your house. We handle the thirty years inside it."
"The hardest move of your life. Handled."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Jeffrey McDonald Fine Homes  ·  The PNW to BC Guy

JM Fine
Homes

"It's easier than you think. When your
broker lives on both sides."
1   One Foot in Each Country — the simple PTC
2   The First Crossing — with the client
3   The Drop-In — the conceptual one
JM Fine Homes  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  Jeff at the border crossing

One Foot in
Each Country

The spot
Jeff at the border marker, one foot planted on each side, completely at ease: "I live on both sides of the line you're trying to cross." Dual citizen. Dual licensed. Thirty years on both sides. Then, walking north, the explanation: he guides Washington buyers through buying in BC end to end. "Different taxes. Different financing. Different everything." The rules that keep changing, the right people in both countries — the list stamps on screen, then sweeps away: "Or: one conversation." Free consultation; you leave with The Cross Border Game Plan. "It's easier than you think. When your broker lives on both sides."
Key lines
"I live on both sides of the line you're trying to cross."
"Different taxes. Different financing. Or: one conversation."
"It's easier than you think. When your broker lives on both sides."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
JM Fine Homes  ·  Concept 2  ·  With the client

The First Crossing

The spot
A family at their place in BC — deck, mountains, ordinary morning. They tell it: they'd priced it a hundred times, and "the border" had come to mean all of it — "The border isn't a line. It's taxes, financing, and rules that keep changing." What would have gone sideways without a dual licensed broker — the tax election, the financing, the timing — is the story's spine. Then the turn: "One conversation turned it into a plan." Jeff appears as the guide, not the star, and closes with the consultation and The Cross Border Game Plan.
Key lines
"The border isn't a line. It's taxes, financing, and rules that keep changing."
"One conversation turned it into a plan."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
One testimonial is already on film, and in-process buyers are likely willing — the brief's proof section.
JM Fine Homes  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

The Drop-In

The spot
Two skiers stand at the top of a bowl, looking over the edge. The guy next to Jeff is stalling — but not about the run: "You think THIS is scary? My wife and I are trying to buy a place in Canada." Jeff, at ease on his poles: he's done it hundreds of times, on both sides — and by the bottom of this run the whole thing will make sense. The taxes, the financing, the timeline: mapped. "It's easier than you think." Beat. "See you down there." And he drops in. Close: the consultation, The Cross Border Game Plan.
Key lines
"You think THIS is scary?"
"It's easier than you think."
"See you down there."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Shoots on a ridge in a morning; the chairlift version stays in the drawer if permits allow.
Kobes Legal  ·  The West Point Lawyer

Kobes
Legal

"He was trained to fight.
Now he does it for you."
1   Four Facts — the simple PTC
2   The Case File — the case study
3   Month Nine — the conceptual one
Kobes Legal  ·  Concept 1  ·  The simple PTC  ·  one day  ·  Brett at the office, one chair, one light

Four Facts

The spot
Brett, seated, controlled, facing the lens. "West Point. Ranger School. MBA. JD." Four facts, four seconds, and no lawyer on television can say them. Then the turn: "Everyone says they'll fight. I strategize." He's not just a soldier — West Point trains military strategists — so: "Of course I'll fight for you. I'll do it smart." If you've been hurt in a car crash in Washington, Kobes Legal takes on the insurance company for you. Free consultation. No fees unless we win. Call or text.
Key lines
"West Point. Ranger School. MBA. JD."
"Everyone says they'll fight. I strategize."
"Of course I'll fight for you. I'll do it smart."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Kobes Legal  ·  Concept 2  ·  The case study

The Case File

The spot
One case, start to finish. A client who spent a year trying to settle alone — the calls, the forms, the lowball offer sliding across the table. "I spent a year fighting them alone." Then the firm took over: what changed, step by step, and where it ended — a result the firm is proud of. "Then I stopped fighting alone." Told by the client on camera if permitted; told by Brett over the open case file if not. Close: Kobes Legal. Free consultation. No fees unless we win. Call or text.
Key lines
"I spent a year fighting them alone."
"Then I stopped fighting alone."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
The format push: this is the concept that needs a real client's yes, plus the bar rules read on testimonials and results language — both already open items in the brief.
Kobes Legal  ·  Concept 3  ·  The conceptual one

Month Nine

The spot
Through no fault of their own, everything changed. The injury. The bills on the kitchen table. The person who can't work, and the phone that keeps ringing with someone offering less. "Through no fault of your own, everything changed." On the other side: a process built to wear people down, run by professionals who do this every day. Then Brett, quiet: "They're counting on you getting tired." Beat. "I won't quit on your case. Quitting isn't in my training." A soldier's promise, said like a fact. Kobes Legal. Call or text.
Key lines
"Through no fault of your own, everything changed."
"They're counting on you getting tired."
"I won't quit on your case. Quitting isn't in my training."
Key frame
Key frame · to come
Eighteen seeds  ·  six businesses

Now steal
from these.

Pitch on top of them: "It's that one, but..." Nothing decides tonight. We'll shape your pick together, one on one, this week.
Hacking Advertising  ·  Wild Gravity
Before you go

What happens
next.

What you get before we meet again

Your concept cards.

→
Every board concept
Written up properly: the bit, the spin, the scenario, the offer.
→
Plus one from the studio
An original concept we build for you off your brief.
→
In your hands Tuesday
Read them, and come Wednesday knowing your favorite.
Next session your concept locks and becomes a script. Pick the one you'd put your own money behind. Because you will.
What I still need from you

Your brief's open items.

01
The open items list
Every rebuilt brief ends with one. It's short now. Clear it this week.
02
On-camera witnesses
The client who'll say it to a lens. Most of you named one; now confirm them.
03
The records
The documentation behind every number we plan to say out loud.
I can't script around a gap. Whatever's open when scripts start is missing from your ad.
Next week  ·  Thursday Sep 3  ·  4 to 6
Session three. Scripts and storyboards. Your concept locks here.
You leave with a script, not notes about a script.
Session two  ·  done

Thursday,
next week.

Beer's in the fridge if you want to hang.
Hacking Advertising  ·  Wild Gravity  ·  105 14th Ave, Seattle

Find Your Bits

Session 2 · Creative Concepting · Hacking Advertising · Aug 26, 2026
NameBusiness
01

What's an ad you love?

Any category, any year. Then name the bit underneath it. If you love it, it converted you.

  • The ad:
  • The bit underneath it:
02

What's already running in your category?

What bits do your competitors lean on? What does every one of them say?

03

Which three to five bits fit your brief?

Steal from the list of 100. A bit fits if it can carry your single message to your audience.

04

Now spin each one into a scenario.

One bit, one scenario, per concept. Set it in your customer's world, not yours.

  • Concept 1  ·  It's ______________________ , but ______________________
  • Concept 2  ·  It's ______________________ , but ______________________
  • Concept 3  ·  It's ______________________ , but ______________________
  • Concept 4  ·  It's ______________________ , but ______________________
  • Concept 5  ·  It's ______________________ , but ______________________
05

Which one is your base hit? Which one is your home run?

The base hit is the concept your customer expects to see. It gets presented first, every time. The home run is the one that makes the room grin.

⚾Base hit — concept number and why
⚡Home run — concept number and why
The test before anything gets scripted
Say the concept in one sentence: "It's [the bit], but [your twist]." If the person next to you can't see the ad from that sentence, it isn't a concept yet.
Mine, so you can hear a finished one: "It's the insider rant, but it's a guy who ran advertising at Microsoft, stuck in Ads Manager on a Sunday night." One bit, one scenario, one take. Two days to make, producing leads by day four.