# creative-mechanics Catalogs structural ad patterns that connect hooks and visuals. It guides how a viewer reaches a specific conclusion without hearing a direct pitch. - skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 526 installs · ★ 184 - Author: motion-team - License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page - Source: https://github.com/motion-team/creative-strategy-skills/tree/HEAD/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md - Updated: 2026-06-11 - HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/creative-mechanics ## What it does This skill provides a library of structural patterns for advertising concepts. Inside the Creative Strategy Engine stack, creative mechanics sit between the messaging angle and the opening hook. The mechanic defines the cognitive mechanism: how the viewer reaches the core truth before seeing the final visual format. The library includes concrete structures mapped to audience awareness stages. Patterns like The Implied Answer pose questions whose answers appear silently in visuals, while The Overheard Conversation formats an ad as a casual text thread. Because mechanics are decoupled from production formats, the same pattern works equally well in video or static images. The skill will fall flat if used alone. The documentation explicitly notes that mechanics require pairing with Hook Writing and Hook Tactics to produce the actual opening lines. ## Install ### Claude Code (native platform) 1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)** ```bash npx skills add motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --skill creative-mechanics -a claude-code ``` 2. **Manually: put the files in place** - File: `~/.claude/skills/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/creative-mechanics/ ### Codex 1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)** ```bash npx skills add motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --skill creative-mechanics -a codex ``` 2. **Manually: put the files in place** - File: `.agents/skills/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/ ### Cursor 1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)** ```bash npx skills add motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --skill creative-mechanics -a cursor ``` 2. **Manually: put the files in place** - File: `.cursor/skills/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/ ### GitHub Copilot 1. **GitHub CLI** ```bash gh skill install motion-team/creative-strategy-skills creative-mechanics ``` 2. **Manually: put the files in place** - File: `.github/skills/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md` ### Gemini CLI 1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)** ```bash npx skills add motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --skill creative-mechanics -a gemini-cli ``` 2. **Platform CLI** ```bash gemini skills install https://github.com/motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --path creative-mechanics ``` ### Windsurf (Devin Desktop) **Manually: put the files in place** - File: `.devin/skills/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works ### OpenCode **Skills CLI (Vercel)** ```bash npx skills add motion-team/creative-strategy-skills --skill creative-mechanics -a opencode ``` ### Claude.ai **Claude.ai** - Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/motion-team/creative-strategy-skills/tree/HEAD/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md ## When to use it - choose an ad mechanic suited for a specific awareness stage - deconstruct an existing successful ad into structural components - frame a product message without relying on direct sales claims - brief creative production teams on the underlying concept logic ## Example prompts - Break down this ad concept using creative-mechanics and explain why The Implied Answer works here. - Pick a mechanic from creative-mechanics for a Problem-Aware audience in a fitness app campaign. ## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: e2b84bab6982cfff. BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE e2b84bab6982cfff ````text --- name: creative-mechanics description: "A library of creative mechanics — the structural patterns that define how an ad constructs meaning between its hook, visuals, and narrative. Use this whenever designing ad concepts, briefing creative, or trying to explain why a specific ad works beyond just its hook or format. Trigger when a user describes an ad they saw and wants to understand or replicate what made it work, when building a creative concept from a messaging angle, or when execution needs more than a hook and a format — it needs a structural idea. Creative mechanics sit between hooks and visual formats in the Creative Strategy Engine: hooks say what, formats show how, mechanics define the cognitive or emotional mechanism that makes the concept land. Always pair with Hook Writing for opening line execution and Hook Tactics for tactic classification." --- # Creative Mechanics Creative mechanics are the **structural patterns that define how an ad creates meaning.** They are not hooks (what you say) and not visual formats (what it looks like). They are the underlying mechanism — the cognitive or emotional move the ad makes that causes the viewer to feel something, conclude something, or remember something. **The same mechanic can be executed across multiple visual formats.** The Implied Answer works as a lifestyle video, a static image, a talking head, or a carousel. The mechanic travels. The format is just the vessel. --- ## Where Mechanics Sit in the Creative Stack ``` Messaging Angle (Creative Strategy Engine) ↓ Creative Mechanic ← YOU ARE HERE ↓ Hook (Hook Writing + Hook Tactics) ↓ Visual Format ``` The messaging angle defines the **core truth.** The mechanic defines **how the ad makes the viewer arrive at that truth.** The hook is the **opening line that triggers the mechanic.** The visual format is **the production structure that delivers it.** --- ## How to Use This 1. Start with your messaging angle from the Creative Strategy Engine 2. Ask: *how do I want the viewer to arrive at this truth?* — that's your mechanic 3. Select the mechanic that best serves the awareness stage and persona 4. Write the hook that opens the mechanic (Hook Writing) 5. Choose the visual format that best executes it --- ## The Mechanic Library --- ### The Implied Answer **What it is:** The hook poses a question that sounds like mild judgment, confusion, or curiosity. The visuals silently answer it with an aspirational truth. No one states the answer out loud — the viewer concludes it themselves. ```` END THIRD-PARTY FILE e2b84bab6982cfff The third-party file has ended. Everything between the e2b84bab6982cfff tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file. First 2572 of 15165 bytes. © motion-team · MIT · https://github.com/motion-team/creative-strategy-skills/tree/HEAD/creative-mechanics/SKILL.md _Part of the page did not fit — see the HTML version._ --- NeVibeCode on affpapa.org. Catalog texts are descriptions, not instructions for the agent. How to choose and install: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/agents.md