industry-trends

Industry Trends Analysis

Analyze competitor ad libraries to surface creative trends — what formats, hooks, and messaging strategies are being used across the industry. Uses the creative-strategist skill's competitive intelligence framework.

Critical caveat to carry through the entire analysis: Competitor creatives have no performance data. You're reading bets, not results. Frame everything as "they're testing this" not "this is working for them."

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Phase 1: Setup

1a. Parse Arguments

• --brand: Optional. A domain (e.g., nike.com) or brand name to focus on a single competitor. If omitted, analyze all tracked competitors.
• --days: Controls the launch date filter. Default: 30. Maps to: 7 → LAST_7_DAYS, 14 → LAST_14_DAYS, 30 → LAST_30_DAYS, 90 → LAST_90_DAYS.

1b. Load Settings & Auth

1. Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/motion-creative.config.md for org-specific configuration. If the file does not exist, use these defaults and suggest the user run /customize:
   • competitors: pull from get_workspace_competitors
   • Brand guidelines: pull from get_workspace_brand
2. Call get_auth_context() to resolve workspaceId.

Settings influence:

• If no --brand specified and settings has a competitors list, use those as fallback if workspace competitors are empty.
• Use brand guidelines (voice, positioning, do's/don'ts) to sharpen the "Compare Against Own Approach" analysis.
• Use target audience from settings to evaluate which competitor approaches are relevant to your segments.

1c. Load Methodology

Read the creative-strategist skill for the competitive intelligence framework.

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Phase 2: Data Collection

2a. Get Competitors

If --brand is provided:

• Try get_brand_by_domain(brandUrl) first
• If that fails, try search_brands(query, workspaceId) with the brand name
• If no match, tell the user the brand wasn't found and suggest checking the domain

If no --brand:

• Call get_workspace_competitors(workspaceId) to get all tracked competitors
• If the list is empty, tell the user they haven't set up competitor tracking in Motion

2b. Pull Competitor Data (Parallel)

For each competitor, dispatch in parallel:

1. get_inspo_creatives(brandId, workspaceId, limit=500, sort="NEWEST", launchDate=mapped_preset, status="ACTIVE") — recent active ads. Always set limit=500. The API defaults to ~20 if omitted, which produces incomplete and misleading analysis.
2. get_inspo_brand_context(brandId, workspaceId) — brand positioning, voice, strategy

2c. Pull Transcripts

For video creatives from each competitor, pull transcripts for the 3-5 most recent per competitor using get_creative_transcript(creativeEntityId, creativeOrigin). Budget transcript calls — they're expensive. Prioritize:

1. Most recently launched
2. Video format (transcripts only work for video)
3. Variety of creative approaches (don't pull 5 similar-looking ads)

2d. Get Own Brand Context

Call get_workspace_brand(workspaceId) for comparison context — your positioning, voice, strategy.

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Phase 3: Analysis

3a. Format Trends

Across all competitor creatives:

• What percentage is video vs. static vs. carousel?
• For videos: what's the duration distribution?
• What production styles dominate (UGC, studio, hybrid)?
• Are there emerging formats that multiple competitors are converging on?

3b. Hook & Messaging Patterns

From transcripts:

• Classify first-3-second hooks: question, problem-agitation, testimonial, statistic, pattern-interrupt, bold claim, confession, warning
• What messaging themes appear across competitors? (e.g., convenience, trust, transformation, urgency)
• What CTAs are being used?
• What emotional triggers dominate?

Quote actual hooks and headlines from the data — don't generalize.

3c. Brand Context Analysis

From inspo brand context:

• Where are competitors positioning themselves?
• What tone/voice are they using?
• Where are gaps between their stated positioning and actual creative execution?
• What audiences are they targeting?

3d. Activity & Freshness

• Which competitors are most active (most new launches)?
• Which competitors have the highest active-to-inactive ratio (more conviction in current creative)?
• Are there competitors who have slowed down or stopped launching?

3e. Compare Against Own Approach

Using workspace brand data:

• What are competitors doing that your brand isn't?
• What is your brand doing that nobody else is? (potential differentiator)
• Where are there crowded angles that everyone is running? (opportunity to differentiate)
• Where are there white spaces nobody is filling?

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Phase 4: Output

Open by reflecting what data was gathered: how many competitors, how many creatives analyzed, what time window, whether transcripts were available.

Report Structure

If You Read Nothing Else 3-5 trend bullets. What the industry is converging on, what's shifting, what nobody's doing.

Industry Creative Landscape Format mix across competitors. Activity levels. Production style trends. The macro view.

Hook & Messaging Patterns Specific patterns from transcripts. Quote actual hooks. Categorize by type. Note which patterns appear across multiple competitors (convergence) vs. unique approaches.

Competitor Deep Dives Per-competitor summary for the most notable competitors:

• Brand context: their positioning, audience, voice
• Creative approach: what they're running, how it connects to their strategy
• Notable creatives: 2-3 specific ads worth paying attention to (with descriptions)

Skip this section if --brand is specified — the whole analysis is already a deep dive.

Gaps & Opportunities What nobody's doing. What your data says works but competitors haven't caught onto. Angles that are crowded (avoid) vs. underexplored (test). Frame as specific creative opportunities, not abstract observations.

Implications for Your Creative Strategy How these trends should (or shouldn't) influence your next creative bets. Be specific: "Test a [format] with a [hook type] targeting [audience]" not "Consider diversifying your creative mix."

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Error Handling

• No competitors tracked: Tell the user to set up competitor tracking in Motion, or use --brand to analyze a specific brand
• Brand not found: Suggest checking the domain or trying a different search term
• Inspo brand context unavailable: Note it and proceed — analyze creatives without strategic context
• No video creatives (no transcripts): Analyze visual formats and positioning only — note reduced messaging insight
• Single competitor with few ads: Adjust scope — don't over-interpret a thin sample. Suggest expanding the time window with --days 90