Build one ad asset production matrix for Reels and Performance Max

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1. Use one matrix as the production contract

The matrix turns an approved concept into countable, assignable deliverables. It should distinguish creative decisions from file exports and platform requirements from your own production targets.

Start each matrix with fields that apply to the whole concept: audience, problem, product or SKU, core promise, demonstration, evidence or approved proof, primary objection, offer, expiration date, CTA, mandatory disclaimer, spokesperson, landing page, and approved claim language. Resolve these inputs in the brief before asking a crew or creator to shoot. The matrix then translates that brief into channel-specific work.

A concept is not a single finished video. It is a reusable group of ingredients: hook, product reveal, demonstration, benefit, proof, offer, CTA, visual identity, audio identity, and source material. Thinking in ingredients makes it possible to produce a native vertical edit, a square edit, a horizontal edit, still-image derivatives, and copy combinations without changing the underlying strategy.

Useful matrix columns include deliverable ID, channel, placement, asset family, ratio, dimensions, duration, hook, copy version, audio version, source dependency, owner, approver, due date, rights status, filename, revision, approval date, and final URL. Include a separate requirement-status field such as “platform requirement,” “platform recommendation,” or “internal production target.” That distinction prevents a recommendation from being represented as a mandatory technical rule.

Use the creative brief before filling the matrix. If the concept, proof, or offer still changes from row to row, production is not ready to begin.

1. Approve the concept, audience, claim, offer, CTA, landing page, and disclaimer.
2. List every required asset family before creating individual rows.
3. Create one row for each distinct ratio, duration, copy treatment, or audio treatment.
4. Assign an owner, approver, due date, and rights status to every row.
5. Lock the matrix as the production scope while retaining revision history.

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2. Start with a practical Reels and Performance Max deliverable grid

Use a shared concept but plan native outputs for each orientation. The following quantities are production targets; consult the linked Google specifications for current platform requirements and recommendations.

For vertical video, plan two to four 9:16 Reels edits and at least one 9:16 Performance Max version. A useful production target is 1080×1920, with clean 15-second and 30-second versions where the narrative supports both. Google’s current Performance Max guidance says uploaded videos should be at least 10 seconds long and recommends video coverage in horizontal, square, and vertical orientations.

For square and horizontal video, create at least one intentionally composed 1:1 version and one 16:9 version for Performance Max. These should not be automatic crops accepted without review. A square frame may need fewer simultaneous elements, while a horizontal frame can retain more of a setting or wide demonstration.

For Performance Max images, a useful target based on Google’s current recommendations is at least four horizontal images, four square images, and two vertical images. Google lists recommended dimensions of 1200×628 for horizontal, 1200×1200 for square, and 960×1200 for vertical images. Produce clean versions without typography as well as selected designed versions.

Include one square logo and one horizontal logo in the matrix. Practical export targets are 1200×1200 and 1200×300 respectively, with transparent and solid-background variants where the brand system permits them. Check the current Google specification page before trafficking rather than assuming the production target alone guarantees acceptance.

For copy, produce up to 15 short headlines, five long headlines, and five descriptions so the media buyer has broad approved coverage. Google’s current limits are 30 characters for headlines and 90 characters for long headlines and descriptions. Its guidance recommends 11 or more headlines, at least two long headlines, and four or more descriptions. Keep one headline to 15 characters or fewer and one description to 60 characters or fewer as useful operational options, not separate universal requirements.

1. Create rows for 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9 video.
2. Create horizontal, square, and vertical rows for each usable image idea.
3. Add square and horizontal logo packages.
4. Add short headlines, long headlines, descriptions, business name, CTA, and final URL.
5. Add clean, captioned, audio-on, and music-free versions where applicable.

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3. Capture masters that can survive multiple compositions

Shoot for reframing flexibility, but do not assume one camera angle can serve every ratio. The source material must preserve the product, action, face, and message after each planned crop.

For every important action, capture a wide or medium master with extra space around the subject, a tighter product or reaction shot, a clean product-only shot, and a clean plate without hands or graphics. Record several seconds before and after the intended action. Where practical, capture a still-photo take as well as motion. Record clean dialogue and room tone so editors can repair transitions or build alternate versions.

Keep the primary product, face, and demonstration within a central composition area when the shot must support several crops. Google advises keeping important image content in the center 80% and may reject assets when poor cropping makes the subject difficult to distinguish. This is a planning aid, not permission to crop every format mechanically.

Schedule a separate vertical setup when a demonstration needs both hands, multiple products, a wide environment, or meaningful movement across the frame. The vertical take may require a closer camera position, stacked blocking, a different product orientation, or reduced background activity. Similarly, a horizontal composition may need extra environmental context rather than empty side space.

Add shot dependencies to the matrix. A 9:16 edit may depend on a vertical demonstration take, vertical product close-up, vertical clean plate, CTA end card, and dialogue stem. If one source dependency is missing, the row should not appear production-complete merely because an editor can open the project.

1. Capture wide, tight, product-only, and clean-plate material.
2. Leave visual handles before and after every action.
3. Record vertical-specific takes for demonstrations that cannot be reframed safely.
4. Capture clean dialogue, room tone, and still-photo options.
5. Map every final export to its required source shots.

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4. Make Reels the vertical expression of the concept

Build Reels around a deliberate 9:16 composition, an immediate opening, readable visual hierarchy, and audio that can be separated or replaced.

Instagram accepts a range of Reel aspect ratios, but a full-screen 9:16 production target is the practical starting point for this matrix. Instagram’s published guidance lists a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS and minimum resolution of 720 pixels. Meta’s advertising guidance emphasizes 9:16 video, audio, and key messages placed within the Reels safe zone.

Plan multiple hook treatments rather than changing only the first caption. These can include a spoken question, product-first demonstration, problem state, reaction, text-led claim, or visual interruption. Keep each hook tied to the approved concept so the matrix does not quietly become a collection of unrelated ads.

Required operational deliverables should include a clean 9:16 master, burned-caption version, version without burned captions, mixed-audio version, dialogue-only or music-free master, thumbnail candidate, alternate CTA ending, and clean export without a platform watermark. Add a disclosure version when a creator relationship or endorsement requires one.

Do not depend on a fixed set of permanent safe-zone pixel measurements. Interface placement can change. Keep faces, products, subtitles, logos, prices, offers, and disclosures away from interface areas, then inspect the current Meta preview or safe-zone checker during final QA. The opening message should also make sense before a viewer expands a caption.

1. Compose for 9:16 from the start.
2. Create at least two materially different opening hooks.
3. Export clean, captioned, audio-on, and music-free masters.
4. Keep products, claims, subtitles, and disclosures inside the current safe zone.
5. Review the final asset in the platform preview.

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5. Translate the concept into Performance Max asset families

Performance Max needs more than social-video derivatives. Build coordinated image, video, logo, and copy families that can remain accurate when combined in different placements.

For imagery, plan product hero, product-in-use, problem or need-state, benefit demonstration, material or feature detail, lifestyle context, offer-led, and clean product variants. Not every concept needs all eight families, but every selected family should be evaluated in square, horizontal, and vertical compositions.

Google permits some image overlays but recommends providing at least one image without overlays for each orientation. Its image policy also addresses poor crops, distortion, excessive blank space, unclear subjects, and certain post-produced collages. Preserve clean exports so the platform can pair the image with native text without duplicating the same headline inside the artwork.

For video, create one narrative in three separately reviewed compositions: a product- or face-forward 9:16 version, a simplified 1:1 version, and a 16:9 version that uses the wider frame intentionally. Google states that it can generate video assets when an advertiser does not upload video, and its current Performance Max guidance calls for custom videos in all three orientations to prevent automatic video generation and support the highest Ad Strength assessment.

Separate visual copy from platform copy. Matrix fields should include spoken hook, on-screen hook, benefit overlay, proof overlay, offer overlay, disclaimer, CTA end card, Reels caption, Performance Max headline, long headline, description, business name, display path, and final URL. This structure lets the team revise a platform headline without reopening a video project or baking every claim into every image.

1. Choose the relevant image families for the concept.
2. Produce each selected family in planned orientations rather than blind crops.
3. Retain clean images without designed text overlays.
4. Compose 9:16, 1:1, and 16:9 videos separately.
5. Approve platform-native copy independently from on-asset copy.

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6. Treat audio, captions, rights, and disclosures as deliverables

Audio and permissions belong inside the matrix because an otherwise finished asset cannot be used safely if its music, talent, stock, or creator rights are unresolved.

Request dialogue or voice-over, music, sound effects, room tone, mixed master, silent master, caption file, transcript, and the license record for each external audio element. The message should remain understandable without music, while captions should accurately reflect spoken dialogue.

Meta states that Instagram’s general licensed music library is intended for personal, non-commercial use, while Sound Collection material can be used commercially. For advertising, use original audio, appropriately licensed music, or commercial-use material whose terms cover the intended placements, territories, edits, and duration.

Track the creative owner, editor, approver, usage-rights holder, talent-release status, creator authorization, music license, stock and font licenses, permitted channels, permitted countries, organic versus paid rights, start date, expiration date, derivative rights, and partnership-ad or whitelisting permission. Google requires advertisers using image assets to confirm that they have the necessary legal rights to publish and share those images for advertising.

For endorsement content, the FTC says disclosures should be difficult to miss and placed with the endorsement. Its influencer guidance says a video disclosure should appear in the video rather than only in the description. Add the exact approved disclosure, its visual placement, spoken treatment if applicable, and the approving owner to the matrix. Disclosure planning is not a substitute for legal advice about a particular campaign.

1. Separate every audio component and retain the mixed master.
2. Record the license source and permitted commercial use.
3. Track talent, creator, stock, font, and derivative rights.
4. Add expiration dates and territory limits.
5. Place required endorsement disclosures in the produced content, not only in metadata.

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7. Preserve editable source files and use disciplined naming

A final export is not a complete handoff. Preserve enough source material to create new crops, replace expired offers, correct captions, or make approved iterations without rebuilding the concept.

The handoff should contain camera originals and RAW stills, the highest-quality clean video master, layered design files, the editing project with linked media, vector logos, documented font licenses, separate graphics and end cards, audio stems, caption and transcript files, color references or LUT information, releases, licenses, claim approvals, and an export manifest.

Use filenames that communicate concept, SKU, hook, ratio, duration, copy version, and revision. For example: routine_serum_hook03_9x16_15s_offerB_v04.mp4. Keep approval state in the matrix rather than adding ambiguous labels such as FINAL_FINAL2 to filenames.

Shopify describes its Files area as a location for publicly accessible storefront material and warns against uploading confidential, personal, or sensitive documents there. It can support storefront media, but it should not be treated as a private archive for releases, confidential source files, or internal rights records. Store those materials in an access-controlled system appropriate to the team’s security and retention needs.

If useful for a large production, include file size, storage location, checksum, and archive status in the manifest. These are operational controls rather than platform requirements.

1. Collect originals, clean masters, layered files, project files, stems, and captions.
2. Package fonts, linked media, graphics, licenses, releases, and approvals.
3. Apply a consistent naming convention.
4. Record the authoritative storage location in the matrix.
5. Open and test the archived project before accepting handoff.

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8. Run row-level QA and preserve the learning loop

A row is complete only after technical, creative, commercial, and rights checks pass. Approval should be recorded against the exact file and revision.

Check ratio, dimensions, duration, format, filename, and revision. Inspect every crop for clipped products, faces, subtitles, logos, offers, and disclosures. Test audio-on and silent playback. Compare captions with dialogue, and verify that the offer, price, CTA, disclaimer, landing page, and expiration date agree.

For Performance Max, confirm that clean-image versions exist, logos have appropriate contrast, copy stays within current character limits, and each planned orientation is represented. For Reels, run the current safe-zone check and inspect the platform preview. For all channels, verify that talent, creator, music, stock, and font permissions cover the actual paid use.

Record the final approver and approval date. Every incomplete row should retain an owner and due date rather than disappearing into chat. If an asset fails, note whether the remedy is a new export, edit, copy revision, rights clearance, reshoot, or landing-page correction.

ATIYO can organize the roadmap, brief, brand context, assets, iterations, approvals, and reusable learnings around this matrix. Teams can preserve why an edit changed, which source assets supported it, and what was recorded for the next cycle. Media performance remains in the ad platform, and ATIYO does not connect to ad accounts, buy media, calculate ROAS, or automatically know performance. ATIYO preserves creative context and learnings only when the team records them.

1. Validate technical specifications and every crop.
2. Test audio-on, silent playback, captions, and disclosures.
3. Reconcile claims, offer, CTA, price, and landing page.
4. Confirm paid-usage rights and expiration dates.
5. Record the final approver, date, filename, and revision.
6. Carry recorded creative observations into the next brief and roadmap.