Vertical Ads Built Hook-First for Reels, TikTok, Shorts

A vertical ad is two assets wearing one file name. The first two seconds decide whether the other twenty are seen; the other twenty decide whether anything happens afterwards. Here they are shot as separate problems: one build of the body, eight openings tested against it. A slate of eight unrelated concepts tells you which of eight things won and nothing whatsoever about why, and next quarter you start again from nothing. The hook set: Eight openings, each isolating one move. A claim stated flat. The same claim demonstrated. A question. An objection quoted back. A face. A screen. The result shown before anything else. A sound-led open. They share the body, the offer and the end card, so the read-out is attributable to the one thing that changed. Each is cut to work muted with captions and again with sound, because Reels and TikTok arrive with audio on and Shorts on desktop frequently does not. Shooting: Captured at 4K or better on a 9:16 frame, composed for 1080 by 1920 delivery, with the platform interface treated as part of the frame from the first setup rather than discovered in the export. Handheld and creator-style setups are shot that way. They are not simulated by adding camera shake in post, which reads as an agency imitating a person and is punished by the audience faster than any production value gains back. Creator-led work: Where a creator fronts the ad, casting is against your category rather than follower count, and the Spark Ads handover is arranged before the shoot, using the creator's authorisation code rather than a re-upload from the brand account, so the organic signal survives being boosted. Usage term, territory and exclusivity are agreed in the same conversation as the fee. Nobody should discover in month four that the best-performing asset has expired. Music: Brand ads use TikTok's Commercial Music Library or a cleared commissioned track. The trending song sitting in the standard library is licensed for organic posts and not for advertising, and a slate built on one is a takedown waiting for a media budget to arrive behind it. Delivery: 1080 by 1920 H.264 for upload, sidecar caption files and burned-in versions, a 4:5 derivation for feed where it is planned in the media, plus the graded source and project files. Thumbnail frames are chosen rather than left to the platform, since the Shorts shelf and the TikTok profile grid both show one. What is reported: Hold rate at three seconds and completion, taken from the platform's own reporting and read against the hook variable. Nothing beyond that is claimed. Cost per acquisition and return on ad spend depend on your offer, your destination page and your bidding, none of which this practice controls or wants to. Not included: Media buying, account access, bid management. Organic posting calendars and community management. Performance-based fees. Whitelisting negotiations with creators already under contract to your agency. Turning existing long-form footage into vertical, which is adaptation work and a separate engagement. Who should not book this: Anyone buying volume, thirty assets a month at a per-asset rate. That is a legitimate way to buy vertical creative and several shops do it well. This is not one of them. Also anyone who needs a promised cost per thousand before the first test. The honest number arrives after eight hooks have run, and it comes from the auction rather than from a pitch deck.