AI video ad checklist: what to check before sign-off
What to check on each cut of an AI video ad: brief, product accuracy, AI artefacts, sound, formats and legal. Plus how to send feedback that saves a round.
The first cut lands, the team watches it once on a laptop and replies “looks good”. Two weeks later someone spots a misspelled label on the pack in the 9:16 version, after the ads went live. An AI video needs the same review as any ad, plus a few checks that only AI production calls for. Run the list below on each cut.
Watch it four ways
Play it once at full speed on a laptop, the way your team will. Play it on a phone, where Reels and TikTok viewers meet it. Play it muted: the ad has to make sense to someone scrolling with the sound off. Then step through frame by frame at the moments that carry the sale: product shots, the logo, each line of on-screen text.
Brief and message
- The ad says the one thing the brief asked for, and says it early.
- The call to action matches the offer and the landing page.
- Each length you ordered (6, 15 or 30 seconds) still carries the message.
Product and brand
Image models redraw what they render, and small text breaks first.
- Pack text, labels and logo match the real product in each shot.
- Product shape and colour stay the same from shot to shot.
- Brand colours match the brand book.
- Each word on screen is spelled right in each language version.
AI artefacts
- Hands: count the fingers in close-ups.
- Faces: a person still looks like the same person after a cut.
- Physics: liquids pour, fabric falls and shadows follow the light.
- Edges of frame: no gibberish signs or melted objects in the background.
- Lip-sync holds in each language.
- Still surfaces don’t flicker or crawl.
Sound
- The music licence covers your media, territory and period.
- The voice-over says the brand and product names the way you say them.
- For TV, follow the broadcaster’s delivery spec. European broadcasters work to EBU R128, which sets programme loudness at −23 LUFS, and Italian rules (AGCOM resolution 219/09/CSP) forbid ads that play louder than the programme around them.
- For social, listen on a phone speaker. A mix that sounds full on studio monitors can bury the voice on a phone.
Formats
- Each aspect ratio (9:16, 4:5, 1:1, 16:9) has its own framing, with the product fully in shot.
- Text and product stay clear of the areas where the platform draws its interface: the account name at the top, the caption and buttons at the bottom. Check in the Ads Manager or TikTok preview before launch.
- Each language has subtitles, as a file or burned in.
- File names state language, length and ratio.
Legal
Disclosure, releases, licences and product claims: use the one-page file from our guide on getting an AI ad signed off by legal.
Send feedback once per round
Merge everyone’s comments into one list before you send it. Give each note a timecode and mark it “must fix” or “nice to have”. Two departments with opposite notes cost you a round. Our projects include two revision rounds and a third costs €1,500, so a merged list saves money along with time.
Our first cut arrives within 48 hours, so pick your reviewers before you send the brief.