Hey {{ First Name | Founder }},
I get asked all the time: "Jessie, how do you actually come up with ad ideas?"
So I thought I'd pull back the curtain and show you the exact framework we use when building creative strategy for brands.
The biggest mistake I see is brands start with the format.
"We need some UGC."
"Let's film a founder story."
"We should make a comparison ad."
But a format isn't an idea.
It's just a container.
A founder video with a weak idea is still a weak ad. A UGC ad with no real insight is still a weak ad.
The angle comes first. The format comes second.
Here's the process.
Phase 1: Discover the angle
Before we write a single script, we answer four questions.
What problem are we solving
Not the category problem. The specific problem.
How does it show up in someone's day-to-day life
What frustration are they experiencing?
What happens if they don't solve it?
What does the customer actually want?
This is usually deeper than the product itself.
Nobody wants a protein powder. They want energy. Confidence. Performance. Progress.
Nobody wants a luxury handbag.They want status. Identity. Self-expression.
Find the desire beneath the product.
What emotion are we tapping into
Are we helping someone move toward something? Or away from something?
Excitement and aspiration create very different ads from fear and frustration.
How sophisticated is the market
Has this audience seen hundreds of ads for products like yours?
Or are you introducing them to a new idea?
The more sophisticated the market, the more sophisticated the angle needs to be.
Once we have those four pieces, we can start researching.
Phase 2: Research
This is where most brands stop. And it's why most creatives misses the mark.
We're looking for evidence that supports our angle.
The five places I look are:
Ad Account Data
What has already worked?
Why did it win?
What argument was it making?
Not just which ad won.
Organic Social
What posts get comments?
What gets shared?
What questions keep coming up?
Your audience is constantly telling you what they care about.
Reviews
This one is gold.
5-star reviews tell you the transformation.
3-star reviews often reveal objections.
1-star reviews tell you the frustrations.
Customer Quotes
What phrases do customers use that explain the product better than your marketing team ever could?
Borrow those!
Customer Interviews
The deepest layer of research.
What nearly stopped them buying?
What surprised them after purchase?
What would they tell a friend?
This is where the best angles usually come from.
Phse 3: Identify the angle
Now we pull everything together.
The goal isn't to find a clever slogan.
The goal is to find the strongest argument for why this product matters to this customer right now.
One product can have dozens of angles.The best advertisers test them all.
Phase 4: Choose the container
Only now do we decide:
UGC
Founder video
Testimonial
Educational content
Static image
Comparison ad
Aesthetic brand content
Because the format should support the angle. A strong angle can work across multiple formats. A weak angle won't work in any of them.
That's why the best-performing creative isn't usually made by the brands with the biggest production budgets.
It's made by the brands who do the work before the brief.
They research properly.
They understand their customers deeply.
And they build every piece of creative around a real insight.
The angle comes first.
Everything else follows.
Which part of the process do you spend the most time on today: research, ideation, production, or testing?
Hit reply, I'd love to hear.
Jessie x
