Use AI to scale ad creative ft. Alex Cooper

There’s a lot of content out there telling you to use AI, but it's always so vague.

That’s why I got a lot out of Alex Cooper’s super practical AI talk at Motion’s Creative Strategy Summit.

Alex is an AI expert whose agency, AdCrate, works with 8-9 figure DTC brands like Huel, Licorice.com, and the Perfect Jean. In his talk, he shared a handful of AI tools you can use them to make winning ads at scale.

Tools like:

• ArcAds for AI-generated UGC videos
• ChatGPT for analyzing reviews and competitors
• Midjourney, Imagine Create, and CreativeOS for making statics

Feel like watching instead of reading? Alex’s full session is available on YouTube 👇

AI is just another tool 🔨

“AI will make the best better and the rest expendable,” says Alex.

Creatives tend to be anti-AI. I get it, I’m a copywriter and writing is arguably the easiest thing for AI to replace. But the more I’ve used things like ChatGPT or NotebookLM, the more I see that they won’t replace a good writer.

AI can be super useful though for things like:

• Refining your processes
• Automating tedious tasks
• Finding ideas you might have missed

One thing Alex said stood out to me as well. A lot of people tell him they’d never use AI in their ads because it’s so obvious and fake, their customers would spot it right away.

I’ve had those same concerns myself. Yet AdCrate continues to create ads with AI that profitably scale to $100k+ in spend. 

So don't assume AI won't work for you. It’s worth testing at the very least, and here’s how:

Build a prompt library 📚

Prompting is the foundational skill for using AI. Your prompts are really the only lever you can pull, and the quality you get out depends on the quality of your prompts.

Alex suggests building a library for prompts that you use often or ones that get you good results. Here’s a simple prompt library template you can use.

Start with a simple tool like ChatGPT and play around with it. You'll start to see patterns the more you use it. Over time, you'll get better at nudging it closer to what you want it to do.

ChatGPT is powerful but it needs a lot of guidance.

The better you are at guiding it, the more you get out of the tool.

Use AI for customer research 🔬

Only using AI for production is a common mistake. LLMs can be helpful for ideation as well.

Customer reviews are a goldmine of information – real people telling you real reasons why they bought your product. But they can take a long time to sort through manually.

ChatGPT can sort thousands of reviews for you in seconds. I borrowed this prompt from Alex, using Nike’s Air Force 1 product page as an example:

“What are some interesting patterns of the reviews on this page that humans could miss? [URL]” 

Here’s what I got: 

The 3rd, 5th, and 6th bullets jump out to me as a possible position to take for some new ads. Buyers of this shoe are drawn to its look, despite finding it uncomfortable. You could play up that tradeoff in your ads to attract that customer segment.

For example, you could send a creator a pair of shoes and have them make a video like “break in my new AF1s with me.” They could record themselves walking around their city being uncomfortable but looking stylish.
You can’t just ask ChatGPT to come up with a new campaign idea.

However, it can be a helpful research tool if you point it toward a big data source like customer reviews or a competitor’s website.

Create high volume statics with AI 🤖

We’re honestly getting a little spoiled with all the options that can help you create statics with AI. Here are a few Alex shared during his talk at the Creative Strategy Summit:

Midjourney 

Midjourney is an AI image generator. Alex likes using it to illustrate either benefits or pain points. Here are two examples he shared:

You still need to add the copy and a shot of the product, but Midjourney can quickly provide a background image.

Imagine Create‍

This tool is similar to Midjourney but for product images. You feed in a shot of your product and it gives you dynamic images that feature your product. 

This is a quick and simple way to turn a single product shot into many, which gives you more options for static ads.

Also, while there is a place for clean and polished studio shots of your product, they can be boring. It’s better to show your product with a dynamic background like the example above. Better yet, show your product in a real setting.

For this product, you could have it sitting on a bathroom counter. This makes it easier for your customers to visualize your brand in their lives.

CreativeOS

CreativeOS has a huge library of static ads that it pulls from Facebook ad library. Find one you like and you can copy it into Figma or Canva with one click.

All you have to do once you’ve copied a template is fill in your own images and copy. It makes briefing a breeze.

Create UGC with AI 🤳

ArcAds partners with real creators who authorize their likenesses for marketing purposes. You pick a creator, give them a script, and the AI generates a video of them reading it.

Here are the settings Alex recommends for getting a good voice-over:

Don’t just take the video it produces and throw it in your ad account though. The technology isn't quite there yet. 

Alex and his team like to mix in b-roll and product shots to flesh out the video and make the AI creator blend in. You can also splice in other creators.

Bonus tool: NotebookLM 📓

NotebookLM is an AI tool created by Google. It’s a standard LLM but the twist is that you tell it exactly what to analyze. You can upload Google Docs, link to website and YouTube videos, or just copy and paste plain text in.

Once it’s analyzed the source material you’ve given it, you can ask it specific questions about the information you gave it.

You can also use it to make ads.

Click “Notebook guide” in the bottom right, then generate an “Audio overview.” The audio overview generates a conversation between two people and it sounds like a podcast.

It’s some of the best fake audio I’ve heard. The two AI “hosts” have a good rapport and the speech sounds very natural.

With the right inputs, you can use clips from the Audio overview as a fake podcast for some UGC-style ads.

Responsible AI use 🤠

It’s important to use AI responsibly. Alex’s agency adds a disclaimer to all their ads created with AI, even if it only played a small role. 

Also, he pointed out that you should never have an AI actor use “I” statements. If you have an AI UGC video where the fake creator says “I love this product,” that’s technically a false claim since the AI has never used the product. 

AI tools are powerful, and with great power comes great responsibility. 🕸️

Tying it all together 🧵

The biggest takeaway is that no AI can do your job for you, but adding some AI into your workflow may help you streamline your processes.

• Work on your prompting skills 🤓
• Try experimenting with AI even if you’re skeptical 🧪
• Remember to be upfront and responsible about AI use 👍

Ads we like this week 😎

Here are a few ads that caught my eye this week. If you want to watch these ads with audio, check out this swipe file.

This ad does a great job of explaining the problem they’re trying to solve. “Healthy baby food” is vague, but this video makes it clear that they sell heavy metal/toxin-free baby food.

This claim is stronger and more specific. I also love that she says “this is not your fault,” which reduces the guilt a parent might feel when watching this. Guilt can make people defensive and less open to listening to your solution.

It’s also key that they used an influencer so it’s not just the brand telling you how great they are. It feels more authentic, even though it’s a paid sponsorship.

This ad shows Honest Company products in real situations, which makes it easy for a customer to picture your product in their own lives.

That reduces friction so your customer doesn't wonder "would I ever use this?" Less friction = more likely to convert.

It’s also funny and feels relatable. Overall it seems like authentic and relatable content that shows multiple products but isn’t pushing any of them too hard.

This Mous ad is pulled from Alex Cooper’s ad collection in Motion. The hook is bold – dropping their backpack off a roof with a Macbook in it. They mix in more dramatic demonstrations throughout the video as well.

It’s a long ad but those demos keep it engaging and everything boils down to their main message – this is the ultimate backpack.

I also like that the ad pushes you to check out their YouTube channel and website, building that content funnel for better customer loyalty and conversions down the line.

Want to create your own swipe files? Check out Creative Research, still free for everyone.