5 evergreen winning ad strategies that are working right now

Hey guys,

If you know me, you know I'm a big fan of running evergreen ads all year round, even in the holidays.

While everyone's sharing their BFCM guides or 10 ads you must run for BFCM, today I want to talk to you about 5 evergreen patterns I'm noticing at the top of our ad accounts right now.

But first, here's what I've found interesting this week:

• This guy made a pretty insane AI video from just one frame.

• Gemini 3 dropped and it looks wild

• Someone found a newspaper article wrote by ChatGPT hahaha

Here’s my favourite ad that I’ve seen this week:

This week's out of the week is by Grace Beverley. This is one of my favorite founder ads that I've seen recently. I love how she's used native text and editing to make this feel really organic. The segway into the solution felt really natural too. Great founders ad that a lot of us can take inspiration from.

The 5 ad formats I’m seeing in ad accounts

Comment response ads are everywhere

This format keeps showing up at the top of our accounts. You address a comment directly in the ad, but the creator needs to actually respond to it in the first few seconds.

We had a creator respond to the comment "I cannot stand stevia" with "Oh yeah, I cannot stand stevia either. That aftertaste is just awful. But these I have found have zero stevia..."

The magic is addressing common objections. Run your customer reviews through Claude and identify the biggest objections people had before buying. Those become your comment hooks.

Skeptical comments work incredibly well too.

"$80 for jeans is crazy" becomes "You think $80 is crazy? What I think is crazy is paying $30 and replacing them every 2 months."

Longer ads are dominating

This is probably the clearest trend I'm seeing this year. We have multiple accounts where 4-5 minute ads are the top performers. One account even has a 10-minute ad that's crushing it.

Some of our best performers don't mention the product until 60-90 seconds in.

Think of it like pulling back a bow - the more you agitate that pain point (as long as it stays relevant), the stronger the release when you finally present your solution.

For brands without painful problems, we're stitching top performers together into mini-VSLs. We took four winning ads for a popcorn brand and created a 4-minute mashup that became their top spender.

Remember: there's no such thing as an ad that's too long, just an ad that's too boring.

Getting creative with Image Gen

We're using AI to write messages on bodies, walls, mirrors - anything visually relevant to the audience.

"No more fatigue, hot sweats, or weight gain" written on someone's stomach for a hormone product. A message on a foot for neuropathy cream. A knee brace frozen in an ice block for a fighting brand.

The key is making it visually relevant to your audience. If they see it, they should instantly know "this is for me."

These types of ads have performed very well this year.

UGC still works (when done right)

Yeah, I said UGC. But not in the traditional sense.

I'm talking about content that actually mirrors what's on the organic feed in 2025. Natural reactions, combination of A-roll and B-roll, organic captions, no soundtrack.

Scroll Instagram for 5 minutes and study how real creators edit their content. And you will realise pretty quickly that there’s quite a difference between actual organic content and “UGC” that advertisers produce.

In my opinion, ad creative that wins in 2026 will either be SUPER ugly and organic or super produced and clear that it’s an ad.

Speaking of super ugly, this is still one of my favorite examples of an ugly ad I’ve ever seen.

Authority figures are becoming essential

The more AI content floods our feeds, the more we'll crave authentic expertise. Work with actual experts in your space - doctors, aestheticians, food critics, whatever fits your product.

They speak with a level of authenticity you can't get from any paid creator. They know the insider terms, the real pain points, the industry nuances.

Get your authority figure to post the ad, then whitelist it through their account.

The most important thing is your messaging

Ultimately I can give you all the formats but none of it matters if you don’t have the right messaging.

Focus on understanding your audience's real problems, desires, and objections first.

Then pair that messaging with these proven formats.

That's where the real magic happens.

→ Want to invest in systems for your creative strategy team? → adcreativeops.com

Announcements

No announcements but stay tuned for some exclusive discounts to AdCreativeOps and the AI Creative Strategist Blueprint next week ;)

Enjoyed this email? Forward it to a friend who'd find it valuable!

Miss an issue? Catch up on past editions here.

And if someone forwarded this to you, here's a link to signup. I send tips on how to make more winning ads straight to your inbox every week!

See you next week,

Alex