I analyzed 100 winning ads...here’s what I found

Hey Reader,

I ran an analysis on 100 top performing ad creatives spanning across 20 accounts to find out which creative styles have been the most successful.

I categorised them by ad format over the last 12, 6 and 3 months - so that we can identify exactly what’s working right now.

Today, I’m sharing a few of the things that I found…

1. Traditional UGC is dying

The number of performing single UGC videos have almost halved (18 to 10).

It worked in 2021-2023 because the feed was made up of influencers you followed talking about their favorite products. But now the feed has moved past that. It’s a tailored ‘For you’ experience where there is fierce competition for eyeballs.

UGC isn’t dead - it’s just changing. If you want your UGC to work in 2025, it has to be 1) really great storytelling or 2) really ugly/authentic…or both - like the example we made for The Perfect Jean below.

2. Customer testimonials will always crush

In a world full of fake actors and AI, genuine authentic testimonials stand out and resonate with customers. In fact, people are craving this type of content.

There’s nothing more authentic than real stories from real customers.

We’ve recently started ramping up our testimonial collection on testimonial(dot)to - I’m bullish on this format through the rest of 2025 and beyond.

3. Don’t overcomplicate statics - the simple stuff works

Across multiple products and industries, these always seem to work if you can crack the messaging.

They’re also so easy to produce at scale. Just pick a template in CreativeOS, upload your customer reviews to GPT and find some relevant headlines.

Most people overcomplicate statics - in many cases, it’s keeping it simple that works.

4. 90% of winners were net new, not iterations.

Iterations rarely outperform winning ads that have data and engagement behind them.

But this doesn’t mean put 90% of time into new and 10% iterative.

Even if an iteration can squeeze an additional 20% of profitable spend of a winner, I consider that a win - given that they take next to no work.

The goal of an iteration is to extend the lifespan of a creative - and if it outperforms the original, it’s a bonus.

5. Videos vs Statics

Videos accounted for around 70% of top performers, meanwhile statics where at just under 30%.

Interestingly, most of us don’t spend anywhere near 30% of our time making static ads.

I really think they’re an under-utilised format in a marketers’ toolkit.

If you feel your static ads are lacking, I made a video on how to make great ones here - that I’d highly recommend checking out.

This study isn’t perfect as I’m sure there is overlap between some of the creative styles.

But it is good food for thought and gives us an idea of the general direction we’re heading.

What do you think? Curious to see if this lines up with what people are seeing in their accounts.

Thanks,

Alex