Mastering the Art of Storytelling in ad creative

Hey guys,

Storytelling in ad creative is about one thing: making people feel something.

It’s about creating ads that resonate so deeply, people think 'there's no way they're not one of us.'

But most strategists are still stuck making surface-level content - talking about products instead of people and features instead of feelings.

Today I’m sharing what I’ve learned from over 3 years of running a direct response ad creative agency on how to tell stories that move people.

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

• OpenAI launched Atlas - their browser that will go head-to-head with Safari and Google Chrome.

• Great tweet from my friend Spencer on why most brands ads suck (they focus on formats not angles)

• This guy built a tool that cloned Alex Hormozi’s brain. Pretty cool lol

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

This isn’t a new ad but it is one that I love. The intentional typography here is great. The fact that your eyes are drawn to “so much sex” first hooks you in and gets you to read the rest of the headline. By that point, you already understand the value proposition and why you’d buy.

Typography psychology is something that I don't often see get used by brands - O Positiv have some great examples in their ad library on how to master it.

The art of storytelling in ad creative

Picture two ads.

Ad #1: About promoting hair growth and reduces thinning in 90 days.

Ad #2: About a guy who stopped wearing hats indoors. Stopped angling himself in group photos. His confidence came back as his hairline did.

The difference? One concept talks about hair. The other talks about shame.

Guess which one converts.

The strategists who actually move the needle don't sell features. They sell feelings.

And here's the thing most people miss: your customers are already telling you the exact feelings that make them buy.

Dig through Reddit threads. Read your reviews. Scroll through your ad comments. They tell you exactly how to sell your product - in their words, with their pain points, using their analogies.

You just need to shut up and listen.

"I feel like everyone's staring, even if they aren't, like my skin is a sign saying 'I'm different.'" - acne treatment ad

"My knees felt like they were betraying me with every step." - joint pain cream ad

"For the first time, my reflection is someone I'm proud of." - weight loss ad

All of these are headlines pulled from top-performing ads that we’ve made.

Notice how now of them talk about the product.

They talk about the feeling of living with the problem.

This is what I call nerve-striking copy. When you write like this, people don't feel sold to. They feel heard. They think "this brand gets it - they must be one of us."

Here's my process for finding these golden nuggets in your customer insights:

1. Sort your reviews by character length (longer reviews = more emotional detail).

2. Pull the top 500-1000.

3. Ask AI to find the emotive language using this prompt

"Go through these reviews and find phrases that use powerful, emotive language — the kind of copy that strikes a nerve. Look for expressions that convey intense feelings. These should be statements that capture raw, impactful emotions and resonate deeply with the audience."

You may need to adjust the prompt based on what comes back, but we’ve found winners in reviews for nearly every brand we've worked with.

Understand their world

Finding emotive language in reviews is step one. But to actually use it effectively, you need to understand the world your customer is living in.

The next time you write a script, ask yourself:

• What human desire am I really solving?

• How would my customer describe this problem to their best friend?

• What's the deeper pain they're not talking about?

Stop thinking in terms of ‘pain points’. Your persona doesn't have pain points. She has a specific Tuesday morning when she realizes she's behind on everything and her boss is asking for updates she doesn't have. Write to THAT moment in your ad scripts.

The 5-year-old test

Once you've nailed the emotion, there's one more filter every script needs to pass.

The 5 year old test. If a 5-year-old can't understand it, your audience won't either.

This isn't about dumbing things down. It's about cutting the jargon that makes you feel smart but makes your audience work too hard.

Watch what happens when you strip out the fluff:

❌ "Scientifically engineered to fight scalp flakiness"

✅ "My secret weapon against dandruff"

❌ "Revolutionary comfort in our new design"

✅ "The comfiest jeans I've ever owned"

Simple wins every time.

One of my favorite examples of this is the ‘milk jug ad’ that we made for The Perfect Jean a few years ago. This ad quickly became a top performer and has since spent multiple six figures for the brand.

Actually, it did so well that I've seen a few of their competitors (and our competitor agencies) ripping it ad off or trying to pull different things out of the pants.

You don’t need fancy scripts to create a winning ad, you need to tell the most relatable stories in the simplest language.

This ad worked because it followed the same principles we've been talking about:

1. It identified the real emotional problem (not the surface-level product benefit)

2. It used language pulled straight from customer reviews

3. It passed the 5-year-old test - anyone could understand it in 3 seconds

As advertisers, our job isn't to sound smart. It's to be understood.

And when you're understood - when someone watches your ad and thinks “wait, there's no way they're not one of us." - that's when the magic happens.

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

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

P.S. If you're spending $100k+ monthly on paid social and need ad creative that converts, my team at Adcrate are accepting applications to work with us. Check out our case studies at adcrate.com.