Do THIS when you've found a winning ad

Hey guys,

True winning ads don't come around that often.

So when you find something that's working, you need to squeeze every bit of juice you can out of it.

Today I’m going to share some of my favorite iterations to make on winning ads.

But first, I want to do something different this week…

Usually in this section, I talk about resources from the world of AI this week. But today I want to shout out a different kind of resource…another newsletter! I honestly don’t read that many newsletters, and my bar for subscribing to newsletters is very high. But one newsletter I read religiously is Alex Greifeld’s No Best Practices. What I love about Alex’s newsletter is that she doesn’t try to be cool or trendy, she just focuses on timeless growth marketing principles. She often uses real examples from real DTC brands and tells you how to implement the lessons inside your own brand. Honestly if you’re a brand trying to scale up, you need to be subbed to her newsletter. So go and check it out here!

5 effective ways to iterate on winning ads:

First of all, I don’t like to ‘if this, then that’ my ad creative. I more so think of creative ideation in playbooks. Here are all the options we’ve got, then it’s up to the strategist to decide which play to run.

I shared our entire iterations playbook on X this week:

With that being said, here are some of my favorite iterations to make…

Get ads reshot by different creators

This is probably the easiest way to unlock extra scale from a winning concept.

We all resonate with different types of people. Taking that winning script and getting it reshot by creators of different demographics - different ages, genders, ethnicities - can completely change who the ad resonates with and who it gets delivered to.

Even within the same broad audience, you have different personas. For example, with a men's clothing brand, you might have big guys, small guys, construction workers, office workers. Each persona can be telegraphed through the visuals at the start of your ads.

I've seen this unlock significant extra scale on winning concepts. Same script, different face, completely different results.

Test different headlines with headline bars

One of the easiest and most effective iterations you can make.

They're perfect for testing different messaging on your winning ads. You can flip a "how to" statement into an "I" statement, or test controversial angles against educational ones.

For example, instead of "3 reasons why you need these jeans," you could test:

• "This is how jeans should look on a man"

• "These are the only pair of jeans I own"

• "There's nothing sexier than a man wearing these jeans"

Different people are drawn to different messaging, and this helps the algorithm understand who to send your content to.

Turn single creator concepts into mashups

This is another favorite of mine, and I can't tell you how many times this has turned a good ad into one that swallows the account.

The power of mashups is social proof and relatability. When someone sees multiple people enjoying your product - especially people they can relate to - it removes the "will this work for me?" objection.

This works especially well for products where fit, appearance, or personal results matter. A big guy might think "those jeans look good on that skinny guy, but what about me?" Then you cut to a bigger guy wearing them, and suddenly it clicks.

Here's how we approach mashups:

• Keep the strongest segments from your original winner (usually the hook)

• Weave in clips from other creators showing the product

• Maintain the narrative flow

• End with a strong CTA

Repurpose across different formats

Don't limit winning concepts to just one format. If you have a crushing video ad, consider:

• Motion graphics versions - Turn key moments into animated sequences

• Static carousels - Break the story into 3-5 slides

• GIFs - Extract the most engaging moments

• Statics - Use the hook or problem as a wide industry problem following the PAS framework

Each format reaches different parts of your audience and performs differently across placements.

Whitelist winning ads

If you read this newsletter regularly, you know how much I talk about whitelisting. Take your winning organic-style ads and run them through creator accounts or publication accounts.

Meta has openly said they're pushing whitelisted content in 2025, and we're seeing this play out in real time.

You can start simple with founder ads, then progress to authority figures, creator collaborations, and larger influencer partnerships.

Finally…

Sometimes I see brands intentionally distribute between new creative and iterations proactively. You shouldn't plan "75% new, 25% iterations" because you never know when you'll have something worth iterating on.

Instead, let the data guide you. The extent to which an ad has scaled should determine how much you iterate on it. An ad that's spent $500k deserves more iteration than one that's spent $50k.

Use both the eye test and performance data to guide your iterations. Look at hook rates, hold rates, retention charts - identify exactly where drop-offs happen and hypothesize why. Then use that information to form the next iteration.

The brands that master this iteration process don't just find winning ads - they build winning creative systems that compound over time.

Announcements:

• At Adcrate, we are still hiring for a Creative Strategist. If you want to join one of the fastest growing creative teams in the space, click here to find out more and apply. And if you’ve applied but haven’t yet heard back, we’re still working through some of the applications so stay tuned!

• My friend Sam Piliero just dropped a course on how to scale Facebook ads profitably. Sam is rock solid and someone I learn a lot from, so I’d recommend you going to check out his course. The link is here.

Also, here are a couple of events I’ll be at over the next few weeks if anyone here is around 👀

• Commerce Roundtable, San Diego - 22nd-23rd September

• Smart Marketer Live, Denver - 6th-7th October

Hit me up if you’re around. I’d love to meet some of y’all!

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 with the help of AI straight to your inbox every week!

See you next week,

Alex

P.S. If you're spending $100k+ monthly on paid social and want help implementing AI systems like these, my team at Adcrate is accepting applications to work with us. Check out our case studies at adcrate.co.