How Worldclass Ad Creative is Made

A Breakdown of how 8 figure e-commerce brands create worldclass creative.

Let's jump in!

1. Emotion

The first layer of a high-performance creative is emotion. This is the intrinsic motivator, the key reason why someone buys.

In fact, 95% of purchasing decisions are made with emotion (and later justified with logic).

But what are these buying emotions?

We've identified 11 research-backed emotions that generally account for 95% of purchases:

-Stand Out

-Feel Freedom

-Feel Security

-Feel Belonging

-Self-Actualize

-Competition

-Instant Gratification

-Leadership

-Nurturance

-Feel a Sense of Pleasure

-Feel Empowered

Depending on the product, you'll have 1-3 key emotions that drive the majority of your purchases.

Deriving these is best done through researching your customer reviews.

Next, embed these emotions into your assets, which is done through everything from the content of the ad, the colors, the sound, the aesthetic, etc.

When building your creative, filter every design decision through the lens of: "Will doing X make someone more likely to feel Y?"

2. Angle

The second layer is the angle, which is how the product will achieve the desired emotional state.

Products accomplish this with different benefits enabled by their features.

The angle is the key takeaway people should remember about your product.

So, thus far in the creative process, the internal subconscious conversation of the consumer would sound something like:

"By buying X, I will feel Y, and this will happen because of Z benefits, made possible through N features."

3. Concept

The concept is the way in which you wrap and package the angle.

It’s the overarching idea that ties everything together, giving the angle a clear and compelling narrative.

This is where creativity shines—how you tell the story matters just as much as the story itself.

Your concept should resonate with the target audience, drawing them in with a fresh perspective or a relatable situation that makes the angle feel real for them.

4. Production

Production refers to the quality and overarching style of all the messaging going on.

Should your ad be high-production or low-production?

Should it be on-brand or off-brand style?

This decision is crucial as it affects how your audience feels, and who pays attention.

A high-production ad may build trust and authority, while a low-production ad could appear more authentic and relatable.

5. Medium

The medium is simply the format of the overarching asset.

Is it a video, a GIF, an animation, a photo, or a multi-photo carousel?

The medium you choose should complement the message and the audience's preferences.

Different mediums work better on different platforms and for different types of content.

Winning angles should be replicated across mediums to maximize reach and impact.

A concept that works well in a video might also resonate in a static image or a series of GIFs, allowing you to expand your creative’s effectiveness.

In Summary...

The creative process is a layered approach that begins with understanding and leveraging the emotions driving your audience.

From there, it's about finding the right angle backed by benefits enabled by features, then wrapping it in a compelling concept, producing it with the right quality and style, and finally, choosing the medium that best suits your message and audience.

P.S.

Moment, that is, aligning your asset with a seasonal event, current trend or timely brand story is a great way to compound all of this, in addition to an offer.

But these pieces will be less evergreen and are often more limited in run time.

P.P.S.

If you got this far you're probably interested in creative strategy which is why you should use our exclusive creative planning sheet designed for this methodology.

It's the best way to plan, manage and iterate on your assets.

All for free:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AxzEle4a2X4k1CqzSqPVqY2tBhepr48jR_bpqd6nV3M/edit?usp=sharing