Blog
What makes an ad
What makes an ad
worth running.
Field notes on the craft of performance creative — research, teardowns, and the thinking behind finished ads. No fluff, no AI filler.
The performance-creative glossary: the words every DTC ad team should know
Hook rate, thumb-stop ratio, creative fatigue, ROAS, swipefile — the vocabulary of performance creative, defined plainly so your whole team means the same thing.
Read →Blank lifestyle photo vs finished ad: why generic AI image tools don't make ads
A beautiful image isn't an ad. Here's the gap between what generic AI tools produce and what actually runs in a paid feed — and how to close it.
Read →The best free signal of what's working: how long an ad has been running
Paid media is ruthless: money flows to winners and losers get killed fast. So the ads still on air are the ones still paying their way. Here's how to read run-length as a free signal — and where it lies to you.
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