I Ranked 51 Meta Ad Creative Types (Tier List) transcript

In today's video, I'm going to be ranking every single Meta Ads creative format from the god-like S-tier ads that almost always turn into unicorn scaling ads down to the F-tier ones that you probably even shouldn't [music] be wasting your budget on. I spent the last 10 years growing brands using Meta Ads, and I've been a part of making 20,000 ad creatives on the teams that I've served. So, I've developed some pretty big opinions on what brand should really focus on versus what they shouldn't be wasting any of their budget on.

So, let's go ahead and dive in. First up, we have AI animation ads. This is the big one that I feel I came out of the woodwork this year that initially garnered a lot of attention because of how fun and childlike it is. And what I'll say, too, is there's multiple different types of formats of these, right? There's the Pixar animation style ads, there's the claymation style ads, there's like 10 different types of ads.

But, for [music] this one, I'm going to say that it actually firmly fits into the C-tier. Why? Well, number one, it's a little bit more operationally complex. You're going to really have to train your team to develop a new school to make these ads. And as far as actually scaling brands, while I do find that a lot of times these ones will hit a pocket of a net new audience and scale up really well initially, they don't often become a long-term performing ad.

So, that's why I'm going to be a little harsh and keep them in the C-tier. [music] Now, the next one is going to be the amateur investigation ad. Now, this is one that I'm very proud of because I like to think that my team really brought this to popularity over the last few months, and I'm going to give this an A-tier. When we've developed this for brands, it really scales up [music] well and nicely. Now, the breakdown of this ad is that essentially, you're going to be hiring a creator to conduct an amateur investigation on your product or niche.

In this one, we did someone who is visiting different car dealerships. And then next up we have the TikTok love letter. I'm going to put this in a solid B because they think it's number one really easy to execute. And if you already know the messaging and the persona really well for your brand, these can often be a really quick hit. But it's not quite in that A or S tier because I don't often find that this is the ultimate unicorn type of scaling ad.

Very similarly, going to put this in the same level actually is going to be the real short. Now, both of these are actually very top of funnel. So, what I'll often find is maybe they're in the top eight of top performing creatives, but they're not going to be the thing that makes or breaks a brand's overall ad performance or can, you know, necessarily transform a business overnight. But it can often help really develop the creative [music] ecosystem further for a new type of concept or persona that you really want to scale into.

So, I love thinking of these two ads as supporting characters. And then next up you got your yapper ads. Ooh, I'm going to give this one an A tier. Again, not quite in that S tier because I think that it's actually very hard to nail. And you have to make sure that you have the right creator. And what the creator is going to be doing is essentially just yapping to camera, right? It sort of feels easy cuz it's like, "Oh, okay." All that you got to do is have someone sit down, yap to cam, talk about your product or a problem that they have, and really dive into their own personal storytelling.

But I find that it's very hard to actually find these creators. But once you do, it's going to be in that A tier. And very often, these are going to scale up really nicely if you can get the right combination of the script and the creator and the setting. [music] And then we have our David and Goliath ads. This is going to be another one that I'm going to put as the A This is another ad that we've seen scale up super super nicely.

And essentially, this ad is a play on the David and Goliath fable. So, the way that I like to think about this for ad creative, you're going to be positioning your brand as David who is overcoming a big industry or obstacle. And that storytelling is often what is going to get people to want to root for you and the brand. At the agency, we specifically use Storyblocks to help tell the story of these David and Goliath ads.

And a huge thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video. They are long-term friends of this channel. They are a 100% human-made stock library that is perfect for combining with your creator content and any other type of content that you might have in your arsenal. Now, for the David and Goliath ad specifically, when we are trying to really visualize the Goliath in the story, this is where Storyblocks has really come to save the day for us multiple times because it combines so well with our creator and Sounders content when we are making the specific [music] ad.

And my team really loves it because it plugs right into Adobe Creative Cloud and allows them to search for assets directly inside of Premiere Pro and After Effects. The reason why over 150,000 creators and businesses use Storyblocks is because it is 100% royalty-free even for ads. To get access to the human-made stock media library built for creators and essential to my workflow, head to storyblocks.com/daradenni. They're offering 15% off for a super limited time and it is only available in my link in the description below.

Ooh, and then we have number seven, the grid style [music] statics. I love these. In fact, one of my top-performing creatives at the big nine-figure brand that I was at, this was a grid style static. [music] And I love because it is so easy to create, but if you have multiple products and multiple SKUs, it can often be a winner. So, I'm going to go ahead and put this firmly in the A tier. I have seen it become the top-performing unicorn scaling ad for a handful of brands, but I really think that there's a little bit of storytelling often missing for those, but if you have bundle-based products and again multiple SKUs, it is one of those low-hanging fruit types of ad creatives that you really really need to test.

And then we have EGC or employee-generated content. often find that brands who do this really really well are like Oats Overnight, especially in their warehouse, or Cheers Health, who has actually got a lot more of their employees to start doing content after the success of their founders' content. This is one that I'm going to put into the B tier. Yikes, I often don't see it scale up as nicely as founders' content, and it can be a little operationally complex getting your employees to balance the duties of their actual day-to-day like job description, plus >> [music] >> making content. find that the content falls on the wayside unless it is actually a part of their job description.

And then we have founders' content. I'm going to go ahead and automatically put this in the S tier because I find that regardless of what type of founders' content you do, whether it is super high-five big production [music] or it's low-fi just with your phone, what I love about this ad format is that if you can tell the story about why you are making your brand and why it is important to you, you are going to automatically connect with your audience, particularly if they have that same type of problem or issue that you do.

It is like the number one way to get [music] this done, and I often find it is the first type of top performer that a brand has. So, founders' ads for the win for me. All right, and then we have text-only ads. You know what? I'm feeling a little nervous doing this now because I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I have shown you guys a number of these formats throughout the years." And I feel like some of you are going to be mad at me being like, "You said that we had to test this." Formats go in and out of style, you know, but this is one text-only ad that uh I'm going to give it like my first negative ranking, which is an E tier.

Yes, I have seen this do well for brands, particularly actually like another one that I'm going to mention, which is technically text-only base, a founder's letter. I have seen that perform really well, especially during sales periods, but this is one that I find people end up not executing well because they're using AI to write all the copy and it just comes out bland. So, text-only ads, you know, we live in a very visual society on social media, so this is one that unless you're using it for sales, might be one to skip for now.

Ooh, and then callout ads. You know what? I I really love a good callout ad, so I am going to give this a B tier. This is one actually that I find can scale up pretty nicely if you already have a really good idea of the type of messaging, angles, or big creative concepts that are working for you. If you decide to create an iteration with a callout ad, this is one that I have seen even in the last few months still making moves and doing really well.

So, callout ads for the win. And then we have the before and afters. Ooh, I'm going to give this one a B tier. This is one that I often find again can be a really good supporting cast member in your creative ecosystem, but isn't actually going to be the one to like puncture and convert net new audiences and really offer that scale. Sometimes it is the one though that's going to convert really well for your audience that's a little bit more mid-funnel.

And then very similar to your before and after ads, we're going to have your progression ads. [music] Now, this can show a before and after visual, but really what it's about, it's about showing the progression over a specific amount of time and the type of results that your customers can anticipate. And I'm actually going to give this the exact same ranking as a before and after. Again, a really good supporting cast member for converting people that are already in your mid-funnel, but very likely not really going to help you find net new audiences.

Ooh, and then we have press ads. I'm going to give this one an F, and I'll tell you why. I used to be a huge champion of this type of ad format years ago. I mean, I've been doing YouTube now for like 7 years, but like 6 years ago I used to talk about press ads and really talk about how it provided the stamp of eligibility. The reason why it's an F now is because they are a to get permissions for. You know, if you do get written up in Vogue, but then you make a meta ad that has Vogue in it, unless you're just using the logo, but if you were actually using like these style press ads, they're going to come for you.

So, operationally they are a pain unless you want to pay for extra rights. So, F tier. Don't really bother doing this one anymore unless you get those rights. Very similar though to the press ads is the breaking news ad, right? And this is what I feel like performance marketers were forced to do because press became so unreliable, and every time we would put up these press ads, these publications would come for us. So, this one again can be a good supporting cast member, but not even that well.

So, I'm going to put it as D tier. It's been a minute since I've seen this one crank. I'll often see it get a few sales, but [music] it's generally not going to be the one that's going to transform your business overnight. And then next up we have the tweet [music] and Reddit ads. Now, this is one that I often find is really good for a brand that's spending anywhere from 100k to maybe 250k. So, not really those big $1 million budgets, but in this range when you don't have a ton of creative help or creative capacity and velocity, this is one of those statics that I have seen show up in the top eight of several brands operating at that level.

But again, good supporting cast member, likely to not be the thing that scales and cranks for your brand. Although I will say that I used to use this a lot as a first frame in video and that is still working cuz I've tested that across a few brands recently. So, maybe just the first frame would be a B. And then testimonial statics E. F for the way that most of you are making them though. These are just simply testimonials slapped on a static and I would say that most marketers are very bad at them unless they are using those super special golden nugget testimonials, but I'm going to be very honest, it has been a hot [music] minute since I have seen a single testimonial ad do anything noteworthy or worthwhile.

So, F. And then we have the listicles. I'm going to put this [music] one as a E actually, just a little bit better. This is one that I got a few hits out of at a very specific point in time, maybe like a year or two ago and I remember making videos about it, but it has not done jack lately. So, this one lower on my tier list. [music] And then we have headline ads. I could wax romantic about headline ads because I feel like they're the OG of advertising, especially from the print era, right?

This is one that if you have amazing messaging can fit firmly in that B tier, but I find that though a lot of the ways that most e-com marketers are doing it is diabolical like this or just, you know, kind of boring like this. But again, when combined with call outs can crush and I have seen brands who have really nailed their messaging and really know how to use messaging as the hook and as the thing that really invites people in can crank.

Ooh, and then we have statistics. I feel like if you've watched this channel for a while, you will recognize this ad. I have shown it ad nauseam, but this is another one that I'm going to be ranking a little lower as a C tier. Now, I've actually seen this work pretty well for like big luxury brands that have retail presence. But this is one that if you are a D2C or e-com only brand, it's likely not going to scale becoming your top eight at motion.

But, if you're operating more on like brand awareness or even traffic, this is one where, okay, for those higher funnel like objectives, this one can often be the one that gets the best performance. But, if you're trying to make an ROI directly from Meta, likely not going to be the one to do it for you. Ooh, and then we have the OG classic S versus them. I'm going to give you a B. This is one that even though I kind of roll my eyes every time a team member puts it forward, I'm like, "Is it going to work?" And it does.

It can often go into the top eight on our motion reports. But, it's one that I find is really just getting that like mid-funnel audience. So, it's likely not going to be the unicorn ad that is going to scale your brand. Ooh, partnership ads. Can I give this one an S tier? I'm going to give it an S tier. Partnership ads, when you have the right creator, and hell, maybe you even tested out their content before before you decided to do partnership ads.

This is [music] the thing that is making or breaking brands on Meta right now. If you are not doing partnership ads, regardless of where you're at in your scale, [music] and you are bringing a butter knife to a gunfight. And I have said that exact line in other videos. Partnership ads are so, so vital to Meta's performance right now for a few reasons. Number one, because [music] the Andromeda algorithm is a persona-based algorithm, one of the best ways to actually reach your personas are to do that through creators who your personas are actively engaging with and loving.

Additionally, if you are a brand that is spending multi-million dollars per month on the platform, this is one of the best ways to actually reach net [music] new audiences. So, you have to make sure that you're looking at your rolling reach month over month. And if you see that going down, partnership ads are a really great way to get new reach and to reach new people. Because the seed audience from partnership ads is actually starting from the creators own audience.

So, partnership ads are the number one thing that I would be investing [music] in as a brand over the next few months on Meta. Hell, for the rest of the year, really. You really need to dial in on your creator program. And if you're trying to understand how to work with higher caliber [music] creators and influencers, I actually just came out with a video last week that really dives in to how to develop your creator program.

So, that's one [music] that I would take a look at. And then we have the hot girl Instagram stories. This ad is exactly what [music] it says. How does a hot girl take Instagram stories? She's taking pictures of herself in a mirror. She's taking selfies. She's doing flat lays, right? These ones, again, really good supporting cast. [music] So, I would say B tier, but I just find a lot of brands are like cannot execute them.

They need to work with more hot girls to get this done, to [music] be honest. Ooh, and then very similarly, creator low-fi statics. I'm going to put this one for firmly in the B tier. This is another really good supporting cast member. In fact, another hint that I'll give you guys is when you are contracting creators to make partnership ads, also have them do a few low-fi creator statics, essentially how they would do stories for the brand.

This is something that really, really works well and develops a little bit of a funnel system for that specific creator. It's like my number one tip for partnership ads right now. And then we have authority ads. I'm going to put this one as a SRA SRA. I'm going to put it as an A. Authority ads, especially for hyper-competitive niches, like supplements or beauty. Being able to work with someone who is an authority in the space, like a doctor or a dermatologist or whatever, is something that is going to be able to give you that higher-level validation and trust, so that people can get over the hump of the objections that they have to buying your brand.

Plus, it is a really great way to add creative diversity into your account instead of just rinsing and reusing the same UGC playbook. [music] And then 27, we have celebrity ads. I wanted to include this one because I actually used to do celebrity briefing for a big nine-figure brand and I'm going to put this one in the C-tier. Wow, I have seen it crank with specific creators or celebrities, but I've also seen it not quite get great performance from a lot >> [laughter] >> of the celebrities that I've worked with.

And I think there's a few reasons for this, right? Like, if you want to understand the difference between an influencer and a celebrity, actually be sure to watch that other video that I just did about building your creator program. I really go deep into that and I think that is vital to understanding why creators and celebrities can be a massive unlock for your brand, but can also be a big money pit. And then next up, we have objection handling ads.

This is going to be another one that's going to be B-tier. Another great one to really help flush out more of that middle funnel and get more conversions. And I also find that this is one that can start to work pretty quickly [music] because if you were developing great top of funnel content, you really understand your personas. If you are not actively [music] answering, "Hey, we see the concerns that you have. Here's why you should still buy anyways." or "Here's why you have a misconception about this objection." This is one of those that I find [music] often can easily rank in the top 15 of top performers.

Ooh, and then we have podcast ads. Hot take, I'm going to put this as an F-tier. I find that this one is often a waste of time right now, especially if you are hiring out the podcast studio. I did see this one work a number of years ago or like really over the last 18 months, but recently when we've tested it, it's required a really big budget or a big AI budget cuz yeah, we've generated these in Higgs Field, but I just do not see these moving the needle and becoming top performing unicorn ads anymore unless it is a founder who is on an actual well-known podcast.

[music] And then we have the founder's letter static. I am going to put this one as a B tier. Again, this one can really crank when it's used during a sale period, but this one is not going to be the [music] one that like becomes your top performing scaling unicorn ad in that number one slot. And then we have your AI avatar ads. Ooh, this is a little bit controversial. I am going to put this one in a C tier with some really big caveats.

I have seen it become the top performing scaling winning ad for brands. And yes, even when we are putting those legal disclaimers, which we now need to do. But this is one that I do suspect is going to start to potentially phase out. I find that a lot of brands are starting to make a stance on we're going to use AI avatars or we're not. And I actually find that the bigger the brand, the more that they're likely to decide that they're going to work with creators.

And I think that's going to be a trend that trickles down. And then we have your conversation ads. I am going to put this one solidly in the B tier because my goodness, it is really hard to get creators to execute on this one, but when done well, can really perform for brands. And all that this one is is really two people having a conversation or multiple people having a conversation, right? Could be that podcast ad, but is a little bit more behind the scenes [music] in nature.

And then next up we have your educational infographics. [music] This is one that I am going to put in the B tier. I'm afraid that I'm putting a lot of these in B tier because there's so much nuance with all these different formats. This is what I find a lot of brands don't do, [music] but can be an excellent supporting cast member for some of your big creative ideas that you're already getting performance out of in the ad account.

And again, what I love about it too, is that it masquerades as educational content and not an ad. So, if you can figure out some type of chart or infographic, this is one that I would try to implement sooner rather than later. Next up, we have mood board ads. This is another B-tier one for me. Again, it's often not going to be the unicorn scale to the moon ad, but this is a really good one to test specifically for apparel, I've found.

Because if you think about it, a lot of the fashion girlies are making these organically. And if you find that that content is already being consumed by your personas naturally, then this is a really good one to test. [music] And then 37, we have your AI billboard ads. I'm going to put this as a D. Have we done a D ranking yet? This is one that I find has just been so overdone. It's so cheesy. I have not seen it perform for any of my accounts personally over the last few months, but I do have a number of creative strategist friends, specifically in supplements and health and wellness, that say if you can like use really punchy language, taboo language, then this can work really well.

But I just personally haven't seen it. And then 38, we have your ugly ads or your handwriting ads. This one can still perform really well. And you know what? Hot take, but I haven't seen a ton of creative strategists putting forth this idea lately. Probably because it's overdone. But where I often see it crush is especially for sales period. So, I always try to make sure, hey, like let's get some of those posted note ads into rotation when we're doing a sale.

Similarly, [music] especially for sales, are going to be your warehouse ads. Now, Zach [music] Stuck over at Hollow Socks does excellent warehouse ads, so does Oats Overnight. And then, of course, we have more [music] of your behind-the-scenes, getting ready to sell out type of warehouse ads. I think these do really, really well, but I'm going to put them firmly in the C-tier because often times when I've actually gone to make content in warehouses, it's a very different experience than like what I want to be in an ad.

So, I find that these can be a little bit operationally complex. And they're very often not in the top five of, you know, ad winners and not going to be the thing that really scales up an ad account [music] anymore unless you are combining it with a founder's ad. And then we have your street interview ads. I'm going to put these in a C. Have I seen them perform? Yes. Are they my least favorite ad creative to personally make on this planet?

Yes, they are such a to go out and make. I've [music] filmed them in Miami, I filmed them in New York, and wow, they are so painful. I've actually found [music] often times the better way to do these is to fake them. Ooh, and then we have your VSLs, your video sales letter. This is another one I'm going to firmly put into the S tier. If you are an advertiser who really wants to develop their craft, learn to write excellent VSLs, especially [music] for health and wellness and fitness and anything that really needs a lot of upfront education.

VSLs are top tier for getting not only the trust of your audience, but also getting them to convert. And then we have the green screen commentary ads. I feel like I'm doing this one solely for myself cuz I do a lot of these ads, but this is something I've also seen work really, really well in apparel. So, I'm going to put this one as an A tier, especially if you're combining it with more of an educational angle. Ooh, and then we have your comment reply ads, especially if you have a certain objection or you have a frequently asked question that keeps [music] on popping up.

This is one that again can do a lot of movement in your middle and lower funnel, but likely isn't going to be the one that's going to scale to the moon unless you're really specifically making that question a lot more top of funnel. I'm going to put it as a B tier. And then we have your notes app and your UX ads. Man, oh man, do these take up a lot of time and bandwidth [music] and show up on a lot of gurus' reels and YouTube's, but they do not convert, y'all.

F tier. I think these UX ads, they're really bad at getting the right people to stop because they look familiar, so they initially make everyone stop. So, I think it just confuses the algorithm. So, like as low as it can go, not it. Ooh, and then we have your catalog ads and your DPA ads. I'm going to put this in an A tier. If you can get a really good catalogs ad system going, especially if you can work with different templates and different creatives within your DPA.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not just going to target your middle and lower funnel and just like act as retargeting. It can go more dynamic ads broad audience DABA. I don't even know if we're still using that language anymore. It can go a lot more top-of-funnel, but I find a lot of brands are just not properly utilizing their catalog ads, but catalog ads are actually a current top performer for one of my clients because they figured out how to make it work for a cold prospecting audience.

Ooh, and then we have carousel ads. I am going to put this as an E tier. This one is more of a waste of time than anything, right? The thing that pains me about catalog ads is like there's actually quite a lot of inventory for it because not many brands are doing them, but what I have found really challenging about them is that it's really hard to know the right story to tell [music] with catalog ads. >> I've been able to make a few top performers, especially when it comes to showing different bundles or even putting a slideshow of like the top performing static ads.

That's a hack that you can do. But, this is one where the juice isn't often worth the squeeze because you are making multiple assets to be in this carousel and you don't even know if it's going to convert. Ooh, and then we have your duet reaction/stitch style ads. [music] And this is one that I find is great for founders content and I don't see a lot of founders doing this type of ad. However, you do have to get rights from the original creator to even have their face show up in an ad and activate [music] on paid social.

So actually maybe I'm going to put this one in C. I'm going to put it in C cuz it's a little bit operationally complex. We have been able to essentially fake this initial like reaction reel or the reel they're doing the reaction to with AI or with another creator. But sometimes it just needs to be the real thing and we have actually reached out to those original creators and gotten usage rights for them for very low cost or for free.

But this is one that convert really well, become in [music] the top five, but often is going to be challenging to make. And then we have your ASMR ads for specific industries. ASMR ads really crush. Like think the pet industry for [music] instance, beauty. But I find that you really have to work with specific ASMR creators to make this really perform. But I don't often find it's the scale the moon unicorn winning ad.

So I'm going to put it in the C tier. [music] And then we have your regular run of the mill UGC, right? Think mass application UGC or UGC coming from TikTok shop, taking what's working there, putting that into the ad account. Yeah, creator content is still crushing. But I find that even with the brands that I'm talking to that have these massive creator programs, it's often a lot of volume with only a few things hitting per week.

And I notice that there is a general fatigue on like problem-solution oriented UGC [music] content, especially when it has a voiceover and a b-roll and it just feels very manufactured. So like thinking about that type of UGC, I'm going to put it in the C tier. Ooh, and then we have a get ready with me day in my life. This obviously is a lot more popular on organic, but I do see a number of briefs coming down the pipeline from brands and I see it out there in the ether with this type of content being activated [music] on paid.

This is one that I often find does not scale super well on paid unless you are working with a really specific type of creator and your product can really comes in the morning early in their day or their routine. So I'm going to put this one in a D tier. And then the final one is what I'm going to call the challenging your beliefs format. This one I love because it's not too operationally complex. As long as you have some great B roll in your ad library, you can likely make this piece of content.

I'm going to put this as a B because as long as you know what the limiting beliefs of your core personas are, you can make this type of format. And I've seen it perform again and again across industries, [music] across clients. Woo! That was 51 ads ranking. And I feel like I just yapped for God, like 30 minutes. I hope that was interesting for y'all. I don't know if I'll ever do that again. I'll talk to you next week.

Love you. Bye. >> [music] [music]