Creative is the biggest lever in paid social, and usually the slowest part of a campaign. ChatGPT and OpenAI’s image tools change that: one person can research angles, write dozens of hooks, generate images and script videos in an afternoon. The catch is that generic prompts produce generic ads. This is the workflow that produces ads worth testing.
1. Start with real customer language
Collect 50–200 public reviews of your product and competitors, plus anonymised notes from sales calls. Remove names, phone numbers and anything personal before you paste. Then ask:
“Group these reviews into pains, desired outcomes, objections and memorable exact phrases. Show how often each theme appears and quote short phrases verbatim.”
Check the themes against the raw text yourself — AI can over-generalise from a handful of examples.
2. Turn themes into angles
An angle is the reason someone buys: a pain, a gain, proof, curiosity or a comparison. Ask ChatGPT for six angles, each with the emotion behind it, the proof you would need and one example hook. Keep the angles you can actually prove.
3. Write hooks and copy in batches
Brief it like a creative director: audience, angle, offer, proof, tone, platform, character limits, banned claims and two past winning ads. Ask for 20 hooks per angle, five primary texts of different lengths and three video scripts (15, 30 and 45 seconds). Then ask it to score its own hooks for clarity and specificity and to flag anything that makes unprovable claims or implies personal attributes — a common reason Meta rejects ads.
4. Generate images
Use a simple prompt structure: subject, setting, style, composition, on-image text and format. For example: “A smiling couple in their 60s at a kitchen table reviewing paperwork, warm natural light, realistic photo style, space at the top for a headline, square format, no logos.” Keep on-image text to three to seven words and proofread it. Create square for feeds and vertical for Stories and Reels.
5. Script short videos
Hook in the first three seconds, then problem, solution, proof and call to action, with on-screen text for every beat and captions throughout. Use AI video tools (such as OpenAI’s Sora where available) for b-roll, and real creators or customers for testimonials — never fake testimonials or clone a voice without permission.
6. Check everything
- Every number, price and claim verified.
- No real people, celebrities or brands you do not have rights to.
- Platform rules for your vertical (finance, insurance, health and Medicare are strict).
- Labels for realistic AI-generated media where the platform or law requires them.
7. Test angles first, then variations
Launch three to five different angles with enough budget to judge each. Once one wins, use ChatGPT to produce variations of it — new hooks, first frames and formats — and refresh weekly as performance fades.
Want the full system? Take the free course Making Ad Creatives with ChatGPT & OpenAI Tools, which includes a prompt library, a creative brief template and a policy checklist.