Where to Find Ideas for Your AI Video Ad (Competitor Ads, Reels, Hooks)

You sit down to write an ad and the first idea is generic. "Introducing our new…" It's what everyone writes, so nobody stops for it.

Good ideas rarely come from a blank page. They come from what your audience already responds to. Here are three places to look, and how to put it all to work.

1. See what competitors keep paying for

Look for ads that have run for 7 days or more. Brands don't keep paying for ads that don't sell.

Meta's free Ad Library shows Facebook and Instagram ads, but only the ones running right now, and you note down every hook and format yourself. TikTok has one too: the TikTok Ad Library.

That note-taking takes hours. OpenDirector's Meta competitor ad tracking keeps inactive ads too, and every ad already comes tagged with its script, hook and creative style. You just save the good ones and group them:

2. Save the Reels that stop your thumb

Open Instagram's Explore page and type your category into the search bar. Scroll, and every time something makes you stop, save it to one collection. Study the first two seconds: what did you see and hear before you decided to stay?

3. Borrow your customers' words

Read Amazon reviews (yours and your competitors'), comments, DMs, and threads on Reddit and Quora. Copy exact phrases. They're how your buyer already talks, which beats anything a copywriter or an AI will invent.

Put it all in one doc, and give it to your AI

This is the step that makes the rest pay off. Paste the best competitor scripts, the Instagram videos and the customer words into one doc. Then create a Project in Claude or ChatGPT and add the doc to it. Every script you write in that project starts from what already works in your market.

Use it, don't copy it. Take the structure, the angle and the feeling, never the words, the characters or the brand.

What this gets you: a concept, a format and a hook

This research is the work a creative strategist does. It won't write your script. It helps you lock the decisions everything else hangs on: the concept (the angle and story of your ad), usually together with its format (UGC, explainer, street interview…), and the hook (the first two seconds that make someone stay).

Next, write the full script from this research. Once your concept is ready, use the fixed prompt in the next lesson: How to write an ad script for your product.

Try it now

1. In the competitor tracker (or the free Ad Library), save five competitor ads that have run for 7+ days.
2. Save five Reels that stopped you.
3. Copy five customer phrases from reviews, comments or Reddit, including one complaint.
4. Paste it all into the doc template above and add the doc to a Claude or ChatGPT Project.
5. In that project, run the prompt below. Pick your concept, its format and the one hook you'd stop for, then write the full script with the prompt in How to write an ad script for your product.

Here are my notes on what's working in my category (my swipe-file doc is in this project).

Product: [product and who it's for]
Competitor ads running 7+ days (hook, format, promise): [paste, or "see the doc"]
Reels that stopped me (what happens in the first two seconds): [paste, or "see the doc"]
Customer phrases: [paste exact quotes, or "see the doc"]

Write 10 hooks for a [runtime]-second video ad, two of each type: a mistake callout, a surprising fact, a tiny story or confession, a question about their life, and a contradiction.
Each hook: under 15 words, speakable in two seconds, opens a question instead of closing one.
Use my customers' words where you can. Don't copy any competitor's line.
Then tell me which three are strongest and why.

Quick answers

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How Much Does an AI Video Ad Cost? (Real Prices, 2026)

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How to Write an Ad Script for Your Product (Physical or Digital, Free Prompt)