Ad Creative

# Creative Frameworks — Headline and Copy Formulas by Platform and Funnel Stage

A working catalog of the copy frameworks that consistently outperform generic ads. Use these as starting points, not templates to fill in blindly.

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## The Golden Rule

Every ad has one job: get the right person to stop, read, and take one action. If the copy is trying to do three things, it does none of them well. One message, one CTA, one next step.

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## Framework Index

1. PAS — Problem, Agitate, Solution
2. BAB — Before, After, Bridge
3. FAB — Feature, Advantage, Benefit
4. AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
5. Social Proof Frame
6. Contrarian Frame
7. Specificity Frame
8. How-It-Works Frame

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## 1. PAS — Problem, Agitate, Solution

**Best for:** Awareness and consideration stage. Cold audiences who don't know your solution.

**Structure:**
- Problem: Name the pain in their words
- Agitate: Make them feel how bad it is (don't make it worse than reality — they'll know)
- Solution: Position your product as the obvious fix

**Example (SaaS — project management):**
```
Primary text: "Your team is shipping, but nobody knows who owns what. Deadlines are "this week" 
not "Tuesday at 3pm." By the time the stand-up is over, everyone has a different version of 
the plan. [Product] replaces the chaos with a single source of truth. Try it free for 14 days."

Headline: "Stop running projects in Slack threads"
```

**Length guidance:** PAS works long and short. Short for cold feed, long for warm retargeting.

---

## 2. BAB — Before, After, Bridge

**Best for:** Consideration and decision stage. Audiences who know the problem and are evaluating.

**Structure:**
- Before: Where they are now (the frustrating state)
- After: Where they want to be (the goal)
- Bridge: How your product gets them from here to there

**Example (B2B analytics tool):**
```
Headline: "From data chaos to clear answers"
Body: "Before [Product]: 6 spreadsheets, 4 dashboards, nobody agrees on the numbers.
After [Product]: One source of truth, automated weekly reports, decisions in minutes.
The bridge: connect your data sources once, and [Product] does the rest."
```

**Note:** BAB works especially well for case studies and social proof ads where you can show a real before/after with numbers.

---

## 3. FAB — Feature, Advantage, Benefit

**Best for:** Decision stage, retargeting, people who have visited your product page.

**Structure:**
- Feature: What it does (the thing you built)
- Advantage: How it works better than the alternative
- Benefit: What the customer actually gets in their life/work

**Common mistake:** Stopping at the feature. "Two-factor authentication" is a feature. "Bank-level security" is an advantage. "Sleep at night knowing your customer data is protected" is the benefit.

**Example (HR software):**
```
Feature: "Automated payroll that syncs with your accounting software"
Advantage: "No more manual data entry between systems"
Benefit: "Close the books on time, every time — without staying late"

Ad copy: "Payroll that closes itself. Automated payroll synced directly to QuickBooks — 
no double entry, no reconciliation hell. Every month. On time. [Product] — 
start your free trial."
```

---

## 4. AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

**Best for:** Video ads, longer copy (LinkedIn, email), awareness campaigns.

**Structure:**
- Attention: Hook (first 3 seconds / first sentence)
- Interest: Why this matters to them specifically
- Desire: Make them want the outcome
- Action: One clear CTA

**Example (video script outline for SaaS):**
```
[0–3s] ATTENTION: "[Hook visual/statement]" — "Most companies spend 8 hours a week 
on reports nobody reads."
[3–10s] INTEREST: "If you're a head of marketing, that's 32 hours of your team's time 
each month — time they could spend on campaigns that actually drive revenue."
[10–20s] DESIRE: "[Product] automates the reporting. Your team gets that time back. 
Your manager gets the data they asked for, without the