Research & Ad Intelligence
Field reports from the new ad economy.
Interactive deep dives on the platform changes reshaping creative teams, plus platform × niche breakdowns of what's actually converting.
The product fidelity problem: AI ads' Achilles heel
Why AI video can't keep your product looking like your product - the six failure modes, the layered fidelity stack you can build interactively, and where Shuttergen fits.
The Andromeda shift: how Meta's AI rebuild reshaped creative teams
Targeting is dead. Creative is the targeting now. An ELI5 breakdown plus interactive demos of the three new levers - volume, diversity, fatigue - and where AI-native video tools fit in the new stack.
- Interactive · Calculator
How many ads should you actually be running?
A live calculator built on Andromeda-era data. Plug in your spend, audiences, and campaigns - see exactly how many concepts, variations, and live ads your account needs to compound.
8 min readOpen - Interactive · Hooks
The 3-second hook: anatomy of attention in 2026
Most ads die in the first three seconds. We break down six hook archetypes frame-by-frame with a playable timeline, then give you the audit checklist to fix your opens.
10 min readOpen - Interactive · Variation
One concept, 25 ads: how variation actually scales
Watch a single concept fan out into 25 ship-ready variations. Interactive visualizer showing the 5 angles × 5 formats matrix that keeps Andromeda fed without ever crossing the similarity ceiling.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · TikTok
The TikTok ad playbook for 2026
Twelve patterns winning in the top quartile, filterable by goal, vertical, and format. Plus the anti-patterns that quietly kill reach.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · Format mix
UGC vs Studio: what actually wins on Meta in 2026
Neither format wipes the other out. Interactive cost-mix calculator showing the right UGC:Studio ratio for your category, stage, and volume.
8 min readOpen - Interactive · Placement
Reels vs Stories vs Feed: a placement strategy guide
Three questions, one recommendation. Interactive placement picker that maps your goal, budget, and creative shape to the right Meta placement split.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · AI ads
Why your AI-generated ads underperform
Andromeda doesn't penalize AI. It penalizes signals AI tools tend to produce when the pipeline is sloppy. Six failure modes, one self-audit, and the fixes that work.
10 min readOpen - Reference · Hooks
Hook archetypes library: 12 that actually convert
A filterable reference of 12 hook archetypes - by tier, goal, and vertical. Plan your library, not just read about it.
7 min readOpen - Interactive · Attribution
Signal loss in 2026: what iOS, GDPR, and Andromeda did to attribution
Six years of platform changes have structurally degraded attribution. Drag the timeline, score your stack, and see where modern measurement actually lives.
11 min readOpen - Interactive · Fatigue
The ad fatigue checker: are your creatives dying?
Four tripwires that signal Meta ad fatigue a week before CPA confirms it. Plug in this week's numbers, get a verdict - and a reason.
7 min readOpen - Interactive · Briefs
The brief builder: score your creative brief, field by field
Most bad ads come from bad briefs. Eight weighted fields, a live score, and the verdict on whether you're ready to ship.
8 min readOpen - Interactive · Founder-led
Should YOU be on camera? An honest founder-led ads decision tree
Founder-led had its moment. Three honest questions tell you whether founder content is right for your account - and at what library share.
8 min readOpen - Interactive · Testing
The ad test significance calculator
Most teams call winners on noise. Plug in baseline conversion, MDE, and traffic - get sample size and time-to-significance.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · Roadmap
Zero to a 100-ad library: a 12-week roadmap
Five phases with graduation gates. Pick your current phase to see what to ship, what to kill, and how to know you're ready to graduate.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · YouTube
The YouTube ads playbook for 2026
Five formats, twelve patterns. Filterable by format and goal - Shorts, in-stream, Discovery, bumper.
9 min readOpen - Interactive · B2B SaaS
B2B SaaS creative: the funnel × audience matrix
B2B isn't one playbook. It's nine - depending on funnel stage and audience type. Pick a cell, see the format, hook, proof, and CTA.
9 min readOpen - Reference · Audio
Audio & sound design: 10 archetypes for ads in 2026
Audio carries 50%+ of an ad's emotional read on sound-on placements. Filterable gallery of 10 archetypes by source and mood.
7 min readOpen - Interactive · Retargeting
The retargeting creative playbook: four stages, four ads
Same product, four different ads. Interactive funnel visualizer showing how creative changes at each stage.
8 min readOpen - Interactive · Competitor intel
Reverse-engineering the Meta Ad Library: a 6-step walkthrough
Every brand's ads are public. Most teams ignore that. The 6-step process for extracting strategy from competitor libraries.
10 min readOpen - Research · Neuro × creative
Predicting brain response to ads with TRIBE v2: what works, what doesn't, and the license cliff
Meta's TRIBE v2 predicts fMRI brain responses to video, audio, and text. Honest walkthrough of what it can tell you about ad creative - and why CC-BY-NC means most of you can't legally touch it.
14 min readOpen - Learning module · Research only
Connecting TRIBE v2 to Triplewhale: an end-to-end research module
Research-only walkthrough of joining predicted brain activation to ad attribution data. Six pipeline steps, eight testable hypotheses, and the statistical and licensing landmines to dodge.
16 min readOpen