Playbook
ā
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Completed [date]
Ad Creative Tool Stack
Learning Objectives
Although researching and playing with tools is often a form of procrastination, for ad creatives in particular the right tool can make something 10x more efficient than using legacy software.
Here's a list of recommended tools.
Design tools
Tools to make static images and ad creatives.
- Figma ā Free
- Personally, I use this to make all of my designs, but Iām a web developer. For most people, Iād recommend Canva.
- Canva ā Free to $10/mo
- Really easy-to-use design tool with a ton of built-in assets and templates.
- Remove.bg ā Free + premium
- Super easy-to-use tool that uses AI to crop out backgrounds from images. Way faster and more effective than Photoshop.
- Midjourney ā $10/mo
- One of my favorite tools ever made. I make a lot of cool imagery with it.
- Iconscout ā Free to $15/mo.
- Huge library of icons, illustrations, and animations.
Script writing
You can and should get AI's help writing great scripts. Use your favorite LLM:
- Claude
- Grok
- ChatGPT
B-Roll + Assets
Here are some great repositories of stock assets:
AI video/sound tools
- Creatify.ai: Great tool for AI voiceovers and avatars.
- Icon.me: A full AI ad creation tool.
- RunwayML: AI video generation tool.
- Open AI's Sora: AI video generation tool.
Video editing
- Capcut: Our go-to video editor, and it's free.
- Final Cut Pro: A paid video editor from Apple.
- iMovie: Apple's built-in video editor. Only use if you're familiar with it.
- Descript: Awesome tool where you edit videos by editing text. Built more for podcasts.
Ad inspiration
- Foreplay: Our preferred ad inspiration and curation tool.
- Atria: A competitor to Foreplay.
- Meta Ad Library
- LinkedIn Ad Library
- Reddit Ad Library
- Adfolio: Database of great b2b ads.
- Ads of the World: Ads from big brands.
- Commarts: Ads from big brands.
- The Ad Professor: An influencer who shares a lot of ad inspo
Creative ad agencies
Creating ads is hard. There are productized services that do this for you. You just need to tell them what to make and their designers will make them:
Open search
