Additional Creatives Resources
Here is a variety of additional creative resources.
Tutorial: Motion Ad
Motion ads are an amazing format to play around with—blending together the power of static and video ads.
But, the tools we'd normally use to make them (like Adobe Aftereffects) are extremely complicated to use.
Here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to create great Motion Ads using just Apple Keynote (but the same technique applies for Powerpoint as well).
Tutorial: AI UGC Ad
We want to prove to you that you do not need to be an expert to create ads.
Thanks to AI, you no longer need to write scripts, record audio, or record video. AI can do all of that for you.
These tools are advancing quickly. You may be reading this a while after we make this lesson, so their capabilities will be even better then.
In this lesson, we'll use AI to write a script and generate a voiceover and talking avatar.
Then, we will use Capcut to create a UGC ad creative quickly.
That's easiest to do with videos so let's dive in.
Step 1: Use Claude to generate script ideas
In this step, use your favorite LLM (ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Llama, Gemini) to create video scripts.
Step 2: Generate voiceovers + avatars with Creatify.ai
In this step, we'll skip the need to film ourselves reading the script. AI can do that for you.
Step 3: Record B-Roll and use Capcut to create an ad
For UGC ads, low budget shots with your iPhone is not only acceptable, it's expected.
In this step, you'll:
- Record some B-Roll by recording quick videos with your smartphone or by doing some quick screen recordings.
- Layer the avatar + voiceover together with the B Roll and sound effects using Capcut
Let's dive in:
Step 4: Keep experimenting
Again, your first ad won't be amazing. But by slamming a few out you'll start to get pretty good.
The best part of UGC ads is that being low budget and janky is totally fine. It's kind of what people expect.
Simple video ad
In this lesson, we'll show you how to make a quick and dirty video ad using Storyblocks (asset library) and Capcut (video editing software).
Will this be the best ad ever? Nope.
But it'll give you a quick intro to these tools to show you that it is feasible for you to make simple ads.
Step 1: Grab assets from Storyblocks
To create a video, you need to have images, videos, and music/sound effects to layer into it.
We'll show you how to use Storyblocks to grab assets:
Step 2: Quick and dirty video ad
Now that we have some assets, let's quickly show you how to create a basic video ad in Capcut.
Note we'll dive deeper into Capcut in the next lesson. This is a dirty and quick proof of concept.
Step 3: Keep playing and iterating
Your first one will be bad. That's okay, keep at it and you'll be making pretty decent ads in no time.
Ad creative tool stack
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 – Free
- Personally, I use this to make all of my designs, but I’m a web developer. For most people, I’d recommend Canva.
- Canva – Free to $10/mo
- Really easy-to-use design tool with a ton of built-in assets and templates.
- Remove.bg – Free + premium
- Super easy-to-use tool that uses AI to crop out backgrounds from images. Way faster and more effective than Photoshop.
- Midjourney – $10/mo
- One of my favorite tools ever made. I make a lot of cool imagery with it.
- Iconscout – 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:
- GetAds: We use them internally at DC to augment our team. Quite affordable and great at static assets.
- Superside: A more premium option.
