| name | native-ad-creative |
| description | Generates native advertising creative (headlines + image direction) using direct response psychology. Use when writing native ads, creating ad concepts, brainstorming ad headlines, or developing native creative for health, finance, ecom, or supplement campaigns. Triggers on "native ad," "write headlines," "ad creative," "native creative," or "ad concept." |
Native Ad Creative
Generate native advertising creative that looks like content, not ads. Rooted in direct response psychology and the principle that copy sells — design just gets in the way.
Core Philosophy
- Copy sells. Design gets in the way. A $0 stock image that speaks to pain beats a $15k brand shoot. Every time.
- Sell the life, not the product. The product is irrelevant. The transformation is the real product. Men don't buy a bracelet — they buy confidence. People with stiff joints don't buy supplements — they buy relief tonight. No feature lists. No material specs. Find the deeper desire behind the purchase and sell that.
- Sell the problem before the solution. The ad's first job is to make the reader feel the pain acutely. Find the wound, then offer the cure. "We all know someone who forgot. We're all scared it could be us." Activate the problem before any hint of resolution.
- Native ads should look like content, not ads. If it looks like something a local newspaper would post, the brain's ad filter never activates. Trust beats polish.
- The ad's only job is to hook. Don't sell in the ad — that's like asking for marriage on the first date. Ad sparks curiosity → advertorial builds trust → product page sells. Each step has one job.
- Specificity is a weapon. "Senior Drivers In Idaho" outperforms "Drivers Across America" every time. Speak to one person. Leave the loop open.
- Ugly wins. Stock photos, pencil sketches, phone-quality images — things that look like Facebook posts from 2012 outperform polished creative because they bypass the ad filter.
Workflow
Step 1: Gather Inputs
Ask the user for:
- Product/Offer — What's being sold?
- Target Audience — Demographics, pain points, desires
- Psychological Angle — Which lever to pull (see table below)
If the user hasn't specified an angle, recommend one based on the product and audience.
Psychological Angles
| Angle | When to Use | Core Mechanism |
|---|
| Curiosity Gap | Any product. Default choice. | Open a loop the brain must close |
| Enemy Framing | Trusted thing can be reframed as harmful | Turn something familiar into a threat |
| Authority / Third-Party | Health, supplements, finance | Borrow credibility from experts or editorial framing |
| Social Proof / FOMO | Products with traction or reviews | Show a trend they're late to |
| Contrarian | Conventional wisdom exists to challenge | "Everything you believed is wrong" |
| Fear + Discovery | Health, insurance, finance | Hidden risk + unexpected solution |
| Identity Filtering | Highly specific audience | Hyper-specific callout that disqualifies everyone else |
For detailed explanations, see psychological-principles.md.
Step 2: Generate Headlines
Read the formulas in headline-formulas.md.
Output 8-10 headline options. For each, include:
1. "The reason why your joint pain keeps getting worse"
Formula: The reason why [problem] keeps getting worse
Angle: Fear + Discovery
Why: Implies a mistake they don't know about. Curiosity + fear of loss.
2. ...
Present all headlines and ask the user to pick their top 2-3 favorites.
Step 3: Go Deep on Selected Headlines
For each selected headline, provide a full ad concept:
Headline: Final version (may be refined from Step 2)
Image Direction: Conceptual description of what the image should look like and feel like. Describe the scene, the style, the mood. Explain what the reader's brain should categorize it as (news thumbnail, social post, recipe content, editorial illustration). Explain why this image works with this headline. This is a creative brief, not an AI image prompt.
Why This Works: Break down which psychological mechanisms are at play. Reference the specific principles from this skill. Explain why this combination will perform.
Native Framing: How does this ad avoid looking like an ad? What does the reader's brain file it under? News? Editorial? Social content? A neighbor's recommendation?
Advertorial Hook: Suggested opening line for the landing page that continues the open loop from the headline. The click created a question — this line keeps them reading without answering it yet.
Key Rules
- Never write headlines that sound like ads. No "revolutionary," "groundbreaking," "clinically proven," or "game-changing." Write like content, not copy.
- Always leave the loop open. The headline creates a question only answerable by clicking. Never resolve the curiosity in the ad itself.
- Specificity over reach. "62-year-old Texas grandmother" beats "women everywhere." Include specific ages, locations, or identities when possible.
- The image must bypass the ad filter. It should look like editorial content, local news, a social media post, or something someone's neighbor would share. Never polished. Never branded.
- One element, one job. Callout qualifies. Command directs. Hook creates curiosity. Don't overload a single element.
- The second click matters. Getting them to the page is step one. Getting them to keep reading is step two. Structure the advertorial with multiple hooks throughout — use the Zeigarnik Effect to maintain open loops.
- Promise simplicity. The gap between a tiny ask and a big promise is what drives clicks. "Eat gelatin" beats "follow this 6-week program." The smaller the input, the lower the resistance.
- Use relatable symptoms, not diagnoses. "Pants keep tightening" beats "obesity." Use language people feel in their daily life, not clinical terms they'd google.
- Imply the transformation, don't state it. "Clothes don't fit the same" never says she lost weight. Let the reader's brain fill in the result — it's more powerful than stating it directly.
- One enemy, not a list. "This one food" gives a single target. Much more actionable than listing 27 things the reader did wrong. One villain. One weapon.
Reference Files
