ad-frameworks

## Overview Strong ads aren't written from scratch — they're written into a framework that has been pressure-tested across millions of dollars of spend. The framework's job is to make the structure invisible: the viewer feels a story, the writer follows a checklist. This skill gives you the small set of frameworks that actually convert in 2026 short-form video and direct-response copy, plus a rule for which one to pick based on the audience's awareness level (Schwartz's five stages). ## Instructions ### Core Rules - Pick the framework before writing the script. Trying to pick mid-draft means the writer reverts to default narration. - Every framework needs an explicit CTA. Implicit "the offer is the rest of the video" loses ~30% conversion. - Match framework to audience awareness, not your preference. A cold audience can't follow PAS — they don't yet feel the problem. - One framework per piece. Mixing AIDA + PAS halfway through makes the piece muddled. - Specifics, not adjectives. "47% faster" beats "much faster". Numbers, names, time spans. ### Framework Catalog #### AIDA — Attention, Interest, Desire, Action Old, durable, works for awareness-stage audiences. | Beat | Job | Time in 30s ad | |---|---|---| | Attention | Hook (see `video-hooks`) | 0–2s | | Interest | Reveal what's coming, plant curiosity | 2–8s | | Desire | Show the outcome / transformation | 8–22s | | Action | Single, specific CTA | 22–30s | When to use: brand-awareness ads, product launches to a wide audience, top-of-funnel. Avoid for: retargeting, performance ads with sophisticated audiences. #### PAS — Problem, Agitation, Solution The workhorse of direct-response. Works when the audience already has the pain. | Beat | Job | Time in 30s ad | |---|---|---| | Problem | Name the pain, mirror the audience's frustration | 0–6s | | Agitation | Twist the knife — show what happens if it's not solved | 6–18s | | Solution | Reveal the fix, demo, prove | 18–26s | | CTA | One specific action | 26–30s | When to use: Performance ads, problem-aware to most-aware audiences, B2B. Avoid for: broad awareness — cold audience tunes out the problem. #### BAB — Before, After, Bridge Transformation-driven. Strong for D2C, fitness, finance, productivity. | Beat | Job | |---|---| | Before | Show life with the problem (specific, sensory) | | After | Show life without it (specific, sensory) | | Bridge | The product / system that gets you there | When to use: transformation products, weight-loss / finance / fitness / productivity, lifestyle. Avoid for: pure information products (no transformation arc). #### 4Us — Useful, Urgent, Unique, Ultra-specific A copy-checking heuristic, not a structure. Apply to every claim in the piece. | U | Question | |---|---| | Useful | Does this help the viewer? | | Urgent | Why must they act now? | | Unique | Why this product, not the 10 others? | | Ultra-specific | Specifics over generics? | A line that doesn't pass at least 2 of 4 should be rewritten. #### FAB — Features, Advantages, Benefits Translation engine. Use to convert a feature list into copy. | Layer | Question | Example | |---|---|---| | Feature | What it has | "M3 Pro chip with 12-core CPU" | | Advantage | What it does | "Compiles 2x faster than M2" | | Benefit | What it means for the user | "Ship code while the demo is still loading" | Rule: the script lives at the Benefit layer. F and A are research notes. #### Hook → Story → Offer (HSO) The dominant short-form social structure. | Beat | Job | |---|---| | Hook | First 1.5s (see `video-hooks`) | | Story | One specific narrative — first-person, real or composite. ~70% of total runtime. | | Offer | Product reveal + CTA, ~20% of runtime | When to use: TikTok / Reels / Shorts UGC and creator-style ads. Default for short-form. Avoid for: B2B explainer, anything where a story would feel forced. ### Audience Awareness — pick framework by stage (Schwartz) | Awareness | Framework | Reason | |---|---|---| | Unaware (no problem felt) | HSO with curiosity hook | Cold audience won't sit through PAS | | Problem-aware | PAS or BAB | They feel the pain, agitate it | | Solution-aware | BAB or AIDA | They know solutions exist, differentiate | | Product-aware | FAB-driven AIDA, with comparison | They know your category, why YOU | | Most-aware (your fans) | Direct offer — skip framework, lead with deal | Don't sell to people who already bought | ### Workflow 1. Identify audience awareness stage from the brief (or ask — don't guess). 2. Pick the framework from the table above. 3. Pre-write the offer before the body — ensures the body builds toward something specific. 4. Draft each beat, time-boxed to the ad length. 5. Run every claim through the 4Us check. 6. Read aloud at 1.5x speed. If it sounds AI / scripted at speed, rewrite for natural cadence. 7. Show the script with timestamps, not just lines. Time is the unit, not paragraphs. ### Decision Guide | Situation | Framework | |---|---| | TikTok / Reels organic UGC | HSO | | TikTok / Reels paid ad, problem-aware audience | PAS | | Meta paid ad, transformation product | BAB | | YouTube pre-roll (5–15s) | HSO with hard cut at 3s + visible skip-friendly first beat | | YouTube pre-roll (un-skippable, 15s) | PAS or AIDA, CTA in last 3s | | Long-form explainer (60–180s) | AIDA with FAB-loaded D-beat | | Landing page hero | Hook + 4Us-checked one-liner + CTA | | Cold email | PAS, 75 words max | | Retargeting / cart-abandon | Direct offer, no framework, lead with deal | ## Examples ### Example 1: PAS for a B2B SaaS TikTok ad (30s) Product: An on-call alerting tool. Audience: backend engineers, problem-aware (their team uses PagerDuty + duct tape). ``` 0–2 P Hook: "Your on-call rotation is broken and your team knows it." (visual: phone going off at 3am, hand smacking the snooze) 2–8 P "67% of pages last quarter were noise — the kind that wakes you up for a flapping check that auto-resolves before you log in." (visual: fast-cut alerts spamming a dashboard) 8–18 A "Every false page costs $8 of engineer time and the next real one hits a tired brain. The third Tuesday in a row, you stop trusting the alerts entirely. That's when the real outage gets missed." (visual: someone dismissing alerts on a phone, then a prod outage) 18–26 S "Quietly groups duplicate alerts, runs a 30-second auto-heal, and only pages a human if the system is still on fire after that." (visual: dashboard going from red waterfall to one calm card) 26–30 CTA "10 days free. Set it up in 4 minutes. Link in bio." (visual: founder deadpan to camera) ``` ### Example 2: HSO for a D2C creator UGC Reel (20s) Product: A teeth-whitening pen. Audience: cold, scrolling. ``` 0–1.5 Hook: "I tested 11 whitening pens for my wedding. Only one didn't wreck my enamel." (visual: line-up of pens, hand pushing 10 off-screen) 1.5–14 Story: "I'm 4 weeks out, panicking, and Sephora is full of strips that bleed at the gums. This one [show product] — bamboo applicator, no peroxide, results in 6 days. My dentist actually said 'whatever you're doing, keep doing it.'" (visual: morning routine, before/after, dentist text screenshot) 14–20 Offer: "20% off through the link, free returns if it doesn't work for you in 14 days." (visual: product on bathroom counter, hand pulling phone toward camera) ``` ### Example 3: AIDA for a YouTube pre-roll (15s, un-skippable) ``` 0–2 A "Stop scrolling for 12 seconds. This will pay for itself." 2–6 I "Most freelancers under-invoice by 23% and don't know it." 6–11 D "We pulled the data from 4,000 freelance invoices. The fix is one rule. [show result]" 11–15 A "Free calculator at link. 60 seconds, no signup." ``` ## References - Eugene Schwartz, Breakthrough Advertising (1966) — the awareness-level model. - David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising — the canonical book on long-form direct-response. - [Meta Ads Library](https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/) — to study current top-spending ads. - [TikTok Top Ads](https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/topads) — by vertical and region.