How to turn market research into viral ad ideas

I’ve previously written about the fastest way to do advertising market research. In this article, you’ll learn how to transform market research into an endless list of viral ad ideas that profitably acquire customers at scale.

Before you start brainstorming you need to have completed the research process and uncovered data-driven motivations and barriers. Without these, you’re simply taking a shot in the dark. Do you want to rely on luck or control the outcome? Be a sniper, not a shotgun.

Success is measured by quality shots on target

If you’ve been running ads for a while, you know that most of your creative tests will not beat control metrics. That’s part of the process and it’s unavoidable. Whatever your creative hit rate is, factor that into your testing process. For example, if one out of every 10 ads beats the control metrics, your hit rate is 10%. In other words, you’ll need to create 100 ads to find 10 winners.

If the above is true (which, based on my 9+ years of experience in paid social, it is), then a creative team's focus should be on the quantity of quality shots on target. Here’s an easier way to think about the creative process in 2024:

(Quality of Ad Ideas) x (Volume of Ads Tested) = $$$$$

An important distinction in this process is the (Quality of Ad Ideas). I see a lot of advice online advocating for mass creative testing. While (Volume of Ads Tested) is important, it’s secondary to the quality of ideas being tested.

Do not focus on (Volume of Ads Tested) and get lost in the process of creating hundreds of minor ad variations. At a certain point, the opportunity cost of creating minor variations is far too high. Your time is much better spent brainstorming, scripting and producing higher-quality viral ad ideas—ideas that have the potential to break through a local maximum and discover a new global maximum. Remember, big outcomes require big swings.

Choose an angle, brainstorm key shots and concepts

At Factor, our brainstorming process mirrors that outlined in the book ‘A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters’. First, categorise key shots and ad concepts into buckets. Each bucket should represent a completely different type of key shot or concept. Our internal brainstorming sheet contains over 100 viral key shot and ad concept types. This list is our secret sauce as it allows us to engineer viral ads.

Once you’ve created a list of key shots and ad concepts, simply choose a motivation or barrier and work your way through the list. Brainstorm 3-5x ads per bucket and move on. The initial goal of this process is quantity. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and you cannot create viral ads from an empty sheet. At the end of this process, depending on the number of buckets you’ve created, you should have a list of over 200+ viral ad ideas.

The process itself is simple. The quality of ideas generated (i.e. how ‘viral’ the ads could be) are dictated by the buckets you’ve created and the advertising prowess of the user. These, I cannot help you with. It’s your job (as a creative strategist) to browse ad libraries like Foreplay and MagicBrief and categorise ads into key shot and concept types. It’s also your job to read books like Breakthrough Advertising, Scientific Advertising and A Self-Help Guide for Copywriters to learn what you need to know to become a world-class marketer and advertiser.

You’re an ambitious, fast-moving and fast-growing DTC brand. Your agency partner should operate in the same manner. Let’s grow your brand together.

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