What's up, Marketers! This is Aazar.

This newsletter is about leveling up your paid growth marketing skills by analyzing the best brands' paid strategy, tactics, positioning, and value props.

This newsletter is divided into:

• Sharing what I've learned (this issue)

• Sometimes sharing some other performance marketers’ lessons with you

• And I analyze & compare the best ads on the internet

BEST LINKS OF THE WEEK (on popular demand)

My favorite finds

• The ad that is called hook and has a hook

• Copying winning creatives is like using expired medicine. It worked once, now it's poison.

• Forget Meta, brands are making money with Telegram ads

New Episode Alert: The 90-Day Creative Roadmap You Need to Win on Facebook Ads

In this episode, we shared:

• One Ad that we wished we created (found a viral organic post that crushed on TT)

• One over-used format still working for me

• One new UX familiarity ad Marco shared that’s working for him

• A detailed explanation of 90-day creative roadmap (link in the episode)

Check out this episode here

How to Create Emotion-Evoking Ads (Without Guessing)

I analyzed 37 of my highest-converting ads last month.

The ones that won all had one thing in common: emotion.

Since people make decisions based on feelings, then justify with logic. 

So today, I’m breaking down a 4-step creative process for making ads that hit—emotionally.

This is the exact method I now use when building new creatives.

You’ll also see some examples (coming soon) where I take real brands and walk through how I’d build the ad from scratch.

Let’s jump in…

Step 1: Start with an Ad That Already Works

Before we talk emotions or headlines, start with an ad or a visual that’s already working.

Something from your own past campaigns or from a brand you admire. 

This gives you a solid foundation.

If it already grabbed attention once, we don’t need to reinvent the wheel—we just need to make it emotionally sharper.

Pro Tip: You can sort the longest-running ads by your favorite brands on Atria. It will save you hours of research. 

Step 2: Pick the Emotion You Want to Trigger

Now pull out the Emotion Flywheel.

Instead of guessing how to “make it work,” use the wheel to pick a specific emotion.

Not “angry.”
Not “sad.”
Get precise.

Do you want your viewer to feel left out?
Exposed?
Amazed?
Understood?

Each emotion creates a different type of copy and visual tone.

Pick one. Just one.

Step 3: Write a Headline That Amplifies That Emotion

Now create your headline.

Not a clever one. Not a generic “Our product does XYZ.”

Write one that amplifies the emotion you picked.

If you chose “jealous,” write a line that would make your viewer go “Ugh, I wish I had that.”

If you chose “shock,” write something they weren’t expecting.

This is where most ads miss. They try to explain instead of evoke. Let the headline do the emotional heavy lifting.

Step 4: Make Sure Everything Feels Cohesive

Last step: align everything.

Does the image match the emotion?
Does the headline match the image?
Does the emotion make the benefit feel bigger?

Tweak as needed.

Focus on making them “feel” the emotion.

When you’re done, you should be able to say, “This ad makes people feel [emotion]… and that’s why they act.”

Now let us create some emotion-evoking ads (fast).

Thanks to our partners who support this newsletter.

Brand #1 Huel

Step #1 - Pick an ad

Let’s start by taking this Ad by Huel.

Step #2 - Add an emotion

Now, let us pick a specific emotion from the wheel.

Let us pick “inspired.” We picked inspired because Huel isn’t selling just food. They’re focused on selling better habits and a version of yourself that feels more in control. 

Step #3 - Tweak the headline

Now, let us think of a headline that evokes the emotion “inspired”

To come up with good headlines quickly, I’ve used Sarah’s prompt with my small tweak. (Frankly, the ChatGPT headlines weren’t exactly what I needed, so I had to edit them to make them “feel” something.)

And after refining the headlines I got from ChatGPT and improving them:

• Your future isn’t built at 9AM meetings. It’s built with the first choice you make at breakfast.

• One good morning turns into a good day. One good day turns into a good life. It starts with what’s in your breakfast..

• Success doesn’t happen overnight. But it absolutely starts in the morning.

• Own your morning. Own your momentum. Own your mission.

Step #4: Check if everything aligns

In this particular ad, we can get along with the product shot.

The final output:

Let’s do it without the steps.

Brand #2 MasterClass

Now let us pick “inferior” for the emotion. We chose inferior because it taps into the fear of being unprepared or under-skilled, especially in high-stakes negotiations.

Here are two headlines:

• If you can’t control the negotiation, you’ve already given it away.

• When emotions rise, amateurs react. Experts negotiate.

I’d ask designer to play around with the following inspiration for the visuals with the headline.

Here’s the final outcome: 

Note: While MasterClass won’t run this ad because they’d take Chris Voss’s face as an ad. I just wanted to show how you can evoke emotion with words and visuals. I still feel it is a little too over the top. But you get the point.

Brand #3 Ridge

Let’s pick “annoyed” as an emotion to evoke. “Annoyed” because sometimes the best way to sell an upgrade is to make people feel the pain of what they’re still stuck with. Big, bulky wallets are outdated and irritating.

Headlines:

• If your wallet looks like a cheeseburger, it’s time.

• Tired of sitting lopsided because of that brick you call a wallet?

I’d give the following inspirations to the designer:

We can show how big the old bad wallet is by comparing it or stuffing it in the pocket.

The final output:

That’s all from this week.

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

Since this newsletter is free, I do it to follow my curiosity. But I’d love it if you could leave some feedback so I know if I am helping you or not.

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