What's up, Marketers! This is Aazar.
This newsletter is all about giving you ad ideas to find winnings and help you scale.
This newsletter includes: My learnings, insights from other performance marketers, and analysis of top internet ads (this issue)
Everyone's making Pixar-style ads now.
They’re getting views. But very few will get sales.
The animation is not the ad. The script is the ad.
Today, I'll show you the formats that are working, the psychology behind them, and how to build one yourself.
I also built one from scratch for this newsletter edition. (It's at the end, so stick around)
Let's get into it.
The Visual Is Not the Idea
A lot of creators I’m seeing start with the tool. Pick a style, generate a character, make it talk, call it an ad.
That's backwards.
The style is packaging. What's inside is what converts.
To make winning ads, you need to ask:
What does my customer feel but never say out loud?
What embarrasses them?
What have they tried that failed?
What do they secretly blame themselves for?
The animation just makes that thinking visible.
Without a real psychological hook underneath, you're just making pretty content.
Start With a Concept That Already Works
Most people skip this part.
They jump straight into generating characters and animating scenes. Then wonder why the ad isn't converting.
The best Pixar-style ads are not inventions. They are adaptations.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
Format 1: The Villain Flip
The poop character blames gut bacteria, not itself
The viewer expects to feel judged. Instead, shame gets redirected at a new villain
Guard drops. Product walks in as the solution
The concept:
Blame the real cause, not the symptom. That angle already works in health content. They just animated it.
Format 2: The Debate
Two product bags in a kitchen, arguing
One is RYZE. One is a generic competitor
The competitor admits it might have mold. No attack needed. It confesses itself
The concept:
Side-by-side comparison. One of the oldest formats in advertising. They made the products talk to each other, and the format came alive.
Format 3: The Angel and Devil
A man at his laptop. Good angel on one shoulder, bad angel on the other
Both fighting over whether he should snack or drink RYZE
He drinks it. The bad angel disappears.
The concept:
Internal conflict made visible. Every person watching at 3pm with a snack craving has felt this exact tension. The ad just put it on screen.
Format 4: The Body Speaking Up
Every body part gets a voice: the belly, the dark circles, even the toilet
Each one represents a symptom the viewer already feels
Each symptom connects to a specific ingredient
One ad, multiple entry points, multiple audiences
The concept:
Your body is trying to tell you something. That idea resonates deeply with anyone who feels off but cannot explain why.
The animation just gave each symptom a face and a voice.
Btw, did you notice the pattern across all of them.
None of these were new ideas.
They were existing emotions, existing formats, existing conflicts, brought to life through animation.
So before you write a single word of script, ask yourself:
What concept or angle is already working in my category?
What does my customer feel that nobody in my industry is saying out loud?
What format or story structure can I borrow and make my own?
Find that first. Then write the script around it.
The animation comes last. Always.
Tools worth checking out:
Atria: You're only as good an advertiser as your swipe file. Atria saves and analyzes ads, with AI to create concepts and scripts in seconds. Try it for free. It offers ad analytics, a swipe file, an AI creative strategist, collaboration tools, asset management, and competitor tracking. I’m not an ad genius, but Atria makes me one.
Some of the latest features I am in love with.
AI chat that’s basically media buyer and analyst on my finger tips.
and AI tagging to easily find what’s trending and what to double down on:
How to Build a Pixar-Style Ad
We have been doing this for clients (cannot share those😅). So I played around and created one rough ad specifically for this edition.
I’ll dropping it at the end so you can see exactly what this looks like in practice.
Here's the exact process:
Step 1: Write the script first
30 seconds. Roughly 75-80 words. Break it into 4-6 frames. Each frame is 3-5 seconds of screen time.
Structure it like this:
Frame 1: Character intro + hook. Grab attention immediately.
Frame 2: State the problem. Make it visual and relatable.
Frame 3: Show the solution in action.
Frame 4: Result or transformation. The "after."
Frame 5: CTA or punchline. Clear next step.
Read it out loud. If it sounds stiff, rewrite it.
Note: This is one approach. The 30-second script and 9:16 format is a solid starting point, but nothing stops you from experimenting with longer formats or different aspect ratios. Test and see what works for your product and audience.
Step 2: Decide your format
Single character speaking directly? Two characters debating? A body part with a complaint? Angel and devil? Pick the format before you generate anything.
Step 3: Generate your character images
Use Midjourney, DALL-E, or Leonardo. If you have a reference image, upload it to Claude and ask:
"Turn this into a 3D Pixar-style animated character with arms, legs, eyes, and sneakers. Write me an image generation prompt."
If you don't have a reference, use this template:
"3D Pixar-style cute [YOUR CHARACTER] with big cartoon eyes, arms, legs and sneakers, [EXPRESSION], [ACTION], [ENVIRONMENT], dramatic warm lighting, cinematic depth of field, vertical format"
Style modifiers to append:
Midjourney: --ar 9:16 --style raw --v 6.1
DALL-E: add "vertical portrait orientation"
Leonardo: add "3D animation, Pixar quality rendering"
Generate 3-4 variations. Pick the best one. One character per image, always. Do not try to fit multiple characters into one generation.
Step 4: Refine until it looks right
First output is rarely perfect. Adjust the prompt. Change the expression, pose, background. Keep going until the character matches the mood of your script. Match the pose to the frame. Confident script line, confident pose. Action frame, action pose.
Step 5: Animate frame by frame
Take each final image into Higgsfield. For each frame:
Upload the character image
Paste the script line for that frame
Add direction notes
Direction notes are not optional. This is where most people get lazy and the animation falls flat.
Here's what good direction notes look like:
"Character looks directly at camera. Confident, serious expression. Gestures with right hand while speaking. Slight forward lean. Mouth moves clearly with each word."
Include emotion, movement, and mouth sync in every single frame.
Step 6: Fix the voice
Pick one voice that matches your script's tone. Use it across every frame without switching. Test a short line before committing. If the generated voice sounds off, replace it using ElevenLabs.
Step 7: Edit and assemble
Bring all clips into Premiere Pro or any editor. Then:
Add room tone so AI voices feel natural, not empty
Add background music to build emotion
Use J-cuts and L-cuts so audio overlaps slightly between scenes
Add subtitles and a headline hook
If the AI ending feels weak, shoot a quick real footage CTA and place it at the end
Export in 9:16 vertical format
Concept → Script → Character → Refine → Animate → Voice → Edit → Done
If you want to read the detailed workflow along with some example prompts, check here.
TLDR (The Cheat Sheet)
Pixar-style gets the scroll stop. The script gets the click.
Start with a concept that already has won. Adapt, don't invent.
The best formats: villain flip, debate, angel vs devil, body speaking up.
Your character should represent a feeling your customer already has.
Write the script before touching any AI tool.
One concept per ad. One character per image. One voice throughout.
Animation is the last step, not the first.
3 Ad to steal (and replicate in a few minutes)
I used the ad template that won for my clients and these are in CreativesOS. Check them now.
I’d also like to thank CreativeOS. All these image ads in this newsletter were created with the help of CreativeOS.
Creative strategy isn't about one great ad. It's about speed, volume, iteration, and systems.
That's exactly what CreativeOS is built for.
You get instant access to thousands of high-performing static ad, landing page, and email templates — proven hooks, angles, and layouts pulled from top brands. Instead of staring at a blank canvas, you're starting from structures that already work.
Pick a template. Customize it. Launch it. Move on to the next variation.
It's the fastest way to produce more winning creative without burning out your team or sacrificing quality. Whether you're testing new angles, scaling what's working, or building repeatable creative workflows — CreativeOS is the system that makes it happen.
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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