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The Visual Hook Archetypes Your Brain Is Wired to Notice

Author

Aazar Shad
February 01, 2026

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 (this issue), insights from other performance marketers, and analysis of top internet ads.

This issue is brought to you by Riverside (I fell in love with them in 2020 because of how good they are.):

I manage $100M+ in ad spend.

User-generated content and customer testimonials are everything.

Here's my secret: Riverside.

I send clients a link. They record a testimonial on their phone. I get studio-quality footage instantly.

No compressed video. No awkward setups. Just authentic content that converts.

I've built an entire ad library this way. Founder ads. Customer testimonials. Objection-handling content.

All ready to run. All authentic. All high quality.

If you're running ads and need scalable, high-performing UGC, this is the system.

You could have the script in the world. Great product. Sharp copy. Clean visuals.

But if the first frame doesn't stop someone, none of it matters.

There's a reason some ads grab attention instantly, even before a single word is spoken. It has nothing to do with budget or production quality.

It's called Hook Archetypes.

These are visual formats people are already wired to pay attention to. 

The first frame does all the heavy lifting. If it matches something familiar, your audience leans in automatically.

This edition, I'm breaking down the archetypes that work. How they trigger attention. And how to use them so you never run out of hook ideas again.

I'm also dropping a prompt you can use right away. 

It takes your product, your audience, and your platform, and spits out visual hook archetypes tailored to your ad. No need to bang your head against the wall. Find the prompt here.

Additionally, because of the numerous examples, this post might be clipped in Gmail. You can find the web version here.

Archetype #1: Subway Interview

This archetype triggers social surveillance. A deep instinct where your brain automatically monitors unfiltered conversations between strangers.

Psychology Behind This: Your brain thinks you're catching a real moment you weren't supposed to see. And that's impossible to scroll past.

Archetype #2: Public Confession

A man, head against the wall, dull colors, heavy body language. Your brain instantly reads guilt. And guilt creates an open loop your mind has to close.

Psychology Behind This: We humans are wired to watch people face consequences. Even when the confession turns out to be something completely different.

Archetype #3: Luxury Lifestyle

A shirtless guy, a bathtub, champagne, a view. The first frame does one thing: it makes you feel like you're looking at someone living better than you.

Psychology Behind This: This ad triggers status comparison. A deeply uncomfortable feeling your brain wants to resolve. So you keep watching to understand how he got there.

Archetype #4: Absurd Shower Moment

A man covered in blue paint, in the shower, looking shocked. Nothing about this frame makes sense. And that's exactly why you can't look away.

Psychology Behind This: Your brain flags anything it can't immediately explain as a priority. The weirder the visual, the harder it works to figure out what's happening. And figuring out means watching more.

I’d like to thank Videowise for sponsoring this newsletter too.

Your creative library is sitting on gold. You're just not using it.

The average DTC brand uses less than 15% of their video content buried in their library.

Creative volume matters more than ever. But the real bottleneck isn't production but it's organization and retrieval.

Here's the pattern I'm seeing:

Brands commission 50+ UGC videos per quarter, then spend more time searching for clips than building ads. Media buyers wait days for variants that should take hours. Testing velocity dies even though content budgets keep growing.

The problem isn't creativity. It's retrieval and organization.

Videowise AI Clips solves this.

Growth teams can now use AI to automatically:

  • Identify and clip high-value moments (hooks, testimonials, demos, objections, B-roll)

  • Tag everything from people to objects, environment, and context

  • Make the entire asset library searchable in plain English

Early results from brands using AI Clips:

One team went from 5 ad variants per week to 35. Same footage. Same headcount. Zero new production.

Another discovered 200+ usable clips from content they'd written off as "already used."

Archetype #5: Expensive Car Exit

A guy stepping out of a Tesla Cybertruck. That one frame instantly signals money and status (or that you're a weirdo 😂), even before the text appears.

Psychology Behind This: People are wired to pay attention to signs of wealth. It triggers curiosity and a subtle "how did he get that" pull. The car does the talking before you even read a single word.

Archetype #6: Get Ready With Me

A girl is getting ready in front of a mirror. This feels like you're hanging out with someone in their personal space. It creates instant intimacy and familiarity.

Psychology Behind This: People lean into this because it feels like unfiltered, behind-the-scenes access. Your brain treats it like a friend letting you into their routine. And that makes you stay.

Archetype #7: Asking ChatGPT

Phone up, ChatGPT open, and mic ready.

Psychology Behind This: This hooks people because AI is still new enough to feel curious and slightly unpredictable. Your brain wants to know what the answer will be. The outcome is unknown, and that uncertainty keeps you watching.

Archetype #8: Whiteboard Explainer

This instantly signals "someone is about to teach me something useful."

Psychology Behind This: It triggers the learning bias. Your brain recognizes this setup from school. So it automatically shifts into "pay attention" mode before a single word is said.

Archetype #9: The Office

Archetype #10: The Gym Grind

Archetype #11: The Yacht Exit

Archetype #12: The Living Room Chat

Archetype #13: The Forest Walk Away

Archetype #14: The University Life Interview

Archetype #15: The Stage Speech

Archetype #16: The Mall Stroll

Archetype #17: The Morning Run

Use my prompt to craft your custom archetype and create great ads.

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

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