How to recreate an ad style you like without copying it
By Spencer Tribe · Last updated
Borrow the structure, not the contents. The layout, the type of hook, the composition and the overall mood of an ad are common ideas that every advertiser reuses. The other brand’s logo, product, photographs, people, characters and exact wording belong to them. Rebuild the structure with your own product photo, your own copy and your own colors, and the result is a new ad. This is practical guidance and not legal advice.
What is fine to borrow?
- Layout: product centered with a headline above, a split before and after, a quote as the hero.
- Hook type: leading with a benefit, an offer, a problem, or a customer review.
- Composition and lighting: a low angle, hard shadows, a flat lay, lots of empty space.
- Text density and hierarchy: one big line and one small one, or a checklist.
These are conventions. Look at any industry and you will see the same few structures repeated by every brand in it.
The reference: an ad a major brand is running.
What Showfolk made from it for an app.
What should you leave alone?
- Logos, brand names and slogans.
- The product itself and its packaging.
- The actual photograph or illustration.
- People and recognizable characters.
- The exact headline and body copy.
- A look so distinctive that viewers would think your ad came from that brand.
What is a safe process?
- Save the ad and write down, in words, what makes it work: layout, hook, mood, where the eye goes.
- Put the original away. Work from your notes, not from the image.
- Shoot or cut out your own product, write your own headline for the same hook type, and use your own colors and fonts.
- Compare at the end. If a stranger would mistake yours for theirs, change more.
How does Showfolk keep outputs original?
It follows the same process, automatically. The reference ad is turned into a written brief about layout, lighting and mood. The image model only sees a blurred copy of the reference, the reference brand’s product and marks are named as off-limits, and every output is checked for them afterwards. Brands can ask for any ad to be removed from the library through the removal request form.