Steal Ad Ideas Like an Artist

2 min | Brainstorming

Every new idea is just a mix of old ideas.

Here are my three rules for “stealing” ads ethically:

Rule #1: Never steal from your neighbor

Instead of copying my competitors, I draw inspiration from other industries.
For example, if I need a B2B idea, I’ll try to find it in a B2C ad library, like Lurzer’s Archive.

Well, Dovetail’s version is a bit too close.
But it’s a nice ad nonetheless.

Rule #2: Limit yourself to 30 minutes

Ad inspiration quickly turns into procrastination.

So I browse ads for half an hour, then get to work.

Source: Me

Rule #3: Steal one element, not the whole piece

My client, AppsFlyer, wanted to target large companies that have outgrown their current tools.

So, while looking for inspiration, I found these two ads:

The fishbowl simply caught my eye.

And the big man in the small box reminded me of AppsFlyer’s target audience: enterprise teams locked into software built for startups.

Next, I googled “big fish in a small tank” and found this:

And here’s the final ad:

MMP = Mobile Measurement Partner.
AppsFlyer’s audience knows.

In this recipe

No heading found

Keep growing your creative and copywriting skills with my newsletter:

9 min | Copywriting
Copywriting Research with ChatGPT

Sure, ChatGPT isn’t very creative. But it’s a brilliant research assistant. Here are 44 research prompts I use every month.
3 min | Storytelling
Make Ads That Are Impossible to Ignore

When I lived in a ground-floor apartment, neighbors would often sneak a peek inside. It’s called Voyeurism. It can improve your ads.
2 min | Brainstorming
Humor Mechanisms for Creating Hilarious Ads

Philosopher H. Bergson discovered the mechanisms that make humans laugh.
Here’s how to use them for marketing.