Test your ads: concepts first, hooks later

Agencies report that Meta treats ads with the same look or opening as one ad, so ten versions of one idea can compete like a single ad. Meta hasn't confirmed this, but it's why a Genien ad pack is built from three to ten different ideas, six by default, each opening differently.

Each concept gets three hooks. Hook A goes in the video. Hooks B and C wait for the next round, on the concepts that win.

1. Put all 6 concepts in one ad set, so the platform spends on the ones that work. Each opens differently, because ads with the same look or opening are reported to be treated as one ad.
2. Run the vertical videos and the statics side by side. Practitioners run about 60% video and 40% statics.
3. Judge after a few days of steady spend, not after one: the first-seconds hold, the click rate and the cost per sale, in that order.
4. Expect most concepts to lose. In one study of more than 550,000 Meta ads, 5 to 8% became winners, so a test that finds one or two is a good test.
5. Keep the best one or two concepts and test their hooks B and C next. A new hook on a winner is a variation, not a new concept.
6. Refresh when the numbers say so: when the cost per sale keeps rising for a week, not on a calendar.

Most concepts lose. In one study of more than 550,000 Meta ads, 5 to 8% became winners, so a test that finds one or two is a good test. The only independent evidence we found for AI creative is for AI images used inside a test-and-learn loop, not instead of one.

Genien won't tell you which ad will win. Its ideas haven't been tested on real ads yet, and we know of no creative score that has been independently shown to predict results.

• Every file has a name a spreadsheet can split on underscores: product, concept, pattern, hook, ratio, kind and version.
• A 9:16 video for Reels, TikTok and Stories, and a 4:5 cut and static ad for the feed.
• A copy sheet with two primary texts, two headlines and a call to action per concept, ready for bulk upload.

Marketing Brew, September 28, 2026, on how agencies see Meta grouping similar ads. Runneth, formerly Motion, on winners among more than 550,000 Meta ads. Marketing Science, 2026, a study with Taboola on AI images in testing. Our research notes are kept with the product docs.