If you’ve ever felt stuck in a creative feedback loop or spent too long going back and forth with your design team, utilising AI to generate high-performing ad creative variations will be a game-changer.
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how we approach creative work by making our workflows more efficient, collaborative, and data-informed. In today’s performance landscape that speed isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential.
With platform algorithms doing more of the heavy lifting and creative being the new form of targeting, the winning edge now comes from how quickly you can produce, test, and iterate on ad creative. The faster you can turn insights into visuals, the faster you can learn what works and scale it.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through a simple, step-by-step process for turning your existing top-performing creative into multiple fresh versions using ChatGPT. Whether you’re looking to test different layouts, improve engagement, or build a better visual brief for your design team, this guide will help you do it faster and smarter.
By the end, you’ll know exactly how to:
- Give AI the right context
- Generate visual concepts aligned with your goals
- Save hours in design iterations.
Step-by-Step: Create New Ad Variations Using AI
1. Identify Your Best-Performing Creative
Start by reviewing your performance data. Make sure you are looking at metrics to tell the full story. CPA and ROAS are important, but other metrics could also signify a chance for creative enhancement. Remember, engagement rates are also key in understanding what’s actually attracting the user.
Look for creative that:
- Delivered strong results for specific goals (CPA, ROAS etc)
- Had a high engagement rate (CTR, shares, saves)
- Sparked meaningful comments or conversations
Your “best-performing” creative might be a short, punchy testimonial or a visually striking layout. Either way, your goal is to pick an asset with proven success.
Upload Your Top-Performing Creative Along with a Prompt
Once you’ve chosen your creative, upload it to ChatGPT and pair it with a clear, structured prompt.
What should the prompt include? Start by providing a clear label, for example:
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- “This is our top-performing creative”.
Also explain why it worked, making sure you Give both quantitative and qualitative reasons:
- Quantitative: “4.6% CTR, ROAS of 4.2”
- Qualitative: “Short testimonial builds trust. Clean layout draws focus to the CTA.”
Don’t also forget to give brand & audience context within your prompt:
- Tell the AI what you sell and who you’re targeting
- Industry: e.g., skincare, tech, fashion
- Audience: e.g., Gen Z beauty buyers, working professionals, etc.
- Brand positioning: e.g., science-backed, eco-friendly, budget-friendly, luxury
Give a view on what platform you will be running your creative on which will of course affect format, dimensions and style:
- Facebook feed (static or carousel)
- Instagram Stories or Reels
- TikTok, Pinterest, etc.
Also be clear within your prompt on what your goals are, and define what success looks like for you:
- Drive more purchases
- Increase engagement
- Grow email signups
- Retarget past visitors
When providing an example piece of previous creative within your prompt, also be really clear on what part of that creative you need to keep in place:
- The testimonial copy
- The layout style
- The emotional tone
- The product shot
Ask for a new visual mock-up:
Now comes the fun part.
Clearly state the action that you are trying to achieve
“Based on all the above, create 4 different ad template mockups that maintain the same persuasive elements but introduce fresh layouts/visual styles.”
You can get specific here, request a mix of styles like:
- A minimalist version
- A UGC-style version
- A bold product-focused version
- A premium, luxury-themed version
You’re now effectively turning your original ad into a mini creative testing suite.
Review and Iterate
Once ChatGPT generates your ad variation, review them critically.
You may need to refine the prompt, tweak the copy, or adjust elements to better align with the brand. But you will achieve rapid, iterative idea generation that saves hours of back-and-forth with your team.
You can now send a visual mockup with a written brief to your design team, dramatically reducing guesswork and turnaround time. In some cases, there may not be any turnaround time and in fact you can use the creative straight away if it hits all brand points.
Example Prompt You Can Use
Here’s a complete sample you can adapt:
I’ve uploaded a top-performing Meta ad from a premium skincare brand. The creative is a static image featuring a testimonial-style concept, which has driven impressive performance over the past two weeks.
Performance Highlights:
- CTR: 5.1% – This is 10% above the account average
- Engagement: High volume of likes and positive comments
- ROAS: 3.2 – indicating strong down-funnel efficiency
- The testimonial itself is concise, relatable, and quickly builds trust
Brand & Audience Context:
- A premium skincare brand targeting women aged 25–45
- Audience is concerned with skin dryness and values clinically-backed ingredients with visible results
- Ad is currently running on Facebook and Instagram (both Feed and Story placements)
Platform:
This runs on Facebook and Instagram in both feed and story format
Campaign Goal:
Drive sales from a prospecting audience while establishing brand trust
Task:
Based on the original top-performing creative I have uploaded and the context given above, create 4 new static ad visual templates using the same testimonial quote, but in distinct visual styles:
- Minimalist – Clean, elegant design with refined use of whitespace
- UGC-style – User-generated content look with a casual, authentic aesthetic
- Product-focused with bold text – Emphasising the product and key messaging in a striking, eye-catching way
- Luxury-style – Sophisticated, high-end visuals that reflect the premium nature of the brand
This shouldn’t replace your creative instincts but enhance them. By taking your top-performing ad and feeding it structured, strategic context, you can generate multiple high-quality variations in minutes. Whether you’re a performance marketer or a creative strategist, this process allows you to test faster, brief better, and scale smarter.
So next time you find a piece of creative that works, don’t just reuse it, create a variation.
With the right setup and prompts, AI becomes your creative partner, and inspiration is just a few clicks away.
