Thinking
November 21, 2025
Read time:
3 Minutes
You've spent hours perfecting your brand creative.
Professional photographer. Perfect lighting. On-brand colours. Polished copy.
It looks amazing.
And it's getting destroyed by a grainy iPhone video shot in someone's bedroom.
This happens to every ecommerce brand we work with.
The ads they're proud of underperform. The ads that make them cringe are printing money.
Here's why.
Your Customer Doesn't Want An Ad
When someone is scrolling Instagram or TikTok, they're not looking for ads.
They're looking for content from friends, entertainment, something real.
Your polished brand ad screams "THIS IS AN ADVERTISEMENT."
It gets scrolled past instantly.
But the ugly UGC video looks like organic content and it blends in.
People actually stop and watch it before they realise it's an ad.
By then, you've got their attention.
Messaging Beats Aesthetics Every Time
Here's what most brands miss.
Your polished ad might look beautiful, but does it speak to a specific pain point?
The ugly ad that's crushing it probably has a hook that resonates immediately.
"I used to wake up 3 times a night until I tried this..."
That's not pretty, but it's personal and relatable - so it works
Your brand ad says "Premium comfort for better sleep."
Which one do you think performs better?
Production Value Creates Distance
High production value creates psychological distance between you and the customer.
It feels corporate and sales-y. It feels like someone spent money trying to convince them.
Low production value feels authentic and feels like a recommendation from a real person.
Even if they know it's an ad, it doesn't FEEL like one.
That's the difference.
Meta Rewards What Works, Not What's Pretty
Meta's algorithm doesn't care about your brand guidelines.
It cares about one thing - does this ad stop people scrolling and get them to convert?
If your ugly ad has a 8% hook rate and your polished ad has a 2% hook rate, Meta is going to show the ugly ad to more people.
Every single time.
The algorithm is brutally honest. It tells you what your customers actually respond to.
Not what you think they should respond to.
The Bottom Line
Stop making ads you want to put on your website. Start making ads your customers actually want to watch.
Test more UGC. Test more raw, unpolished content.
Test minority hooks that speak to specific pain points instead of generic benefit statements.
Your brand creative still has a place. It's great for retargeting warm audiences who already know you. But for cold prospecting - ugly wins.
Want us to audit your creative strategy and tell you exactly what needs to change?
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