The first frame does most of the work. On a feed where people scroll fast, an ad has a fraction of a second to earn a second look — which means the opening image or first second of video matters more than almost anything else in the creative.
Polished, obviously-staged stock photography tends to read as an ad and get scrolled past. Creative that looks like it belongs in the feed — real settings, real product use, less "shot on a professional set" — consistently earns more attention.
Contrast and clarity beat cleverness. A message that's instantly readable at a glance outperforms a beautifully designed layout that takes a second to parse, because that second is rarely given.
The agencies that consistently win aren't the ones with one perfect "hero" ad — they're the ones testing several creative directions at once and letting performance data decide, rather than personal taste.
Design for sound off. The large majority of video ads are watched muted on a feed, at least initially — if the message only lands through voiceover or dialogue, most viewers miss it entirely. Captions and a visual hook that works without audio aren't an afterthought; they're the difference between an ad that communicates and one that just plays.
Showing the result in the first frame, rather than building up to it, consistently outperforms the "slow reveal" structure ads are often storyboarded around. Feeds don't reward patience — an ad that opens on the transformation, the finished product, or the outcome gives people a reason to keep watching instead of asking them to earn it.
Testimonial-style ads that look like they came from a real customer, not a studio, routinely beat polished brand-produced spots on cost per result. The rougher, more "someone actually filmed this on their phone" look isn't a budget compromise — for a lot of products, it's the better-performing creative choice on its own merits.