Text / Chat Conversation
A screenshot of a text or DM thread that tells the story in messages.
The ad is staged as a phone conversation - texts, DMs, a group chat - where the story unfolds line by line. It works because everyone reads a message thread on instinct, so the format borrows the intimacy of a private chat and the viewer finishes reading before they register it as an ad.
Why it works
Everyone reads a message thread on instinct, so the format borrows the intimacy of a private chat - the viewer finishes the exchange before clocking it as an ad, and a recommendation between friends carries more weight than a brand claim.
Format Examples
How this format plays out across different products and segments.
A friend asking 'wait, what did you use?' and the reply.
A DM objection handled in three short replies.
A group-chat reaction to a result the product delivered.
How to build it
Open mid-conversation
Start on a line that creates curiosity - a question, a reaction, a confession.
Reveal in replies
Let the product surface as one person's answer to the other, not a banner.
End on the recommendation
Close the thread on the endorsement, with a CTA below the screenshot.
Example executions
A friend asking 'wait, what did you use?' and the reply.
A group-chat reaction to a result the product delivered.
A DM objection handled in three short replies.
Carries these angles well
Reach for it when
Social-proof and objection-handling angles, products people recommend to a friend, and fast cheap testing of a single hook.
Skip it when
Premium positioning where a faked screenshot feels cheap, and stories too complex to land in a few short messages.
Common mistake
Writing it like ad copy. Real chats are short, misspelled, and casual - perfect grammar and a sales pitch instantly break the illusion.
Combine it into an ad
A format is the container. In the Hi5 Framework it wraps an angle and opens with a hook to become a finished concept.
More static / structural formats
Ugly Ad (lo-fi native)
very lowA deliberately unpolished static that looks like a post, not an ad.
Single Image
lowOne frame to land the whole idea. Hardest format to do well.
Carousel (2-10 cards)
low-midSwipeable cards that build an argument one tap at a time.
Collection
midA hero asset over a grid of shoppable products.