Hi Reader

In 2013, I was running user acquisition for a mobile app called Bingo Bash.

Our monthly ad budget?

$1.75 million.

When I’d just joined, I honestly couldn’t believe it was humanly possible for a single product to spend that much.

I thought Bingo was for a tiny niche of middle-aged women.

But this was the wild west of mobile growth:

when platforms were exploding

...and anything was possible.

So we spent.

Scaled up.

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And one ad quietly started hogging a huge chunk of that budget.

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This ad was… pink.

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Rough visuals. Cringey copy. Weird layout.

“Not your grandma’s Bingo.” it said.

Our creative lead HATED it.

We all kind of did.

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We were embarrassed every time we saw it in the wild.

But weirdly - and frustratingly, the algo didn’t care.

That ugly little pink ad scaled like crazy.

It crushed everything else.

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not too long afterwards, the company sold for $170 million.

We used to joke internally about the growth leading to it.

…that that one ad basically was worth that $170mm.

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You’ve probably seen this too:

Your team spends weeks polishing a gorgeous ad…

Only to be blown out of the water by a blurry iPhone video someone shot in 15 minutes.

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I used to think those ads were flukes.

..or were algorithmic glitches.

Or that users had bad taste.

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…but after reviewing HUNDREDS of ad accounts, I know better.

Because in Bingo Bash’s case, our ideal user was Debbie from Kansas.

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She shopped at Walmart.

She read trashy magazines.

She wasn’t looking at Louis Vuitton ads.

She trusted the janky pink thing.

That ad didn’t fail brand guidelines.

It happened to have passed the trust test.

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It didn’t appeal to marketers:

it appealed to the algorithm AND the audience.

Annnd those are the only two forces that matter.

So now when clients recoil at rough-looking creative?

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I tell them this:

Don’t ignore ugly.

Run the ad anyway.

See what happens when you do.

Because it’s not about what you like.

…it’s about what Debbie-from-Kansas likes.

…and if Debbie likes it, the algorithm will like it too.

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(Btw, the lesson here isn’t to make terrible-looking ads on purpose.

The lesson is to make ads that appeal to your ideal users - and chances are that they dont particularly care for polished-and-slick).

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And if you are spending ~$50k+ per month, and want help building an ad creative strategy that unlocks performance: without the ego and with all the scale….

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Reply with “UGLY.” We’ll show you how to bottle that same magic, weird and all - and scale your user acquisition based on a rock-solid creative strategy that appeals to your Debbie-from-Kansas.

Later,

Shamanth

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PS: You can now follow Intelligent Artifice on TikTok. Here are our first couple of posts - if you like this newsletter, give us some love on the socials.
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IntelligentArtifice

Every marketer I know fights over these two big ad formats. Problem–solution vs. product demo. The truth? They’re both right — but only in the right context. 👉 Problem–solution works when users aren’t even sure they have a problem yet. It educates, dramatizes the pain, and shows the transformation. 👉 Product demos work when users already know the problem but aren’t solution-aware. They don’t need to be reminded of the pain — they need to see how the solution actually works. The trick isn’t choosing one format over the other. It’s matching the format to user intent. That’s when sequencing becomes strategy.#facebookdcreatives #creativestrategy #ugc #paidsocialads #performancecreative

♬ original sound - IntelligentArtifice

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IntelligentArtifice

This Facebook ad format is crushing it — and it sells memories. 👉 Most brands: lead with sharper pixels, better filters. 👉 This takes old family photos and retouches them with AI. That tiny shift — from selling tech to selling nostalgia — is why these ads work. They don’t just promise a better photo. They promise the chance to relive a moment you thought was gone. If you’re running ads: don’t just ask what your product does. Ask what it gives back to the user that they already value. #facebookdcreatives #creativestrategy #ugc #paidsocialads #performancecreative

♬ original sound - IntelligentArtifice

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IntelligentArtifice

Steal this gaming ad format that’s crushing it for non-gaming verticals. I learned this after $100M+ in ad spend across 3 exits in gaming. You’ve seen this in hundreds of games — the “choices” mechanic: 👉 Hire or fire 👉 Right or wrong 👉 Win or lose Here’s why it works: your brain can’t help but answer the question. That micro-decision pulls you in and makes the ad impossible to ignore. Now, non-gaming apps are stealing the same format: 🌱 A plant identifier app: “Milk or soak? Keep it or remove it?” 👶 A kids app: “Pick the eyes, nose, and mouth.” It’s simple. It’s interactive without interaction. And that’s why this format is converting like crazy. If you’re not borrowing from gaming, you’re missing one of the biggest creative cheat codes out there. #facebookdcreatives #creativestrategy #ugc #paidsocialads #performancecreative

♬ original sound - IntelligentArtifice

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PPS: The latest deconstruction from our socials here.

​🌙 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗦𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗹𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮. I ran semantic analysis of 90+ video creatives to uncover what’s hitting hard, what’s fading, and what wellness apps can shamelessly steal.