Direct ResponseAd CreationReverse Engineering~75 min
Every great ad on the internet is built on an invisible skeleton. Once you can see the skeleton, you can copy it legally, swap your product into it, and let AI write a brand new ad in any niche. This class teaches you to do that in 75 minutes. By the end you'll have a method, a prompt, a list of brands to study, and the exact tool the top direct response people on X use to spy on scaled ads.
🧠 1. The Big Idea
ok so listen. everybody teaches you frameworks. PAS, AIDA, BAB, all that stuff. cool, those work. but here's the thing nobody tells you. the pros don't think in frameworks. they think in jobs.
every line in a winning ad has a job to do. one line stops the scroll. one line says "yes this is for you." one line tells you why what you've been doing is wrong. one line introduces the new way. and so on. the words change from ad to ad but the jobs don't.
if you only see the words you'll spend your life copying ads. if you see the jobs underneath the words, you can write a winning ad in any niche, in 5 minutes, with AI doing the typing for you.
that's what we're learning today. i call it the invisible skeleton.
🔧 2. The 10 Jobs Every Great Ad Does
before we look at any ads, write these 10 jobs down. or screenshot them. these are the legos every winning ad is built from. some ads use 6, some use 10, some repeat 2 or 3 of them, but they all come from this list.
JOB 01
Pattern Interrupt
stops the scroll. usually a contrarian statement, weird visual, or a "wait what" moment.
JOB 02
Audience ID
tells the right person "this is for you." geography, age, profession, situation.
JOB 03
Problem Statement
names the pain so they nod along. specific, recognized, daily.
JOB 04
Agitate
twists the knife. why this pain is worse than they think or growing fast.
JOB 05
Villain / Old Way
blames something external. "it's not your fault, it's X." big emotional unlock.
JOB 06
Mechanism / New Way
the unique angle. what's different about this. the reason it works when nothing else has.
JOB 07
Proof
reviews, numbers, press logos, before/after, doctors, years in business.
JOB 08
Benefit Stack
the 3 outcomes they actually care about. usually short and rhythmic.
JOB 09
Offer + Risk Reversal
price, bonus, guarantee, free trial. removes the "what if it doesn't work" fear.
JOB 10
Urgency + CTA
deadline, low stock, limited spots, plus the clear next step.
when you read an ad now your brain should auto-tag each line. line 1 is a pattern interrupt. line 2 is audience ID. line 3 is problem statement. you'll see it everywhere once you know the list. that's the goal.
🔬 3. Live X-Ray #1 — GLP-1 / Weight Loss Clinic (Local)
let's start with the niche that's printing money on Meta in the US right now. weight loss clinics doing GLP-1, semaglutide, tirzepatide. you've seen these ads if you've been on instagram in the last 12 months. they all look the same because they all work the same way. let me show you the skeleton.
Reference Ad — GLP-1 Med Clinic, US
"Houston women over 35, losing weight isn't about willpower."
Pattern Interrupt + Audience ID
"It's about the hormone your doctor never tested for."
Villain / Old Way
"At [Clinic], MDs prescribe semaglutide and run full hormone panels."
Mechanism / New Way
"800+ patients, average 22 lbs lost in 90 days."
Proof
"First consult plus labs is $49 this month, normally $299."
Offer
"FDA-approved meds. Real MDs. No gimmicks."
Risk Reversal
"Only 12 spots left for May."
Urgency
"Tap below to book →"
CTA
notice the structure. they didn't waste a line. every sentence does one job. and look at the order. interrupt first, audience second, villain third. that order is intentional because that's the order of the customer's brain when they're scrolling.
also notice what's missing. no big benefit stack, no agitate. why? because in this niche the audience is already in pain every day. you don't need to remind them they want to lose weight. you skip agitate and go straight to the new mechanism. that's a niche-specific call.
🧊 4. Live X-Ray #2 — Cryo Practice / Wellness Clinic (Local)
cryo is a different game. people don't wake up wanting cryo. they wake up wanting less back pain or faster recovery. so the ad starts somewhere else and bridges into cryo as the answer. watch.
Reference Ad — Cryo / Recovery Studio, US
"Stretching isn't fixing your back. You need to fix the inflammation."
Pattern Interrupt + Villain
"Austin people over 30 with chronic back, knee, or shoulder pain, this is for you."
Audience ID + Problem
"Three minutes in our cryo chamber drops your body temp 40 degrees and shuts off inflammation at the source."
Mechanism / New Way
"NFL teams, UFC fighters, and 1,400+ Austin locals use it every week."
Proof
"First session free. Bring a friend, theirs is free too."
Offer + Risk Reversal
"This week only. We block 20 free sessions then we're done."
Urgency
"Book your free session in 30 seconds →"
CTA
same skeleton, different tone. cryo lives or dies on the mechanism. that's why the line about 40 degrees and shutting off inflammation is the longest in the ad. when your audience doesn't want your service yet, the mechanism does the heavy lifting. it has to make them go "oh, that's actually clever."
🛒 5. Live X-Ray #3 — Ecom Brand (Skincare Serum)
ecom is its own beast. these ads are 10 seconds long and the visual does half the work. but the script underneath is still the skeleton. just denser, more punchy, with the mechanism and offer doing 80 percent of the lift.
Reference Ad — Anti-Aging Retinol Serum, DTC
"Stop using retinol at night. It's making your skin worse."
Pattern Interrupt + Villain
"99% of retinols oxidize in 3 weeks. That's why your skin gets red and flaky."
Problem + Agitate
"Ours uses encapsulated retinaldehyde. 11x stronger, zero irritation."
Mechanism / New Way
"24,000+ five-star reviews. Featured in Vogue and Allure."
Proof
"Smoother skin in 14 days. Fewer lines in 30. No peeling."
Benefit Stack
"40% off plus free serum sample today."
Offer
"60-day glow guarantee or full refund."
Risk Reversal
"Sold out 3 times this year. Restock just dropped."
Urgency
"Shop Now →"
CTA
this is dense. 9 jobs in 8 lines. ecom doesn't have time to breathe. the visual is doing audience ID and pattern interrupt at the same time. so the script can skip ahead and start with the villain.
the takeaway. ecom skeletons are denser. local skeletons are slower and trust-heavy. info products and high ticket are even slower because they need a "big idea" up top. same legos, different stacks.
⚡ 6. The Master Prompt — Skeleton to Ad with AI
here's where the magic happens. once you can read an ad and pull its skeleton, you can give that skeleton to AI and tell it "write me a new ad in my niche using the exact same job order." you don't copy the words. you copy the structure. that's not plagiarism, that's how every great copywriter has worked for 80 years.
copy this prompt. use it forever. it works for any niche.
You are a senior direct response copywriter. I'll give you a skeleton, which is a list of JOBS each line must perform. Write a Facebook ad for my product following this exact skeleton.
Rules:
- Don't copy any words from any example
- Replicate only the JOBS, in the same order
- Match the rhythm: short, punchy, conversational
- One sentence per line, max 12 words per line
- Total ad length under 90 words
- No corporate language, no em dashes, no triple structures
- Write like a human texts a friend
PRODUCT: [your product or service]
AUDIENCE: [who buys this, age, situation]
PAIN: [what's keeping them up at night]
OFFER: [price, bonus, guarantee]
TONE: [friendly / urgent / authoritative]
SKELETON:
1. Pattern Interrupt
2. Audience ID
3. Villain / Old Way
4. Mechanism / New Way
5. Proof
6. Offer
7. Risk Reversal
8. Urgency
9. CTA
Now write 5 different ads following this exact skeleton. Number each one. After each ad, in one short sentence, explain what's different about that variation.
you can run this in claude, chatgpt, or gemini. claude tends to write the most natural lines. chatgpt is faster. either works. the magic isn't the AI, it's the skeleton you're feeding it.
🔍 7. Where to Find Winning Ads to Rip
ok so the method works only if you're feeding it skeletons of actual winning ads, not random ads. random ads aren't proven. winning ads have been spending money on Meta for weeks or months, which means the brand is making more money than they're spending, which means the ad works. those are the ones we want to study.
there are two ways to hunt them. free way and pro way.
7a. The Free Way — Meta Ad Library
1Open the Library
go to facebook.com/ads/library. set country to United States. set ad category depending on niche. for med spas, GLP-1, and cryo set it to "Issues, Elections or Politics" off and just leave it as "All ads."
2Search the brand name
type the brand name in the search bar. you'll see every active ad they're running. that's the goldmine.
3Filter for active ads
use the "Active" filter only. you don't care about ads they killed. you care about what's running right now.
4Check the start date
for each ad, look at the date it started running. anything running 30+ days = working. anything running 60+ days = scaling. anything running 90+ days = a control they're not gonna change anytime soon. those are the ones to copy.
5Copy the headline and body
paste the headline and body text into a doc. now apply the 10-job framework. tag each line. boom, you've got your skeleton.
7b. The Pro Way — Spy Tools
meta ad library is free but slow. you have to know the brand name to search. you can't sort by spend, you can't see hooks across the whole industry, you can't save anything. that's where spy tools come in. let me show you the ones the top direct response people actually use, ranked.
Foreplay.co
the one every DR person on twitter uses. the "Spyder" feature auto-tracks any brand you follow and pulls every ad they run. has a curated library of winning ads tagged by hook type, format, and angle. used by Andrew Faris, Barry Hott, Nick Shackelford, and basically every 8-figure ecom brand on Meta. start here.
$49–99/mo
Atria
newer, AI-powered. scores ads, surfaces winning hooks automatically, generates new scripts based on patterns. great if you're already running $5K+/mo in ads and want the AI to do the analysis for you.
~$99/mo
Magic Brief
creative brief tool with built-in ad library. popular with UGC agencies. good if you're producing a lot of video.
~$99/mo
AdSpy
the OG. 155+ million ads in 88 languages. massive database, advanced filters, can search by call-to-action. powerful but the UI feels old.
$149/mo
Minea
ecom-focused spy. drop a competitor URL and see all their ads, plus the products they're testing. great for dropshippers.
$49–99/mo
🎯
If you only buy one, buy Foreplay. Every direct response person worth following on X uses it. The Spyder feature alone is worth the price because it builds your swipe file automatically while you sleep. Start with the $49 plan.
📚 8. The Brands to Study (Bookmark This)
these are the brands to study right now. they spend big on Meta, they've been at it for years, and their ads are dialed. open meta ad library, search each one, and start tagging skeletons. by the end of the week you'll have 30+ proven skeletons in your swipe file.
Magic Spooncereal. brilliant villain framing of "kids cereal but for adults."Ad Library →
Manscapedgrooming. masters of humor as pattern interrupt.Ad Library →
Liquid Deathwater company that prints money on Meta. brand-led but with DR mechanics underneath.Ad Library →
Ridge WalletDTC OG. study their offer stack and risk reversal language.Ad Library →
Lume Deodorant"problem you didn't know you had" angle. masters of agitate.Ad Library →
Tushybidet. masters of taking a boring product and making it scroll-stopping.Ad Library →
🔑 9. Keyword Hunting (Find Brands You Don't Know Yet)
the brand list above is great but it's only the brands i already know. the real goldmine is the brands you haven't heard of yet. the way you find them is by searching keywords, not brand names. meta ad library lets you type any keyword and it pulls every active US ad with that keyword in the body text. that means you can find every advertiser running ads about, say, "compounded semaglutide" in one click.
this also tells you how scaled a niche is. if a keyword pulls 5,000 active ads, that niche is hot and competitive. if it pulls 80, it's small or early. that's free intel.
9a. How Meta Ad Library keyword search works
1Set country to United States, ad category to "All ads"
otherwise you'll see ads from brazil and india too. filter early, save yourself time.
2Search by keyword, not by brand
switch the toggle from "Advertiser" to "Ad Content." now you're searching ad copy, not page names.
3Use specific niche language
"weight loss" returns 50,000+ ads, useless. "tirzepatide" returns 800-ish, all GLP-1 brands. specific beats broad every time.
4Use quotes for exact phrases
"stop using retinol" finds every ad opening with that exact hook. great way to find people copying winning hooks (and steal them yourself).
5Count the result number
meta shows how many ads match your keyword. that's your scale signal. 5,000+ = hot niche. 500-2,000 = healthy. under 200 = small or early.
9b. GLP-1 / Weight Loss Keywords
"semaglutide"the drug name itself. catches every brand selling it.Search →
"tirzepatide"newer drug, newer brands. less crowded than semaglutide.Search →
"non toxic cookware"home category, premium positioning. heavy use of "old way vs new way."Search →
"premium tee"apparel category. true classic style ads, tons of UGC variations.Search →
"as seen on shark tank"authority/proof keyword. finds DR brands using the press logo angle.Search →
9e. Hook-Based Keywords (find ads using winning openers)
these aren't niche keywords, these are hook keywords. searching them returns ads from any niche that opens with one of these proven patterns. great way to study hooks across categories.
"stop using"classic villain pattern interrupt. "stop using X, it's making you Y."Search →
"the truth about"curiosity gap opener. tons of supplement and skincare ads use this.Search →
"not your fault"reframe + villain combo. shifts blame to something external.Search →
"why your X isn't"pattern of blame: why your skincare isn't working, why your diet isn't working.Search →
"99% of"authority + villain. "99% of products use the wrong X."Search →
"doctor approved"authority hook. heavy in supplements, GLP-1, skincare.Search →
9f. The Scaled-Ad Filter Workflow
once you've got a list of ads from a keyword search, you don't read all of them. you filter for the ones that are clearly working. here's the order of operations.
1Sort by start date, oldest first
old + still active = scaled. anything still running 60+ days after launch is making the brand money. start there.
2Look for repeat creative
if a brand has the same hook in 5+ different videos or formats, that hook is their winner. they're testing variations of the same skeleton.
3Click "see ad details"
expands the ad. shows you all platforms it runs on (Facebook, Instagram, Reels). multiplatform = bigger budget.
4Check the page library
click the brand name → "see all ads from this advertiser." brands with 50+ active ads are scaling. brands with 5 are testing.
5Save the winners to a swipe file
screenshot the ad + paste the body text into a notion doc, or save the URL in foreplay if you have it. you're building inventory of proven skeletons.
🎯
Rule of thumb: if a keyword returns 200+ active ads and the same 5-10 brands keep showing up, that's a hot scaled niche. those 5-10 brands are your skeleton library. study them, X-ray them, replicate the structure.
📝 10. Homework
APick 5 brands from section 8
choose brands close to your niche or your client's niche. open meta ad library, find one ad per brand that's been running 60+ days.
BTag every line with a job
use the 10-job list. paste the ad into a doc, write the job next to each line. you should now have 5 skeletons.
CFind the common skeleton
across all 5 ads, what jobs show up the most? in what order? that's the master skeleton for that vertical. write it down.
DFeed the master skeleton into the AI prompt
use your client's product or your own. generate 5 ads. pick the strongest 2. that's your launch creative.
⚡
The shift: after one week of doing this, you stop reading ads as words. you read them as skeletons. that's the single biggest unlock in direct response. once it clicks, you never go back.