Video ad copy formulas: AIDA, PAS and four more

Video ad copy formulas give a short ad its order. The six worth knowing are AIDA, which moves from attention to action; problem agitate solve, which names a pain and removes it; before after bridge, which shows a change and the thing that caused it; hook story offer, the creator ad shape; proof first, which leads with a number; and offer deadline ask, the sale ad. Each one becomes three to five scenes with one short line apiece, and the right choice depends on what you can honestly put on screen.

Written copy formulas were built for pages people read at their own pace. A video ad has a clock, so every beat needs a scene of its own and a line short enough to finish before the cut. TikTok’s creative guidance asks advertisers to prioritise the hook in the first six seconds, and recommends five to ten words per second when text is on screen. That is the constraint that turns a formula from a paragraph into a scene list.

AIDA: attention, interest, desire, action

AIDA is the oldest of the six. HubSpot’s history of the model credits it to Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898, and describes the stages simply: grab your audience’s focus, keep them engaged, make them want what you offer, and guide them to the next step.

In a video, attention is a question or a bold statement, interest is a feature or a screen, desire is a number or a result, and action is the closing ask. For Brightwell Labels, a fictional shipping label printer: “Still printing labels by hand?” then “Three clicks, any courier.” then “140 parcels an hour.” then “Start your free month.” Four scenes, four lines, under fifteen seconds.

AIDA’s weakness is the desire beat. Teams fill it with adjectives because they have no number. If you cannot put a real figure in that scene, use a different formula rather than inventing one. HubSpot also notes that modern buyers often skip stages or enter at different points, which is one more reason to keep each beat self contained.

PAS: problem, agitate, solve

Problem agitate solve names a pain, makes it concrete, then removes it. Demian Farnworth’s explanation on Copyblogger puts the emphasis on finding the real, underlying problem rather than the surface one, which is the part most scripts skip.

The SaaS feature launch example is PAS in six landscape scenes. The problem is “Same question, forty times a day.” The solution is “Answer it once. Send it every time.” A screen shows the reply filling in, and a stat scene lands “First reply time, down forty one percent.” before “Try it free.”

Agitation is where PAS goes wrong in video. On a page you have a paragraph to make the pain vivid. In an ad you have one scene, so agitate with a consequence the viewer can picture, two hours of the same answers, not with fear. A problem scene that insults the viewer reads as an attack on the people you want to sell to.

Before after bridge

Before after bridge shows the same thing at two moments and names what connected them. It is the formula for any product whose result is visible: a tidy spreadsheet, a clean kitchen, a calendar that fills itself.

The kitchen gadget example compresses the before and after into one proof scene: “Before, guessing. After, a number.” The bridge, an instant read thermometer, sits in the talking scene either side of it. For a promo rather than a creator ad, Tallowood Rosters, a fictional staff scheduling tool, might run “Sunday nights, three hours of rosters.” then a split of three hours against twelve minutes, then “One shared calendar.” then “See how it works.”

The honesty rule is strict here, because a before and after is read as a promise. The FTC’s endorsement guidance says that where an advertiser cannot show a result is what people will generally achieve, the ad must make clear what the generally expected result is. Show a typical after, or say what typical is.

Hook story offer

Hook story offer is the creator ad formula: an opening line that stops the scroll, a short first person story, and a close with a concrete offer. The existing guide on how to write a UGC ad script covers hooks in depth, so this section is only about the order.

The meal kit example is the formula at about 26 seconds. Hook: “So this landed at six and I’m eating by half past, watch.” Story, told as proof: “Box. Pan. Plate.” then “Twenty two minutes, timed.” then the creator again with the price, “Nine fifty a serve and I didn’t shop, that’s the whole pitch.” Offer: “Forty percent off your first box, code LANE forty.”

Notice the story is mostly pictures. The talking scenes carry the hook and the price, and the proof beats carry the story. That split is what keeps a creator ad under thirty seconds. What the format is, and the disclosure it carries, is set out in what a UGC ad is.

Proof first

Proof first opens on the evidence and explains afterwards. It suits a product with one strong, real number: a rating, a count, a measured improvement. The first scene is the figure, the second says what it measures, the third says what produces it, and the last asks.

Proof first flips the usual risk. Most ads bury their weakest claim in the middle; this one has nowhere to hide it. That makes it the formula to test when a product has genuine results and an audience that has seen every promise. It is also the wrong formula for anything new, because an early product rarely has a number worth opening on.

Offer, deadline, ask

The sale ad is a formula too, and the shortest. A statement sets the stakes, the offer is said plainly, the deadline is set large, and the close asks once. The countdown offer example runs it in four scenes and 18 seconds: “Forty eight hours.” then “Thirty percent off everything.” then “Ends Sunday midnight.” then “Shop the sale. Excludes gift cards.”

It only works with a real offer and a real deadline. Without both, it is AIDA with the desire beat missing.

The table at the end of this article sets the six formulas side by side, with the scenes each becomes and a sample line for every beat.

Common mistakes

Choosing the formula before the evidence. Proof first without a number and before after bridge without a real after both collapse into adjectives.

One scene, two beats. A problem and its solution in the same scene gives the viewer no moment to feel the problem.

Agitating too hard. A problem scene that shames the viewer costs more attention than it earns.

A different formula for every variant. When testing, change one thing. Keep the formula and change the hook, or keep the hook and change the formula.

A close that asks for two things. Follow, visit and use the code is three actions, so most viewers take none.

Build it

The generator writes content only, the template choice, per scene copy, narration, scene order and durations, while layout and motion are deterministic, so choosing a formula means choosing the scene roles. Six of the 11 story flows line up with these formulas. Problem to Solution runs intro, problem, solution, UI demo, stat and cta, which is PAS with a demo. Statement Story runs intro, statement, showcase, feature list, stat and cta, close to AIDA. Stat Punch opens on a stat, which is proof first. Offer Push runs statement, offer, countdown and cta. Social Proof and Case Study carry testimonials and customer results. The before after role is used only for a genuine before and after of the same thing, and the stat role only with a number that is real.

For the hook story offer shape, UGC videos are capped under 30 seconds with at most three talking scenes and non talking scenes held to 2.5 to 3 seconds, every one ends on a close, and UGC is available on the Pro plan and above; the UGC creator video guide walks through it. The offer, countdown and closing scenes an ad turns on are covered on the AI video ad maker page.