the first 3 seconds of your ad is going to determine whether you're going to make money or burn it and after analyzing millions of dollars in ad spend this year I found the hooks that are dominating right now some of these are brand new while some of these have evolved and one of them I've seen dominate across nearly every single product in Industry that I've tested it out on so far so it's a very easy win now for every video creative that I test I actually test out four unique hook variations because even though the
best ad won't work if you can't stop the scroll and we can't place all of our hope in just one hook so let's break down the top hook styles that are winning so far in 2025 plus how to use them in our own ads and be sure to let me know your brand or product in the comments and I will personally suggest a hook for you to test out all I ask is that you like and subscribe the first hook trend is what I like to call the go against the tradition hooks these hooks call
out a status quo or a commonly held belief and then immediately challenge it they work because they disrupt expectations and challenge people on what they think they thought they knew this creates instant Intrigue and curiosity now how to use them I've actually found the best way to use them is to make sure you call out the tradition directly in the hook this is perfect for product education ads where you need to encourage someone to try something new it also works really well with before and after visuals to help show that transformation and then hook number
two conversational hooks no because because these don't even feel like Hooks and that's exactly why they work they come across as hyper authentic and to be honest I've seen them work across both paid and organic content across multiple Industries some of the ways that you can use this Hook is actually how I started off by sharing this hook with you guys by using the phrase no because or okay these or wait why is this XYZ I actually first tested this out on my own personal content as a suggestion from Julia Bloom and it was one
of my top performing andic posts from last year no because the creatives that people love to share online do not actually work these TRS work because they make users feel like they're jumping into a conversation that's already happening which forces them to pause and play catchup which is a natural hack at gaining people's attention now these are super easy to test you can simply tweak the beginning of any video and it really works with any type of Creator content from B2B to Beauty to apparel if you have a few Creator briefs that you're working on
right now this is a very easy one to add in but a common question that I often get asked is hey what if I don't have Creator content or I want to literally try out this strategy right now this is where story blocks comes in one of my favorite ways to replicate the feel of ugc without relying on creators is by combining highquality story blocks footage with Native text overlays in a conversational tone for example you could use a quick clip of someone scrolling on their phone with one of these messaging strategies or you could
pair a high energy reaction shot with okay these are insane as the opening line with millions of stock Clips templates and image assets story blocks makes it insanely easy to create scroll stopping performance ad creative even if you don't necessarily have Creator content on hand the best part is is you're going to have full usage rights for all content making it 100% legal to use even for ads it's literally instant content you don't have to learn a new AI solution or wait for a Creator to shoot the content or God forbid schedule a video shoot
to get unlimited downloads for One Flat Rate Check out storyblocks at story blocks.com darad Denny or click the link in the description and now hook number three viral product hooks so when I was conducting research for this video and analyzing the ad creative from the brands that I work with one thing was very clear that ads that still tap into virality are still absolutely crushing it in 2025 even though I feel like it's a little bit boring to talk about this is honestly one of the few hooks that I've seen work for years without necessarily
losing steam or fatiguing and that's because people love what's already popular it creates social proof and proves to people that they're making right investment simple proof in numbers y'all but I have noticed a few angles that consistently work number one product reviews this is going to leverage curiosity and social proof and number two founder stories which really builds credibility and more of that emotional connection these type of ads are perfect for beauty Wellness fashion skincare anything where virality really helps Drive demand it also works really great with ugc reaction clips and before and after Transformations
a really easy way way to test this is just to Simply add this text overlay over your top performing app and if your product hasn't gone viral yet try framing this idea around a viral movement instead something like this and number four reaction hooks very similar to conversational hooks reaction hooks work really well because they really hinge on that authentic reaction that authenticity notice the trend they make ads feel real unscripted and unprompted which is exactly why why they drive strong performance so here's an easy win for your next creative brief simply brief in the
opportunity for your creator to give those natural reactions while testing out your product and it's interesting over the last few years I've seen this really common during Black Friday Cyber Monday during when times of gifting are really popular but this year I've really seen these reaction-based ads dominate in Beauty and Industry and it's something that I'm trying out across all the brands that I'm working with and my expert tip here is to combine this with any of the other hooks that I'm going to show in this video it makes for an even stronger ad and
hook number five controversy ads the power of polarization so leaning into negative marketing has been a top performing strategy on meta for the last few years hooks like these now I'm not going to lie these are still working pretty well in 2025 but I've seen that leaning into more controversial hooks are even more powerful so instead of highlighting a flaw or turning the positive to a negative these ads actually try to introduce debate and draw skepticism which forces viewers to kind of see what the fuss is all about so yes I would actually say these
hooks are super similar to the breaking the tradition type of AD creative and I will say going against the grain is in the fabric of American society which is why I think these ads work so well here some examples of controversial hooks I actually got targeted this one from my old client and immediately when I saw big pH stand out I immediately stopped the scroll and was like I'm tuning in ultimately these type of hooks create instant Intrigue because they're identifying a common enemy a hot take or just another controversy and the best part is
is whether or not people agree or disagree with your statement you're very likely to get a lot more engagement by using these ads people are going to share people are going to debate which is going to further push the algorithm to put out your ad my two big tips here is these are great for products that are challenging some type of norm and also definitely test out using the actual word controversy I have found that that really does Drive quite a bit of performance and if you want me to help pick the best hook for
your product or brand be sure to let me know in the comments below and I will reply with my top pick for you personally and hook number six trigger hooks words that stop the scroll some words immediately trigger an emotional or psychological response causing people to stop react and engage with your ad and these words aren't just catchy or superflous they really do tap into deeply rooted human emotions like desire embarrassment loathing and anxiety I've analyzed thousands of ad creatives this year alone and I've noticed again and again that a lot of the top performers
are ones that just have words that have that extra special um here's actually a list of some of my favorite trigger words to use in ad creative there are trigger words that Drive curiosity and Intrigue fear and anxiety shock and controversy desire emotion and anger and resentment and of course we got a few of these in action right here now here's an easy way that you can test this right now before launching any AD creative I actually upload my top performing hooks into chat GPT and ask it to enhance them with emotional trigger words this
is a really simple step but has actually increased the performance on a lot of my ad creatives recently definitely try it and hook number seven demographic hooks this is honestly the top performing hooks so far in 2025 now I talked about demographic hooks in last year's video but here's the thing it is still driving the best performance today in 2025 and I'm not really surprised about it here's two reasons why number one they help meta accurately Target your creative so these days meta doesn't really rely on interest targeting or lookalike targeting to drive results I
haven't really seen great performance coming out of those audiences lately it's really coming more out of Advantage Plus audiences or just broad open targeting but what meta does use to help Target your customers is by looking at the actual meta data inside of your ad creative so things like your imagery and your messaging which yes does include your text overlay so when you call out a specific demographic in your hook meta takes that as a strong targeting signal and helps deliver your ads to those right people and number two another reason why this works is
this type of AD creative is inherent more top of funnel so instead of targeting by problem or even product you're actually targeting more by identity this tends to increase scalability because you're talking to a lot bigger audience without actually needing them to be already problem aware so my big tip here is to think about how your users categorize thems this can be by age by job title lifestyle affiliation and even potentially health conditions if you aren't testing out demographic hooks in 2025 you are probably leaving a lot of money on the table hook number the
multiple hook hook now this is a trend that I've seen more and more this year I think it's one of the easiest ways to improve ad creative performance without actually making net new ads and simply instead of just relying on one hook this method actually Stacks two to three hooks to create a sort of hook reel at the beginning of your ad I've seen this prevent drop off in the first few seconds by really keeping that engagement high and it can also appeal to multiple psychological triggers at once like identity controversy demographic targeting you can
literally just combine everything that we're talking in this video and it is very easy to test just edit existing High performers by adding an extra hook at the start some winning combinations that I've seen work really well include demographic plus controversy hooks demographic plus anti-traditional product Hooks and hook number nine the how do I know if hook your users already have these questions in mind the second they discover your product or service and how do I know if it's right for me this look directly Taps into that uncertainty which is why it's so effective it
mirrors the exact same thoughts that your customers are having in real time making the ad feel instantly relevant and to be honest it feels more like a genuine conversation than a traditional ad and it automatically frames the ad from the viewer's perspective instead of the Brand's perspective and this one's very easy all that you have to do is start your hook with how do I know if insert common consumer objection if you want an ad that instantly resonates with your audience or if you're trying to make your ad creative feel more genuine and authentic this
is absolutely the ad creative to test next and hook number 10 the speed and transformation hook which shows fast results and visible change the way that I know that a brand is going to crush it on meta ads is if they can number one provide what appears to be an easy solution to someone's problem that promises really quick change think about it this is why Beauty and cosmetics do so well on meta ads because the reality is people don't just want results they want fast invisible proof that their product is actually going to deliver on
the promise that's why combining speed with a before and after transformation makes this hook one of the strongest I've seen so far in 2025 it Taps into instant gratification and combining it with before and after visuals show that the product actually works the best way to use this is to use time based phrases which creates urgency and drives Intrigue ultimately speed gets attention and transformation builds trust use both and you got a winning hook all right I just gave you the top 10 best performing hooks so far in 2025 and now I want to hear
from you let me know which ones you're most excited to test out in the comments below and if you haven't already hit like And subscribe so you won't miss my next ad creative breakdown love you bye
