How to Prompt Spiral for Winning Ads

This guide will help you get the most out of Spiral’s ad generation. Spiral is engineered specifically for Meta Ads, meaning you don’t need to be a prompt guru to get solid results. Even a simple “create variations” will already give you strong, test-ready creatives.

But prompting is still your edge. The clearer your input, the more diverse the outputs, and the faster you’ll discover the ad that breaks through.

What is Prompting?

Prompting is the set of instructions you give Spiral to generate an ad. Think of it as briefing a creative team: the clearer the brief, the sharper the creative output.

Where Spiral is different:

• With basic prompts, Spiral automatically applies context about ad best practices, so you don’t start from zero. Even if you just say “ad for a home-cooking app” or “explore new visual styles,” Spiral will generate new visual styles and fresh concepts — without you needing to spell out every detail.

• With detailed prompts, you push Spiral into exploring specific angles: targeting a certain audience, highlighting a pain point, sticking within a desired visual style, or using provided text options. This gives you more control over the creative direction and ensures you’re testing the angles that matter most for your growth.

Why Prompting Matters

Meta is a creative-first platform. The top 5% of ads deliver ~80% of revenue. To get there, you need both quantity and diversity of creative.

Prompting well helps you:

• Cover more angles — explore pain points, benefits, tones, and styles.

• Double down on what works — push Spiral to generate new variations around proven winners.

• Run faster tests — generate multiple ad variations in one concept instead of running single iterations.

Unlike many ad generation tools that produce repetitive outputs, Spiral creates diverse variations by default. If you want a specific outcome, simply guide Spiral in your prompt — for example, “keep the same visual style” or “leave the text unchanged.” Adding these instructions is the way to lock in exactly what you want.

Spiral’s Three Generation Modes

Spiral gives you three powerful ways to generate ads: Remix, Inspire and Generate a Concept. Each is designed for a different stage in your creative process.

1. Remix

Use Remix when you already have a strong-performing ad — or when you want to rework your competitor ad.

• Upload an image, choose one from the Competitors page, or pick your top-performers on the Your Ads page.

• Add a short editing prompt to guide the AI.

• Spiral generates variations on the same layout, style, or format.

Perfect for:

• Iterating on your own winning creatives

• Testing multiple versions of a competitor’s ad format

• Keeping consistency in layout while exploring new details

2. Inspire

Use Inspire when you want to spark fresh ideas from competitor ads or borrow elements like layout, text, or style without directly copying.

Perfect for:

• Reimagining a competitor’s approach while making it your own

• Discovering fresh angles on proven ad concepts

• Exploring design and visual trends in your industry

3. Generate a Concept

Use Generate a Concept when you want something completely new. Start with just an idea, a creative angle, or even a simple visual reference.

• Describe what you want (audience, benefit, style, vibe).

• Optionally include a reference image for inspiration.

• Spiral creates a brand-new ad concept for you.

Perfect for:

• Exploring new creative angles

• Expanding diversity of your testing pool

• Breaking out of ad fatigue with fresh concepts

Translation

Spiral lets you generate ads in up to 10 languages at once. You don’t need to rewrite your headline or prompt — everything is automatically translated into the languages you select.

Great when you need to:

• Localize your top-performing creatives with one click

• Test how the same concept performs across different markets

• Keep style and layout consistent while adapting the copy

Editing Images

Sometimes a generated ad just needs a small tweak, like adding your logo, a CTA button, or an extra image. Spiral makes this simple with the built-in editing tools.

To edit an ad, click the pencil icon in the top-left corner of the generated creative. From there, you can:

• Add images or logos → Go to Sticker and click Select image to place your logo, product shot, or any other graphic.

• Add text → Use Annotate to place a headline, tagline, or call-to-action directly on the ad.

This way, you can polish ads directly in Spiral without needing to export them to another design tool.

AI Editing

Every image you generate in Spiral comes with 1 free AI Edit. Think of it as Photoshop with a bit of magic.

With AI Edit you can nudge your creative in the right direction without starting from scratch. Want to swap a background, change the color of a button, or remove a distracting element? That’s what it’s for.

Tips for best results:

• Change one thing at a time. AI Edit works best when you’re specific. For example, “make the shirt red” instead of “change the outfit.”

• Know its limits. Sometimes AI Edit may generate an image without the edits you asked for. Try rephrasing your request or tweaking it, then run it again.

• Be clear and direct. The sharper your instruction, the cleaner the output.

Headline

Easily update the text on any banner by prompting a new headline.

Resizes

Turn any 1:1 image into 9:16 with one click. Resize is still in beta, so results may not always match your expectations — just re-generate if needed. The best part? Resizing is completely free for you.

Animate

Spiral lets you bring your static 9:16 creatives to life with animation. To animate, simply add an animation prompt describing the motion you’d like to see. You can also include a sound prompt if you want Spiral to generate matching audio (optional).

A few tips for getting the best results:

• Focus on one main animation. The strongest ads have a single motion that leads the story, like a character animation, a product turning, or a background revealing itself. Adding multiple movements at once often makes the creative feel cluttered and less impactful.

• Specify the beginning and end. Every animation needs a clear entry and exit. Defining where the motion starts and how it finishes helps the AI build a smooth, compelling mini story. Without this guidance, animations often feel random or unfinished.

• Make the motion serve the message. Every animation should highlight the part of the ad you want remembered. Smooth, subtle moves reinforce clarity and trust; sharp, quick actions create urgency and excitement. Ask yourself: does this motion help the viewer notice the product, benefit, or CTA faster?

• Think in loops. Short, seamless animations often work best on Meta placements. A smooth loop can keep viewers watching longer without even realizing the ad has repeated.

Best Practices for Prompting

Even though Spiral is built to make prompting winning ads simple, these tips will help you get the most out of it.

1. Experiment freely. Treat your first prompts like a game. Run 10 quick tests with bold or unusual ideas just to see what’s possible — you’ll often discover unexpected winners.

2. Double down on winners. Once you find an ad that performs, use Remix to generate variations. Keep the core idea, but test different styles, layouts, or copy to extend its performance.

3. Learn from competitors. Search for competitor ads or top ads from other categories inside Spiral, then adapt them to your brand. It’s one of the fastest ways to uncover new angles.

4. Be specific when it matters. If you want Spiral to target a certain audience, highlight a pain point, or stick to a visual style, spell it out directly in your prompt.

5. Provide your winning headlines. If you already know which headlines perform best, include them in your prompt, and Spiral will build creatives around them.

6. Generate in batches. Create 3–6 ads per concept. Meta is a volume game, and more variations mean more chances to find your next winner.

7. Remix old ads. Don’t let good creatives fade out. Take your older performers and remix them into fresh variations to fight ad fatigue.

8. Trust the data. With billions of people on Meta, it’s impossible to guess what will resonate. Your taste matters, but the real vote comes from the audience — let performance numbers guide you to the winning ad.

9. Iterate fast, not perfect. Don’t chase the “perfect ad.” Generate, test, learn, and let Spiral plus your Meta results guide the next round. Speed beats perfection.

Good luck creating your next winning ads! If you ever need support, have questions, or just want to share feedback, we’d love to hear from you. You can always reach us directly at founders@spiral.ad