Managing your ad types

ATIYO product documentation · Brand Bible · 5 min read

An ad type is the format of a creative: a UGC testimonial, a founder story, a product demo, a listicle, an unboxing, and so on. In ATIYO, your ad types live in the Brand Bible so that every brief references a known, consistent format instead of a vague description. This small piece of structure saves a surprising amount of back-and-forth.

When 'make me a video ad' actually means 'a 30-second UGC testimonial shot vertically,' documenting your ad types removes the ambiguity. Editors know the format expectation before they start, and your library of concepts stays organized by how each ad is made.

Why define ad types at all

Ad types do more than label a video. They keep your production consistent and your pipeline readable.

Clear briefs — the editor knows the format up front, so nothing is lost in translation.
Balanced testing — you can see whether you're over-indexing on one format and neglecting others.
Faster planning — pairing an angle with a proven format speeds up concepting.
Consistent filtering — you can filter your Creative Roadmap by ad type to see what's in production.

Ad types describe the format, not the message. The message comes from the avatar, desire, and angle. Keep those layers separate so you can mix any message with any format.

Common ad types for DTC brands

Every brand's list is a little different, but most start from a familiar set. Adapt these to what your team actually produces.

UGC testimonial
Founder or brand story
Product demo or how-it-works
Before and after / transformation
Listicle ('3 reasons...')
Unboxing or first impression
Problem / solution skit
Static image or carousel

How to manage ad types in ATIYO

Keeping your ad types current is a quick, occasional housekeeping task rather than something you touch daily.

Open Brand Bible and go to your ad types.
Add the formats your team actually produces, using names everyone recognizes.
Keep the list tight, since a shorter list is easier to brief against than 20 near-duplicates.
Review it every so often and archive any format you've stopped making.
Confirm the ad types you want are available to select when you build a brief.

Using ad types in briefs and the roadmap

When you create a brief, you select the ad type so the editor knows the format expectation from the start. That same ad type then travels with the concept onto your Creative Roadmap, where you can filter the pipeline by ad type to see, for example, every UGC concept currently in production.

Spot gaps in your format mix

Filtering by ad type makes imbalances obvious. If nine of your last ten concepts are UGC testimonials, that's a prompt to test a founder story or a demo. Variety in format is often what unlocks a new pocket of performance.

Keep the list disciplined

The temptation is to add an ad type for every tiny variation. Resist it. A focused list of the formats you truly produce keeps briefs clean and your roadmap filters meaningful. When a format falls out of rotation, archive it rather than letting the list sprawl.

Next steps

With ad types set, you've completed the core building blocks of your Brand Bible. Pair each format with strong marketing angles, and if you have all of this documented in a spreadsheet already, learn how to import your Brand Bible from a spreadsheet in one pass.