Inside the studio

The ideas behind the cuts.

A closer look at our spec work, opening experiments and production method. Explore the work at your own pace.

The position

Traffic is for sale; attention isn't. We treat the ad as the variable, not the budget: more hooks tested on fewer shoots, every winner exported for the placements you run, and the next angle planned before the last one fatigues.

Selected work

Examples of what a client gets.

Six of the sixteen, picked for range: food, drink, personal care and accessories; Spec ads for real brands made unasked, concept ads for fictional ones. Every piece is labelled.
Also watch the three SKNCEL reference films

All sixteen pieces13 concepts · 3 spec ads →

Three studies

The brief, the idea, the first second. And what you would get.

Three pieces from the set, read the way a buyer reads them. Two are spec ads for real brands, made unasked; one is a concept for a fictional brand. None ran as paid media, so each ends on what we would test, not on a result.

Poppi · Beverage · Paid-social cut
Court side
Product & brief
Poppi sells “soda, but better” against legacy colas and a shelf of prebiotic look-alikes, so the claim has to feel like fun, not a label. This cut turns 5 g sugar into a visual pun that stops the scroll without sound and lands the can before the logo.
The idea
Better-for-you, made playful: the can’s own claims (5 g sugar, Strawberry Lemon, “Soda’s back, but better”) arrive as hand-drawn doodles over a sky-blue court.
The opening
Frame one is tennis-ball fuzz at macro distance. By second three it resolves into a haircut: the mystery holds the thumb, the reveal pays it off.
Built for
9:16 paid-social placements: feed, Stories and Reels, read with the sound off first.
Produced
One 10 s cut, 9:16, with sound.
We would test
Opener: the delayed fuzz reveal against a can-first frame one, judged on 3-second views and hold to second six. A hypothesis, not a measured result.
What you would receive
As a Proof Cut: one 6–15 s ad, two opening hooks on the same ad body, 9:16 and 4:5 exports, one revision round. 48 hours from receiving your product files: your brief and your product footage or photos.
Proof Cut · €450 Open the case →
Little Caesars · Food · Paid-social cut
Hot-N-Ready, through a fisheye
Product & brief
Little Caesars sells hot, ready and cheap in a category where most feed ads are the same flat overhead pizza shot. This cut swaps the flat lay for a fisheye macro and a fast menu montage, so the food reads as fun and plentiful in the first second with the sound off.
The idea
Abundance, played loud: pizza, wings, Crazy Puffs and Buffalo Ranch dip tumble through a sunlit fisheye world under inflatable pink letters.
The opening
Frame one is a fisheye macro of bubbling pepperoni: the product fills the screen before the logo does.
Built for
9:16 paid-social placements: feed, Stories and Reels, read with the sound off first.
Produced
One 10 s cut, 9:16, with sound.
We would test
Opener: the pepperoni macro against the ranch-dip splash as frame one, judged on 3-second views per impression. A hypothesis, not a measured result.
What you would receive
As a Proof Cut: one 6–15 s ad, two opening hooks on the same ad body, 9:16 and 4:5 exports, one revision round. 48 hours from receiving your product files: your brief and your product footage or photos.
Proof Cut · €450 Open the case →
Common Table Kitchen · Food · Product film
Roasted tomato, two ways
Product & brief
A canned tomato is a commodity until the ad makes it look like a cooked meal. Two routes to the same product: texture first (the pour) and ingredients first (the exploded can). Running both is the point: the test says which route the audience wants.
The idea
Pantry staple as appetite appeal: the sauce and the ingredients do the selling, the garden photo on the label does the provenance.
The opening
Frame one is a macro of thick tomato sauce; the pour wipes across the label and the cut ends on the line “Cook like the whole table is coming.”
Built for
9:16 paid-social placements: feed, Stories and Reels, read with the sound off first.
Produced
2 cuts from one set of footage: 16 s and 8 s, 9:16.
We would test
Route: cut A (sauce pour) against cut B (exploded can), judged on 3-second views and cost per landing-page view. A hypothesis, not a measured result.
What you would receive
As a Creative Sprint: six master cuts (two per territory), captioned for sound-off and named for your ad account, and up to 12 export files in total across the agreed hooks, ratios and lengths.
Creative Sprint · €2,400 Open the case →

Proof Cut: €450 · first 3 clients · then €750 · paid in full when you book. Creative Sprint: €2,400 · first 3 clients · then €3,600.

Inside the creative

A product.
A reason to stop.

Watch the film, then inspect the choice behind it. These are disclosed spec and fictional-brand concepts, with no client results claimed.

Court side — spec ad for Poppi: opening frame — 00:00 / 00:10

9:16 · 10 seconds · Sound available

Beverage · Poppi

Make a soda feel like a good time.

A tennis-ball macro becomes a playful reveal. Hand-drawn claims bring the viewer back to the can.

Curiosity → product reveal

Read the brief and production notes

Product & brief: Poppi sells “soda, but better” against legacy colas and a shelf of prebiotic look-alikes, so the claim has to feel like fun, not a label. This cut turns 5 g sugar into a visual pun that stops the scroll without sound and lands the can before the logo.
The opening: Frame one is tennis-ball fuzz at macro distance. By second three it resolves into a haircut: the mystery holds the thumb, the reveal pays it off.
Production: Made with Higgsfield Marketing Studio (template remix) · edited in code
What we would test: Opener: the delayed fuzz reveal against a can-first frame one, judged on 3-second views and hold to second six. This is a hypothesis, not a measured result.

Inspect the full case Discuss your product

Concept · lume.

00:00 / 00:10

No audio

9:16 · 10 seconds · Silent cut

Personal care · lume.

Make the product feel touchable.

Soft purple textures give a small everyday object a larger world. The pack stays at the centre of the composition.

Material → product desire

Read the brief and production notes

Product & brief: Natural deodorant is a category of near-identical sticks and ingredient lists. This cut sells the feel instead: every frame is texture, and two supers (Falls different, Soft touch) do the talking with the sound off.
The opening: Frame one is a furry hand lifting the stick out of a bed of purple pom-poms: texture before claim.
Production: Made with Higgsfield · edited by Focalvero
What we would test: Opener: the fur lift against the falling stick as frame one, judged on 3-second views per impression. This is a hypothesis, not a measured result.

Inspect the full case Discuss your product

Cut A · Sauce pour

00:00 / 00:16

No audio

9:16 · 16 seconds · Silent cut

Food · Common Table

One product. Two different appetites.

The same roasted-tomato footage becomes two cuts. Compare their openings and pacing in the full case.

Shared footage → different openings

Read the brief and production notes

Product & brief: A canned tomato is a commodity until the ad makes it look like a cooked meal. Two routes to the same product: texture first (the pour) and ingredients first (the exploded can). Running both is the point: the test says which route the audience wants.
The opening: Frame one is a macro of thick tomato sauce; the pour wipes across the label and the cut ends on the line “Cook like the whole table is coming.”
Production: Made with Higgsfield · edited by Focalvero
What we would test: Route: cut A (sauce pour) against cut B (exploded can), judged on 3-second views and cost per landing-page view. This is a hypothesis, not a measured result.

Inspect the full case Discuss your product

How we win

Five moves. Each one answers a number in your ad account.

When your ads get scrolled past
We test hooks, not polish.
Each angle starts with five opening hook lines. We agree which openings to produce and fit the selected versions within the Sprint’s 12 files. Keeping the ad body consistent lets your media buyer compare how the openings hold attention. When you share account data, the read-out records what ran and what to test next. No sales or return is promised.
Spec · Poppi
When you have never worked with us
We make the first decision clear.
Start with a selective written Hook Audit, or commission one €450 Proof Cut before a larger Sprint.
A scoped first step
Start with the hook. Pay for the cut.
A selective, written Hook Audit reviews 3 live ads and proposes 5 hooks; maximum 2 each month. The Proof Cut (€450 for the first 3 clients, then €750) makes one 6–15 s ad, delivered 48 hours from receiving your product files.
ThenCreative Sprint€2,400 first 3 clients · then €3,600
Six master cuts · up to 12 export files total
See the offer ladder
Spec · Comvita
When a concept works
We cut it for every placement.
One master becomes the ratios, lengths and hook versions the brief picks: captioned for sound-off, named for your ad account, no re-shoot.
Concept · lume.
When the numbers come in
We read them out and kill what lost.
Kill rules are written before launch. On day 21, if you share account data, you get what won, why the losers lost, and the next three angles, priced.
Concept · Velvet Pine Creamery
When a winner starts to fatigue
The next angle is already planned.
Fatigue is a schedule, not a surprise. The next angle is planned before the last one fades, so you are not waiting on new creative.
Concept · Sunroom Botanical Body

Hook roulette · 0–1.5 s

Flick. Stop where your thumb stops.

The hook is the product. Everything after it is the payoff. All sixteen openings on one drum. Drag or flick to spin; the hook that lands in the chrome frame plays its first 1.5 seconds. The meter times your own pause on it. It is not a result or a benchmark, and nothing is stored.

Spec · Little Caesars

A fisheye macro of bubbling pepperoni

Open the case →

Your thumb-stop0.0 s / 1.5 s

Spin the drum. When a hook holds you for 1.5 s, it counts.

Stopped on 0 of 16 hooks this visit

What you get

Seven styles. Each one shown by a finished piece.

Each tile rests on its format drawn in code. Hover it, or bring it to the middle of the screen, and the real piece plays: labelled Spec (a real brand, made unasked) or Concept (a fictional brand). Click for the case.

Ad adaptation · live demo

One master. Every ratio, hook and length, without a re-shoot.

A winning ad is a family of files, not a file. The first rig re-lays one concept live, in this page: switch the ratio, the hook or the length. The second is real footage: two finished cuts for Common Table Kitchen, a concept brand, reframed and trimmed with no re-shoot.

Cut A · Sauce pourA thick tomato pour wipes across the label.

Stories · vertical feeds · The master, full frameFull case →

Hook

Ratio

Length

Timeline 0.0 s / 15.5 s

9:16
4:5
1:1

2hooks, one brief
3ratios, one master
6strim, same footage

Get the batch spec

Hook Audit · written, selective, free

Show us three ads. Get five hooks.

We review three live ads and write five possible opening hooks. No video is made. We accept a maximum of two free Hook Audits each month. This form only fills in your brief.

Three ways in, one way to continue

Find the hook. Make the cut. Build the system.

Fixed scope and fixed price for the Proof Cut and the Sprint. The Proof Cut is credited to a Sprint; the Sprint is the product. What each step includes →

01 / Discover
Hook Audit
Free
A written review of 3 live ads and 5 proposed hooks. No video. Selective, maximum 2 each month.
Request an audit →
02 / Prove
Proof Cut
€450first 3 clients · then €750
One 6–15 s ad, 2 hooks, 9:16 and 4:5, one revision. Delivered 48 hours from receiving your product files.
Ask for a Proof Cut →
03 / Test
Creative Sprint
€2,400first 3 clients · then €3,600
21 days: 3 concept territories, 6 master cuts, up to 12 export files total, one revision round, a launch matrix and a day-21 read-out if you share account data.
See the Sprint matrix →
04 / Continue
Creative Cadence
€4,500per month
A continuing production cycle offered after a Sprint. Monthly deliverables are agreed from what the first test taught us.
Discuss after a Sprint →

No performance guarantee. Media spend and optional category exclusivity are separate; exclusivity requires a paid written agreement.

Not sure which fits? Request a 20-min call →

The Creative Sprint · 21 days

Three angles in. Six ads out. One honest read-out.

Start with a selective written Hook Audit or a €450 Proof Cut. The 21-day Sprint is €2,400 for the first 3 clients.

Full 21-day sequence

3concepts by day 4
Three distinct angles, each with five hooks, a storyboard and the hypothesis it tests.
6finished cuts by day 12
Two per concept, with up to 12 named export files total. The brief fixes hooks, ratios and lengths.
21read-out on day 21
If you share account data: hook, hold and conversion signals per cut, plus the next three hypotheses. No result is guaranteed.

01Day 0–1

Brief review

We work through your one-page brief: product truth, audience, offer, what has already been tested and why it died.

Product + offer audit
Teardown of your live ads (and the account, if you share it)
Kill list of dead angles

02Day 2–4

Concepts

Three distinct angles with hook lines, storyboards and the hypothesis each one tests.

3 angles, 5 hooks each
Storyboards
One hypothesis per angle

03Day 5–9

Production

Generate, assemble or edit from your footage. Product-first, sound-off first.

Footage prep: your footage, product shots or the product itself, received before day 0
Creator or generative where it wins; a shoot day is quoted separately
Generated footage disclosed to you, piece by piece

04Day 10–12

Cuts

Six finished ads across ratios and lengths, native captions, end cards, naming convention.

6 master cuts; up to 12 export files total
The one revision round runs here, before the test
Captions, supers, end cards
Named for your ad account

05Day 13–20

Test

Structured launch plan: budgets, audiences, kill rules, what a winner looks like in numbers.

Budget + audience plan
Kill rules by day 3 of the test
Winner thresholds in numbers

06Day 21

Review

Results read-out. What won, why, and the next three angles to iterate from.

Thumb-stop, hold, CPA per cut
Why the losers lost
Next 3 angles, priced

Then we do it again, faster, from what the numbers said.

Sprint details

Day 0 / 21

Brief

The working relationship

One person makes your ads. You talk to him.

Focalvero is founder-led: Giannis briefs, concepts, cuts and reads out every project himself. If a project ever needs more hands, you hear who and why before it starts. About the studio →

01 · You send
The brief and the product.
Your store link, the ad you run today and what you have already tested. Product photos or footage, or the product itself, before the clock starts.
02 · We reply
Within one working day.
A written reply or a 20-minute call. Scope and the accepted price are confirmed in writing before any paid work starts; nothing is called booked until it is.
03 · You react
To cuts, not to decks.
Concepts by day 4 and six cuts by day 12 in a Sprint; one round on the finished cut of a Proof Cut, one round on the six masters of a Sprint, written into the signed project agreement. Every file is named for your ad account.
04 · We read out
What won, why the rest lost, what to test next.
On day 21, from the account data you share. Then a Cadence if the numbers justify one, or we stop there. Reply within one working day holds at every step.

The ideas behind the cuts.

Examples of what a client gets.

The brief, the idea, the first second. And what you would get.

Court side

Hot-N-Ready, through a fisheye

Roasted tomato, two ways