Foreplay

Foreplay’s video ad: “How I started Foreplay”

Running 426 days·Facebook and Instagram·Winner

How it opens

“So four years ago, I was running a Shopify store.”

Angle: Story

The first three seconds

A man driving a car speaks directly to camera saying, "So 4 years ago I was running a Shopify store. I hated the product, I hated our customers..." with bold white text captions appearing on screen.

Pattern: Vulnerable founder confession / Relatable origin story

ugc talking head inside a car with screen recording overlays · Continuous casual talking-head shot punctuated by quick screen cuts during pain point and social proof beats

Why it works

The founder's first-person story builds trust and feels more like a confession than a pitch, and the problem is one the audience knows well. The 'Pinterest for ads' line makes the product clear in a few words, and the named brands add authority. The data shows it has run 417 days and is still active across 9 ads, which suggests it has held up well over time.

Who it speaks to: Media buyers, performance marketers, ecommerce owners and agencies who hunt for winning ad ideas and deal with messy creative research.

How it’s built

1. Hook: Founder admits he hated his store and its customers but loved advertising.
2. Stakes: One video ad decided whether he stayed in the Hilton or the Four Seasons, which makes the upside of a winning ad vivid.
3. Problem: Creative research was a mess of Slack messages, broken ad library links and ideas that died.
4. Solution: He sold the company and built 'Pinterest for ads', a simple comparison that explains the product fast.
5. Proof: Named users (Alex Hormozi, VaynerMedia, Athletic Greens) and a claim of 10,000 companies.
6. CTA: Try the free trial, with a line saying there is no reason not to use the same tools as the best.

What to borrow

• Open with an honest, unexpected admission that breaks the expected ad tone and earns the next few seconds.
• Explain your product with one familiar comparison instead of a feature list.
• Make the stakes personal and concrete so the viewer feels why the problem matters.
• Stack authority proof near the end, then pair it with a low-risk offer like a free trial to make the CTA easy.

Its words

How I started Foreplay

4 years ago, I was running a Shopify store. I actually hated the product. I hated our customers, but I fell in love with advertising. One video ad could be the difference between me staying in the Hilton or the Four Seasons. And I fell in love with that idea. I started obsessing about creative research, trying to find that next winning ad idea, but it was like an absolute mess. Slack messages, broken links from the ad libraries. I had no systems around like actually finding that next winning ad and like making a better life for myself. So after I sold that company, I locked myself in an office, and I created what I always wanted, which was just like Pinterest, but only for ads and only for marketers. Four years later, my side project is used by like Alex Hormozi, VaynerMedia, Athletic Greens, like the best advertisers in the world. There's like 10,000 companies that use us. So if you haven't tried it out yet, there's a free trial, click the video, click the link and use it. There's absolutely no reason why you can't be using the same tools as the best in the game to scale your company.

Try Foreplay for free

Button: Learn more · Offer: Free trial

What’s said

The transcript

So four years ago, I was running a Shopify store. I hated the product. I hated our customers, but I absolutely fell in love with advertising. It was honestly like a crazy thing. One single ad, like the ad that I'm recording for you right now, was the difference between me staying in the Hilton or the Four Seasons. And I absolutely fell in love with that. I developed a pretty unhealthy relationship with creative research. I was spending time on ad libraries, but it was an absolute mess. Slack messages, ad ideas that just died and never, ever happened with them. So when I sold that company, I created what I always wanted, which was just like a Pinterest for ad ideas. That was four years ago. And now that piece of software is used by Alex Ramosi, VaynerMedia, Athletic Greens, and over 10,000 different advertisers, marketers, and things like that. So if you haven't tried it out yet, click this video. There's a free trial. So there's absolutely no reason why you can't be using the same tools that the best are using.

Where and how long

• First ran 5 Sep 2025; still running.
• Run as 10 ads, 9 of them running now.
• Links to foreplay.co.
• Style: UGC, Founder, Lifestyle, Offer.