The problem
Writing variants for paid social and search ads takes hours before a campaign can launch. If an agency builds 10 ad sets a month and spends 60 minutes writing the variants for each, that's 600 minutes, 10 hours a month.
What the AI does
Give ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini the client's brief, the offer, the audience and the platform's character limits, and ask for 5 variants in the client's tone of voice. Use only facts the client has approved. A person then checks every line for claims that are not true or cannot be substantiated, for rules that apply to the product (for example health, finance or alcohol), and for anything that copies a competitor's wording or brand. Use the assistant for drafts, not for testimonials or results you have not been given.
A worked example
A four-person paid media agency in Manchester launches about 10 ad sets a month across Meta and Google for local retail and service clients.
Before
10 ad sets a month at 60 minutes of writing each: 600 minutes, 10 hours
After
If a draft plus an edit and compliance check takes about 25 minutes each: 250 minutes, about 4.2 hours
What it's worth
About 5.8 hours a month saved (350 minutes), worth about £204 at £35 an hour, if the draft really cuts writing time by more than half (an assumption to test on a real brief). The free plans of ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can do this; a paid plan costs up to about £20 a month for one person if you hit usage limits.
How to set it up
- Write a one-page brief per client: offer, audience, tone, claims the client has approved and claims it must not make.
- Paste the brief into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask for 5 variants, using only the approved facts.
- Check every variant against the brief and the CAP Code: remove any claim that is not true or cannot be proved, and any before-and-after or testimonial you have not been given.
- Add disclosures where needed (for example paid partnership labels) and check platform ad policies.
- Send the final copy to the client for approval before launch.
What goes wrong
- Assistants invent offers, prices, awards and statistics. Anything presented as a fact in an ad must be true and provable, and the agency shares responsibility for the ad.
- Fake or incentivised reviews are illegal under the DMCC Act 2024, so never ask an assistant for testimonials or reviews.
- Don't paste confidential client data, customer lists or unreleased plans into a consumer AI plan without the client's agreement and suitable business terms.
- Don't ask for ads in the style of a competitor's campaign or brand; originality and trade mark rules still apply.