Hook writing

The first two seconds decide the ad. Everything else in the script is negotiable; this is not. Use this before ugc-ad, product-demo-ad or faceless-video — they all assume the hook is already good.

This skill spends nothing. It is craft, not a tool call.

What a hook actually is

A hook opens a gap the viewer needs closed. It is not a summary of the video, and it is not the brand saying hello.

NOT a hook                        A hook
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
"Introducing NutriPro"            "I stopped buying smoothies"
"Today we look at the Mona Lisa"  "The Mona Lisa is not the original"
"Our serum has niacinamide"       "My dermatologist told me to stop"

The left column tells the viewer what they are about to get. Once they have it, they can leave. The right column makes leaving cost something.

Five shapes that work

Pick one. Do not stack two — a hook that does two jobs does neither.

1. The reversal. State the thing the viewer believes, then break it.

"Expensive moisturiser was making my skin worse."

1. The number that seems wrong. Specific, checkable, slightly implausible.

"I made 40 ads last month for $12."

1. The stake before the subject. Say what is at risk, name the topic after.

"This mistake cost me the whole launch."

1. The mid-action open. Start inside the moment, no setup.

"— and this is the third one that broke this week."

1. The confession. A real admission earns attention cheaply.

"I almost returned this."

Rules

• Under 8 words if spoken. You have two seconds at ~2 words per second.
• Visual and line must not say the same thing. If the shot shows the

product and the line names the product, the viewer has learned nothing in the most expensive two seconds you own.

• No brand name in the hook. The viewer did not come for your brand. Name

it once they are in.

• No question the viewer can answer "no" to. "Want better skin?" — no. A

closed question is an exit.

• Write it last, place it first. Write the body, find the single most

surprising sentence in it, and move that to the front.

Testing hooks instead of guessing

One hook is an opinion. Three hooks is a test. This is the main reason create_ad_video takes a variations count — same product, same creator, different openings.

quote_ad_video { "product_image_url": "…", "script": "…", "variations": 3 }

Write three hooks of different shapes from the list above, not three rewordings of one. Reworded hooks produce three ads that lose together and teach you nothing.

What fails

• A hook that is a brand statement. The most common failure by a distance.
• A hook the body does not pay off. Opening a gap and not closing it is

worse than a flat ad — it reads as bait and the comments say so.

• A hook written to be clever. Clever costs a beat of comprehension, and

you do not have a spare beat.

• The same hook in every variation. You have then tested nothing.