# Ads

> Design on-brand ad creatives with AI and launch paid campaigns to Meta, LinkedIn, Google Ads, and X from one workspace.

Source: https://docs.graph8.com/studio/ads/

The Ads workspace is graph8's ad creative studio and campaign launcher in one place. Design on-brand ad copy and images with AI, refine them in a visual editor, then launch paid campaigns to Meta, LinkedIn, Google Ads, and X using your own contact data as the audience.

Open it from **Studio → Content → Ads**.

The workspace has four sections in the left sidebar:

| Section | What it does |
|---------|--------------|
| **Create** | Generate new ad creatives (copy + designed image) for a platform and format |
| **Drafts** | Work-in-progress creatives: edit, review, regenerate, and finalize |
| **Gallery** | Finished creatives, ready to use in campaigns or export |
| **Campaigns** | Connect ad accounts, build audiences, and launch paid campaigns |

![Ads Create tab](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/create-tab.png)

## Supported Platforms

| Platform | Formats | Headline limit | Body text limit |
|----------|---------|----------------|-----------------|
| **Meta (Facebook/Instagram)** | Single image, square, portrait, story, carousel card, and more | 40 characters | 125 characters |
| **LinkedIn** | Single image, square, vertical, carousel card | 70 characters | 600 characters (the feed shows about 150 before "see more") |
| **Google Ads** | Landscape (Responsive), Square (Responsive), Portrait (Demand Gen) | 30 characters | 90 characters |
| **X (Twitter)** | Single image, square, website card, vertical | 70 characters | 280 characters |

graph8 enforces each platform's character limits and call-to-action options automatically, so generated ads always fit the spec.

> **Tip:**
> Generated ads pull from your Brand Kit: colors, fonts, logo, and design tokens. Set up **Studio → Brand Kit** first for the best on-brand results. Ads still generate without it, but with generic styling.

## Creating an Ad

1. Go to **Studio → Content → Ads → Create**
2. Pick a starting point in the **Start from** shelf:
   - **Starters**: pre-built briefs like Product launch, Webinar / event, Retargeting offer, Lead magnet, Free trial, and Social proof
   - **My templates**: creatives you saved as templates earlier
   - **Blank**: start from an empty form
3. In the **Details** form:
   - **What's this ad about?**: an optional short brief that steers both the copy and the image
   - **Platform**: Meta, LinkedIn, Google, or X
   - **Format**: platform-specific formats appear after you pick a platform
   - **Name** (optional): a custom title for the creative
4. Choose the **Image** source:
   - **AI generate** (default): graph8 designs an image to the format's exact dimensions. Optionally pick reference images from your library to guide style and subject
   - **Pick from library**: use an existing image from your asset library
5. Click **Generate with AI**

The ad lands in **Drafts** within a moment and generation continues in the background. Generation consumes credits.

![LinkedIn format options](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/linkedin-formats.png)

## Campaign Sets

Switch the mode bar from **Single ad** to **Campaign set** to generate a matrix of ads across personas and platforms in one batch.

1. Write an optional **Brief** that steers copy and image across the whole set
2. Select **Personas**: pick from your Studio personas or add one manually
3. Select **Platforms**: any combination of Meta, LinkedIn, Google, and X
4. Set **Variants per cell** to generate multiple options per persona and platform pair
5. Click **Generate set**

The counter at the bottom shows the math: personas × platforms × variants = creatives. A batch is capped at 24 creatives.

![Campaign set matrix](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/campaign-set.png)

## Concepts

The **Concepts** mode explores brand-aligned creative directions before you commit to a full render. Describe what you are promoting, click **Generate concepts**, and pick from a board of directions (each with a name, hook, tone, and layout). The picked concept seeds a single ad or a campaign set.

![Concepts mode](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/concepts.png)

## Working with Drafts

The **Drafts** tab lists every creative that is not yet finalized, with platform counts across the top and status per row:

| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Generating** | Copy and image are being created in the background |
| **Ready** | Generation finished; the creative can be edited and finalized |
| **Failed** | Generation hit an error; use the retry action to run it again |

![Drafts list](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/drafts.png)

Click **Edit** on any draft to open the editor.

## The Ad Editor

The editor shows your creative on a canvas with three views (**Canvas**, **In-feed**, and **Raw**) and an AI panel on the right.

![Ad editor](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/editor.png)

What you can do here:

- **Chat editing**: describe any change in plain language ("make it punchier", "lead with the discount") and the AI rewrites the copy. Quick chips cover common edits: Make it punchier, Lead with the stat, Shorten everything, More urgency
- **Click a pin to edit**: text elements in the image carry pins; click one to edit that exact text in place. Click anywhere else on the image and describe the change you want
- **Re-skin**: swap the creative to another brand color combination in one click
- **Alt copy**: browse alternative copy variants generated alongside the original
- **All sizes**: fan the finished creative out to the platform's other formats while keeping the approved copy
- **Versions**: every edit snapshots a revision; restore any previous version
- **Persona lens**: preview how a persona would react to the ad
- **Review**: run an AI quality check (character limits, call-to-action rules, brand casing, placeholder text) with one-click fixes
- **Export**: download the creative as SVG (editable in Figma or Canva) or PNG, or copy it to the clipboard

When the creative is ready, click **Finalize → Gallery**.

> **Note:**
> AI edits (chat editing, field rewrites, deep review) consume credits. Deterministic actions like re-skin, versions, and export are free.

## Gallery and Templates

The **Gallery** tab holds finished creatives. From here you can:

- **View** the creative
- **Save template**: keep the creative as a reusable starting point; it appears under **My templates** on the Create tab
- Use it in a paid campaign: in the campaign wizard's Creative step, toggle **Use an existing creative** to auto-fill the headline, copy, call to action, and image from a gallery creative

![Gallery](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/gallery.png)

## Launching Paid Campaigns

The **Campaigns** tab is the launcher: connect your ad accounts, build an audience from your contact data, attach a creative, set a budget, and publish. See the step-by-step platform guides:

- [LinkedIn Ads Setup](https://docs.graph8.com/studio/ads-linkedin/)
- [Google Ads Setup](https://docs.graph8.com/studio/ads-google/)

![Campaigns tab](https://docs.graph8.com/images/ads/campaigns.png)

## Permissions

Ads access is controlled by four permissions under **Roles** (open the profile icon menu in the top right → **Settings → Roles**, then find the **Ads** row):

| Permission | Allows |
|------------|--------|
| **View** | See creatives, campaigns, and metrics |
| **Create** | Generate new creatives and save campaign drafts |
| **Edit** | Edit drafts, and regenerate copy and images |
| **Launch** | Publish campaigns, pause or resume them, delete them, and move creatives to the gallery |

Launch is the money-spending permission: publishing pushes ads live on the platform and starts billing against your connected ad account. By default, admins, sales managers, and campaign managers can launch; other roles get view-only access.

> **Tip:**
> Team members with Create access but not Launch can still build campaigns end to end and click **Save Draft** in the wizard. Someone with Launch permission can then resume the draft from the Campaigns tab and publish it.