THE LOWDOWN

Hey crew,

Ada here, with your weekly dose of ecommerce insights designed to boost your sales by at least 1% this week!

Here’s what to expect from today’s edition:

• Industry: Paid ads now live on ChatGPT

• Growth Hack: The AI image ad system printing money

• Weekly Challenge: Build your first native ad

• Trend: Pyrite bracelets

Let’s get in.

industry
🌎 Paid ads are now live on ChatGPT

I did think about adding this to today’s edition, but as you guys voted overwhelmingly in favour of keeping AI-related news coming, I decided to not hold back especially as this dropped in the last couple of days.

Last Friday, OpenAI announced they’ll start testing ads in the next few weeks, targeting ChatGPT Free and Go U.S users. Just like with organic shopping research results, they’ll display ads below organic answers and clearly label them “sponsored”.

We put the ad results side by side organic shopping results and here’s what we got.

As you can see, there isn’t much of a visual difference. Especially as there’s no current/publicly available ad manager (yet), this is the time to optimize your store to appear organically in search results.

Turn on instant checkout, validate your structured metadata, optimize your product listings, get in contact with journalists and build credible backlinks to your store… basically, tick off every box in the AI visibility protocol.

The beauty of this is that if you optimize for AI engines, your store automatically gets organic traffic from traditional search englines like Google, Bing etc - win/win.

growth hack
Don’t burn cash on ads that look like ads… use Gemini as your creative director

When it comes to your advertising creatives, there are only two ways to play the game. If you master both, you print. If you only use one, you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back.

1. Native Ads

This ad looks like a sh*tpost, a meme, or a blurry photo your aunt took.

These have one job - to stop your customers scrolling. They should basically be reading your hook before they even realize they're in a funnel. Your target audience with this is your top of the funnel customer

2. Branded Ads

This is your more ad-like ad… your "benefits vs. features" 5-star reviews. etc

The job of this ad type is to close the deal. The target customer for this knows you exist; now they just need the nudge. So you need to use these for retargeting/bottom of the funnel.

You’ll likely get high ROAS with these.

Now, let’s talk about the workflow behind creating these in 2026. This is your challenge for the week.

AI in CX that grows loyalty and profitability

Efficiency in CX has often come at the cost of experience. Gladly AI breaks that trade-off. With $510M in verified savings and measurable loyalty gains, explore our Media Kit to see the awards, research, and data behind Gladly’s customer-centric approach.

Explore media kit

challenge

Turn Gemini into your creative director for both

Phase 1: Build your customer avatar (don’t skip this!). Before you generate a single pixel, you need ammo. If you don't feed Gemini the truth, it spits out lies.

Phase 1:

Create a Google Doc with your full customer avatar:

• What keeps your customer up at 3 AM?

• What do they think but never say out loud?

• Why is your product the only logical solution?

Describe their market stage:

• Where is your market on the sophistication scale? Are they unaware?Problem aware? Solution aware?

• What claims have they already heard a thousand times?

• What do they hate about your competitor’s products (hint: it’s in the 1 star reviews!)

Phase 2:

Re-engineer your competitor ads

Find a Winner: Take a screenshot of a competitor’s ad that has been running for months (if it’s running, it’s working). You’ll find this in the Meta Library

Feed it to AI: Drag that image into Gemini Advanced.

The Prompt:

"Act as a world-class media buyer. Deconstruct this image. Analyze the visual hierarchy, the psychological hook, and the emotional trigger. Now, rewrite this exact ad concept for MY product [Insert Product], targeting [Insert Avatar]. Give me 3 visual prompts to recreate this vibe."

What happens next is the AI analyzes why that ad worked, turns it into a formula, spits out copy options for YOUR brand, YOUR voice, YOUR product.

Execute: Take Gemini's output -> Paste into your image generator (Midjourney/Higgsfield).

Phase 3: The Refinement Loop You generate an image. It looks 80% good, but the hands are weird, or the lighting is too "stock photo."

Don't start over. Just talk to it, and ask it to make adjustments.

Upload the generated image back into Gemini.

Say: "This looks too fake. Rewrite the prompt to add 'film grain', 'harsh flash', and 'candid movement'. I want it to look messy."

TRENDING PRODUCT
Fool’s gold bracelets

Pyrite, famously known as "Fool’s Gold," is currently exploding in the jewelry space. We are seeing a massive surge in Pyrite Bracelets, specifically those with 4mm to 8mm beads. This fits perfectly into the "Functional Crystal Jewelry" meta-trend where customers buy items for both style and perceived spiritual benefits.

Pyrite is marketed as a stone for attracting wealth, boosting confidence, and warding off bad energy.

3 ways to profit from this:

1. The Entrepreneur's Bundle: Market pyrite bracelets specifically to new business owners as a "Success and Wealth" kit.

2. Staggered Aesthetic: Sell them as "stackable" pieces. Pyrite’s metallic look pairs perfectly with gold watches or other crystal beads like Moss Agate.

3. The "Dopamine Gift": Position these as high-perceived-value gifts under $50. Use the wealth attraction angle in your ad copy to make it a must-have for the new year.