Pencil review - Generate winning ad creatives based on AI | Canva alternative

Science & Technology

Pencil Review: Generate Winning Ad Creatives Based on AI | Canva Alternative

Introduction

Running Facebook ads recently? One lesson quickly learned is that graphic illustration plays a huge role in an ad's success. Enter Pencil, a platform that claims it can generate winning ads for your brand based on AI. Let’s explore how it works.

Dashboard Overview

The Pencil platform is quite user-friendly. Kicking things off, we have the dashboard which gives a comprehensive overview of your ad campaigns:

  • Impressions, Clicks & CTR: You can track impressions, clicks, and click-through rates (CTR) for all ads.
  • Trends & Targets: Analyze different trends and targets.
  • Winning vs. Losing Ads: See which ads are performing well and which aren't doing great. Even for losing ads, statistics like an 88% improved CTR could mean that campaigns still hold potential.

Syncing data updates the dashboard, thus newer results come into view.

Insights Module

The Insights Module is one of the most powerful features. Here, you can:

  • Topics: Identify which topics are winning with detailed stats including impressions and CTR.
  • Captions: Analyze caption effectiveness.
  • Creatives: Drill down into specific creatives, which ones are winning.
  • Metrics Customization: Switch between metrics like ROAS, CPC, etc.
  • Targeting: Customize the view with filters for conversion, acquisition, retargeting, or retention objectives.

All these features provide a detailed look into what’s working and what isn’t.

Brand Kit and Ideas Generation

Setting up your brand is simple but crucial:

  • Brand Kit: Describe your brand, upload logos, choose colors, fonts, music, backgrounds, and button styles.
  • Asset Library: Store images and videos for use in ad creation.

Once the brand kit and asset library are set:

  • Generate Ideas: Pencil’s AI will generate ads based on your brand settings and assets.
  • Edit Templates: Customize suggested ads. Adjust text, images, fonts, and even scene durations for videos.
  • Format Adaptation: Change ad formats from square to portrait or landscape as per requirements.

Pricing and Limitations

Pencil’s pricing might be steep:

  • DIY Plan: $ 200/month where you do everything yourself.
  • Premium Plan: $ 600/month, where professionals handle everything.
  • Despite very functional insights and creative generation, it may seem pricey for some users. However, if creating graphic illustrations is a challenge, Pencil's AI offers great value.

Alternatives to Pencil

While Pencil excels with AI capabilities, there are other tools to consider:

Pencil stands out in its integration with AI, making it a unique choice for automated ad creation.

Future Developments

The future of Pencil looks promising:

These developments aim to create a seamless ad-creation experience.

Conclusion

After using Pencil:

  • Pros: Excellent insight module and ease of creating/editing video material.
  • Cons: High pricing and lack of direct ad publication.

Overall, Pencil earns 4 stars. With seamless integration and AI-generated captions, it has the potential to become an outstanding platform for creating and testing Facebook ads and other social media campaigns.

Keywords

  • Pencil
  • Facebook Ads
  • AI-generated ads
  • Brand Kit
  • Insights Module
  • Pricing
  • Crello
  • Canva
  • Ad Creation

FAQ

1. What is Pencil? Pencil is an AI-driven platform that generates ad creatives based on your brand settings and asset library.

2. How does the Pencil dashboard help? The dashboard provides impressions, clicks, CTR, trends, targets, and identifies winning/losing ads.

3. What is included in the Brand Kit? The Brand Kit includes descriptions, logos, colors, fonts, music, backgrounds, and button styles for your brand.

4. Can I edit the AI-generated ads? Yes, you can fully customize the AI-generated ads, including text, images, fonts, and video scenes.

5. How much does Pencil cost? Pencil offers a DIY plan at $ 200/month and a Premium plan at $ 600/month where professionals manage your ad creatives.

6. Are there any Pencil alternatives? Yes, Crello (VistaCreate) and Canva are alternatives, although they lack AI-driven ad generation capabilities.

7. What's in Pencil's future developments? Planned features include integrations with TikTok, YouTube Ads, Amazon Ads, brand asset presets, a pay-as-you-go plan, and AI-generated captions.