DEV Community: Aria Cole

How I Built a 273 Template AI Ad Generator as a Solo Dev

Aria Cole — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:06:16 +0000

Two weeks ago I had an idea: what if you could drop any brand's URL and get professional ad creatives generated instantly?

Today, Silo has 92 users, 273 ad templates, and people are actually using it to generate real ads for their brands.

Here's how I built it.

The Stack

Nothing fancy:

Next.js 14 (App Router)
Prisma + SQLite on Fly.io (single machine, volume mounted)
Gemini AI for both Brand DNA extraction and image generation
Stripe for billing
Google OAuth for sign in

Total infrastructure cost: under $10/month. SQLite on a single Fly.io machine is honestly all you need until you hit thousands of users.

How Brand DNA Works

When a user drops a URL, here's what happens:

We scrape the page using Cheerio (server side, no headless browser needed)
Extract all visible text, meta tags, Open Graph data, and image URLs
Send everything to Gemini with a detailed prompt asking it to analyze: brand colors, typography style, voice/tone, target audience, key messaging
The AI returns structured JSON we call "Brand DNA"

This Brand DNA becomes the foundation for every ad we generate. It's what makes the output actually look like the brand instead of generic AI slop.

The Template System

This is where it gets interesting. Each of our 273 templates is essentially a mega detailed AI prompt with [BRACKET] placeholders.

For example, our "Steam Mirror Writing" template describes exactly: the background (steamy bathroom mirror), the text style (finger drawn on condensation), the product placement, the lighting, everything. When we generate, the AI fills in the brackets with brand specific info from the Brand DNA.

The key insight: the more detailed the prompt, the better the output. A vague prompt like "create an ad for this product" gives you garbage. A 200 word prompt describing exact layout, typography, colors, and composition gives you something that actually looks professional.

The Pivot That Changed Everything

I originally built a Fabric.js canvas editor so users could manually adjust generated ads. Layers, text tools, drag and drop, the whole thing.

After building it 5 different ways, I scrapped everything and pivoted to an AI chat editor. Users just describe what they want changed ("make the text bigger", "change the background to blue") and the AI regenerates the image.

Way simpler. Way better results. Sometimes the best code is code you delete.

What's Actually Working for Growth

Forget paid ads for now. Here's what's driving real signups:

Twitter/X (32 visitors in one day from organic posts)
TAAFT directory listing (9 referrals, totally free)
Organic word of mouth: A Polish AI educator found Silo, wrote a full tutorial about it, and drove 42 signups in a single day

That last one blew my mind. I didn't reach out to him. He found the tool, liked it, and shared it with his audience. You can't buy that kind of marketing.

The Numbers (Keeping It Real)

92 total users
1 paying customer at $59/month
192 total ad generations
273 templates across 15+ categories
~$0.067 per generated image (Gemini AI)
Under $10/month infrastructure

Am I getting rich? No. But the product works, people are using it, and organic growth is happening. That's enough signal to keep building.

What's Next

More SEO content (comparison pages are converting)
Template library keeps growing
Trying to crack the free to paid conversion
More direct outreach to DTC brands

If you're building something similar or have questions about the stack, drop a comment. Happy to share more details.

Try it free: siloai.app

How to Generate Scroll-Stopping Ad Creatives in 60 Seconds with AI

Aria Cole — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:03:01 +0000

You know the feeling. You've got a product to promote, a campaign deadline breathing down your neck, and zero budget for a creative agency. So you open Canva, stare at a blank canvas, and wonder why making a simple Facebook ad feels like pulling teeth.

What if you could skip all of that?

The Old Way vs. The AI Way

The old way: Hire a designer ($500+), wait 3-5 days, get revisions, repeat. Or DIY in Canva for 2 hours and end up with something that looks... fine.

The AI way: Drop in your brand URL. Get ad creatives in 60 seconds. Done.

That's exactly what Silo does.

How It Works

Paste your brand URL — Silo scans your website and extracts your logo, colors, fonts, and product images automatically.
Pick your ad format — Facebook, Instagram, Google Display, Stories — whatever you need.
Generate — Silo uses proven ad templates (based on high-performing creative patterns) and your brand assets to produce ready-to-run ads.

No design skills. No prompting. No fiddling with layers.

Why This Matters for DTC Brands and Small Teams

If you're running a Shopify store or a small marketing team, you're probably testing 5-10 ad variations per week. At scale, that's hundreds of creatives per month.

Doing that manually is a full-time job. Doing it with Silo takes minutes.

Real talk: what makes Silo different from other AI tools?

Brand-aware — It doesn't just slap text on a stock photo. It pulls YOUR brand identity from your site.
Template-driven — Creatives are based on ad formats that actually convert, not random AI hallucinations.
Fast iteration — Generate, tweak, export. Test more variations, find winners faster.

Pricing

Silo gives you 5 free generations to try it out — no credit card required. If you need more, Pro is $149 CAD/month for unlimited generations.

For comparison, a single freelance designer gig on Fiverr runs $50-200 per batch. Silo pays for itself after your first week.

Try It

Head to siloai.app, paste your brand URL, and see what comes out. 60 seconds, zero risk.

What tools are you using for ad creatives? Drop a comment below — I'm always testing new workflows.

Silo vs AdCreative.ai: Which AI Ad Generator Actually Saves You Time in 2026?

Aria Cole — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 18:01:01 +0000

If you're running paid ads for a DTC brand, you've probably Googled "AI ad creative generator" at least once. Two tools keep coming up: AdCreative.ai and Silo.

I've used both extensively. Here's an honest breakdown.

The Core Difference

AdCreative.ai is a mature platform with a big team. It generates ad creatives using your brand assets — logos, colors, product images — and spits out variations scored by a predictive AI.

Silo takes a radically different approach. You paste a brand URL. That's it. Silo scrapes the site, extracts the visual identity (colors, fonts, imagery, product shots), and generates ad creatives from proven templates — no uploads, no brand kits, no onboarding.

Setup Time

	Silo	AdCreative.ai
Onboarding	Paste a URL → done	Upload logo, colors, fonts, product images, brand guidelines
Time to first creative	~30 seconds	10-15 minutes
Brand kit required?	No (auto-extracted)	Yes (manual setup)

This is where Silo genuinely shines. If you manage multiple brands or clients, the zero-setup approach saves hours. With AdCreative.ai, every new brand means another round of asset uploads.

Creative Quality

Both tools produce usable ad creatives, but with different strengths:

AdCreative.ai:

Stronger on data-driven scoring (their "Creative Scoring AI" predicts performance)
More template variety for specific platforms
Can feel generic — the AI scoring pushes everything toward safe, tested patterns
Good for teams that want predictability

Silo:

Creatives feel more on-brand because they're built from your actual site aesthetics
Templates based on proven high-converting ad formats (carousel, story, static, UGC-style)
Less variety currently, but every output actually looks like your brand
Better for brands with strong visual identity

Pricing

This is where it gets interesting.

AdCreative.ai:

Starter: $29/mo (10 downloads)
Premium: $59/mo (25 downloads)
Ultimate: $149/mo (50 downloads)
Enterprise: Custom

Silo:

5 free generations (no credit card)
Pro: $149 CAD/mo (~$110 USD) — unlimited generations

Silo's free tier lets you actually test it with your brand before committing. AdCreative.ai has a 7-day trial but requires payment info upfront.

At the Pro level, Silo's unlimited generations vs AdCreative.ai's 50-download cap at the same price point is a clear win for high-volume teams.

Who Should Use What?

Choose AdCreative.ai if:

You want AI-scored creative predictions
You run one brand and don't mind the setup
You need deep platform integrations (they connect to Meta, Google directly)
You want a mature product with a large team behind it

Choose Silo if:

You manage multiple brands or clients
You hate uploading brand assets manually
You want creatives that match your existing brand look
You want to test before paying (5 free gens, no card)
You're a DTC brand or agency that values speed over everything

My Take

AdCreative.ai is the safe, established choice. It does what it says.

But Silo solved a problem I didn't realize I had — the setup tax. Every time I'd onboard a new client into AdCreative.ai, I'd lose 20 minutes gathering assets. With Silo, I paste the URL and I'm generating creatives before my coffee gets cold.

If you're curious, try Silo free — 5 generations, no credit card. Worst case you've lost 30 seconds.

Have you tried either tool? I'd love to hear your experience in the comments.

How I Generate 50 Ad Creatives in 2 Minutes (No Designer Needed)

Aria Cole — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:29:37 +0000

Last month I was helping a friend launch Meta ads for her skincare brand. She had zero budget for a designer. Her plan was to spend the weekend in Canva making ads herself.

I told her to give me 2 minutes.

I opened Silo, pasted her product page URL, and 90 seconds later we were scrolling through 50 ad creatives that looked like a design agency made them. She literally said "wait, that's it?"

Yeah. That's it.

Let me walk you through exactly how it works, step by step. I'll use Lemme (the wellness brand by Kourtney Kardashian) as an example so you can see real output.

Step 1: Paste a URL

Go to siloai.app and paste a brand URL. I'm using lemmelive.com for this walkthrough.

That's your only input. A URL. No brand kit upload, no color picker, no font selection. Just the URL.

Step 2: Silo Extracts Your Brand DNA

This is the part that impressed me most the first time I used it. Silo crawls the URL and automatically extracts what it calls Brand DNA:

Colors: It pulls the exact hex codes from the site. For Lemme, that's the soft pastels, the warm yellows, the clean whites.

Typography: The font pairings used on the site. Lemme uses a playful, rounded sans-serif that's core to their brand identity. Silo picks that up.

Imagery: Product photos, lifestyle shots, hero images. Anything visual on the page gets cataloged.

Tone and positioning: From the copy on the site, Silo understands the brand voice. Lemme is playful, wellness-focused, approachable. That comes through in the generated ad copy.

All of this happens automatically in about 30 seconds. You just watch a progress bar.

Step 3: Pick Your Templates

Silo shows you template categories optimized for different ad placements:

Meta Feed (1080x1080): The classic square format for Facebook and Instagram feed ads.

Meta Stories (1080x1920): Vertical format for Stories and Reels placements.

Google Display (various): Leaderboard, medium rectangle, skyscraper — all the standard display sizes.

TikTok (1080x1920): Optimized for TikTok's ad format and style.

You can select specific formats or just hit "generate all" to get creatives across every format. I usually generate all because why not. More variations means more testing options.

Step 4: Generate

Hit the generate button. Wait about 60 seconds.

Then you're looking at 50+ ad creatives. All using Lemme's exact brand colors. All featuring their actual product photos. All with headlines and copy that match their brand voice.

Some are minimal with a single product shot and a bold headline. Some are lifestyle-focused with multiple products. Some lead with social proof, others with benefits. You get variety, which is exactly what you need for ad testing.

Step 5: Pick, Edit, Export

Scroll through the output. Star the ones you like. If something is 90% there but needs a tweak, you can edit the text or swap elements directly in Silo.

Then export. You get properly sized files ready to upload directly to your ad platform. No resizing, no reformatting.

The Full Timeline

Let me be specific about timing because I think this matters:

0:00 — Paste URL
0:30 — Brand DNA extracted
0:45 — Select templates
1:30 — Generation complete
2:00 — Browsing 50+ finished ad creatives

Two minutes. From nothing to 50 ad creatives. That's not marketing speak, that's what actually happens when you use the tool.

Why This Matters for Your Ad Performance

Here's something most people don't talk about: creative volume is one of the biggest levers in paid advertising.

The brands winning on Meta and TikTok right now aren't winning because they have one perfect ad. They're winning because they test 20 to 50 variations per week and let the algorithm find the winners.

When it takes you 3 hours to make 5 ad variations in Canva, you can't test at that volume. You're stuck iterating slowly and hoping you guess right.

When you can generate 50 variations in 2 minutes, your testing velocity goes through the roof. You launch more concepts, find winners faster, and scale what works. It's a completely different operating model.

What I Use It For

Since I started using Silo as my main AI ad creative generator, here's what my workflow looks like:

Monday: Generate 50 creatives for the week's campaigns. Takes 5 minutes including review and selection.

Tuesday through Friday: Monitor performance, pause losers, scale winners.

Next Monday: Generate a fresh batch. Repeat.

I used to spend half a day on Mondays making ads. Now I spend 5 minutes. The rest of that time goes into strategy, copy testing, and landing page optimization — things that actually move the needle.

A Few Things to Know

I want to be honest about limitations too.

Silo works best when your website actually looks good. If your site has inconsistent branding or low quality images, the output reflects that. Garbage in, garbage out. But if your brand has a solid visual identity online, Silo picks it up beautifully.

It's static creatives only right now. No video generation. If you need video ads, you'll need a different tool for that (I use Pencil for video).

And sometimes you get a dud in the batch. Maybe 5 out of 50 creatives won't make the cut. That's fine. You're generating volume specifically so you can be selective.

Try It Yourself

Honestly, the best way to understand Silo is to try it with your own brand. Seeing your products, your colors, your brand come back as polished ad creatives is a different experience than reading about it.

Try it free at siloai.app — you get 5 free generations, no credit card required.

Paste your URL. Wait 2 minutes. See what comes out. If it saves you even one afternoon of making ads in Canva, it's already worth it.

Aria Cole writes about AI tools that actually save time. No fluff, no affiliate nonsense, just honest takes. Follow for more.

5 Best AI Ad Creative Generators in 2026 (Compared)

Aria Cole — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:24:32 +0000

I've spent the last year testing basically every AI ad creative generator on the market. Some are incredible. Some are glorified template libraries with an AI sticker slapped on.

Here's my honest ranking of the 5 best tools for generating ad creatives with AI in 2026, with real pricing and actual pros and cons.

Quick Summary

Tool	Best For	Starting Price	Rating
Silo	Fastest URL-to-ad generation	Free / $29 mo	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
AdCreative.ai	Data-driven creative optimization	$21/mo	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pencil	Enterprise video ad generation	Custom pricing	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Predis.ai	Social media content + ads	Free / $32 mo	⭐⭐⭐½
Canva AI (Magic Design)	General design with AI assist	Free / $13 mo	⭐⭐⭐

1. Silo — Best Overall AI Ad Creative Generator

Website: siloai.app
Pricing: Free (5 generations) / Pro $29/month
Best for: DTC brands, ecommerce, marketers who need volume fast

Silo does one thing and does it exceptionally well: you give it a URL, and it generates ad creatives.

That's the whole pitch. Paste your brand's website (or a product page, or a competitor's page), and Silo extracts what it calls "Brand DNA" — your colors, fonts, imagery, voice, product shots. Then it generates dozens of ad creatives across every format you need. Meta feed ads, Google display, TikTok, Stories, everything.

What I love:
The speed is unreal. From URL to 50 finished ad creatives in under 2 minutes. No brand kit setup, no template browsing, no design work. You just pick your favorites and export.

The brand consistency is also surprisingly good. It actually looks like your brand, not like generic AI output.

What could be better:
It's focused purely on static ad creatives right now. If you need video ads, you'll need another tool. The template library is growing but still smaller than more established competitors.

Who it's for:
Founders, growth marketers, and ecommerce teams who need to produce ad creatives at scale without hiring a designer. If you're spending hours in Canva making ads, Silo will change your life.

2. AdCreative.ai — Best for Performance Data Integration

Website: adcreative.ai
Pricing: Starts at $21/month (Starter, 10 downloads)
Best for: Performance marketers who want data-backed creative decisions

AdCreative.ai has been around for a while and they've built a solid product. Their main differentiator is the creative scoring system — they predict which ad creatives will perform best based on historical data.

What I love:
The performance predictions are genuinely useful. You upload your brand assets and it generates creatives with a score indicating likely CTR performance. The integration with ad platforms for pulling performance data is slick.

What could be better:
The setup process is clunky. You need to manually upload brand assets, set up your brand profile, upload product photos. It takes 20 to 30 minutes before you generate your first ad. Compared to Silo's URL paste approach, it feels like homework.

The UI is also busy. Lots of features, lots of menus. Takes a while to learn where everything is.

Who it's for:
Performance marketing teams that run high-volume campaigns and want AI to help predict winners before spending ad budget.

3. Pencil — Best for Video Ad Creatives

Website: trypencil.com
Pricing: Custom (enterprise-focused)
Best for: Brands and agencies producing video ad content at scale

Pencil focuses on video ad generation, which sets it apart from most tools on this list. If you need video creatives for TikTok, Reels, or YouTube, Pencil is worth looking at.

What I love:
The video generation quality is impressive. It can take existing brand assets and footage, then remix them into new video ad variations. The AI understands pacing, text overlays, and hooks in a way that actually works for performance video.

What could be better:
It's expensive and enterprise-focused. No transparent pricing on the website, which usually means "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." The onboarding requires a sales call.

Static ad creative generation exists but isn't their strength. If you mainly need static ads, look elsewhere.

Who it's for:
Agencies and larger brands with significant video ad budgets who want to scale creative production without scaling their video team proportionally.

4. Predis.ai — Best for Social Media Content + Ads

Website: predis.ai
Pricing: Free (limited) / $32/month (Starter)
Best for: Small businesses managing social media and ads together

Predis.ai tries to be an all-in-one social media and ad creative tool. You get post generation, ad creative generation, video creation, and scheduling all in one place.

What I love:
If you're a small business owner doing everything yourself, having social posts and ad creatives in one tool is genuinely convenient. The AI content generation for captions and copy is decent. The competitor analysis feature is a nice touch.

What could be better:
Jack of all trades, master of none. The ad creatives aren't as polished as what you get from Silo or AdCreative.ai. The tool tries to do so many things that none of them feel best-in-class.

The free tier is very limited and the jump to $32/month is steep for what you get compared to alternatives.

Who it's for:
Solopreneurs and small business owners who want one tool for both social media management and basic ad creative generation.

5. Canva AI (Magic Design) — Best for Designers Who Want AI Assistance

Website: canva.com
Pricing: Free (limited) / Pro $13/month
Best for: People who already use Canva and want AI-assisted design

Canva added AI features (Magic Design, Magic Write, etc.) but it's still fundamentally a design tool with AI bolted on. You're still starting from templates and doing a lot of manual work.

What I love:
Canva is an amazing product. The template library is massive, the editor is intuitive, and Magic Design can speed up your workflow. For $13/month, you get an incredible amount of design capability.

What could be better:
As an ad creative generator specifically, it's mediocre. Magic Design gives you starting points, but you're still spending 15 to 30 minutes per ad variation manually adjusting everything. There's no concept of "generate 50 ad creatives from my brand" — you're making them one at a time.

The ad templates aren't optimized for performance the way dedicated ad tools are. They look nice but aren't designed with conversion in mind.

Who it's for:
People who need a general design tool and occasionally make ads. If ads are a core part of your workflow, you need a dedicated AI ad creative generator.

So Which One Should You Pick?

Here's my honest take:

If you need ad creatives fast and at scale: Silo. Nothing else comes close on speed. Paste a URL, get 50 ads. Done.

If you're obsessed with performance data: AdCreative.ai. The creative scoring is genuinely useful for high-budget campaigns.

If you need video ads: Pencil. It's the clear leader for AI video ad generation.

If you want social + ads in one tool: Predis.ai. Not the best at any single thing, but convenient if you're a one-person show.

If you already use Canva for everything: Just add Silo for your ads and keep Canva for everything else. They complement each other perfectly.

For most people reading this — marketers, founders, ecommerce operators — I'd say start with Silo. It's free to try (5 generations at siloai.app), and you'll know within 2 minutes if it works for you. That's not an exaggeration. It literally takes 2 minutes.

Aria Cole tests tools so you don't waste money on bad ones. Follow for honest reviews of AI marketing tools, ad tech, and growth strategies.

Silo vs Canva for Ad Creatives: Which is Better in 2026?

Aria Cole — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 22:24:31 +0000

I've used Canva for years. Love it for decks, social posts, quick graphics. But every time I tried to use it for ad creatives, I wanted to throw my laptop.

Here's the thing: Canva is a design tool. Silo is an AI ad creative generator. They solve completely different problems, and once I understood that, everything clicked.

Let me break it down.

The Core Difference

Canva gives you a blank canvas (pun intended) and says "go design something." You pick templates, drag elements around, choose fonts, adjust colors. It's powerful, but it assumes you know what a good ad looks like.

Silo takes your brand's URL, extracts your brand DNA (colors, fonts, imagery, tone), and generates dozens of on-brand ad creatives automatically. You don't design anything. You just pick the ones you like.

That's not a small difference. That's a fundamentally different approach to making ads.

Who Actually Needs What

Use Canva if:

You're designing presentations, social media graphics, or documents
You have a designer on your team (or you are one)
You enjoy the creative process and want full manual control
You need one or two polished pieces, not bulk output

Use Silo if:

You need ad creatives for Meta, Google, TikTok, or display campaigns
You're running a DTC brand or ecommerce store
You don't have a designer and don't want to become one
You need 20, 50, or 100 variations fast for testing

Feature Comparison

Feature	Silo	Canva
AI ad creative generation	Yes, from URL	Limited (Magic Design)
Brand DNA extraction	Automatic from any URL	Manual brand kit setup
Ad platform templates	Meta, Google, TikTok, Display	Generic social sizes
Bulk generation	50+ creatives in minutes	One at a time
Design skills needed	None	Yes
Template library	Ad-specific, conversion-focused	Massive, general purpose
Brand consistency	Automatic	Manual (you enforce it)
Starting price	Free (5 generations)	Free (limited features)
Pro pricing	$29/mo	$13/mo
Best for	Ad creatives at scale	General graphic design

The Speed Factor

This is where things get real. When I'm launching a new campaign, I need variations. Lots of them. Different headlines, different layouts, different formats for different placements.

In Canva, creating 20 ad variations takes me a full afternoon. Resize for each platform, adjust text, make sure nothing looks off. It's tedious work.

In Silo, I paste a URL, wait about 90 seconds, and get 50 ad creatives. All on brand. All properly sized. All ready to upload. The whole process takes maybe 2 minutes.

That's not an exaggeration. I timed it.

Quality Comparison

Canva's output quality depends entirely on you. If you're a skilled designer, you can make incredible ads. If you're not, they'll look like... someone who isn't a designer made them.

Silo's output is consistently good. Not always perfect, but the baseline quality is high because the AI understands ad design principles. The layouts are clean, the text hierarchy makes sense, the brand elements are placed intentionally.

I'd say Canva's ceiling is higher (a great designer can outdo AI), but Silo's floor is much higher. For most people, especially founders and marketers without design backgrounds, Silo produces better ads.

Pricing Breakdown

Canva Free: Basic templates, limited brand kit, no bulk export. Fine for occasional social posts.

Canva Pro ($13/month): Full template library, brand kit, Magic Design AI features. Good value for general design work.

Silo Free: 5 ad creative generations to try it out. Enough to see if it works for your brand.

Silo Pro ($29/month): Unlimited generations, all ad formats, brand DNA profiles, bulk export. Built specifically for ad creative production.

Yes, Silo costs more. But if you're spending even 2 hours a week making ads in Canva, the time savings pay for itself immediately. Your time has a cost.

My Verdict

Stop trying to pick one. Use both.

Use Canva for your pitch decks, Instagram stories, blog graphics, and anything where you want creative control over a single piece.

Use Silo for your ad creatives. All of them. It's faster, more consistent, and you don't need to know anything about design to get professional results.

I switched to Silo for all my ad creative work about 6 months ago and my output went from maybe 10 ad variations per week to 50+ per campaign launch. My CPAs actually dropped because I could test more variations faster.

If you're running ads and still designing them manually, just try Silo. They give you 5 free generations at siloai.app so you can see the quality before committing.

Aria Cole builds things on the internet and writes about the tools that actually work. Follow for more honest takes on AI marketing tools.

How I Built an AI Ad Creative Generator in 2 Weeks

Aria Cole — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:11:42 +0000

I was tired of watching DTC brands get ripped off.

Every founder I knew was paying agencies thousands a month for ad creatives. And most of what they got back was... fine. Generic lifestyle shots, basic text overlays, the same templates recycled across clients. For that kind of money, you'd expect something that actually converts.

So I built something better. In two weeks.

The Problem Nobody Talks About

Here's the dirty secret of the creative agency world: most agencies use the same 10-15 templates for every client. They swap out your logo, drop in your product photo, change the hex codes, and call it "custom creative."

I know this because I've seen the invoices. I've talked to founders spending $3K-$8K a month on creative retainers and getting back 10-15 static ads that all look the same. The turnaround? Two weeks minimum. Need a revision? Another week.

For a DTC brand doing $50K/month in revenue, that creative spend is brutal. And the worst part is when those creatives don't perform, you're stuck waiting another cycle to test new ones.

The math just doesn't work for most brands.

What If Your Brand Could Design Its Own Ads?

That was the core question. Not "what if AI could make generic ads" — we've all seen that, and it's usually garbage. The question was: what if AI could actually understand your brand deeply enough to create ads that look like your team made them?

That's what I set out to build with Silo.

The Brand DNA Breakthrough

The first thing I figured out was that the reason most AI-generated ads look terrible is because they have zero brand context. They don't know your visual identity, your tone, your audience, your competitive positioning. They just slap text on a stock photo and call it a day.

So I built what I call Brand DNA extraction. You paste your website URL into Silo, and it analyzes everything — your color palette, typography, imagery style, product photography, messaging tone, target audience signals. It builds a comprehensive profile of your brand before generating a single ad.

This was the unlock. Once the AI understands your brand at a deep level, everything it creates feels cohesive. The ads look like they belong on your Instagram feed, not like they came from a random template generator.

The Template Library

The second piece was building a library of ad formats that actually convert. I studied hundreds of winning ads across Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Testimonial layouts, UGC-style frames, comparison charts, stat callouts, lifestyle compositions.

Each template in Silo is based on proven ad formats — the kind of creatives that media buyers actually want to test. Not just "pretty pictures" but strategic creative assets designed to drive clicks and conversions.

The Image Generation Layer

This is where it gets interesting. Silo doesn't just overlay text on existing images. It can generate entirely new product photography, lifestyle scenes, and visual compositions using AI image generation — all trained on your brand's visual language.

Need a flat-lay of your skincare products on a marble countertop with morning light? Done. Want a lifestyle shot of someone using your product at a coffee shop? Generated in seconds, matching your brand's aesthetic perfectly.

The combination of brand understanding + proven templates + AI image generation is what makes the output actually usable. These aren't "AI-looking" ads. They're ads that look like a creative team spent hours on them.

The Two-Week Build

I'm a vibe coder. I use AI tools to build fast. Here's roughly how the two weeks broke down:

Week 1: Brand DNA extraction engine, website scraping and analysis pipeline, template system architecture, core UI/UX.

Week 2: Image generation integration, template library (launched with 20+ formats), output rendering, polish, and deployment.

Was it perfect on day 14? No. But it worked. I could paste in a website URL and get back a batch of on-brand ad creatives in minutes. That was the MVP.

First Tests

I started testing with real brands. Dropped in a beauty brand's URL and got back testimonial ads, comparison charts, and lifestyle creatives that genuinely looked professional. The brand owner's reaction: "Wait, these are better than what my agency sends me."

That's when I knew I was onto something.

I tested with fashion brands, supplement companies, home goods stores. Each time, the Brand DNA extraction picked up the right visual language, and the output felt native to that brand.

What I Learned

1. Speed is the real value. It's not just that Silo is cheaper than an agency. It's that you can generate a full batch of test creatives in 3 minutes instead of waiting two weeks. For media buyers who need to test constantly, that speed compounds into real performance gains.

2. Brand context is everything. The generic AI ad tools fail because they skip this step. Understanding the brand first is what separates usable output from garbage.

3. Templates matter more than creativity. The best-performing ads follow proven formats. Originality is overrated in paid media — what matters is strategic creative testing at volume.

What's Next

I'm shipping new features weekly. More templates, more ad formats, video creative support, and deeper brand analysis. The goal is simple: make it so any DTC brand can produce agency-quality ad creatives without the agency.

If you're running a brand and spending too much time or money on creatives, check out Silo. Paste your URL, see what it generates. I think you'll be surprised.

I'm building this in public, so follow along if you want to see how it evolves. Happy to answer any questions about the build process too.

Aria Cole builds AI-powered tools for DTC brands. She ships fast and talks about it on the internet.