Pixar-style ads are doing $100k+ (here's how to use them)

Welcome to the first edition of Ad Break!

So… what is this exactly?
‍Ad Break is a creative newsletter powered by Ramdam. Twice a month, we share what’s happening in the world of ads: the creative shifts, the trends in your feeds, and the ideas you should probably be paying attention to.

Who am I?
‍I’m Mitalee. I watch a lot of ads, so you don’t have to sit through the bad ones.‍

The goal is embarrassingly simple:
‍Every issue should leave you with at least one idea you can actually use in your next creative brief.

⚠️ Fair warning: after reading this, you're going to start noticing every ad differently. 👀

Right. First issue. Here we go. Today, we're talking about:

The 'Pixar Effect' in AI ads
Your top trends from the feed
Spotlight: Ad of the week

Let's dive in!

The Pixar Effect

This week, I saw a supplement app run an ad where a frustrated talking spine complains about lower back pain. And it's working like crazy!

Brands are doing this with everything right now:
→ cute little herbs detoxing the body,
→ a sad figure who hates how she looks in the mirror,
→ a smug tooth standing in a field of light like it just saved someone's enamel.

The aesthetic is obviously AI, meaning there is no foul play with trust.

And because the character has a story, viewers usually stay to see how it ends while getting entertained. See for yourself!

Two ways to steal this for your next campaign:

The overworked character:

Turn the problem into a character (tired brain 🧠, stressed spine 🦴, overheated muscle 💪).
Start mid-problem: “I’m your lower back and while you’re hunched over that desk, I’m screaming.”
Use the sandwich method: mention two common fixes with your product in the middle.

The hero ingredient:

Give each ingredient a face and a role fighting the problem.
Show them doing their job: cleaning 🧹, detoxing 🫧, repairing ⚒️.
Let each ingredient appear before bringing them together as a team.
By the time the product shows up, viewers already understand what it does.

You’ll see this format most often in health, wellness, fitness, food, and supplement ads. If your product interacts with a body part or contains ingredients most people can’t pronounce, animation is a great way to translate the science.

The average scroller doesn’t know much about their spine, gut, or micronutrients, but they do understand a tired brain or an angry stomach.

Spotlight: Ad of the week

I've watched this one more than I'd like to admit!

Someone opens a language app, practices "dance" in Spanish, and immediately their arm flies up into a dance pose.
They keep practicing Spanish with phrases like "I am dancing gracefully," and suddenly they're doing a full, elegant choreography.
The cause-and-effect loop is so satisfying to watch that you don't even realize that you're being sold a language app

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If you're sitting here thinking "I want to test this but have no idea where to start", that's literally what we do 🤗

We build the angle, write the brief, find the right creators (or AI operators), and hand you back videos that are ready to go. We're talking voiceovers, text overlays, editing, pacing, sound...everything that makes a video feel native to the feed.