Before a great ad ever hits the page, there’s the research phase to fully understand what to communicate.
Research isn’t just about customer personas and product specs. It’s about understanding the real-world context your creative is about to live in. What’s already out there? What’s grabbing attention in your category?
This is where competitor research comes in—and no, that’s not cheating. It’s smart. Your competitors are out there spending real money testing headlines, visuals, hooks and offers. And a lot of that intel is just sitting in plain sight, waiting for you to use it.
By studying what others are running—what’s trending, what’s tired and what keeps showing up again and again—you can save time, avoid guesswork and craft ads that are not only creative, but competitive.
And the best part? You don’t need a fancy tool or paid subscription to get started.
In this post, we’re sharing 5 resources you can use right now to peek at the creative strategies of brands in your space. From Facebook to TikTok to business cases, these tools will help you benchmark what’s working—and build smarter, sharper ads from day one.
But first, let’s learn a bit about benchmarking and how to do the perfect research for your brand.
The Importance of Benchmarking and Research: A Checklist
Benchmarking is one of the most underrated steps in the creative process.
Before you dive into copywriting, designing or storyboarding, it’s worth stepping back and asking: What else is out there? Because chances are, your audience is already being hit with ads from brands just like yours. Understanding what they’re seeing helps you craft something that cuts through, not blends in.
Here’s Primer’s checklist on what you can’t skip when doing research on your competitors:
1️⃣ Follow your top 5 competitors on:
Number 1: Instagram, your go-to platform
2: TikTok
3: LinkedIn
4: Blogs
5: Email lists—sign up for everything
2️⃣ Use AI
AI is a powerful tool when it comes to research. Ask AI tools about your competitors’ value propositions, offers and more. Try to become their buyer persona and ask as many questions as possible.
And we know ChatGPT is solid—but don’t stop there.
Try Gemini, Claude or DeepSeek to summarize positioning, scan patterns in messaging and spot visual trends.
3️⃣Stalk their ads
There are plenty of tools to help you stalk your competitors and know what they’re communicating.
Let’s take a look at 5 of them and how they can help you turn your competitors’ ad spend into your creative shortcut.
Primer Video Ad Library
Primer Ad Library is a free, open-source platform built to help marketers analyze top-performing ad creatives. Inside, you’ll find a curated collection of real ads from brands across industries like fashion, health and wellness, beauty, supplements and more.
Whether you’re looking for new UGC inspiration, landing page layouts or the latest performance hooks, it’s all organized and searchable—no login, no paywall, no fluff. You can filter by ad type, format, platform and category to quickly benchmark what’s working and find inspiration for your next campaign.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Visit the ad library
Head to https://goprimer.com/ad-library/ to access the entire collection. No signup required—it’s completely free and open to everyone.
2. Browse and filter
Use filters to explore ads by platform (Meta, TikTok, YouTube), format (image, video, landing page) or industry. This helps you zero in on relevant creative examples fast.
3. Analyze and apply insights
Study how brands structure their hooks, visuals and CTAs. See what trends keep popping up—and where there’s room to stand out. Use those learnings to craft sharper, better-performing ads.
Another easy way to stay ahead is by subscribing to Primer’s newsletter. Every week, we share real ad insights, creative breakdowns and top-performing tests—straight from our team to your inbox. It’s like getting a behind-the-scenes look at what’s actually working in paid social right now. No fluff, just actionable ideas you can steal and adapt. Sign up for the newsletter here and start building better ads.
Facebook Ad Library
The Facebook Ad Library is another fantastic free tool for ad research. It shows every active ad running on Meta.
It’s also one of the easiest to use. You don’t need a login or a subscription; just get into the Facebook Ad Library, choose your country and then type in a brand’s name. You’ll instantly see every ad they’re running across Facebook and Instagram.
Pay attention to the language, visuals and offers you see in the ads. Are they using UGC? Promoting bundles? Leading with discounts or testimonials? If an ad keeps showing up for weeks, that’s a strong sign it’s working.
And don’t forget to save what’s working for other brands. Save examples that catch your eye. Write down what stands out: is it the hook, the layout, the CTA? Over time, this gives you a swipe file full of proven ideas you can borrow from or improve on.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Use the Ad Library to see what’s working now, and then build smarter ads that actually compete.
TikTok Creative Center
The TikTok Creative Center is one of the best free tools for short-form video ad research.
It shows top ads by country, industry and campaign goal. You can filter by conversions, traffic and more.
You’ll also find trending sounds, hashtags and creators—all updated in real time.
And unlike Meta’s library, TikTok also shows engagement. That means you see likes, comments and shares on real ads.
This helps you understand what’s working now, not just what’s running. And you can also get some inspiration from comments, using popular questions.
If you’re running UGC ads, this tool is a must, because it will also help you source UGC creators that may match with your brand. And no, we’re not talking about using the same creators as your competitors, but finding very diverse creators that align with your brand.
This platform is great for brands in beauty, fashion, travel and wellness.
And if you want to sound native to TikTok, study the rhythm, visuals and copy from winning creatives.
Motion
Motion is one of the most powerful paid tools for creative performance research. It’s built for growth teams and agencies that want to dig deeper into what’s working—and why.
With Motion, you can break down ad performance by creative type, hook, length, platform and more.
The Creative Research feature lets you analyze your top-performing ads and compare them against competitors. You can sort creatives by CTR, ROAS, scroll-stop rate and engagement.
It also shows how long each ad ran before it was turned off—a key signal for identifying fatigue or success. If a brand cuts an ad quickly, there’s usually a reason.
Motion even lets you tag and filter by creative concepts, helping you spot patterns and trends over time.
If you’re building a testing roadmap or trying to fight creative fatigue, Motion gives you the data you need to move fast and smart.
It’s a paid tool, but the insights are worth it for teams focused on scaling.
Foreplay
Foreplay is a paid creative research platform designed for marketers seeking to streamline their ad inspiration and strategy processes. With its extensive library of over 10 million ads from 200,000+ brands, Foreplay offers a centralized hub for discovering and organizing ad creatives.
Users can save ads directly from platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram using the Foreplay Chrome extension, ensuring that inspiration is never lost due to expired links. The platform’s AI-powered features, such as the Emotional Driver Matrix, provide insights into the emotional elements of ads, helping marketers understand what resonates with audiences. Additionally, Foreplay’s swipe file allows for easy organization and sharing of saved ads, making collaboration seamless. For those looking to delve deeper into competitor strategies, the platform offers tools to track ad durations and analyze creative patterns.
Foreplay is ideal for teams aiming to enhance their creative workflows and stay ahead in the competitive advertising landscape.
Research Is Your Competitive Edge
Before a single asset goes live, the smartest brands are already winning—in the research phase. Whether you’re launching a new product or testing fresh creative angles, studying what’s already out there saves you time, budget and guesswork.
From free tools like Meta Ad Library, TikTok Creative Center and Primer’s own Ad Library to premium platforms like Motion and Foreplay, there’s no excuse to fly blind.
You’ll spot trends before they peak, avoid creative clichés and find inspiration backed by real-world data.
Want even more insight?
Subscribe to Primer’s Newsletter—straight from our tests to your inbox, we share what’s working right now so you can make better ads tomorrow.
Because great creative doesn’t start on a blank page. It starts with seeing what’s already working—and doing it smarter.
Partner with Growth Experts
At Primer, we create high-performing ads that stop thumbs and spark action. From brands like Jocko Fuel to Sunday and Rocksbox, we help teams concept and write UGC ad scripts that feel real, convert fast and hit emotionally. Whether you need hooks that hook harder, CTAs that convert or full-funnel copy that actually sells—we’ve got you.
Your Growth Marketing Team: Partnering with Primer means we take care of everything—strategy and planning, production, reporting and optional media buying—to achieve your growth objectives. You can focus on your business while we deliver the results.
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