How to Plan & Launch AI-Powered Ad Campaigns with BrandGene

Picture this: you've got a killer product launch coming up. You need ads for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and maybe TikTok. That's five different platforms, five different aspect ratios, five different audience expectations — and you needed them all yesterday.

So you do what everyone does. You open Canva, stare at a blank canvas, write some copy, resize it for every platform, realize the LinkedIn version looks weird, start over, and somewhere around hour three you wonder if there's a better way to do this.

There is. BrandGene Campaigns takes you from "I need ads" to "here are my ads" in minutes. You tell it what you're selling, who you're selling to, and where you want to show up — and AI handles the creative heavy lifting. Brainstorming, copywriting, platform adaptation, image generation. All in one place.

Let's walk through the entire process, step by step.

What You'll Build by the End of This Guide

By the time you finish reading (and doing), you'll have:

• A structured ad campaign with clear objectives and audience targeting
• Multiple AI-generated creative concepts — each with a headline, body copy, CTA, and visual direction
• Platform-specific ad variants automatically adapted for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and more
• Ready-to-post captions and hashtags for every variant
• Brand-consistent ad images you can download and publish immediately

Not bad for a coffee break's worth of work.

The Big Picture: How Campaigns Work

Before we dive in, here's the 30-second version. BrandGene Campaigns follows a natural creative workflow — the same one ad agencies use, just faster:

Define your campaign → Brainstorm creative ideas with AI → Pick the best ones → Expand them into platform-specific variants → Polish the copy → Generate the images → Download and publish.

Seven steps. One workspace. Zero tab-switching. Let's go.

Step 1: Create Your Campaign

Head to Ad Campaigns and click Create New Campaign. You'll see a clean form with three sections. Don't overthink it — you can always come back and adjust.

The Basics

Campaign Name — Give it something you'll recognize later. "Summer Sale 2025" beats "Campaign 1." Your future self will thank you.

Description — A few sentences about what this campaign is for. This isn't just for your own reference — the AI reads this too, and uses it to shape every creative idea it generates.

Campaign Objective — This is the big one. Pick the goal that best matches what you're trying to achieve:

Your objective isn't just a label. It fundamentally shapes how the AI thinks. A "Brand Awareness" campaign generates warm, storytelling-driven concepts. A "Drive Conversions" campaign generates urgent, action-oriented ones. Choose wisely.

Core Message — What's the one thing you want people to remember? Think elevator pitch. "Handcrafted skincare that actually works" tells the AI more than "buy our products."

Know Your Audience

Here's a universal truth in marketing: the more specific your targeting, the sharper your creative. "Everyone aged 18-65" is not an audience. It's a census.

Fill in:

• Age Range — Be specific. "25-35" gives the AI way more to work with than "18-65."
• Gender — Select if relevant, or leave it at "All."
• Location — Where are your customers? "United States, Western Europe" or "Southeast Asia" — the AI adjusts cultural context accordingly.
• Interests — This is where the magic happens. Type interests and press Enter to add them as tags. "specialty coffee," "sustainable living," "minimalist design" — each tag tells the AI something about who you're talking to and how to talk to them.

Pick Your Platforms

Select where your ads will appear. Each platform you choose gets its own set of ad variants, automatically sized and formatted.

Pro move: Don't select all eight platforms on your first campaign. Pick 2-3 where your audience actually hangs out. You can always expand later.

Link Your Brand DNA (Optional but Powerful)

If you've already set up a brand in BrandGene, you'll see a dropdown to link your Brand DNA. Do it. When Brand DNA is linked, every creative idea the AI generates will be infused with your brand's colors, tone, values, and visual personality. It's the difference between "generic ad" and "this is unmistakably our ad."

Hit Create Campaign, and you're in.

Step 2: Brainstorm Creative Ideas with AI

Welcome to your campaign workspace — a three-column command center. Campaign details on the left, creative ideas in the middle, ad variants on the right.

Right now, the middle column is empty. Let's fix that.

Click the purple Generate Ideas button in the top right. A modal pops up with two choices:

How Many Ideas?

Pick between 1 and 5 ideas per generation. Our recommendation? Start with 3. It gives you enough variety to compare directions without overwhelming you with options. You can always generate more rounds later.

Additional Context (Your Secret Weapon)

See that text box labeled "Additional Context"? This is where you can steer the AI's creativity. It's optional, but incredibly powerful.

A few examples of what you might type here:

• "Focus on the unboxing experience — our packaging is a huge selling point"
• "Keep the tone playful and irreverent, like a friend recommending something cool"
• "We're competing against [competitor] — emphasize what makes us different"
• "This is for our Q3 product launch, emphasize the 'new' factor"

Think of it as creative direction. The more specific you are, the more tailored the output.

Hit Generate Ideas, and in a few seconds, you'll see creative concepts appear in the middle column.

What You Get: Anatomy of a Creative Idea

Each idea is a complete creative brief packed into a card:

• Headline — The attention-grabbing hook. The thing that makes someone stop scrolling.
• Concept — The big idea behind this creative direction. Think of it as the strategy in plain English.
• Body Copy — The supporting message that expands on the headline.
• Call-to-Action (CTA) — What you want people to do. "Shop Now," "Learn More," "Get Yours Today."
• Visual Style Description — A detailed art direction note. "Clean minimalist layout with warm natural lighting and earth tones." The AI uses this later when generating images.
• Mood Keywords — Tags like "modern," "luxurious," "playful," or "bold" that define the creative vibe.

Each idea card also shows a purple AI Generated badge so you always know what came from the machine versus what you created yourself.

Not Loving What You See?

No problem. You have options:

• Generate another round. Click "Generate Ideas" again with different context. You'll get fresh concepts every time.
• Mix and match. Maybe Idea 1 has a great headline but Idea 3 has the better visual direction. That's fine — use each idea as inspiration.
• Delete the duds. Hit the trash icon on any idea card to remove it. If the idea has variants, you'll get a confirmation prompt.

Step 3: Pick Your Winners

Not every idea deserves to become a full campaign. Browse through your generated ideas and click the ones you love. Selected ideas get a green Selected badge and a blue highlight border.

Here's the decision framework that works:

• Does the headline make you stop and look? If you'd scroll past it, your audience will too.
• Does the concept match your campaign objective? A clever joke might not suit a "Drive Conversions" campaign aimed at serious B2B buyers.
• Can you picture the ad? Read the visual style description. If it paints a clear image in your head, the AI will nail the generation too.

Select at least one idea. Select three if you want to A/B test different creative directions. Your call.

Step 4: Generate Multi-Platform Ad Variants

This is where things get really fun.

Click the blue Create Variants button. A new modal opens, showing two lists:

Select Creative Ideas

On the left, you'll see all your creative ideas. Check the ones you want to turn into ads. Each selected idea will be expanded into variants for every platform you choose.

Select Platforms

On the right, pick your target platforms. You'll see each platform's name, icon, and aspect ratio.

At the bottom, a blue info box shows you the math: "6 variants will be created — 2 ideas × 3 platforms." Simple multiplication, but powerful output.

Hit Create Variants, and watch the right column come alive.

What Just Happened?

For each idea × platform combination, BrandGene created a complete ad variant with:

• A platform-optimized image prompt — adapted from your creative idea's visual style but tuned for the specific format
• A post caption — ready-to-publish copy tailored for the platform's audience and norms
• Hashtags — pre-generated, relevant, and editable
• Platform specs — the exact aspect ratio and recommended pixel dimensions

And here's the best part: variant planning is free. You don't spend any credits creating variants. Credits are only used when you generate the actual images. So go ahead, plan generously.

Step 5: Polish Your Captions and Hashtags

Every ad variant comes with AI-generated captions and hashtags, but you know your brand voice better than anyone. Time to fine-tune.

Editing Captions

Click the Edit (pencil icon) button on any variant card. The caption turns into an editable text area. Rewrite it, extend it, make it sound more like you.

A character counter at the bottom shows you where you stand — especially useful for Instagram, where captions max out at 2,200 characters. The counter turns red if you go over.

When you're happy, click Save. Done. The caption updates instantly.

Managing Hashtags

Below the caption, you'll see your hashtags displayed as blue tags. In edit mode:

• Click the × on any tag to remove it
• Type a new hashtag in the input field and click + to add it

Good hashtag strategy varies by platform, but a general rule: mix broad-reach tags (#marketing, #smallbusiness) with niche-specific ones (#handmadeceramics, #sustainablepackaging).

Quick Copy

Not editing, just grabbing? Click the Copy button next to any caption to instantly copy it to your clipboard. Paste it straight into your social media scheduler. The button changes to "Copied!" so you know it worked.

Step 6: Generate Brand-Consistent Ad Images

You've got your ideas. You've got your variants. You've got polished copy and hashtags for every platform. Now it's time for the grand finale: turning all of this into actual, visual, post-it-right-now ad images.

Click Generate Image on any variant card. You'll be taken to BrandGene's image generation tool with everything pre-loaded — the creative context, the platform dimensions, and the visual direction from your campaign.

Brand Influence: How Branded Should Your Ads Look?

You'll see a brand influence slider with three levels:

• Strong — AI actively incorporates your brand colors, logo treatment, and visual identity. Great for hero images and brand campaigns where recognition is everything.
• Medium (default) — A natural blend of brand elements and creative vision. The sweet spot for most campaigns.
• Weak — Creative freedom takes the lead, with only subtle brand hints. Best for lifestyle and editorial content where you want the vibe to speak louder than the logo.

One Click, One Image

Hit generate, and in a few seconds your ad image appears — sized for the platform, styled for your brand, and ready to download as PNG.

Back in your campaign workspace, the variant card updates automatically. The status badge changes from "Planned" to "Ready to Post" in green. The image appears right on the card.

What If It's Not Quite Right?

Regenerate. Click the refresh icon on any generated variant to get a new image with the same prompt. Different seed, different result. AI image generation has a beautiful randomness to it — sometimes the third try is the charm.

Managing Your Campaigns

The Campaign Dashboard

Back on the main Ad Campaigns page, you'll see all your campaigns as cards. Each one shows:

• Campaign name and description
• A color-coded status badge (Draft, Planning, Active, Completed)
• The campaign objective
• Channel tags showing which platforms you're targeting
• Progress stats: how many ideas, selected ideas, variants, and generated images

Campaign Status Flow

Campaigns naturally progress through stages:

Draft → You've created the campaign but haven't started generating content yet.

Planning → You're actively brainstorming ideas and creating variants. This is where most of the creative work happens.

Active → Your content is generated and you're publishing or running the ads.

Completed → Campaign's done. Archive it for reference, or reopen it for a sequel.

Keeping Things Organized

As your campaigns multiply (and they will), use the status filter at the top of the dashboard. Toggle between All, Draft, Planning, Active, and Completed to find what you need instantly.

Tips from the Trenches: Getting the Most Out of Campaigns

After watching thousands of campaigns get created on BrandGene, here's what separates the good from the great:

1. Start with Brand DNA. Seriously.

We cannot stress this enough. Campaigns created with linked Brand DNA produce dramatically more cohesive results. The AI doesn't just generate "nice-looking" ads — it generates ads that look like yours. Colors match. Tone matches. Visual style matches. Set up your brand first. Your campaigns will be 10x better.

2. Write a Great Core Message

"Buy our stuff" is not a core message. "Handcrafted candles that turn any room into a sanctuary" is. The core message is the north star for every idea the AI generates. Make it specific, make it emotional, and make it true.

3. Use Interest Tags Aggressively

Don't be shy with your target audience interests. "Coffee" is fine. "Third-wave specialty coffee, pour-over enthusiasts, home barista culture" is better. Every tag gives the AI another dimension to work with.

4. Generate More Ideas Than You Need

Creative brainstorming works best with volume. Generate 5 ideas, pick 2. Generate another round if nothing clicks. The ideas are cheap — the insight that one killer concept gives you is priceless.

5. Different Platforms, Different Vibes

Just because the AI auto-adapts content for each platform doesn't mean you shouldn't customize further. A LinkedIn audience expects professional tone. Instagram rewards personality. Pinterest thrives on aspiration. Skim through your variants by platform and make sure the voice fits.

6. A/B Test Your Creative Directions

Select 2-3 different creative ideas and generate variants for all of them. Run them in parallel. See which creative direction resonates with your audience. Double down on the winner for future campaigns. This is how performance marketing works — test, learn, scale.

The Workflow, Summarized

For the skimmers and the doers (we respect both):

Human does the thinking. AI does the heavy lifting. That's the deal.

What's Next?

You've just built your first AI-powered ad campaign. Here's where to go from here:

• Brand Ads Mastery — Deep dive into Brand DNA analysis and how it supercharges everything
• Brand Image Copilot Guide — Chat with AI to iterate on individual ad images through conversation
• Advanced Prompt Engineering — Level up the image prompts for even better visual results
• AI Studio Guide — Explore general-purpose image generation beyond campaigns

Ready to Launch?

You've got the blueprint. You've got the tool. The only thing missing is your first campaign.

Head to Ad Campaigns, click Create New Campaign, and let's make some ads.

Start Your First Campaign →