The Creative Style Guide
Quick answer
Creative Style guides the AI when it edits or generates an image. Five styles are available in Beta. Pick the one that matches the job, not the one that looks nicest.
The five styles
Studio product — Clean, controlled product imagery on neutral backgrounds. Use for catalog-style ads, Shopping and Performance Max assets, and anywhere the product needs to read instantly at small sizes.
Lifestyle Scene — Warm, real-world settings that place the product in context. Use for top-of-funnel prospecting, where the job is to make someone want the life the product implies.
UGC / authentic — Casual creator-style visuals, natural lighting, phone-shot realism. Historically the highest-performing format on Meta feeds. One caution: creative that looks like an organic creator endorsement carries disclosure obligations on Meta. If the image implies a real person is recommending your product, make sure that's actually true.
Promo / offer — Bold promotional graphics with clear offer messaging. Use for sales, launches, and retargeting where the offer is the argument.
Flat lay / editorial — Top-down styled compositions with curated props. Use for gifting, bundles, and brands where the aesthetic is the product.
Which style for which campaign
| Funnel stage | Style that usually wins |
|---|---|
| Top of funnel (cold) | Lifestyle Scene, UGC / authentic |
| Mid funnel | UGC / authentic, Flat lay / editorial |
| Retargeting / conversion | Promo / offer, Studio product |
| Google Performance Max | Studio product, plus Lifestyle for the landscape assets |
Creative Style is not the only thing steering the AI
Your Brand Visuals on the Brand page also feed every generated creative. Your logo and colors appear in the output, and if Auto-apply to creatives is checked, Agency AI uses your primary and secondary colors in all AI-generated ads automatically.
If your generated creatives keep coming out in colors you didn't want, check that box first. If they keep coming out looking generic, uncheck it and let the style guide the palette instead.
One thing to know about AI-generated images
Meta applies a "Made with AI" label to photorealistic AI-generated imagery it detects, using embedded content credentials and its own detection. This is not a penalty and it does not stop your ad from running. It's a label. Merchants who don't expect it sometimes assume something is wrong.
Testing
Generate the same product in two styles. Run both. The winner is rarely the one you'd have picked from the thumbnail.