Million Dollar VSL Ad Formula

Timeless building blocks for scalable direct-response ads. Little “guess which one won” games included, DM me and I’ll send the answers.

I’ve run somewhere between $20M and $60M on Meta + Google over the last ~5 years. New stuff is great, but these blocks keep working.

Message me on LinkedIn → Jump to the games ↓

Tip: DM me the keyword MILLION and I’ll reply with the winners + the ad that inspired this.

First 3 seconds Fear hooks Suspense visuals Callout + instructions Double CTA

Illustration of a stopwatch showing three seconds and a scrolling phone

The core idea

Spoiler: everyone knows it now. The first second and the first 3 seconds are the most important part of a scalable ad.

What your first 3 seconds need

Fear-based hook frameworks (reward framing usually loses).
“Stop doing X” style interruption (forces a pause and a rethink).
Clear visual suspense (weird food + action + “wait, what?”).

The third one is GOLD. Don’t skip the visuals section.

Mini games (guess which one won)

1) Guess which food won

I didn’t know what (food) does to (health condition) until I saw this.

Guess which one of these won:

Chicken
Greek yogurt and berries
Eggs
Oranges

Send me a message on LinkedIn to get the answer →

How I test this (structure only, client data blurred)

Same base creative, lots of tiny hook variations. The goal is to find the “winner wording”, then scale the pattern.

Pixelated screenshot showing a grid of many ad hook variations (client data blurred)

Example: testing a bunch of “I didn’t know what _ did to _” variations (privacy-protected). I don’t share the actual ad or unblurred screenshots publicly because I respect the client’s IP.

2) Guess which “death point” won

Guess which one of these fear points won:

Inflammation
Body fat
Cholesterol
Blood sugar

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3) Visuals: weird food + action + suspense

Which one of these do you think won?

Illustration: skin peeled off a raw chicken leg

A. Skin being peeled off a raw chicken leg

Illustration: squishing an avocado in a hand

B. Squishing an avocado in your hand

Illustration: chocolate goo coming out of a croissant

C. Chocolate goo coming out of a croissant

Illustration: poached egg popped on avocado toast

D. Poached egg being “popped” on avocado toast

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More building blocks (easy wins)

Callout: broad (“if you’re a woman…”) or repelling/attracting for niche audiences (“if you want _”, “if you think _”).
Instructions: “Stop scrolling…” buys you 1-2 seconds and gives direction.
B-roll engagement: keep visual change happening, even while speaking.
CTA: create curiosity, then give just enough detail to prove it’s not clickbait.
Double CTA: ask them again to click/message.

Illustration showing b-roll: a hand pouring milk into a pan of sliced kiwis, with a presenter overlay

B-roll example: weird food + action + motion while you’re talking.

Want the ad that inspired this?

Message me on LinkedIn → Back to homepage

Send MILLION and I’ll send the winner list + the source ad.