Introduction
AI-Powered Formulas in Feeds are a powerful new way for marketers and creative teams to generate text, images and video at a scale not scene before in Pencil.
Simple but powerful pre-defined formulas include:
AI formulas such as =GenerateText(), =GenerateImage(), =GenerateVideo() and more
The ability to reference other cells dynamically within your prompts, including support for the dollar sign to lock cell, column or row references.
Natural language support within formulas for flexible creative control
Instant generation of headlines, visuals, captions and more using structured inputs.
We will outline some use cases and then go through a worked example to demonstrate how to get started.
What Are Some Common Possible Use Cases?
Formulas within Feeds have vast potential use cases including:
Model A/B Testing: Using the same Image Generation formula you can rapidly generate images across a range of AI models to help identify which model might suit the style you're looking for.
Generating ad concepts based on an audience: You could provide a list of Audiences and use formulas to quickly generate, at scale, Insights, Ad Concepts based on those Insights, and then use a further Text Formula to generate a strong image prompt based on the Ad Concept(s), finally referencing the prompt cell(s) to generate Images for your Ad Concept for each Audience type.
Scaling localised content with reusable templates
Writing email subject lines, captions, or hooks in seconds
Visualising creative concepts with auto-generated images across multiple models.
Any use cases that involve AI at scale!
How Does it Work? A Worked Example...
In this example we will be using our fake brand Ambrosia Ice Cream and using Formulas in Feeds to take three seasonal flavours and adapt a simple creative template for each of them.
Our starting point was the template for the original flavour which contains:
A background colour
Brand logo
Sub-heading text of up to 60 characters
A product image
Within the Creative Editor, we move to the Feed Variation view and build our column headers:
In this example we are going to define our three seasonal flavours, and then use a combination of text and image formulas to generate:
A description for each seasonal flavour
A colour (as a hex code) that compliments each seasonal flavour
The hex code will be used in generating the background images/colours
An appealing image of each seasonal flavour
A sub-heading/CTA for each seasonal flavour
The Seasonal Flavours are input into Column A:
Starting with Column B, entering an '=' immediately generates a list of possible formula starting points to choose from. I
n this case we will choose 'GenerateText' and enter our prompt and select the model we want to use. You can see the formula being generated automatically at the top of the input box.
I am referencing the Seasonal Flavour name in cell A2 and using $A2 to lock the column so that I can drag the formula down to apply it to the other flavours.
When I press 'Insert formula', the AI model generates copy based on the prompt and assuming I am happy with it, I can drag the formula down to generate copy for the remaining seasonal flavours.
Next, we will reference the generated flavour descriptions to generate a hex code using a text prompt within a text formula, again dragging the formula down to quickly populate colours for each seasonal description.
Using the Hex codes we can generate our background colours using an =GenerateImage formula, specifying both the model and the size, and a simple prompt referencing the cell(s) containing the Hex codes:
We can go on to generate our Images, in this case using the =GenerateImage formula again as follows, choosing the model and defining the size:
"=GenerateImage("A photo of a scoop of $A2 ice cream in a sundae glass - food photography, premium, rich and appealing. Visually convey the essence of the description $B2", ["Google Imagen 4 Ultra"], ["1920 x 1080"])"
And we can generate our Sub-Heading/CTA using the =GenerateText formula as follows:
"=GenerateText("Generate a CTA for Ambrosia $A2 flavour, including it specifically, and drawing on language from the description $B2. maximum 60 characters.", ["OpenAI GPT-4.1"])"
Mapping Layers
The final step is to map the relevant outputs to the correct layers in the Creative, as described in the Feed Variation foundation article.
Once mapped, you can 'Generate All' in the Feed Settings on the right hand side, and then either preview them by clicking on the Creatives in the 'Preview' column, or go back to the Creative View.
You can apply further edits if required or make tweaks to the template and then regenerate your variations.
In this case I just reduced the opacity of the background image/colour to 60% and my finished Seasonal Flavour creatives look as follows:
Conclusion
In this relatively simple example we exploited the power of formulas to generate text, ideate colours, and generate images quickly and easily for three distinct products. By using formulas, cell referencing and a pre-existing template we were able to rapidly generate ad concepts for seasonal offerings.