22 Handwritten Ad Examples Brands Kept Running on Meta
Checked 25 Oct 2026 · 22 ads from 19 brands, from Meta's Ad Library · How we pick ads
Designed banners train people to scroll past anything that looks like an ad, and a note in pen is the cheapest way to make a claim sound like a person said it. Offers sit on paper stuck to the product at Stepprs and Spot and Tango, while Missoma, Sonos and Caraway keep script for labels and tag lines and never put a price in pen. The longest run, 427+ days, belongs to SaleHoo, whose only pen mark is a loop around its answer.
- 22ads, each with a pen mark in the frame
- 70days, the median run
- 3pet-food brands, all with handwriting in the frame
- 427+days, the longest run
Four ways brands put a pen in the ad
Grouped by the job each ad does. Swipe a row, and tap “Why it works” for our breakdown.
Paper notes stuck on the product · 7
Offers go on paper because a sticky note reads as a coworker's tip. Stepprs and Spot and Tango photograph the note on the product itself, so the discount and the product share a frame.
“A MUST HAVE IF YOU STAND ON CONCRETE ALL DAY”
Why it works
A pair of insoles lies on a wooden floor with sticky notes pressed on. One opens with "A MUST HAVE IF YOU STAND ON CONCRETE ALL DAY", another promises a 90 Day Money Back Guarantee with a heart, and the last gives "NOW UP TO 60% OFF". The first note sorts the audience by their job before any discount appears, and each promise sits on its own square of paper. It reads like a coworker's tip, not a store banner. Nothing but paper competes with the insoles.
Started 18 Sep 2025. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Last Call For Airmoto Early Black-Friday Sale”
Why it works
A strip of red paper, taped at the top, carries slanted brush lettering above a black air pump, its box and a round plinth. The sign says shop floor; the lighting says catalogue. That mix lets a sleek device carry a 52% off headline without looking marked down, because the paper and tape do the discounting and the product stays clean. A faint SALE pattern behind the plinth repeats the message, and the tilt of the tape is what makes it look put up by hand.
Started 25 Oct 2025. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“BLACK FRIDAY SALE 40% OFF”
Why it works
A white card lettered "BLACK FRIDAY SALE" in marker, with red dashes and an underline, sits against the open flap of a shipping box, and a yellow sticky note adds "40% OFF". Braces spill out in front of stacked cartons in a warehouse. Because the deal sits among real stock, the discount reads as a storeroom sign and not a template. A pen and two scraps of paper do the job of an event banner without a design file. It ran 332+ days.
Started 27 Nov 2025. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“don't tell our boss, but... here's 50% OFF - the intern”
Why it works
A bag of UnKibble sits on a butcher-block counter, a bowl of the food in front, and a yellow sticky note is slapped on the bag. The note gives the discount a speaker, a junior employee leaking it, and that small story makes a first-order offer feel like a favor. The product name and the ingredient list stay readable around the note. The persona is the hook; the percentage is almost an afterthought.
Started 15 Jan 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Save 20% with WELCOME20”
Why it works
A large bag of dog food sits on a dark tabletop at home, and a pink note is stuck low on the front: "20% OFF 1ST ORDER w/ CODE: WELCOME20". The note sits in the same pink family as the bag, so it feels printed on the bag but reads as written. The code is on the paper, which puts the whole redemption step in the picture. Lift the code onto the note so the viewer needs nothing from the body copy.
Started 11 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“9 Bags, 3 Free Gifts, Free Shipping”
Why it works
A yellow sticky note on a glass mug of coffee logs a morning: "7:42am - First sip", "Zero mushroom-y taste?", "Locked in. Zero anxiety.", "thinking about my next cup:)". Behind it stand the bags, a "For $126" badge and "$250 Value" struck through, all in clean type. With the taste question for a mushroom coffee answered in a diary voice, the offer around it can stay plain.
Started 5 Oct 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“these air purifying plants will transform your home”
Why it works
A yellow sticky note floats on the wall above a row of potted plants on a wooden table, with lowercase marker lettering and a hand-drawn underline. It is the only text on the image, and it reads like a friend's recommendation, while the headline field carries "Top 10 Air Purifying Plants". Use a single claim per note, in lowercase, the way a person would write it.
Started 8 Oct 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
Hand-lettered voice, not a headline · 4
Marker lettering replaces the typeset headline and lets the brand speak in the first person. Honey Pot signs off "Love, your Honey Pot" on a private topic, and Wicked Clothes letters a bundle deal in the same loose hand as its shirts.
“Periods? Odor? We can handle it all.”
Why it works
Black marker lettering on a pink panel asks "Periods? Odor?" and answers "We can handle it all.", signed "Love, your Honey Pot", beside a bike basket of products. The topic is private, and the loose handwriting and the love-letter sign-off make the reassurance sound like a friend's, not a product claim. The basket photo keeps the products visible while the pen speaks. Putting the questions in handwriting is what lets a blunt word like "Odor" sound kind.
Started 18 May 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Now we can have that "ooh, ahh" tingle every day.”
Why it works
The same layout in mint green: a handwritten line on the left, the same "Love, your Honey Pot" sign-off, and a photo cut-out of an open tote with products and a pink mat behind it. The lettering lets a sensory promise, a cooling tingle, sound like a note between friends. Set beside the other Honey Pot ad, it shows a repeatable template: the color and the line change while the letter format and the voice stay fixed.
Started 18 May 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Buy 3, Get 3 FREE”
Why it works
Loose marker lettering fills a white page with "Buy 3, Get 3 FREE", the word FREE in red, then "+ FREE sticker pack ($40 value) when you order today" above a grid of black tees printed with drawn animals and English and Japanese captions. The offer is lettered in the same wobbly, drawn style as the shirts, so the sales line and the art look like a single sketchbook page. A bundle deal sounds like part of the merch, not a promotion laid on top of it.
Started 27 May 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“THE BEST INVESTMENT I MADE IN MY TRAINING WAS FUELIN”
Why it works
A runner's shoes and bare legs stand at the foot of a stretch of pavement covered in chalk lines: "THE BEST INVESTMENT I MADE IN MY TRAINING WAS FUELIN", with "WAS FUELIN" in yellow, then "IT READS MY WORKOUTS AND TELLS ME WHAT TO EAT" in green. Chalk is handwriting that belongs to the training ground, so the endorsement seems written by the athlete in the middle of a session. Steal the setting: write the line on the surface your buyer already trains on.
Started 4 Oct 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
Script labels on polished shots · 6
Premium products take handwriting as a label, a circle or an arrow, never as a price. Missoma names its necklaces in script under hairline pointers, and Sonos circles "Era 300" in red pen.
“What People Think Will Sell VS What Actually Sells”
Why it works
A white half and a hot pink half, with a plain household product on the left and a pixelated blur on the right. Nearly everything is typeset, so the handwriting is one move: a pen-drawn loop around "What Actually Sells" that marks the answer as the part to read twice. The loop stands in for a person underlining their own point, which suits a service that sells inside knowledge. It carries the longest run in this set at 427+ days.
Started 24 Aug 2025. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“FAIL-SAFE JEWELLERY GIFTS”
Why it works
Gold T-bar necklaces hang against a dark teal backdrop, and script labels, Baguette, Chunky and Classic, sit under hairline pointers. The writing is a catalogue, not an offer, like a friend naming the options. With no price anywhere in the picture, the script gives a premium product a personal tone without a sale. For a gift buyer choosing between near-identical pieces, the labels do the sorting that a headline would otherwise do in words.
Started 28 Apr 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Pick Your Talisman”
Why it works
A gold coin pendant on a paper-clip chain hangs against brown velvet. Under it, a slip of paper reads "for fortune" in handwriting, like a gift tag, and "Pick Your Talisman" in plain type finishes the line. The tag gives a small object an occasion and a meaning, which a price or a feature list could not. No sale appears anywhere in the picture. Worth copying: a tag-sized handwritten line that names why someone would give the piece.
Started 2 Jul 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“The gift they'll actually use”
Why it works
A script line, "The gift they'll actually use", arcs across white tile above a cream cookware set on a stovetop, with "Cookware Set" underlined and a hand-drawn arrow pointing down at the pans. The pen marks act like a note left on a gift registry. They are the only marks, so the kitchen photo stays clean. Try the arrow: a hand-drawn pointer tells the eye which object the line is about.
Started 26 Aug 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“ALL THIS SOUND FOR JUST TWO EARS”
Why it works
A cream page shows an exploded drawing of a speaker on grid paper, with a red pen circle around a handwritten "Era 300" under it, below a headline in heavy capitals. The notebook look gives a consumer electronics product an engineer's sketch feel, and the red ring takes the place a price badge holds in other ads. Nothing here says sale. The pen circles the model name the way an engineer marks a drawing, which turns a hardware diagram into something to read.
Started 14 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“TUNED WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR ROOM”
Why it works
A light blue frame holds a rounded photo of a woman in a pink sweater, a speaker on a table beside her, and a script "Era 300" floats above the cut-out under a boxed headline. The handwriting is a signature on the picture, the only soft thing in a frame of capitals. It makes a technical feature, tuning to the room, feel like a personal fitting. It ran 41+ days.
Started 14 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
A signature or pen as proof · 5
Here the pen shows a person behind the product: Hyperlite Mountain Gear's handwritten attribution under a customer quote, and Lip Lab's expert filling in a shade sheet.
“Your Tickets Outta Here”
Why it works
A hiker in a loaded pack turns to the camera, with a customer quote set in torn white strips across the top and a handwritten "- LIBBY L." beneath it. The attribution is the only handwriting, yet it makes the quote read as a signature. On a backpack, where fit cannot be judged from a photo, a named reviewer answers what the image cannot. A pen-written name is the cheapest way to make a typeset block sound spoken.
Started 7 Aug 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Plan Your Visit”
Why it works
A gloved hand writes on a Lip Lab consultation sheet, shade circles ready and a name being written in, next to a tray of lipstick caps. Here handwriting is the activity, not a font: you watch an expert record your shade, which a product shot of a lipstick cannot show. The headline "Plan Your Visit" and the Book Now button turn watching into booking, and the body ties it to a Vegas itinerary. The pen proves a person is waiting in the room.
Started 3 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“Remarkable Paper Pro review: one digital notebook to rule them all”
Why it works
A tablet sits on a stone ledge showing a weekly planner filled in by pen: school runs, a food delivery and a weekend trip. There is no text on the image. The handwriting is the demo, because it shows the screen taking real pen strokes and doubling as a diary. The headline sits in the copy field as a review line, so the picture does the proving and the words only name it. A planner someone clearly uses says more than a spec list.
Started 8 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“We started seeing him wake up more throughout the day and enjoy his life.”
Why it works
An NFL running back kneels on grass beside his dog, and his words sit in white handwritten-style lettering on the left, above his name, job title and the NFL partnership mark. The handwriting makes the quote feel like something said over a fence, not drafted by a brand. For a food buyers cannot judge from the bag, a named person describing his own dog carries the claim. The name and title make the words checkable.
Started 14 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
“STORE EXCLUSIVE”
Why it works
A vinyl sleeve, an inner art card and a blue record fan out on white, under a diagonal blue "STORE EXCLUSIVE" banner. On the card inside there is a signature in pen. That mark suggests the object has been touched by the artist, which a streaming link cannot offer. Nothing else on the studio shot looks hand-made, and the banner tells a collector why to buy here instead of anywhere else.
Started 19 Sep 2026. Live when checked on 25 Oct 2026. View in Meta Ad Library ↗
The parts of the ad
- 01
Handwritten. In 22 of 22 ads on this page.
- 02
Lifestyle scene. In 11 of 22 ads on this page.
- 03
Packaging. In 9 of 22 ads on this page.
- 04
Price or offer. In 6 of 22 ads on this page.
- 05
Person. In 5 of 22 ads on this page.
Note lines worth rewriting for your own offer
Lifted from the ads above. Swap in your own product.
- 01don't tell our boss, but... here's [discount] OFF - the [job title]Spot and Tango, “don't tell our boss, but... here's 50% OFF - the intern”, 283 days
- 02A MUST HAVE IF YOU [do what your buyer does] ALL DAYStepprs, “A MUST HAVE IF YOU STAND ON CONCRETE ALL DAY”, 402 days
- 03[Pain point]? [Pain point]? We can handle it all.The Honey Pot Company, “Periods? Odor? We can handle it all.”, 160 days
- 04[Time] - [first reaction to the product]Four Sigmatic, “9 Bags, 3 Free Gifts, Free Shipping”, 20 days
Writing the note so it reads as a person
- Give the note one jobStepprs spreads its message over separate notes: the audience, the guarantee and the discount each get their own square of paper.
- Stick the note on the productStepprs, Spot and Tango and Open Farm photograph paper on the real item, so the pen and the product share a frame.
- Sign it as a personSpot and Tango signs its discount "the intern" and Honey Pot closes with "Love, your Honey Pot", which turns copy into a speaker.
- Write like a text messageThe easyplant note and the Four Sigmatic diary use casual, lowercase lines short enough to read in the feed.
- Leave the logo readableSpot and Tango's note leaves the product name and the ingredient list clear, so the note never covers what it is selling.
- Back the claim before writing itA percent-off note is a price claim and a named quote is an endorsement, so confirm the former price and the speaker's words before it goes live.
Sizes and Safe Zones are on our Instagram Safe Zone checker page.
What goes on the note
Name the buyer by what they do. Stepprs opens with "A MUST HAVE IF YOU STAND ON CONCRETE ALL DAY", so the first note sorts the audience before the discount note appears.
Give the discount a speaker. Spot and Tango signs its 50% off "the intern", which turns a discount into office gossip.
Put the code on the paper. Open Farm's pink note carries "20% OFF 1ST ORDER w/ CODE: WELCOME20", so the whole redemption step sits in the picture.
Let the note tell a short story. Four Sigmatic's sticky note logs a morning from first sip to the next cup, answering the taste question of a mushroom coffee in the buyer's own voice.
Rules for claims in pen
A percent-off note is a price claim. Anaconda Fightwear's "40% OFF" and Open Farm's "20% OFF" are comparisons, and the FTC's pricing guide expects a comparison with a former price to be a genuine one.
A pen-written name still marks an endorsement. Hyperlite Mountain Gear's handwritten "- LIBBY L." and The Farmer's Dog's lettered athlete quote carry the same weight under the FTC's Endorsement Guides as a typeset review, so the words have to be the speaker's own view.
A note that speaks to the viewer stays on what they do. Stepprs addresses a job, "IF YOU STAND ON CONCRETE ALL DAY". Meta's ad standards limit copy that asserts or implies personal attributes such as a health condition, so a note should describe an activity and not diagnose the reader.
Sources: ecfr.gov, ecfr.gov, transparency.meta.com
Handwritten ad questions, from pen to proof
Which products suit a handwritten ad?
Products a person might recommend or give: food, pet food, insoles, jewelry and kitchenware all appear here. Spot and Tango, Open Farm and The Farmer's Dog are all pet food, and electronics come from Sonos and reMarkable. The job of the pen changes by price tier, with mass-market packs carrying offers and premium goods carrying labels.
Should a handwritten note carry a discount?
Often for everyday goods, rarely for premium ones. Stepprs, Anaconda Fightwear, Spot and Tango and Open Farm put a percentage or a code on paper, while Missoma, Sonos and Caraway use pen for labels and show no price in the picture.
Does the note have to be hand-written, or is a handwriting font fine?
Either works, because both appear in this set. Stepprs (402+ days) and Spot and Tango (283+ days) photograph a note on the real product, while Honey Pot (160+ days) and Caraway (60+ days) set lettering over a designed layout.
Can I put a customer's quote in handwriting?
Yes, if the words are really the customer's and the claim behind them holds up. Hyperlite Mountain Gear adds a handwritten "- LIBBY L." under a typeset quote, and The Farmer's Dog sets an athlete's quote in handwriting-style lettering with his name and title beneath. The lettering does not change the rule: the FTC's Endorsement Guides still apply to a named quote, however it is written.
Does a handwritten note beat a designed ad?
This data cannot say, because run length is a spend signal and not a result, and no ad here has a pen-free twin to compare against. What it does show is that the longest run, SaleHoo at 427+ days, uses a single pen loop, followed by offers on paper from Stepprs, Airmoto, Anaconda Fightwear and Spot and Tango.
Make handwritten ads like these
Drop your client's website or your own into the box and Gimme Gimme will research the brand and design on-brand ads, so you can test a note-style offer against its usual banners.
How we pick ads. We search Meta's public Ad Library for ads from DTC brands that sell to US and UK shoppers, keep ads running 14 days or more, skip catalogue ads, and show at most 3 per brand. Days running is a spend signal: brands rarely keep paying for an ad that doesn't sell. Day counts are as of the check date above. Breakdowns are written by Gimme Gimme's ad analysis engine from each ad's image and copy, and edited by Josh Jackson, founder. Not affiliated with the brands shown; ads appear for commentary and analysis. To have an ad removed, email hello@getgimmegimme.com and we'll take it down within 7 days.