How to Edit Mani-Generated Ads

AI generates the first draft. You refine the final version. This guide covers every editing capability in mani's Campaign Studio: changing copy, adjusting visual elements, creating format variations, and building on winning ads to create entire campaign sequences.

Step 1: Open an ad in Campaign Studio

From your library or daily queue, click any approved ad to open it in Campaign Studio. The studio view shows: the visual preview (full-size, as it will appear on the platform), the text fields (headline, body, CTA) in editable form, format info (dimensions, platform target), and action buttons (edit, regenerate, create variation, export).

The studio is non-destructive: every edit creates a new version. Your original generation is always preserved. You can revert to any previous version at any time.

Step 2: Edit copy (the most common edit)

Click any text field to enter edit mode. You can change the headline, body copy, and CTA button text independently. Common copy edits:

Shorten a headline. Instagram feed shows 27 characters in the headline preview. If the AI generated a 40-character headline, you lose the last 13 characters. Shorten to fit: "Transform Your Morning Routine with Our Premium Blend" becomes "Transform Your Morning" or "Premium Blend. New Price."

Add specificity. The AI might generate "Save big on our best sellers." More specific is always better: "Save 30% on the Trail Runner Pro. This weekend only." Add the product name, the discount percentage, and the time constraint.

Match platform tone. LinkedIn copy should be more professional than TikTok copy. If you are editing a cross-platform ad, adjust the register: LinkedIn ("Discover how 500+ teams streamlined their workflow") vs TikTok ("this workflow hack saved me 5 hours/week"). Same message, different register.

Strengthen the CTA. Generic CTAs ("Learn More," "Shop Now") underperform specific CTAs ("Try Free for 14 Days," "Get 30% Off Today," "See Your Brand DNA"). The CTA should tell the user exactly what happens when they click.

Step 3: Create format variations

A single ad concept can be exported in multiple formats without regenerating. From Campaign Studio, click "Create Variation" and select the target format: 1:1 square (Instagram/Facebook feed), 4:5 portrait (Instagram feed, higher screen coverage), 9:16 vertical (Stories, Reels, TikTok), 16:9 landscape (YouTube, LinkedIn), and 1200x628 (Facebook ad standard).

The AI adapts the layout to each format: repositioning the product, adjusting text size, and cropping the visual appropriately. You review each format adaptation and make per-format edits. This is the fastest way to go from one approved concept to multi-platform deployment. 5 formats from 1 generation, each reviewed and tweaked in under 2 minutes.

Step 4: Remix a winning ad

When you find an ad that performs well (high CTR, good ROAS), you want more ads in that style without copying it exactly. The "Remix" feature generates 3 new variations that keep the same creative angle (hook type, visual style, copy structure) but vary the specific content.

Example: your winning ad is a before/after split-screen for your skincare product. Remix generates 3 new before/after split-screens: one with a different product from your line, one with a different background color, and one with a different headline angle. Same proven structure, fresh content.

Remixing is the highest-efficiency creative production technique. Instead of guessing what will work from a blank brief, you are generating from a proven template. Approval rates on remixed ads are typically 60-70%, compared to 30-40% for blind generations. Use remix aggressively on your top performers.

Step 5: Build a campaign sequence

A campaign sequence is a set of 3-5 ads designed to tell a story across multiple exposures. The sequence view in Campaign Studio lets you: arrange ads in order (awareness, consideration, conversion), ensure visual consistency across the sequence, set different copy for each stage (teaser, reveal, urgency, social proof, CTA), and export the full sequence as a campaign package.

The typical campaign sequence: Ad 1 (awareness): problem statement or curiosity hook. Ad 2 (consideration): product demo or feature highlight. Ad 3 (social proof): testimonial or review. Ad 4 (conversion): offer with urgency. Ad 5 (retargeting): "still thinking about it?" with a sweetener.

Each ad in the sequence shares the same brand DNA but has a distinct creative job. Campaign Studio ensures visual coherence (same palette, same product treatment) while allowing message progression. Export the full sequence to your ad platform and set up as a retargeting ladder.

Step 6: Batch edit for seasonal campaigns

When BFCM, holidays, or product launches arrive, you need to update multiple ads with seasonal overlays. Batch edit lets you: select multiple ads from your library, apply a text overlay to all (e.g., "30% OFF," "NEW," "LIMITED"), adjust the color accent across all (e.g., add red accents for holiday), and export all with the seasonal treatment in one action.

This is faster than regenerating seasonal creative from scratch because your existing approved ads are already proven. You are adding a seasonal layer on top of proven creative, not starting over. 20 ads with BFCM overlays in 10 minutes.

Pro tips for efficient editing

Edit in batches, not one-by-one. Review and approve 3-5 ads, then edit all approved ads in sequence. Context-switching between review mode and edit mode is expensive. Batching keeps you in the same mental mode.

Keep a copy swipe file. When you write a headline you love, save it to a text file. Next time the AI generates something similar, you can quickly swap in your proven headline. Your swipe file of winning copy becomes your most valuable marketing asset over time.

Use the A/B test export. For paid ads, export two variations of the same concept with different headlines. Let the ad platform's algorithm choose the winner. You provide the creative; the algorithm provides the testing. This is faster and more reliable than your own A/B intuition.

Do not over-polish. The goal is "publish-ready," not "award-winning." Every minute spent on a micro-edit is a minute not spent generating the next batch. The math favors volume over perfection: 20 good ads outperform 5 perfect ads because the algorithm has more material to test.

When to regenerate vs when to edit

The single most common Campaign Studio mistake is editing an ad that should have been regenerated. Editing is for refinement of a fundamentally good concept. Regenerating is for replacing a fundamentally weak concept. The decision rule is simple: if you find yourself rewriting more than 50% of the headline + body, the AI did not give you a workable starting point. Stop editing and click Regenerate. New brief, fresh angles. You will spend less total time and end up with a better ad than the one you spent 20 minutes patching together.

Concrete signals that an ad should be regenerated, not edited: the visual composition does not match your brand aesthetic, the headline angle is off-strategy (selling on price when your brand sells on quality), the CTA implies a flow that does not exist on your site, the copy feels like it was written for a different category. Editing cannot fix any of these. Regenerating with a sharper brief can.

Concrete signals that an ad is worth editing: the concept is right but the execution needs polish, one element is wrong while the rest is solid, the format needs adjustment for a specific platform, the copy needs the platform-native register applied. Editing is faster than regenerating in these cases.

What to do next

Once you are comfortable with Campaign Studio's edit, remix, and sequence patterns, the next mani capability to learn is competitive intelligence. Brand Radar surfaces what your competitors are running, and you can remix their winning angles into your own brand voice from the same Campaign Studio interface. Pair the editing workflow above with the Brand Radar walkthrough and you have the full creative-production pipeline: generate, edit, remix, sequence, and learn from competitive signal.

If you are still on the free tier and considering an upgrade, see pricing for unlimited generations + scheduled publish + multi-account team seats. The editing workflow above scales directly into team-shared libraries on the paid tiers.