# John Soriano

John Soriano creates short-form ad concepts and edits UGC footage for DTC brands. Their posts focus on testing different hooks, angles, and edits—often using existing footage—to help brands find creative variations for paid social ads.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/john-soriano/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thejohnsoriano
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXHo17VZI3uLMTcLKX4eNw
- Topics: ecommerce, paid-ads
- Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-09

## Summary

John Soriano is most useful for turning owned UGC into testable short-form paid social ad variations.

- Best for: A DTC apparel brand seeking more testable Meta ad variations from UGC it already owns.
- Not for: B2B SaaS long-form YouTube sponsorships, gated whitepaper campaigns, or enterprise IT-buyer content.
- Check first: Confirm paid partnership availability, terms, and supporting performance data for reported results.

### Takeaways

- One raw UGC clip can become five testable ads by changing the opener.
- Meaningful variations change the idea, such as problem, proof, or call to action.
- Soriano reports 45 weekly variations for DTC apparel and a 4.85x ROAS high point, self-reported.

## Main ideas

- **Most DTC brands have an angle problem, not a content problem**: Soriano argues that reshooting a product video, changing the captions or swapping the music does not create a new concept. A real variation changes one of five elements: the customer problem, opening hook, product demonstration, proof or call to action. The aim is to give media buyers meaningful variations they can test, not a more polished version of the same idea.
- **The first three seconds are the unit of testing**: Because Meta and TikTok judge the opening seconds, not the whole video, Soriano treats the opener as the variable to multiply. Their five-part re-edit requires no reshoot: pull the strongest line from the middle and lead with it; open on the problem, not the fix; start with the product demo and bring in the voiceover second; lead with a review, result or before-and-after; and cut tighter, introducing a new shot every one to two seconds. Then rewrite the captions for each cut so the first line viewers read matches the new opening.
- **Before killing an ad, pull four numbers**: When an ad's ROAS drops, the argument is that usually one part stopped working, not the whole ad. Turning it off can discard footage that still performs. Four measures show where viewers leave: hook rate (3-second views divided by impressions), hold rate (15-second views divided by impressions), click-through rate and conversion. A low hook rate means viewers are not stopping, so keep the body and re-cut the opener. A good hook rate with a low hold rate means the middle drags, so tighten the edit and move the proof into the first five seconds. A good hold rate with low click-through points to the offer or call to action, not the creative. Good click-through with low conversion points to the landing page. Judge each number against the account's own average, not another account's benchmark.
- **Creative volume needs a labelling convention, not just more files**: Soriano attributes results to volume, not one perfect video: 15 concepts a week, three hook-and-CTA versions of each, and 45 variations weekly, with the same body and footage and only the opening seconds changed. The hooks draw on five fixed frames — curiosity gap, contrarian, identity call-out, stat shock and negative frame — so each week's batch tests distinct psychological openings instead of repeating one approach. Each file is labelled by hook, body and version number, making it possible to identify the exact opener that starts spending and build the next batch around what worked, not guesswork.
- **Give a specific, small deliverable instead of a pitch**: The public offers are narrow and low-commitment: no sales call or long form, just useful creative direction. Send one product link and get three short-form ad angles to test; send a current ad and get three angles, three hooks and one short-form ad script; or submit a raw clip that has already run and get a recommendation on which of the five re-cuts to test first. This lets a brand judge the thinking on its own product before committing to anything larger.

## Work to read

- [Turn one raw UGC clip into five testable ads](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thejohnsoriano_heres-the-re-edit-list-i-use-to-turn-one-activity-7511764633108611074-gDUt)
- [45 ad variations a week and the 4.85x ROAS behind them](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thejohnsoriano_485x-roas-thats-the-high-point-from-meta-activity-7513247966137106433-e5rM)
- [Before you kill a losing ad, pull four numbers](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thejohnsoriano_killing-an-ad-the-day-roas-drops-is-quietly-activity-7512880385689575424-A6m3)
- [Most DTC brands do not have a content problem; they have an angle problem](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thejohnsoriano_most-dtc-brands-do-not-have-a-content-problem-activity-7510635804486995968-jbem)
- [One product link, three ad angles, no sales call](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/thejohnsoriano_dtc-founders-and-performance-agencies-send-activity-7511017436012302336-eUw3)

## Partnerships

John Soriano's public collaboration route is a no-call creative review: send an ad, raw clip, product link, or current creative and receive written direction such as three angles, hooks, a short script, a re-edit plan, or a rewritten opening. The posts publish no paid sponsorship format, rate card, or official partnership inquiry page, and do not say these offers are paid brand partnerships. Ask whether paid partnerships are available and what the terms are.

## Alternatives

- Aqsam Bilal: Choose Aqsam Bilal when ad fatigue at scale is the testing bottleneck and the brand wants a faster hook-testing loop. The posts describe a wellness brand that spent £20,000 on creator content in under 14 days and still hit fatigue, then present a hybrid AI UGC engine: an AI avatar delivers a three-second emotional hook, followed by real human B-roll of product pour, texture, and skin progress. Aqsam also reframes the testing question from how many ads can be made to what the ad is trying to learn about the customer. Each test should surface a new pain point, objection, use case, or reason to buy. That makes Aqsam a better starting point than Soriano when the brand already has enough footage but needs a faster variation loop and a stronger learning agenda to fight fatigue.
- Nikita Ganzina: Choose Nikita Ganzina when the brand suspects its editors can make polished video but not direct-response ads. The posts lay out what a performance ad must do: stop the scroll with a strong hook, introduce the problem quickly, make the product and its value obvious, give people a reason to trust the storytelling, use social proof to reduce skepticism, handle objections, and finish with a clear reason to act. They also describe deliberate tradeoffs: cutting a beautiful opening shot because it takes four seconds to reach the point, using an ugly-looking customer quote because proof matters more than aesthetics, or making the edit feel native to the feed instead of like a commercial. That makes Nikita a better starting point than Soriano when the brand needs a conversion-focused editorial standard before multiplying variations.
- Ujla Shakoor: Choose Ujla Shakoor when the account-level risk is dependence on a single winning ad and the team needs replacements ready before the current winner dies. The posts describe scaling one creative from $1,000 to $10,000, then seeing CPA climb, ROAS drop, and sales slow. The mistake: building an account around one hook, one angle, and one message. Ujla Shakoor asks what is being tested next and wants different hooks, angles, customer problems, and formats, so the next winner is already in test when the current one tires. That is a better framing than Soriano when the brand's main problem is strategic concentration rather than the mechanics of re-editing one clip.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/