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# How to write Silver Lining ads that flip a negative into a hook
- URL: https://www.unbore.com/how-to-write-silver-lining-ads-that-flip-a-negative-into-a-hook/
- Published: 2026-03-01T00:57:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-06T15:18:24.000Z
- Description: The technique I used to write the IKEA ads that got me my first internship.
- Author: Shlomo Genchin
- Tags: Brainstorming

I created this ad in my first year of ad school. I would probably change a few things now. But back then, this was my best work, which helped me land an internship at Ogilvy Berlin.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/1772379065772-nvsdcci6Jj4hjFmHUBir2T.jpeg)

This simple creative technique is called: The Silver Lining.

Here’s the recipe:

## 1\. List the product’s disadvantages

IKEA:

• Getting lost in the store

• Impulse buying

• Assembly agony

• Arguing with your partner

🤖 **GPT prompt**

List all the disadvantages of \[product\]. Guidelines: 1) Write in the first person 2) Focus on relatable situations and human insights 3) Use short bullet points. 

## 2\. Find an advantage for each disadvantage

• Getting lost → Yeah, but at least I can count it as a workout.

• Buying stuff → Yeah, but at least I’ll finally get that stuffed shark my mom never got me.

• Assembly agony → Yeah, but at least I can feel like a handyman for a moment.

• Arguing → Yeah, but at least you’ll spend the night on a comfy couch.

🤖 **GPT prompt**

Now, find an advantage to each disadvantage.Follow this framework: \[Disadvantage\], yeah, but at least \[silver lining\]. Guidelines: Use various humor techniques such as exaggeration, understatement, wordplay, sarcasm, irony, self-deprecation, misdirection, and parody. 

## 3\. Expand the best line into a series

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/1772379066388-iz9LaSjPquM2H2MWDaMtM3.jpeg)

## 🤖 And with GPT, we can go on and on:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/1772379066892-49ZxSL1b6gQAYdgxC7e4iM-768x576.jpeg)

Outcome:

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/56/7c/567cd7c2-834c-4b5b-a024-a798f2ebbdf8/content/images/2026/03/1772379067366-af2TCR5k3jBgww9Zij1Ky1-1.jpeg)

🤬 “BuT, ShLomO, wE shOulDn’t rEveAl oUr weAkNessEs!”

💡 I hear you, but ads need to be interesting. And like designer Stefan Sagmeister says, *“Everyone who is honest is interesting.”*