Summit Energy · Creative Library

v5-fusion — ComEd hook + Roof structure, extended to Colorado.

Three composites built against the design × performance fusion thesis from n5ltcjng's grading + Frank's perf brief. Cohesion beats template. Single-frame designs where the prop IS the message, paired with utility-name pain hooks. Civic-publisher voice register; diagnostic CTAs, not transactional.

Roundv5-fusion · 2026-05-15
Formats1080×1350 (Meta 4:5 feed)
MarketsIllinois · Colorado
PillarsRate-hike · Anti-spam
Source basisLance's 2026-05-15 Xcel-letter forward
AuthorNagatha (nagatha-session, PC)

Creative intent
Visual approach
Single-frame cohesion. The chart, the pledge, the quote-card — each is the prop AND the message. No layered photo+text stacks (Rate Shock pattern). Editorial gravity over hype.
Voice register
Civic-publisher: Newsreader serif headlines, dated source-attribution where applicable, diagnostic CTA ("see if solar makes sense") not transactional. Lance Take 3 customer-empathy preserved at copy level.
Compliance posture
v4 BRIEF.md treated as current. No specific $ savings. No ITC / 30% / 2045. Xcel + ComEd by name (allowed). Source-quoted percentages on rate-hike claims (defensible).

v3 — Reddit-voice Copy + Misconception Ad (LATEST)

Latest iteration. Copy revised against 90-day Reddit voice-of-customer data (boiler rooms / 888 numbers / "same usage bigger bill" / "socialize costs privatize profits"). Plus a new 4th ad correcting the "30% federal credit ended → solar is dead" misconception that Reddit confirmed is killing 2026 buying intent across all four target states. v2 + v1 preserved below for comparison.

ComEd Diagnostic v3
Rate-hike Illinois · ComEd v3 · Reddit voice
"Rates went up. Again."
Body now mirrors Reddit's verbatim math pattern: "Same usage. Bigger bill. Every year." (4+ recent threads use this exact framing). Compliance-safe (no specific $).
Pledge v3
Anti-spam Illinois · market-portable v3 · Reddit voice
"What we will not do."
Pledge clauses now Reddit-real: call center / two-hour script / door knocker / 888 number every week. Added italic body: "No boiler rooms. No robo-dialers." (r/solar gift line verbatim).
Xcel Letter v3
Rate-hike Colorado · Xcel v3 · monopoly frame
"Xcel just said it themselves."
Xcel quote preserved verbatim (Meta-compliance depends on this). New italic frame above CTA: "Captive customer. Captive bill. Solar is the off-ramp." Channels Reddit's 397-upvote monopoly-anger.
Misconception correction
Education / correction Illinois · market-portable NEW v3
"The 30% credit ended. Solar didn't."
Scoreboard prop: 3 active programs (Illinois Shines / Smart Inverter Rebate / IL Property Tax Exemption) vs 1 ended (Federal 30%, struck through). Body: "Three out of four still work." Outflanks competitors who tap-dance around the federal-credit change.

v3 Aspect-Ratio Variants — 9:16 Reels/Stories + 1:1 Square Feed

Same v3 copy, adapted for the other two Meta pathways. 9:16 (1080×1920) is for Stories + Reels — Ad 3's mountain backdrop particularly benefits from the extra vertical room. 1:1 (1080×1080) is for the square feed slot — tighter, copy still fits, but less image breathing room (especially on text-heavy ads 2 + 4).

9:16 · Reels & Stories · 1080×1920

Ad 1 v3 9:16
Rate-hikeIL · ComEd9:16
Ad 1 — Reels / Stories
Ad 2 v3 9:16
Anti-spammarket-portable9:16
Ad 2 — Reels / Stories
Ad 3 v3 9:16
Rate-hikeCO · Xcel9:16 · best fit
Ad 3 — Reels / Stories
Ad 4 v3 9:16
Educationmarket-portable9:16
Ad 4 — Reels / Stories

1:1 · Square Feed · 1080×1080

Ad 1 v3 1:1
Rate-hikeIL · ComEd1:1
Ad 1 — Square Feed
Ad 2 v3 1:1
Anti-spammarket-portable1:1 · tight
Ad 2 — Square Feed
Ad 3 v3 1:1
Rate-hikeCO · Xcel1:1
Ad 3 — Square Feed
Ad 4 v3 1:1
Educationmarket-portable1:1 · tight
Ad 4 — Square Feed

Research backing v3

Two research streams drove the v3 changes — both available in vault + linked here.


v2 — AI Photo Backgrounds + Branding

Iteration on Wes's note: photo backgrounds with opaque dark overlays, prominent Summit branding, solar-subject-matter visuals (rooftop solar / quiet home / mountain home). Same fusion copy, new visual register.

ComEd Diagnostic v2
Rate-hike Illinois · ComEd v2 · AI bg
"Rates went up. Again."
Imagen background: Midwest two-story home, golden-hour rooftop solar. Top-bar Summit branding + Illinois Homeowner pill. Same ComEd-hook DNA, photo-led visual.
The Pledge v2
Anti-spam Illinois · market-portable v2 · AI bg
"What we will not do."
Imagen background: quiet kitchen with coffee mug — the calm before unwanted interruption. Pledge clauses anchor the bottom. Pledge IS the prop; image carries mood.
Xcel Letter v2
Rate-hike Colorado · Xcel v2 · AI bg · Lance email
"Xcel just said it themselves."
Imagen background: Colorado craftsman home with rooftop solar, Rocky Mountain foothills. Glass quote-card overlay holds the Kenney 10.5% admission. Full clause preserved.

Video sample — 7.5s animated

First-pass video: the rate-hike chart animated. Branding fades in, then headline, then bars rise staggered left-to-right, then the locked-rate dashed line slides in, then body + CTA appear. Pure CSS animation captured via Playwright at 1080×1350. Reference for what motion-ad direction looks like before we explore image-to-video (Wan 2.7 / Veo) or cinemagraph approaches.

Rate-hike · animated Illinois · ComEd 7.5s · 1080×1350
"Rates went up. Again." — motion variant
Animation timing: 0–0.7s branding fade-in · 0.4–1.0s eyebrow + headline reveal · 1.6–3.5s "Again." accents in · 2.4–4.9s bars rise staggered · 5.0–5.7s locked-rate line + label slides in · 5.5–6.7s body line + CTA fade up. Subtle ken-burns zoom on the bg throughout (1.04 → 1.0 over 7s).

v1 — CSS-only (initial)

First iteration, CSS art only (no AI backgrounds). Kept for reference and comparison.

ComEd Diagnostic
Rate-hike Illinois · ComEd Quiz-Hook adset rec.
"ComEd Raised Rates. Again."
Chart-on-locked-line fusion. Rising burnt-orange bars (climbing rate) with a dashed amber horizontal (your locked rate with solar). Direct homage to ComEd-Copy headline — the 5.47% CTR-king.
The Pledge
Anti-spam Illinois · market-portable Quiz-Hook adset rec.
"What We Will Not Do."
Editorial "Practice Notes" magazine-spread. Four amber-circle × marks beside negation clauses, civic-publisher register. Voice line "On your schedule." pulled directly from Lance Take 3.
Xcel Letter Quote
Rate-hike Colorado · Xcel From Lance's 5/15 email
"Xcel just said it themselves."
Quote-the-source. The utility's own CEO — Robert Kenney, May 15, 2026 — on the record: "up to 10.5% per month, starting late this year." Source-cited, defensible, civic-publisher gravity.

Notes, caveats, and open questions

The fusion thesis

n5ltcjng's calibration matrix + Frank's per-ad performance data converged on the same pattern: the HIGH-design × HIGH-perf cell is held by cohesive single-frame designs where the prop IS the message, paired with utility-name pain hooks. Two anchors: Roof (Quiz Hook adset, $48.79 CPL, 28 leads, 3.14% CTR) and ComEd-Copy (Wasn't Annoying-Copy, $69.09 CPL, 16 leads, 5.47% CTR — CTR king).

These three ads attempt to bring that fusion into one creative each. Ad 1 fuses for IL. Ad 3 extends to CO with Lance-sourced ammunition. Ad 2 covers the anti-spam pillar (market-portable; eyebrow easily swapped to "Colorado Homeowner").

Source of the CO direction

Lance Sauter forwarded Robert Kenney's "Powering Colorado's Future" letter to Wes on 2026-05-15 at 17:56Z. Direct quote used: "the average residential customer who receives both electric and natural gas service could see a total bill increase of up to 10.5% per month, starting late this year."

Ad 3 uses the full clause including the "who receives both electric and natural gas service" qualifier so the quote is technically accurate, not broadened. Date-stamped (May 15, 2026), source-attributed (Robert Kenney, President of Xcel Energy — Colorado), so any compliance challenge is met by pointing at the utility's own published letter to customers.

Compliance review

v4 BRIEF.md treated as current. Cross-check against banned/allowed lists:

Open question on dollar-anchored copy

n5ltcjng's grading-doc open question, unresolved. The best-performing OLD ads (final-il-01 through final-il-05) use specific dollar amounts ($2,400/yr, $274, $3,072, $10K+) that v4 BRIEF explicitly bans. Two hypotheses: (a) BRIEF was tightened AFTER those shipped, OR (b) dollar copy is the reason they performed and the BRIEF over-corrected. These three ads ship compliant with the current BRIEF; if you/Frank confirm BRIEF is stale, dollar-anchored variants can be built in ~10 min each.

Recommended placements (per Frank's perf brief)

Open questions for Wes

How to redline

Open any PNG full-size by clicking the card image. HTML source is one click away if you want to tweak copy in place — everything is a self-contained file, no build step. To redline: text comments in this page (when CF Pages access-comment is set up) OR drop edit notes in Z:\hinesipedia\Clients\summit\rebuild-2026-05-14\v5-fusion\blueprint.md, OR Telegram.

Where these live on disk