Zach Murray
Zach Murray
Your next winning ad probably already exists. Zach shows you how to find it, decode it, and make it your own.
Your next winning ad probably already exists. Zach shows you how to find it, decode it, and make it your own.
About
About
About
Zach
Zach
Zach
Murray
Murray
Murray
Founder of Foreplay
Founder of Foreplay
Zach Murray is a seasoned creative strategist, designer, and entrepreneur. Before founding Foreplay, he worked as a Creative Director and Motion Designer, built and exited his ecommerce brand Nomadic Fabrics, and served as Head of Product Design at Triple Whale. Today, Zach is focused on transforming how marketers research and develop high-performing ads through Foreplay, a complete creative workflow platform that combines ad inspiration, swipe files, competitor tracking, creative analytics, and briefing tools in one system.
Zach Murray is a seasoned creative strategist, designer, and entrepreneur. Before founding Foreplay, he worked as a Creative Director and Motion Designer, built and exited his ecommerce brand Nomadic Fabrics, and served as Head of Product Design at Triple Whale. Today, Zach is focused on transforming how marketers research and develop high-performing ads through Foreplay, a complete creative workflow platform that combines ad inspiration, swipe files, competitor tracking, creative analytics, and briefing tools in one system.
5+
Years in Creative Strategy
10M+
Ads Searchable in Foreplay
10K+
Teams Using Foreplay
Watch
Watch
Zach
Zach
Teach
Teach
Frameworks
Frameworks
Zach
Zach
Teaches
Teaches
A research-driven system for uncovering winning creative patterns and turning them into high-performing ad concepts.
Reverse Engineer Winners
Reverse Engineer Winners
Zach’s philosophy starts with a simple belief: your next winning ad probably already exists. Instead of brainstorming in a vacuum, he teaches students to systematically study top-performing ads across competitors and adjacent industries. By analyzing hooks, angles, structures, and visual patterns, students uncover proven ideas they can adapt and improve. The best ads are rarely invented from scratch. They are intelligently reverse-engineered.
Zach’s philosophy starts with a simple belief: your next winning ad probably already exists. Instead of brainstorming in a vacuum, he teaches students to systematically study top-performing ads across competitors and adjacent industries. By analyzing hooks, angles, structures, and visual patterns, students uncover proven ideas they can adapt and improve. The best ads are rarely invented from scratch. They are intelligently reverse-engineered.
Zach’s philosophy starts with a simple belief: your next winning ad probably already exists. Instead of brainstorming in a vacuum, he teaches students to systematically study top-performing ads across competitors and adjacent industries. By analyzing hooks, angles, structures, and visual patterns, students uncover proven ideas they can adapt and improve. The best ads are rarely invented from scratch. They are intelligently reverse-engineered.
Pattern Recognition System
Pattern Recognition System
At the core of Zach’s methodology is the ability to spot repeatable patterns across thousands of ads. Students learn how to identify recurring hooks, messaging angles, formats, and creative structures that consistently drive results. By organizing these insights into structured swipe files, they build a strategic database of what works. One winning pattern can inspire dozens of original concepts.
At the core of Zach’s methodology is the ability to spot repeatable patterns across thousands of ads. Students learn how to identify recurring hooks, messaging angles, formats, and creative structures that consistently drive results. By organizing these insights into structured swipe files, they build a strategic database of what works. One winning pattern can inspire dozens of original concepts.
At the core of Zach’s methodology is the ability to spot repeatable patterns across thousands of ads. Students learn how to identify recurring hooks, messaging angles, formats, and creative structures that consistently drive results. By organizing these insights into structured swipe files, they build a strategic database of what works. One winning pattern can inspire dozens of original concepts.
AI-Powered Research Workflow
AI-Powered Research Workflow
Zach shows students how to combine human insight with AI to accelerate creative research and ideation. AI helps summarize ads, cluster winning themes, and surface opportunities faster, while the strategist applies judgment and taste. The result is a research workflow that compresses hours of manual analysis into a streamlined system for generating stronger ideas.
Zach shows students how to combine human insight with AI to accelerate creative research and ideation. AI helps summarize ads, cluster winning themes, and surface opportunities faster, while the strategist applies judgment and taste. The result is a research workflow that compresses hours of manual analysis into a streamlined system for generating stronger ideas.
Zach shows students how to combine human insight with AI to accelerate creative research and ideation. AI helps summarize ads, cluster winning themes, and surface opportunities faster, while the strategist applies judgment and taste. The result is a research workflow that compresses hours of manual analysis into a streamlined system for generating stronger ideas.
The Creative Research Engine
The Creative Research Engine
The ultimate goal is to build a repeatable research engine that feeds your entire creative process. Zach teaches students how to connect competitor analysis, pattern identification, swipe organization, and concept development into one integrated system. This is how top creative teams consistently generate better inputs, better ideas, and better ads.
The ultimate goal is to build a repeatable research engine that feeds your entire creative process. Zach teaches students how to connect competitor analysis, pattern identification, swipe organization, and concept development into one integrated system. This is how top creative teams consistently generate better inputs, better ideas, and better ads.
The ultimate goal is to build a repeatable research engine that feeds your entire creative process. Zach teaches students how to connect competitor analysis, pattern identification, swipe organization, and concept development into one integrated system. This is how top creative teams consistently generate better inputs, better ideas, and better ads.
Courses Taught by
Courses Taught by
Zach
Zach
A research-driven system for uncovering winning creative patterns and turning them into high-performing ad concepts.
COURSE 301
Reverse Engineering Winning Ads: The Creative Research System
Learn how to systematically study competitor creative and build a research engine that produces better ads.
Creative Research
Competitor Analysis
Swipe Files
AI-Powered Workflows
COURSE 301
Reverse Engineering Winning Ads: The Creative Research System
Learn how to systematically study competitor creative and build a research engine that produces better ads.
Creative Research
Competitor Analysis
Swipe Files
AI-Powered Workflows
COURSE 301
Reverse Engineering Winning Ads: The Creative Research System
Learn how to systematically study competitor creative and build a research engine that produces better ads.
Creative Research
Competitor Analysis
Swipe Files
AI-Powered Workflows
Worksheets & Resources Made by
Worksheets & Resources Made by
Zach
Zach
Deep-dive modules across the Ad Creative Academy curriculum, from foundational research to advanced creative systems
AI Prompt for Reverse Engineering Ad Scripts
Analyze any winning ad script to identify its hooks, messaging angles, structure, and persuasive techniques so you can adapt proven patterns to your own creative.
Competitor Analysis AI Workflow (Foreplay)
A step-by-step workflow using Foreplay and AI to uncover competitor strategies, identify winning creative patterns, and turn market insights into stronger ad concepts.
The Pattern Recognition Playbook
A guided framework for reverse-engineering ads you admire to identify the underlying patterns, structures, and creative decisions that make them work.
Background & Experience
Background & Experience
Founder
Founder
Foreplay
Foreplay
Creative Research
Creative Research
Save, Analyze, & Collaborate
Save, Analyze, & Collaborate
Speaker
Speaker
Affiliate World, Industry Events
Affiliate World, Industry Events
Trusted Globally
Trusted Globally
Marketers, Agencies, & Brands
Marketers, Agencies, & Brands
Articles featuring
Articles featuring
Zach
Zach
In-depth insights from courses and frameworks
Creative Testing and Performance
Ad Creative Research: The System Top Advertisers Use to Find Winning Ads
Learn the ad creative research system used by top performance marketers. A step-by-step competitor ad analysis workflow to find winning patterns and build better ads.
Creative Strategy
Ad Creative Academy Review 2026: Is the $2,499 Certification Worth It?
Thinking about becoming a certified creative strategist? This 2026 review breaks down our course. Discover what it teaches, who it's for, and if it aligns with your goals.
Meet the Professors Shaping the Future of Creative Strategy
Attend premium video lessons led by world-class experts from Meta, Google, top agencies, and high-performing brands, all focused on helping you become an AI-powered Creative Leader.
Zach Murray
Founder, Foreplay
Carlotta Costanzo
Creative Performance Director at GAIN
Mirella Crespi
CEO at Creative Milkshake
Seth Godin
Marketing Visionary
Ashley Vinson
Ex-Creative Agency Partner @ Meta
Rory Flynn
Founder of Systematiq AI
George Mack
Chief Ad Officer at Ad professor
Udi Avital
Head of Creative at Meta
Chloe Rhys
VP of Creative at OpenStore
Reza Khadjavi
CEO of Motion Analytics
Meet the Professors Shaping the Future of Creative Strategy
Attend premium video lessons led by world-class experts from Meta, Google, top agencies, and high-performing brands, all focused on helping you become an AI-powered Creative Leader.
Zach Murray
Founder, Foreplay
Carlotta Costanzo
Creative Performance Director at GAIN
Mirella Crespi
CEO at Creative Milkshake
Seth Godin
Marketing Visionary
Ashley Vinson
Ex-Creative Agency Partner @ Meta
Rory Flynn
Founder of Systematiq AI
George Mack
Chief Ad Officer at Ad professor
Udi Avital
Head of Creative at Meta
Chloe Rhys
VP of Creative at OpenStore
Reza Khadjavi
CEO of Motion Analytics
Meet the Professors Shaping the Future of Creative Strategy
Attend premium video lessons led by world-class experts from Meta, Google, top agencies, and high-performing brands, all focused on helping you become an AI-powered Creative Leader.
Zach Murray
Founder, Foreplay
Carlotta Costanzo
Creative Performance Director at GAIN
Mirella Crespi
CEO at Creative Milkshake
Seth Godin
Marketing Visionary
Ashley Vinson
Ex-Creative Agency Partner @ Meta
Rory Flynn
Founder of Systematiq AI
George Mack
Chief Ad Officer at Ad professor
Udi Avital
Head of Creative at Meta
Chloe Rhys
VP of Creative at OpenStore
Reza Khadjavi
CEO of Motion Analytics
Learn from Zach at Ad Creative Academy
Learn from Zach at Ad Creative Academy
Get certified in creative strategy with 30+ courses, 350+ templates, and access to the industry's leading minds.
Get certified in creative strategy with 30+ courses, 350+ templates, and access to the industry's leading minds.
Stay up to date with the Academy
Ad Creative Academy Ltd • © All Rights Reserved
Stay up to date with the Academy
Ad Creative Academy Ltd • © All Rights Reserved
Stay up to date with the Academy
Ad Creative Academy Ltd • © All Rights Reserved