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Production overview: from a batch of images to a live ad
The Production tabs are where you turn an idea into an ad you can run. They sit in the Create menu, to the right of the Strategy tabs. This page shows how the five tabs work together.
Problem and intended user
A creative strategist (the person who plans and makes ad creatives) and a media buyer (the person who runs your paid ads) hand work to each other. If nobody can see where a creative stands, images wait unused, edits get lost and an ad goes out without a final check. This page helps both of them find the right tab for the next step.
Current workflow
Without Nexus, the creative strategist makes images in a design tool or gets them from an agency. The files sit in shared folders, each one is resized for every placement by hand, and the ad copy lives in a spreadsheet. The media buyer then uploads each file to Meta Ads Manager or Google Ads and builds the ad there.
Prerequisites
- Connect your Shopify store and let your product catalog finish syncing.
- To deploy an ad, connect a Meta Ads or Google Ads account. See Integrations. Creating and approving ads need no connected platform.
- To create a campaign in the deploy dialog, set up an ad budget for that platform. Open Settings > Integrations, open the Meta Ads or Google Ads dialog, and select Set up ad budget. The daily budget of a new campaign must fit that ad budget. See Review and deploy ads.
- Generate and Re-run in the Creative Wizard do not use your credits, but limits apply. Some Studio actions, such as an AI Chat message, Adjust image with AI and Apply to all aspects, use credits. The dialog or the Billing page shows the cost.
How Nexus works
Nexus uses your product catalog, and for Create similar ad the ad you pick, to generate the images in a batch. AI makes the images. Fixed steps move the images you keep into Studio, turn a Creative Set into an ad and send the ad to Meta Ads or Google Ads. Nothing moves to the next step until you choose it: you approve the images, the ad and the deploy.
The production loop
Most work follows the same path. Each step waits for the one before it.
- In Creative Batches, generate a batch of images. A batch holds the images from one run of the Creative Wizard, or from one Create similar ad run.
- Review the images. Select the ones you want and choose Use selected. In the Choose campaign types dialog, pick where the ads will run. Nexus adds the images to a Creative Set.
- Open the Creative Set in Studio. Edit the text, the layout and the sizes.
- Choose Create Ad on the Creative Set. Nexus turns the Creative Set into an ad.
- Open Ads to review the ad, approve it and deploy it to Meta Ads or Google Ads. In the deploy dialog, choose the schedule. With Auto, the campaign starts immediately and runs continuously.
Library sits beside the loop. It holds your own image and video files, so you can reuse them in Studio.
Landing Pages, the last Production tab, writes a landing page that continues the promise of an ad. See Landing Pages.
Where a batch comes from
You start a batch in one of two ways:
- Choose Generate Batch to open the Creative Wizard. You pick a starting point, then the products, and Nexus generates the images. See Generate a creative batch.
- Find an image ad you like, yours or a competitor's, and choose Create similar ad. Nexus builds a batch of new images from it. See Clone an ad.
Both kinds appear in the same list. See Creative Batches.
What costs credits
WARNING
AI actions in Studio use credits. Examples are an AI Chat message, Adjust image with AI and Apply to all aspects, which applies a background to the other sizes. Generating a landing page also uses credits. The dialog or the Billing page shows the cost.
Generate and Re-run in the Creative Wizard do not use your credits, but limits apply. See Credits and top-ups.
Exact output
The Create menu has two groups of tabs.
- Strategy: Angles, Concepts and Testing Backlog. You decide what to say here.
- Production: Creative Batches, Studio, Ads, Library and Landing Pages. You make the creatives and put them to use here.
The tabs read left to right in the order you use them.
Which tab to open
| Tab | What it holds | Open it when you want to |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Batches | A batch is a job that generates images. You wait for it to finish. | Start a new batch, check on a running one, or open an old one. |
| Studio | A Creative Set is an output you edit. | Change the text, the layout or the sizes of the creatives you kept. |
| Ads | An ad is a rendered creative that is ready to deploy. | Approve an ad and deploy it, or check how it was deployed. |
| Library | Your own images and videos, in folders. | Upload files, organize them, or find a file to reuse. |
| Landing Pages | A landing page is a page Nexus writes to continue the promise of an ad. | Create a page, follow it while Nexus writes it, then review and publish it. |
A batch and a Creative Set are different things on purpose. A batch is work in progress. A Creative Set is the result you keep and edit.
What to do with it
| What you see | Decision or action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| A batch that is still running in Creative Batches | Wait, then open it when it finishes. | creative strategist |
| A finished batch | Select the images you want and choose Use selected, or choose Discard selected. | creative strategist |
| A Creative Set in Studio | Edit the text, layout and sizes. Then choose Create Ad. | creative strategist |
| An ad in Ads with the status Needs Review | Choose Approve or Reject. | media buyer |
| An ad in Ads with the status Ready to Deploy | Choose Deploy to Meta or Deploy to Google. This sends the ad to the ad platform. See Review and deploy ads. | media buyer |
| An AI action in Studio that uses credits | Check the cost in the dialog or on the Billing page before you confirm. | creative strategist |
| Your own files in Library | Upload, sort and reuse them in Studio. | creative strategist |
| A Draft card in Landing Pages | Open it, review it and publish it. See Landing Pages. | ecommerce manager (the person who runs the store) |
Expected value and measurement
One path from batch to ad can help you see where each creative stands.
To check the output, open Create > Creative Batches. The Images column shows how many images worked out of how many Nexus requested. To check how the deployed ads do, open Performance > Ad performance and read Spend and ROAS for those ads. To see which creative patterns win, open Performance > Creative synthesis.
You cannot isolate the effect of this path alone. Offers, budgets, audiences and seasons change at the same time.
Limitations and exceptions
- TikTok shows as Coming soon.
- Generated images can differ from your real product. Check each image before you use it.
- A batch can end as Failed, Stalled or Needs attention. See Creative Batches.
- A new store shows empty tabs. Studio shows "No Design Sets yet". Ads says "No ads yet" and offers Go to Studio. Build a Creative Set in Studio first, then create the ad from it.
- A filter that matches nothing also shows an empty list. Change or clear the filters.
Demo Mode
The Production tabs show sample data in Demo Mode. You can look around, but the steps that make or change real content are blocked or simulated:
- You cannot generate a batch.
- You cannot start Create similar ad.
- You cannot rename a batch.
- You cannot use or discard the images of a batch.
- You cannot create an ad from a Creative Set.
- Deploy is simulated. Nothing reaches an ad platform.
- You cannot upload files to Library or delete them from it.
- You cannot create a landing page or generate one from an ad.
Turn off Demo Mode to do these. See Demo Mode and sample data.