Competitor Ad Recon
Research a competitor's active advertising: ad-library angles, landing pages (Firecrawl if connected), traffic mix (Similarweb) — synthesize what they're doing and where the gaps are. Facts, not verdicts.
Works across your stack
Supported AI platforms
8 supported clients. Connector requirements are shown separately below.
Add the competitor ad analysis skill to your AI client
Set up the Adspirer "Competitor Ad Recon" skill for me. If you can run commands: npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis If not: fetch https://www.adspirer.com/skills/competitor-ad-analysis.md and follow it. Then read the skill and ask me what you need to get started.
Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, Gemini, or any agent — it works out how to install itself.
Or install it yourself
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis Writes SKILL.md to .claude/skills/ in the current project. The bundled references, scripts, and assets ship with the ZIP. Download ZIP →
Upload the ZIP in Claude → Settings → Skills. The bundle preserves every reference, script, and asset.
Install the Adspirer plugin first: Cowork tab → Customize (left sidebar) → Plugins → Browse Plugins → search "Adspirer" → Install. Requires Claude Max, Team, or Enterprise. Then upload this ZIP as a skill.
In ChatGPT, open Plugins → Skills → Create → Upload from your computer. ChatGPT scans the skill before making it available. Availability and upload permissions depend on your workspace plan and admin settings.
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis --agent cursor Writes the skill to .cursor/rules/ in the current workspace, so Cursor loads it on every session.
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis --agent codex Appends the skill to AGENTS.md, which Codex reads on every session — so it persists instead of living in one conversation. The append is idempotent; re-running it will not duplicate the block.
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis --agent gemini Appends the skill to .gemini/GEMINI.md, which the Gemini CLI reads on every session. Connect Adspirer as an MCP server first so the live ad-account steps can run.
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis --agent windsurf Writes the skill to .windsurf/rules/ in the current workspace, so Windsurf loads it on every session.
npx adspirer-skills add competitor-ad-analysis --agent other Writes SKILL.md to adspirer-skills/ in the current folder — point any agent at that file. No shell? Fetch the raw file with curl -fsSL https://www.adspirer.com/skills/competitor-ad-analysis.md, which prints the skill instead of installing it.
Starter prompt
Client setup guide →Use the Competitor Ad Recon skill. I’m working on [campaign or account] and want to understand [goal or problem] for [date range]. Check that Firecrawl and Adspirer are connected, start by looking without changing anything, and explain the story in plain language. Show me the evidence and ask before making any live change.Where it helps
When to use the competitor ad analysis skill
A concise competitor brief that separates observed facts from interpretation and suggests original opportunities.
Use case 1
A new market is being evaluated
The team needs a fast view of who advertises, which offers dominate, and which channels appear most active.
Use case 2
A campaign strategy feels generic
The brand wants to understand category conventions before choosing whether to match them or deliberately stand apart.
Use case 3
A client asks what competitors are doing
An agency needs a defensible answer based on visible evidence rather than screenshots collected at random.
See it in a campaign
Competitor ad analysis examples
The numbers, account, and recommendation will be yours. These show the kind of story the skill helps you work through.
Regional market entry
A B2B company is entering the UK and wants to compare the messages used by five established competitors.
The skill creates an evidence table, identifies crowded claims, and suggests a differentiated starting position.
Launch-meeting brief
A retail team needs a same-week read of promotions, formats, and landing-page patterns in its category.
The skill turns the scan into practical campaign choices and clearly labels what cannot be known from public ads.
Keep reading: Meta Ads setup docs ·Claude ad management ·PPC competitive intelligence
Keep building the workflow
Agent skills related to competitor ad analysis
Ad Library Deep Dive: Facebook Ad Library Search for Competitor Research
Systematically mine a brand's Meta Ads Library — creative angles, hooks, formats, longevity (long-running = winning) — to search competitor patterns and inform your own creative.
The Media Plan Builder
From a brief (product, audience, budget, goal, market), produce a defensible media plan: audience definitions, budget split across channels, flighting calendar, and a channel-mix rationale. Cross-platform. Uses Similarweb/Semrush for competitive context if connected. Plan doc, not a live launch.
A/B Test Runner
Set up a clean A/B test (one variable, proper split, a decision rule and duration for significance), read it honestly, and call the winner only when the data supports it.
Before you install
Frequently asked questions
What is the competitor ad analysis skill?
It is an Agent Skill — a folder of instructions your AI assistant loads when you ask it to do this job. It follows the open Agent Skills specification, so the same package works across different assistants. Research a competitor's active advertising: ad-library angles, landing pages (Firecrawl if connected), traffic mix (Similarweb) — synthesize what they're doing and where the gaps are. Facts, not verdicts. Unlike a prompt you paste in, the skill carries its own procedure, checks, and stop conditions, so the assistant works the same way every time you run it.
Which AI assistants can run it?
Claude, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, Gemini and Windsurf. Download the ZIP and upload it in assistants that accept skill folders, or point the assistant at the raw SKILL.md file. The install card above has the exact step for each one.
What do I need to connect before I run it?
Firecrawl and Adspirer are required, because the skill reads live account data rather than guessing. Similarweb is optional and only add value when the job calls for them. The skill confirms the connection before it touches a real account, and tells you plainly if something is missing.
Do I need an Adspirer account, and is there a free tier?
The skill itself is free to download and MIT-licensed. To let it read or change real ad accounts you need Adspirer connected: the free tier includes 15 tool calls a month, Plus is $49/mo for 150, Pro is $99/mo for 600, and Max is $199/mo for 3,000. You can install the skill and read what it does before signing up for anything.
Can it change my campaigns without asking?
No. Any new campaign Adspirer creates is created paused, enabling a paused or live campaign needs your confirmation, and destructive actions are gated behind an explicit confirmation flag. Spend, publishing, and live changes wait for your approval every time — installing a skill or a connector is not itself approval to act.
How do I get the best results from it?
Give it the specifics it asks for up front — the account or campaign, the date range, the goal, and what "good" looks like for this business. Let the first pass run read-only so you can check the evidence before anything changes. The starter prompt above is a working template; edit the bracketed parts and paste it in.
How is this different from just asking the assistant directly?
A plain prompt gets you a plausible answer from whatever the model already knows. This skill makes the assistant pull real numbers from your ad accounts, follow a fixed procedure, show its evidence, and stop at the points where a person should decide. That is the difference between a confident guess and a competitor ad analysis you can act on.
Ready to run it against real campaigns? Connect Google, Meta, Amazon, LinkedIn, TikTok, or ChatGPT Ads to your assistant on the free tier — nothing spends or publishes without your approval. Create a free Adspirer account →