Happy Thursday!

In 5 minutes, you'll be learning about the following:

1. An AI Avatar Just Outsold a Human Live, On Camera
2. ​This App Turns a Single Product Image into a Hollywood-Style Ad
3. Most ads suck. Here are 3 brutal truths that actually drive growth
4. Neat is Increasing Ad Spend by 25% Every 3 Days - Here’s Why
5. The Veo3 Prompt That Delivers Hollywood-Style Results

What did everyone enjoy last week?

The most clicked link was ... The Shopify Growth School​

Jim Huffman, GrowthHit & Neat Apparel CEO
​(Want a friend? Let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn)

​An AI Avatar Just Outsold a Human Live, On Camera​

AI twin crushed $7M in livestream sales on Baidu. This isn’t a gimmick. It’s the future of eCommerce at scale.

China’s $946B live commerce sector just had a watershed moment. Serial entrepreneur Luo Yonghao used AI-generated avatars of himself and a co-host to run a six-hour livestream on Baidu’s eCommerce platform.

The results? $7M+ in sales, 133 products promoted, 13M viewers and it beat his real-life stream’s performance in just 26 minutes. Powered by Baidu’s ERNIE AI, these avatars weren’t just realistic; they interacted live, gestured naturally, and delivered over 97,000 characters of sales copy on the fly.

With digital salespeople slashing costs by 80% and boosting conversions by 62%, the question for Shopify brands isn’t if AI will be part of your sales team, it’s when. As the tech gets better, the line between “real” and “replica” is disappearing and the best salesperson might not even be human.

​This App Turns a Single Product Image into a Hollywood-Style Ad​

Higgsfield lets DTC brands animate photos with drone shots, crash zooms, and explosion effects - no camera crew required.

We tested Higgsfield, an AI-powered tool that takes a single image and turns it into a cinematic video. Think: dolly zooms, FPV drone shots, and visual effects like fire and particle disintegration - all drag-and-drop, all in your browser or mobile app.

You start with a static photo and end up with an ad that looks like it cost $5K to shoot. Perfect for Shopify brands looking to level up their ad creative without a studio budget. You can A/B test 10 versions of a product video before lunch.

​Pricing starts at $9/month and scales based on how many clips you need. Honestly, it’s the fastest way we’ve seen to make scroll-stopping content from existing product shots.

​News. Without Motives. That’s 1440 ​

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​How We’re Using AI to Make Product Videos Without a Camera​

​

We tested Google’s Veo3 to turn a single prompt into ad-ready content and it’s now part of our creative process.

We’re not just testing AI for fun - it’s now baked into how we run growth at GrowthHit.

We use it to generate ad creatives faster, write landing pages quicker, and build pitch videos without needing a production team or tons of assets from our clients.

One of the most useful tools we’ve tried recently is Google’s Veo3, a video generator that turns detailed prompts into cinematic clips. It’s not as simple as typing “make a product video” - you have to write it like a mini film brief. But when you do it right, you get content that would normally take a studio and a camera crew. We’ve already used Veo3 to create brand videos, test ad hooks, and even simulate lifestyle shots.

Huge shoutout to André Ferreira and Vítor Hugo - the ones driving our VEO3 experiments behind the scenes.

Here’s the actual prompt we used for the demo video above:

​We’re Increasing Ad Spend by 25% Every 3 Days - Here’s Why​

​We acquired Neat, a sweat-proof apparel Shopify brand, in September 2023, and we’ve been documenting every win, fail, and lesson along the way here.​

This week, we went full blitz at Neat - scaling spend fast and turning sweat season into sales season.

In business, timing is everything. Sometimes you build. Sometimes you blitz.

Right now at Neat, it’s blitz season. Demand capture mode. Summer is here - aka sweat season - and we’ve been preparing for this all year.

Here’s how we’re going all-in:

✅ Inventory is stacked

✅ Site is optimized for first-time buyers (hello intro packs, first-order discounts, and the no-sweat guarantee)

✅ Cart flows are tight (we’ve done the CRO work)

✅ Top creative is scaling (after 6 months of testing)

✅ We just launched in the UK + Canada (their summer just hit)

✅ We’re increasing ad spend by 25% every 3 days

Why? Because when demand is high, the goal isn’t to build awareness - It’s to capture it as efficiently as possible.

Know the season you’re in. It’s the difference between burning budget and printing profit.

​3 Hard Truths About Ads & What We Do That Actually Works​

Missed the Live Event? Watch the Replay​

We just wrapped a live session where we got brutally honest about ad performance - what works, what doesn’t, and why most Shopify brands waste money before they ever see a return. No silver bullets, just tested strategies we use across real accounts.

​We covered the 3 biggest reasons ads fail, the creative formats that consistently drive results, and specific tactics you can apply to your next campaign.

If you’ve ever launched an ad and thought, “Why isn’t this converting?” - this replay is for you.

​👉 Watch the recording here​

​Finally, A Tool That Helps Your Brain Work With You - Not Against You​

The Truth About Ads That Convert (And What You Can Steal)

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​How This MIT Grad Launched an 8-Figure Shopify Brand ​

Most founders talk about comfort. Aman engineered it. His Shopify brand took a pain point, added performance tech, and scaled to 8-figures.

Aman Advani didn’t plan on launching a DTC fashion brand. But after hating his own suits while working in consulting, he co-founded Ministry of Supply — a menswear company built around comfort, performance, and design. In this episode, he breaks down how they launched with a viral Kickstarter, found product-market fit fast, and scaled through relentless product iteration.

If you’re trying to build a differentiated Shopify brand, this episode is packed with tactical gold.

Key Topics Covered:

• Launching on Kickstarter: strategy, messaging, and momentum
• Engineering product-market fit from real pain points
• Why Ministry of Supply doubled down on performance materials
• Growing a fashion brand with DTC + retail
• CEO-level shifts: what Aman had to learn (and unlearn)

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts

​Let’s Fix What’s Blocking Your Growth​

• My Agency - GrowthHit​
• AI Growth Strategies to Sell More On Shopify - GrowthSchool​
• The Sold-Out Shopify Playbook - Get the product​
• Podcast - The Shopify Growth Show​
• Proven AI Prompts for Your Shopify Success - Get the library​
• My Book: The Growth Marketer's Playbook​

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