Transformation

A before-and-after in video: the starting state, the process, and a reveal beat that pays it off. Space, skin, hair or outfit.

When to use it

For any product whose result is visible. It is the strongest single structure in performance creative because the payoff is the ad — you can put the reveal at three seconds and re-earn attention for the rest.

The thing to get right

Before-and-after claims are regulated in several categories, health and beauty especially. Check what you are allowed to depict before you run it, not after.

The format at a glance

• Output — a video ad.
• Structure — 5 beats, each one a separately planned shot.
• Family — Creator & UGC video.
• Recipe id — transformation, which is what you name when you ask for it by hand or from an agent.

Am I allowed to run a before and after?

It depends on your category. Health, beauty and weight claims are restricted on most ad platforms and regulated outright in several markets. Check the policy for your vertical before you build the campaign rather than after the first rejection.

Related formats

Formats built around a person on camera — the talking-head, the unboxing, the try-on, the demo. These are the highest-volume paid-social formats on TikTok, Reels and Shorts, and the ones where realism matters more than polish.

• Green-screen reaction — a creator green-screen composited over a full-bleed on-screen element (a review/article/product screenshot) they point at and react to — hook-first talking-head
• Podcast clip — a viral podcast-clip ad — two people at a mic'd table mid-conversation, one telling the product story as an authentic sit-down excerpt, captions-forward
• UGC talking-head — a real creator reviewing/recommending the product straight to camera (TikTok/Reels)
• Product review — an authentic, balanced to-camera review of the product — honest reviewer energy, not a hard pitch
• UGC unboxing — a creator excitedly opening/unpacking the product
• How-to tutorial — a clean step-by-step how-to-use walkthrough — clear, instructional, each step shown in order

The full catalog is on the creative recipes index.

Models that render it

This format is rendered by a video model. The plan picks one unless you name it, and Seedance 2.5 is the default pick. You can ask for another by name, such as MiniMax H3 Max, MiniMax H3 Max Turbo or Seedance 2.0. All three render native sound, so a voice comes out of the same take as the picture. The video models page compares every option.

Hermoso plans and renders a transformation from your brand rather than from a prompt you write, composites every on-screen word after the render so the copy comes out exact, and exposes the same format to an AI agent over MCP. How Hermoso renders a format covers all three.