Frequently asked questions

The ads database, the ads dataset, the ads MCP for AI agents — and how it compares to everything else.

The product

What is this ads database?
Adlogue is an open, searchable ads database of 7,000+ real advertising campaigns — TV commercials, print ads, outdoor, digital and integrated campaigns from brands and agencies worldwide. Every campaign in the advertising archive carries its brand, agency, country, region, medium, industry, a full description, and a citation link to the original source. Browse the ads database →
How does ads AI search work here?
The search understands what you mean, not just what you type. Ask for 'funny beer ads' and it finds humorous beer commercials even when no campaign literally contains those words — concepts, moods and themes all work as queries, the way you'd brief a creative researcher.
Can I find ad campaign examples by industry?
Yes — every campaign is tagged with one of ~40 industries. There are dedicated pages of ad campaign examples for food ads, automotive ads, fashion ads, beauty ads, finance ads, alcohol ads, sports ads, tech ads and more, each browsable and filterable by region and medium. Example: Food ads →
Can I browse ads by region or country?
Every campaign carries its country and region. Regional hubs cover North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Oceania — useful for studying how advertising creative differs across markets. Example: European ad campaigns →
Can I browse ad campaigns by brand?
Yes — every featured brand has its own page collecting its campaigns, from global names to challenger brands. It's the fastest way to study how a specific brand advertises across markets and media. Browse brands →

Why Adlogue

Why not just scrape ad websites with Apify or a custom scraper?
Apify is great at what it does — running scrapers. But scraping hands you raw HTML that you still have to clean, deduplicate, tag by industry and region, and re-scrape every time a site changes its markup. Adlogue is the finished layer: a maintained, structured, deduplicated dataset with taxonomies and citations already in place, plus search that understands meaning, delivered over REST and MCP. A scraper is a tool for building a dataset; Adlogue is the dataset. See the API →
How is this different from the Meta Ad Library or Google Ads Transparency Center?
Those are compliance archives: currently-running paid placements on a single platform, searchable mostly by advertiser name, and entries vanish when campaigns stop. Adlogue is a curated cross-media archive — film, print, outdoor, digital and integrated work — that stays put, carries agency and creative context, and is queryable by concept ('emotional Christmas ad'), not just by advertiser.
How does it compare to swipe-file tools like Foreplay or MagicBrief?
Swipe-file tools are built for scrolling paid-social feeds and saving ads into boards — genuinely useful for that workflow. Adlogue is a database, not a feed: structured records across every medium, industry and region taxonomies, citations on each entry, and programmatic access over API and MCP so both people and AI agents can query it.
Why not just ask ChatGPT or Claude about ad campaigns?
Ask an LLM cold and it will confidently invent campaigns, agencies and award wins that never existed. Adlogue doesn't replace your AI — it gives it references: connected over MCP, your assistant searches real records and answers with citations you can click and verify. Connect your AI →
Why not just browse Ads of the World and other showcase sites?
You should — showcases are wonderful for browsing, and every Adlogue record links back to its original showcase page. What Adlogue adds is queryability: semantic search, structured filters by brand, industry, region and medium, and API/MCP access. Think of it as the discovery layer over the world of published advertising, with the source trail intact.
How is this different from other ads databases and ad archives?
Three things: search that understands meaning (not just tag filtering), agent-native access (MCP + REST with per-request metering), and citations on everything. Most advertising archives are built for scrolling; this one is built for both people and AI to query.

For AI & developers

What is the ads MCP?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is how AI assistants like Claude connect to external tools. Our ads MCP server gives any MCP-capable AI agent two tools — search the ads database and fetch full campaign details — so your AI can answer advertising questions with real, cited campaigns. If you're searching for an 'ads mcp' or 'advertising mcp server', this is it. Set up the ads MCP →
Is this an ads dataset I can use for research or AI training?
Yes — the ads dataset is accessible programmatically through a REST API with structured JSON: campaign metadata, industry and region taxonomies, full-text descriptions, and stable IDs. It's designed for advertising research, creative analysis, and AI agents that need real ad campaign data instead of hallucinated examples. About the API →
What can I actually build with the API and MCP?
Early builders are pointing it at ads-AI copilots, competitive-research agents that track how a category advertises, trend analysis across regions and media, moodboard and pitch tools that pull cited references, and academic research on advertising creative. The API is in early access — join the waitlist and you'll get a key with free credits. Join the waitlist →

Data, pricing & licensing

Where does the advertising archive data come from?
Campaigns are catalogued from publicly available advertising showcases. We operate as a citation catalog: metadata and descriptions with a prominent link to the original source on every single entry. Takedown requests are honored promptly.
How much does API access cost?
Every new API key includes free credits to build and test. Search costs 1 credit per request; campaign detail lookups are free. For production volume — powering an ads AI product, an agent fleet, or research at scale — hit Contact us and we'll set up a plan the same day. See pricing →
What happens when my credits run out?
The API returns 402 Payment Required with your exact balance in the message, and every response carries an X-Credits-Remaining header — no surprise cutoffs, no throttling games.
Can I use the thumbnails and creative assets?
Thumbnails are displayed for identification and always link back to the original source. For any commercial use of the underlying creative, rights sit with the original brands and agencies — the database gives you the metadata, the discovery, and the source trail.

Something else? Contact us