The perfect ad creative doesn’t exi…

Hey!

Hope you’re ready for a wild ride, because what I’m about to drop is pure gold… 

Today, we’re diving head-first into what makes really GREAT ad creatives.

The kind that stop scrolls…

Pop eyeballs…

And trigger action….

Because you know it…

I know it…

Heck even your mom knows it…

Standing out today is MORE CHALLENGING THAN EVER.

And learning how to cut through the noise with killer ad creatives…

Is the biggest point of leverage brands can utilize…

To start winning BIG

So let’s get into it.

Below are FIVE quick insights gleaned from some of Scandinavia’s top performing Shopify brands…

That you can swipe right away to send your ROAS to the dungeon. 

Know Your Playground

Before you even think about creating a killer ad, you need to get into the weeds.

It’s all very well buying a nice gift.

Making it look pretty…

And tying a pretty bow on top…

But the best gift in the world will land flat if it’s given to the wrong person…

What does this mean for your ads?

You need to understand your customer at a deep level before you start throwing money at acquiring their business.

Dive deep into forums.

Reviews.

Studies.

Survey data.

Reddit…

Amazon reviews…

TikTok…

Comments on ads…

The list goes on and on…

Can offer valuable insights that will allow you to tailor ads that make your prospect feel SEEN and UNDERSTOOD…

Crafting That Masterpiece:

Once you’ve got a poker read on your customer, creating the one ad to rule them all isn’t just about being creative…

At ©/Alota, we call it the 60/30/10 rule.

Let’s start with the 60.

60% Knowledge

As always, you’ve gotta know your stuff. 

For instance, even once you’ve nailed down your ICP, a one-size-fits-all approach is very rarely gonna be the most profitable.

You need to understand:

How to target DIFFERENT PERSONAS with DIFFERENT ANGLES…

How to iterate on winning formulas…

How to optimize your performance based on different success metrics… 

And super important…

How and when to run with different content archetypes…

E.g whether your creative should be educational, inspirational, or entertaining…

Whether it should showcase a testimonial/review…

A comparison with your competitors…

Or a before/after snapshot of life pre and post-using your product…

All of these approaches WILL hit…

If targeted at the right people at the right time ;)

As a health and wellness business owner, you have to understand what hits and when🎯🎯🎯

30% Talent

Between and your team, you gotta be able to:

Think and market like a creative strategist…

Be able to write A+ copy skills that speak to your prospects’ pain points, stir their emotions, and trigger action…

Slice and dice video content with killer cuts and transitions that add value and keep eyes glued to the screen…

Understand key design principles to create visuals that SPEAK to your prospect and increase the likelihood of converting…

10% Tools & Software

‘Cos you can’t do it all alone.

Making the most of the best tools will help with efficient sourcing of creators…

Project management…

Data analysis…

And a whole other bunch of important stuff.

Stay sharp. ⚡

Stay efficient. 🤓

And analyze the hell out of everything 📈

Mix it up

With so much competition in the e-commerce sector, you gotta keep your prospects on their toes.

And the good news is this isn’t rocket science lol

Think of it…

If you see the same thing over and over, it starts to lose its effect…

The more you see it, the less it registers…

And if you apply that to your ads…

That means:

Lower engagement.

Lower conversions.

ROAS going blaah...

Basically the EXACT OPPOSITE of what we want…

And that’s not just when you run the same individual ads…

Stripping it all back, the brands doing the big numbers now are constantly mixing it up with DIFFERENT FORMATS…

Ensuring their ads never go “stale”...

And keeping their audience engaged and ready to buy.

Both still AND animated ad creatives can pay big at the right time.

As a business owner, it’s your job to figure out what to push and when…

And when you notice your metrics start to flatline…

Switch it up and hit your audience with a different angle.

A different format.

Then rinse and repeat…

No rocket science.

Just pay attention to the data, link the patterns, and change your tack.

Still & animated ad creatives

1. Competitor comparisons

2. USP / Benefit listicle format with lifestyle image

3. Real customer reviews & testimonials

4. Problem list → solution with product

Short-form

I hear you.

“Matias is going on about short-form content again…”

Listen up.

Yes, short-form is no longer new, that’s true.

But neither are comparisons.

Neither are before and after shots.

Neither are product reviews.

Done right, short-form brings AUTHENTICITY to your brand.

REAL users with GENUINE experiences…

AND more “pro” style short-form brings new framings for your brand

If sales are the end goal, mid-quality short-form is definitely what you don’t want to do.

And after years working with some of the Nordics’ best brands…

The ad package is clear as daylight folks.

Short-form

1. Video editorials

2. Real customer reviews & testimonials

3. UGC filmed more in professional style with actual narrative and storytelling

If you’re not getting the most from UGC I’m sorry man. You’re ngmi :/

MAKE YOUR CREATIVE AMAZING!!!

Yes, I had to say it.

You’ve done everything right.

You know your customer like your backyard…

You understand content archetypes…

What button needs pushing and when…

You’re onboard with short-form…

You’ve memorized the whole playbook.

There’s no way you can lose, right.

Wrong.

Truth is humans are suckers for a bit of eye candy, and creatives are KING.

Tactics can give you short-term spikes.

Done right, they can even lay the foundations for long-term success…

But time and again, we see that the brands hitting the big numbers…

8, 9, 10 figures…

Are the ones bringing the most diverse, creative angles to their creatives…

Better Creatives = Better Engagement = Better Conversions

If your creatives aren’t A+++, you’re leaving money on the table!!!

Simple, right?

CONCLUSION

And that brings today’s drop to a close. 

Told you we’d keep it short and sweet.

The tldr is basically this:

To get the most from paid ads in todays world of e-commerce

KILLER ad creatives that SPEAK to your prospect…

Are no longer a “nice to have”...

And with ad costs only getting higher 🥲, having a truly diverse set of ad creatives…

Using different content archetypes…

Different formats…

That integrate all the key elements of a great ad…

That REALLY make your customer feel SEEN and UNDERSTOOD…

Is a must...

Getting this right is your biggest point of leverage…

With the greatest ROI potential…

And if done well…

It gives you guaranteed, predictable, forecastable dollars out for every dollar you put in.

Don’t waste this opportunity

Get it right.

Now keep smashing those goals 👊

Value-bomb features of the week 👀

Each week our team goes through 10+ different newsletters in the digital advertising world and collects together the best value here in a simple format. Think: you get the best value from all newsletters in one single place, in one single email

Northbeam Market Data & Breakdown

“Take these numbers and compare them to your own. It's hard to say exactly what's happening in each of your ad accounts. But here's my perspective on what I'm seeing above. 

The sharp reduction in CAC and ROAS performance year over year is more evidence of the slipping performance we've been seeing across performance marketing. It's been a tough year already and it's going to get harder. Between the "boosted post tax" from Apple that Meta is passing through, to the loss of third-party cookies, you will see major disruptions in your metrics this year. Whatever your targets are, I would adjust them to be a bit more conservative.

Remember what happened with iOS14.5? This update probably disrupted and re-centered your ad performance, perhaps catastrophically. Are you prepared if the same thing happens this year in the wake of cookies disappearing? Make sure your revenue streams are diversified and robust. 

TikTok has the sharpest drops in CAC and ROAS performance year over year, even with all the improvements made on TikTok's ad platform over the last twelve months. I'd say this isn't evidence that "TikTok doesn't work" - it's evidence that TikTok is doing a great job onboarding advertisers. In the past, the TikTok ad buyers were all smart first movers who wanted to be first on the platform. Now that more "average" media buyers are joining, the auction is more competitive and less-savvy buyers are on the scene. All this to say - this is about what I expected to see from TikTok. 

Google CPMs are up significantly, but so too is the budget share. Usually when ad performance starts to slide, we see brands consolidating their spend into channels that are guaranteed to convert. Google search is farther down the funnel so it feels more likely to convert, even though this is a fallacy - we all know spending on branded search is kind of like patting ourselves on the back. Are you listening to your performance, or are you following this same trend?

Cost Per Clicks are up across our major platforms. More advertisers, less targeting efficiency, more jaded consumers: it's a perfect storm that we all have to cut through. You're competing in the feed with more (and more "optimized") content than ever before.”

Motion App & Obvi Founders Ash & Ankit

Second feature of the week is a huge value bomb from the Motion App newsletter & from Ash & Ankit, the founders of Obvi. They’re breaking down their formula of still ads and analyzing what kind of ad creatives are working right now and why.

Ad Tear-Down #2: Graymatter Labs

Jim Phillips from the health and wellness brand Graymatter Labs shared the above ad in our live session. 

While Ash and Ankit both hated the ad, Jim told us that it has surprisingly performed well. Jim also has other statics that conform to the best practices shared above, so the performance surprised him as well. 

Sometimes—the audience will break your expectations. The home-spun approach of this ad might attract more of an audience looking for natural, non-commercial products. 

“The audience might also not want aesthetics and pretty ads—perhaps they are attracted to the science and facts, so have a higher tolerance for the small font and complex benefits,” said Ankit. 

That said, this ad is ripe for an iteration test. Ankit and Ash recommended making some tweaks without destroying the spirit of the original. 

“A good iteration to test would be reducing the benefits to three callouts. The font is very small, so someone scrolling Instagram on their phone is going to struggle to read them,” said Ash."

Ad Tear-Down #3: Inno Supps

If you create one ad this week, you should definitely test this listicle-style static from Inno Supps 👇

Like Obvi, Inno Supps spends a lot on Meta ads and leans heavily into statics. 

“I love how they used the spirit of the listicle format and almost made the ad into a mini landing page,” says Ankit.  

“It's clean and visually simple and the listicle format tells you exactly what the product is about and the core benefits it delivers,” Ash added. 

Ad Tear-Down #4: Obvi '

Finally, here are a few statics from Obvi you can send to your creative team for inspiration.

I love this clean problem-solution ad. 

The information hierarchy is simple—you read down the list of problems and then land on the product as the hero. 

The high contrast in colors with the brand on the brighter side of the ad works well. 

This ad above illustrates many of the best practices that can guide your statics. 

• Use a big headline with 2-3 words. You want the headline to stand out, so add a highlight color or anything to make it obvious that people should read the headline first.
  

• Limit the supporting benefits to a list of three. As many people are viewing ads on their phones, you need the font to be big.
  

• Don't be too curated. Professional designers will want to make everything cohere and blend together. Make sure you are thinking more about the hierarchy of information rather than your brand guidelines.

Have an awesome day my friends and we’ll catch up on the next drop!

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Matias Myhrberg

Founder, ©/Alota

P.S. Stay tuned, because we’re just getting started. The best is yet to come. 👊