Welcome back to Nice Ads. If you're new here, this is the newsletter where I break down three ads that have caught my eye each week and show you how to replicate their success. This week, we're going to be learning.
Why EGC is so powerful and how you can fake it
A brilliant founder ad that we can all learn a lot from
Why did this high-performing static did so well.
So, without further ado, let's get started. By the way, quick reminder: if you're gearing up for Q4 and need some help with ad creative and happen to be spending over $70,000 on paid media, then I would love to have a conversation with you. My agency helps DTC brands across the UK and US lower their CPA by 30% with performance ad creative. You can click here to apply.
Shay & Blue
One of the best formats to try going into Q4 is fake EGC. Employee-generated content is one of the most powerful pieces of ad creative that you can make, but a lot of the time your staff might be unwilling to get on camera and create this type of ad. That's where you can utilise UGC creators.
If you watch the example above that we made for Shay and Blue, you'll see exactly that: we cast a UGC creator to play the part of a Shay and Blue employee who was in her car reading and reacting to customer reviews. The whole idea behind this is that it looks very organic and looks like something an employee just made on their lunch break.
Stealth formats like this perform really well because people feel more at ease because they almost know that the opinion is going to be biased, but that doesn't mean that they're any less sold to. It's like their brains are already preconditioned, but can still be sold to, and I think, because it's coming from the brand, it feels genuine.
This idea was actually a bit of an iteration. We did something similar. It worked really well on the account, so we basically just changed the UGC creator and switched up the messaging while keeping the overall tone and format the same. This is the type of iteration that Meta likes. Particularly since the Andromeda update, they'd much prefer you to almost remake a winning creative and change as much as you can, but keep the soul the same, rather than just change your hook on a winning ad.
If this all sounds pretty complicated and you want someone to take care of it for you, then you can apply to work with us here, and we'll do it all.
Mithras Nutrition
These high-energy storytelling founder ads are incredibly engaging and definitely worth testing if you haven't given them a go already. This is a really good example of how you can turn a fairly standard, arguably boring founder story into something a little more unique. So much of it just comes from really good editing, lots of fast cuts, a personality-driven voiceover, and some high-energy music (though it was copyrighted). It really lets you tell a story in a way built for a social ad.
This is why looking at ads outside of your niche is really beneficial: you could probably copy this exact style in a different niche, and you don't run the risk of a customer seeing two similar ads from different brands.
I feel like ads like this are very similar to YouTube intros because you almost have to fit the entire story into a bite-sized piece of media to get people excited about what comes next. Of course, the next step in the ad is that you purchase it.
As I've always said, customers don't automatically just switch off because it's an ad. If the piece of content is good enough, it doesn't matter whether it's an ad. People will still watch it
TLDR:
Editing can make or break an ad.
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Nutrition Geeks
Judging by the data I can see on ad spy platforms, this was a highly converting creative for the brand. With that in mind, take a minute before you read on and come up with a couple of reasons why you think this ad performed well, then compare them with what I come up with.
The first reason is familiarity. You'd be shocked by how powerful showing people something they already have context for is. Almost everyone scrolling knows what a WhatsApp chat looks like and who you have conversations with on WhatsApp, often friends and family. Already, that distils some trust into the context of this ad.
The next thing is before-and-afters. They're so powerful, particularly if framed in a way that makes them feel more genuine. They are just always going to win, and I think that is one of the main drivers for the high performance in this ad.
Weirdly, the final thing is the brand frame around the image. I almost feel like the ad would have come across a bit more spammy if it didn't have this. With the branding around the image, it almost feels like the brand believes this WhatsApp conversation and trusts it so much that they're willing to put their name on it directly, if that makes any sense. I think it's these small subliminal things that happen in people's brains that make ads like these convert so well.
TLDR:
Familiarity is very powerful.
That's all for this week's newsletter. I appreciate you taking the time to read this issue. I've just released a brand new YouTube video breaking down my static ad process. You can watch that here. Until next week, I'll see you soon
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