The storytelling formula every founder should steal

Welcome back to another edition of Nice Ads, the creative strategy newsletter that helps you make better ads.

This week, we're going to be covering:

• How to Utilise High-Production Lifestyle Videos to Convert Customers.

• The recipe for the perfect storytelling hook.

• A secret hack to make your static images stand out on the feed.

Q4 is just around the corner, and we have one space left. At my ad creative agency Fraggell, if you're spending over $70,000 on ad creative and want to lower your CPA by 30% this season - click here.

Leaf Shave

👉 Watch in full here

This is a video we recently produced for a shaving brand with which we've been working for almost a year now.

Our idea with any creative that we make is to ensure that we are keeping things diverse and testing new things out in the ad account. High-production lifestyle material was something we hadn't really tested on this ad account, so we hired a location, an actress, and put together this fast-paced direct-response video ad.

I actually shot this one in possibly the smallest bathroom on planet Earth. But I think you'll agree that the result is very cool.

In past lifestyle videos that we've made for Leaf, we learn several things:

1. The speed of the video

2. The demographic that we target

In the past, we've mostly shown males and focused on face shaving. This time, we decided to take a different approach, focusing on female body hair removal. I think this is the reason this is currently outperforming other high-production videos that we've made in the past. And that's the key to any video ad. Build on your learning so nothing is wasted.

If you're looking for something similar for your own brand, then all you need to do is apply to work with us here.

Keep tabs on all your competitors

Your competitors are launching products, changing prices, and running promotions. You're finding out weeks later.

So I tell everyone to use Particl. It tracks 10,000+ retailers in real-time. So you can see the moves everyone is making before everyone else.

From revenue numbers to the top-selling SKUs. Invaluable data.

So start tracking your competitor sales with AI today.

Click here to start for free

immi

👉 Watch in full here

Nothing beats a great founder ad (other than a founder ad with a fantastic hook).

Curiosity is the key to making people watch your entire video. The more curiosity you can build in your hook, the better chance that the person will stick around and eventually purchase. We're competing for attention against people's friends, family, and influencers. So the hook is not something you should ever rush.

“This new ramen invention born from a kitchen accident shouldn't exist.”

What an incredible line. You're targeting the video by mentioning ramen, so people interested in food will perk up. But then you're twisting in a major line of curiosity by talking about a kitchen accident, which sets our minds racing. A good hook is like an onion; it has layers.

The more you can achieve in your hook, the more people will watch it. Often enough, most hooks that I see only do one thing, but the best hooks are ones that tick multiple boxes:

• They target the customer

• They entice curiosity

• They open a loop

• They make people laugh

Next time you create a hook, see how many boxes it ticks. If it's only one of them, figure out a way to include a couple more core principles.

Away from just the hook, this video is an incredible case study on how great storytelling can help any ad convert. This is definitely one that you should save and reference for future use.

TLDR:

• Hooks are deeper than you think.

• Storytelling is vital.

Looking for more?

Here are 4 ways I can help you 👇

• Fraggell - Looking for ads that turn scrollers into customers? My performance ad creative agency has delivered high-convert ads to brands like ALOHA, Chomps, and Nailboo… It’s worth your time to apply today to see if you're a good fit.

• The Ad Creative Course - Want to learn how to make converting ad creative yourself? Join over 100 students who are already learning with the help of my course. Grab your place today.

• Sponsor Nice Ads - Reach over 10,000 marketing decision-makers and fill one of our few ad spots available. Join brands like Motion, Triple Whale, and Minisocial by expressing your interest here.

• CreativeOS - Create static ads in seconds with over 800 pre-tested templates for DTC brands. Become a member today and get 50% off your first month.

• Poppy AI is my new go-to for ad creative — saves me hours, sparks better ideas, and just gets how I work. If you make ads, you need to try it. Click here and get $25 off any plan.

• Foreplay - Improve your creative workflow. Save ads, build briefs, and more. Claim a free trial here.

OYO

This female body care brand is always one that I pay attention to when I want to see what type of ads make the female customer purchase. They've had incredible growth over the past couple of years, and that's all down to two things: ad creative and product.

They're forever testing new angles, new videos, new statics, but also constantly developing new products and new ways to serve their demographic.

The reason I picked this ad is that it's so effortless. And yet, the psychology of it is probably much deeper than you might think at first. This ad could have easily been a professional product shot, paired with copy on the screen. Instead, they decided to take a different route, using a UGC image of someone in their demographic holding the product, shot with the 0.5 lens. The outcome is an incredibly organic-looking image that resembles something their customer would have taken themselves. They did their research; they saw that the demographic often takes images with the wide lens on the iPhone for aesthetic purposes, and so they built this into their ad creative.

The reason they know their customers so well is that the founders are the customers themselves. The industry is full of so many founders who develop a product that doesn't solve a problem that they have. And so often enough, they struggle to market it. However, instead, these girls had a problem, created a product to solve it, and then sold it to people just like them.

Also, as a side note, it's probably time to start thinking about your Black Friday ad creative.

TLDR:

• Sell to people just like you.

• Spice up your product images by using the 0.5 lens and making it look UGC.

That's all for this week's Nice Ads. I appreciate the time you've taken to read this. If you have a friend or colleague who you think might enjoy this newsletter, please be sure to forward this to them and tell them to get subscribed!

This week, I posted a new video on possibly one of the most exciting AI image generation tools: Nano Banana. You can check that video out on my YouTube here.

Until next week, I'll see you soon.

✌️