Hello! Welcome to your weekly dose of INSPO ✨
It’s never been easier to whip up ads for paid social, but how do you make sure yours actually work? The answer: creative strategy. And that’s what you’ll learn from this newsletter. Every week I’ll breakdown an ad and help you understand how to use the thinking behind it for your own brand.
Ads don’t need to be over complicated.
Simple statics and simple videos can work REALLY well.
But you’ve got to get the recipe right.
This simple video ad grabbed my attention this week and it’s a great one to have a go at recreating for your own brand.
Ad breakdown
This short video clip (watch with the sound on) does a lot with a little.
The ad is just 9 seconds long but it tells you everything you need to know.
I saw it and immediately wanted to know more.
So let’s break down why it works…
👉 Clarity: I know immediately what the ad is for ‘a home swapping app’ and can decide if I’m interested or not. This makes it less likely they’ll waste money on people who aren’t interested in their product.
👉 It’s got MY attention: I love the sea so the video and audio spoke to me — you could run hundreds of these for niche locations, all hyper specific to the audience and what they love.
👉 They’ve used the word ‘live’ not ‘stay’ which immediately tells me it’s a platform that’s all about getting to know a place, not just staying in a nice hotels, another trait they know their audience share.
👉 A short but emotional video clip: I suddenly want to be wherever that is, I’m picturing what a home there might be like. I want to know more.
👉 The blissful sound of the sea and birds tells me it’s a quiet location, away from busy towns and crowds of tourists. Another thing they know this audience is looking for.
The combination of these 5 things is what makes this such a great ad.
But it’s not easy to get right.
How to make this work for your brand
The beauty of ads like this is they’re simple to produce, no fancy equipment, no actors and barely any editing needed. But you’ve got to get that combination of elements spot on.
🪩 Identify very specifically who you want to speak to
🪩 Define clearly what you want to say to them
🪩 Find a video clip that will connect them with the desired outcome
🪩 Use other cues, visual or audio, to strengthen the vision of the desired outcome
🪩 Sum up what the ad is for and the problem is solves in the copy
The key here is to make sure each element is adding to the overall message, if anything is making things more complicated, take it out.
Give this a go and send me what you come up, I’d love to see.
Happy ad making,
Katherine 🪩
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