- The Weekly Sharpener
- Posts
- The Weekly Sharpener #123 - Creative Cuts
The Weekly Sharpener #123 - Creative Cuts
Don't lean on brand equity too much 💪
Hey Fam 👋,
Welcome to Creative Cuts ⚔️! Your weekly dose of Ad Creative thoughts + breakdown(s).
What's on the agenda:
We're going to examine a set of ads that is relying too heavily on brand to drive conversion. I call this the "we're too cool to sell" phenomenon.
There are some cool brand examples at the end that still do a great job of setting the stage for customers and how they can grab attention to drive conversion velocity.
We will conver what works and what doesn't in these ads and how you can take each thing and leverage it for your own success. Let's go!
Check out Pencil if you're ready to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI.
Partner with us 🤝
Marketing agencies, freelance creatives, e-comm experts…want access to our generous revenue share and co-marketing opportunities? Become a Pencil Partner today!
You can learn more here.
Special Offer ❤️
Before we get started going over the next batch of static ads we want to help you, if you're not ready for AI, you should still be doing some fast/easy with your ad creative output.
We want to make sure you are testing great stuff.
Our friends at CreativeOS dropped their 50 best static Figma ad templates.
Use our code: EARLYBIRD for 10% off. Check out 👉 CreativeOS here.
Armra
Our structure is as follows:
Hook
Trust
Benefits
CTA
Other Examples
Let me state this - these ads are objectively good-looking - and maybe the data will prove me wrong but I want to dive into what I think we could improve so you can leverage it to win your next battle with the algorithm!
Hook
There isn't much. Is a neck or a random product supposed to make me stop scrolling and click?
These are good photos but they don't give me a sense of what I need to know or why I want to know it.
Your hook should intrigue your customers and drive them forward with velocity to the next scene.
Trust
I am always pushing to have customer quotes in your ads to add some powerful social proof that shows transparency + customer love.
This can be juiced and cherry-picked - but you are also inviting customers to cross-reference with the rest of your customer responses.
I would have included this from their website as well:
I got this directly from the product page and it lends credibility to the review I am reading on the ad.
This feels like: YOU know my brand and a review + product is sufficient.
Benefits
The customer testimonials are where they are leaning on the get benefits across.
Within that they do a nice job of hitting the hierarchy of needs - 4 of 5 to be exact.
Health & Strength - gut health and bloating
Sleep - Sleeping Better
Best you can be - brain fog & better memory
Remember in a scroll - how quickly will people move through this and not read them?
Something like this can call things out in a more visually comprehensive way.
CTA
The CTA is expressed through the copy once again. That's why I suggested the example above to make the point easier to understand.
The 30% off offer is a micro-CTA.
You don't always have to call the CTA out but you want the asset to be doing something to drive momentum and remind the prospect that THEY MUST BUY YOU NOW or their life will be immeasurably worse.
The cool factor overrides the need for a conversion but a user isn't clear on exactly what is being sold at first glance.
Other Examples
A few call out's from these examples:
An H1 that cuts through
Clear benefits
Simple - easy image to understand
Distinct branding
It's simple and actionable.
That's it for this week's Creative Cuts⚔️.
Let us know if there are brands you think we should be looking at. Until next time keep on creating friends!
All my best,
Chase
PS - If you missed our last episode of Creative Cuts with Marin Istvanic check it out:
Our Preferred Creative Tech Partners 👏
What you should be using to take your creative process to the next level 👇
Foreplay - spy on your competitors ads + save what you like
soona - studio level assets in days and without the heavy cost. Yes, please. (Use Pencil39 for a free first photo)
Motion - you want insights on your ads - make it fast/easy/actionable.
Otis - ad buying/management automation(there's a present inside waiting for you)
Triple Whale - attribution - need I say more
Air - keeping all of your assets organized is a pain. Air makes it delightful.
Join the ✏️ community
Sign up to learn and meet 200+ other great founders & operators across DTC.
Curious about what we're building? 🧱
Check out our roadmap and upvote what you think is important! If we have missed anything, you can add your suggestions as well.
YouTube Channel 📺
Check out our library of amazing video content on creative, ads, and ecomm operating.