The Weekly Sharpener #77 - Creative Cuts

Hey Fam 👋,

Welcome to the #4 Creative Cuts Edition of the Weekly Sharpener where you'll get three of our favorite ads in the game 🔥.

We'll break down why we love them with the goal that you'll have some actionable takeaways on how to improve your creatives and grow your business. 🚀

We've partnered with the Ad Library 📚 team to make this a great experience for you. 💣

Now Johnluke and I will get to it 👇

You can either check out the episode if you want to spend some time really digging into creative with us or read the TLDL below!

Bearaby💘

Things Johnluke likes: The roll over in the beginning, it sparks your curiosity to “huh, what’s she doing?” before you recognize it's a weighted blanket that looks very cozy. The bottom half of the screen is very complimenting in my opinion, I like the product descriptor with the photo & the little piece of social proof through the headline of the creative.

Things Johnluke would change: The 1 thing I would think about changing is the CTA - I like a shop now offer, but this creative messaging suits a “Learn Why” CTA after a bold statement like “ The best weighted blanket” which anyone can say.

Things Chase likes: I dig this ad. I love how it's a Video Ad + landing page built into 1. The color aesthetics are also very appealing. I would suggest everyone go studying the psychology of color to understand what colors soothe people and give them confidence.

Things Chase would change: Not a fan of the CTA. Don't think you need it. This is an ad unit that has an embedded CTA already. Focus on the product and the social proof in the Bottom section.

Check out the full ads here.

Mud WTR 🍄

Things Johnluke likes: The angle here is awesome, comparing to other drinks that are commonly consumed & cutting to the scene of him actually holding the exact ingredients that he puts in the product.

It’s clever, it gets the point across well, great. The organic feel walking through stores, etc + founders voice is the cherry on top.

Things Johnluke would change: I would change the length; there is a lot to grasp onto in this creative @ 44 seconds long.

Mud WTR is known for their amazing YT Ads that can stretch up to 2-3 minutes sometime, but when coming to IG & TikTok, I think its a good move to cut some of these videos down and hit on the most key points, rather than just resize the ad.

Things Chase likes: Production value is incredible. Love the founder story that's in the voiceover. Also, dig the inclusion of the ingredients that make the product so unique and good for you.

Things Chase would change: The ad could be half the length and still get the message across. Feels like there were 3 ads happening in one and felt the second half of the ad really hits more than the first half.

Would also have liked to see captions on this ad because the narrative was so different scene to scene, so it felt like it needed a throughline and not everyone can go audio on.

Carpe 👃

Things Johnluke likes: The thumbnail is awesome. Eye grabbing & directly points at the issue that is about to be solved within the video. The video itself gets through great points & is edited very well.

Things Johnluke would change: I always wonder the difference of showing 1 “MVP” product vs a whole set of products. While it is deodorant for “all over the body” I think a lot of peoples minds go straight to their pits - so does showing applying face moisturizer, and 6+ other products overwhelm that decision to click through? Or help it? This is the variable I would test with a creative like this.

Things Chase likes: +1 from JL. The thumbnail will get you to stop every time. The colors of the packaging pop and keep drawing your eye to the center. The scenes are all cohesive but never so long as to lose your attention.

Things Chase would change: Is this for your armpits or your whole body sweat? I'm not sure and I feel like they should have chosen if it was going to be about a suite of products or one that relates to the thumbnail of the wet armpit.

Also having "free shipping" and "money-back guarantees" isn't that compelling of an offer, it's table stakes now. Having it doesn't move the needle that much an more.

Want to see those ads in all of their glory, sound, and all? Here you go.

Are you still looking for inspiration? Here are 200 more ads to get those creative juices flowing from Ad Library 🔥

That's it for this week's edition of The Weekly Sharpener - Creative Cuts. Let us know if there are brands you think we should be looking at. Until next time!

All my best,

Chase

P.S. Check out the most recent episode, it's 🤌