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Athletic Greens vs Biotikur -- How supplement brands sell on Meta
How to sell nice-to-have as must-have
Aazar Shad
May 14, 2023
Athletic Greens vs Biotikur – Who nailed it?
Welcome to The Paid Social Performance Battle: The showdown where your favorite brands compete to see who is winning on paid social.
How it Works
1. I compare two paid social Facebook Ads’ library accounts and see who is killing it
2. You vote for your favorite for a chance to win a prize (worth €997)
This week I analyzed 2 companies that promise to bring convenient daily nutrition to almost anybody aka supplement brands:
Athletic Greens - a nutritional supplement that claims to provide a comprehensive range of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in a single daily serving. It is marketed as a "daily all-in-one supplement" that can help support overall health and wellness, boost energy and immunity, and improve digestion and gut health.
Biotikur creates cutting-edge evidence-based products designed to balance and maintain the gut microbiome.
In short, both brands support nutrition and help with improving gut health and more. But more importantly, they are nice to have (vitamins) but somehow they have become a must-have. I was curious — why?
The Positioning
Athletic Greens is positioned as a premium nutritional supplement that provides a comprehensive range of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in a single daily serving. While Biotikur focuses on all-natural, plant-based ingredients for both their supplements and personal care products.
Important: For a better appreciation of the ads, I recommend watching the ads first. These ads are hosted on Foreplay, a great platform that allows me to save ads for inspiration even after the brands have deleted them (they also have a discovery feature where I find good ad concepts to steal).
Ads that Appeal
I only evaluated ads older than 30 days to see if they performed well. Let’s look at Biotikur first.
Biotikur
What immediately stands out:
Visual hooks that support the verbal hook by showing the outcome
“Trouble in your gut” as a hook that seems simple but relatable
Focus on after-story (the outcome)
The creator shows the product within the first 3 seconds. This is important – people should immediately get what you are selling.
Desired final image that we all want to have
Verdict: “I feel AMAZING” (Although it was kind of a let down that she was not being very specific.)
What can we steal:
The pointing visual hook is powerful. I’m definitely gonna try that.
Don’t try to be smart. Use a simple hook by showing the problem and the solution within 3 seconds of the hook.
Final outcome for health product is key
The ticker at 8th second: “Gut Health=Improved mood, digestion, outlook, energy, and immunity.”
What immediately stands out:
Verbal + visual hook: I went from feeling like this...to this
How to use the product
Telling the user what steps to take
Address the objections (one time vs subscription)
Address second objection (60-day money back guarantee)
What we can steal:
Show before and after with the visual and verbal hook
Tell exactly how to buy your product (most companies don’t do that)
Address the objections upfront (guess what’s going on in your users’ minds)
Promise: “It costs nothing to try it out” – is a good way to reduce fear
CTA: Happiness start with good gut health
Here’s why this single-image ad works. It’s been live for the past 36 days.
1 # The psychology behind hands in advertising
This is called the "human hand effect" and it's a phenomenon that's been studied by psychologists for years. The human hand effect is based on the theory that our brains are hard wired to pay attention to human hands because they're so important for survival.
2 # Teaching about the problem by agitating it
Your ad’s job is to get the click by making the user think about the problem, a problem they also have. This ad clearly emphasizes the value of good health.
3 # The landing page hero that does the rest of the job
Here’s why this is interesting: They use the word “investing” and the fact that “I am already paying.” They also use the phrases “Free Welcome Kit” and “Try risk-free.”
I feel the ad educates people in the middle of the funnel to take an action they’ve been delaying.
So what did we learn so far from Biotikur’s ads?
You can use a simpler hook if you support it with a great visual hook
Get your product in front of the user within 3 seconds so they get the idea of what’s it all about
After outcome is critical for your ads to make the point clear
Address the objections upfront in your ads (not many do that)
Make your user feel guilty for not considering your product as a good investment, but back it up well
Athletic Greens (AG1)
Disclaimer: I am a current user of this product. I do not get paid to write about them (I wish I could though ;) I didn’t buy through social ads but from a podcast ad (learned about it from Dr. Hubermann)
This ad has been running for 65 days, so let’s see what we can learn from it…
What immediately stands out:
ASMR splash as a hook
Message: “Life gets messy but AG1 makes it easier”
The ad copy that supports the video “Who says healthy habits have to be complicated? Just 1 scoop replaces your multivitamin, pre- and probiotics, immune support & more.”
Use ASMR to tell the benefits
What we can learn:
You don’t always need a face to make it look native to the platform. This ad has nothing native about it imo
WOW features that leave you wondering to know more
Their ads are always “on-brand”
You probably can share so many of your product’s benefits just by using ASMR
Cody Plofker, well-known DTC marketer, also loves these ads because they are always on-brand.
What immediately stands out:
Did you know that to fully nourish your body, you first have to address your gut? This hook is very common in AG1 ads library so they are simply reusing it
Show the product in action once the users have it
The irresistible offer: Free supply of Vitamin D3 + K2 and 5 free travel packs
What we can learn:
Sounds boring, but if the hook is working: “Did you know?” then keep using it, why reinvent the wheel?
Make an offer so that people are open to try your product (I fell for this offer too)
Insight: This is true. When I drank AG1 and I had not eaten well, I felt good. Find these kinds of insights that you can then use in your ads.
Ad # 3 – Static image that pops with feature callouts
What’s great about this ad:
Parallelism in the copy.
What it is: Repetition of a grammatical form
What it does: Gives a line rhythm
h/t Marketing Example
The copy choice clearly benefits the ad and makes me reconsider my new year’s goals and resolutions.
One simple ad that grabs attention, teaches you about the problem and tells you the solution.
This is a gut-punch ad that must have come from user research.
The ad clearly agitates the pain of having to keep track of multiple vitamins, losing time and the pain of going through the trouble of remembering. The mental load it takes to be so organized – AG1 kills it with one scoop.
This is my reason for using AG1. Even though it’s expensive, it does the job for me within 60 seconds.
Most of the time, we fail to sell one single idea. This ad does just that.
What can learn:
Sell a single idea
Exaggerate that idea with before and after outcomes
Agitate the pain within the ad
And, show how your product does it better
No wonder this one took me by surprise when I first saw it.
What makes AG1 great is that their ads are simple, direct response, and you get the benefit within a few seconds.
This is their primary copy and you know why it’s so good:
Got 60 seconds? One daily scoop of AG1 is the fastest - and easiest - way to give your body the high-quality nutrition it needs.
It sells the single idea: fighting time
Magic of getting all your nutrition done with in less than a minute
The user of the fastest and easiest product
So what did we learn so far from AG1 ads?
Sell the single idea and one enemy
Use ASMR to tell the benefits
Keep it simple: If a hook works, reiterate
Make sure to promote an irresistible offer
Use copywriting to your advantage
Exaggerate the before and after in your ads
So, how to sell nice-to-have as must-have?
Educate your prospects
Sell with the emotional appeal but authenticity e.g. I feel this to this.
Tell stories and embed the importance of your product in those stories
How your product is beneficial in the long term and why now is the best time to start
Create an irresistible offer that your audience feels guilty for not taking it
That’s all. I learned a lot. I hope you did too.
Now it’s your time to decide
Let me know which brand’s ads you liked the most.
Respond to this email and cast your vote for a chance to win!
The prize (worth €997):
300€/hour for a free call with me
One-time entire marketing audit for your brand (469€)
Who nailed their ads better?
Respond to get rewarded:
Who nailed supplement ads better? |
The winner for the last Noom vs Myfitnesspal is n.maile. You know who you are, please respond to this email for the prize.
On a lighter note, if you are in DTC then you’d get why AG1 is big on retargeting. Check these out:
Curb your Athletic Greens
That’s me 😂:
Happy Growing with Paid Social,
Aazar Shad
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