How to make any product sexy with ads (tastefully)

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What's up, Marketers! This is Aazar.

This newsletter is about leveling up your paid growth marketing skills by analyzing the best brands' paid strategy, tactics, positioning, and value props.

This newsletter is divided into:

• Sharing what I've learned

• Sometimes sharing some other performance marketers’ lessons with you

• And I analyze & compare the best ads on the internet (this issue)

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• The Ad Strategy for $100Mn Revenue Brand with 7X ROAS in 3 Years for a Premium Product

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• The Case for Permissionless Advertising

Good marketers sell the benefits.

Great marketers seduce the audience with benefits and make them buy.

That’s how I think about ads.

The problem is that to make someone crave something enough to buy immediately is a tall ask.

While everyone thinks that they can make these kinds of ads, I’ve seen many marketers struggle once they really start working on a concept.

Anyway, you get the point.

This week I analyzed a brand that’s selling a standard product, but somehow they make it so sexy and cool you’ll want to try it.

It’s called Laundry Sauce.

Laundry Sauce are detergent pods with a high-end spin – from their aesthetic to their sophisticated scents to their sexy ads. 

Doing laundry isn’t typically loads of fun but they make it seem fun somehow. 

Let’s see how they make their ads sexy aka appealing.

Note: For a better understanding of the ads, I recommend watching them first. These ads are hosted on Atria (a platform that lets me save ads for inspiration even after the brands delete them. They also have a 5mn + ad discovery feature where I find good ad concepts worth stealing. I recently moved to this platform because it lets me spy on brands I love, review mining and creative concept creation – concept to script to brief. It’s my all-in-one creative strategy tool now.)

They also have this amazing feature where I can transcribe the script and make it similar within seconds. Magic! 

Ad # 1 – Unfortunately, it’s really f**king good

This ad has been running for more than 3 months, so it must be giving them the ROI. 

What immediately stands out:

• The hook: The f-bomb, obviously, and the fact it is really good. Conflicting statements pique curiosity and makes us pay closer attention.

• Negative marketing: The ad uses reverse psychology by suggesting reasons not to buy the product, expecting the audience to be intrigued and do the opposite.

• Hyperbole: Exaggerated claims are used to create an absurd contrast between the user's life before and after using the product, capturing attention and interest.

• The interview docu-series style of ad.

• They took 12 seconds before they introduced the product.

• The emotional trigger: “My boyfriend wanted to try it. Said he saw it on the internet. I should have known.” They are familiar things we've heard, videos we have seen that have left a lasting impression. These familiar phrases carry emotional connotations that quickly establish a bond between the audience and what they are watching.

• Intriguing twists: Everything in the ad alludes to the fact that Laundry Sauce is like a drug. And drug users can't quit because it makes everything in their life... better?

  • “Lost my girlfriend... got 4 new ones”

  • “Lost my job in middle management... they made me CEO”

• Conflicting statements: They also force us to engage more of our critical thinking. This deeper cognitive engagement can lead to a stronger and more lasting impression of the brand or product, as people spend more time contemplating the message and its implications:

  • “Get out of my life, you beautiful smelling pod”

• They used celebrities that call for attention and authority too. 

• It’s a mashup, mixing multiple formats in one.

• The CTA: Don’t go to Laundrysauce.com.

I sent this ad to my client on Linkedin and we were evaluating them as an agency. This is what my client wrote: 

What can we learn and steal:

• Steal the hook. But I asked Raindrop folks in my recent mastermind call: They said that an actual customer said it in the review. So, be aware that your product has to be really f*#ing good.

• Steal the format: Interview style ad + mashup + docu-series.

• Use conflicting statements to make a point, use emotional triggers to get the attention, and add intriguing twists to your ad.

• Have fun with the CTA: Don’t go to xxxx.com.

Note for the marketers: I see you. I feel you. I am thinking the same. We want to steal the entire format and ad. I want to as well. But be very careful: Make sure you have a winning product and amazing reviews before you steal something like this. And make sure you have these great insights.

Ad # 2 – When the ad is actually sexy

What immediately stands out:

• The hook with the text: “Smells too good to take off” + the make-out scene that gets the attention. Remember: Attention is half the battle.

• The make-out scene makes it memorable and vivid. This makes us crave the product with its clear benefit: Smelling too good.

• They text insert the rest of the job: 5 Irresistible scents. 5X fresher. 5X stronger.

• The ad is only 11 seconds yet makes the point.

What can we learn and steal:

• If your product really makes the customer more attractive, exploit it with the hook you saw.

• Don’t go just 1x better, go 5x better with your benefits and the hook.

Ad # 3 – Sell the hero: Describe this person ad

This ad has been running for almost a month so I’m assuming it is working for them: 

What immediately stands out:

• The format: The blindfold test. It’s about describing someone.

• Things you want to hear about you from women:

  • Smells funny

  • Woodsy

  • Muscular 

  • Sophisticated

  • Bold

  • Smells safe

• They slid the price at the end to qualify the audience: $180/year. 

What can we learn and steal:

• Steal the format to describe your hero so they want to make the purchase. I’m going to use it for my ads from now on.

• Steal the first visual hook: Blindfolding leads to curiosity. You wanna know what the other people have to say.

• A classic example of this: Don’t sell the product, sell the hero (your customer). 

📣 Attention Marketers!📣

I’m planning something and need your opinion. Let me know your thoughts:

Note: The Performers’ community members will receive this newsletter anyway if they’re subscribed to the community membership.

Ad # 4 – Is she cheating on me?

Since both these ads are leading to the same concept, video, and benefits, I thought about merging them – It’s just the hook that’s different. Both ads have been running longer than 55 days. 

Ad # 4a

Ad # 4b:

What immediately stands out:

• Hook # 1: “Honey, I’m kinda…” I’ve learned that they use existing life situations to lean into the hook. The moaning does the rest of the job.

• Hook # 2: “OMG, yes” and then “pull it out.” Same: scenarios in our life we’re accustomed due to TV or life situations.

• It’s a classic before-and-after ad.

• Heavily leaning into “smells good”.

• The claim: The world’s best-smelling laundry detergent.

• CTA: Get excited to do the laundry.

What can we learn and steal:

• Visuals and audio in the hooks are making it super easy to enjoy this ad. How many times have you thought about making an ad enjoyable? That’s the key lesson here.

• Use tabo scenarios to make your hook unignorable and unskippable.

• Stealing the CTA to exploit the key insights: Get excited to do the laundry.

• We can test and steal the elements of the ad in low-production before going on big.

Based on all of these, I wanted to know if sex still sells.

This article was enlightening: Does Sex Still Sell? What Marketers Should Know

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But we’re not done yet. Their static ads are awesome too. Let’s see if we can steal an ad framework from them somehow:

Ad # 5 – The PR Screenshot

Ad insights:

• Use multiple headlines that seem like content from a publication but it is actually your own.

• 3-word headline that grabs attention with a primal desire: Man receives compliment.

• Absurd idea that’s scroll worthy: How a laundry detergent brand got him there.

• The format is also worth stealing.

Ad # 6 - The emotional trigger

Ad insights:

• The play on words (copy) stands out: Stop and smell the bro-ses 

• Emotion: Stopping, smelling, and enjoying.

• Credibility: Mens Journal and other publications.

• Unexpected Imagery: The image of a man in a field of roses subverts traditional masculine imagery. It plays against type, which can intrigue the viewer and challenge gender stereotypes, making the ad more memorable.

• This is a clear use case of visual storytelling. A strong, unexpected visual can tell a story quickly, effectively, and memorably.

Ad # 7 - The sexy visual

Ad insights:

• The copy does half of the job: Warning: May cause scent euphoria. Who doesn’t want that?

• Provocative Visual: The image of a woman lying in a bathtub full of these detergent pods is a scroll stopper. It makes me think: This woman must love this product.

• You can use the minimalist design and copy to convey your message

• Almost looks like an AI image. We can definitely use it for our products too.

I hope you found the ads and my insights interesting enough to make some really f*#ing good ads. 

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

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