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

Welcome to the Paid Social Performance Battle

The showdown is 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 €1068)

If you missed that newsletter, you can find it here.

I recently onboarded a food brand. So naturally, I wanted to learn how other brands are advertising and what we can steal from them.

Mudwtr and Ryze both were on my list.

Some TL;DR if you’re busy – Here are some key lessons from this performance battle teardown:

• Give horizontal ad frames a try in your UGCs

• If listicle, consider educating and then selling your product

• Use Alex Hormonzi’s value equation framework to create your UGCs

• Make founder ads that sell their story authentically like a conversation

• Exploit lifestyle as a “call out” to the community you want to indulge in your ad

• Sell the credibility, not the product

Also, there’s a hook at the end of the post that you can steal and I’m damn sure you’d love it. Ignore at your own risk.

Let’s see what these brands stand for.

The Positioning

Ryze Superfoods is a company that produces functional mushroom-based coffee and superfood blends. Their products are designed to provide a natural energy boost, improve focus, support immunity and balance digestion. Ryze Superfoods uses organic mushrooms and other high-quality ingredients in their products.

MUD\WTR is a coffee alternative that claims to provide energy and focus without the jitters or crash of traditional coffee. It is made with a blend of organic cacao, ayurvedic herbs and functional mushrooms. The cacao provides a rich, chocolatey flavor, while the herbs and mushrooms offer a variety of health benefits.

In short, both are healthy alternatives to coffee and provide similar benefits.

I found a good comparison on this website to differentiate them a little better. It is important because it helps us evaluate ads.

Important: For a better understanding of the ads, I recommend watching the ads first. These ads are hosted on Magicbrief (a platform that lets me save ads for inspiration even after the brands delete them. They also have a discovery feature where I find good ad concepts to steal.)

You get it, both brands have their strengths.

Ads that appeal

Ryze

We only evaluate ads older than 30 days to see if they perform well.

Ad # 1 – How I went from this to THIS in less than 2 weeks

What immediately stands out:

• The visual bloated hook shows the difference

• The hook: How went from this to THIS in 2 weeks. The focus is on transformation within a limited time period

• The solution is a relief i.e. not the brand but a product (mushroom)

• CTA: Get rid of bloating for good

• This is a classic problem–solution UGC ad

What can we learn & steal from this ad?

This ad is a great example of Alex Hormonzi’s value equation framework:

Dream outcome: No bloating.

Perceived likelihood of achievement: Showing the before and after

Time delay: Less than 2 weeks

Sacrifice and effort: One scoop of this everyday. 

Steal this framework for your UGC ads. 

Two visual elements that made the ad more believable: Her before and after image that tells the story in the hook:

If you look closely, she is wearing two different tops in the before and after. It is a minor detail but it makes sense to make the ad believable. Moreover, the emotion in the after is the cherry on top.

The other one is basically that she tried other alternatives i.e. curbing her diet. 

I have tried this as a hook but it didn't work. Now I get why. It was not believable and apparent enough to make a clear difference. This is a small error but could be huge in your ad.

Ad # 2 – Your morning routine vs chaotic routine

What immediately stands out:

• The emotion with both routines

• The customer profile is slightly older (creative is your targeting)

• Working from home profile (shown doing work in the profile)

• Not so much talking head

• Showing interest as “mindful” and activities

• Risk-free 30-day offer

What can we learn & steal from this ad?

Most advertisers are usually clueless about how to attract an audience that pays and retains for long. Well, this ad is your answer: Age + routine-focused + interest (mindfulness) + jobs-to-be-done (starting my morning). If we focus this deeply on a profile, I believe retention will be better.

The other element that is scroll-stopping is the first visual hook with horizontal frames. Most are visually accustomed to having left and right vertical videos. This horizontal frame becomes a pattern interrupt. Give it a try. 

Ad # 3 – The listicle done right 

What immediately stands out:

• Making the hook literal and visual – INFLAMED gut

• Giving proper signs that show and making it relatable

• UGC focused on “showing” misery and then talking about how the user felt miserable

• It was recommended by a “nutritionist.” And it is an “unheard of  gut-healing drink”

• David Ogilvy believed that specific details make advertising more engaging and memorable. He encouraged advertisers to use vivid imagery and sensory details to bring their products to life. In this video, she really gets into what’s in it.

• The creator does not exaggerate in the video that her symptoms are completely gone. They are ALMOST gone.

What can we learn & steal from this ad?

I believe we, advertisers, are in the business of education. This video does the listicle well by educating. It is longer than Ryze’s other ads but educates the audience fully.

Make the pain relatable with the visual. I believe this first frame did most of the heavy lifting. Focus on that visual to communicate the problem. 

But that’s not it. I found three good statistics you can use from Ryze to try for your ads. It’s a new format I saw. All of these ads have been running for 2-3 months, so they’re proven.

The watchband with the product show-case:

The shopping cart features point ad:

The old me vs new me (other version of before and after):

MUD\WTR

Ad # 1 – Authentic founder ad

This ad has been running for more than 2 months. So, it is definitely resonating. 

What immediately stands out:

• The founder looks like a Zen-person

• The hook opens up with curiosity: “I never really planned on this being a company.” This storytelling leads me to watch more

• When a founder focuses on his problems that are multiple problems, it does lead to relatability

• The harmless CTA: “You wanna give it a try? Let us know what you think.” 

• This ad doesn’t sell-sell the product as a direct response. It’s the authenticity that gets to people

What can we learn & steal from this ad?

When running founder ads. Don’t run if the founder story is not a customer story. I made this mistake a couple of times. And if you can’t sell a founder ad, then sell with a credible employee. They’ve made an excellent example here (additional example).

One thing we don’t do often is have a recorded conversation. Probably if you make founder ads, record a conversation and some stuff will be ad-worthy.

Ad # 2 – Sell credibility with your product

What immediately stands out:

• The visual hook of “dumping” the coffee that has nothing to do with the actual video. Love this.

• The lead-in – “With the greatest of love, don’t f**king drinking high doses of caffeine.” This made me stop and listen to what else he had to say.

• The ad tells us that this coach doesn’t recommend drinking coffee and what to do instead.

• Plus, he is a Brit and he doesn’t like the taste of tea, but loves the taste of Mudwtr.

• B-rolls are crazy–the visual that is still selling the person and the product with it.

What can we learn & steal from this ad?

I’ve run credibility ads like this but they tanked. Here’s what I found out in this video that I was not doing:

• Amazing B-roll visuals that support the ad. I missed those.

• Using language and words like: 

“Stop drinking high doses of caffeine”

“One of my first recommendations with clients” 

“I use Mudwtr before heavy training sessions now” 

“Trust me, you'll like it”

• I was giving the personal experience of using the product.

• I didn’t focus on the hook as much as this ad did.

That’s my takeaway. What about you?

Ads # 3 - Selling different profiles & lifestyle

These are different ads but all of them have one thing in common: Selling the lifestyle of a profile that’s very specific.

Ad # 3.1 – A swimmer

Ad # 3.2 – A busy mom

Ad # 3.3 – A flight attendant

Ad # 3.4 – A scuba diver

What immediately stands out:

• A VERY specific persona and their lifestyle

• Visuals that support the lifestyle

• B-roll that supports the visual and ad

• Most importantly how Mudwtr is part of their lifestyle

What can we steal & learn from these ads?

These ads also seem to be coming from the creator’s or influencer’s handle. Use whitelisting if possible.

Focus on selling the lifestyle and how your product is now a perfect replacement.

The hook has to be something related to life: morning waking up bed hook, showing video in the sea for the scuba diver, a flight attendant with airplane image, etc.

This type of advertising is called lifestyle marketing. They fall into three categories:

Using aspirational imagery: Lifestyle ads often feature attractive people in desirable settings, such as glamorous parties, exotic locations, or luxurious homes.

Creating a sense of community: Lifestyle ads often portray a sense of belonging and community by showing people using the product in social settings with friends and family.

Emphasizing the benefits of the lifestyle: Lifestyle ads often focus on the emotional benefits of using the product, such as increased confidence, happiness, or success.

So, next time, instead of selling your product, sell the lifestyle. Nike's "Just Do It" campaign and Apple’s “Think Different” campaign also fall into the same type of advertising.

But wait, that’s not all. I’m not gonna tear down this ad but you should get inspired by the hook and the ad format here:

Here’s an unsolicited voicemail I got

That’s all from this week. Hope you enjoyed it.

Now it’s your time to decide

Respond to this email and cast your vote for a chance to win!

The prize (worth €1068):

• Paid Social, yearly mastermind subscription (299€), €300/hour for a free call with me and One-time entire marketing audit for your brand (469€).

Happy Growing with Paid Social,

Aazar Shad

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