The Facebook Roundup: Volume 4

November 9, 2018

If you haven’t seen the others then be sure to check out part one, part two, and part three to get up to speed.

As per usual…

Those that land in our “good” selection are ones which really bring forth best practices, creativity, and effectiveness. The “bad” are ones that had a possibility at potential but weren’t exactly making the cut. For the “worst,” and we mean no hard feelings to those at the bottom of the list, is that special feeling you get when your stomach doesn’t settle (that sudden lump in the back of your throat).

So let’s begin with Volume 4.

The Good

Topping the list for this week’s round-up is the good work done by AdRoll, which has pieced together an ad we could cause envy for any marketer:

Good---AdRoll
  • The main copy is punchy by explaining that sales are going up this quarter and that now is the time to get your ads in motion
  • The creative is visually attractive and easily to understand that it’s about the winter holiday season since it uses a nice design on snowflakes (plus the stark red download now CTA sticks right out in the open)
  • “Free” is always a head turner
  • The body copy gives you facts about the season and then nails it with the benefits of choosing to download their guide

Overall the is simply attractive and very straight forward; the value proposition would be hard to turn down if you are a business owner especially since it’s a free guide.

The Bad

The not-so-good on our list is the sponsored ad run by Discovery Cove which is a place where you can swim with different aquatic animals (it’s owned by SeaWorld). The ad, though…

Bad---Discovery-Cove
  • It’s really unnecessary to use “w/” when you want to say “with” especially since there’s not a whole lot of copy to use in the first place
  • The image is real nice and looks a lot of fun (so there’s that going for it)
  • The body copy does a good job at explaining the experience and emotion of what one can expect if they go to Discovery Cove
  • The real bad part of it all is all the fall-out due to the documentary “Black Fish” which has been hammering SeaWorld since it came out so once you dig into the comments you can see a lot of hate that isn’t being handled by the social team (they’re allowing it to get out of control)

Overall the ad isn’t all that bad (minus the top copy); it’s just unfortunate that the SeaWorld brand has been damaged so much due to the documentary that it has spilled over to their other endeavors and since they’re not being proactive with addressing the comments it makes the ad unattractive.

The Awkward

Bottoming out our list is the ad put together by The Headspace which appears to be a hip clothing store that’s trying to push leggings.

Worst---The-Headspace
  • There’s just too much going on in the main copy from the use of capital letters to exclamation points, having a URL that doesn’t seem to be very trackable to adding in the extra credits for the work (which makes some sense) but really muddies the readability
  • The image is nice because the designs are very unique and those that want leggings would probably find them attractive
  • The timing seems a little off seeing that we’re getting into the colder months so it makes you wonder who is buying these leggings when you know it’s going to be frigid out there
  • Lots of people like the ad but that one comment that comes to the top is just all around awkward (talking about ovaries)

Overall the ad is just too busy with the copy, number of items shown, and distracting with the comments. Shorter copy, maybe one or two of the featured leggings, and active discussion would have saved this from being in our worst category for this round up.

Conclusion

What did we learn this week?

A. Now is a good time to pair your creative with the holiday season since it’s quickly approaching

B. If you’re having trouble with your main brand then you certainly need to create a better divide in your other ventures so that too isn’t brought down (and you need to be active with the community addressing their opinions, concerns, and feedback)

C. Don’t go overboard with the copy and number of images in the ad; remember to keep things simple so the copy and creative can be punchy and direct

Seen any good, bad, or down-right ugly ads this week? Have thoughts about these ones? Share your feedback with a comment below.

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