Facebook Ads Scrutinized: The Top & Flop Ads We Saw On Social Media (in January)
The first episode of Top and Flop Ads of the month was a success! And so here we go again, for our second appointment.
During the whole month of January, the skilled experts of our Customer Success Team have examined hundreds of examples from our Ads Gallery, and selected the two Facebook ads worth mentioning, and the two that didn’t pass the merciless -but fair- exam!
Creating the perfect ad is like mixing a good cocktail, you need the right amount of outstanding creative, engaging headline, stimulating CTA, and a copy short and to the point. A pinch of your very own creative genius is the secret ingredient that will make your Facebook ads stand out from the crowd!
Be careful though, because the wrong cocktail can get you nasty drunk, and the wrong Facebook ad can turn into an epic fail.
That’s why we created this monthly post, so you can copy from the best and stay away from the mistakes (the others made).
As we explained in our first article (that you’ll find scrolling down), each month we are going to select 4 ads that appeared in our newsfeed or… in yours. Yes, yours.
The source of all the examples that we will examine, in fact, is our Ad Gallery, the unique archive of real Facebook ads that only AdEspresso offers.
It’s an incredible inspirational tool for marketers that, as of this moment, has a count of 100,404 Facebook Ad Examples in the free section (available to everyone) plus 100,392 more Facebook Ad Examples available for our newsletter subscribers only (you can sign up here).
Almost 300K examples (and the number grows every day) collected thanks to your cooperation, too. The gallery, in fact, is populated by capturing the Facebook ads that show up in the newsfeed of those who added the AdEspresso ads gallery extension for Chrome.
If you are an AdEspresso user there’s even more functionality for you. Download our Chrome extension, connect it to your AdEspresso account, and within a few hours you’ll start seeing the ads screen-capped from your newsfeed pop-up in your very own Ads Gallery directly in your AdEspresso dashboard.
Now that you know how the gallery works, let’s make it also clear how we evaluate the ads in this monthly series.
We will NOT use our customers’ ads, so we will NOT evaluate the performance of the ad. We will only examine the ad elements that each of you can have access to:
- The visual aspect
- The Headline
- The Ad Text
- The Landing Page, Social proof or CTA
Those who know us well know that, even without hard data to back up our evaluation, we take our job of helping you maximize the results of your advertising efforts on Facebook very seriously. We do it with our guides, with the webinars in the University section of AdEspresso, running experiments(and investing money so you don’t have to) and posting new articles every day on this blog!
So, yes, the evaluations in this post are objectively subjective, but our “subjects” are considered amongst the top experts on Facebook advertising and social media marketing. That said, we will be more than happy to discuss our opinions with you in the comments!
And now it’s about time to discover the Top & Flop Facebook ads we spotted in January 2018.
#1 – People based marketing, FOMO and a stunning image: a Win-Win-Win formula
It’s easy to grab the user’s attention with a great pic of a stunning landscape, but engaging with the desired target and making them actually perform an action is quite another story – and United knows how to tell it!
| CREATIVITY | 8 | Quality picture, engaging |
| HEADLINE | 8 | Straightforward, arouses curiosity |
| AD TEXT / COPY | 8 | Good use of FOMO (creates sense of urgency) |
| LANDING PAGE | 7 | Match |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 8 | Good engagement |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | PASS 👍 |
The win-win-win element of this ad is the creative. A stunning sunset on the Monument Valley can be considered a little too generic, but in this case it is a win, because it totally matches with the brand goal: becoming the first U.S. airline for both Americans and international travelers.
If the iconic landscape is the first win, the smart use of the human element is the second. This Facebook ad shows a couple whose relationship can’t be clearly defined, they might be friends, siblings, lovers, casual travel mates; we can’t even be sure of their gender. All these details are not clearly perceivable at a glance, but they definitely help the user’s identification (following the golden rule of People-Based Marketing).
Third win: the colors of the image convey a sense of nostalgia and a deep desire to come back. A powerful marketing trick to use in your Ads!
If the iconic landscape is the first win, the smart use of the human element is the second. This Facebook ad shows a couple whose relationship can’t be clearly defined, they might be friends, siblings, lovers, casual travel mates; we can’t even be sure of their gender. All these details are not clearly perceivable at a glance, but they definitely help the user’s identification (following the golden rule of People-Based Marketing).
Third win: the colors of the image convey a sense of nostalgia and a deep desire to come back. A powerful marketing trick to use in your Ads!
The headline is very short and it works, because the image does all the talking. The promise of beautiful landscapes is held, there’s a strong connection between the copy and the ad, the brand’s purpose (to make people fly around the country) is clearly expressed, and a command word is used. This ad headline leaves no loose ends!
The text is brief and points directly to a shared common ground, the best weapon to persuade the reader. Establishing an emotional connection with the user is necessary to leverage that sense of urgency that makes people hurry up not to miss the chance to get your offer.
We cannot be sure that this campaign successfully led to real sales, as here we don’t examine any performance or KPI, but 841 Likes, 91 Comments, and 32 Shares can be considered a positive signal, and this Facebook ad by United deserves a thumb up.
#2 – Communication and target matter!
Information about the features and the pricing of your product are definitely unnecessary if your user isn’t interested in it yet. Knowing your target and the stage of the funnel you’re at is the very first step to creating a successful campaign.
| CREATIVITY | 5 | poor, unengaging |
| HEADLINE | 4 | informative, unengaging |
| AD TEXT / COPY | 4 | informative, promotional |
| LANDING PAGE | 2 | generic |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 2 | very poor |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | FAIL 👎 |
I’m a big fan of this tea brand and their tasty products, but this ad made me stick to my espresso. 😎 Let’s assume you never heard about Kusmi Tea and stumble upon this ad, does it make you think about tea?
Red and purple are a good choice and the contrast makes both the Russian nesting doll and the company logo stand out from the background (you don’t need to know The Secrets the Pros Use to Create Great Facebook Ad Designs to nail this), but that’s all.
If you’ve never seen it trust me: Kusmi packaging is outstanding compared to the common tea you can find at the store. So why did they hide it inside a doll?
The packaging could have been a winning element, as it adds value to the product and creates curiosity by conveying the relatively new idea of tea as an exclusive beverage for gourmet. But hiding their fancy tins inside the doll vanished the power of a potential “selling” feature.
Red and purple are a good choice and the contrast makes both the Russian nesting doll and the company logo stand out from the background (you don’t need to know The Secrets the Pros Use to Create Great Facebook Ad Designs to nail this), but that’s all.
If you’ve never seen it trust me: Kusmi packaging is outstanding compared to the common tea you can find at the store. So why did they hide it inside a doll?
The packaging could have been a winning element, as it adds value to the product and creates curiosity by conveying the relatively new idea of tea as an exclusive beverage for gourmet. But hiding their fancy tins inside the doll vanished the power of a potential “selling” feature.
It doesn’t go better with the textual element. The headline gives info about the company’s history and the text only focus on the cost of the advertised set: definitely not engaging info. In order to grab the audience attention, a good Facebook ad has to address both the rational and emotional sideof the user, as “our emotional-self doesn’t care about features, that part of us wants benefits”.
Let’s say you are interested in the deal (or just in the doll set) and click the link, you’ll be redirected to the main page of Kusmi website, and you’ll have to start the search from the beginning because, at a glance, there’s no evidence of the promotion advertised. How long it takes before you quit and go to Starbucks?
Advertising on Social Media has its rules and timing. You only have a very limited time to catch the user’s attention, and even less time to make them perform a specific action. This is the reason why setting up a funnel and precisely target the user with a specific message at each stage of the sale funnel is Facebook ad rule # 1.
Advertising on Social Media has its rules and timing. You only have a very limited time to catch the user’s attention, and even less time to make them perform a specific action. This is the reason why setting up a funnel and precisely target the user with a specific message at each stage of the sale funnel is Facebook ad rule # 1.
The quite unhappy end of the story is only 55 Likes and 1 Comment. This could also be related to a problem with communication and reaching the Target Audience. Remember: finding the right and precise targeting enables you to find the best way to address them.
#3 – More video and fewer words to fight the language barrier
True love needs gesture more than words, and diamonds, aka the most classic symbol of eternal love (and any girl’s best friend), have no voice. This universal idea of love is the emotional core of this Ad.
| CREATIVITY | 10 | deeply emotional, refined |
| HEADLINE | 10 | Short, straight to the point |
| AD TEXT / COPY | / | / |
| LANDING PAGE | 8 | good match |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 8 | high engagement |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | PASS 👍 |
This is an example of a company that goes “all in” on the visual impact.
The textual element is unnecessary, the repetition of the easiest and at the same time most intimate love gesture: holding hands, does the trick.Focusing the video on a series of images showing two hands intertwining matches Tiffany’s DNA (selling special jewels that last forever) and allows to showcase a wide selection of engagement rings without giving a salesy feeling. Creativity here completely matches the brand’s philosophy and the use of black and white give a sense of timeless elegance. Plus, there’s no color to distract the viewer whose attention is captured only by the sparkling diamonds.
The textual element is unnecessary, the repetition of the easiest and at the same time most intimate love gesture: holding hands, does the trick.Focusing the video on a series of images showing two hands intertwining matches Tiffany’s DNA (selling special jewels that last forever) and allows to showcase a wide selection of engagement rings without giving a salesy feeling. Creativity here completely matches the brand’s philosophy and the use of black and white give a sense of timeless elegance. Plus, there’s no color to distract the viewer whose attention is captured only by the sparkling diamonds.
The hashtag #BelieveinLove says it all and makes the textual element almost unnecessary. Check out our Definitive Guide if you would like to know more about Hashtags on Facebook.
Tiffany decided to fight the battle for users’ attention using only high impact creatives as weapons, and with 2.4k Likes, 269 comments, and 103 shares, it has definitely won! Takeaway: always learn from the bests!
#4 – “Less is more” is not always right
A light blue desk with laptop, a notebook, a pen and a cup of coffee; besides being used and abused in social media ads, it doesn’t provide any specific info about the service Taboola is promoting.
| CREATIVITY | 5 | common, unfocused |
| HEADLINE | 2 | long, unfocused |
| AD TEXT / COPY | 2 | brief, unanswered |
| LANDING PAGE | / | / |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 0 | absent |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | FAIL 👎 |
This photo is wrong for many reasons, first of all, it does not show the advertised service at a glance. The laconic description “grow your business” at the very top doesn’t add much.
Even if using stock photos is wrong by default, the image isn’t totally a fail as it is chromatically build to drive the user’s attention to the Company’s core business.
The mind behind this ad might not have had a clear idea of the buyer persona to target; moreover, the presence of disturbing and unimportant elements (such as the trumpet and other points of the list) make this creative a total fail in gaining the user’s attention.
Even if using stock photos is wrong by default, the image isn’t totally a fail as it is chromatically build to drive the user’s attention to the Company’s core business.
The mind behind this ad might not have had a clear idea of the buyer persona to target; moreover, the presence of disturbing and unimportant elements (such as the trumpet and other points of the list) make this creative a total fail in gaining the user’s attention.
The headline is too short, and the unanswered question creates doubts and moves the user away instead of stimulating curiosity and the need for information.
The text, on the other side, is so long that it doesn’t fit in the provided space. This is listed as error Nr. 7 in our list of Brain Dead Facebook Ad Mistakes. The user is asked to click for more info, but to entice someone to know more they should at least give some hints on the service promoted.
The lack of social proofs is the only possible outcome of an ad that missed to stress the valuable key points of the advertised service.
Wrapping it up
What do you think of our selection? Did we give you some great ideas to use in your next ad? And, most importantly, did you learn from the mistakes we’ve shown you?
I hope you did, and these tests will be helpful. We’ll keep scrutinizing ad after ad and next month we’ll present you a new selection of Top and Flop ads.
If you want to suggest us your favorite ads, or simply want us to examine one of your competitors, just send us the link in the comments!
The Top & Flop Ads We Saw On Social Media (in December 2017)
Advertising on social media is a scientific formula, or a kitchen recipe if you prefer. If you follow the procedures, select the best ingredients and mix them correctly, you can’t fail.
Do you want to be the Gordon Ramsay of Facebook ads? We have the best Social Media ads “menu” online, our Ads Gallery, and we’ll give you plenty of recipes.
Let’s start with the basics. To bake the perfect Facebook ads you need only four ingredients:
- High-impact creatives
- Engaging headlines
- Brief texts
- Stimulating call-to-actions!
Easy right? Easier said than done 🙁 since there are so many bad ads out there!
Knowing the right elements of an ad that converts and the dos and don’ts of advertising on Facebook doesn’t mean nailing the perfect combo. So how can you turn yourself into a social media ads Masterchef? You need good teachers, clear explanations and a lot of examples to copy (included your competitors’ ones, so you can do better!).
We give you all of that! For the first time, we decided to put the skills of AdEspresso’s Facebook ads experts at your service (for free). Each month they will, in turn, explore for you the incredible resource that is our Ad Gallery and select the best and worst ads, giving you a deep analysis of each.
For those two or three out there that still haven’t discovered our Ads Gallery, it’s a collection of Ads that each user can catch simply downloading the AdEspresso ads gallery for chrome plugin. It’s a massive database composed of ads in 36 different languages, at the moment it counts 1,026,136 Facebook Ads and 64,993 Twitter Ads, and Every day hundreds of new Facebook Ads, Twitter Ads and Landing Pages are added!
Plus, it is YOURS: With our Chrome extension, you’ll automatically get your own ad swipe file pulled from YOUR Facebook feed and added automatically to your personal AdEspresso dashboard, which is your precious tool for study or inspiration. Each AdEspresso user can access two different Ads Galleries: the first one is that mentioned above, the other one can be found in the University section. This is our complete Ads Gallery composed of both Ads that we selected from all the social media platforms, plus the ones selected and shared by our users. This second one is available for all AdEspresso users although trial users can only enjoy a limited version of it (up to 20 searches).
Top and Flop Facebook Ads of the month: how it works
Each chosen ad of this article would be taken from the Ads gallery and investigated through a series of given parameters that will determine if it’s a Top ad (and passed the test) or a Flop (and it failed).
We are going to address ads as they appeared in the FB newsfeed and investigate them paying attention to 4 elements:
- The Visual aspect (both still images or video), because this is the first element to grab the user’s attention;
- The Headline, because it contributes to arousing the users’ curiosity and tempts them to know more about the advertised product or service;
- We will also analyze the Ad text, and give you precious tips on how to make it perfect;
- Last but not least, we’ll consider other important elements of an ad: the landing page, the social proof or the CTA.
To avoid any suspicion of impartiality, we won’t examine our customer’s campaigns.
Clear enough? Let’s start then!
#1 – Curiosity is always a good choice!
From the engaging headline to the perfect picture, this Ad has everything it needs to touch the user’s heart and gain his curiosity.
| CREATIVITY | 9 | high emotional impact |
| HEADLINE | 9 | engaging, hilarious |
| AD TEXT / COPY | 8 | short and to the point |
| LANDING PAGE | 8 | good match |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 9 | high engagement |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | PASS 👍 |
Using cute puppies always works, but what makes the difference here is the way the story is told and the high impact of the video used. Videos are one of the best four ways to engage the Audience with Visual Storytelling on Facebook, but what makes this ad a Top Ad is how well they mastered the art of storytelling. The dog, the forest and the final jump in the suitcase blow , the user’s mind up with questions and curiosity reaches its peak.
The headline explains the mystery and awakens the users’ interest promising an escape from everyday-life and “Monday blues”. It is at the same time easy-to-read, relatively brief and clear with no space for doubts left. Text and Landing Page reinforce the message without overloading it: here every word is carefully selected.
The Landing Page closely resembles the Ad both in style and colors (the light blue of the suitcase can also be traced in the company’s logo). The likeness between the company’s payoff “STA Travel: START THE ADVENTURE” and the Ad’s message, is also a good example of a successful match, and we now that Message Match really makes the Ad’s cost decrease.
This Ad has everything it needs to perform really well, and its Social Proof (451 Likes, 161 Comments and 47 shares) confirm our judgment on this being a Top ad.
Think out of the frame!
“Think out of the frame” isn’t only a revolutionary motto but also the best weapon to fight people’s 8-seconds attention span . Unfortunately, being too much “out” is one of this Ad’s weaknesses.
| CREATIVITY | 6 | common |
| HEADLINE | 4 | impersonal |
| AD TEXT / COPY | 3 | extremely long, cut |
| LANDING PAGE | 7 | match |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 4 | few |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | FAIL 👎 |
The image is a stock photo that we can see used for a lot of food ads: hands pouring something milkish in a mug with a rustic wood background isn’t exactly the outstanding image of superfood that will grab the user’s attention. Finding the right image is not easy (inless you have your own amazing design team like we do) but there’s plenty of ways to improve your images, choosing the right picture or avoiding copyright issues, just click on the links to have all the tips and tricks your ads need!
The headline is a bit too long and impersonal, a more conversational and personal approach is usually suggested in order to make people engage with the product and the brand. If you need inspiration, you can check our Formulas and Strategies to write irresistible Ad Headline.
The capital letters in the Ad text can sound authoritative plus it is extremely long and it gets cut. One of the key elements of a good Facebook ad is a text that focuses on few relevant points leaving out all the unimportant stuff. “Less is more” should become your new mantra when creating your Facebook ads!
From UVP, through chat and to CTA, the Ad’s Landing Page has all the Crucial Elements that a good Landing Page is expected to have, so positive note at this round is worth!
As stated before, Social Proofs are the most effective KPI to track an ad’s performance and they constitute an impartial judgment. Few likes, poor comments, and no shares are the results of an Ad that hasn’t touch the User in depth. It matches with our school report that shows a Fail.
#3 Sweet moments of happy love
Eye-catching creatives, deep emotion, and natural humor are the reasons for the success of this Ad; it directly points to the right side of the brain striking users emotional intelligence.
| CREATIVITY | 9 | funny, eye-catching, emotional |
| HEADLINE | 9 | brief, engaging, hilarious |
| AD TEXT / COPY | / | / |
| LANDING PAGE | 9 | good match |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 10 | Extremely high engagement |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | PASS 👍 |
Here the creative isn’t build up to tell a story, but to catch a sweet and intimate moment that everyone can relate to. No gender matters here, as the advertised socks fit both men, women, and babies. The subject has been chosen to create a deep emotional connection with the users -who hasn’t snuggled with their kids or enjoyed cuddling with mom or dad as a child? Empathy is the secret sauce here, the only emotion able to establish a deep and lasting relationship between the brand and the user.
The User’s attention is grabbed also by the use of Dalmatian spots, a really good example of creativity that stands out and doesn’t mind to dare! The usage of words follows the same concept of the visual: in the image, the black and white of the socks is counterbalanced by a rainbow-colored donut while, in the text, the high emotional tone of the image coexists with the hilarious headline.
The headline is a successful example of a brief message that says everything using a few simple words: the message is emphasized, the hilarity of the brand conveyed and the User directly engaged with a request. Even if using question marks in the headlines is still an open debate, in this case, the language pun is only used to stress the visual message which remains the core of this ad. What matters here is the moment captured in the image, this could also be the reason why no text is added.
With 4.5K Likes, 205 Comments, and 38 Shares, users have shown to appreciate the ad, and the use of UGC (by quoting the user who posted the photo) is proper of a brand that cares about its customers and takes their content and ideas into consideration. They really deserve their spot among the Top Ad of our gallery!
Not going far without empathy
The most effective way to catch users attention definitely involves creating emotions. Apparently, Desjardins creatives didn’t know.
| CREATIVITY | 2 | un-personal, unengaging |
| HEADLINE | 4 | unengaging |
| AD TEXT / COPY | / | / |
| LANDING PAGE | 0 | absent |
| SOCIAL PROOFS | 2 | less |
| FINAL JUDGEMENT | FAIL 👎 |
A successful ad addresses the user directly, talks to him and makes him identify with a given situation. It’s only through emotions that a common ground is set and the seed of a real and steady business relationship is planted. Does this happen in this Ad? Definitely not and due to a bunch of different reasons, let’s see them in detail!
The video is poor and the lack of real-life examples or ad-hoc Buyer Personas discourages the user’s identification with the brand. Emojis can be funny and might work but, in this case, they prevent the user’s identification and engagement -how is that possible to be interested in a product or service that doesn’t talk to you directly? Detail targeting is the real feature that makes the difference when advertising on Facebook – eager to make the most out of it? Check out this guide!
The headline is meant to be hilarious and should help the user identification with a real-case situation, but this doesn’t actually happen here 🙁 This headline is unengaging and doesn’t arise user’s curiosity, it doesn’t make you want to click and find out more about the advertised product or service.
But let’s assume that someone is triggered by the video and would like to know more about the travel insurance offered. The worst fail of this ad is that there’s no link to a landing page! Few Likes and even fewer comments are the only possible outcome of an Ad that hasn’t been able to address the user’s rational and emotional side. A total Flop!
