Saturday, September 24, 2022
*Sniff sniff*, do you smell that? 👃 Smells like another edition of the DTC Brand Breakdown!
Over the next four weeks, we’re smelling the roses and checking for any thorns in DTC perfume brand Phlur. 🌸
Phlur isn’t your ordinary perfume brand with hints of musk and floral. Their scents are “inspired by memories, moments, experiences, and feelings – those that are intimately personal and universally shared.”
This week, we asked our expert Facebook team to check out which of Phlur's Facebook ads are SCENT-sational, and which could use a bit of extra PHLUR-ishing.
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 The three factors to balance when advertising on Facebook
📦 Share creative visibility across your team and empower your next creative ideation with Motion
📦 Not using carousels? You should be
📦 Connect with consumers and boost sales with UGC from minisocial
📦 Therapy notebooks, fresh fall scents, and drinking water for your furry friend
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe, so you never miss out.
🍊 Ad-pricot
👍 The good:
When making a Facebook ad, brands should look for a balance between:
This ad has two of the three. 💐
We love the ad copy—it’s a classic ‘meet’ hook that does a great job of introducing viewers to a new product! The whole ‘new product drop’ style is proven to be very effective. Plus, the copy is super interesting and gives us a taste, better yet, a smell of the product at hand.
👃 The smelly:
Phlur missed an extra bit of oomph with this creative. It’s pleasing to the eye, but it’s clear from the moment you see it that it’s an ad.
The goal of putting ad spend behind Facebook ads is to get users to stop their scroll and convert to a customer.
In the case of this ad, the content isn’t engaging enough. We suggest leveraging more user-generated, warehouse, or customer review content—all angles proven to stop users’ scroll. 📦
We understand that the brand is married to a certain image or “vibe,” but sometimes you gotta switch things up. Rattle the user's eyes with content they’re not used to seeing from brands (within reason, of course).
The Pilothouse Facebook team would be interested to see an A/B test comparing the current ad and a creative that comes across more organically. We have an inkling which might win, but we suggest testing to be sure!
🥲 We’re getting emotional
👍 The good:
Now this video is enough to get us hyped! The mix of polished studio content, UGC, and big, bold text is an eye-catcher and hype-builder. Go Phlur, go! 👌
The angle of their ‘Miss me?” copy capitalizes on the virality of their Missing Person perfume. The ad copy incentivizes scrollers to stop and buy the product they’ve seen all over their TikTok For You Page before it sells out again.
Talk about creating urgency. 💥
👃 The smelly:
Looking for that extra little something to help users convert?
Level up that ad copy with some emojis. Emojis insert character and help build and convey brand voice and tone.
And since this scent is their best seller, Phlur should show new shoppers how much past purchasers love it.
The experts say that written reviews/testimonials and a display of 5-star ratings would go a long way to help new shoppers make the decision to click buy. ⭐️
Share Creative Learnings Without the Guesswork
Bridging the gap between data and creatives is more important than ever. 🎯
We can all agree that creative is a passionate art, but differences in opinion can be quickly resolved by removing the emotional element.
You can share creative visibility across your team and empower your next creative ideation with Motion. 👋
Motion helps create super visual reports so you can focus on creating content that converts. With one click you can share insights with your team and help eliminate the guesswork in the creative process.
🏆 Learn which ad creatives are performing best and why
📊 Build custom reports for your creative needs
🤗 Share findings with your entire team
Join 500+ teams like Vuori and Therabody in using Motion to improve creative performance.
👉Discover your top performing creatives and share with your team today.
🧼 Get some skin in the game
👍 The good:
This image feels very 80’s film chic, creative, and we think the moisture dripping off the product is a magnificent addition to add movement. 💦
The background is a vibrant color but also makes the bottle on the right pop. But again, the images are very ad-like.
Although we’re enjoying the magazine/TV vibe, this is social media, people! We like a little grit with our consumerism.
👃The smelly:
Can you spot what this ad is missing? Here’s a hint, it’s one of the three main factors we previously outlined. The headline! 💥
A lack of headline isn’t doing much to help consumers click to buy or get more information. We can only assume it would negatively impact conversions. Your headline is another opportunity to draw the eye of your consumer.
We suggest: Add luxury to your layering lineup.
With this ad looking an awful lot like an ad, to get interested users all the way through the funnel, Phlur would need a STRONG landing page behind this one. 🤝
What’s the best thing about getting UGC from minisocial?
🏅 UGC is the best-performing content for DTC brands.
But just because UGC is the fastest-growing type of content, it doesn’t mean it’s easy for brands to find the right creators, communicate with them, and manage them.
That’s why brands like Super Coffee, Imperfect Foods, and Native are using minisocial.
Minisocial helps DTC brands find the perfect creators to make fully-licensed UGC without the hassle… 😍
Then, you can use this content across all your marketing channels to connect with consumers and boost sales.
minisocial’s network of thousands of creators across 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 are eager to partner with brands big and small to create meaningful content!
👉 Want to learn more? Find a time to connect with the team or get started for 15% off your first project!
🎉 Hype enough?
👍 The good:
The gif format of this video is great! The movement may be enough to stop scrollers in their track to check out what the text is saying.
We’re also loving the copy – ‘The hype is REAL.’ It’s a great angle that lets new shoppers know that the product is well loved and would be a great addition to their perfume collection!
👃 The smelly:
As much as we’re keen on the hype angle, the video doesn’t necessarily scream hype to us. More quotes supporting their claims would go a long way.
Not to mention, another missing headline… A missed headline is a missed opportunity. It's an invaluable space when utilized… imagine the lack of headline as a lack of exposure. 😥
We suggest: Not convinced yet? The hype is here.
🌫 Did you miss mist me?
👍 The good:
Ok, Phlur… This 👏 is 👏 what 👏 we’re 👏 talking 👏 about! What a fabulous set of carousels.
All three images caught our eye. Sure, we have no clue what “Skin Musk, Cyclamen, Neroli, and Blonde Wood” are, but that doesn’t mean we weren't curious. 🤷
The creative images that don’t feature the text are also pretty interesting. It's clear that they love the dramatic images, so this ad is definitely on brand.
And finally, we’re loving the way they framed the product in the ad copy. Calling the product viral shows first-time viewers that it’s well-loved, and saying the product is back in stock feels incredibly credible because it implies it’s sold out before!
That’s a wrap on the first edition of the Phlur Brand Breakdown. 🌸
Here are our top three takeaways:
That’s all for now! Smell ya later. 👋
📚 Therapy Notebooks: Need an extra push to be mindful in your daily life? Therapy Notebooks has created guided notebooks to help you include mental health practices into your routine from the comfort of your own home.
👃 Elsewhere Fragrances: There’s nothing better than a fabulous smelling candle on a cool autumn day. If you’re over the plain-old vanilla or fresh linen scents, try Elsewhere Fragrances. Their candles are unique and limited-edition. A good-smelling home is a comfy home.
🐶 Springer: No more puddle water drinking for your friend Fido. Springer’s created portable water bottles for your furry pal that feature a bowl on top for easy drinking. Fresh water wherever you go!
💄 Growth vs. Customer Experience: Cody Plofker and Eli Weiss from Jones Road Beauty Weigh In.
🕺 Disco's Benjamin Smith on Nailing Your Product Market Fit With Creative, Offer, and Landing Page.
🆕 Overcoming the New Normal With a Content Creator Network, Crossrope's Srjdan Popovic Returns!
🌸 How True Botanicals Became the Fastest Growing Luxury Beauty Brand with Tresl Segments.
👟 Kuru Footwear Scales Meta Ad Spend 350%! Sean McGinnis on How They Did It.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Jordan Gillis. Edited by Claire Beveridge, Eric Dyck, and Miguel Monzones
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
NEED MORE DTC?
🚀 Advertise in DTC Newsletter.
💰Check out our course on Facebook and Instagram ads!
📥 Work for The DTC Newsletter: Send an email to Rebecca, rebecca@directtoconsumer.co, if you’re interested in writing for us!
DTC 2023. All Rights Reserved.
DTC is fueled by Pilothouse company registered in Victoria, BC, Canada.