The Best Ads for Sunglasses

THIS WEEK’S FODDER
☀️ Good Morning

You’re reading Marketing Fodder, a newsletter dedicated to helping you improve your Facebook and Instagram ads.

Today, we’ll be taking a closer look at the ads of two companies:

1. Oakley

2. Sunski

STARTER
Marketing Headlines

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MAIN
Shades

Who Invented Sunglasses?

According to this history of sunglasses, the Chinese developed glasses with lenses made of smoky quartz in the 12th century. But, it wasn’t until the 18th century, in Italy, that tinted glasses were developed specifically for sun protection. Gondoliers wore them to protect their eyes from the glare of canal waters.

How I Analyze Facebook Ads

A great Facebook ad communicates the benefits of the product or service, not solely the features. Think about it like this: a feature makes the product better but a benefit makes the customer’s life better. So, focusing on how your product or service makes your target customer’s life easier (or better) helps get the conversion.

Alright, let’s see how these companies market their sunglasses:

#1: Oakley

The Good:

• This Oakley ad excels at being succinct. The ad copy immediately addresses the two main benefits of sunglasses: style and eye protection.

• As a major brand with significant name recognition, less is sometimes more and this ad exemplifies that. There’s no fluff.

• The image provides a clean, simple view of the sunglasses.

The Bad:

• The description section (under the URL) is sparse, “Official Site” is not providing another reason to buy. Adding information about free shipping offers or emphasizing a limited time offer is a better use of this space.

The Recommendation:

• Use an image with a person wearing the glasses; showing the product on a real person often boosts click through rate (CTR).

• Add more information to the description section.

#2: Sunski

Example 1:

Example 2:

The Good:

• The examples above are from the same carousel ad. I included two frames from the ad because they provide a great example of how to showcase one product across a series of images.

  • The first frame uses a quote from Outside that rated these sunglasses as the best ones for hiking, and the right side of the frame shows them being worn on a man who appears to be on a hike and is smiling.

  • The second frame shows how the polarized lenses cut through glare.

• This ad does an excellent job of showing (rather than simply telling) the potential customer why, and how, these sunglasses are ideal for hiking.

The Bad:

• The ad copy could be more compelling. The images do the main work in this ad but the ad copy isn’t helping enough. The “with a magnetic twist” phrase does spark curiosity but needs to be explained more in the Primary text.

The Recommendation:

• Test ad copy that describes the benefits of these sunglasses more explicitly.

Pro Tip

This week’s tip comes from ReadstoLeads.com

The blueprint for effective copy:

1. Tell your audience about their problem. Make sure this problem is something they can relate to and feel deeply. Make it hurt by adding some pain points. 

2. Introduce your solution. Make it as vivid and concrete as possible, and avoid vague language. In other words, show, don't tell.

3. Explain what they will get. Make your offer sound more valuable and attractive by adding more benefits and features.

4. Show the proof it works. Use real examples, customer feedback, and evidence to build trust with your audience.

5. Invite them to buy. Offer them a guarantee, let them know the price, and give them a reason to trust you.

Creating a Facebook or Instagram ad that covers points 1-5 is tricky because a single ad has limited space and attention spans are short; the solution is to use one or more images to explain the pain point and solution that the audience is looking for. Let the ad copy reenforce what the images are showing; customer quotes are especially helpful.