The Best Facebook Ads for Luggage

THE SPREAD
Morning Marketers!

Today we have some quick bites on Google and Microsoft. Then, we’ll get into the main course and look at the Facebook ads of three popular luggage companies. Finally, we’ll end with some SEO news and a meme.

STARTER
Quick Bites:

• Core Web Vitals are a ranking signal, but probably a small one

• Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is now, officially, a Core Web Vital, and replaces First Input Delay (FID)

• Microsoft ads want to look more like Google ads

MAIN
The Best Ads:

This week we are looking at the Facebook ads of three popular luggage companies:

1. Away

2. Monos

3. Beis

Before we get into what these ads are doing well, let me explain the lens that we are looking through.

We are judging ads on whether they communicate the benefits of the product or service, not the features. Features are cool, but customers really care about what those features do for them (the benefit). For example, describing the number of pockets in a suitcase is describing features. But, describing how you’ll have room for everything you need is describing a benefit, and we’ll be looking for that in the ads we examine.

Luggage Company #1: Away

The Good:

• The Primary text starts out strong with a conversational tone: “Looks good. Packs easily. Glides like butter.” Having shorter, punchier phrases is a great way to sound relatable and less salesy.

• The image is nice and the low camera angel does convey the “cool factor” of these suitcases, making them stand out.

The Bad:

• The other two phrases in the Primary text feel like a missed opportunity. “Away checks all the boxes” doesn’t capture the benefit and almost sounds like a failed attempt at a pun. Is Away telling me that the company examines all their suitcases or that their suitcases meet all my luggage needs? This phrase needs a rewrite.

• The last phrase, “Shop now at awaytravel” dot com is not bad, but seems like a missed opportunity for adding a more compelling reason to shop.

• The text overlay on the image that reads “The original better suitcases” doesn’t communicate why the suitcases are better, better than what?

The Recommendation:

• Replace the last two phrases in the Primary text with language that describes how owning an Away bag sets the owner of it apart from other travelers. Something like, “For the discerning traveler.”

  • So the Primary text would read: “Looks good. Packs easily. Glides like butter. For the discerning traveler.”

• As for the image, testing variations with different colored suitcases is a good idea.

• Test different text on the image. Add more confidence in the language; something like, “The best suitcase for busy travelers” helps define who the suitcase is for.

Let’s looks at another Away ad:

The Good:

• The Primary text does a great job of speaking to a specific audience: people with travel goals in 2024.

• Again, the ad uses short phrases to provide a conversational, easily digestible reading experience: “2024 goals: More travel. More curiosity.”

• The last phrase, “And with our luggage and organizers—more room to pack it all in” does a great job of connecting the company’s products to the goals of the customer.

The Bad:

• While the last phrase of the Primary text helps the customer understand how the product contributes to their travel goals, it focuses on a feature, “room",” rather than a benefit.

• The image looks nice, but is possibly too cluttered; testing an image with a more organized layout of the organizers and luggage in a pile may help the target customer visualize the helpful part of owning Away luggage.

The Recommendation:

• Test a different phrase at the end of the Primary text. Instead of “more room to pack it all in,” a phrase that calls out a benefit may resonate more with the target customer. Something like, “more room, less stress.”

Luggage Company #2: Monos

The Good:

• The Primary text of this ad is broken into a statement followed by four bullet points. This format eye-catching catching and definitely worth testing to see if it improves CTR.

• The phrase, “The most talked about luggage of 2024,” perfectly captures the main benefit of owning this luggage: status, admiration of others, standing out.

• The first three bullet points mention product features, but the last bullet point ties those together with a benefit: having a stylish travel companion (status).

• The text overlayed on the image rhymes, which works here (at least for me) and makes the ad a little more fun.

The Bad:

• The only thing that stands out to me is the setting of the image. Is this suitcase being carried across a volcano? A beach? The background of the image makes it hard to imagine the luggage being used in a practical way, like an airport.

The Recommendation:

• Test different phrases within the bullet points; this is the part of the Primary text that stands out the most so testing a mix of different features and benefits, and the order of those bullet points may help boost CTR and engagement time with the ad.

• Also, test images with lighter background, even if that requires putting a background behind the text.

Let’s look at another Monos Ad:

The Good:

• This ad is another good example of effectively communication why someone would buy this luggage over another.

• The Primary text is a customer review by Patrick M. (only one paragraph is shown above) that explains why the customer chose a Monos: “Away just didn’t offer anything unique looking.” Whether true or not, the review does present the value of the luggage: standing out.

• The image is simple but, again, helps the target customer visualize how this luggage piece stands out.

The Bad:

• Not a criticism, but having some text in the middle of the image that aligns with the customer review could be effective.

The Recommendation:

• The customer review is long, a full two paragraphs, one of which is not even displayed above. I like how authentic the review sounds but I would consider testing snippets of the review in different ads to make it more digestible for people scrolling quickly. For example, using “I’m sick of losing black rollers and bags amongst everyone else’s" as the Primary text would be intriguing and eliminates the wall of text the full quote presents.

Luggage Company #3: Beis

The Good:

• Beis is also in the game of making luggage that stands out or gives the owner status, but takes a slightly different approach to its ads: targeting other segments.

• This ad is a screenshot from a video, the video itself shows each bag being appearing one at a time in the frame until you get the collection above.

• The Primary text immediate emphasizes the benefit: making family trips stress free, and the text in the video reenforces that idea with “ready,” the end state of packing for a trip.

The Bad:

• The final phrase in the Primary text, “Shop bestselling hardsided luggage + more” feels like a waste. This space is better used by text describing more benefits. There’s already a Shop Now call to action button at the bottom of the ad, it doesn’t need to be in the Primary text.

The Recommendation:

• Test a bullet point format that mixes features and benefits together.

• Test other combinations of words related to vacation, like adventure.

Let’s look at another Beis ad:

The Good:

• Again, the ad does an exceptional job of aligning the Primary text language with the feeling conveyed by the image: standing out.

• Targeting couples is also a great idea, especially if the other luggage companies have not catered directly to them.

• The image does a great job of helping the target customer imagine what it’s like to travel with Beis luggage, while also reenforcing the “fashionable” aspects.

The Bad:

• Both Beis ads use the words “functional” in the Primary text but that word doesn’t add excitement or interest for me. “Ultimate” or “First-class” would work better in my opinion. The word is also being used more effectively in “Functional + fashionable,” below the URL.

The Recommendation:

• Test different text overlays on the image. Two or three words that reenforce the idea of standing out could boost CTR and engagement with the ad.

• Also, test a customer review (in the primary text) with this image, especially if the review is from a couple.

SIDES
SEO Morsels:

• Blog: Is a related post section helpful?

• Are “notability” and “transparency” part of Google’s E-E-A-T concept?

• How to be original and helpful for Google

Marketing Meme of the Week: