The Best Facebook Ads for Sunscreen

THIS WEEK’S FODDER
☀️ Good Morning

You’re reading Marketing Fodder. A newsletter dedicated to helping you improve your Facebook and Instagram ads. Right now, it feels like summer in the SF Bay Area. Here’s what we’re serving up today:

1. Supergoop

2. Sun Bum

3. Oars + Alps

4. Blue Lizard

What do these companies have in common? They all sell sunscreen, and we’re taking a look at how these companies market their sunscreen to their target customers through Facebook ads.

STARTER
Quick Bites:

• Is OpenAI launching a search engine? The domain “search dot chatgpt dot com” was discovered in OpenAI’s recent SSL certificate logs (Read more)

• The story of HouseFresh: how the latest Google algorithm update led to a 91% drop in search traffic for this independent publisher (Read more)

• How an electric bike company increased traffic from 37,000 to 210,00 per month by targeting highly searched for, commercial keywords (Read more)

MAIN
Rub It In

What’s so interesting about the sunscreen market?

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global market for sun care products was valued at 14.40 billion (USD) in 2023 and is projected to grow to 22.28 billion (USD) by 2032. That’s a projected compound annual growth rate of 5.16%.

Strong demand for high SPF and mineral-only sunscreens is the main reason for the growth of the global sun care market.

In case you were curious, “SPF” means sun protection factor. SPF is a measure of how well that sunscreen protects you from a sunburn. But, a high SPF can give people a false sense of security (Read more).

How I Analyze Facebook Ads

A great Facebook ad communicates the benefits of the product or service, not solely the features. Features are cool, but customers really care about what those features do for them (the benefit). So, ideally, a Facebook ad communicates how the features of a product or service create a result or transformation for the customer (the benefit).

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

#1: Supergoop

The Good:

• What does this ad do well? It address a pain point (negative feature) that many people experience when applying sunscreen: it feels greasy, or like applying paint to your face.

• By positioning this product as “sunscreen that doesn’t feel like sunscreen,” Supergoop creates curiosity, which is crucial if you want catch the attention of your potential customer.

• The image does an excellent job of showing what the sunscreen actually looks like on human skin. Demonstrating what a product looks like in-use helps alleviate doubts in the potential customer’s mind.

• “The SPF you want to wear” is a friendly way to communicate that buying this sunscreen is a great decision.

The Bad:

• The call-to-action button is “Learn More.” This isn’t a make-or-break mistake, but there is a difference of intention between someone clicking a “Learn More” button and a “Shop Now” button. In general, someone clicking “Shop Now” probably has stronger buying intent than someone clicking “Learn More,” who may be the type of person who likes to learn new information but isn’t in the buying mood.

The Recommendation:

• Testing different iterations of the Primary text; I would test a version with the “Sunscreen that doesn’t feel like sunscreen!” as the introduction, followed by a bullet point list of features and benefits.

• Test “Shop Now” as the call-to-action on the button.

#2: Sun Bum

The Good:

• The Primary text sets the tone of the ad by saying, “The sun — we live for it. Just don’t forget the SPF.” By having the sun as the focus, and not the product, the ad is essentially selling the experience of relaxing outside. This is effective because the experience is the benefit for the potential customer, and the product is merely a means of getting to the experience safely.

• This ad uses humor in a great way . A man surfing, while sitting in a lounge chair, with an umbrella, making the “hang-loose” hand gesture, perfectly captures the vibe of Sun Bum: light-hearted relaxation.

• The message at the top of the image, “We don’t care if you use ours, just use sunscreen,” is an interesting way of positioning the brand as trustworthy or caring. Instead of marketing themselves as the “best” sunscreen brand, Sun Bum tries to show neutrality or objectivity by telling the customer that the sunscreen itself, not brand, is what matters most.

• “Stay Covered” is a great tagline for a sunscreen brand and definitely fits the vibe of Sun Bum.

The Bad:

• I’m skeptical of the “We don’t care if you use ours, just use sunscreen” message. It’s a useful PSA (public service announcement), but I doubt that it helps this ad get a click and conversion. I could be wrong in this case, but I would test having this language and another ad without it and look closely at the data.

• While I like how this ad sells the experience rather than the product, the sunscreen itself is essentially absent from the ad. Even a small image in the corner of what the sunscreen bottle looks like would help.

The Recommendation:

• I would test a quote/review in the Primary text that aligns with the beach bum vibe of the brand.

• Testing a longer version of the Primary text could help as well, this as really doesn’t say much about the product itself.

• Like the previous ad, I would test “Shop Now” instead of “Learn More” for the call-to-action.

#3: Oars + Alps

The Good:

• What this ad excels at is using fear/worry about skin cancer as the motivation to buy the product. This tactic is risky because it can feel scummy. But, for certain products (like mosquito repellant) it works well because a clear harm exists and people are looking for a quick solution. This ad does a good job of using fear/worry in a non-scummy way by providing statistics that a potential customer can verify with a Google search.

• The image provides a nice example of how this sunscreen is applied, it’s an effect product-in-use example.

The Bad:

• The focus on skin cancer may be a little strong. Besides what the man is holding in his hand, I don’t know what differentiates this product from other sunscreens.

• The ad doesn’t provide a source for where they are getting their skin cancer statistics from.

The Recommendation:

• Include a source for the skin cancer statistics. Something like, “According to the Skin Cancer Foundation…etc.”

• Test a bullet point list of specific features this product has, and specific benefits.

#4: Blue Lizard

The Good:

• Positioning this sunscreen as the best one for sensitive skin is what makes this ad stand out. Sunscreen is a crowded market so niching down is a great way to differentiate a product.

• Reminding people that dermatologists recommend this type of sunscreen helps build credibility.

• Like Supergoop, this ad does a great job of showing what the sunscreen looks like on human skin. This helps make the potential customer visualize using the product.

The Bad:

• The URL (below the image) looks untrustworthy. MIMAK dot AI doesn’t sound related to sunscreen so some potential customers may think it’s a scam or too sketchy. I went to the URL and it looks legitimate, providing locations where the sunscreen is sold, but some potential customers may be hesitant to click the ad.

The Recommendation:

• Use a URL that aligns with the brand name, “Blue Lizard.”

• Test different images, and backgrounds. Having the eyes of the model visible can increase CTR in my experience.

Meme of the Week: