Revisiting the Best Ads for Minimalist Wallets

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

Today, we’ll be examining the ads of:

1. Ekster

2. The Ridge

STARTER
Marketing Headlines

• The new boss of Google Search

• YouTube is rolling out new features across all platforms (Read more)

• These 12 steps can lead to better SEO (Read more)

MAIN
Wallets

Trends:

According to Google Trends, US search interest (over the last 5 years) for Ridge wallets has increased steadily, with significant spikes in search interest every November:

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. Features typically describe a physical aspect of the product, while benefits describe a change in the emotional state of the customer. Makeup companies do this well. Instead of focusing on features like ingredients, their ads highlight how much better someone will look or feel by purchasing the product.

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

#1: Ekster

The Good:

• This ad excels at highlighting the uniqueness of this wallet. According to the ad, this wallet is “The Slimmest Trackable Smart Wallet.” Being number one in a category, even a small category, creates differentiation.

• The quote from Forbes helps add credibility. The second quote is helpful too but doesn’t have an author.

• Calling out that this wallet is 100% Aluminum and 0% plastic is intriguing.

• This ad makes it easy for the viewer to say yes: shipping is free, the wallet is backed by a lifetime warranty, and it can be tried out risk-free for 100 days.

The Bad:

• Too much emphasis is placed on features, like holding up to “14 cards and bills,” and not enough information is provided about how this wallet changes the life of the purchaser.

• The image looks like it was generated by AI. A more realistic shot of the wallet would be better.

The Recommendation:

• Provide an author for the second quote.

• Test images of the wallet being held by a person or sitting on a dresser or nightstand.

#2: The Ridge

The Good:

• The last time I looked at Ridge’s Facebook ads, Marques Brownlee had just joined the company’s board. Now, he’s featured in the ads. What this particular ad does well is use Brownlee’s credibility, as a trusted product reviewer, to bolster a new product.

• The image of Brownlee next to the new wallet helps the viewer make the connection between the product and the YouTuber.

• Calling Brownlee, “Tech’s Most Powerful Man,” and having his YouTube stats highlighted in the bottom right of the image provides context for why viewers should trust Brownlee.

• Having a risk-free 99 day trial for a wallet helps reduce friction.

The Bad:

• The image of the wallet is not exciting, it looks like a piece of leather with a credit card shoved through it. The image needs to better reflect Brownlee’s part in designing or reimagining it. There needs to be a robot holding the wallet or some other memorable thing about the image.

The Recommendation:

• Use images of the wallet that are memorable and show why this wallet is more than a piece of leather wrapped around a credit card.

• Test having a quote from Brownlee in the image or in the Primary text ad copy.

Pro Tip

If you have, or plan to build, a multilingual website, don’t ignore these website structure best practices when targeting international audiences:

1. Using local top-level domains (e.g., .de, .fr)

2. Implementing subdomains

3. Utilizing subdirectories

For a more complete explanation, read the full article here.