Video ads are one of the most effective ad formats on Facebook. The ROI on a video ad can often be several times higher than on still images.
Videos tend to perform well for a few reasons:
- They auto-play in the news feed. You can catch attention much more easily than with still images.
- You can convey more information quickly.
- You can demonstrate the product instantly, rather than explaining what the product does.
So, what makes a good video ad?
Generally, a good video ad should:
- Catch attention within the first 3 seconds.
- Clearly communicate what the product is.
- Be interesting and get viewers excited.
Let’s take a look at a few examples.
#1 – A Serial Killer, Delivered to Your Door
The Product: This is a subscription mystery box. Every month, you get a box containing clues to a mystery, which you help solve. It’s basically a murder mystery delivered by mail.
Price point: $27.50 per month
Landing Page: Click Here to view
What I love about this ad is how vividly it gets you to feel. The sense of mystery, creepiness, foreboding. For people who enjoy a good mystery book, I’d imagine this ad converted very well.
Their website says they have over 17,500 subscribers. At $30 a month, that means they’re generating at least $500,000 per month, not including upsells. They’re doing very well using this style of advertising.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#2 – Anti-Theft Backpack
The Product: A backpack with several anti-theft, anti-spill features.
Price point: $49.99
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This ad does a great job catching attention in the news feed. Within the first few seconds, the ad already manages to show off a few of its core features.
The ad combines several animated product shots, with lifestyle shots of the product being used in the real world. They overlay it with text to show off the most important features.
Overall a very well executed ad.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#3 – Use Still Images and Effects to Create Animation
The Product: A phone case for Legend of Zelda fans (a video game.)
Price point: $14.85
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This ad is a great example of why you don’t need expensive video shoots to create an effective video ad.
This video looks like it’s a real video, but if you look closely you’ll see that it’s really just still images plus a couple effects. Basically they’re using images and using flashes plus image movements to create the illusion of it being a video.
This ad likely performed very well for them. This video got about 950,000 views. At a CPM of $25, that means they probably spent about $24,000 on this ad. If they had a 3-to-1 return, that means this ad generated approximately $75,000 in sales.
And that’s only one video – it’s likely they ran additional ads for the same product, using the same style.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#4 – Custom Vitamin Gummies
The Product: A subscription for vitamin gummies. They let you customize your own package with different vitamins. They’re selling a subscription package.
Price point: $12 to $120 per month, based on quantity.
Landing Page: Click Here to view
I found this mixed-ad format quite interesting. This ad is basically broken into two parts:
- Part One: The company explains the product and how it works.
- Part Two: A mix between a video testimonial and a commercial. They have a customer explain how the product works.
It was a little on the longer side, but I think it works for this product.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Unit:
#5 – Try the World
The Product: A subscription snack box. Every month, you get a different box of snacks from a different country.
Price point: $35 a month
Landing Page: Try the World
This stop-motion style ad definition catches attention. It stands out in the news feed, as most other videos are of people.
This style of video is likely quite expensive – actually more difficult to produce than just filming a product video.
That said, Try the World has been around for a while – so I imagine they’ve tested multiple styles of video. The fact that they continue to invest in this style of video means it’s most likely working for them.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#6 – A Simple and Clear Product Demo
The Product: A light that lets you project the ocean floor onto your bedroom walls.
Price point: $39.95
Landing Page: Click Here to view
Sometimes all you need to do is clearly show off what a product does. This is especially true if you have a very unique product, or a very unique offer.
This video is simple and to the point. It tells you what the product does, and then shows you a few examples of it in action.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#7 – Humor Sells
The Product: A better pillow, made with higher quality materials.
Price point: $99
Landing Page: Click Here to view
Yes, this is a $99 pillow. And yes, it’s selling very well.
This ad does a lot right. For one, the attention catching headline above the video gets people curious. The first 5 seconds of the video are also weird and quirky, further drawing the viewer in to check out the video.
The rest of the video balances humor and sassiness with actually explaining the benefits of the product. It’s an infomercial that people would actually sit through with a smile.
This style of ad can work very well (a similar ad launched the $1 billion dollar Dollar Shave Club.) That said, these ad types are very expensive and time consuming to produce.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#8 – Create the Impression of Value
The Product: A posture correcting device. Attach it to your upper back, and whenever you’re slouching it will buzz you to remind you to straighten up.
Price point: $99
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This ad uses a combination of:
- Text and visual effects on the screen,
- Videos of people straightening up,
- Product shots.
The ad creates the impression of being very high production value – which increases the perceived value of the product – yet probably didn’t cost that much to film.
Best of both worlds.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#9 – A Creative, Text-Only Ad
The Product: A web analytics software.
Price point: $49 per month
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This ad really breaks the mold.
It’s text only. And it starts off by addressing the fact that it’s an ad. It made me really curious to see the ending.
The key takeaway here isn’t necessarily to do text only video ads. Instead, it’s to try and come up with something that stands out. Something that gets people to stop in their news feed and say – “Hmm? That’s interesting – let me stop and watch this.”
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Text:
#10 – The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
The Product: An icing squeezer that makes icing look like flowers.
Price point: $27
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This is another example of a simple, product-shot based video ad.
All of these shots can be done in one single video shoot. Note that Facebook Ads do decrease in effectiveness fairly quickly, so it makes sense to shoot extra footage and turn it into multiple video ads.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Unit:
#11 – Simple Slideshows
The Product: RX Bar sells snack bars, with the ingredients clearly labeled on the front.
Price point: 12 Bars for $20
Landing Page: Click Here to view
This ad is basically just a few photos of the product, one after another. A simple yet effective ad. This could easily have been taken on an iPhone camera.
The Video:
Surrounding Ad Unit:
A Few Common Themes
While some of these ads – such as Purple’s ad – needed a lot of investment to create, many of them are also very simple ads.
Before investing tens of thousands of dollars into video production, it could be a good idea to test using simple slideshows or iPhone videos. Verify that this is a medium that works well for your product or service, then invest more in higher quality videos.
Do you have a favorite ad? Share it below!
Ian Luck
Founder, MarketingStrategy.com
You guys are providing such a awesome collections of the videos.
Title
DirectorSpecialties
Wow! What a great list. I’d love for this strategy study to be updated periodically with new videos? Could be a great source for reference.
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ConsultantSpecialties
Great article. Going to steal some of these 🙂 🙂
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Senior ManagerSpecialties
Thanks Ian, great list. What do you see being the next ‘big thing’ in video advertising on Facebook?
This is an amazing article. You have brilliantly selected Facebook video ads and described their character.