Speaker 1: So, you want to spy on your competitors, huh?
A popular meme video plays. A young Black boy in a yellow shirt holds a cup and looks sideways with a surprised and guilty expression at the camera.
Speaker 1: Well, look, there's no shame in the competitive analysis game. We all do it. Let me show you the best tools and strategies for researching and analyzing your rival's ads.
On-screen text appears on a dark blue background: "Let me show you the best tools & strategies". The words "tools & strategies" are underlined in purple.
An animated eye appears. Small rectangles representing social media posts fly around it.
Speaker 1: And how to crush your adversaries with a weight of a thousand failed product campaigns.
The speaker's background is replaced with a fiery explosion effect. He gestures excitedly.
Speaker 1: Too much, right? Yeah, too much. That's okay. Let's just show you a few ways to get a slight edge over your competition.
On-screen text appears: "Chapter 1 The best tools for competitive ad analysis". The words "best tools" are underlined in purple.
Speaker 1: Chapter one, the best tools for competitive ad analysis. The first tool that every performance marketer should be looking at and using is obviously Meta Ads Library.
The Meta infinity logo appears with sparkles around it.
A screenshot of the Meta Ad Library homepage.
Speaker 1: I know, it's table stakes for sure, but let me show you what to do and look for once you're inside there. In this example, we're going to look at True Classic, the apparel company.
A split screen appears. On the right is a True Classic ad showing a man in a baggy t-shirt ("OTHER BRANDS") next to himself in a fitted t-shirt ("TRUE CLASSIC"). The speaker is on the left.
Speaker 1: And if we use some of Meta's filters, we can actually get pretty smart with it.
The speaker is on the left. On the right is a screenshot of the Meta Ad Library showing a search for "True Classic".
Speaker 1: Let's say for example, we want to see the ads they ran during Black Friday last year.
On the Meta Ad Library screenshot, the "Impressions by date" filter is highlighted.
Speaker 1: We can toggle the filters to look at inactive ads during that time period.
The "Filters" pop-up window is shown on the Meta Ad Library page.
The date range under "Impressions by date" is highlighted within the pop-up.
Speaker 1: And even more importantly, we'll want to look at which ones ran the longest or had multiple versions to get a better idea of like what was probably performing best for them because they were testing these iterations on winning concepts.
The "See ad details" button is clicked, and the ad details page is shown.
The Meta Ad Library page scrolls down, showing multiple versions of ads for True Classic.
The date range of one of the ads is highlighted: "Nov 21, 2023 - Nov 29, 2023".
Speaker 1: Okay, the second tool you're going to want to definitely check out is TikTok Top Ads Spotlight for competitive ad analysis.
On-screen text: "Top Ads Spotlight".
Speaker 1: This tool shares high-performing ads that are handpicked by TikTok creative experts each month.
A split screen. The speaker is on the left. On the right is a screenshot of the TikTok Top Ads Spotlight webpage.
Speaker 1: Let me show you how to use it.
The Creative Assistant AI chat window opens on the right side of the TikTok page.
Speaker 1: As you're scrolling through ads, you can pick one and then let's dive into a deeper analysis.
The TikTok page scrolls down, showing various top-performing ads.
Speaker 1: And that way we can see the ad's performance, objectives, linked landing page, but even cooler is TikTok's creative assistant over here, which can tell you why this ad performed so well.
The "See analysis" link is clicked for an ad from FactorFoods. The ad analysis page is shown.
The Creative Assistant chat window is shown on the right side of the analysis page.
Speaker 1: It can also write a script for you that's similar to the ad, transpose it into an audio clip with the gender and language of your choosing and prep it for you to download, which is insane.
The Creative Assistant generates a breakdown of the video script, then a new script similar to the ad, and finally generates an audio file from the new script.
Speaker 1: It also shows you an interactive time analysis that gives you the transcript and a super in-depth review of what each line in the ad is doing.
The "Video analysis" section of the page is shown, with a detailed script analysis.
Speaker 1: It tells you what kind of key creative elements were used, like rhetorical questions, product comparisons, hacks, tips, all these things and when they occurred.
The "Key creative elements" section is highlighted, showing tags like "Hacks/Tips", "Product Review", and "Highlight Selling Points".
Speaker 1: It just blows my mind how it seemingly analyzes every single detail of an ad for you. Let's say that you want to better understand the exact moments in a competitor's ad for when their CTR did the best. Well, you can just dive into this timeline here, match it up to what was said or shown right at that moment or right before it spiked.
The "Interactive time analysis" graph is shown. The CTR line is highlighted. The video player scrubs to a point in the ad that corresponds with a peak on the CTR graph.
Speaker 1: This is crazy, crazy and you don't want to miss out on this tool. Okay, another tool worth mentioning here is Amazon because last year in 2023, Amazon released these review summaries on product pages, which can be super helpful for identifying where your competitor's products are succeeding, failing, and doing so-so.
A screenshot of a news article from The Verge titled "Amazon adds AI-generated review summaries so you don’t have to read the comments".
A screenshot of an Amazon customer review summary. It includes a paragraph summary and AI-generated tags for product attributes like "Color", "Output", "Size", "Quality", "Ease of use", "Value", "Performance", and "Noise".
Speaker 1: It's a good way to identify key features that you excel in, but where your competitors may have let down their consumers. So, differentiation unlocked.
On-screen text: "Differentiation unlocked".
Speaker 1: The last tool worth mentioning here is GigaBrain.
On-screen text: "GigaBrain" with an image of a brain.
Speaker 1: You can use this tool to assemble conversations that are happening across Reddit communities all in one place. So, for example, let's say we look at Optimum Nutrition and their Gold Standard Whey Protein.
A screenshot of the Optimum Nutrition website homepage.
Speaker 1: We get a bullet point summarizing several conversations of what Redditors are talking about with this protein.
A screenshot of the GigaBrain website showing a search for "gold standard whey protein". A "TLDR Summary" is displayed with bullet points.
Speaker 1: We can look for potential hooks. I can call out where people are commonly skeptical and address these objections with my competitor in the opening of an ad. In this case, I could find inspiration against my competitor and how high their score is or low their score is on Labdoor and how our protein doesn't have additives and ours is cleaner than theirs. It's just really helpful.
A screenshot of the Labdoor website homepage.
Speaker 1: Chapter two, analyzing competitor ad hooks, visuals, and scripts.
On-screen text: "Chapter 2 Analysing competitor ad hooks, visuals & scripts". The words "hooks", "visuals", and "scripts" are underlined in purple.
Speaker 1: All right, so once you've nailed down popular ads from your competitors, it's time to deconstruct what they're doing with their hooks, their visuals, and their scripts.
On-screen text: "It's time to deconstruct".
A montage shows a short ad clip alongside icons representing a hook, an eye (visuals), and a notepad (scripts).
Speaker 1: My suggestion is to create a competitor database with shared documents and spreadsheets that you can plug into other tools like ChatGPT and clean it up for team presentations or client meetings.
Icons for a spreadsheet and Google Docs appear, with arrows pointing from them to the ChatGPT logo.
Speaker 1: So, when it comes to a competitor's video ad, there are a ton of variables to consider and you can get overwhelmed really quickly. So, we're just going to focus on four aspects of the hook that Mirella Crespi taught us on one of our recent webinars here at Motion.
A thumbnail for a webinar titled "2024 CREATIVE STRATEGY TRENDS with Mirella Crespi".
A screenshot of the webinar in progress, showing Mirella Crespi and Evan Lee on a video call.
Speaker 1: So, the four things are visuals, text overlay, audio, and emotion provoked.
Four numbered circles appear. Text appears above each one: 1) Visuals, 2) Text overlay, 3) Audio, 4) Emotion provoked.
Speaker 1: For this example, let's look at our friends over at True Classic and an ad that we pulled up earlier from Meta. If we look at the first three seconds, we can see that they use a side-by-side video comparison that uses three text boxes, upbeat music without any voiceover, and uses a relatable problem hook.
A True Classic ad plays. A man is shown in a side-by-side comparison wearing a baggy shirt ("Other Tees") and a fitted shirt ("True Classic Tees"). On-screen text: "THIS is my husband's favorite shirt". A digital timer in the corner counts from 00:01 to 00:03. The three text boxes are highlighted with red lines. On-screen text appears: "*upbeat music".
Speaker 1: Also has product demonstration and this before-after hybrid that evokes desire and curiosity.
A montage of clips from the True Classic ad plays, showing different men and the benefits of the shirt.
Speaker 1: Next, we're going to analyze the visuals and the pacing. Here is when you'll study both what is seen and what might be missing.
On-screen text: "What might be missing". The word "missing" is in red.
Speaker 1: So, set up a doc again or a spreadsheet and start checking off boxes or filling in cells as you begin to answer questions like, what kind of shots are shown here?
On-screen text: "What kind of shots are shown here? Group, Products, Illustrations".
Speaker 1: Is it group shots, products, illustrations? Do they use a green screen effect?
A stock video of a man in a basketball jersey holding a basketball. A green screen panel is on the right side of the frame.
Speaker 1: Are they using Instagram or TikTok native fonts?
A TikTok video of a man putting on a jacket. The on-screen text reads: "I couldn't figure out why my TRUE CLASSIC kept disappearing..."
Speaker 1: Is it animated in any way? If so, what? Is the text animated? What kind of transitions are being used and how often? How fast or slow are the visuals appearing? And then maybe like how many ideas were being covered within that speed or that length of time?
A list of questions appears on screen as the speaker says them.
Speaker 1: So, if we go back to that True Classic ad, we see that most of these are product shots, right?
The True Classic ad plays again, showing a side-by-side comparison.
Speaker 1: They change about every two seconds and they're paired with like a selling point and benefits that are demonstrated through, again, the before and after side-by-side comparisons.
A montage of clips from the ad plays, showing various product shots and before/after comparisons.
Speaker 1: And the deeper we go into the ad, we start seeing things like social proof right here, discounted promotions, and a few more selling points demonstrating again, those different types of like customers and maybe some additional selling points.
A grid of user-generated content style videos appears with the text "11,000,000+ Sold". This is followed by an end card with the text "GET UP TO 60% OFF SELECT PACKS". A three-panel image from the ad shows "Shows off his muscles", "Hides his belly", and "Makes him look more fit".
Speaker 1: So, lots to look at here when you're analyzing everything that's happening in the ad. Chapter three, analyzing competitor ad intent, offer, and the landing page.
On-screen text: "Chapter 3 Analyzing competitor ad intent, offer, and the landing page". The words "intent", "offer", and "landing page" are underlined in purple.
Speaker 1: The last part we recommend for examining competitor ads is understanding how the ad's intent matches the intent of the landing page that it's leading people to.
A man in a hat looks confused. On-screen text appears: "Ads intent". A curved line connects it to the text "Intent of the landing page".
Speaker 1: On your same competitor planning doc we've been talking about, write down and answer these questions. Is the competitor sending you to a landing page or a product page?
On-screen text: "Is the competitor sending you to a landing page or product page?" with "Yes" and "No" checkboxes.
Speaker 1: Do you see a strong consistency between the hook of the ad and what is hooking you on the landing page?
On-screen text: "Do you see a strong consistency between the hook of the ad to the landing page?" with "Yes" and "No" checkboxes.
Speaker 1: Is the CTA enhancing the user journey? Is it hurting it?
On-screen text: "Is the CTA enhancing the user journey?" with "Yes" and "No" checkboxes.
Speaker 1: Or which key features are they highlighting in the landing page?
On-screen text: "Which key features are they highlighting in the landing page?" with "Yes" and "No" checkboxes.
Speaker 1: All right, so if we look at this True Classic ad, we can see it really nails the visual here that we see in the hook and we see it throughout the ad with that side-by-side comparison.
The True Classic ad plays, showing the side-by-side comparison.
Speaker 1: It's the same exact imagery above the fold as soon as you get onto the landing page.
The True Classic website's landing page is shown, featuring the same side-by-side comparison from the ad as the hero image.
Speaker 1: The ad also offers a discount that's immediately addressed below the hero image right here, and it matches that offer perfectly. It uses the same exact discount amount of 60%, the same language, and pretty much the same product images too.
The landing page scrolls down to show the "SAVE UP TO 60% OFF" offer. The text is highlighted with a red box.
Speaker 1: So that congruency is really, really critical for creating that experience you want your customers to have. All right. Well, we hope this helped and if you have other tools or methods for doing competitive ad analysis, maybe we missed them, drop them in the comments. As always, thanks for watching and you can get a free trial or a free demo of Motion to analyze and ship more winning ads by clicking the links in the description.
A screenshot of the Motion website homepage. The headline reads "Ship more winning ads".
On-screen text: "To analyse and ship more winning ads". The words "ship more winning ads" are underlined in purple.
