Thumb-Stoppers
At BEGIN I owned the creative strategy for two brands and their learning products, HOMER and codeSpark. I led copy and design in conceptualization and execution of more than 400 paid social ads. Below are some examples. Making strategic use of a healthy budget, we were able to test, iterate and learn.
My Role:
Sr. Design Director
Know Your Audience
Summer of 2021 was the return of the road trip. Many were eager to see friends and family again and get away. While long car rides with young passengers can be dreadful, we messaged a solution—screen time “on the go” that parents could feel good about.
Us vs. Them
Social media is a crowded space—with your closest competitors serving ads to the same audience as you. An infographic quickly shows why they should pick your brand, and comes across as unbiased and trustworthy.
Be strategic in your selection. Here for example we focused on how HOMER offers more different types of subjects and left out that the main competitor app includes 10 times the number of lessons.
No One Wants to Watch Ads
This parent hack video captures the viewer's attention by taking on the look of a private conversation. Other strategies can capitalize on popular memes or lead with UGC content.
Here the messaging is carefully crafted to project empathy and position HOMER as a supportive friend.
Keeping It Real
At HOMER we frequently briefed Brand Ambassadors to capture raw photo and video content for us. We edited and remixed their footage with our own content. This was a quick and cost-effective way to supplement our library of professionally shot footage.
An additional benefit was that we learned more about our subscribers and even discovered new ways they were using our products.
Iterate & Learn
Test your value props and try new ones. What patterns do you see? We found that HOMER’s most effective value props were:
A) Product Personalization
B) Breadth of Content
C) The App’s Proven Outcomes
We saw that hard facts drove higher conversion than softer claims like “confidence boosting”. It is better to visually demonstrate an experience than to rely on words to explain it, as Steve Jobs used to say—here Ashton’s smile says it all.
Side With Your Audience
Show that you understand their concerns. In fall 2021, many parents were worried about their children returning to school after seeing them struggling to learn on a screen. We created skeptical parent personas to demonstrate how HOMER’s fun and engaging approach to learning could help kids gain the confidence they need for school success.