Scriptwriting Mastermind: How We Use Storytelling to Outperform 80% of Meta Ads

Welcome back to another episode of DTC Diaries. If you're listening to this on Spotify, I'd really recommend going to YouTube today because we are doing a very in-depth training on storytelling within ads. This is probably one of the hardest things that you know strategists can do. Scriptwriting is probably one of the highest barrier to entry parts of that role and today we're running you through our internal training that we did with our team that made them incredible script writers and storytellers. We're going to be focusing on top of final ads, so problem and wear and unaware creatives, which we're seeing probably about 80% of our best performers across all accounts right now within those two final positions. So this is probably one of the most important trainings you could watch or to share with your team. So without further ado, let's get into it. If you know anyone that will find this useful, please share it with them. Subscribe to us on YouTube because you know the more support that we get from you guys, the more we will be sharing internally in terms of how we are upskilling our our teams, which a lot of time and effort goes into. So if you can comment, if you can like and subscribe, it means so much to us. We also have a few Easter egg golden nuggets throughout this where we will ask you to comment certain things and in return, we will send you a few prompts that will help you with your storytelling as part of this process. So let's get into it. Today we are going to be going deep on how to become a master storyteller for your paid meta and tick tock ads. Now this is probably one of the most requested episodes we've had. It's probably one of the hardest things to train as part of script writing because we've gone through very much a change over the last 12 months where previously direct response ads worked, but now it's all about longer, more education, pain point, agitation, focused setups. Now that comes with being an experienced and skilled storyteller. Now these are load of the things that air is that I've seen make the best possible storyteller over the last 12 months. This is a training we ran with our team and we saw a massive, massive increase in the ability to create performance first ads whilst utilizing storytelling. Now I would really, really recommend if you're listening to this on Spotify, head over to YouTube now and give it a watch because we've got a deck that we're running through. It's very visual and this is the first of our more mastermind focus series where we're going to be sharing and going much deeper into topics and helping upskill those that watch whether you're brands, whether you're creative strategists, whatever it might be, this should be massively, massively beneficial. So without further ado, let's get started. So, wanted to touch on where I just started there, around the evolution of the funnel and what we are seeing working right now. Previously, I remember hammering to my team this idea that we had to be introducing the product solution within the first five seconds and if we don't do that, then we're going to get drop off. We need to see what the solution is and what the product is or otherwise it won't convert. Now it was very bottom of funnel, middle of funnel focused last year and that is very much changed. Going into this year, we have seen much more heavy impact and emphasis on storytelling as a whole. Going further up the funnel to unlock new customers, so unaware and problem-aware stages and a much longer setup of product intro. Now, as I said previously, it was like five seconds we need to introduce the product solution, but now we're actually seeing 15, 20, sometimes even up to 40 plus seconds of setup before we even introduce the product as the solution. And I think, you know, this is because one meta-andromeda means that when we are running creative, we need to have more diversity across stages of the performance funnel, underpinned by different psychological messaging frame works. And to do that, you know, we need to be doing these actual setup as effectively as possible, which is one of the hardest things. One of the biggest things I see when I add an audit, most add accounts right now, is that too much of the content is skewed towards the lower end of the funnel. Whereas now, what we're seeing, as I said, is much more unaware and problem-aware focus of ads. So I guess just to start, let's actually look at messaging at each stage of the funnel and what those stages are because the best crypt strategist before going into each round of creative, they will split across the funnel, whether that's unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, and most aware. Now, that has nothing to do with the way that we're targeting, but by labeling a creative at a stage of a funnel, it means that, you know, the creative becomes the targeting. So if we're going, we're creating more of a high-level founder story, that is very much like problem and unaware first. And as a result, we are going to drive CPMs down. And also, we're going to be targeting net new customers, rather than repeating and targeting the same customers that we had done previously if we were more solution product-aware. So just to kind of talk through each of these stages, obviously, unaware, largest audience potential, because we're going much more top of funnel. The type of creatives that you're going to see in this stage of the funnel is secret, so I uncovered the secret for X. So there almost that journey of self-discovery. It could be more story first, so we see a lot of founder stories sitting in the unaware stage of the funnel. It could be an industry exposed. So let's say that your product is solving a problem and all of the other failed solutions are doing something that you want. So let's say your product is seven times cheaper than most others on the market. And you realize that the other brands are charging seven times more just for a label or pretty a packaging when really the quality of the actual product is not as good. That is a creative where we can be exposing the industry and we can be kind of bringing that to the attention of the audience that didn't know that they even had a problem that existed. So, unaware is essentially targeting anyone that the problem is there, but they don't know actually exists. So we may need to educate around that. And that's the final kind of type of creative that we usually find within this stage of the funnel. It's very education heavy. So, you know, people might not know, let's say it's a gut health issue, people might not actually realize that, you know, the things that are actually causing gut health issues. So therefore, we've got to actually educate them so they understand what the problem is and why they have it. And that's when we then bridge into the solution, which is why there has to be much longer set up as part of that process. The second is problem aware. Now, this is, again, very problem solution first. It's where you're going to see most of the typical UGC transformation testimonial style creatives again, large audience size. They're very aware of the problem, but not yet aware of the potential solutions to that problem. Solution aware, medium audience size. Again, we're getting more to like middle of the funnel at this point. And this is, you know, where you'll see your classic three reasons why creatives us versus them. They're the, the, the audience are aware of our solution, but they're also aware of our competitors solution. So it's our job at this stage to not be really setting up the problem. They already know about the problem. They don't need to be educated around that. What we need to really drive at this stage is really focusing on what are USPs in comparison to our competitors? What are the benefits that, that, you know, our, our product is a solution for that others can't talk about? Why is our product better than the others? This is where we're going to be taking them lower in the funnel because we are battling our solution versus others. Product aware is a very warm audience size. And you're going to find that, you know, as a result, we're targeting much smaller audience sizes. And this, where, where we are here is they just need to nudge over the line to make that purchase. So we see a lot of objection handling this. This is where you might get comment reply videos where someone is sitting, answering a common objection that that bra might have. So little tip on this one, like if you're running CS feeds. Sorry, if you have reviews that you can put into a CSV and you upload that to chat GPT, finding out what the common objections are. You'll also find that on social comments. You'll find that through customer support. And all of these places are good, good air is to find potential objections. Reddit is another one. And all we're doing is we're handling those objections to almost educate around actually why that isn't true. So where we really focus on trust building. So what are the accolades that we can bring in that is going to build that final piece of trust to make, you know, allow that consumer to take action and buy the product that could be PR that could be, you know, the amount at the trust pilot reviews that we have or the rating that we have. That might be the volume of products that are sold, you know, we have over a million customers as an example. And the most aware is the smallest audience size, you know, this is all about offer, promise, guarantee, you know, at this stage, we were creative is only most aware of we are offering something outside of BAU essentially. So, you know, that might be a bundle, that might be a buy one, get one free, whatever it might be, this is the final nudge to get them over to purchase. So now we've just done a quick kind of run through of the different stages of the funnel, the two that, as I say, we're going to be focusing on today and how to script properly through that is unaware and problem aware. So as I said, unaware, you know, they don't know that they have a problem, nor are they actively seeking that solution. And our objective there is to very much capture attention, really create that curiosity tap into those hidden truths and, you know, it's that idea of making them think, yeah, actually, yeah, this does affect me. I didn't realize it did, but it does. And that's why curiosity is so king in this. And why, you know, we really need to focus on, we really need to focus on just getting them into the funnel. So they are curious enough to continue exploring the potential solution. And as I say, strong hook as it is a big part of that, even though, you know, we're not introducing the product for 20 plus seconds, we need to be getting them locked in from the first five seconds. So that is still very much true. Think of it like a crossbow. If we're not introducing the solution for 15, 20 seconds, we still need to be slowly pulling that crossbow back enough that they're going to stay retained. So then when we let go, it has even more impact when that solution is introduced. As I say, industry exposed, and very much those journeys of self discovery, whatever it might be, this is this is where we do that. But education is very much at the forefront of unaware ads. And then problem where, as I say, the audience knows something's wrong, but they haven't necessarily found the fix for it yet. So we're agitating the pain, you know, really agitating the pain, agitating those failed solutions that they may have tried because they don't know your product exists as a solution, but they might have, they might have loads of other potential solutions that have failed. And as a result, they may not be looking for a solution anymore, because they just don't think it exists. So this is very much that problem solution set up. If you, if you really struggle with this, then you need this. And again, creating that curiosity around it, showing the transformational journey that someone's been on. This is where we're really bringing that personal story in and we can, we can really focus on the reasons why that is as well. We want to be introducing the product naturally. As I say, previously, it would be, as I just said, if you struggle with this problem, then you need this solution. Whereas now we want to build the curiosity, initially, really agitate the problem, bringing that social proof of, you know, what is the problem that we're agitating for before we bring in the solution. Now we want to be avoiding buzzwords. It needs to feel more authentic, relatable at this stage of the funnel, because that again, that relatability is what creates hold rate, what retains the view of through until when they are going to purchase when we hit that them with that CTA. So let's just start on common pitfalls. What are the things that I've seen over the last 12 months that, you know, we, we have 10 plus strategists across our businesses. And I've seen a lot of the potential pitfalls that, you know, stop us from really driving storytelling through the creative that we produce. And as I say, one of them is just not agitating the problem enough before introducing the solution. So they just kind of touch briefly on the problem. It's very surface level. And then we go straight into the solution. Well, that hasn't really got, you know, we haven't got that buy-in but from the consumer yet, if they are top of funnel. And as I say, content funnel just is just too heavily weighted to the bottom of funnel. Now that is exactly why when you are creating a round of content for your your background, whatever it be, batch of content, that's why in that strategy phase, we need to align on, okay, how many creatives are we putting in problem aware, unaware solution product, most aware, we need to set that as part of the strategy before we go into concepting. And that's something that I don't see done enough to be honest. And something that we really, really focus on as part of our process. I think, as I said, this kind of feeds into what I was saying previously, like, there's too much, too much surface level storytelling when we're talking and agitating the problem. And we're not going deeper into emotions or human desires. And that is incredibly important. If we're really going to get the buy-in, right? Like, if I'm just there saying, oh, I really suffer with spots, that's not going to have the same impact as saying, I think I've stopped going out my friends because I've lost confidence. I can't, you know, I'm reapplying my makeup three times, and I'm looking into the mirror. And I'm, you know, it's, it's, it's, I'm shedding a tear as a result. You know, well, by bringing in the deeper problem, and there always is, and it always links to a human desire. And then by doing so, we are really able to uncover the solution and the solution will have much more weight when we get to that point. Sales jargon again is something that I just see done too often. And it makes the script feel less authentic and relatable. And I think this, we've got some good techniques that I'm going to share as part of this process. And how we can avoid that because, obviously, I'm not saying we can't speak on behalf of the brand in certain types of creative, but if it's coming from the consumer, it's really important. We're using language that the consumer will use. Or otherwise, it becomes inauthentic. Another one is fluff. Like, fluff, if it doesn't drive the call message forward, then we should remove it essentially. I see this happening too often, where sometimes we're trying to do a longer setup, additating the problem. But we've, we've lost the, we've lost the consumer because there's things in there that aren't really driving the story forward. So that's another area we're going to touch on today. And I think the final one is not adjusting the messaging accordingly to align with market sophistication. So as we know, there's going to be products that, or, you know, problems as products or problems that link to high sophistication within the market. So the one I just used there, a spot serum, right? People very much are highly sophisticated about the problem of spots. They know there's loads of solutions on the market. That's not something that they wouldn't have heard before versus a product that, you know, like a filtered shower head, we need to educate more around what that problem, what the problem is. Because they don't know that a filtered shower head, you know, is bad for your skin, right? They might not know the impact of hard water on the skin and the hair. So we need to educate more around that. So as a result, you can see, you know, the messaging is going to be different for different levels of market sophistication. So as I say, 15 to 20 seconds of setup is what we're seeing in most hot spenders right now. Again, that can sometimes be longer. If it's a low sophistication solution that we have, and people don't know about it, we sometimes are setting up the problem or educating around the problem for 40 plus seconds before we introduce solution. We also recommend at least a 50 60% of funnel split towards unaware and problem where stages. That's what's going to unlock new customer revenue more, more than going much lower and funnel. And especially if we're doing that correctly. Now, obviously, this depends on your marketing peaks. If this is around Black Friday, that's likely going to come down slightly because we're doing more offers and things like that. So obviously, this isn't a blanket rule for every part of the year. But for the most part, this is the sweet spot wish in work, 50 to 60% just being up a funnel. More time spent on the before stay allows for much deeper connection and it allows us to stretch our legs and with that with that storytelling and really set up the problem. Utilising real human languages is very much proven a driver for best performance. So I'll give some examples of that. And this is usually when we experience drop off slash low hold rates when there is a lot of fluff within the creative. And again, that is why we just need to be super obsessed with if it is not serving the story, we need to remove it. And finally, if we're educating someone with an already strong understanding of our solution, we're not likely going to resonate, right? Because we need to know who we're trying to speak to here. If it's, as I say, something about spots and blemishes that we have a solution for, we don't need to be educating around the problem of spots and blemishes. We want to be focusing on those deeper human desires, how that makes them feel, how that impacts their confidence, or agitating failed solutions. We don't want to be educating around the problem of spots and blemishes. Whereas if it was gut health issues as an example, there's, there might be lower market sophistication. So we want to educate more around the problem. So let's break it down then. Starting with cut the fluff, right? So your creative should be very, very clean. If a line visual or moment doesn't serve the story, build conflict or drive the call message forward, cut it. And it's as simple as that. And I went to film school before ever started my agency. And there was this phrase that was thrown around a lot, which is quite shocking to it. Sounds a little bit dodgy, but it was called kill kill the babies essentially. And what we mean by that is like, if it doesn't serve the story, if it's not 100% needed, then we need to cut it. And we did that when we were creating films. And we're like, if we loved a scene, even if, you know, it's like if we love a part in a script, it's beautifully written, but it doesn't serve the core story, even though we love it, it needs to go. And the same the same applies when we're creating ads for the brands that we're working with. So these are questions that I like to ask to really truly understand if it is fluff when we need to cut it. So does this part escalate the pain deep in the desire or move us closer to a resolution? Could we remove this line and nothing else change? Is this just filler or does it make the story sharper? Does this feel like how a huge an actual human would talk? Can I shorten this sentence and say it louder and clearer? And would this line hold attention on TikTok or Meadow or whatever it might be? And again, I think this is really, really important. These are great questions to ask. Now, these, if you've got a script and you're unsure, put these questions into chat GPT and ask it to challenge the script accordingly, which is a great technique that some of our team use when they are quality controlling their own creatives. And I think the, the fifth one really resonates here because sometimes I see things that are said in 10, 10 words, which could easily be sent it said in five, just by being a bit more bold, cutting some of the language accordingly. And again, we've got some examples where we'll show that in a moment. But I see this done in hooks quite a lot where hooks are prolonged. And actually, we don't hear what the pain point and what the, what the potential benefit solution is before we before by the time we get to like second four or five, because we've just said it in too many words. Now, it's easy to cut that down, but that's something to really be considerate of during that process. So here's some examples now. And this is from a creative one of our clients, collagen brand. I'm not necessarily going to show you this, this full creative, but it's a great idea. It's a great example of like when we've done this ourselves, and the impact this had this, this creative actually was a top spender. It's an expert talking to a non-believer in a podcast setting. And you'll see what it was before and then what it was after when we then rerun this concept. So before it was, if your skin is beginning to show visible signs of aging, such as sagging or fine lines, it's likely a result of the natural degradation process that occurs within the structural layers of your dermal matrix. Now, that's going to, people are going to drop off if they hear that. It sounds scientific. And we, you know, originally, the person that wrote this script thought, yeah, that's that's right because it's coming from an expert. But we need to dump it down. We need to say this in a way that a five year old will understand, or otherwise, people don't even drop off because they get lost. It's got to be as simple as possible. So when we change the line to, if you're skin starting to sag, it's not just aging, it's collagen loss. We've just said the same thing, but in a lot less words. And again, that performed extremely well, we're getting to the problem instantly. And we look, we've almost hinted at the potential solution. The second one, that leads to increasing discomfort during physical activity, including tension behind the knees when climbing stairs, and general stiffness in the joints after periods of inactivity. Again, it doesn't sound like a human would say that if you go to the GP, GP's going to describe it to you and dumb it down in a way that you're going to understand. They're not going to make, they're not going to use all these fancy words and they're not going to, um, you know, add these filler words in either. And you can see the second one is, is much more simple, but also defined. So that's stiffness and you need when waking up, that discomfort after a long walk, it's collagen depletion. Your body literally lacks the structural support it once had. Again, much more direct, we're more impactful with the words that we're using. And it does much better as part of the sentence. It flows better. It feels more natural. So we always think about how we can cut the fluff because it's really, really important as part of that. And I love, I love, I love this quote where great story telling isn't about saying everything. It's about saying the right things. And that's how we retain a viewer's attention, really being selective of the things we choose to put in that script. Now, second one here, ditch the jargon, this is again, an important part of if we want a story tell from the perspective of the consumer. When we have jargon, we have more ad fatigue, the viewer's scroll, um, the second it sounds like an ad. And that's all at the whole point of like using 20, 30 seconds to set up the problem because it doesn't feel like an ad because we're not actively selling to them. It's more organic the way that we bridge the solution in. The second one is breaks trust. It feels scripted rehearsed or inauthentic, blocks emotion. I think again, jargon, when we use jargon, it reduces the impact of when we are trying to drive emotion through a creative and it means that the viewer isn't connecting to it. It forces complexity. So makes simple ideas feel much harder to understand. It kills relatability. So again, real people don't say clinically bad hydration delivery system. You know, it's like, how can we say that in a way that real people are going to understand? And it sounds like everyone else. I think this is another one. Like a lot of brands are going to speak in the exact same language because they're in this echo chamber of copying each other. Whereas really, we want to speak like the consumer, um, obviously, only if it's an ad that comes from the perspective of the consumer. But I'm a big believer of that. Dumb it down so it's so a five year old could understand it. And it also drowns the benefits, right? Like we, as we know, um, selling is about selling the benefits, not selling the, uh, the, the, the, the actual unique selling points, right? That's, that's really important. And that's the audience misses what actually matters. If we, if we kind of drown it in, in, you know, in the jargon, in the jargon of like the USPs, in the jargon of like bringing in the problems, all of that stuff, we, we miss the benefits, which again, is the after state. That's what it's all about. So an example of this, right? We had this best performer for one of our clients. I've just had to cut out the rest of the ad, but there was a product right next to it. Um, but I love this quote. And this was a top spender for a long, long time. My knees used to sound like rice crispy snap crackle pop. Now silence, I'm obsessed with this collagen. Um, and again, it's a great example of like how we ditch the jargon and speak in a way, way that is humanized, right? Because by using metaphors, um, the, the, the easy way for the user to visualize the problem, they instantly get more relatability to it. Um, so again, going from my knees used to be an excruciating pain to my knees used to go snap crackle and pop, we can visualize that much better. Um, and I think that's why this creative did quite well. I think a great example as well that we saw for one of our clients was, um, optimize your microbiome was the before is a gut health product to it's like a traffic light in the gut. It goes green to let the good through and red to keep the bad out. Again, I love that. Like a visual metaphor, a way of like describing a problem that everyone will be able to quite easily relate to. And finally, increases energy and reduces fatigue, bit boring, bit dull to feels like an eight hour sleep in a scoop. Again, you can very much visualize the idea of that. We all know the feeling of having a great night's sleep. And by doing that, we are compressing it into the solution, which is the scoop of whatever that might be. And again, you know, use metaphors and explain it like you're talking to a five year old. If they get it, your audience will too. And a lot of the time that we see drop off or reduced hold rate, you want to be at about an eight percent hold rate, which is seen as is very strong and a good benchmark. If we get if we're below that, then we are likely doing something like this that is stopping them to is creating them to lose interest in what we're actually doing. So the next thing we want to go into is deepening storytelling with human desires. So I think one thing that I've been really trying to get in the head of my team is this idea of how we can bring in human desires more to a story. Think of this like a feature length film, right? You know, you go on that story brand framework where there's a protagonist who has a problem that, you know, that comes across a problem that then has to go on a journey of self discovery to to get over that problem, they find a guide on their way, which in in the eyes of the brand is their product. And then they get to the climax, which is the solution and the after state, right? Now, this comes through deep human desires and emotional storytelling. There's no film that wouldn't tap into that psyche. If it's going to retain the viewers attention. And I don't know if you've heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but it's this psychological theory proposing that humans are very much motivated by a series of needs, which essentially is like arranged in a high hierarchical order. And so, you know, it's this it's starting at the top that desire to become the most that one can be. And so again, you know, that comes into elements of confidence, right? Like, if I, um, if I don't feel good enough in the way I look, then that is a deep problem that I need to solve. And a lot of the time we don't go deep enough when we're talking about solutions, we think it's just spots or we think it's just, you know, skin or whatever it might be joint pain, but it's actually much deeper than that, right? Like, why do people not want to have spots is because they care about the way they look? Again, we get down to a steam. It's that respect self-esteem status, you know, spots, if I've got spots and that's damaging my confidence, what's deeper than that is because it's that idea of like how I care what people think and it's therefore it's impacting my status. And so these are the kind of emotional triggers that we need to be tapping into within our scripts, or otherwise, we're not going to to really get that buy-in. Similarly with love and belonging, like, you know, if I'm talking about menopause or a product that's supporting menopause, right? What is the deeper problem than just the surface level pain points? It's the fact that it could be impacting their relationship with their partner, you know, so bringing in language like my husband said I wasn't like I used to be, you know, that's deep. People can relate to that in a relationship. It's that it must be a horrible thing to hear. And it's not just the surface level pain points of brain fog, energy, you know, we're going into relationships, which is something that we can all relate to to some degree. So again, it's like, how do we tie these into what we're doing? Without human desires, that's when we're starting to feel very surface level. We're talking to the viewer, not to the individual on a deeper level. There's no emotion, as we know, emotional hooks work incredibly well, especially for solutions that are really tackling a problem, without that desire, you know, we don't have anything to connect with as the viewer. You're selling features not feelings. And as we know, feelings are what converts, that's why what I was talking about with benefits, right? The benefits of a product, what are those benefits and what is actually the deeper human desire related to wanting to improve on that benefit? Viewers forget it fast, right? I think, again, that's why we remember great films, because it touched us emotionally to some degree. If we didn't have that, there weren't human desires, there's no memorability. And that's why it's really important that we tie these in, especially when we're in the problem, we're in unaware states in the funnel. You miss the why behind the buy. People want confidence, not collagen, as I was saying, like a great example of that, you know, people really want to, we want to go deeper into actually, what is the why? Think about the why, like when you're going through that research phase, because usually it's not the surface level solution that the brand, you know, or the industry think it is. And performance plateaus, because facts alone don't drive action. And that kind of ties into all of those, as well as like it doesn't feel personal. A storytelling is about being more personal, being relatable, and this is what deepening your human desires within your scripts will do. So I wanted to show you an ad here. This was like a top performer for a long time for one of our clients, Elsa R. And this is the testimonial video. And I want you to see if you can hear the moments where we are linking in human desires. I was angry, tired, I was confused, basically, on variables to live with. So I've been taking out some hour now for around three months, got it on Christmas evening. I'm by the middle of January. I was a different woman. Big safely safely managed. Move mostly pattern. I haven't got time society. Really helped me with weight loss, given me some kind of confidence boost. I feel amazing. You just kind of expected to do everything and not crack. The NHS need to just grab into every woman of this, since I've been taking out the gold pills and on an Ethan keel. I pulled me towards one side and means that you were back to the payers, and I fell off off with a crack. And it's absolutely perfect. It's fabulous on the outside, like we should be. It's fabulous on the inside. When you feel good about yourself, it just oozes in your face, it oozes in your skin, in your personality. I would definitely recommend Elsa R. I'm happy to be a golden girl now. Please just try it for what? What's the harm? It works. It works. Cool. So let's look at the examples within that where we're linking human desires. So the first one, angry, tired, basically unbearable to live with. That's linking to control and emotional stability, right? It's creating the fear of, oh, if I'm unbearable to live with, maybe my partner might leave me. The next one, after taking it, I was a different woman. Links to identity, right? The identity to be a strong, independent, powerful woman. By bringing that in as part of the after-stay, that's going to relate to other women out there. Basically saved my marriage. Again, deeper than the surface level problem. Love connection and belonging. Given me some kind of confidence boost. Again, confidence and personal empowerment, what did that do deeper than just the surface level problem, which was menopausal pain points? I have my confidence back. And my favorite one, which again, if you can bring in relatable real stories in the human world, even better. So I pulled my husband to one side and he was like, you're back to the person I fell in love with. Validation, love, identity. Again, that's something that I think a lot of people are going to be able to relate to. And that is why this resonated with so many people. They have a really vivid memory of getting ready just to go to town and put on makeup and took it off. And then I put it back on again. By the third one, I was crying. I could not feel comfortable in my skin. For Christmas, my woman got me this little bottle. It was a 47-skin original anti-blownish syrups. And she was like, oh, I've been doing some research. And she's like, I found this brand and they're using a green that I've never seen in any of the skincare products. And they talk about skin positivity, which is what you're obsessed with. I started using it and they actually had immediate results for me, not just to get rid of the blemishes, but like my skin health just changed. So the ingredients clearly worked so well for me. I was like, glowing. I don't think I would feel comfortable. I mean, like right now, I don't want to make up most days of the week now. It will always be the first thing I recommend because it's just so reliable. Yeah. So again, another great example of one. And I think the reason why I love this one, and this is again, something we're going to get onto in a moment, is the idea of curiosity loops, opening and closing curiosity loops. And we can do that really well with human desires. So an example of that is this. I have a very vivid memory of going to town putting makeup on three times by the third time I was crying. I love that. Powerful and motive, you know, it comes down to self-worth and identity and it reflects deep emotional distress and struggles with appearance. You know, that desire to feel secure in your own identity, right? But what I love is then we close it off when we introduce the after-state where we say, I don't wear makeup most most days of the week now. I forget to wear makeup most days of the week. It's like that, that real character arc of I was applying makeup so many times and it kept and it was making me cry to forget to even put it on now. You know, that's the ultimate character arc, right? Where we've, we've had such a problem where we're having to mask that through makeup where we've got to the point where we even forget that makeup even is something that we need to put on. And then that taps into human desire of freedom. So again, a great example of that and even better if in the before-state of your ads, make sure to then close that curiosity loop at the end, whether you're talking, whether you open that curiosity loop in the hook in the before-state, close it off and a human desire is a great way to open and close curiosity loops. So that idea of from, you know, saying something like my acne got so bad to a canceled dinner with friends because I couldn't cover my spots. From I was always bloated to I remember being on holiday watching everyone else head to the beach, but I stayed in the room feeling like a stranger in my own body as I held my bloated stomach. So you can see it's like way more emotive and something that as humans we can relate to, right? Like, no matter who you are, you've thought at one stage in your life, you in a bikini or you in, you know, you're swimming trunks on the holiday like God, God, look, don't feel like I look very good here. And you you instantly relate it back to that, that, you know, that feeling of not feeling good enough, not having confidence. And that's what's really, really important. I've also got a prompt for this. So comment down below human desires and I will send across a prompt that can help flesh out your scripts further to essentially bake in more personal human human desires and stories as part of that. So click that comment down below human desires and we'll we'll get that sent to everyone. Cool. Now adjusting messaging by market sophistication, which is another area that I see not really focused on enough when we're adapting our messaging and adapting the storytelling to a line with the scripts that we're writing. So let's just start this by saying we've got two products, right? We've got an acne serum amusing this just because we were just on a video that showed that the audience already understands the problem, they understand acne, they understand breakouts, it's a well-known problem. It's already a very, very saturated category because so this is another, this is another like identifier of the market sophistication, right? How many solutions are there already out there? Consumers likely have the failed solution. They've tried multiple products with maybe little lasting impact, which is why they're seeking something else. They're already pretty familiar with the type of language within the market. People that suffer from acne are going to know some of those chemicals or types of things that we might apply to our face to solve the problem. Retino, nine cinamide, all of these things, these are skincare products that sound scientific, but because of how high the market, the market sophistication is people are likely going to know what they are, so we can take that into consideration when we're adapting our messaging. Whereas on the other side is we've got a filtered shower head. The audience knows the problem. They know that they have spots, dry skin, but they don't necessarily know the cause, which actually could be hard water. It's not commonly understood as a trigger for breakouts, right? Therefore, we know we need to educate more around why hard water is bad for the skin, and there's an educational gap around the environmental factors in skin health. As a result, you can see really these are solving the same problem, but we've got to approach the messaging in very different ways. Let's look at how we might adapt them both on either side. We don't waste time educating on the problem, because they know they have spots. We focus on the failed solutions and the emotional pain of trial and error. So the example we just shared, we weren't educating around spots. We were focusing on the girl in that video. We were really focusing on the emotional pain deepened, right, by through human desires, that she experienced going through the trial and error of not being able to solve this problem, and that's what we need to focus on as a result. We're introducing a new mechanism or why this finally worked. EG 47's patented formula or rare ingredient, whatever it might be. What is the USP that differentiates us that we need to bring to the fall from? Frame the story as a turning point. We want to use phrases and bridges that help show, "Okay, I'd given up on my skin until now." There was a turning point. Again, if we look at a standard script framework when we're looking at feature length films, they will always have that turning point. They will have that realization where they realize something has to change. That falls into the three-act structure. Whereas on the other hand, with filtered shower heads, we need to lead with education. The hidden cause for breakouts that the skincare industry don't want you to know. I love that as a hook, because it opens the curiosity loop, and it bridges the gap really well for us to then go into educating around the problem. We, I think, again, low market sophistication, we want to be revealing the invisible villain, right? Again, as you can see, we are tying this in to, like we would, with a normal script structure that you would find in a feature length film. The villain here is hard water, so we really want to agitate around that villain. Link it to those visual symptoms, breakouts, itchy skin, dry scalp. This is where we might bring in our metaphors, our visual metaphors, washing your face with hard water is as bad as doing X. You may as well be rubbing your face on the pavement if you're going to wash your face with hard water. See what I mean? We're creating those visual metaphors as a result. The ones shared here it's like washing your face with chalk. Create a light bulb moment in these type of creatives that is low market sophistication, so it's not your cleanser, it's your shower. So suddenly, the light bulb switches and they are hooked within the creative from that point onwards. So a few examples of this going from unaware to problem where, but we'll look at this unaware, low sophistication and then high sophistication. So let's look at, like, creating for women as an example. So the market sophistication of creatine for women is low, even though it's a high market sophisticated product, it's very much related to gym goers, bodybuilders, men, specifically, not so much women. So we know there's low market sophistication. We need to focus on angles and messaging that ties it better to women. And here's the light bulb moment with this hook. Did you know women have up to 70% less creatine than men? Statistics, great headline and we've introduced that intrigue instantly. We're revealing the missing info, not the product, per se, whereas let's say a product like collagen, which is high market sophistication. I think a lot of women now know what collagen is and what it does. A great way that we can then, adjust our messaging for high market sophistication might be, do you take collagen? Don't buy before watching this. And as you can see, that's actually, you know, that in a way is opening it up for us agitating around failed solutions or maybe other collagen brands that haven't worked for certain reasons. So we're debunking myths and then educating. Just one thing to mention as well is like, we don't need to, we don't necessarily need to be like focusing so much. You know, there's it, again, this is where the strategy comes in because even though there might be a fairly high sophisticated product, doesn't mean we go, every creative is going to, we're going to be tackling high sophistication in our messaging. We may realize that there's a small subset of the market that we need to be going low sophistication for. So as a result, we're going to adapt our messaging accordingly and split across those creatives, low sophistication and high sophistication. But yeah, problem where is another example? Let's look at space goods, one of our brands and that forgot health, right? Let's look at like mushroom adaptions for gut. Now that's low sophistication, right? So a hook might be, if you're struggling with bloating or lack of focus, it might not be what you're eating, but what your body isn't getting rid of. And by doing so, we're highlighting failed fixes. We're focused on agitating failed fixes before we then introduce and educate around why what is actually creating the gut problems. Whereas high sophistication might be a weight loss pill. If diets worked, I wouldn't have tried six. So as you can see, we are agitating around other failed solutions here, not necessarily fixes. So we're validating the pain and then offering a fresh point of view as to why our solution actually is the final fix that's going to work for you. Cool, what I'm just going to do is show you examples of where we've done this across one single product skew. So as you can see, this is all the same product, but we've adapted our messaging for market sophistication. So let's listen to this first one. These all, by the way, were top performers within the youth using collagen owned by forging this collagen is great for hair skin and joints. It's like glue that holds our body together, but here's the problem. Most brands charge a fortune and they're not even giving you the pest quality. So yeah, then they get on to explaining about different collagen supplements and why they don't work or, you know, almost exposing them for their poor ingredients. But as you can see, like there, we are targeting people that are highly sophisticated and already have the product, but we're still spending a long time educating around the failed solutions out there and why their other products aren't as good. So there's almost like a top of final us versus them in many ways where we are actually agitating around failed solutions. But you know, again, just a little one in there is the glue that holds our body together. I just wanted to like tie in some of the already showing how we're using the messaging in a way that aligns with some of the points that I made previously. So visual metaphor, right? Glue that holds our body together as a great way of visualizing in a simple way that a five-year-old will understand what collagen does. And so yeah, let's get on to medium salinity agitation. A percent of your skin structure disappears and their only solution for that is phillate. Why aren't they telling women about collagen? Those treatments. So again, this one is medium sophistication. So people may have heard a collagen, but not really, they're more focusing on other failed solutions. So as you can see, high sophistication with focusing on other collagen brands. Medium sophistication, we're talking about fillers and, you know, Botox or whatever it might be. Other things that can, you know, it's more cosmetic procedures that are going to help your skin. And it's that idea of building the curiosity around why we're not told more women about this. Again, a great hook, a great way of opening that curiosity loop. And so then this we're educating more so around why collagen is better than other options on the market that solve the same problem, which is obviously skin in this case with this angle. And now this is low market sophistication, this one, and you'll see why instantly because, well, yeah, let me just let me just play and we can talk it through. With your skin starting to sag, it's not just aging, it's collagen loss. Here's here's what you need to do. It was going to be worth that finish. And so again, we are focusing on the problem. It's for that. It's low market sophistication. People know that there's a problem, but they don't know the reason. Actually, God, it's collagen loss. So therefore we're hooked. We know maybe collagen is the way that I'm going to be able to solve this problem. So you can see their same products, but how have we adapted that dependent on market sophistication? And that's where your messaging needs to adapt accordingly with the type of storytelling that you're doing. So again, I'm not going to run the through this slide so much here, but this is just a bit of a table that you can screenshot right now, just showing how we need to adapt our messaging, depending on low market sophistication or high market sophistication. Now, I want to just touch very briefly on curiosity loops now. Could have done a whole mastermind just around this specifically. Maybe we will soon. But obviously, I'm trying to get a lot in here, a lot of different techniques for, you know, great storytelling into into a an hour mastermind. So I'm just going to touch on this very briefly, but I'm so bullish on curiosity loops, right, which is essentially is what it says in the tin, opening curiosity instantly, which then we're pulling the bow back before we release it. So the curiosity is sparking and that's what retains the viewer increases hold rate. And they, you know, as humans, we are wired to then close an information gap, right? So if it's open and I haven't got an answer to it in the first 10 seconds, I'm going to stay till the end. It's funny actually because this happens sometimes on my algorithm on TikTok. I'll watch a video that I have absolutely no interest in, right? It could be the simplest of things. It could literally be, you know, or let's say a police investigation or someone being interviewed. And, you know, it just says, you never guess how this case ended. I could go through watching like five videos on the same topic, even if I don't care about it because I need, I'm wired in a way psychologically that I need to close an information gap. So that's what's really important that we we try and do that through our creative. And that's what makes it more engaging and increases the hold rate. It also helps the storytelling flow. So it creates tension early, then delays the resolution just enough to make the viewer stay. Again, it's like a feature length film. That's because storytelling is the same, it's the same principles as a feature length film. If we didn't have the curiosity, you know, the films you think about where you lose interest is because you aren't curious enough in, you know, having that motivation to close that curiosity loop. And that's really, really important as part of that process. It also makes performances, you know, the performance scripts feel less like an ad, right? That's where the authenticity comes through. And it also allows that education to build before we introduce the product. It's also perfect for, you know, higher, higher final creatives because the viewers aren't ready to care yet. So we have to make even more of an effort to make them care in those opening five seconds. And so we don't unlock a curiosity loop. What, what, what are they going to stay for? There's going to be no emotional payoff. And because people don't know the brand yet, they've got no connection to it. So as a result, we need to create that emotional payoff before we reach the end of the creative. So in my eyes, like a great curiosity loop is we've got a hook. We, we withhold information and we create tension. So it's that idea of open within incomplete thought. It's just one technique, but an example of that would be, I thought I was bloated, but it was something way worse. So again, it opens the loop. Viewer wants to know what it is, right? We know about bloating. We have that intrigue because we can relate it to something we already know about. But then by saying, but it was something way worse, it instantly makes you want to stay until the end because you want to find out what that is. We withhold the solution. So for six months, I was miserable until I found this. So again, it's like we are tapping into the problem. And they want to stay to find out, oh, this is the thing that that actually is solving that problem. And we can tease information without naming the cause as well. So I went from exhausted to energised without caffeine. Here's how. So again, it raises questions. What is the how? How have we done that? What's the trick? What's because again, we've all, we all know caffeine. We've all tried caffeine, but we don't know really what the ultimate solution is there. So these are just a few techniques to keep in mind in terms of that curiosity loop. And as I said, we want to be opening that to help that and get that real payoff at the end, bringing human desires as part of that curiosity loop. And that great example that I shared is a good one where she talks about reapplying makeup three times, something women will be able to relate to. It's a personal story, but then by the end saying, I now forget to wear makeup. It's that perfect, you know, character arc and curiosity loop that ties us from the before state to the after state. Other techniques as part of that like loop took. So I thought I was just bloated, but it was something way worse. Real dialogue. My boyfriend asked if I was okay. I hadn't looked him in the eyes and days. Visual anchors, this is a great one, cropping out of photos, unbuttoning jeans, hiding in class. You know, what can we visually tie that moment to that people are going to be able to relate to? I think this is another one that works well for us, like frustration stacking. So how can we stack three to four failed solutions quickly? I tried this, then I tried this, and this, nothing worked. I finally felt like I was going to give up loop and to start. So circle back for emotional closure, that's again, like the example I just showed you authenticity check-in. So again, this is just something unrelated, but I think is really good technique to do when you're reviewing your scripts. Ask would I text this to a friend? Would I personally say this or would whether the persona be say this? And that's where looking at places like Reddit are great to really kind of uncover that truth. Now, just a couple of like, again, best-in-class examples before we wrap up today. One of them I think is great because it's a good example of low markets' fistication. We're educating deeply world about what the problem is and tying it together with human desires. So here we go. Low testosterons think so on one in four men over 30 without them even relative. It's not just something in your head. Imagine you've been pushing through tiredness that won't go away. Trying to stay motivated for work, your family, but by the end of the day you've got nothing left to give. 90% of men. So what I love about this first is like we've just spent 17 seconds bringing the individual into that moment. And I think questions are a great way to do that. Imagine you're like this and then you have nothing left to give. And it's really agitated that. It's given like three examples that you can relate to as the consumer that bring you into real everyday life. So we're suddenly hooked. We don't even know what the solution is yet. It's just very much agitating around the problem. And then what I love next is we're flipping it. So it's more around human desires and real personal problems. But then we are tying it together with social proof, social backing, trust by bringing in statistics. And this is a great technique that we like to use as well to really help kind of hammer home that story telling you. Okay. Undiagnosed. If resulting in constant low energy, bad focus and lack of confidence without warning. That's why men will create a test kit which helps you identify your levels from home. So you can take the steps to feel like yourself. Picture yourself re-energised, leading with focus at work and being fully engaged with your friends and family again. Don't let low-test our store and stop you from living your life. Check your levels with manual work to get the support you need. So as you can see, we really agitated the problems initially linking to human desires. And then at the end, we did the same thing tying it back but more from the perspective of an after-stay. So yeah, a good example there of fairly low market sophisticated products that we are really agitating the problem for and bringing you into that moment. So you understand, yes, yeah, I do suffer with this problem as well. Second ones are founder story that we did recently that hit top spenders for glow for it. And a good one from the perspective of an actual founder and very top of final here. And yeah, let's give it a watch. If you ever looked in the mirror and hated what extensions did to your lashes, I get it. When I was younger, I really struggled with anxiety and often my anxiety manifested in the form of ticks. And one of my biggest ticks was pulling out my natural lashes. It started off as an occasional habit and then it became constant. After a while, I nearly picked out all of my natural lashes and I was left with little to no confidence. It was finally time for it. Again, yeah, I was left with little to no confidence. I remember we went through like a round of the script where we didn't have even that line in. Now, as simple as it is, it's tying it back to not just the way you look, but how you feel and the connection to human desires, confidence, status, you know, things like that. And that then was the turning point, right? When we get to the point where it's impacting us enough to tie in with our human desires, that's when we're like, okay, now it's time for a change. Change, I felt even more loss. The theorems that were available on the market were either way. Old solutions. The harsh ingredients that could cause pigmentation and irritation or simply didn't work. I did try going down more natural route using things like cast oils, but ultimately I found this the ineffective. Was at this point I knew I needed to create something better. I actually worked with experts here in the UK to ensure we were formulating a product that was dermatologically tested, was free from any prostabland in analogs and actually condition the lashes from root to tip. Within a few weeks I began to notice the significant change in the quality of my lashes. They were feeling stronger, healthier and ultimately longer than they ever were before. The shift in my confidence was dramatic. Not only had this product helped to grow back my natural lashes, but it had also really helped to grow my confidence. So yeah, again, closing the curiosity loop. Not only is it helped the visual, which is the lashes, what you see in front of me, but also the human desire. We're closing the curiosity loop there. It's helped my confidence grow. So yeah, just a few quick examples there to show like maybe some of these areas in work. I guess just to like recap on all of this. What have we learnt today? What are some of the things that we've gone through at a very top level now? I think I just want to say as well that we could have gone much deeper into each of these individually, but wanted to try and just give a very top level view of all of the things that we're seeing right now and you know some quick wins as to how we can drive better storytelling at the top of the funnel. So educate and agitate first, sell second. It's that idea of like, you know, we sell feelings, not features. Adjust market messaging for market sophistication. It's not something people think about enough, but again, that changes your messaging and as a result, it will change your story. Lean into at least 50, 60% for problem and unaware. Ditch the jargon and speak casually, as I say, if we're coming from the perspective of a consumer, especially in the in the form of like a testimonial, we need to be speaking in a way that is relatable to everyday life. Cut the fluff and keep the conflict. If it doesn't add to the story, if it doesn't add to the message, if it doesn't drive the story forward, then it needs to go. And the final one, deepen human desires. Now, this is one of the best techniques that we can use to really craft great stories that have an emotional impact and longevity. You know, we're trying to be memorable. We're trying to whoever we get in front of to remember this story and by being relatable, that's the way to do that. So yeah, that's everything. Thank you for watching the first of our mastermind style series. If you like this, please comment below. If you'd like us to share more of our internal trainings that we run with our team, we're happy sharing them with you. But if you liked it, please comment below. Please subscribe to the channel and you know, we're on Spotify and YouTube. Give it a like. It means a lot. Share it with someone. Share it with a friend. And you know, we're only just getting started with this podcast. And the more support we get from you guys, the more we'll be able to give away. So yeah, I will see you on the next episode.