Ads Review - Hawthorne Cologne Social Ads
Back at it again with another ads review! If you’re looking to dive into more ads reviews (and learn the strategies that top brands are using to drive ROI on social), check out the rest of my ads reviews here. Today, I’m reviewing a brand called Hawthorne that makes personalized colognes, lotions, and soaps for men.
I pulled a diverse set of ads from Hawthorne’s Facebook Ads Library to show you a great strategy among many DTC brands right now: diversification. Hawthorne doesn’t bet the farm on one style of ad. They’re putting money behind a few different styles, and they all have a strong angle. I’ll break down why each of these work individually, but keep in mind that diversification is the real strategy at play here.
Why These Work
Visual References
How do you sell a scent through a screen? Hawthorne does it with visual references. In their personalization ad, they show their personalization quiz, which has customers choose their favorite drinks, activities, locations, and styles to match them with a scent that fits. In the ad, you can see the model choose whiskey as their favorite drink, and then images of a glass of whiskey take the screen. Whiskey obviously has nothing to do with cologne, but Hawthorne sells the idea of what this scent might smell like with this visual reference that many men know and enjoy already.
Perfume and cologne brands have been doing this for decades, with obscure and arresting visuals. You still can’t smell through a screen, but when Johnny Depp frantically digs a hole in the desert, you can imagine what sort of dusty, musky vibe the cologne might have.
Sex Sells
There’s no use beating around the bush here. Cologne is a luxury product that exists to endear potential lovers to you. Hawthorne leverages this fact for its male customer base by incorporating product reviews that suggest women will love the way the cologne smells, and in turn, love the wearer. They choose to use a lot of shots with women to get this idea across.
There’s still a strong amount of stigma in the male self-care sector, so it seems like Hawthorne uses female opinions to get men on board with the ads. A value proposition of simply smelling better from one male to another male definitely won’t land as firmly as their female spokesperson approach.
Interesting CTA
Hawthorne has a very interesting CTA that pulls customers in with genuine curiosity. They have a scent personalization quiz that is meant to match the man with his perfect scent based on the things he already enjoys. This proprietary quiz is completely embedded within their purchase pathway. It gives a strong feeling of personalization while the customer takes it, and then it suggests a line of products that fit the customer. It doesn’t give any insights away for free, like telling customers they should go find a sweet, citrusy scent on their own. It merely suggests the best Hawthorne products with a strong “buy now” proposition.
Trust is the main commodity being exchanged in the digital world. Consultants know they need to build trust with their audience in order to sell them on a digital training program. But DTC brands often don’t try this for themselves, since the barrier to entry and the risk of purchase is usually quite low. Hawthorne uses this quiz to build trust with customers, even for a product that only costs $50-$100. Brilliant.
Ideas for improvement
More visual references
Hawthorne’s packaging looks great, but I think they’re focusing on it a little too much. Getting the idea of the scent across is still essential for people to be interested, and the packaging doesn’t do this. Hawthorne should incorporate even more visual references, possibly in an ad that shows the full line of their products. They could do this with abstract nature shots, like waves, sandstorms, fruits, or clouds. Or they could do this by creating male caricatures, for the bad boy, the cowboy, the playboy, or the boy genius. Either way, visual references would really help bring these ads off the screen and into the minds of customers more.
Closing
Fantastic job by Hawthorne here. Like I mentioned at the beginning of this review, their diversification strategy is likely leading them to a great deal of success with this ad set. It’s rare to see a brand diversify this much and still achieve a high level of quality and brand affiliation within each ad.
