Will you win this game?
Sitting at home, my daughter Lily asked if she could go to a summer camp this year. Her eyes sparkled with the excitement of new adventures. “I want to do something different, something cool!” she said. As we browsed through options together, her enthusiasm grew with every click. One option in particular peaked my curiosity…
Put yourself in the shoes of Lilly’s mom and find the ad that brought a 57% lift in CTR, from 14% to 22.1%.
Choose wisely:
The highlighted headlines may have nothing to do with the result.
In the realm of life’s grand possibilities, Emily stands at a fork in the road—motherhood calling to her from one path.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon, after years of climbing corporate ladders and conquering professional milestones, Emily feels a void slowly expanding within her. Alone in her well-furnished apartment, she picks up a framed photo of her family from the coffee table and gazes at it thoughtfully. The ticking of her biological clock grows louder in her ears.
Gathering her resolve, she takes her laptop and settles into her plush armchair, tinged with a mix of excitement and nervousness. Her fingers hover above the keyboard before finally typing, ‘fertility clinics‘.
Emily clicks on a link, diving into the details of a clinic’s offerings, hopeful yet cautious. She closes her eyes, feeling more excited than nervous and she then mutters to herself, “I’m going to do it.”
That was the story of a woman seeking professional help to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. It’s one among many. Other stories might include straight couples struggling to conceive or LGBTQ couples desiring a baby.
As an advertiser, whose job it is to understand the emotional triggers and needs of the searcher, which of the two ads do you think “clicked” with women like Emily?
Make your pick:
Too many frogs! In a world of fierce competition, Iman finds himself in a constant struggle to grow his business.
One evening, feeling particularly exasperated, he retreats to his office with a cold beer in hand for a momentary reprieve. As he settles into his chair, in despair, he opens the laptop once more and decides to seek guidance from a new friend – ChatGPT.
In hopeful anticipation, he poses the question that has been gnawing at him: “How can I boost my website rankings?”
The AI proposes a few potential solutions, among them, one in particular captures his interest: “Consider buying backlinks for your website.”
Iman turns to Google and searches “backlinks for my website.”
That was the story of a potential buyer of backlinks.
As an advertiser, who’s job it is to understand the searcher and craft ads to attract him, which of the two ads above do you think were better at doing their job?
Find the Google ad responsible for a 78% lift in click-through-rate (CTR), from 2.3% to 4.1%!
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The following are two story lines that could be at the heart of a particular user’s search. Only one of them is correct. Find it and vote for the ad that won the user’s attention.
Jen had always been passionate about coffee. As a coffee connoisseur, she loved exploring different flavors and experiencing the unique characteristics of each region’s beans. Her next adventure was set to take her to Colombia, the land of exquisite coffee. However, she wanted to immerse herself in the local culture and communicate with the farmers, so she decided to learn Spanish first.
The coffee lover she is, Jen entered one of her favourite coffee shops and settled at a table beside a floor-to-ceiling window, offering a captivating view of New York City’s bustling streets. With her laptop open, she began searching for “spanish language classes”.
Known for his athletic prowess, Danny was a football prodigy. His powerful arm and nimble feet were legendary, and whispers of a future NFL career followed him around school.
Despite his athletic talents, Danny had a nemesis off the field – Spanish class. This was his final hurdle before graduation, the verbs and vocabulary refused to stick. His dream college, renowned for both its sports program and rigorous academics, demanded a passing Spanish grade for admission.
One day, as he sat in the library, a conversation caught his attention. Two exchange students were excitedly discussing their favourite players. Danny listened with rapt attention, but he could only pick out a few words in their rapid Spanish.
A thought struck Danny. Spanish was not just a class to pass, but a key to understanding a world beyond his own, a world where football wasn’t just a sport, but a language that united people.
That evening, instead of the usual drills and game tapes, Danny found himself in front of his computer. His hands hovered over the keyboard before he decisively typed in the search bar, “spanish language classes”. He was determined to conquer this hurdle, not just for graduation, but for the world it would open up to him.
Find the Google ad responsible for a 168% lift in click-through-rate (CTR), from 3.1% to 8.3%!
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In the boundless expanse of space, teenager Mia sought to spend her summer immersed in learning without leaving her spaceship home.
Eager to find the right online school within her budget, she turned to Google for guidance.
“online summer class”, she typed.
Countless options unfolded before her, but the one that stood out the most to her was Silicon Valley High School.
Excitement filled her as she enrolled in the virtual classroom, ready to embark on a summer of exploration and personal growth.
Will this work?
Find the Google ad that has a twice higher click-through-rate, 5.2% vs 2.5%!
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The year is 2050. The city is New York.
The unhappy man is Ethan.
Ethan owns The Stellaris.
A futuristic hotel he dreamed into reality.
A sleek architecture shimmering with holographic projections, captivating the eyes of passersby.
However, beneath its dazzling exterior, discontent brews among dissatisfied customers.
Ethan keeps receiving complaints from disillusioned guests. Their once-bright smiles fading, replaced by furrowed brows and frustrated sighs.
His dream hotel will go out of business if this continues. He needs a solution fast, starting with a new “hoteling software”.
Is it the DKI’s?
Find the Google ad that has a double click-through-rate, from 5.2% to 10.1%!
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Never fall in love with your ads!
In the heart of Singapore, nestled between the modern skyscrapers, lived a man named Arjun. Arjun worked in a bustling tech startup, where he lived a life dictated by codes, deadlines, and caffeine-infused nights.
Despite the rush of his life, he found his peace in his grandmother’s tales of old Singapore – a time when love stories bloomed beneath the city lights.
One day, amidst a sea of algorithmic complexities, he noticed a new hire, Li Mei. Li Mei, with her radiant smile and sharp wit, was a breath of fresh air.
She was an artist, a painter who captured the city’s heritage and its modernity in her vibrant strokes.
Arjun was captivated. He yearned to know her better, to share stories beneath the city skyline. But he wasn’t a man of words, but of codes. How could he invite her to a date that would captivate her, just as she captivated him?
So he turned to his most trusted ally – Google. In the quiet of the night, amidst the hum of his laptop, Arjun typed in “date restaurant” in the search bar. He was determined to find a place that resonated with the city’s past and its present – a place that mirrored Li Mei’s art, a place perfect for their first date.
Version A in the Google Ads above focuses on emotions while Version B shares information with a lighter touch on emotions.
Which ad do you think won Arjun’s heart and increased Gary’s click-through rate by 32%?
Find the ad responsible for the 32% CTR increase. From 6% to 7.9%!
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This is test is not about cheese, so please stop thinking about cheese.
FETA stands for Fake Expanded Text Ad, and is an attempt to create an ETA from an RSA.
So many acronyms.
Let’s redefine:
Now that you know the terms, analyze the above ads again, and guess which ETA was the winner, the fake one or the real one?
That’s not cheese!
Find the ad that has aDOUBLE CTR, 9.1% vs 4.4% of the loser!
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Tim had been eyeing a new gaming laptop for weeks now, but his budget was limited. He had saved up some money, but it was still not enough to buy the high-end laptop he really wanted. He had been browsing different websites, comparing prices and specifications, but nothing seemed to fit his requirements.
The above are two of the ads he might have seen, one of them was good enough to get his click, which one?
Is your laptop keyboard greasy yet?
Find the ad that lifted click-through-rates by 53% and the Conversion Rate by 68%.
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Uh oh, something’s broken.
Find the ad that DOUBLED Click-Through-Rate, from 2.9% to 6.3%!
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