What we learned from our own series
We publish a new episode every week on Instagram and YouTube; each episode is a small experiment showing which opening holds viewers. The clearest difference we have seen: episodes that open by setting place and time ("Three a.m. The middle of the ocean.") stayed low. Episodes that set up a contradiction in the first line got watched.
Our most-watched episode (155K views) opened with a single contradiction: your mother is cooking in the kitchen, yet a message from her arrives on your phone saying "I'm not home." Viewers stayed to find out the answer. Advertising works by the same rule.
Four types of hook
- Question: A question whose answer is the advert itself. "Why is there a queue outside this bakery at 7 in the morning?"
- Contradiction: Put two unexpected things side by side. "The man who travelled 500 kilometres for a coffee."
- Result first: The product's most appetising or impressive moment in the first frame: a tray coming out of the oven, foaming milk. The story comes later.
- Familiar moment: A small hassle everyone has lived through. "Monday morning, no coffee, a meeting."
What should and should not be in the first frame?
- Should: A large 2–5 word caption and one image that shows it (a face, a product, a door, a phone screen).
- Should not: A logo animation, the outside of the venue, an introduction that begins "Hello, we are …".
The logo comes at the end of the advert; if you like, it can sit small in the corner from the start. Even an advert promoting a venue does not open with the venue: curiosity comes first, and the venue arrives as the answer. In our Lagertha Coffee advert the café is the last stop of the story.
It must make sense with the sound off
Most videos in the feed are watched silently. The whole message must be written on screen: hook, product, date and call to action. Voice-over and music strengthen an advert but must not carry it alone. That is why every advert we deliver has large on-screen text and a subtitle file.
One message, one call to action
A 15–30 second advert can say one thing. An advert that starts with "Our new menu, our discount, our opening and our breakfast" conveys none of them. Choose one message, and end with one call to action: "Come this weekend", "Order from the link in our profile".
The cover is a hook too
The advert stays on your profile and appears in the grid with its cover. The biggest thing on the cover should be the hook text, not the logo or venue name. Keep the text in the middle of the cover, since the grid crops it.
The advantage of animation
Moments impossible to film are a few seconds' scene in animation: a coffee going 500 kilometres an hour, a talking pastry, campaign coupons raining from the sky. Among live-action videos in the feed, a cartoon character also catches the eye on its own.
Checklist
- Does the first line spark curiosity when heard alone?
- Is there large text and a single image in the first frame?
- Are the logo and venue exterior kept out of the opening?
- Does the message make sense with the sound off?
- Is there one message and one call to action?
- Is the hook the biggest thing on the cover?
