Mars Men - Performance Creative Testing Framework

Paid Social | Static Acquisition Campaign

Creative Strategy | Creative Direction | Copywriting | Design

Facebook; Instagram

Business Challenge

Develop a library of static Meta acquisition ads for a testosterone support supplement, designed to test multiple messaging strategies within strict creative and platform constraints.

Secondary Variables

Messaging Strategy

  • Ingredient Transparency

  • Problem / Education

  • Product Benefits

  • Social Proof

Visual Treatment

  • Product Hero

  • Lifestyle

  • Editorial

  • Testimonial

  • Typography-Driven

Brand-Led Creative

Designed to test direct product communication without the influence of third-party credibility.

Publisher-Led Creative

Designed to evaluate whether recognizable editorial branding improves attention and trust while preserving direct-response performance.

Performance Brief

Objective - Develop 10 static acquisition ads designed to identify high-performing messaging and creative approaches for paid social.

Deliverables - 10 static ads

Structure - 5 Brand-Led Concepts | 5 Publisher-Led (New York Post) Concepts

Primary Offer - 60% OFF

Required Elements - Product featured in every execution

Constraints · No pricing · No first-person language · Meta-compliant messaging · No sexual innuendo

Creative Testing Framework

Rather than producing ten independent ads, I designed a structured creative testing framework to evaluate multiple persuasion strategies simultaneously.

Each concept isolated one or more variables, while maintaining a consistent promotional offer, allowing creative performance - not offer variability - to drive future optimization.

Primary Variable

Authority Source

Brand-Led Creative - direct product messaging designed to evaluate how the brand performs on its own.

Publisher-Led Creative - New York Post co-branded executions designed to test whether editorial credibility increases engagement and trust with cold audiences.

Creative Hypotheses

H1 · Authority

Publisher-led creative will generate stronger initial engagement by borrowing the visual language and credibility of an established media brand.

H2 · Education

Educational messaging will outperform promotional messaging by creating curiosity before introducing the product.

H3 · Ingredient Transparency

Consumers evaluating testosterone supplements will respond more strongly to specific, clinically relevant ingredients than broad benefit claims.

H4 · Benefit-Led Messaging

Simple outcome-oriented headlines focused on energy, focus, and strength will outperform feature-heavy executions with broader audiences.

Planned Optimization Roadmap

Assuming performance data identified winning concepts, the next sprint would expand those learnings through additional testing.

Potential Iterations:

  • Winning headlines across new visual treatments

  • Offer-forward vs. benefit-forward variants

  • Additional publisher partnerships

  • UGC adaptations

  • Motion versions of top-performing statics

  • Social proof variations

  • Landing-page message continuity