Info Product YouTube Ad Analysis: Motley Fool's Amsterdam Ad

Bonus Material: Free VidTao YouTube Ad Library Software

YouTube ads are tailor-made for selling Digital Information Products.

Today let's take a closer look at a YouTube ad with over $1.9 Million in adspend (estimated), from investment info product company Motley Fool.

We're going to break it down into a framework so you can use this proven approach when scripting & creating your own high-performing YouTube ads.

And if you want more content like this? Go ahead and claim your free VidTao YouTube Ad Library software, where you can discover high-performing YouTube ads running right now in your market. (Plus you'll get early access to all new YouTube ad breakdowns we release).

youtube-ad-spy-tool-screenshot-motleyfool-screenshot

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What is the ad for?

The ad is for Stock Advisor from Motley Fool, a tool for finding the right long-term stocks to invest in. The theme of the ad is around the potential profits in the marijuana legalisation boom.

What’s the hook?

The hook has two main themes. Firstly, they want it to seem that investing in the cannabis industry is a no-brainer because it’s growing so quickly (no pun intended… okay... pun fully intended). They mention that it’s a potentially $80 billion industry, multiple times. 

Secondly, they want to create a sense of urgency since the quicker you act, the better results you will see.

What’s the structure?

  • Introduce the topic of the ad
  • State the customer desire and show the opportunity
  • The opportunity is closer than you think
  • Time urgency; get in before the rush
  • Customer desire; showing the potential profits with data
  • Emotional urgency; fear of missing out
  • Credibility using data
  • Time urgency; need to act now
  • Customer obstacle; it’s risky
  • Removing obstacle; that risk is not valid
  • Emotional urgency; fear of missing out
  • Introduce the offer
  • Detail of what’s included in the offer
  • Conditions of the offer
  • Credibility using data
  • Simple call to action

Customer desire

What the customer wants to achieve, such as more money, more freedom etc

Customer obstacle

What is preventing the customer from acting or changing their behaviour

Emotional urgency

Unlike time urgency, where the offer will expire or the product will sell out etc, emotional urgency is about making people feel that they are holding themselves back, that if they don’t act now, they’ll lose out. In this case, there is an element of time to it as well but they are pushing on the fear of regret, not on the economic need to get in quick.

What works well?

The general tone of the ad is spot on. They have managed to get the obvious intrigue that comes from profiting from marijuana, something that has been illegal for so long, but never make it sound like a gamble. They ground the ad in sensible arguments, an older presenter, and lots of time to repeat the main points.

4:30 minutes is a pretty long ad and when you go through the script, most of it is repetition. They mention that $80 billion number 5 times. Now, normally, this would be a bad ad; long and repetitive, but this is for a specific audience, who want to make long term investments.

With ads for day traders and forex traders, they’re aiming for customers who are looking to make returns quickly, and you get a much faster rhythm. Typically it’s all wrapped up in 2 minutes. But not here. This audience can afford to wait a while for results and they are likely to be spending much more money, so don’t rush the pitch, Motley Fool need to build trust that they know what they’re doing and have really looked into this investment. That’s why the slower pacing works. 

What could be improved?

The visuals are a little lazy. They have just let the video editor do whatever they felt like. We’re pretty sure those shots of “juicy hemp wraps” and “cannabis ice cream” are not persuading anyone that this is a sensible investment. It would be like a Forex ad showing men in a dark alley passing wads of Mongolian Tögrög; this isn’t the image we want for currency trading. We all know the Tögrög has been dropping steadily for a year, you fools!

They could really benefit from some nice graphic presentations. It’s so easy to make a simple animated graph and get those big, attention-grabbing numbers up on the screen. We’d also like to see one fixed font throughout the video, and maybe some simple colour grading so that all that stock footage feels like one, branded video, rather than a bunch of stock stuck together. 

Where do we go if we click?

A zero-frills landing page which is what you would expect for this type of product. After 4:30 minutes you should also have done all the persuading you need so just make the opt-in very simple.

the-motley-fool-landing-page

What exactly is a juicy hemp wrap? 

We don’t know either. Maybe you smoke them, or wear them, or perhaps it’s some kind of weed burrito.

Script & function

I'm in Amsterdam, which is without a doubt the cannabis capital of the world,

Introduce the topic of the ad

and that's because of the enormous, almost unbelievable interest that investors like you have in the Marijuana boom, and believe me that boom is coming to the tune of about $80 billion.

State the customer desire and show the opportunity

But here's the real twist, for investing it's not really Amsterdam that you want to be looking at. Instead, we're looking right back in North America.

The opportunity is closer than you think

Now we at the Motley Fool have been pretty quiet on this growing marijuana trend until now. And that's because a little known Canadian company just unlocked what some experts think could be the key to profiting off this huge emerging trend.

Urgency; this opportunity just appeared

With cannabis legalization sweeping over North America, and experts predicting the US industry to skyrocket to $80 billion by 2030, it's time for investors to start paying attention.

Because whether or not you're planning on ingesting any THC yourself, you can't deny the monumental investing opportunity that a potentially $80 billion industry represents

Customer desire: showing the potential with data

But it's also a relatively new industry, untested, unproven, and that's why we're really struck by a game-changing deal that just went down between the Ontario government and a powerhouse Canadian company, and that company which now has the opportunity to rake in profits from the $7 billion Canadian cannabis industry, and the potentially $80 billion US industry is no stranger to us here at the Motley Fool.

Emotional urgency; fear of missing out

Because we've actually recommended this stock before, and for completely different reasons.

Take a look at how it's done since we recommended it to our members with an incredible 900% return, and continued great business metrics.

This intriguing company has locked in key partnerships with giants like Facebook, Amazon, and now the Ontario government.

And even with all that, the CEO who has $1.3 billion at stake declared that he thinks there are only 2-3% into what this business could eventually become.

Credibility using data

We here at the Motley Fool are convinced we're only in the very early days of this companies trajectory which means there could still be plenty more profit to be had for in the know investors who are prepared to take action.

Time urgency, need to act now

And here's the best part for me, this company's future does not hinge on marijuana.

Customer obstacle; it’s risky

If all forms of THC were banned forever in the United States we think this company would still have an incredible field of opportunity. That's why we recommended it in the first place.

Removing obstacle; that risk is not valid

But now that there's an estimated $80 billion industry emerging from the woodwork, their prospects are positively super charged, and we think you'll regret not getting invested now.

If you want any part of the multi-billion dollar cannabis boom this is a company we think you should have in your portfolio.

Emotional urgency; fear of missing out

So due to the urgency of this recent development Motley Fool co-founders David and Tom Gardner just released a brand new report detailing how this one stock could potentially mint it's own marijuana millionaires.

The report is called "One Stock for the Cannabis Boom".

Introduce the offer

It reveals the reasons why we think every forward looking investor should be paying close attention to this revolutionary new industry, and what might be a potentially life changing investment opportunity.

Detail of what’s included in the offer

This report is free to you when you sign up for Stock Advisor today.

Conditions of the offer

Now why should you listen to the experts at Stock Advisor?

Well Motley Fool Stock Advisor has been helping investors find great stock since 2002.

And though not every pick has done as well as these, the full list of winners is much longer.

But here's the bottom line, over the last 17 years, Motley Fool Stock Advisor's average stock pick has returned 322%, and that's more than quadrupling the return of the SNP 500 over that time period.

Credibility using data

So simply enter your email address to learn about the one stock we think you need in your portfolio for the coming cannabis boom

Simple call to action

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What are your YouTube ad questions?

In the meantime, what questions do YOU have about YouTube ads?

Let us know in the Comments section below, and we’ll make sure to cover your question in an upcoming post.

Have a nice day!

The VidTao Team


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  • I feel like this is an ad from 1999, but yeah, it can still work. Very dated and lazy video editing.

    Nice to see Motley Fool trying to stay relevant hah 😉

    Great breakdown. I do these too on my YouTube channel. I’ll have to do blog posts like these in the future.

    Cheers.