Two of my statics ran in Simon Squibb's ad account. Here's the research behind them.
Simon was launching the World's Biggest Business Competition: free to enter, four weeks long, with a US$1,000,000 prize fund. His account already had 1,000 ads live and a US$200K budget behind them. In Sean Ferres's CMB 3.0 Statics Sprint, I had one day to find the angle those ads were missing.
Figures from 1mpact media's report on the 26 student ad sets, each run on the same budget, audience and landing page. The report didn't split results by ad.
What the research found
I ran the 6C Intel method across seven sources and more than 150 data points: Simon's top live ads, 60 Trustpilot reviews, ten competitors, 40-plus community quotes, 20 of his most-viewed videos and four full transcripts. Three findings shaped everything that followed.
- Nobody was answering the catch. Simon's own post opens with "Every time I say this is free, somebody tells me there's a catch." One in five Trustpilot reviews is a one-star about feeling sold to, and none of the top ads addressed it.
- "Where to start" is the pain, and "dream" is the word. "Don't know where to start" was the most repeated phrase across Reddit, Trustpilot and the comments. Simon's team had already found that "dream" pulls people in where "business" pushes them away.
- The real objection hides under the polite one. In two of Simon's street interviews, a 19-year-old DJ and a 28-year-old barber open with a polite excuse, then admit the fear of judgment or failure underneath. Both moved once Simon gave them a clock, a public step and a first customer.
The wedge
Answer the catch, then make "one day" expire.
Show exactly what's inside the competition and what it costs, which is nothing, in Simon's give-without-take voice. Then give the dream a date. Explained to a 12-year-old: Simon already made his money, so he's giving the whole course away, and all he asks is that you actually start on 24 October.
Three formats, three angles, every claim traced to the official terms.
The group chat
The mate whose clothing brand has been "launching soon" for years, built around one line people would screenshot: "you said that at my wedding."
The receipt
The value stack as a crumpled till receipt: $8,000+ of programme, then "YOUR PRICE $0.00, paid by Simon and partners." It answers the catch without a word of explanation.
The WANTED poster
"The dream you plan on your lunch break." Sean loved the concept and cut it because the small print didn't read on a phone. Lesson logged: legibility at thumbnail size is pass or fail.
"This is the funniest batch in the thread. The Sunday League group chat is perfect, 'you said that at my wedding 💀' is a line people will screenshot […] The receipt is the best way I've seen anyone show the value stack, $8,000+ down to $0.00, paid by Simon and partners. It answers 'what's the catch?' without a word of explanation. […] Three formats, three angles, every claim matches the terms. Copy is human the whole way through, short, specific, and it ends as strong as it starts."
What happened in market
The two picked statics ran from 17 to 24 October against 25 other students' ad sets, all on the same budget, audience and landing page. At the 22 October snapshot, mine sat 20th at £2.93 per registration. Over the last two days they brought in about 70 registrations at roughly £1.51 each, and the ad set finished 13th of 26 at £1.93, just under the cohort median of £1.98.
What the leaders did, and what I'd change
Then I studied two of the top four ad sets. One was native and faceless, the other polished and built around Simon, so format and face don't explain the gap. What they shared: a scroller knew the offer within a second, and the copy invited people with no idea yet. The 2nd-placed set even ran two of my concepts, a WANTED poster and "what's the catch?", so the concepts held up and the fix sits in the execution: I'd buried the prize in the disclaimer line.
For the next round:
- The offer goes in the first line a viewer reads, at headline size.
- The prize leads with the number people can picture winning, US$5,000 for each of 180 winners, with US$1M behind it.
- Every ad opens a door for people who have no idea yet.
This is the Studio Session, run on a public brand.
For your business, the same method maps your buyers, your competitors and your live ads, finds the angle your account is missing, and turns it into the first ads to test. You get the full report and a call to walk you through it.