Case Study: Diversifying Video Content To Maximize Ad Performance

These days, paid social is a street fight for attention, and brands that take a one-size-fits-all approach to creative struggle to contend.

This case study explains how we produced a range of ad-optimized video content for the campaigns that we managed in support of Renée Rouleau Skin Care’s annual sale.

Background

Renée Rouleau Skin Care is the direct-to-consumer skincare line founded by Renée Rouleau, an award-winning celebrity esthetician for stars like Demi Lovato, Lili Reinhart, and Keke Palmer. The brand offers a range of products tailored to different skin types and concerns, with a focus on adult acne.

The brand is unique in its personalized approach. Renée’s philosophy is that there are actually nine skin types, not just three (oily, dry, normal). Additionally, in their campaigns, Renée Rouleau Skin Care aims not only to promote products but also to educate and engage their audience. This approach aligns with their commitment to authenticity and building trust within their community.

Each year, the brand has a week-long sale at the end of August to celebrate its anniversary. This is their only sale of the year, so it’s critical to maximize the performance during this important window.

Campaign Approach

We didn’t want to assume that only one creative type would work best in Meta, Google Performance Max, Pinterest, and TikTok campaigns. Instead, we sought to produce product videos, user-generated content, trendy meme-style videos, and expert interviews with Renée, in addition to static graphics.

For the studio content, the brand prefers a look that mimics a natural environment with bright, soft light, and depth. This required careful planning and execution with set design, light modifiers, and diffusers to avoid an artificial look. We also cast a diverse range of talent for the product videos to reflect the brand’s customer base.

For the UGC content, we reviewed hundreds of content creators to find the right fit. We wanted creators with personality who were adept at producing the selfie-style, vertical videos that often perform best across Instagram Reels and TikTok. But it also was essential for these creators to have skin types and concerns that matched the products they promoted.

Lastly, to capitalize on pop culture and in-the-moment memes, we edited a Barbie-inspired video and used a trending meme in a separate video to add more variety to our ad mix.

Content Strategy

We prioritized top-selling products and we focused on highlighting the unique features and benefits of the products to differentiate the brand.

In our production studio, we built a stage and rigged up a sink to create an ad hoc “bathroom” on set to showcase the products in a typical environment. We used a macro lens to keep a tight focus and deep compression in the background to make the products stand out. We also used adaptive lighting techniques, using both soft and hard backlighting to highlight products while still achieving the desired natural look.

Meanwhile, we worked with the UGC creators to strike the right balance between promotional messaging and genuine representation of product effectiveness. We collaborated closely with Renée’s team to perfect the messaging and refine the final deliverables. 

We filmed the videos with Renée by converting their office into a production set using pre-existing furniture and props. Our objective was to capture a handful of multi-camera scripted soundbites and gather footage around the office to use in various campaigns. We set the tone with warm, soft lighting to create a comfortable ambience. 

All of the bottling and shipping for Renée Rouleau products happens in the warehouse adjacent to their office, and we filmed this process end-to-end for additional product b-roll to use with the scripted videos.

Throughout the post-production process, we paid close attention to platform-specific nuances, tailoring each piece to the platforms where it would appear and the audiences it was designed to reach. 

Ad Campaign Results

Year-over-year, the sale campaigns that we managed improved across a number of metrics, including:

The performance contributed to better overall results for Renée Rouleau Skin Care’s 2023 sale compared to 2022. 

Additionally, each category of video that we produced served a separate role in the campaigns. The expert interview videos had the best thumb stop ratio and average play time, the product videos had the highest ROAS, the UGC content had the lowest cost per acquisition, and the meme-style videos drove the most purchase volume.

“3rd + Lamar did a great job helping us craft and execute a creative and paid media strategy for our sale. They delivered beautiful creative and outstanding results!”

-Veronica Villarreal, Renée Rouleau Skin Care, President