Project Type: Meta Ad Copy + Creative Concept
Selling a 410-calorie bar to people counting calories
Spec Meta ad copy for a DTC protein bar, built on a reframe: that the calorie number everyone optimises down is the very thing that makes a cut survivable.
Spec work · written on my own initiative
This was not commissioned and has not run. No performance figures exist for it, and none are claimed. It's here to show angle development and ad-copy craft, not results. Brand details are withheld.
My Thought Process
Make the disqualifying number the reason to buy
Every bar in this category competes on the same axis: fewer calories. That's what the tracking app rewards, so that's what the packaging shouts. A 410-calorie bar looks like a straight disqualification to someone mid-cut.
So the copy doesn't defend the number - it goes after the behaviour that makes the number look bad. It opens on the actual lived experience of a cut, where every option costs you something, and lands on the flimsy 200-calorie bar that satisfies the app but not the stomach. Once the reader agrees the app is the problem, calories stop reading as cost and start reading as the mechanism.
That's what "eating more helps you eat less" has to earn before it's said. The specifics then do the work - 34g of protein, slow-digesting ingredients, named by name - followed by real customer reviews rather than claims, and a guarantee to absorb what's left of the risk.
Full ad copy
Reproduced as written.
Hook variations
- Diet snacks don’t help your cut - they ruin it. Here’s why eating more helps you eat less…
- “Diet Math” is ruining your cut. Here’s why eating more helps you eat less…
Primary text
A cut would be easy if you could eat whatever you want.
But you gotta hit a protein goal under a calorie limit.
Something has to give.
You could satisfy your carb craving, but then you blow your protein goal.
You could eat clean, but your sweet tooth eventually wins.
You could fill up on junk food, but then you’re hungry again in an hour.
Most people reach for a flimsy 200-calorie protein bar.
Just enough to give ‘em that hit of sweetness.
The math looks good on a tracking app.
But your stomach doesn’t care what an app says…
It’ll be screaming at you for more.
🍫 So we made a bar that doesn’t make you choose.
Our bar fills you up for hours with 34g of protein at just 410 calories.
Its slow-digesting ingredients - milk protein, creamy sunflower butter, dark cocoa, and fiber - carry you through the day so you go to bed without a growling stomach.
That's not a snack - that’s a whole dang meal!
We already have raving fans.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“I’ve never found something that’s so tasty and also really nutritious with lots of protein, most bars taste like chalk and upset my stomach but these taste like a cookie and go down so easily.” -Frank D.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“The bars are quite filling and nearly overregulated my guts lol.” -Austin W.
They’re perfect for packed mornings or post-gym protein hits.
Grab a pack of Chocolate Chip Crisp, and if you’re not satisfied, we’ll refund every cent within 30 days.
Supporting fields
- Headline
- Get Your Protein, Skip The Hunger
- Description
- All of the good stuff, none of the bad stuff. 11,534 happy customers.
- Button
- Shop Now
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