Faces in ads matter more than you think

In the bustling world of Instagram, standing out is key, but how do you get those thumbs hitting your ads? I’m Natalia and during my time at Bullet I completed my degree in neuromarketing where I conducted an in-depth research about what makes Instagram ads tick, focusing on the one thing every gym owner should care about - those smiling (or sweating!) human faces in ads.

As a contribution to my final thesis, I devoted several months to examine the effects of social media advert face presence on brand recollection and attitudes towards brands. Turns out those faces matter more than we would’ve thought! Here’s why this is the case and how you can leverage that knowledge for generating more leads…

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The Value of Faces in Ads

I found that adverts for fitness brands that included a human face were remembered better and liked more by the audience. And what’s more, people even had better attitudes toward the brand itself after seeing its face ads (compared to the ones without faces). It’s crazy how much you can shift the perceptions of your brand just by using elements in your ads that resonate with people. 

I ran this experiment among 136 participants showing half of them a series of Instagram sponsored posts (ads) including human faces. The other half saw ads for the same brands as closely resembling the first set of creatives but in faceless versions. Participants weren't aware that we aimed to test their memory for ads or brands. After seeing the series of these posts, participants moved to the memory test. In this stage I showed them several brand logos - out of which only some were included in sponsored posts in the previous experiment stage - and asked them how well they remember seeing this brand during this study. Later on I asked them to indicate their liking of the brands they’ve seen the sponsored posts for. I compared these memory and liking scores between the groups that have seen the face and faceless ads and came to our conclusions - face presence made a great difference! The group that saw the faceless versions of ads had worse attitudes towards the brands and lower recollection of even having come across them. 

Now what’s the science behind all that? As humans we have a huge innate bias towards faces. Without it we wouldn’t survive. Evolutionarily, reading cues from the faces of other people is something that we instinctively pay attention to. If someone in our surroundings is scared, we should probably watch out for danger. If someone seems excited and happy, we might want to see what made them feel that way and try to get in that state ourselves. This simplified analogy applies well to marketing. Of course, there is no universal recipe for success in fitness ads. However, there are things you can do to boost their performance and including human faces is one of them. But is it really that simple? Let’s dissect this in more detail… 

Even if most of your ad creatives  already include human faces you should not get caught off guard - there still are several things you can twig to make them perform even better. Here are two main things you should pay attention to when designing and selecting your ad visuals:

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1. Firstly, focus on emotions! The presence of faces in your ads probably won’t do you any good if their expressions don’t seem too excited about what you’re marketing (or expressing any other relevant emotion. As we explained earlier, our attention to faces is there for a reason. We’re drawn to other people’s faces because we’re looking for cues. Make sure the facial expressions in your ads give your audience an incentive to engage with whatever you’re advertising. 

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2. Another thing is gaze direction! As humans we are designed to be influenced by others. Seeing someone paying attention to a particular thing in  their surroundings wakes up this instinct in us to pay attention to it too (even if that person is just a stranger on our screen). So, for example, if the people in your static ads have their gaze directed towards the text you want your audience to read, your viewers will be much more likely to read it as their visual attention will be more focused on that part of your ad. It’s a simple trick that can increase your audience’s awareness and boost conversions.

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But that’s not everything… let me add a little bonus.

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Why Familiarity is Your Best Friend

It turns out, seeing your brand repeatedly does more than just jog someone’s memory — it actually makes them feel good about it. Seeing your ads repeatedly your audience won’t just remember them better after a while but they’ll be more inclined to actually start liking your brand. 

My study showed that the more familiar your gym brand is to potential clients, the more likely they are to remember and dig your ads. This isn’t just science — it’s a game plan. Before you sprint into targeted ads, warm up with some general brand-building exercises across various channels. Get your name out there, get it known, get it loved.‍

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Putting Research Into Practice

So, what do all these findings mean for your gym’s Instagram strategy? 

Here’s how you can leverage our research to lift your ad game:

• Face facts: Faces in the ads matter more than we might’ve thought. Get over the fear of putting people in your ads! It might be easier to create an ad with just graphics and text but having human faces resonates with your audiences so much better - improving people’s engagement, attitudes towards your brand and memory for your ads. 
• Context is King: Including any human faces in your ads is a great start but tailoring your ads with the right faces and expressions that match your target customer. Showing real people achieving real results in your gym can create a compelling narrative.
• Experiment: Mix it up with A/B testing to see what really resonates with your audience. Maybe it is the pumped-up post-workout selfies, or perhaps it’s the gritty mid-workout shots. Test face and faceless creatives and monitor the results they bring for your brand. Test, learn, and optimise.
• Build a strong “familiarity” base: Like any good workout plan, start with building a strong base. Increase your brand’s exposure consistently before you dive into those heavy conversion-driven campaigns.

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Let’s wrap up. Including faces in your ads might not always be the golden ticket, but it sure can catch an eye when done right. Just think about it — when you’re scrolling through your feed, aren’t you more likely to pause on a familiar face or a really engaging expression? 

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