How Athletic Greens caught fire and used copywriting on its way to $600 million

AG1 by Athletic Greens is an excellent direct-response case study.

They do a lot of things well but fall into the category of “Companies I appreciate because of how seriously they take copywriting.”

Let’s take a look:

Double down on winning copy formatting

Below is a very well-known primary text format that AG1 has recycled many times. It’s one of our agency’s bread-and-butter formats too that is responsible for well over $50 million in sales.

It goes something like this:

This format is concise, readable, and flows well with the AIDA framework:

• Attention: Usually the creative achieves this

• Interest: The copy hook makes prospects want to click “read more”

• Desire: Bulleted list makes prospects want the product/service

• Action: Credibility & CTA encourage action

How to iterate on winning copy

One of AG1’s favorite tactics is to take winning copy or creative and “iterate” them by testing small changes.

What I mean by this is you keep 90% of it the same but then make small adjustments to the hook, bulleted list, CTA or other elements.

Imagine: What if you could improve a winning ad’s outbound CTR by 0.2% or improve its CVR by 0.4%? The results would be significant.

For example:

A mere +0.1% increase in the outbound CTR would achieve an extra $10,000 in lifetime revenue.

Here’s a great example:

Let’s focus on just the hook.

The original hook (on the left) reads:

I see dozens of AG1 ads using this exact same hook, which suggests that it’s likley a winner. By “winner” I mean it has multiple sales and is profitable.

After identifying a winner, I think to myself, “how can I add more copywriting elements without increasing the word count by too much?” In other words, what can be removed and what can be added to improve the hook.

Here’s how AG1 chose to transform this winning hook:

This is such a simple tactic that most media buyers don’t pick up on and is easy to miss. In my experience, this often prolongs the life of winning concepts and is a high-probability method for sustaining profitability.

Lesson: Iterate your winners.

“Tap into existing demand” instead of creating a new market

Claude Hopkins emphasized the concept of "tapping into existing demand" in his book Scientific Advertising.

He argued that rather than trying to create a new market or change people's behavior, it is more effective to target people who are already inclined to use a type of product and simply convince them to switch to your version.

Hopkins believed that it is much easier to persuade someone who is already using a type of product to switch brands than it is to create a demand where none exists. This is because these consumers already recognize the value of the product and have a habitual or psychological connection to using it.

Hopkins emphasized the importance of making a strong case for why your product is better. This could involve highlighting a unique feature, superior quality, or better value.

The idea is to make the existing users of the product type believe that switching to your brand will give them a better experience.

For example:

Convincing dairy milk drinkers to switch to oat milk is difficult and expensive.

Position your ads instead towards people who already enjoy oat milk and convince them why your product is superior.

Interesting UGC ad concept

🧠 Clever ad of the week

The number of pixels = the number of endangered animals remaining in existence.

I also enjoyed this simple idea:

🏆 Placement of the week

🗣️ Quote of the week