Looking to step up your Instagram ad game but not sure where to start?
We’re here to let you in on a little secret—Instagram inspiration is everywhere.
One of the best parts of being a marketer is that we always get to see other marketers’ work. All you have to do is take one scroll through your Instagram feed and you’ll see ads every few posts.
We can decide what we love and what we don’t love, and test ourselves by asking what we would improve to the ads that didn’t catch our eye… (please tell us you do that too or else this is just embarrassing).
We’ve gathered 13 Instagram ad examples from small and large businesses for you to use as inspiration and as a little test of what you would improve to the ads that you think could do better.
Instagram Ad Example #1: Masterclass
Masterclass is using well known faces to create ads that catch their prospects’ attention. In this ad, they’re using the very familiar face of Gordon Ramsey to promote their monthly membership platform and adding an offer to get a free membership with the purchase of a yearly subscription.
Instagram Ad Example #2: Alomoves
Alomoves, a sister company to the heavily influencer-marketed Alo Yoga, is using Instagram marketing to promote their fitness membership. Their ad video shows several instructors moving through various yoga poses in quick 1-2 second cuts and their caption highlights that this membership is perfect for yoga beginners and experts.
Instagram Ad Example #3: Best Self Co.
Best Self Co. is using this Instagram ad to market one of their products, an Intimacy Deck for strengthening relationships. We can assume they know that their customers love aesthetics by the image used. We can also assume this ad is appealing to 2 customer avatars, partners in new relationships and partners in long-term relationships.
Instagram Ad Example #4: Daily Harvest
Daily Harvest is making sure its audience knows that morning or night, they have your meal covered. In this video ad they show the various smoothie bowls customers can choose from and use their caption to describe what types of food customers can get through their meal delivery service.
Instagram Ad Example #5: Ettitude Store
Ettitude is using their image and their caption to tell customers what to expect from their sheets. By putting “Silky-soft, 100% organic bamboo sheets” at the top of their image, they know that’s the first thing an Instagram user is going to read. Then, their caption talks about how their sheets regulate temperature, which we’ll safely assume as marketers is a customer pain point they’ve researched.
Instagram Ad Example #6:
Forward, a service that upgrades your health insurance, is using this ad to describe the features of their product (COVID-19 testing and at home care) as well as their offer of $99/year. They’ve focused heavily on the features customers want right now, versus all of the features they get with a membership.
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Instagram Ad Example #7: Glossier
Glossier, makeup and skincare company, is using several different ad creatives within one Instagram campaign. You’ll see below that each time a user swipes to see another image, they also see a different caption. This gives Glossier the ability to promote several products at once and see which products in a campaign perform best (information we LOVE to find out as marketers).
Instagram Ad Example #8: Portal by Facebook
Portal by Facebook is using this ad to show viewers their product in use and show them that just because they can’t be somewhere, doesn’t mean they can’t feel like they are. What’s interesting to note about this ad is that their caption doesn’t have an offer, but continues to describe the benefits of their product.
Instagram Ad Example #9: MakeSpace
MakeSpace wants to declutter your home and help you avoid normal storage fees. Their ad copy tells us this right away in their headline, “Don’t waste $$$ on storage fees”. This is a great example of doing competitor research for a client and showing them your product and the competitor’s product side-by-side. In this case MakeSpace is able to show how much cheaper their self storage option is and then continues to talk about the benefits in their caption.
Instagram Ad Example #10: Talkspace
Talkspace is an app that connects users to licensed therapists. In this ad, they use a testimonial from one of their therapists as to why Talkspace is a great option for “all people”, which is a common marketing strategy in the health space. For example, how many times have you seen a toothpaste ad that said “9 out of 10 dentists recommend this toothpaste”? We see your marketing strategy Talkspace 👀
Instagram Ad Example 11: Trifecta
Trifecta Nutrition, a meal service, uses a quick paced video to showcase happy customers eating their Trifecta meals. Then, they let their caption answer some of their most commonly asked questions, like “Is this available for vegans?”, helping their audience determine if this is a meal service that would work for them.
Instagram Ad Example 12: Warby Parker
Warby Parker is very well known for their ad campaigns, pretty much growing their business by using Instagram ads! They use this ad to show different frame styles and to talk about how they’re available as blue light blockers.
Instagram Ad Example 13: Whoop
Whoop is a wrist device that tracks health metrics. In this ad, we can tell the Whoop ad team wants people to see that Whoop is different from other health trackers—this one is sleek and something you’d be okay wearing every day. They pair this sharp image with a customer testimonial to reel their audience in.
From cooking classes, to therapists, to blue light glasses—these Instagram ads are proof that there’s a huge audience you can tap into on Instagram. You can use these ads as inspiration or as a little test to see what you’d do differently.
