Test case · HEY HOLY · Beautiful Bulldogs · 2026
Two concepts, ten hooks, one system
Hi Caroline, here’s my test case in one place: all the videos, the statics, how I approached it and the thinking behind each decision. Click any video to watch it with sound.
01 · The brief
Unaware audience, direct-response job
Bulldog owners aren’t shopping for new dog food, but both videos still need to sell. So each one opens on the dog’s health rather than the product. The solution, the proof and a single clear offer only come in once the problem has landed. The brief also asked for two clearly different videos, so I made them opposites in almost every way.
02 · Brand video · 30 %
“Der Napf”: health starts in the bowl
The bowl ties the film together: it’s where a bulldog’s health is decided, every single day. Five hooks from the brief, all on the same body. 37–38 seconds, with voice-over and full subtitles.
Scroll sideways →
- StructureHook → food made for bulldogs → highly digestible ingredients → gut, skin and joints → no grain, sugar or artificial additives → the DLG seal and its three claims → end card with 30 % off and the money-back guarantee. It follows the brief’s order, with one idea per shot, so every claim still lands with the sound off.
- EditCalm and premium. A new shot every 1.5 to 2.5 seconds, and every cut and title lands on the word it illustrates. I borrowed the split screen from Whoop (the dog’s life up top, the bowl below) and the violet product end card from Loop.
- FootageAI shots generated in Higgsfield from your product and mood images, plus your packshots, the DLG seal and Trustpilot. All I had was watermarked stock previews, so AI carries the bulldog scenes here, and every AI shot is labelled “KI-generiert”. On the job, I’d reach for licensed stock and your own shoot footage first.
- DesignMaple Bold capitals for titles, Montserrat for subtitles and pills, a yellow underline on the words highlighted in blue in the brief, and red crosses over grain and sugar, as in your current ads. Full subtitles throughout, Meta’s safe zones kept clear, and no text over a dog’s face.
- SoundA warm, calm German female voice-over (ElevenLabs) on a soft music bed. Subtle sound design: kibble hitting the bowl, lapping, a soft “ding” on the DLG seal. No whoosh starts before the voice has finished its last word.
03 · UGC video · 40 %
“Niels erklärt”: a street interview that feels shot on a phone
Niels reads about a new study, someone behind the camera asks questions and he answers. Five hooks from the brief, all spoken by Niels himself, on the same body. 66–70 seconds.
Scroll sideways →
- StructureHook with the study → how can you tell? → bloating, itching, paw licking, diarrhoea → what can you do about it? → salmon as the only protein, no grain, psyllium, omega-3, zinc, green-lipped mussel → any proof? DLG top marks, Trustpilot → and if I just want to try it? 40 % off, 30 days risk-free. The four questions give the interview a rhythm, and it can be cut down to any length.
- EditThe opposite of the brand video: jump cuts every 1–2 seconds, 115 % punch-ins, eased zooms on key words, and cutaways under a second long, cut on the word. One master, five hooks, all sitting on the same body.
- FootageEverything Niels says comes from his real takes, picked for energy, eye contact and sound. One line from the brief was missing, so I took it from another take and covered the jump with an AI cutaway. The interviewer’s voice and the B-roll are AI, and labelled as such.
- DesignMeta-native rather than polished brand look: word-by-word captions with key words in violet, the questions big in Maple Bold, symptoms in violet pills, claims as yellow stickers, and DLG and Trustpilot popping in. The brand only shows up as stickers until the animated -40 % card and the button at the end.
- SoundNiels’ own audio, cleaned up (+9 dB, voice isolation, dialogue leveler). Each section gets its own music bed, from curious to tense to upbeat to motivating, ducked under every question. Pops on the stickers, whooshes on the cutaways, never before the last word.
04 · Side by side
Same product, opposite edits
The brief asked for two clearly different videos. Here’s how they differ.
| Brand · Der Napf | UGC · Niels erklärt | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 37–38 s | 66–70 s |
| Pace | A shot every 1.5–2.5 s | A cut every 1–2 s, jump cuts |
| Voice | German voice-over, warm and calm | Niels on camera + interviewer |
| Footage | AI shots + brand assets | Real takes + AI B-roll |
| On-screen text | Full subtitles, Maple titles | Word-by-word captions, stickers |
| Offer | 30 % + money-back guarantee | 40 % + no need to send it back |
05 · Statics · retargeting
The second touchpoint picks up where the video left off
Each static follows on from the video the viewer has already seen: same message, same look, plus proof, the product with its ingredients, 30 % off the first order and the money-back guarantee. The logo and DLG seal are on every design.
06 · Process
From brief to 20 videos, built for a team
01
Moodboard & references
Before touching the footage: a moodboard for the look, then a hunt for similar projects that have already run, from HEY HOLY’s long-running ads and competitors to the reference ads in the brief and my own past work.
02
Research
I went through HEY HOLY’s 316 active Meta ads, plus Pets Deli, Wildes Land, Edgard & Cooper and Kijimea, to see which codes to keep and where the test could stand out.
03
Paper first
Voice-over, shot list with timings, on-screen text and the source of every shot, all written before I started editing. Alongside that, I set up a HEY HOLY brain in Claude: one place for the brand guidelines, product facts, ad research, the brief and every decision, so each script, prompt and edit starts from the same information. It’s the starting point for a team workflow.
04
Logging
I transcribed all 49 of Niels’ takes in German with timestamps and matched each line of the brief to its best take.
05
Edit from a plan
A script builds the Resolve timeline from a spreadsheet of shots, captions and stickers. It’s repeatable and easy to hand over to junior editors.
06
Hook system
Each hook is a short timeline with the master nested inside. Change the body once and all five hooks update. A new hook takes minutes, not hours.
07
Formats & handover
The 4:5 versions are derived from 9:16 using fixed rules, with clear naming, bins sorted by source and a marker for each section, so anyone on the team can pick the project up.
With your team, I’d work the same way in Premiere Pro, After Effects and Photoshop.
07 · Test plan
What I’d measure after launch
Hooks first: with the same body behind them, the test genuinely measures the opening. Then the body and the offer. Winners get iterated rather than swapped out after three weeks.
3-second views ÷ impressions
Hook rate
Does the opening stop the scroll? → Keep the best two hooks, test three new ones against them.
ThruPlays ÷ 3-second views
Hold rate
Does the body hold attention? → Trim or reorder wherever the retention curve drops.
Clicks and cost per order
CTR & CPA
Are the offer and end card convincing? → Test new end cards and offer stickers, keep the body.
Days a winner keeps performing
Lifetime
How long does a winner keep working? → Iterate on winners instead of replacing them: 6, 15 and 30-second cut-downs.
08 · Open points
Choices I made on purpose
Where the brief, the footage and your current ads didn’t match up, I made a call. Here’s why.
- Offers follow the brief30 % in the brand video and statics, 40 % in the UGC. Your current ads run at 40 % for Black Month, but the figure is just a sticker and takes minutes to change.
- The 40 % line in the UGCIn the raw footage, Niels says 30 %. The 40 % line uses a clone of his voice in a labelled AI shot. A live campaign would need his consent, or a ten-second pickup shoot.
- Niels’ own wordsHe says “Verrückt”, “Krass” and “Interessant” instead of “Crazy”, which sounds more natural in German. “Ohne Wenn und Aber” doesn’t appear in any take, so it’s not in the video.
- UGC length66–70 seconds instead of the planned 45, because it covers all four questions in the brief. That’s in line with your current UGC ads (median 56 s), and shorter cuts can come from the same master.
- Stock vs AIThe brief asks for stock footage. Without a licence, I used AI and labelled every shot. Working with you, licensed stock and your own shoots would come first.
Until we talk
Looking forward to your feedback
I’m happy to send over the project files before we talk: the Resolve project, plus the statics as PNGs and as an editable Adobe Express file. My showreel and other case studies are on hervetailliez.de.