Driving Results Through Creative Shoots

Introduction

Our recent work with Green Chef and Symprove are a great example of how we transform data driven, strategic insight into visually compelling, performance-driven shoots. As automated platforms like Meta evolve, we need to be consistently adapting our approach to ensure sustained success for the brands we work with and its clear that the ability to produce quality, diverse creative is key.

Background: The Strategic Importance of Creative Diversity in Paid Media

Meta’s own studies, as well as our testing across multiple brands over time, has shown that campaigns featuring a diverse range of creative assets—such as varied formats, visuals, and messaging—significantly outperform those with repetitive content. To help break into new audiences with creative differentiation, Meta is now prioritising bigger visual changes over minor adjustments, making traditional headline tests insufficient for assessing performance.

We recommend that our clients embrace creative diversity by carefully planning different messaging angles and creating a wide array of ad formats for each angle. This approach involves creating and testing entirely different campaign ideas, visual languages, and messaging, all while remaining aligned with the overall brand. For example, contrasting a lo-fi shoot with a polished production, each featuring distinct messaging yet maintaining a consistent brand theme. This approach not only enhances ad performance but also helps connect with a wider and more diverse audience.

Our Approach to Creative

We believe to make great creative we need to start with a great creative strategy. We approach creative strategy through three core principles: quality, quantity, and efficiency.

• Quality: Delivering high-caliber content that distinguishes our clients’ brands and resonates with their target audiences is a top priority.
• Quantity: A steady stream of fresh content is ensured by building a robust pipeline, enabling continuous testing and optimisation.
• Efficiency: Smart production and delivery of creative assets allow for efficiency and agility in a rapidly evolving media landscape.

Embracing Creative Diversity

We start by defining target personas and pinpointing key angles that showcase the product’s unique value. From there, we choose content types—like unboxing videos, founder stories, testimonials, and product demos—to keep the experience fresh and engaging. This approach goes beyond just format variety, using distinct visuals and messaging to avoid repetition and maximise engagement.

Our Recent Shoot for Green Chef

Overview of Green Chef

Founded in 2014, Green Chef is part of the HelloFresh group and is the first USDA-certified organic meal kit company in the U.S., offering a range of meal plans tailored to various dietary needs and preferences, including paleo, vegan, and vegetarian options. Emphasising organic, sustainably sourced ingredients, Green Chef is dedicated to environmental responsibility and high-quality meal solutions.

Understanding Audience Segments

To appeal to Green Chef’s distinct audiences, we created tailored content that highlights key benefits for each segment:

1. General: Targeting the everyday consumer seeking quality, convenience, and good value. We captured enticing “food porn” shots, using sauce drizzling, close-ups, and garnishing to emphasise the meal kits’ premium quality. This content appeals to customers looking for hassle-free cooking, meal planning, and grocery shopping, helping them save time without compromising on quality.
2. Weight Loss: For health-focused customers aiming to manage their weight, we highlighted low-calorie, pre-portioned meals. We filmed three diverse meals to demonstrate the variety Green Chef offers, showing that weight loss doesn’t require giving up tasty, satisfying food.
3. Strength: Designed for gym-goers and fitness enthusiasts seeking high-protein, muscle-supporting meals. Our shots emphasised the convenience of these meals for pre-and post-workout nutrition, particularly highlighting high-protein options like steak. The content reinforced that Green Chef provides a wide variety of meals that fit seamlessly into a fitness-focused lifestyle.

Shoot Planning and Execution

Executing the shoot required careful planning to capture high-quality shots efficiently:

• Shot Sequencing and Timing: With each dish prepared in a specific order, we only had one opportunity to capture the cooking and plating. Timing was critical, especially for the finished meals, as certain ingredients (like vegetables) can lose their visual appeal if left in sauces for too long. We aimed to film each dish while fresh, capturing the final presentation at its best.
• Engaging Visuals and Action Shots: Although the shoot followed a UGC style, we added dynamic action shots to enhance engagement, including spinning plates on a lazy susan, slide-in shots, and recipe card reveals. Techniques like finger-snap transitions and close-up garnishing shots provided thumb-stopping moments for audiences on Meta’s platform.

Our Recent Shoot for Symprove

Overview of Symprove

Symprove is a UK-based probiotic supplement known for its water-based solution/drink containing live and active bacteria. It supports gut health and is backed by scientific research. Symprove’s target market spans across those with IBS & digestion related conditions, through to the health-conscious looking to support their gut microbiome.

Understanding their Audience

Symprove’s audience includes individuals interested in gut health and those seeking reliable, science-backed supplements. The creative must convey the product’s premium quality and scientific credibility while resonating with the target audience’s health-conscious mindset.

Shoot Planning and Execution

1. Morning Routine Theme: Symprove users consume their daily portion first thing in the morning. This was an important visual story to tell through the final creative. Setting the scene of an early morning routine was factored into shoot locations, camera angles, lighting, wardrobe, choreography and more.
2. Creative Differentiation: To meet Meta’s requirements for creative diversity, we varied our shooting techniques. We included macro shots of the product, interaction with models and wider shots to show the scene. This approach ensured that each ad appeared distinct and engaging.
3. Lifestyle and Product Shots: It was important for us to capture lifestyle content – focusing on the daily routine of Symprove customers as well as product content – where product and packaging are shown in detail. When planning for time on set, we adjusted the schedule to group these and get as much in each day as possible.

Results

Symprove was impressed with the shoot’s ability to convey the product in a more refined way and reinforce key brand messages, such as its role in a morning routine. The shoot also helped build a broader asset library for use across multiple channels. This strategic and diverse content approach enhanced the effectiveness of the paid media campaigns, driving strong performance on Meta.

Conclusion

At BARK, we believe that diverse creative is now the key to effective paid media campaigns. Our work with Green Chef and Symprove demonstrates how embracing a wide range of creative approaches not only enhances ad performance but also aligns with Meta’s evolving platform requirements. By focusing on a mix of high-quality content, varied formats, and bold visual changes, we’ve helped these brands connect more deeply with their audiences and achieve impressive results.

Our commitment to creative diversity ensures that each campaign is fresh, engaging, and optimised for Meta. As performance marketing continues to advance, we’ll keep pushing the boundaries of creative strategy to help our clients stand out and thrive in a competitive landscape. Our goal is simple: to deliver dynamic, impactful campaigns that drive real growth and resonate with diverse audiences.