Ironfold · Adjustable home gym kit, DTC
Return on ad spend doubled in two rounds of testing
An adjustable kettlebell brand had a $189 price tag and one tired ad. Two structured rounds of testing found the argument that sold it: floor space.
- 2.9x
- Return on ad spend, up from 1.4x
- 24
- Ad variations across two rounds
- 8 weeks
- From first brief to new winning ad
Sample stories and figures, shown for illustration.
The challenge
Ironfold sells an adjustable kettlebell that replaces six fixed weights. At $189 it costs more than most people expect to pay for a lump of iron, and a single product demo had been carrying the whole account for most of a year. When that ad wore out, results dropped and nobody knew what to run next, because nobody knew why it had worked in the first place. The team’s instinct was to film another demo.
What we did
We ran two rounds a month apart, changing one thing at a time.
- Round one tested four concepts with three hooks each: price per weight, strength results, beginner confidence and saving space.
- Round two took the winning concept, saving space, and tested four new hooks with three creators who live in small flats.
The strongest ad was also the least athletic: a creator sliding the kettlebell under his desk and announcing that this was his entire gym.
What changed
Saving space won at every stage of the scorecard, from stop rate to cost per purchase. Return on ad spend moved from 1.4x to 2.9x across the two rounds, and the “entire gym” hook is still running. Beginner confidence came second, and that angle now has its own brief.
The price objection eased too. Once viewers compared Ironfold with a rack of six weights, $189 started to look reasonable. The team has kept the monthly testing rhythm, so this time it knows why its best ad works, and it has the next angle ready for when that ad wears out.
We thought people bought it to get strong. They bought it because they live in 500 square feet.
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