Cisalfa Sport

The ad: Nailing Catalog Ads with sports-themed ads

Cisalfa Sport is one of Italy’s leading omnichannel sports retailers, active in the development, production, sale, and distribution of sports and leisure apparel, footwear, and equipment, offering over 270 brands across around 170 stores with 3,800 people. It is part of Cisalfa Group, one of Europe’s top 10 sports retailers, operating in both Italy and Germany. One of the key factors that makes Cisalfa Sport more attractive to potential customers is its effective and smart use of Meta Catalog Ads.

The brand sells a ton of different types of sporting equipment, from run to outdoor sporting goods, with also a deep selection of sneakers and lifestyle products from leading brands like Nike, Adidas, The North Face, and more.

And it’s precisely because Cisalfa Sport has such a wide range of sporting goods available that it made sense to use Catalog Ads to get its products in front of the right people at the right time. 

For this campaign specifically, the brand used a combination of pricing points, brand names, and different ad layouts to captivate its audience’s attention and nudge them towards wanting to buy from them. 

Why it won Catalog Ad of the week

The visual design is great, and we’ll get to more on that below, but the reason we’re talking about Cisalfa Sport is because their recent Catalog Ad campaign scored a +48% ROAS.

That’s an impressive result on its own. But it just goes to show you that when you take a more thoughtful approach to your ad efforts, you too can create Catalog Ads that sell your products with ease. 

It's a great example of how anyone can make better campaigns on Meta by using simple psychology like giving people the info they're looking for, and combining it with eye-catching visuals.

What makes this Catalog Ad great

1. Make the pricing information noticeable

One of the most important factors people consider when shopping is the price of an item. 

So, Cisalfa Sport was smart about showing prices directly on the bright, bold orange price tags they’ve included on all their ad visuals. This is great because orange is a color that instantly grabs the viewer’s attention. 

And because price is such an important decision-making factor, showing people how much each product is helps to drive more qualified, higher intent traffic to the web store. 

What’s even better about the way they show price is their use of a free shipping threshold. 

This is a common tactic we’ve sure you’ve seen before. eCommerce brands almost always do this to try and get people to buy more than just a single item. Free shipping thresholds really do incentivize people to toss an extra item or two into their carts.

And it’s those few extra items here and there that add up to higher revenue and higher average order values. And it often works! We’ve all added that one extra item just to hit the free shipping threshold, haven’t we?

2. Leverage brand logos and names

Cisalfa Sport is a multi-brand retailer that sells products from global brands like Nike, Adidas, North Face, etc. 

Of course, they want people to know who they are, which is why they’ve included their name and logo at the top of their creatives. But they also include the brand names of the products they’re selling, which can be incredibly important to do.

The thing is, even for new customers, trust is the key: people may notice your products and find them appealing, and showcasing well-known brands like Nike or Adidas in your catalog ads can further reinforce that trust.

On the other hand, when you name-drop brands like Nike or Adidas, people instantly think “Hey, I love Nike … and Cisalfa Sport company is selling their sneakers at a great price… I’ll buy a pair!” 

Leveraging big brand names or their logos can reassure potential customers. Recognizable names make them feel more confident about buying from you, even when they don’t know your company. 

3. Show Product Discounts in catalog ads

Running products on sale or at a discount? Show it!

Cisalfa also gave its discounted products a different visual layout than regular-priced items, which is so simple. It’s a very effective way to get people to pay attention to the products you most want them to buy.

Take a look at the ad above. You’ll see Cisalfa Sport kept everything on-brand, using the same colors, logo, brand name, etc. But they highlighted savings information for the discounted item.  

The nudge is subtle but just enough for your eyes to notice savings. 

And the best part? You don’t even need to say it directly. They’ll see it and pay more attention to it just because the visual is different! 

Key Takeaways

Cisalfa Sport’s Catalog Ads remind us that great advertising isn't complicated. They used prices, logos and brand names, and visual designs, to frame products in a way that’s both visually engaging and effective at getting people to click and buy. 

Let’s recap how Cisalfa Sport created such an effective campaign.

👉 Prices and shipping info front and center

Prices are factors people are already looking for when shopping. So when you show this information front and center, you instantly filter potential customers from window shoppers. If they see the price and feel it’s too much, they won’t even click. But if they agree with it, they may click, and they’re already more likely to be your next customers. 

👉 Leverage brand logos and names 

Ad viewers are often unfamiliar with businesses they see selling on Meta. But, for businesses that sell products from well-known brands, like Nike or Adidas in this case, you can use those names to build trust and reassure potential customers they’re buying good quality items. This can be an incredibly effective tactic to use when you’re a new or smaller multi-brand retailer connecting with potential customers for the first time. 

👉 Make discounted products stand out (even more) 

Cisalfa Sport also used different visual layouts to draw attention to discounted items, which is super easy to do with Confect. However, it’s also incredibly effective at getting people to pay attention to the items you really want to sell next. By using different layouts, Cisalfa Sport guided viewer attention naturally, without having to be pushy or salesy. 

And that just goes to show that your great ads aren’t complicated. Cisalfa Sport used Confect to leverage info they already had and to integrate simple design strategies that got people to pay attention and buy more. And it worked!