Hi Fan,
We know what sets you apart. Adcote is proudly all-girls, with a distinctive focus on leadership, academic ambition, and character development through your award-winning CLEAR programme. You help girls become confident, articulate, thoughtful individuals—ready to lead, not just achieve.
But here’s the test…
Imagine a parent scrolling at speed — phone in one hand, school tabs open in the other, head full of deadlines, diaries, and dinner plans. This is an ad that parents like — but will they remember it tomorrow? Would they get a sense of what only you offer? Or would it blur into the same reassuring-but-generic noise we’ve seen from dozens of schools? Because when messaging blends into universally positive language, it becomes emotionally agreeable… but not commercially distinctive.
That’s not a dig, it’s a pattern. We’ve analysed over 100 school ads running right now in the UK, and most sound eerily similar. Same phrases. Same format. Same promises.
So we built a simple test, just a mirror. A moment of reflection. If you passed your ad in the wild, would you know it was Adcote? Would a parent?
Adcote School in the Wild
These are your current Meta ads. Let’s look at it through a parent’s eyes.
What’s Working
✅CLEAR is a strong differentiator: The CLEAR Programme is genuinely unique and worth leaning into more—it signals structure and intent around your values.
✅All-girls focus is subtly woven in: Lines like “Empower Your Daughter’s Education” give some clear identity, without needing to shout.
✅Video and portrait creative: Using both formats gives you visual variety. The walk-and-talk style in the video is personable and fits the social-first format well.
What’s Getting Lost:
❌CLEAR is named but not explained: For new parents, “award-winning CLEAR Programme” doesn’t mean anything unless it’s quickly unpacked. What does it do? Why should they care?
🗣️No brand personality: Phrases like “Unlock your daughter’s potential”, “Confidence, Leadership and Achievement”, and “high achievers who become future leaders” are widely used in girls’ school ads. Nothing feels deeply Adcote about them.
Without being too cringy - this causes something called paradox of choice. When every option looks the same, people don’t feel empowered. They feel overwhelmed. So they scroll past, not because they didn’t like what they saw, but because nothing stood out. If you're not subverting the pattern, you’re at risk of getting skipped over.