Hi Julia,
You’ve got a powerful promise: ambition without limits, a campus on the edge of Dartmoor, and a swimming programme that sets national standards. The Discovery Day should feel like a glimpse into a school where learning leaps off the page.
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. Would they see this ad and know it was St John’s? 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?
To a parent scrolling Facebook with a half-eaten sandwich in one hand and school search tabs open in the other, your ad might look... like everyone else’s.
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 Mount Kelly? Would a parent?
Mount Kelly in the Wild
This is your current Meta ad. Let’s look at it through a parent’s eyes.
What’s Working
✅Rich, detailed event information: The ad gives clear timings, activities, and purpose. It feels substantial, not vague.
✅Strong variety of USPs: Nature, sport, food, academic insight—there’s breadth to what’s being offered on the day.
✅Visual potential: The hero image of students climbing on Dartmoor hints at the unique setting. It’s on-brand.
What’s Getting Lost:
🔁 Overuse of emojis and list format: The emoji bullet points feel more like a newsletter than a compelling ad. It’s busy, not bold.
❌No emotional narrative: We’re told that Mount Kelly is exciting—but we don’t feel it through story or student perspective. There’s no anchor.
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.