Key takeaways
- Format: Meme-style text message on a nostalgic retro phone
- Best for: Brand awareness and prospecting with humour
- Hook: Relatable call-out of over-caffeinated work habits
- Reuse it: Write your pitch as a text and put it on a recognisable device or app UI
Available sizes
What is a meme ad?
A meme ad borrows a familiar meme format or internet joke and adapts it to the product or the buyer's problem. It feels native to social feeds and is highly shareable, but depends on the meme still being recognisable to the audience.
See all meme ads →Why this meme ad works
- 01
Relatable call-out
Third coffee, rereading emails: viewers see themselves in the setup and keep reading.
- 02
Nostalgia stops the scroll
The retro phone is instantly familiar and unexpected in a modern feed.
- 03
Native format
It reads like a meme or text, not an ad, lowering resistance.
- 04
Pitch plus offer
After the joke, specific numbers and 43% off give a clear reason to click.
Full creative breakdown
Who this ad targets
This ad targets millennials and older Gen Z office workers, roughly 25–40, who drink a lot of coffee to cope with workload and recognise the 'calling that focus' joke. They're active on Instagram and TikTok, respond to humour and memes, and remember phones like this from their teens. It works for cold prospecting because the joke carries interest even before they know the brand.
Copywriting analysis
The copy uses a classic meme structure: 'Friendly reminder that if…' followed by a list of relatable behaviours, building tension with an ellipsis. The examples get more specific and self-deprecating, so the viewer nods along. The second half reveals the product in a casual, lowercase, run-on tone, as if a friend is texting. It still squeezes in hard facts (35mg caffeine, 2,240mg organic mushrooms) and the offer (43% off with free gifts). The conversational voice makes the sales message feel like a helpful tip.
Visual design
A flat purple background, close to the brand's starter-kit purple, gives a bold, simple canvas. The beige retro phone is centred and shot straight on, filling most of the frame. Its green LCD screen with dark pixel text is the focal point and very readable. The MUD WTR logo is small and white at the top, keeping branding subtle. There are no product images, which reinforces the meme feel.
How to adapt this template for your brand
- Write a 'friendly reminder' that calls out a habit your audience recognises
- End with a casual one-line product pitch and offer
- Choose a recognisable device or app interface, retro or modern
- Use a flat, bold background colour from your brand palette
- Keep your logo small so it reads like content
Tips for beverages ads on Meta
Designed for Meta Stories and Reels at 9:16. Keep the screen text within the safe zone, and use a large enough font for mobile. This also works on TikTok and as a 4:5 feed post by cropping the keypad. Consider an animated version where the text types out like a message. Test several 'friendly reminder' setups to find the most relatable pain point.
About this creative
This 9:16 creative from MUD WTR is built around nostalgia. A beige, early-2000s style candybar mobile phone with a green-backlit LCD screen fills most of the frame against a flat purple background, with a small white MUD WTR logo above it. The screen holds the entire message in a pixel-style font: 'Friendly reminder that if you're on your third coffee before noon, rereading the same email twice, and still calling that focus…' Then the punchline: 'we made a cacao chai cup with 35mg of caffeine and 2,240mg of organic mushrooms and it's 43% off with free gifts now'. The keypad, call buttons and number keys below make the phone instantly recognisable. There's no product shot at all; the ad relies on humour, relatability and the pull of reading a text. It feels like content rather than advertising, which helps it earn attention in Stories and Reels.
Meta ad · 338 × 600 · Beverages
MUD WTR Meme Ad: The Retro Phone Text
This vertical MUD WTR story ad shows an old-school candybar phone on a purple background, its green screen displaying a relatable 'friendly reminder' about too much coffee, followed by the product pitch and offer. It's a playful template for brands that want native, conversational ads.
Added
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Details
Ad copy
Primary text
Third coffee before noon and still rereading the same email? There's a better way. MUD WTR: cacao chai with 35mg caffeine and 2,240mg organic mushrooms. 43% off with free gifts.
Description
43% off + free gifts now
On-image text
MUD\WTR; Friendly reminder that if you're on your third coffee before noon, rereading the same email twice, and still calling that focus… we made a cacao chai cup with 35mg of caffeine and 2,240mg of organic mushrooms and it's 43% off with free gifts now
Headline ideas for this template
- 1Friendly reminder: you can't run on coffee
- 2New message: your third coffee called
- 3Calling it focus doesn't make it focus
- 4Text your past self: try MUD WTR
- 5Your mornings deserve an upgrade
Meta image ad specs
| Placement | Ratio | Size (px) |
|---|---|---|
| Feed | 1:1 or 4:5 | 1080×1080 / 1080×1350 |
| Marketplace | 1:1 | 1200×1200 |
| Messenger inbox | 1:1 | 1200×1200 |
| Stories & Reels | 9:16 | 1080×1920 |
This template is 1:1. Request 4:5 or 9:16 to cover all placements.
