Sunflower Sober: 270 ads

Research

Sunflower's own user reviews show cannabis users who smoked to cope, failed to quit many times, and stay sober to avoid losing their garden.

• Weed started as a way to feel better, then turned into dependence
• Many failed attempts to quit
• Fear of starting over after one slip
• The first days after quitting feel mentally unbearable (the ad's own premise)

• “I smoked weed to feel better and I got addicted so badly. I have many past attempts to quit and failed.”

  Sunflower app review, cannabis user

• “I chose to keep my sunflowers many times and not smoke.”

  Sunflower app review, cannabis user

Awareness

Problem aware. They've already quit and are struggling, but don't know an app can help them through it.

Sophistication

Stage 3–4. Sobriety-app claims like 'track your days' are commoditised, so the ad makes no claim. It wins on recognition: a POV line the viewer reads as their own moment.

Hypothesis

Quitting weed can feel like losing your mind, and there's a way through it.

We bet a first-person POV line naming the withdrawal feeling would stop people who just quit, because it mirrors their exact moment. A fast turn to the app and a calm 'in control' payoff would carry the install.

Format

Style

Creator-style UGC: handheld phone footage in a bedroom and on a city street

Format

POV text-over-person UGC with an app demo, 15 s

One caption over a person in distress reads as native content, not an ad. The before/after (slumped on the bed, then smiling on the street) shows the change without a voiceover.

Learnings

• The hook works: 48.82%. But half the viewers are gone by 3 s while only the opening shot and line are on screen. Test a shorter POV line that reads in under 2 s.
• The cut to the App Store at about 3.5 s is the cliff: 43% at 4 s, 19% at 5 s. Hold the problem one more beat, like a second symptom, before showing the store.
• Avg watch is 0:04, so most viewers never reach the 'in control' payoff (7 s) or the end card (11 s). Move the payoff ahead of the app demo.
• It got the most plays of the six (4.81M) as a 15 s ad. Re-cut the same POV template with new withdrawal lines before building new formats.

Research

We built this ad on paranoia rather than the high. Sunflower users who quit cocaine talk about short streaks and about Sam getting them through.

• Paranoia: checking the locks, then checking them again
• Feeling something crawling under the skin
• Not recognising your own face in the mirror
• No sleep by day 3, and quitting alone feels impossible

• “I used to not be able to put 3 days together.”

  Comment on a Sunflower cocaine ad (Facebook)

• “I know it's not a real person, but I don't think I would've been able to do 10 days sober from cocaine without Sam.”

  Sunflower user survey

Awareness

Problem aware. They know cocaine is wrecking them. The ad opens on their symptoms and only then reveals the app.

Sophistication

Stage 3–4. The ad makes no 'get sober' promise. It leads with a mechanism: Sam, one tap away, at the worst moment.

Hypothesis

Cocaine doesn't just fry your brain. It convinces you something is crawling under your skin.

We bet that concrete paranoia scenes in soft claymation would hold viewers through a 13 s problem section. 'Quitting alone is one of the hardest things you'll ever do' would bridge to Sam as the support for the worst cravings.

Format

Style

Rough handmade claymation: blue moonlight for the paranoia, warm daylight for recovery

Format

Narrated symptom story with one-word kinetic captions, 43 s

Clay makes hard-to-watch symptoms watchable and keeps the tone human, not clinical. The night-to-morning light change carries the turn without extra words.

Learnings

• Best hook of the six (50.42%). It opens on a close-up of clay hands and powder with one word, 'COCAINE'. Naming the substance in frame 1 is worth testing again.
• The paranoia section holds: retention only slips from 33% to 29% between 10 s and 15 s (locks, mirror, patrolling). Concrete symptom scenes earn the hold.
• The steepest drop is at the product turn: 22% to 15% between 20 s and 22 s, as 'That's why we built Sunflower' lands. Bring the phone into the story (Eli reaching for it mid-panic) instead of cutting to the pitch.
• Only 7% are left at 32 s. Get Sam at the moment of craving in before about 25 s, and treat the garden and end card as a bonus.

Research

The script lists what meth takes: teeth, skin, sleep and paranoia. Sunflower users in meth recovery talk about getting their life back and finding a place without judgement.

• Physical damage you can see: teeth, skin, face
• Days without sleep
• Paranoia: shadows that are always watching
• Shame and the feeling of being a burden

• “I didn't think I was capable of a normal drug free life.”

  Facebook milestone post, meth recovery

• “even having one place where you're not judged and don't feel like a burden can make the difference between staying silent and reaching out.”

  Public X post, heroin/meth/nicotine recovery

Awareness

Problem aware. Viewers recognise the damage the drug describes. The app comes in only after the twist.

Sophistication

Stage 3–4 for sobriety apps overall (Sunflower concept research; no meth-specific read). The ad doesn't argue a claim. It turns the drug into a villain, then shows Sam, breathing tools and the community.

Hypothesis

Meth introduces itself, and tells you what it's taking.

We bet a villain talking straight to the viewer would hold longer than a narrator. Watching the villain panic when Sam arrives would make the app the hero, not an add-on.

Format

Style

Dark 3D character animation: a cracked, grinning meth-pipe villain (the Pixar-style substance-villain series)

Format

Talking-substance monologue with a hero rescue, word-by-word captions, 41 s

A talking substance keeps a hard topic on the right side of the line. It shows the consequences as threats, not as a person using. The rescue gives a clean handoff to the product.

Learnings

• Highest hold of the six (56.96%) but the softest hook of the three long ads (42.65%). The monologue keeps people once they stop. Test a louder first frame or a sharper first line.
• The monologue holds: 33% at 10 s, still 29% at 16 s, with a small bump at 16 s as the pipe's grin turns to fear ('Wait, what?'). Build a twist inside the story on purpose.
• Sam's entrance at about 20 s starts the steepest stretch: 22% to 15% by 25 s, and 9% by 31 s. Keep the product section short and tied to the villain (e.g. breathing tools 'for when the paranoia creeps in').

Research

We built this ad on one pattern, quitting and crawling back by day 3. It reframes the relapse as rewired brain chemistry, not weak will. Sunflower users confirm the repeat-relapse loop.

• Quit on day 1, cravings peak by day 3, then go back
• Blaming yourself for weak willpower
• Fear that the brain has been changed for good
• Many failed attempts before

• “I have many past attempts to quit and failed.”

  Sunflower app review, cannabis user

• “I used to not be able to put 3 days together.”

  Comment on a Sunflower cocaine ad (Facebook)

Awareness

Problem aware. They've tried to quit and keep going back, and they blame willpower rather than brain chemistry.

Sophistication

Stage 3–4. Instead of promising sobriety, the ad gives a new reason for failure (rewired brain chemistry) and a mechanism: 'the right tools.'

Hypothesis

You always crawl back after 3 days. It's not willpower, it's brain chemistry.

We bet naming the 3-day relapse pattern would earn instant recognition. Reframing it as a rewired brain would lift the shame and open the door to 'your brain can heal with the right tools. Sunflower is one of them.'

Format

Style

Hyperreal 3D translucent-skin skeleton in a green gridded studio, brain visible through the skull

Format

Narrated explainer with one-word captions, 33 s

The see-through body shows the inside story (brain rewiring, then healing) without showing anyone using. The calm green world keeps it tender, not horror.

Learnings

• The hook was in line with the other long ads (49.01%), but only 20% remained at 15 s, against about 29% for the claymation and meth ads.
• The skeleton reaches the product turn ('the right tools') at about 13–14 s, roughly 6 s earlier than those two. The 10–15 s window lost 13 points (33% to 20%), the biggest five-second drop after the hook.
• It shows in hold: 36.42% here vs 53–57% for the claymation and meth ads. Keep the problem and the explanation running to about 20 s before the app.
• The product block runs from about 14 s to 33 s while retention falls from 20% to 4.5%. Cut it to the one or two features that pay off the hook (the healing brain, the day counter).

Research

Gambling research (written for Cashed Out, Sunflower's sister app) finds an exhausted, failure-experienced market. The urge hits alone at night, with the phone always in reach.

• The late-night urge, with no one awake to call
• Gambling is always one phone away
• Relapsing even after promising yourself you won't
• Ordinary life feels flat next to the action

• “gambling is the only time I feel alive”

  r/problemgambling

• “I keep relapsing even after I tell myself I won't”

  Reddit (r/problemgambling research)

• “Short of getting a flip phone idk what to do”

  r/GamblingAddiction

Awareness

Problem aware. The speaker names his own trigger and loss of control. The research puts the gambling market at Level 3–4, with a large problem-aware edge, which is the group this ad speaks to.

Sophistication

Stage 3.5 (Cashed Out research). Blockers are table stakes and people are disillusioned with them, so the ad sells a story and a 24/7 sponsor, not blocking.

Hypothesis

Boredom was my biggest gambling trigger.

We bet a first-person confession about an everyday trigger (boredom, a phone, 3:38 AM) would read as a real person's story. That would lead naturally into an app walkthrough.

Format

Style

AI UGC: a creator-style man in a blazer, then phone screen recordings

Format

First-person confession caption plus an app walkthrough, 20 s

A caption in the first person, past tense, lets the viewer self-identify without being called out. The 3:38 AM scene puts the 'urge alone at night' moment on screen.

Learnings

• Lowest hook of the six (23.43%). The curve halves between 1 s and 2 s (76% to 38%) while the opening daylight shot is still up. Test opening on the 3:38 AM scene instead.
• Only 14% are left by the app reveal at about 5 s. One line of struggle ('And I couldn't control myself') wasn't enough build before the pitch.
• Avg watch is 0:03 on a 20 s ad, so the feature tour (tracker, Sam, community, learning) reached under 14%. Lead with one feature that answers the hook, like Sam at 3 AM, and cut the rest.

Research

Grace's research names its buyer's emotional centre: Christians who prayed for strength, relapsed anyway, and now feel they've failed God as well as themselves.

• Praying for strength and drinking anyway
• Feeling like a fraud or a hypocrite at church
• Shame that spirals back into drinking
• Embarrassed to start over again

• “it's not true repentance because I keep going back to it”

  r/Christianity

• “I go to church every week, but I still find myself unable to stop…”

  r/Christianity

• “I be so tired of repenting about this drinking omg”

  TikTok comment

• “I prayed everyday for a sign to stop”

  Grace App Store review

Awareness

Problem aware (Grace research: Level 2–3). They know they have a drinking problem and feel they've failed God. They haven't heard of Grace.

Sophistication

Stage 2–3 in the faith-recovery niche, Stage 4 for sobriety apps overall. So the ad sells identity and absolution, not features.

Hypothesis

You prayed for strength and drank anyway. That doesn't make you a fraud.

We bet line 1 alone, naming the private shame, would stop the scroll. Absolution ('It makes you human. God isn't done with you') would then make the app feel like an invitation back. Grace is named only on the last line.

Format

Style

Aerial nature B-roll (a misty forest river) with plain white stacked captions

Format

Caption-over-B-roll, one line added every 1–3 s, 14 s

Quiet, reverent footage with no people and no drink keeps the shame topic gentle and on-policy. Stacking lines makes viewers wait for the next sentence.

Learnings

• The biggest loss is in the first two seconds: 83% at 1 s, 54% at 2 s, before line 2 appears. Bring line 2 in sooner, or make line 1 sharper on its own.
• Once lines start stacking, the fall slows from 29 points in that second to about 3–6 points a second (42% at 3 s, 30% at 5 s, 20% at 8 s). The line-by-line build holds. Keep one short line every 1–2 s.
• Grace is named at about 7 s, when roughly a quarter are still watching, and the end card at 10 s reaches 12%. Test naming the app a line earlier (about 5 s, 30%) without losing the native feel.