Selling a screen protector through context, from summer beach bags to the iPhone 18 launch

Alien Surface makes protective film for phones, watches, tablets, laptops and car screens. Nobody wakes up wanting a screen protector, so for their summer and autumn campaigns I built the static ads and short video around the moments a screen is at risk, then moved the brand to a darker, premium look for the new-phone season.

What I did

  • Creative direction
  • Static ad design
  • Product scene design
  • Video ads
  • Email marketing
Phone on a miniature deck chair on a beach, film floating above the screen
Phone held up over a festival crowd with a floating screen film
Exploded view of an iPhone 18 Pro with screen, back and camera films
Open foldable phone with its inner-screen film peeling up
Orange phone with film breaking through flying rocks, Nu se sparge
Role
Creative designer
Client account, concept to delivery
Campaigns shown
May to October 2026
Monthly sets plus the iPhone 18 launch
What I made
Static ads, product scenes
Multi-format sets, video
Channels
Meta
1:1, 4:5, 9:16, 16:9

The brief

Sold a product nobody thinks about until the screen cracks

A screen protector is invisible when it works. The ads couldn’t show it doing anything dramatic, and a film on a phone just looks like a phone. Most of the category answers with close-ups of glass and a discount.

The real problem underneath it: make people think about the screen before it breaks, and make a transparent product visible enough to sell.

7

campaigns shown here, from the spare-film add-on in May to the October sale.

4

formats per design, from one layout: 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9.

138

static ad and banner files across the campaigns shown on this page, every format counted.

The category

  • Close-ups of glass
  • A phone on white
  • Percentages as the headline

What the brand had

  • Film for every kind of screen
  • Lots of customer reviews
  • A film that heals small scratches

The ads

  • The moment, not the product
  • The film made visible
  • One claim per ad

What the brief turned into

Six rules every Alien Surface ad followed, in every format.

  • Start from the moment of risk.

    A beach, a festival, a car, a bag, a brand-new phone. The threat comes before the product.

  • Make the film visible.

    Floating above the screen, peeling off a corner, or exploded into layers.

  • One screen, or all of them.

    Either one device leads, or the whole bag of devices shows the range.

  • One claim per ad.

    Auto-heal, 5X, 0.17 mm or “nu se sparge”, never all of them in one headline.

  • Proof in the brand’s own numbers.

    Reviews and units sold, set as the headline when the ad’s job is trust.

  • Design once, ship four times.

    Every layout is built so 1:1, 4:5, 9:16 and 16:9 crop without moving the device.

Creative direction

Sold the moment, not the film

In summer the phone goes to the beach, the festival, the car and the bottom of a bag. Every ad starts from a place where a screen gets hurt and puts the device there, with the film floating just above it.

The floating film is the whole trick: a transparent product becomes something you can see, and the image explains what it does before anyone reads the headline.

Phone on a miniature deck chair on the sand

The beach

A phone on a tiny deck chair. Sand and sun are the threat, the floating film is the answer.

Open travel bag with a phone, smartwatch, earbuds and tablet

The bag

Phone, watch, earbuds and tablet in one travel bag: one brand for every screen you pack.

Car dashboard screen with a film floating in front of it

The car

A dashboard screen with its film, for the part of the range most people don’t know exists.

Phone on a towel by the sea at sunset with a film above it

The sunset

A holiday for you, an intense summer for your phone.

Phone held up over a festival crowd

The festival

“Festivals are hard on phones.” The risk named in the headline, the crowd behind it.

Phone, smartwatch and camera with films on black marble

The weekend offer

Three devices spotlit on marble for a 10% weekend extra. The offer, without a beach.

Decision

Show the film, not just the phone

Floating, peeling or exploded. If you can’t see the film, the ad is selling the phone.

Decision

Discount in a pill, not the headline

The headline names the moment; the percentage sits in a small badge.

Decision

One threat per image

Sand, a crowd, a dashboard. The viewer should get the risk in a second.

The result: the weekend offer reached a link click-through rate of 1.71%, double the account’s August average of 0.84%.

Visual direction

Moved the brand from summer lifestyle to a dark, premium look for the new-phone season

In September the buyer changes: people with a new iPhone or a foldable they don’t want to scratch on day one. I moved the brand to near-black backgrounds, a teal glow and exploded views that show every layer of protection, with one mint word in each headline.

The iPhone 18 launch was the anchor: the film was ready the day the phone was, and the ads said so.

EVERY AD not yet: make the film easier to see Momentwhere it’s at riskDeviceone, or allFilm visiblefloat, peel, explodeOne claimone lineReads inone second?Ship4 formats
DirectionCraftCheckDelivered
iPhone with a screen film lifting off under a teal glow
Exploded view of iPhone 18 Pro screen, back and camera films
Foldable phone with its inner film peeling up
Laptop with screen and trackpad films floating
Hand holding a dark phone, Auto-heal

01

Launch day

“iPhone 18 a sosit. Folia lui e deja la Alien.” Timing as the message.

02

The full set

Screen, back and camera exploded and labelled. The set explained in one picture.

03

The foldable

“Cel mai scump ecran al tău.” The most expensive screen gets the most dramatic peel.

04

The laptop

“Mai arată ca nou?” A question for the screen people forget to protect.

05

Auto-heal

One feature, one word in mint, a dark phone in hand.

The result: “0,17 mm” from the dark September set brought 22 purchases at 14.55 lei each and returned 9.87 lei for every leu spent. Across the account in September and October, a purchase cost 22.61 lei and returned 5.46.

Layout system

Built every design once, so four formats cost one layout

Each design shipped in 1:1 for feed, 4:5 for Instagram, 9:16 for stories and 16:9 for the website. I set up a frame where the device stays in the same safe zone in every ratio and the headline moves around it.

Alongside the scenes, the account needed proof and explainers: reviews, customer photos and a three-step guide for the spare-film add-on. Same type, same mint accent, no lifestyle at all.

Beach deck-chair design, 1:1
1:1, feed
Beach deck-chair design, 4:5
4:5, Instagram
Beach deck-chair design, 9:16
9:16, stories
Beach deck-chair design, 16:9
16:9, website
Dark card with 16.000+ reviews and three customer quotes

Social proof

The brand’s review count as the headline, three customer quotes underneath.

Customer photo of an orange iPhone with callouts

Review photo

A customer’s own photo, with callouts for the claims it proves.

Flat yellow background with a big 5X claim above a laptop, watch and phone

Evergreen, yellow

Flat yellow and one big number, for the feed slots where dark ads blend in.

Three-step explainer for the spare-film add-on

How it works

Three steps for the spare-film add-on. An explainer, not a scene.

Short video

Put the phone in motion, because that’s when it gets dropped

The video follows the same idea as the statics: a phone out in the world, shown at the moment the screen is at risk, with the film doing its job on camera.

Auto-heal, in fifteen seconds

An AI-made film for the one claim a still image can’t prove: a scratch that closes on its own. No voice-over and no feature list, just the moment it happens.

  1. 0–2 s

    The phone falls. The drop is the hook, before anyone knows it’s an ad.

  2. 3–5 s

    She picks it up and checks the screen, the moment everyone knows.

  3. 6–10 s

    Close-up: the scratch closes on its own. The product claim, shown instead of said.

  4. 11–15 s

    She smiles, then the phone with the Alien logo on black.

The result: run as a Meta ad in October, the film brought 12 purchases at 16.63 lei each and returned 7.81 lei for every leu spent, against an October account average of 23.33 lei and 5.21.

Email

Brought the launch look into the inbox

For the iPhone 18 launch I designed the email in the same dark, premium look as the ads: near-black, a teal glow and a giant 18 behind the phone, with a callout for each part the set covers.

The rest of the email answers the questions people have before checkout: what each level of protection costs, the three facts that matter, customer photos and the lifetime programme. All copy is live text in the brand’s Inter.

Scroll the email. The note follows the section you’re on.

Preheader

Say what’s ready

“Folia pentru iPhone 18 Pro și Pro Max e disponibilă.” On launch week the news is the whole message, so it goes first.

Hero

The launch look, in an inbox

Near-black, a teal glow and a giant 18 behind the phone, the same look as the launch ads. Three thin callouts name what the set covers: camera, back and screen.

Options

A price for every level of protection

Screen only, back and camera, or the full set, each with its own price and the full set outlined. People choose how much to spend.

Facts

Three facts, no adjectives

0,17 mm, seven positioning tries with Alien Gel, auto-heal. The brand’s own numbers, set almost as big as the headline.

Proof

Customers, then the guarantee

Two customer photos with the review count, then the lifetime replacement programme in a card of its own.

Close

One more button

A short line and the last button, named after the phone.

Alien Surface newsletter: iPhone 18 a sosit, Folia lui e deja la Alien, an iPhone 18 Pro render over a giant 18 with callouts for camera, back and screen, the 97,50 lei set price, three coverage options with prices, 0,17 mm, 7 positioning tries and auto-heal, two customer photos, the lifetime programme and a last button

Results

A summer of moments, then a launch season in the dark

Alien Surface ads stopped showing a phone on white and started showing the moment a screen is at risk, with the film always visible.

  • Link click-through rate rose every month from May to October, from 0.64% to 1.00%
  • 784 purchases between 1 September and 22 October, 45% more than the same weeks of 2025, with return on ad spend up from 4.76 to 5.46
  • Cost per purchase of 22.61 lei in September and October, down 43% from 39.91 lei in June to August
  • 7 campaigns between May and October, 4 formats each
+62%

link click-through rate from 1 September to 22 October, against the same weeks of 2025

7 campaignsMay to Oct 20264 formatsiPhone 18 launch

What I learned: a transparent product needs a visible idea. The floating film did more for these ads than any headline.

Questions

Have questions?

How do you show a product that is transparent?

By separating it from the screen: floating just above it, peeling off a corner, or exploded into labelled layers. The film becomes the shape you notice.

Why change the look in September?

The audience changed. Summer buyers protect a phone they take on holiday; autumn buyers protect a phone they just paid a lot for. The darker, premium look speaks to the second.

Where do the numbers in the ads come from?

Review counts, units sold and durability claims are the brand’s own figures, used as supplied.

Keep reading

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