Znake Grips · Creative Strategy
Znake had strong product differentiation. But after reviewing historical performance, audience behavior, and years of creative, I found that most of the advertising was retelling the same story to the wrong crowd.
Client work completed during my internship. Analysis was based on approximately three years of historical account and creative performance data. Account screenshots have been omitted for client confidentiality.
Znake already knew what made its product different. My job was to find more interesting reasons for people to care.
01 · The audit
The existing advertising explained what the product did. It didn’t always give the brand a distinctive point of view about the player.
02 · The signal in the data
The purchase data pointed toward a customer who looked different from much of the brand’s creative.
Established players between the ages of 45–55 became the audience opportunity, especially women in the cohort, who showed higher conversion rates than men in the EU.Finding summarized from client account analysis. Proprietary dashboards and performance figures are intentionally omitted.
How do we explain the grip differently?
What does this player actually care about?
“Tired of changing your padel grip every month?”
03 · The clue
There was a hidden gem in the account. One static ad outperformed all the others, and it didn’t begin with a product benefit, but with a common player frustration.
That became the hypothesis: start with player behavior, frustration, or identity; then let the product earn its way into the story.
04 · The strategic shift
05 · Creative territories
The product truth stayed consistent. The reason to care changed with the player.
When the racket feels unstable, players naturally squeeze harder to compensate.
You shouldn’t have to fight your racket to keep it in your hand.
Tack + raised ridge + physical structure.
Customers may struggle to explain Znake technically, but they often notice the feel immediately.
Some upgrades make more sense in your hand than on a spec sheet.
Ridge + tack + cushioning.
Cheap grips can cost more in money, time, and attention through repeated replacement.
The cheapest grip isn’t always the one that costs the least.
Longevity / cost per session.
Poor grips create tiny distractions — wiping, adjusting, squeezing, and constantly thinking about your grip instead of the point.
The best equipment disappears into the game.
Grip + comfort + sweat management + durability working together.
06 · Hero creative
The idea was simple: the best equipment should disappear into the game. Instead of making the grip the hero, this creative makes distraction the enemy.
Poor grips create small distractions — adjusting, squeezing, wiping, and thinking about the handle instead of the point.
The best equipment disappears into the game.
Grip + comfort + sweat management + durability working together.
Keep the player’s attention where it belongs: on the game.