SolaWave: Three Minutes

The brief

The Wrinkle Retreat Pro is SolaWave's flexible LED mask: 320 LEDs, four wavelengths, FDA-cleared, three hands-free minutes a session.

The viewer: a mother in her forties, on the sofa after bedtime, scrolling Reels with the sound low. The friction isn't price; it's "another thing I won't make time for."

Most ads in the category answer one question, what does it do for my face?, with before/afters and testimonials. The brand's own promise, three minutes that fit your life, points somewhere almost none of them go: what those minutes do for her day.

The objectiveMake her see the mask as three minutes she gets back, because she has stopped buying things that need her time.

The idea

The ad opens on the glowing mask and a deadpan line: "I found the one thing that makes my kids leave me alone." Behind her, the hallway door opens, pauses on her red face, and quietly closes. The mask switches itself off. She doesn't move.

The version I refused

~~The 30-day before/after.~~ It promises a skin result I can't show honestly with a generated face, and it feeds the distrust she already has.

A 30-day before/after: the same woman's face side by side, labelled Day 1 and Day 30, the second with smoother skin. — Refused

She lies back on the sofa in the evening, the mask glowing red over her face. — In the film

Direction

Casting: a tired, funny mother with no make-up, not a beauty creator. The viewer should see herself.
The mask covers her face for most of the ad. The glowing face is the hook, and it keeps her consistent.
Neutral evening light, so the red glow is the only warm colour in frame.
The kids are never shown: a door, footsteps, a click. No generated children on a real product.
Cuts every 2-3 seconds; one wide shot, for the door.
Sound: her voice, a whisper for the three minutes, no music. It plays like a real phone video and survives on mute with captions.
The CTA uses the 60-day guarantee, not buy-one-get-one. Offers change; a spec should still be true in six months.

Close-up of her face behind the SolaWave mask, red light glowing around the eyes, nose and mouth, mid-sentence. — **The hook**The face is covered, so the character holds.

A wide shot of the dim living room: she lies on the sofa in the glowing mask, the hallway door open behind her, toys on the rug, nobody in sight. — **The door**The kids are never shown.

She sits back on the sofa in a grey sweatshirt, the mask dark now, the controller in her hands. — **The switch-off**She doesn’t move. That’s the insight.

Pipeline

One reference per state: character, mask on and off, controller dark and lit, room. All built from SolaWave's own product photos and UGC, so scale and glow match the real device. The full chain is on How I work.

What broke

Most of what broke was the product itself. A spec on a real device only works if the device looks right, down to the controller in her hand and the skin under the mask.

The controller was too small to read in the scene image, and a close-up depends on it: a separate two-state reference fixed it.

The CTA face came back with silicone marks on the forehead. I reframed it as a medium shot with a clean-skin lock.

The CTA shot with silicone marks on her forehead — Before

The reshot CTA: medium shot, clean skin — After

What I'd test, and what I'd change

I'd judge it on one number: how many people are still watching at second three, on cold traffic. A spec has no data yet, so these are the three openings I'd put against each other.

The jokeProduced
"I found the one thing that makes my kids leave me alone."

The door, silent
A pattern interrupt that works with the sound off.

The reframe
"My skin gets three minutes. I take ten." The mask turns off; she stays.

I'd test B first: most of the feed watches on mute. If it wins, I'd recut the ad to open on the door and let the joke land second.

Production

5reference images

6video generations

3used

~4hours

600credits · about $18

Delivered 9:16, with a 4:5 crop.

References

Reference: her face, front on, dark hair pulled back, no make-up, small gold earrings. — Character

Reference: the mask worn and lit, red light around the eye, nose and mouth openings. — Mask, lit

Reference: the same mask worn and switched off. — Mask, off

Reference: the pink handheld controller in one hand, its screen dark. — Controller, dark

Reference: the same controller switched on, its round screen showing 03. — Controller, lit

Reference: the living room in the evening: sofa, coffee table, the hallway door open, toys on the rug. — The room

I give a FAQ

Did SolaWave commission this ad?

No. It's a spec ad, not affiliated with SolaWave: a real product, a brief I wrote myself, and an ad made to show how I'd sell it. Every frame is generated. Spec work lets me show the whole process on a real product, from the brief to the test plan, without anyone's confidential data.

Why not film a real creator instead?

Because this idea doesn't need a real face. The mask covers hers for most of the ad, and the viewer should see herself, not a beauty creator. A real creator is the better choice when the ad has to prove a result. That's the 30-day before/after I refused: if a brand needs that proof, it should be filmed.

Can you make the other two openings for a test?

Yes. B and C reuse the same character, room and product references, so each new opening is a few new shots, not a new ad. I'd start with B, the door shown silent, because most of the feed watches on mute. I quote them together, with the plan for the test.