The Ad Strategy Bento Box

I recently returned from a trip to Japan, and as is often the case after being in vacation mode, I regularly found myself reflecting on my experiences overseas. Shortly after returning home, I was creating new strategies for a client’s 2025 ad campaigns, while simultaneously dreaming of all the good food I ate on my trip. From the sushi, wagyu, to my favorite bento boxes, if you name it, I was thinking about it. It wasn’t even time for lunch, yet I was fixated on food. That’s when I came to the realization that all the pieces in our ad strategies were put together like the very bento boxes I ate on my travels.

So how does a bento box translate to an ad strategy?

1. Filler Pieces → Keyword Research
2. Fruits & Veggies → Competitive Analysis
3. Side dishes → Product Storytelling
4. Main dish ​​→ Data

Just like a bento box is made up of a number of different components, a successful strategy will also rely on a variety of activities, all packaged together to achieve your goals. Follow along as I walk you through creating your own advertising bento box.

Start with Keyword Research

Filler pieces are the fun little dividers, picks and accessories that bring a bento box together. They might not steal the spotlight, but they quietly play a key role in the overall experience. Keyword research is just like that — sometimes overlooked, but essential. It lays the groundwork for effective targeting and helps shape the way you talk about your products.

Keyword research is the starting point of your campaign strategy. You want to be able to see the trend in keyword performance and understand what problems users are trying to solve. 

Not all problems are bad, either. Maybe a user is searching for an ATM nearby or the best gift for Mother’s Day. Even a simple Google search and a few scrolls down to “People Also Ask” can be your best friend. Because at the end of the day, words equate to the money you’ll spend and you definitely want to maximize your budget while showing up in the right conversations.

Here are some of our favorite tools on hand.

• SEMrush 
• Google Search Console
• Google Trends
• Your Search Engine

Competitive Analysis

The best way to start your strategy is by understanding what others are doing. There’s no shame in that. But we won’t ever truly know what our competitors are doing and if we did, would this blog post even exist? Anywho, panic aside, let’s put our chef hat on and dive in.

A quick and easy way to see what your competitors are doing is by searching your product and perusing through what shows up under “Sponsored”. There’s usually at least one competitor running an ad campaign or holding a top spot on the search results page. Now that you have some idea on what’s going on over there, here are some questions that I like to ask myself:

• What could be the goals of our competitors? Is it a special promotion? Or a new related product?
• How are the competitors talking about their services/products?
• What noticeable keywords are being used in their advertising and landing page?
• Ask yourself: Would I complete my transaction with this competitor?

Product Storytelling

Product storytelling is your side dish — the well-crafted element that rounds out your campaign. It might not be the centerpiece, but it adds richness and dimension to your message. 

Did you know Google only allows 25 to 90 characters for varying campaign assets? With such limited space, you rely on the essential keywords we found in our research phase. Think about invoking a reader’s thought and what it means for them to choose you. 

Remember, it isn’t just about the product itself, but rather how you show up. Your advertising assets should embody trustworthiness, brand familiarity and confidence in what you have to offer. Users expect something similar once they arrive to your landing page – conversion is the goal here, not confusion.

Data

When it comes to our bento box, data is the main dish and while everything works in unison, it’ll force you to ask – was this recipe any good?

There are many metrics that will be thrown at you at the end of the campaign and it could feel overwhelming. But here’s your chance to tell a story with those numbers and initial campaign goals you created. 

A good starting point with your data is to ask yourself:

• Was city A more receptive than city B?
• Where did users go from the landing page?
• What gender/age had the highest click-through-rate?
• How many inquiries did your team receive during the campaign?

The special term here is unison. Every step has its own role (and even goals) that supports the others to help you run an effective campaign. As you continue running campaigns throughout the year, you won’t be far off from perfecting a recipe that works for your team.