✦case_study · spec work
Mid-Day Squares
Ad-library analysis, customer research and a creator script for the afternoon snack moment. A case study in connecting the brand’s messaging with what customers want from a snack.
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Spec project, September 2026. Not commissioned by or affiliated with Mid-Day Squares. All ad data is public (Meta Ad Library via Foreplay).
The process
~/mid-day-squares/processFrom ad-library patterns to a creative hypothesis and final script. Explore the research and the decisions it informed.
Pull the ad library
The September 2026 Foreplay index contained 2,669 Mid-Day Squares ad entries going back to 2021. The saved live sample contained 48: 25 on Meta and 23 on TikTok. The analysis compared available captions and transcripts, with Meta entries sorted by recorded days live.
The platforms tell different stories. The saved TikTok content centres on the founders and building the business. On Meta, a customer-led satiety static had been recorded in the library for 441 days.
| days live | format | opening line |
|---|---|---|
| 441 | static | "Stops me from over snacking. 1 square is enough." |
| 241 | creator | "POV you finally broke the binge restrict cycle with one simple swap." |
| 148 | creator | "I used to be the pantry person every single night. Blamed my willpower..." |
| 113 | static | "Your desk snack just leveled up." |
| 109 | static | "PB&J... without the bread?" |
| 50 | video | "Tastes like dessert. Scores like a smarter snack." |
September 11, 2026 snapshot. This is a sample, not a complete census. Days live indicates library presence, not spend or performance; no CTR, conversion or ROAS data was available.
Count the angles
The 25 saved Meta ads were tagged by creative angle. One ad can carry more than one angle, so counts overlap.
Satiety and PB&J are the most frequent messages in this sample. Two creator-confession ads provide a reference for a personal snacking story. The creative opportunity is to connect that format to the afternoon occasion and the desire for something sweet.
Listen to customers
Customer research combined publicly visible Amazon reviews, two Reddit threads and editorial reviews. The useful connection: people describe sweetness and satisfaction together, with the afternoon appearing as a specific occasion.
Brand ad quoting a customer
Sources: Amazon US and CA, r/GestationalDiabetes, r/LovedItOrSnubbedIt2 and PureWow; first quote is from the brand’s testimonial ad. The visible Amazon sample favours helpful, positive reviews. These are qualitative findings, not estimates of how common each experience is.
Check the claims
The seven US nutrition panels show the same 6 g protein and 4 g fibre across every flavour. Calories, fat and carbohydrates vary. PB&J offers the lowest-calorie option in this comparison.
| flavour | calories | fat | carbs | % cal from fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PB&J Strawberry | 130 | 6 g | 16 g | 42% |
| Brownie Batter | 150 | 10 g | 12 g | 60% |
| Peanut Butta | 160 | 11 g | 12 g | 62% |
| Cookie Dough | 170 | 12 g | 11 g | 64% |
PB&J was selected for a calorie-conscious afternoon snacker: 130 calories, with the same protein and fibre as the rest of the range. Ten of the 25 saved Meta ads feature PB&J, aligning the concept with existing brand emphasis.
Write the hypothesis
The audience: office workers who want something sweet in the afternoon while staying mindful of calories. The hypothesis connects that occasion with the sweet-and-satisfying need found in reviews.
A first-person story about choosing “healthy” snacks she doesn’t actually want may resonate with an afternoon snacker. Mid-Day Squares becomes the resolution: something sweet, protein and fibre, and a portion that customers describe as satisfying. The “I thought it was my willpower” framing gives the story tension, drawing on a confession format already present in the brand’s ads.
A proposed creative hypothesis, not a validated outcome. Reviews support the sweet-and-satisfying need; the weekly shopping cycle and self-blame are the narrative interpretation.
Build the script
Three hooks lead into one story, product section and CTA. Hook 2 draws on the willpower framing in an existing creator ad. The body moves from a Sunday shopping ritual to Wednesday’s craving, then introduces PB&J as the snack she actually wants. Keeping the body consistent makes the openings comparable in a future test.
The script
~/mid-day-squares/scriptCreator to camera, 9:16. A first-person afternoon snack story, with three hook variations and one shared lead, base and CTA.
Why did nobody tell me my afternoon snack could basically taste like dessert?
I genuinely thought I had no willpower around food. Turns out, that wasn't the problem.
I thought picking the "healthy" snack would help me stay on track. It was actually doing the opposite.
- Because every Sunday I'd go to the grocery store and get all the snacks that sound healthy… protein bars, almonds, things like that.
- Then whenever I'm thinking about a snack, like at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, I don't want any of it… I'd rather just have something sweet.
- So I'd eat like almonds or something… but then an hour later I'd end up grabbing something way more calorie-dense because I'm still hungry and thinking about food instead of focusing.
- And every single time, it felt like I'd failed some test… like I just had no willpower.
- Then I found these, and they were basically what I'd been looking for… a snack that still felt like the sweet thing I actually wanted.
- They're called Mid-Day Squares. This flavour is PB&J, and it literally tastes like you'd expect PB&J, but without the bread.
- It's 6 grams of protein, 4 grams of fibre, 130 calories, and one square is filling for me.
- And that's what I like about them… it actually feels like I'm having the sweet thing I wanted in the first place, not the "healthy" alternative I'm trying to convince myself I want.
- And they're still healthy: the ingredients are clean, no palm oil, nothing artificial. You actually have to keep these in the fridge because there are no preservatives.
- So now when I want something sweet in the afternoon, I'm not eating something else first and then going looking for chocolate anyway.
- Not because I suddenly have more willpower. I just finally have a snack I actually want to eat.