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- The $200 Billion Attention Window Most Brands Miss on Reels
The $200 Billion Attention Window Most Brands Miss on Reels
How smart brands are hijacking viral reels without playing the trend-chasing game.
Kody Nordquist
June 26, 2025
Welcome back to the 123rd edition of Nord Media
If you’ve ever tried to jump on a trending Reel, you know how it goes:
By the time your team spots the trend…
Gets sign-off…
Shoots the creative…
Edits…
And finally posts…
The moment’s already over.
You end up with a late, awkward brand take on a joke that stopped being funny two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, other brands are showing up right after the hottest Reels while attention is still at its peak without scrambling or guessing.
The reason?
Meta’s new Reels Trending Ads placement.
Instead of playing catch-up, brands can now buy guaranteed ad slots that run immediately after the most viral, high-engagement creator Reels across Instagram and Facebook.
It’s Meta’s answer to YouTube Select, but for short-form video.
And WAY more cultural momentum behind it.
In this email, we’re breaking down:
Why Reels Trending Ads are a game-changer for brands tired of chasing trends
How to map your creative to match the energy of Reels without looking forced
Exact media buying plays smart brands are using to make this work
Let’s dive in.
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The Big Shift: From Trend-Chasing to Trend-Riding
For the past few years, brands treated Reels like TikTok:
Spot a viral sound → Brief the team → Shoot a brand version → Post 10 days too late.
It was reactive, slow, and rarely worked.
Reels Trending Ads flips that script:
Instead of trying to go viral, you’re buying placement right after content that already is.
Here’s why that matters:
You skip the lag time
You avoid the creative scramble
You plug your brand into cultural moments while they’re still hot
Example:
A skincare brand ran a 10-second UGC-style product demo immediately after a GRWM Reel from a viral beauty creator.
The creative wasn’t trend-based at all, just a simple, fast product highlight.
But because it ran while audience attention was still peaking…
Performance spiked 40% above their usual Reels campaigns.
Creative That Works: Matching Energy Without Faking Trends
This placement lives and dies by your creative execution.
The viewer just finished watching a high-energy, creator-led Reel.
Your ad needs to feel like a natural extension, not a jarring interruption.
Here’s what’s working right now:
UGC-style reviews and demos
Quick unboxings or first-use reactions
Micro-tutorials with fast edits and big on-screen text
POV-style storytelling or creator voiceovers
Direct response hooks that feel native to short-form
What’s flopping:
Long brand storylines
Overly polished, slow-paced commercials
Anything with a 5-second logo intro or cinematic build-up
Example:
A fitness supplement brand ran a 12-second selfie-style video with this hook:
“Okay… I’ve seen this everywhere on Reels. Had to try it for myself…”
No fancy production.
Just raw, mobile-native energy that matched the feed.
It doubled their CTR compared to standard feed ads.
How to Layer Reels Trending Ads Into Your Broader Media Plan
Reels Trending Ads aren’t meant to replace your entire Meta strategy.
They’re a contextual layer you use when you want cultural heat and high-impact attention.
Here’s how brands are integrating them:
Top-of-Funnel Awareness:
Use Reels Trending Ads when you want to get in front of large, engaged audiences during peak Reels consumption moments.
Creative should be short, punchy, and feel native to the platform (UGC, creator-style, fast cuts).
Mid-Funnel Retargeting:
Pair Reels Trending Ads with Story ads and standard Reels feed placements to stay in front of users who recently engaged with similar content categories (beauty, fitness, fashion, etc).
Test testimonial-style creative or quick benefit-led messaging here.
Bottom-of-Funnel Conversions:
Keep your usual conversion-focused campaigns running in feeds, Stories, and carousels.
But use Reels Trending Ads as a top-of-funnel primer to warm cold audiences before driving them into your retargeting and conversion flows.
Best Use Cases:
Product launches tied to cultural moments
Time-sensitive flash sales
Amplifying creator partnerships
Testing fast-turnaround short-form creative angles
Example:
A fashion brand promoting their spring collection stacked their strategy like this:
First, they seeded organic Reels with popular creators wearing the new drop
Then they ran Reels Trending Ads targeting top-performing fashion and lifestyle Reels that week
Finally, they followed up with retargeting ads offering a limited-time discount
The result?
A 25% lift in click-through rates and a noticeable drop in CPM compared to their usual cold traffic campaigns.
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Final Thoughts
For brands serious about riding cultural waves, without the production scramble or trend-chasing headaches, Reels Trending Ads are one of the sharpest new tools Meta has rolled out in years.
You’re buying certainty of placement…
Proximity to viral moments…
And the chance to show up while viewer attention is still at its peak.
But like any new placement, your creative still makes or breaks the outcome.
If you’ve got short-form content ready (or a team that can turn it around fast)…
This is a placement worth testing before your competitors catch on.
What makes Nord Media different from other agencies / contractors?
- Everyone on our team has directly managed $1M+ in spend on a single account.
- We have a combined total ad-spend managed over $1B+ throughout the years
- I personally oversee and work directly on the strategy of every single brand we work with.
- We’re more of growth consultants who run ads instead of just an “ads agency”
- No contracts… I never wanted to sign long contracts on the brand side, so we don’t do long contracts. We’ll earn our place with you every single month.
- Average retention rate of 94% over the past 4 years.
- Only accept 2-4 brands every quarter, small team, focused and intentional work.
Most agencies are chasing dozens of leads per month because they have such high churn. I’m creating the exact opposite approach.
What are we extremely good at?
- Growing 7 & 8 figure brands profitably. We set a foundation for profitable growth before focusing on scaling. This ensures that we’re achieving profitable results within 30-60 days of onboarding.
- Our “core” expertise is scaling brands from $5M → $50M+ in annual revenue. That being said we have brands from $1M - $100M+ currently under management.
Why us?
- I’ll be very transparent about the fact if we can help you or not. We typically turn down about 70% of the people who reach out because either we’re not a good fit, our retainer wouldn’t make sense or their current agency is running a similar playbook so we wouldn’t be able to make monumental changes. I truly want to build an agency that brands can trust and work with as a long-term strategic partner.
If you’re a brand spending over $50k+ / month on ads and are struggling with becoming profitable or scaling and looking for another opinion / option click the link below and let’s chat.
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Thank you for reading! I appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Kody
Disclaimer: Special thanks to Heatmap and TripleWhale for sponsoring today’s newsletter.