do trends kill an ad's effectiveness?
I don’t get any Jewish magazines to my house so this week at my parents for Shabbos was the first time I saw a Pesach edition jumbo Ami magazine in person. Obviously I spent hours pouring over it. To read the ads, of course.
I counted some repetitive themes - until I got too tired because there were just too many of them 😆 so these numbers are really even higher.
● 22 ads using the words “freedom” “lean on us” or “royalty”
● 8 ads using the font The Seasons
● 19 ads using a monochrome 3d image centered on the page with a short headline above and rectangle with contact info below
● 15+ ads using a full page photo of a person holding their product in a meaningless pose
I counted some repetitive themes - until I got too tired because there were just too many of them 😆 so these numbers are really even higher.
● 22 ads using the words “freedom” “lean on us” or “royalty”
● 8 ads using the font The Seasons
● 19 ads using a monochrome 3d image centered on the page with a short headline above and rectangle with contact info below
● 15+ ads using a full page photo of a person holding their product in a meaningless pose
When you're using the same headlines and design styles as everyone else in your industry, is anyone really going to remember your product/service in order to act on it?
the ads that stood out as memorable?
The ones that DIDN’T follow the trends. Instead they stayed true to their internal brand personality in terms of both visuals and tone of voice and left me with an emotion and impression unique to them.
There were so many similar ads. An ad design that might be great on its own blurs together with others when you’re seeing 50 ads in a row of similar layout, coloring, and style.
Especially when there wasn’t enough unique about it to make me remember the specific brand behind it.
Take for example: a series of 3 full page photos of candlesticks at different stages of burning.
The design was pretty and the concept was clever and interesting, but can I remember WHICH candle brand this ad series was for? Absolutely not. The concept and design wasn’t unique to that specific candle brand - it just spoke to general pain points that all candle brands want to address. And if I don’t remember which brand to purchase in the store, did the ad succeed?
Similar to the famous "Use the Force" Super Bowl commercial where the son tries to use the force to turn off his father's car. The commercial was endlessly entertaining and extremely creative and memorable in and of itself. But do you remember which car company it was for? And if you don't, then how does this improve their sales?
thoughts to ponder
When you're planning your Sukkos ads, perhaps it's worth going for a more internal, brand-focused approach, rather than just following the trends and blending into obscurity among the masses.
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