How to Ruin an Ad – Part 5

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Welcome to the latest edition of our current weekly blog series, How to Ruin an Ad. As is most obvious from the title of this series, each week we’ll be identifying a key element of an ad that, when missing, is sure to reduce its effectiveness.

Last week’s ad was ruined by drop-out text.

Today’s ad is ruined by: No call to action

There are two different types of advertisements.

There are advertisements intended to create some sort of direct response in those who see or hear it. Let’s call those direct response ads – DR for short.

Then there are advertisements that are meant just to expose you to a brand, make you feel good about it, remind you that it’s there, in hopes that you come away remembering them next time you might need something that company offers. Those are “branding” ads.

If you are creating a branding ad, A) your ad budget must be pretty high, and B) you can ignore the rest of this post. Because brand ads don’t need a call to action.

But if you’re not, if you’re creating an ad that you hope gets the potential customer to pick up the phone or visit your website or take a trip to your store, you need a call to action. You need to tell them exactly what they should do.

The last thing you want is for someone to be exposed to your ad, convinced to take action, and not know what to do next. You might tell me, “Zach, they should really be able to figure it out on their own.” But why leave it in their hands when it’s so easy to go the extra step for them.

A call to action says, “Call 555-555-5555” or “Visit www.mycompanyname.com” or “Click here now”.

Without it, your ad is incomplete. You lead someone all the way to the door and don’t give them the key to get inside.

Did you enjoy this post? Do you have a surefire way to ruin an ad you think we should cover in an upcoming post? Share it with us in the comments or by email.

How to Ruin an Ad – Part 4

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Welcome to the latest edition of our current weekly blog series, How to Ruin an Ad. As is most obvious from the title of this series, each week we’ll be identifying a key element of an ad that, when missing, is sure to reduce its effectiveness.

Last week’s ad was ruined by a targeting the wrong people.

Today’s ad is ruined by: Drop-out text

This may sound like old-school advice, because it is. But it’s as true today as it was 50 and 100 years ago.

Don’t use drop out text, knock out text, reverse text or whatever you want to call it. This is done when you take a color and lay it over the background, usually a base white, and then insert text over that color that is also white.

Picture a black ad with white type. While this may seem like more interesting design than white with black text, it’s a fact that it’s harder to read. And when your ad is hard to read, people don’t read it. The meaning is not conveyed effectively. And your response goes down.

This is a timeless piece of advice that holds true in print ads, direct mail pieces, banners, web design, emails, etc. David Ogilvy, considered one of the greatest advertisers of all time and the father of modern advertising, absolutely despised drop-out text. It was one of the biggest sins an advertiser could commit, and was not tolerated in his company under any conditions.

It’s important for designers and advertisers alike to understand the goal of the ad. It isn’t just a good looking ad, it is to create an advertisement that reaches the intended audience and inspires them to do something. And if they can’t read it, you’ve got no chance.

Did you enjoy this post? Do you have a surefire way to ruin an ad you think we should cover in an upcoming post? Share it with us in the comments or by email.

Is It True that Sex Sells?

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If you work in marketing or advertising, or even if you don’t, you’ve probably heard the expression “Sex Sells”. It’s as common an ads cliché as anything else. And because it’s so common, we all just assume it to be true.

We know that when we see a fast food restaurant, or a website domain hosting company use scantily clad women in their ads, they do it because it works. It gets people’s attention, and they end up with more customers because of it.

End of story. Right?

Not so fast, says a new study out of Ohio State University. Researchers, leery of the claim that sex does indeed sell, analyzed the results of 53 experiments and found conclusive results in the opposite direction.

“Violence and sex never helped and often hurt ad effectiveness,” states the findings of the study. Brands that used sexual ads or whose ads were shown during violent programming were remembered less often and viewed less favorably than other brands.

Remember this the next time someone at your company uses the cliché, Sex Sells to defend their unworthy ad campaign.

How to Ruin an Ad – Part 3

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Welcome to the latest edition of our current weekly blog series, How to Ruin an Ad. As is most obvious from the title of this series, each week we’ll be identifying a key element of an ad that, when missing, is sure to reduce its effectiveness.

Last week’s ad was ruined by a making people feel dumb.

Today’s ad is ruined by: Targeting the wrong people

Effective advertising is the result of a long process. And often, people spend far too much time focusing on the actual creative – the design, the headline, the copy, the imagery, etc. – and too little time focused on the logistics.

A great looking ad, one that follows all the best practices of design and copywriting, can still fall flat if it’s targeted to the wrong people.

You have to know your audience. Who are your customers and what do they do? Where do they shop? What do the read, listen to, and watch on TV?

Step one in advertising should be determining who you want to reach with your ads. If you skip that step, it doesn’t matter whether or not you can create a great ad. Because you won’t know where to put it or when it run it. It will reach the wrong people. And you’ll get no return on your investment.

To use a personal example, Spotify has been one of the worst offenders as far as ad delivery channels go. Recently, I’ve been targeted with ads for dog food and toys but I don’t have a dog. I’ve been told to listen to a new album I already have saved in my account. And I’ve been targeted by a fast food company that doesn’t have a single location in my state.

These are wasted ad dollars, because there is no way I am a potential customer for any of them. The best ads in the world can’t make up for poor targeting.

Did you enjoy this post? Do you have a surefire way to ruin an ad you think we should cover in an upcoming post? Share it with us in the comments or by email.