Imagine you are shopping for some basic khaki pants. While perusing the monotone rack you see a hot pink, sparkly toddler dress, obviously placed in the wrong section. Or flip it: you are shopping for your toddler and come across a Black Sabbath XL tee between all the tiny pairs of pants. The odd item of clothing is practically screaming “I DON’T BELONG HERE!”, right?
Well, creative advertising is kind of like that.
The FIRST goal of good advertising is always to catch the viewer’s attention. Most people think the way you do that is to write interesting body copy. Or make everything huge and fill ALL the empty space. But back in the store, did you notice the quality of your khakis or were you sidetracked by the glaring dress that clearly didn’t belong there?
Before you convince the customer why they need your product or service, you have to get them to read your ad. No matter how well-written your copy is or how beautiful your product shots are, that’s normally not enough to stop people. Especially living in the digital age, where you are served ads all day long, you have to do something different.
Here are a few tips we use to break out of the box.
Be the Spotted Zebra
The pattern of a zebra’s stripes are all different, did you know that? There is not a single zebra that’s the same. But, they all LOOK the same don’t they. If you approach your ad campaigns trying to be a better version of what’s out there, you are still going to blend in. You have to be different.
Begin by studying your competition. If you work for a car dealership, you know that most of the car ads feature pictures of…cars. They might list the features. The colors are probably sleek – black, red, silver. We’ve probably seen over 1,000 car ads in our life and don’t remember most of them. But do you know which one WAS memorable? It’s from 1997, which makes it almost 20 years old. But even now, the memory of seeing it for the first time is still fresh as a daisy. Because it was so random.
Do you normally think of stop-animation Barbie dolls when you think of cars? Nope. But that’s why this ad was so successful. So, to sum it up, don’t do what everyone else is doing.
Less is more, more or less.
The creative process is a fascinating beast, and really isn’t trackable. But if we had to pick one thing that happens MOST of the time, it’s this. You start out concepting a new campaign by trying to fit all the bells and whistles into your ad. The client says this is most important, John the digital expert thinks this is most important, etc. But after all those things have been exhausted, you normally end up going with the simplest option.
Now, like we said, the creative process is – in fact – a process. Sometimes you have to run a marathon to take a step. But time and time again, the winning idea is short and oh-so-sweet.
Take the example from Post-it above.
Simple, clean, to the point. So, when you can, cut things. Combine ideas. Take it down to the bare bones. Challenge yourself – how can I say the most while saying the least?
Shock value kills it, man.
Don’t underestimate the power of shock value. Unfortunately, a lot of companies won’t go down this road. We get it. But if you have a client who is open, this is a great strategy. Because, remember, the first thing you do is STOP people. Then you get to tell your story.
The thing with this strategy is it’s a fine line. There is a delicate balance between catching someone’s attention and losing a lifelong customer for being too offensive. If I’m a local butcher, will I get attention by showing a behind-the-scenes look at how I slaughter my animals? Well, sure. But you will also probably get sued by Peta, and get 1000 Vegan Karens storming the gates. Not worth it.
So, what’s a good example of this? Here’s a great one:
Made you look twice, didn’t it? People will notice this ad, then they will wonder “What’s Grammarly?”. Be bizarre, push the boundaries. If done correctly, it’s worth it.
Last tip, but this one is Top Secret. This is for the person who is ready to break out of the box and push your marketing to the next level. So if you aren’t willing to take risks, please look away….
You do NOT have to say it all in one ad. You don’t even have to say 80% of it. You JUST need to create enough interest for the viewer to want more.
You, my fellow out-of-the-boxer, are a single chocolate chip. Nobody can stop with one. Are you going to go buy cookies tonight if you are given an entire bag of chocolate chips or only given one. It’s tempting to try to say it all. If you leave out something important you worry the customer will miss it. But you simply cannot get everything across in one ad, or even one campaign.
So, we encourage you to break out of the mold, try something new. And, as always, if you don’t have that capability or drive – call us. We’d love to help you craft your own Spotted Zebra.