What makes a good advertisement

1.    We all like surprises.

Can you state an ordinary message in an unusual way? Not comedy, but differently, commercials done this way are the ones we talk about for the next couple of days.

Stating ordinary messages in a different or unusual way is important in advertising. Sometimes comedy gets the message across, shock factor is effective, especially the recent cigarette warning adverts on TV.

The following advertisement is designed to coexist with TV adverts that are against smoking in confined spaces containing children. This advert is a still image showing smoke wreathing around a child's head, but manipulated in order to look like a plastic bag suffocating the child.

It is these kinds of images that we end up talking about for days on end. Images like these stay in the mind. Hopefully, they get through to the people the message is designed for, the target audience in this case is smoking adults who have access to young children in confined spaces: usually this is parents.

2. Keep it simple!

Don't let the design overpower the message; the idea is the most important part of the message.

Simplicity is key in advertising; an advert has to be simple and effective so it doesn’t take much time to digest the information. Something simple, and to the point will always be more successful than an image that has lots of text and things going on.

The image below, for example is a still image, with a green background, two figures, and a logo and text that states “make your own story”. This is a reference to the Star Wars film when Obi wan Kenobi gives Luke Skywalker a light sabre; he immediately points it at his face.

In the film he’s unharmed, however in this instance, he has obviously chopped his own head off. If this had happened in the film, then it would have been over, and someone else would have had to save the universe, giving more purchase to the idea of creating your own story. This advert is probably aimed at children or people who like to create and make up their own stories.

3.    Get the audience involved!

Shock me, make me mad, happy or sad, but don't bore me and leave me cold. Make something engaging and you are instantly onto a winner.

Engaging the audience is another key part of advertising, it being the main driving force behind advertising. An engaging advert helps the consumer connect with the product, keeps them thinking about it and makes them want to figure out more about it, look further into it. It wants to hold their attention for a few seconds longer than a normal advert would. For instance, the image below is of the famous ‘Golden Arches’ that McDonald’s uses.

The golden arches are world-renowned by now, with McDonald’s being found everywhere. The Marketing department at McDonalds have to come up with a new way to show off their brand all the time, and this is one of the ways they have done this. It’s half of the arches, with text backwards so that when it’s reflected at night, we find that McDonald’s is open all night, ready for people who are hungry, work nights or are awake when the rest of the world is asleep.

The target audience here is the late night crowd.

4.    Make me curious

Isn't the real purpose of an ad to make me want more information? Grab the audience’s attention and hold it.

Adverts sometimes invoke curiosity, to get our attention and keep it. The longer they keep our attention, the more likely we are to remember it; making the consumer want to know more is key. This advert’s target audience is a bit ambiguous. We look and then ask ‘What is this about?’ We have to look down, down, down across the chest, the six-pack, down and across searching for anything that explains the image. Finally, we see ‘Hair Removal’ on a tag at the bottom of the image.

Sex sells. Does this image say to men: ‘Remove your body hair and you’ll look like this.’ Or to women: ‘Get your man to remove his body hair and he’ll look like this.” Or, does it say ‘Body hair is gross, remove it.’ This image is all about body image and appearance. Very few adult males look like this, it takes time and effort. Removing body hair is just part of this time and effort. Ultimately, this advert could be a kick-start a viewer needs. One thing often leads to another.

5. Great ads command answers.

They demand you respond to the ad, they are like an unanswered question that has to be resolved.

An advert is all about getting attention. Another way to do this is by commanding answers, demanding a response; if it’s an emotional response, a logical one, no matter what, it’s demanding a response.

For instance, the advert below asks “Have you hugged your foot today?” This being an almost nonsense sentence, makes the viewer think, and engage with the advert. ‘How do I hug my foot?’ ‘Have I looked after my feet?’ ‘How do I look after them?’ All these questions come to mind when posed with this advert.

Looking closer, right at the bottom, we find it’s an advert for sports shoes that reportedly, ‘stretches with your foot’. The dead giveaway is the NIKE tick logo top right, but the image of the shoe is there to show the viewer what the specific shoe looks like then when searching for it online or in a store, it is easier to find. The design looks appealing too.

5.    They make you draw your own conclusions

Isn't the strongest conclusion the one we draw ourselves? An ad that brings me to my own conclusion is a powerful ad.

Adverts that make you feel something more powerful and influential than normal, something that really makes you emotionally connect with an image holds a powerful position.

Lots of adverts about life insurance, health and family try to connect with this concept, but not many hit home properly. There is an advert For P&G that I found when thinking about a target audience of everybody, about Mothers and having the hardest job in the world.

The advert shows children growing up and becoming athletes, all with their mother’s support. This holds a powerful connection with almost everyone, because almost everyone has experienced having a mother.

The advert is supported by P&G, who own a whole bunch of brands that mothers and care-givers use, cleaning products, baby products etc.

7. The headline and image tell the story.

The headline should never tell you what is in the picture, only what you don't see, the headline and picture together create the story.

The text on an advert is just as important to the advert as the image is. While the image needs to be attention capturing, interesting and relevant, the text has to tell you what the image doesn’t. It has to justify the rest of the image, creating context for something that wouldn’t make sense otherwise. For instance, the image below has a giant pearl earring hanging from a woman’s ear. Now normally, without the text this could be seen as an advert for a number of different things, Jewelry, body modification, a book or film, but when you add the text, explaining that this is an example of how big pearls can actually be, and that it’s for a museum that explains science, the entire image has a better context and makes more sense.

8. They never brag

Yellowstone Harley Davidson in Belgrade, Montana, with a population of 3,000-4,000 has a billboard on the edge of town, proclaiming "the largest Harley Davidson dealer in Belgrade!"

They are not only the only dealer in Belgrade; they are the only one in over a hundred miles, just a fact. Not brag.

9. They are ALWAYS well executed.

They have a good design that doesn't overpower the message.

The final step to making a good advertisement is to be well executed, bundle everything together and package it so that the largest group of people possible can be affected by it, moved by it and intrigued by it. The design, composition and text, don’t overpower the image, but enhance it. The well execution of an advert is the hardest part of the entire process. And if you get it right, you nail the advert.