Effective Advertising

Effective Advertising

Your ad agency shows you several ad concepts.  How do you choose the most effective ad? 

The cost of creating and producing an ad is generally a small fraction of the cost for media to run the ad.  To get the best ROI on your ad budget, you'll need to figure out which of the concepts they show you is the most effective ad to invest media dollars in. 

From experience as a client reviewing lots of ad concepts for print, radio, online, outdoor billboards and TV, it's easy to spot a great ad and a terrible a concept but what you generally get are ad concepts that are "o.k."  Then what generally happens is the ad agency tries to convince you that one of the concepts will work and you try to figure out what to tell them to do to "fix it up."  The agency won't recommend this option:  none of the above; try again please.  That will cost them more money and you more time, depending on how your contract with them is set up.  As a client it's wise to not pay ahead for any media time or placements until you know you have a great ad.  If you don't do this, you'll be in the "fix this up and make the deadline" mode.  Getting a great ad idea sometimes takes time and many attempts by creative teams and patience from clients to wait it out until they get a great idea.  Think how long ago Nike's agency came up with "Just Do It" and they are still using it. 

How to choose the most effective ad

 

1.  Know what effective advertising is (and isn't)

 

From our experience:  It's very important before you give an ad agency or freelancers an assignment to create an ad (or create an ad yourself), to think through and answer the question "What is effective advertising?"

 

The answer to that question will differ based on what the objectives and purpose of the ad is and your own expectations. This article may give you some ideas to think about to help you define what you think effective advertising is. Is your definition of "effective advertising" in sync with the agencies or freelancers who will be creating your ad?  From our experience, many times it's not.  It's best to have a congenial conversation and reach consensus on what effective advertising is when you give the assignment to create the ad or ad campaign.

 

• Great Advertising - what great advertising is (and isn't)
• Advertising Effectiveness - this article explains how to establish clear advertising objectives and success measures before an ad runs so you can then answer the question, "So, was the ad effective?  Did it work?" 
• It's helpful to agree upfront if and how the ad(s) will be tested. This article on Ad Testing will be helpful to review.

TIP for working with and motivating advertising creative people

Remember being in school and having to read your story to the class?  Or being asked to share your artwork with everyone?  It feels risky to share what you’ve created with someone who will judge it. That’s what it’s like to be an advertising creative director, art director, graphic designer or copywriter. Treat these creative people the way you’d want to be treated if it was your work. Be respectful. This will benefit you as well. Creative people are more likely to do their best work for people they like and think will appreciate their work. You want to be known as a “great client” so you’ll get the best ideas. That means they have to feel “safe” sharing their ideas with you.

Most agencies and freelancers like to present their ads by talking about each ad and then (finally) showing it. But that creates a problem for you:  You lose the ability to look at the ad like your customers and prospects will.  When they see your ad, it won’t come along with an explanation. 

You want to see any advertising creative ideas alone. Or if the agency or creative people are there with you, you want them to just show it to you in quiet with no “preamble” or explanations.  That way you will have a first impression, just like your customers.

Explain to the agency or freelancers before the meeting how you want the advertising creative concepts to be presented and why you want it done this way.
 

3.  Is the ad effective?  Write down your first impressions

TIP:  Look at each concept like you are a prospective customer who is reading/viewing/hearing your ad. Write down your first impressions. Don't talk (yet). This may frustrate the ad agency creative people or freelancers because they want to hear your feedback right away. But that will launch into a discussion and they will be defending and explaining the ad concept and you'll lose the ability to objectively view the ad as a prospective customer would. 

For each ad concept you see, answer these questions as if you were conducting ad research on yourself as if you were the intended customer or prospect:

• What’s your first impression?

  • Do you love it?  Like it?  It’s just O.K.?  Do you dislike it?  Or do you hate it?

• How do you feel? 

  • What's your emotional response to the ad? What three adjectives describe how you feel right now?

  • Is the ad likeable?  Extremely likeable? 

  • It's important to capture the emotional response before getting rational, because advertising generally works best if it connects with someone in an emotional way and then supports that emotion with rational information. This is even true for business to business advertising.  

• What do you think?

  • What’s your rational response?

  • Many people are very skeptical about advertising, especially younger people.  If this ad were a salesperson talking to you, would you trust what they're saying?  Find them credible? 

• Who is the ad from?

  • Can you name the company sponsor? The product or service?  The name or model of the product?

Know this:  In ad testing after an ad is shown to someone and taken away, the industry average is that half of the people can’t remember who the ad was for. Half of the people say, “It was a car ad.”  That isn’t a good use of an advertiser's money if someone can’t remember what brand or model of car the ad was for. It will be very hard for you to assess if it’s clear the ad is for your company and your product or service because you know who the ad is supposed to be for. 

• What key message is conveyed?

  • Is the message the ad was supposed to convey on the original creative strategy or creative brief? 

Know this:  Most people read just the ad headline and subhead and look at the picture so the ad has to communicate the key message without someone reading all the “body copy” in a print ad. Same concept applies to radio and TV ads. An ad is like an elevator speech where the person can get off at any floor. You have to grab their attention and say something relevant immediately. Then, they may continue to pay attention.

• How much stopping power does the ad have? 

  • Stopping power is a term that the ad industry uses. If an ad has high stopping power it means a lot of people would stop and pay attention to the ad. 

Know this:  Many ads have great stopping power but what you remember is how funny they are, not the intended ad message.  Or, the stopping power may be so unsettling it causes you to pay attention. Or the ad stops you (like seeing a naked woman would) but it's not relevant or connected to the intended message of the ad. 

• Is there anything you or a prospective customer won't immediately understand?
  

  • Pay particular attention to any industry or company jargon. Make sure words are used that everyone understands.

  • And make sure your ad isn't "so clever" that it takes too long to "get it."  Most people view ads very quickly.

• Would you do anything after seeing the ad? 

  • What is the objective or purpose of the ad?  Is it to drive people to take some type of action?  If so, then is there a clear call to action and would you take that action?

  • If the ad has another purpose, then it should be evaluated based on that criteria. 

  • Would this remind you to buy again?  To think more highly of the brand or company being advertised?  To change your attitude or perceptions about a brand?  To be proud to be associated with this brand? 

Know this:  Most advertising is seen and remembered most by existing customers.  They are looking for reassurance that they’ve bought the right brand.  So when you’re evaluating ads, think about whether the ad is complimentary and relevant to these existing customers.

Keep these notes private.  Don’t talk out loud.  Think.  These first impressions are very important.

Next page- How to give advertising creative people feedback about their ideas