Creative Advertising Ideas

We’ve all seen those Super Bowl ads. They’re funny. They’re irreverent. They push the envelope. They flirt with controversy. Some pull on the heart strings.

There’s a place for these types of strategies to be heard above the rest of the advertising “noise.” We can all agree there’s such an incredible volume of commercial messaging that it’s like static. We automatically tune it out.

So how do you get people to tune in?

You might consider an ad that jars the viewer. Remember the Godaddy.com 2005 Super Bowl commercial? This leading registrar of domain names got viewers’ attention with a scantily clad woman testifying before Congress. Men loved it (secretly and not so secretly), women hated it, journalists talked about it. And it created so much frenzy it booted Godaddy’s Web site traffic into the stratosphere.

Do you have an appetite for risk? If so, consider an edgy advertising approach. While it’s possible for this to backlash, if effective, it can really put you on the map. It goes along with that old saying, “Any publicity is good publicity.” In other words, if people are talking about you, that’s good.

Campaigns and Continuity

Reinforcing your advertising message over time and across media can significantly increase the impact of your overall ad effort. It’s called an ad “campaign” for a good reason.

To get a snapshot of this in your mind, picture the Capital One TV ads. Those barbarians who always say, “What’s in your wallet?” have spanned many unique commercials with emphasis on Capital One’s strengths versus its competitors’. They tie it all together over the course of time. As soon as we see a barbarian taking a turn as a camp counselor, we know we’re in Capital One territory.

That’s the point. The reason campaigns work is that we not only associate with the ad we’re being exposed to at that moment, we integrate everything else we’ve learned through the other ads. This continuity of theme cultivates an instant reaction of familiarity, and if the material’s good, it significantly increases customer tune in. It’s like a story being told, and each ad is the next chapter.

This is very powerful in practice, but not easy for the amateur to pull off. We recommend working with a professional ad agency to achieve an effective ad campaign. It can pull together the creative concepts and implementation, the media strategy - whether TV, radio, online, magazines, newspapers, billboards, bus stops, etc. - and it also knows how to do the media buying at the best rates.

A campaign achieves continuity of message, but it’s only possible with a dedicated budget sufficient to bring the campaign to life. Be sure you have that budget before going down this path. Otherwise you’ll start soon, stop early and most likely end up with a dud on your hands.

Last note on campaigns: Just be sure your audience gets it immediately. Your theme has to jump out right away to keep a customer’s attention.