Ad creative usually runs a gauntlet to get approved. Marketers often evaluate ads by ticking creative checklists to make sure ads are effective.
But those very checklists, while intended to motivate best practices, can lead ads to become formulaic. And formulaic ads aren’t memorable.
I spoke at a marketing conference in Nashville a couple weeks ago and heard the story of the first Apple iPod ad. The iPod ad that usually comes to mind is the famous one with the dancing silhouettes, but that one came later. The ad that actually introduced the iPod in 2001 was far more traditional.
It followed the typical advertising checklist: a unique selling proposition, an extended demo, and product close-ups. But it didn’t cut through. The ad we all remember is the dancing silhouettes that would never have passed the advertising checklist.
As we aim for more effective ads, we can’t forget the power of emotion and storytelling. Sometimes marketers have to think outside the checklist.
Mads Gorm Larsen says
More and more often I think the opposite is true, you get only “story” and then they forget to tell why you should buy the brand. For example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSA8xTGEMtA
Also Apple as proponent of story before prominent branding, unique selling proposition etc. etc. that to me just don’t seem to be what Apple is know for in their advertising.
Daryl says
My checklist is far simpler: does it make me feel something?
If so, it will probably work.
Daryl says
My checklist is far simpler: does it make me feel something?
If so, it will probably work.
Barbara says
It reminds me of that famous line from “Amadeus,” where the King says to Mozart about one of his compositions: “Too many notes. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.”
ItsDane says
Daryl’s checklist also includes frequency 😉
Hugh says
Ads should fit/comply with a ‘checklist’ [basic comms strategy principles that are] based on empirical evidence of what is likely to “work” best for the brand in that situation with those specified objectives and marketing strategy BUT it also requires an idea [non-formulaic,non-boring]. In final pre-launch judgement/trade-offs the more important is the non-formulaic/non-boring idea, so at least the ad is attended to. Sadly, in my experience too many ads are assessed ‘viable/good’ by marketers trying to be ‘scientific’ and the primary job of the ad – to be attended to – is not achieved.
Remarkable for me, is this subject still gets [needs?] airtime >50 years after the point I make above was made very clearly by the likes of Bernbach, Ogilvy – others before and gadzillions after. Hello, people! Tom, I hope you keep addressing conferences etc and hope you make piles of money from the attending wood-ducks.
Tony says
It’s an oldie but a goodie. This has always been one of my favourite videos parodying the difference between disruptive thinking and formula driven thinking. I’d never seen the orginal iPod ad… just wallpaper compared to where they ended up
Bob Roach says
Maybe I wouldn’t mind the tyranny of the checklist so much if I could trade it for a reduction in the ever-expanding service item crap: web urls, SM favicons, disclaimers, QR codes.
Looking at the great classic ad layouts of the past, the absence of all that stuff is something I’ve become keenly aware of.
If great ad creative was as simple as a checklist, agencies would now be known as ‘Adobe Sweet Creative’.
Or something like that. (uh-oh)
Chris Kouba says
Here’s something interesting about the 2 iPod commercials embedded in this post. In the original, as soon as the google text ad popped up, I immediately clicked to close it – it got in the way of the video. In the second, I was so engrossed in the video that I didn’t even notice the google text ad until the video was just about over.