I’m very bored of you
I’m really bored of advertising. It’s a shame, as that’s how I pay my mortgage (and we all know how much of a challenge that’s going to be in the near future). But I can’t remember the last time an advert made me pay attention, visit a website, or even recognise its existence.
And that’s because they’re EVERYWHERE.
Surrounding every web page, popping up during every video, interrupting every social feed. You can’t click a button or tap a screen without being bombarded with calls to action and offers, flashing in your face like a baboon’s arse during mating season.
The more ads you see, the more you learn to ignore them, making them ultimately pointless. So what can you do to make your ad stand out, in a world where we’ve been trained to hit the ‘skip’ button the second it appeared, and when TVs have been designed to let you fast forward through them?
Well you could not ignore this, for starters.
Don’t do advertising
The first thing you should consider is whether advertising is worth doing at all. Again, weird thing for me to say as someone who makes his living off people doing advertising, but stick with me. There’s a real temptation for people to think their brands needs to be active all the time on every platform. That you should have a TV ad, a PR campaign, a social media channel, paid ads and video content running constantly to create brand awareness.
This is bollocks.
Whoever told you that clearly never tries to use the internet. Just because your brand is there, it doesn’t mean anyone’s paying attention to it. Your ad just becomes background noise that people can’t wait to get rid of. They probably don’t even notice which brand has put it there.
Instead of filling media with your ad, focus your efforts (and budget) on a couple of key areas. Maybe you want to do a slick press ad and smarten your website up. Great. Do that. Maybe you want a dead fancy TV campaign that links through to social media. Fab. Lovely idea.
Maybe you just want to put all your eggs in one basket and do the biggest outdoor stunt ever seen. I’m all for it. The idea that this stunt has to be backed up by a shit load of other ‘activations’ is snake oil, promoted purely by snake oil salespeople.
2. Do something really very silly
When I was a kid, if I saw a cool advert on telly I’d tell all my mates about it the next day. Sure, that might have just been me, and admittedly my mates were imaginary, but the point is it got me talking. Too much advertising plays it so safe it becomes invisible. There is an industry-wide fear of risk, which means all that money being spent on media space is going straight in the bin.
If your brand has the right tone of voice, doing something silly can be a real winner. The example that plays on loop in my head is this ad from Xbox. It was so silly it got banned, which only made people talk about it more. Imagine that playground gossip now with social media on every phone. Phwoar.
3. Don’t hide your CTA
Too many briefs stick the CTA (call to action) at the very end of the copy. But if that’s what you want someone to do, why not make it unmissable? Make the CTA the whole purpose behind your ad. Make it the star of the show. Make it massive. For example, if you want someone to book a holiday, don’t relegate that to three words in the bottom right corner of your banner ad. People won’t see it, let alone click it. Use the space you’ve got to make your message obvious. It might not be an award-winning piece of creative, but it will grab the attention of anyone interested. And you don’t have to make it boring - a book your holiday CTA could easily turn into one that says. ‘Book unforgettable memories’ or ‘Book time away from your dickhead boss’ or ‘Book a sweet release from your mundane existence.’
CTAs can be fun if you let them.
Ironically, I’ve stuck a CTA right at the end of this blog. Click it if you’re feeling frisky and want to prove me wrong.
4. Don’t interrupt the experience - add to it
There’s loads of media to play with, and play is the key word. Ads that disrupt a user experience can be jarring and, frankly, irritating. Think back to the last time you watched a YouTube video and halfway through had to wait a minute while two ads played. Can you remember who those ads were for? Did you even watch them, or did you just watch the little timer in the bottom corner, willing the ‘skip’ button to hurry up?
Ads that understand their customers make this disruption more enjoyable. Watch this excellent example from Barclays. They’re not an obviously creative brand, but this ad makes you want to watch it. It’s interesting, it’s different, and it really understands what the viewers are thinking.
5. Make the experience better
What happens when someone clicks one of your ads? If the answer is they go to a part of your website that sounds and looks totally different, then read on. Navigating the sales journey (or funnel, if you’re a bit up yourself) isn’t an easy mission. There are loads of things that can get in the way, such as getting bored, seeing something else shiny, a sneeze, or just remembering that the idea of capitalism is leading to a global warming disaster and huge social inequality.
But if you can get past all of that, the last thing you want is some messed up UX. If your ad has a certain tone of voice and design, you need to make sure the place it leads to does the same. Even if that’s just a bespoke landing page for the purpose of your campaign, it will do the job.
Think about the bigger picture when you’re putting an ad out into the world, and make sure your customers aren’t gonna end up confused.
Right, I’m very bored of writing this blog now. If you’ve stuck it out ‘til the end, get in touch and I’ll write you some ads that are both very silly and won’t make your customers want to claw their eyes out.