This Ad Might Spend More Time Outdoors Than You This Year.?

When data and statistics become interesting.?

In marketing, we all heard that we shouldn’t advertise with data and statistics. It’s not only something we all heard but we all agree on like Matthew McConaughey life advice.?

Alright?…alright?… alright?…?

There’s nothing much wrong with that piece of conventional wisdom. Because, all data and statistics have a huge problem, a Shaquille O’Neal size problem.?

They are all boring.?

So what happens when we use em in advertising, the adds become boring. They aren’t able to provoke strong emotional responses and get people to take action.?

Take a look at climate change advertisements, They’re as boring as Australian sex scenes.?

No offence Australians, you guys are only bad at two things and two things only, It’s when making dirty talk and delivering bad news—all because of your odd accent.

Back to the topic…?

But what if you take a piece of data and present it in an interesting way. It’s hard but if you can do it, It’ll be great. It’s like turning a Joe Biden speech into a Donald Trump speech, IBM into Apple, a Canadian stripper into an American stripper, a 180-degree shift.

That’s what WEROAD did here.?

They didn’t f*ked things up like WeWork did.?

First, They converted the statistic into a simple and powerful insight, a great insight both easy to comprehend and raises people’s eyebrows.

An insight is a revelation, a new way of seeing the world, a lens to see the world around us differently. It’s a powerful thing that opens people’s eyes. It’s something that makes people go, ‘Holy Fck! Is this fr?’?

They saw something that most people didn’t. It’s the fact that people spend far less time outside than they think they are. Plus, the time they spend outside is surprisingly low.?

That’s the core of this entire thing.?

Then they added a fire headline that emphasizes the insight so powerfully it not only captures your attention and makes you curious, it also makes you question your entire existence, like checking American home prices in 2024.?

Then the actionable CTA. This is where things get even more interesting.?

The CTA finishes a rollercoaster structure.? First, The fire headline invites you to a kinda quick emotional rollercoaster. It goes from making you take an emotional breath to ending with a call of hope.

The CTA sounds less necessary but actually it plays a significant role here.?

You see, most of the statistic based adds make you feel uncomfortable emotions like fear, anger, powerlessness etc, the emotions self-help morons teach you to suppress.?

However, It’s not a good way to affect behaviour change. Ask anti-smoking organizations, they even tried advertising penises and still failed. ?

But, WeRoad and DUDE did things differently here by ending with a call of hope that is actually actionable.?

It’s not something you need to protest with Ivy League students, It’s not something that demands an entire system change. It’s not even something you wanna dedicate your life to, like Tiktok’s doing for China.

All it asks is to care a little bit about themselves, to extend the average 10 days people spend outside per year to 14 days.?

Wanna say, 10 days is the average. Many people who see this are likely to spend more time than that.?

So the ask is small. The ask is like a baby step we all can take, at least it seems like that.

It’s seems so possible, so fcking possible.?

I see this effect used cleverly by charity organizations and political campaigns.?

If you’re in that industry, either you directly go to get big checks from a few people or you can collect small donations from many people.

Like if you’re a kidnapper, you either go for one trust fund baby or go for several average people. I’m not an expert on that btw.?

For the more popular second approach, the line ‘Even a $1 will help’ is so powerful than it appears, It encourages the smaller contributions while making average contributions seem much more valuable.?

That’s the hidden magic of CTAs like this, small but strong.?

That’s what she said.

So zooming back, the billboard ultimately showed up in a different energy.

They didn’t ask something like ‘Do this impossible thing because it helps society.’

Instead, they made their ask as,?‘Take this small step for yourself, to make your life better’.?

It’s all about answering the question, ‘What’s in it for me?'

That’s the golden question you wanna answer in affecting behaviour change but hardly anybody seems to. Most organisations either don’t answer the question or don’t clearly communicate the answer.

Now, they did all this by beginning with just a piece of data, and they worked themselves backwards from that.

So the next time you make something for people who care about you and your work, Ask yourself these 3 questions.?

?

Ask yourself,?

Did I make this useful to them? Will they get more energy back than the energy they invest in this??

Did I make this interesting enough? Is this thing interesting enough for them to invest their precious, attention?

Will this make them care? Is this thing worthy of earning their emotional labour? Will this thing last in their hearts and minds?

That was a nice quick ride. Wasn't it? So, It's time to say good bye.

Thank you so much for reading. I'll be back with a another piece like this in the next week.

Until then, take care of yourself and the ones you care about. (Your family members, friends and the celebrities you follow on Instagram)

Yours,

WD