T.H.R.I.V.E.: Rise Above the Advertising Wall to Reach Your Customers

Six Qualities of Outstanding Ads

This marks the third in my series of #7socialsellinarticles in @Joe Apfelbaum's 7 Evergreen articles in 4 weeks challenge. Excited to be tracking along through the challenge. 

In the research below from SJ Insights, analysts found that US consumers have an overabundance of exposure to ads and brand placement IDs. The researchers differentiate ads (commercials, print ads, sms or twitter ads, etc.) from brand placement IDs (the tags on your clothes, the logos on the top of your bills, the names on the tops of websites.) Of the thousands of brand placement IDs and hundreds of ads, very few make an impression (https://sjinsights.net/2014/09/29/new-research-sheds-light-on-daily-ad-exposures/). 

6 Qualities of Break-Through Messages (THRIVE) 

So, what special sauce do advertisers use to get their media noticed? I suggest that the following 6 words might be the key.  

• Trustworthy 
• Hero-driven Story
• Risk 
• Intelligent
• Visual 
• Edutainment

Although I understand most ads will not have all of these seven elements. I am suggesting that the more elements that ads contain, the more likely they will be to THRIVE through to make an impression.

Trustworthy - Regardless if you are sending a video, a postcard or even a text or tweet, there are ways to communicate your trustworthiness. Included among these are: 

1. Showing your face.
2. Mention your time in the industry.
3. Communicate your desire to make them the ‘hero’ in their story.
4. Note any accolades (e.g., JD Powers or local Business Journal award).
5. Quote relevant statistics that convey stability in a quick slice (“42 years in the family business” or “Happy to have served the Dallas County for over 12 years!”) 

Hero-Driven Stories - This, believe it or not, is about science. Neuroscientists have found that the human brain creates a cell called “Oxytocin” when watching character driven stories. Oxytocin supports empathy and action (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0001128).  Our task is to create a hero in a story that the customer/client/donor can see in themselves and see you as a credible guide to that goal. Hero stories get us excited as we root for them to be successful and for you and your product to lead them to that success. 

Risk - I understand that it may feel very difficult to introduce risk into a brief marketing communication. But for every type of communication, you can lead with it or weave it in.

Print Ad WWF: Horrifying vs. More Horrifying Campaign (Agency: DDB) Risk of shark extinction.

WWF Sharks

Email Ad Headspace: Risk of losing 6 months of Discounted Tranquility

SMS Ad - ADL: Uptick in AntiSemitic Incidents {Ad campaigns especially Short Messaging campaigns often imply risk through the risk of a lost opportunity, or speak directly to a problem where the risk is not fixing it}

Twitter Ad - Netflix Cheater: Twitter ads tend to be tongue-in-cheek, like Netflix masterful campaign about “Netflix cheaters” who risk their relationships by going ahead of their significant others in binge watching (Full Disclosure - I am guilty).

Netflix Twimg

Facebook Ad - Deliverfund’s video facebook short on the humongous impact of human trafficking (@nickmckinley).

DeliverFund

Intelligent - The most effective media messages are smart in the sense in that they first tell a brief story to the customer. The viewer de-codes the “answer” either before or during the resolution. The ad re-affirms the viewers intelligence without condescending any of their audience. One of the most dangerous qualities of a marketing message is to be condescending.

Visual - Probably the most important quality of an ad it that it has visual appeal. You will never move from the valley of 362 anonymous ads to the Mecca of 12 impact making ads unless you engage your intended audience with appealing pictures, designs or drawings. Consider the following:

Moms Demand Action’s ad targeted against new Kroger gun policies. Stunning photo contrasting between a child holding an ice cream cone and a male holding an assault rife. (Kroger was changing policies at the time to allow open carry firearms, but did not allow outside food.)

Kroger Pic in Washington Post

KFC irritates the masses by running out of chicken. KFC taking this chicken by the... horns... by taking out large ads in newspapers to address its recent lack of inventory.

KFC said...

Edutainment

All of the letters in this anagram are optional. This is mostly true for Edutainment (content that makes you laugh and learn). Organizations like DeliverFund who do phenomenal work against human trafficking and publicize it very well - would not be using edutainment in their communique. 

I think that too many companies miss the opportunity to show their lighter side by putting out edutainment. Burger King is an example of a company that is starting to do it quite a bit more. In December of last year, (Wohl, Ad Age, “Burger King Got a Whopper of a Deal”) BK offered customers $.01 Whoppers if they order them in the parking lot of a McDonalds. The ad was tongue-in-cheek and fun, and the customers who weren’t familiar with geo tracking or the location of either restaurant learned from the ad. 

Edutainment is effective because the combination of adding new information and making you laugh will stand out from the crowd of media messages. Taken with a combination of the other letters, your probability of success can only improve.

At my company, Sketchology, we create custom and standard Edutainment Explainer films.  Included below is an example of one of our films created for the nonprofit AdvanceNet Labs for the “Student Success App” .  If you are interested, please check out www.sketchology.io, or call us at 913-912-0138. 

Student Success App