What is an effective ad in 2025?

Let me take you back…it’s 1985. Your company’s marketing team is sitting around a long oval wooden conference room table with the haze of half-smoked Marlboro’s hovering just below fluorescent light bulbs. A few of which are slightly buzzing, signifying the end of their lifespan. You just locked the copy on a print ad, that will go to all the major publications. It’s a full-page ad that is 60% copy and 40% image. You’ve spent three months deciding on the perfect headline/tagline combination. There might even be a cut out coupon. It’s perfect. In a few weeks, it’s going to hit the New York Times, Time Magazine, Rolling Stone, and LIFE. People are going to flip through these multiple times each. They will actually read the ads. Sales are going to rise. You’re going to get the credit. Since it’s 3pm, and you’re done with your job, you go out with your team for a steak and cocktails at Keens to celebrate your accomplishment. Life. Is. Good.

It's 40 years later. Print is, considered by some (without any vision or creativity) dead. TV, we are told, is also shining less bright than it did just five years ago. Audio has gone from Howard Stern singing along to your jingle to Joe Rogan, Alex Cooper and Bill Simmons taking sips of whatever beverage sponsor they have and riffing on it for a few seconds, so that the content can be shortened for Tik Tok. Social media, we’re told, is where everyone consumes their content right now, but a recent study by Kantar shows that in 2024, only 31% of people say that ads in social platforms capture their attention (down from 43% in 2023). So what is an effective ad in 2025?

An effective ad is something that gets the audience to take a next step.

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It could be a visit to a website. A visit to your store or social media channels. A visit to a longer-form video. It could be a conversation starter with friends, or a catalyst to create social media that has been inspired by it.

The ad itself is not a finish line to be crossed on the way to purchase, it is the starting point.

?According to most recent data, a significant majority of people (81%), research a product online before buying it. Meaning, that in the consumer journey, just getting awareness for your brand is not enough. However, it is you’re building your brand infrastructure (website, social media, content, physical location, etc.) need to be developed before you launch your first advertising campaign. Your brand’s story needs to be fleshed out, and ideally supported by reviews, social chatter, and general PR.

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The brand story, and what it represents is essential. It often signals a point of differentiation, credibility, and identity of the brand. What does your brand stand for? This is what ultimately leads to sales and long-term relationship between customer and product. Now, don’t be confused. You’ll often hear “A consumer wants a relationship with their brands.” The only relationship that brands should be focused on is how their products deliver on the needs of their customers and how to accentuate their personalities. ?

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In creating content, this should be the main thought of the brand. “What is my customer interested in, and how can I empower that interest?”

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Once those two questions are clearly answered internally, and assuming the product itself is good, you will see a significant, long-term ROI on your ad spend, and your brand can grow in a healthy, sustainable way.

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At that point, the ads themselves need to be developed in a way that entices the consumer to take the next step. Be it with information, humor, or high-quality production, each ad should be an introduction to that internal brand infrastructure that has been developed.

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As the old adage goes…Coca Cola does not sell brown sugar water. It sells happiness and joy. And OliPop doesn’t sell Coca Cola. It sells a healthier disruption in the stagnant soda space.

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If your brand is ready to reach your audience in engaging ways, give us a shout. We’ve helped start-ups and mid-sized brands grow their sales in healthy, long-term ways.

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And if your brand infrastructure still needs some development, we’re here for that as well.