Awesome Ads and What We Can Learn From Them

Sometimes, I see an ad and I have to smile just because it’s so smart. That’s why I’ve compiled some ads here that I think are smart. We can all learn from them.

The cavewomen chasing the shoes is just brilliant to me – take something old and tweak it to make it new. This could be used in so many ways – from something like how people gathered to listen to the radio are now listening to podcasts to leaving Santa gluten-free cookies. A new twist on an old idea works well because people are already familiar with the concept, and if you tweak it right, you’re seen as a genius.

A ridiculous image always works well in ads. Something that makes people look twice because there’s no way this could be real, yet it looks so real, is key to grabbing people’s attention. Of course, a ridiculous image won’t work if it isn’t done right – meaning the lighting is wrong, or if the image is scaly or fuzzy – but an image like this strawberry on this person made me look twice. It helps that the strawberry and chocolate look quite yummy!

Another technique that works well is making an image out of another image. Making a car out of what at first looks to be a bush, for instance, can be a real attention-getter. The key is to design the image so that it looks like something is slightly “off” but the viewer has to look closer to figure out what it is. Take a look at this ad for Reach toothbrush.

At first it just looks like a chicken with ridiculously long legs (hey, a ridiculous image!). But then you see that the legs and body look like gums on a top row of teeth. That makes me appreciate the ad, and makes me go in for a closer look to the writing: “Your teeth can hide many things.” I especially love this one because who doesn’t get chicken stuck in their teeth? And the chicken’s plucked body is about the color of gums.

Lastly, this Canon ad struck me as brilliant.

The camera comes with an image stabilizer, which makes the use of a tripod not necessary because the user is the tripod. I love the legs and how the user can imagine himself out in the wild with no use for lugging around heavy camera equipment just to get a great shot. All he needs is himself, which gives the user confidence, but at the same time says “this camera is all you need.” Very smart indeed. Not only is this a ridiculous image to first capture attention, but it also instills strength in the consumer, which of course, every ego wants. Feeding people’s egos always works well in ads as with anything else in life.