1. What makes a
Good Advertisement
COM335

2. Attention Grabbing
• Catchy Music
• A Beautiful Woman
• Repetition
• Loud Sounds
• Visual Humor
• Appeal to basic sensory perceptions and if
done right, they work simply because we’re
human.

4. Trust Development
• Is the company offering the product
trustworthy?
• Or are they just a bunch of greasy car
salesmen trying to sell a product?
• An ad should establish the company offering
the product as deserving of trust.
• This can often be accomplished simply by
making a well produced ad with likable
characters.

6. Positive Associations
• Have you ever wondered why little babies,
cute animals, beautiful women, comedy,
celebrities and nostalgia are often found in
commercials?
• Because they create positive feelings in
people and are the easiest ways to establish
positive associations with products.

8. The Desire Hook
• All good advertisements tell a story about a
product and why the consumer would be
better off with the product.
• Diamonds? They are signs of good marriages
and loving husbands.
• The Nissan GT-R gives you unprecedented
driving power.
• Cars.com is the best place to save money by
doing research about cars online.

10. Action Motivator
• Once the story has been told, it’s now time for the ad to top things off by
taking the established “desire” and turning it into action.
• With many products, creating the desire is sufficient to motivate action.
The product is desirable enough to sell itself.
• But for other products, the customer will probably need a little prodding.
Simply ending a commercial with a call to action will often suffice.
• Calls to action don’t need to be verbal. They can simply be in the form of
a behavior.
• Humans often act based on how they see others acting. So if someone
they respect in the advertisement does an action, the viewer ads this
behavior to his repertoire of suitable behaviors and is relatively likely to
follow suite.
• If you want a very specific action that’s not easily translatable through
behavior, you can resort to an explicit verbal call to action: “Visit Credit
Card Pundit dot com today for the very best card offers available …
anywhere.”

12. Copy Elements
• The copy or text must communicate in clear, concise
and focused language.
• Start with a headline that grabs the reader's attention,
sparks interest in your product and conveys your
message succinctly.
• Potential customers have only seconds to read your
billboard. Even in brochures or catalogs, keep body
copy brief and on point.
• Include the company signature --- your identifying
slogan and/or logo.
• Use fonts (typefaces) that complement your message
and are easy to read.

14. Graphic Elements
• Photography, illustration and logo symbols like Nike's
swoosh raise interest in any ad.
• Integrate these graphic elements with your headline and
copy for maximum effect.
• A study by Texas State University showed that more
attention goes to pictures than words and human models
get the most attention in magazine ads.
• This indicates the value of using models that match or
appeal to your target audience to forge an immediate
connection between your product/service and your
potential customer.
• Inconsistency between your headline and your illustration
will confuse the viewer and reduce the ad's impact.

16. Color vs. Black & White Elements
• Color printing costs more than black and
white. Full-color printing uses four inks and
four runs through the press for each page.
• Two-color printing is a cheaper color option,
appropriate for some applications.

18. Layout Elements
• The layout is the way you put all the elements
together to create the final ad.
• Your layout needs a focal point --- usually the
picture or headline --- for readers' eyes to land
on, then the white space, graphic and text
elements should lead them through the copy
to the company signature.
• Make the final layout match the ad's ultimate
printed appearance in every detail.

20. Size & Shape Elements
• Newspaper and magazine placement fees are
based on ad size.
• The exact dimensions may vary by publication,
but are priced as fractions of a page.
• Special locations, like the back cover, cost more.
• Use appropriate size and shape, linked to
purpose and corporate image, for non-
publication print advertising.

22. Placement Elements
• Where you place your print advertising
affects its success. An auto parts dealer will
get more response running his ad in an
automotive magazine or classified section
than in a fashion magazine.
• Direct mail solicitations generate leads more
effectively than magazine ads do.

24. Titles
• The main headline may be the strongest
element of the ad or it may be secondary to a
strong visual.
• Some ads may have subheads and other title
elements as well. Just making it larger isn't
enough, headlines should be well-written to
get the readers' attention.

26. Artwork
• Photographs, drawings, and graphic embellishments
are a key visual element of many types of ads.
• Some ads may have only a single visual while others
might have several pictures. Even text-only ads might
have some graphics in the form of decorative bullets
or borders.
• When included with visuals the caption is one of the
first things most readers look at after the visual.
• It's not in all ads but it is an option that gives the
advertiser one more chance to grab the reader.

28. Body
• The copy is the main text of the ad. Some ads
may take a minimalist approach, a line or two or
a single paragraph.
• Other ads may be quite text-heavy with
paragraphs of information, possibly arranged in
columns newspaper style.
• While the words are the most important part of
the copy, visual elements such as indentation,
pull-quotes, bullet lists, and creative kerning and
tracking can help to organize and emphasize
the message of the body of the ad.

30. Contact
• The contact or signature of an ad may appear
anywhere in the ad although it is usually near
the bottom. It consists of one or more of:
– Logo
– Advertiser Name
– Address
– Phone Number
– Map or Driving Directions
– Web Site Address

32. Extras
• Some print ads may have additional special
elements such as an attached business reply
envelope, tear-out portion with a coupon, tip
sheet, product sample.

33. Extras