Let’s face it, nobody likes ads. People like ideas, stories, jokes and solutions to their problems, but they don’t like ads. Ads are an interruption to our favorite TV show, a necessary evil on the internet and something we flick past in newspapers and magazines.
The average consumer doesn’t hunt out ads to see more of them, in fact they try their best to block, avoid or ignore them. This poses a massive problem for people like me, whose job it is to create ads. The onus is on us to blur the lines between advertising and entertainment or utility. The two examples of ads that I like both stood out to me because they don’t feel like ads at all.
Two Ads I Like
Las Rosas Foundation: The 88-Year-Old Anchor
The first ad didn’t air in a break during the news. It was placed within the news.
Firevase – Cheil Worldwide
The second ad I like solves a problem that regular advertising couldn’t. Regardless of legislation or traditional comms, the audience wasn’t listening, behavior wasn’t changing. So, Samsung Insurance came up with a solution to the problem as a way of demonstrating their commitment – instead of just talking about how committed they are.
One I Don’t Like
An ad that I don’t like is the one you avoided this morning. The one that made you tune out because it felt like it was trying to sell you something, rather than interest you in something.
The ad that looked like an ad.
