This weekend I read my copy of Spin magazine. To tell the truth I find that I am not interested in the content of the magazine that much. However I focused on all the full page ads in this month's issue. I thought I would review the advertisements from a consumer viewpoint.Here is what I want to know immediately when I read your ad: What are you selling? What is the name of your company? Where can I buy your product? You would be amazed how many ads miss out some or all of these answers.
I have noticed some mistakes repeated in many ads. There are a lot of weird sayings. That is a turn off. And there are multiple ads where I cannot comprehend the text. That is just not cool. And its also unproductive.
A simple ad is a good one. And here is another fact that should be no secret. Attractive people sell. So use the models. It helps if you show me your actual product too. I don't mind if you team up with other companies to advertise more than one thing in your ad. More and more companies are doing this.
By the end of the magazine, I found 2 ads that were clear winners. MySpace did very well with a simple ad with minimal and to-the-point text. However the best was an ad by Lugs. The dudes were wearing the product. They had nice cars in the background. Most of all their models were smoking hot. Powerful marketing. I might even have to run out and buy a pair of Lugs shoes. I already have a MySpace account.
