What is Creative Advertising?
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Creative advertising is an incredibly effective way for brands to stand out from the crowd and catch the attention of customers. But what exactly is creative advertising and why is it so effective?
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Anything that uses creative, innovative methods to tell the story of a brand or company in a new and exciting way comes under the umbrella of creative advertising. These campaigns tend to be more conceptual and focus on the core values of the brand, rather than practical things like prices and discounts. They aim to evoke a more emotional response in the audience and build a connection between the brand and the customer.
A wide range of methods can be used in creative advertising. Sometimes, it’s simply a case of putting personality and humor into your copywriting, or you might decide to create a pop-up event of some kind. These are just a few simple examples of creative advertising but the possibilities are endless. This article will explore the many benefits of creative advertising and give some examples of how successful brands have used it in the past. Why is Creative Advertising So Important?
There are a number of reasons why creative advertising is central to business success and why every company needs to understand how to employ it.
It's More Memorable The average person is exposed to a huge number of adverts on a daily basis. Although exact figures vary a lot depending on a person's lifestyle, it is estimated that we see an average of 5000 ads per day online. That’s a staggering number of ads, which means that brands need to do something special to make themselves stand out. The problem is, the sheer number of adverts means that our brains have learned to filter them out and people only remember a tiny percentage of the ads that they see. If you are writing ads with dull copywriting and zero creativity, it’s unlikely that anybody will even take notice of it. In fact, it is estimated that people only remember 16% of the ads that they see. However, if you use creative methods, your ads are far more memorable and they cut through all of the noise and catch the attention of consumers. People Will Share It Engagement is so important when advertising online because getting people to share your promotional material is a cost-effective way to expand your reach. But if you want people to share your content, you have to make it engaging. Video content, for example, generates 12 times more shares than text and images combined. So, a creative video ad is much more effective than a simple promotional text post. This does not only apply to online advertising either. If you can create an innovative marketing campaign in the offline world, you can generate a lot of buzz online and people will start sharing it organically. Increasing the number of shares not only improves your reach, but it also helps to reduce your advertising spend because your followers are promoting your ads for free. It Builds Trust In Your Brand Trust is so important in advertising because consumers will not buy a product from a brand that they don’t trust. Statistics show that 81% of consumers will not buy from a brand unless they trust them, so building that relationship is vital. Writing ads that are more creative and meaningful is one of the best ways to build that trust. 77% of consumers like to buy from companies that share the same values that they do, so a creative campaign that tells customers about the ethos of your business is far more effective than a boring banner ad offering a discount. It's More Effective The most important reason to start using creative advertising is that it’s proven to get better results. Studies show that creative advertising campaigns are responsible for 47% of sales uplift and companies that have won awards for creative advertising have above average organic revenue growth. It is also estimated that creative campaigns give 11 times more ROI compared to non-creative ones. The Best Examples of Creative Advertising Campaigns
Now that you understand the importance of creative advertising, it’s a good idea to look at some examples of how other brands have done it in the past.
McDonald's Seed Bombing Back in 2012, McDonald's came up with a genius take on the roadside billboard ad. Instead of putting up a simple billboard that will most likely be ignored by the majority of drivers, they decided to plant flowers in the shape of their logo. The best thing is, it is illegal to tamper with flowers on the side of the road in California so that ad cannot be removed. It cost next to nothing to set up but it created a huge buzz online, with people sharing pictures of it and discussing the legal loopholes that made it possible. Blendtec's "Will It Blend" Series If you’re advertising a blender, demonstrating how well it blends things is obviously important. However, it isn’t that exciting and you won’t get people talking by posting a video of somebody making a smoothie. Blendtec realized this, which is why they created the Will It Blend series on Youtube. Instead of fruit and vegetables, they started blending phones, ipads, golf balls and anything else they could get their hands on. It spread like wildfire and even people that had no intention of buying a blender knew that Blendtec made the most powerful blender in the world. The channel was even nominated for an award from Youtube and the series is still going to this day. Gillette's "The Best a Man Can Be" In the wake of the #MeToo movement, razor company Gillette capitalized on the situation by creating a promotional video called The Best A Man Can Be. Instead of focusing on razors, they instead implored their male audience to be better and more progressive. It was a clever way of using their slogan, ‘the best a man can get’, to tap into the political situation of the moment and show their support. The video was naturally very divisive, but it got over 4 million views in just 2 days. Just like that, everybody was talking about Gillette and praising them for their stance. When you are designing new marketing campaigns and writing ads, keep these examples in mind. Creative marketing like this is the most effective way to make a statement and produce campaigns that stick in people’s minds. |