what passes for advertising these days is neither
fresh nor original. Although there are few ideas for ads in this world that haven’t been done in one form or another, the consumer’s short-term memory is faulty. In that regard, us it professionals data coming up with something unique for your audience is not as tough as it might seem to be, and old ideas can have new life breathed into them with a little twist.
That being said, here is a list of a few advertising clichés you should try to avoid when formulating your big idea. If you can find a unique twist on any of these, more power to you.
“Introducing…”
You have a new product. You want to give it a coming-out party to your audience. It has a world of new features, is dramatically better than the competition, and screams for advertising that notices these things. Instead, we get “Introducing the Newest Advance in Accounting Software.” Agencies love “Introducing.” In fact, they love it too much. It’s old, it’s cliché, and you can be sure that there will always be another ad with the word “Introducing” at the head of it in the same publication or site you’re advertising in.
“The Best (Product Here) I’ve Ever Used!” [Celebrity/Industry Spokesman Here]
Make no mistake: endorsement ads are important. For some businesses, they drive sales better than any feature-based advertisement possibly can. The problem with most endorsement ads is they feature endorsers known only by industry old-timers and, in a country where youth is omnipotent, using minor to sub-minor celebrities to hawk your wares is about as exciting and substantial as Ed Wood hawking Bela Lugosi long past his prime. Good celebrity endorsements require a solid public relations agency, a budget, and time. If you are unwilling to invest, you should look into another type of advertisement.
On the other hand, if you can find a cost-effective celebrity who fits your niche perfectly and can come across as a surprising choice (like William Shatner for Priceline), you might have something most celebrity endorsements don’t—that unique twist that can turn a cliché on its head.
“Does Your Product or Service Act Like This?”
These types of ads usually show the ugly side of a product or service. For example, “Does your call center connect?” might show a slovenly phone operator filing her nails while her entire switchboard lights up. The subhead and body copy will usually explain the benefits of your call service and how it is different from this exaggerated outcome, but most viewers will be left with a negative feeling, either about the service industry itself or a misplaced belief that your service fits into this category as well (the result, usually, of viewers not reading the full ad—which most of them won’t). A way to counter this kind of negative ad is to cut your design in two and make the negative much smaller in scale to the positive.