Appeal to the Eye in Your Ads
No one takes in any information without it going through one or more of their five senses. Advertisers too must get their message through the same gates. At times the sense of smell is central. The smell from a bakery draws consumers to buy some fresh backed goods. The taste test is used in commercials for soda drinks or pizza. Pictures of food as you enter a restaurant will bring good memories of its flavor. When buying a bed, touch is the main seller. Consumers want to try out the various options to imagine how comfortable it would be for eight hours.
Of the five senses, sight is by far the most influential. In fact, researches discovered that 80% of what we learn is learned through the eyes. Most of the rest is learned through hearing. This means that radio ads must get the consumer to capture a vision, smell, feeling, taste of the product through words alone.
Advertisers are smart to keep that 80% in mind when planning their ads. If they can include sounds, that’s even better. But printed ads can be read over and over and thus influence more people than sound alone.
Visual advertisement comes in two forms, words and pictures. Words are abstract for they represent a reality. The word ‘house’ stands for a dwelling of brick and wood. Words can also stand for products. Slogans have caught on and identify products. One of the most famous was, “Where’s the beef?” from the Wendy’s ad. Though mainly verbal, that one phrase sold more hamburgers than anyone will ever know.
It is rarely how many words are used but which words that is important in an ad. People are usually too busy to read a long message and it is more expensive anyway. The message must be catchy yet have content. This balance is hard to achieve.
Sometimes the words used or the image portrayed will be humorous. Humor is a leading attention getter for advertisements. Alaska airlines was excellent at portraying extremes in the airline industry, emphasizing their quality through exaggeration of what the competition didn’t have. Their humorous ads must have kept the airline afloat for several years.
Sometimes the ad is whittled down to just a motto, a logo, or a symbol. These along may associate a particular product to people’s needs. The colors of Pepsi without words will sell the product. In other words, the wordless picture is the whole ad.
When ads use visual and audio, use effective words, and add a touch of humor, that ad will surely get the attention of the public. It is a difficult combination, but certainly possible. Some are able to concisely express their product and then have the message flown over a large gathering of people. This is called a banner ad. It is an effective way to get a well planned message out to a large audience at a minimal cost. And with the added attention attractor of the plane’s motor, the two major senses of sight and sound are used effectively to get the message to the public.
When you have the message perfected, then it is time to call a company that offers aerial advertising services who can guide you through the process of getting it printed and into the sky. The effort you put into making it just what you want will soon begin to turn into great results.
