We’re surrounded by advertising all day, every day, but how often does it cross your mind that someone is living rent free?
And more importantly, how can you make an ad good enough to occupy prime positions in the minds of your target audience?
While most of us have a pretty good idea of what advertising is looks likeWe often find it difficult to say exactly what it means – and how to do it correctly.
From the printing press to pop-up ads, advertising has certainly changed over time. Still, there is a need for advertising not changed, and not Techniques and best practices that ensure quality advertising.
That’s what I’ll cover in this guide.
What is advertising?
Advertising is the creation of messages and the use of various psychological techniques to persuade and motivate someone to take action, most likely to purchase a product or service.
Advertising is one of the oldest forms of marketing and aims to influence the audience’s actions to buy, sell or do other activities.
Good advertising is meant to be extremely influential and memorable, and sometimes it is daring.
But how does advertising work?
How does advertising work?
Advertising has a simple principle: arouse people’s interest in a product being sold.
The goal, after arousing interest, is to get people to buy the product, even if they hadn’t thought about buying it before. Ads use psychology to influence the way people think and feel about a product or service.
Depending on the goals of your advertising campaign, advertising can work for your business in different ways:
- To increase awareness of your brand
- To attract potential customers to your business
- To promote sales of new and existing products
- Launch a new product or service
- To differentiate your product from your competitors
Advertising can also be executed in different ways. Radio ads, billboards, branded t-shirts, and social media endorsements all count as advertising, as we’ll discuss later in this guide.
What are advertisers?
Advertisers are people in a company who are responsible for promoting a product or service. They promote messages about a brand’s products and services to increase public preference for the brand.
“Advertiser” may also refer to the company that pays for advertising on a billboard, in a magazine, or through a website or mobile application.
Advertisers are important because the entire advertising business depends on them. The advertiser bears the advertising costs. So if he decides it’s not worth advertising, the advertising industry is in big trouble.
All advertisers are marketers, but not all marketers are advertisers. Let’s dive deeper into the differences between advertising and marketing.
Advertising vs. Marketing
Marketing represents the big picture of how a company wants to increase brand awareness and persuade customers to buy. Advertising is the delivery of messages around these general goals.
Advertising is a branch of marketing, the umbrella term for communicating with your audience.
Marketing includes a number of different channels, such as:
Alternatively, advertising is just one component of marketing.
A company’s overarching marketing strategy typically includes an advertising plan. The advertising portion focuses on the specific process of creating and publishing compelling messages to persuade customers to take action.
Download our free advertising plan kit, which includes templates and a guide.
A Brief History of Advertising
Along with currency and trade, advertising is one of the oldest businesses. As products and services emerged, so did the need to make them known.
A piece of papyrus from 3000 BC BC is generally considered to be this oldest confirmed advertisement – although the term “advertising” obscures the horror and gravity of the circumstances. Technically, in ancient Egypt, it was a printed “advertisement” offering a reward for the capture and return of an enslaved person named Shem.
Let’s fast forward about 4,000 years. Here’s a quick look at the last five centuries of advertising:
1472: The first billboard advertising is displayed on church doors in London.
1650: The first newspaper advertisement – a reward for 12 stolen horses – is published. (What’s with that reward-based advertising?)
1704: The Boston News-Letter encourages its readers to place advertisements in its newspaper.
1870: The Powers style of Ad copy is born. This style had it all: it was short, to the point, truthful and convincing. According to Powers, the focus should be on why the consumer should buy your product or service – a message that still resonates today and for good reason.
1880: Postcards are becoming one of the hottest new ways to reach customers.
1902: Unilever begins the “longest client-agency relationship in advertising history” when it hires the J. Walter Thompson Company to promote its Lifebuoy Soap.
1902: Mellins Food advertises on 25 airship flights, making it the first brand to take this approach.
1904: The Campbell’s Kids are founded and control the change in advertising focus from a single ad to an entire campaign.
1922: Radio advertising is born and companies buy 10 minutes for $100. Two years later, brands increased their investment by sponsoring an entire radio show, a concept that eventually became known as “sponsored content.”
1925: Advertisers evoke emotions and focus on how customers would enjoy their product or service. This old Ford ad illustrates this perfectly.
1975: VCRs are introduced and consumers begin recording shows – and fast-forwarding them through advertising.
1990: Computers are becoming increasingly popular and accessible in the home with over 5 million households connected to the Internet.
1994: The first email spam campaign starts. Banner advertising will also be introduced.
1995: Search engines like Yahoo! and Alta Vista are born. Ask Jeeves and Google followed in 1997 and 1998 respectively.
2000: Brands are starting to realize the importance of having an online presence. Procter and Gamble are testing the Content Hub concept with BeingGirl.com.
2005: Facebook expands from Harvard to 21 universities around the world; YouTube releases its first video.
2012: Online videos reach almost 170 million viewers.
2013: Sites like Pinterest and Instagram are joining the social network scene.
2020: Advertising is increasing across digital platforms including social media, podcasts, pay-per-click (PPC), and more. Customer data plays a larger role in advertising targeting and retargeting. Finally, the rapid increase in mobile devices is driving mobile advertising and SMS marketing.
History teaches us that advertising is an ever-changing concept, just like shopping habits and how and where consumers spend their time.
While almost 140 years ago postcards were the newest form of advertising, today it is stamps Build chatbots for Facebook Messenger and websites and integrating artificial intelligence into their marketing and sales platforms.
There is movement in the advertising world fast. Now let’s take a look at how advertising methods have changed and what marketers and advertisers use today.
Traditional vs. non-traditional advertising
Traditional advertising evolved before the ubiquity of the Internet: think billboards, handbills, and print ads.
Even though traditional advertising relies on people not Since they’re buried in their phones 24/7, it’s getting nowhere.
Billboard advertising still lines thousands of miles of highways, and direct mail is a problem in the United States almost $40 billion marketand posters still hang on the sides of buildings announcing the release of films or albums.
“Non-traditional” is a bit misleading, especially if you’re a digital native for whom this all seems completely mundane: think paid search advertising, social media advertising, and native advertising (also affectionately known in some circles as SponCon or sponsored content). ).
However, the line between traditional and non-traditional advertising is not as clear as “Before Internet” and “After Internet”.
Posters and handouts might include QR codes that you scan with your phone, native advertising might appear in a printed newspaper or magazine, and you’ve probably seen TV ads while streaming your favorite show over the internet.
Classic advertising includes:
- Print advertisements (magazines, posters, flyers, etc.)
- Broadcast (TV and radio)
- Salespeople (personal advertising may well be OG’s traditional advertising tactic)
Non-traditional advertising casts a wide net – it basically includes everything that doesn’t fall under the umbrella of traditional advertising.
In addition to digital marketing and all its subsets, here are some popular campaigns that use unconventional tactics:
- Anti-marketing. Conventional wisdom? I’ve never heard of her. Nor did Volkswagen do this when it began operations “Think Small” campaign for the 1959 VW Beetle. Focusing on the car’s small size was, in the company’s own words, “a risky move since most car manufacturers at the time valued performance and luxury over size and practicality.” Liquid Death is another Brand that has successfully used this technique.
- Experiential marketing. Summer blockbuster 2023 Barbie ran a marketing campaign that moviegoers could experience from the comfort of their own computer device. The website BarbieSelfie.ai allows users to enter the Barbie set by uploading a selfie; Using AI, the website puts you close to Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken) during memorable moments in the film.
- Influencer marketing. We all know how it goes: a person becomes famous on the internet, brands reach out to a person, a person starts recommending that brand’s products. When done right, it’s a great way for brands to connect with an authentic, trusted voice and increase their visibility. In 2020, when TikToker Charli D’Amelio became one of the platform’s first megastars, Dunkin’ Donuts took the opportunity to name D’Amelio’s favorite drink after her as part of their partnership.
AI and advertising
Like everything else, artificial intelligence is a game-changer for advertisers.
And although marketing and advertising has the highest AI adoption rate at 37%, this means that this is the case for the majority of marketers and advertisers are not with AI.
In one HubSpot survey Out of more than a thousand marketing and advertising professionals, 57% of respondents said they feel pressure to learn AI – or risk becoming irrelevant.
That is Scott Brinkers Impression too.
HubSpot’s vice president of platform ecosystems tells me that AI usage is “two-fold” – some advertisers are “really actively trying to experiment and learn” how AI works, but the majority are still just talking about it.
Brinker says broader adoption “will not be one big hype curve, but dozens of little hype curves.”
For example, many marketers (and consumers) are already familiar with customer-facing chatbots.
These agents “autonomously and dynamically generate content,” says Brinker, and as we continue to see lower exception and error rates, the next logical step is a wider adoption of AI-generated personalized emails.
“AI agents for customer service work,” he adds. “And if we trust them enough, they can do more than just customer service – they also do customer marketing.”
Brinker also warns: “We throw a lot into the AI bucket.” And there is a big difference, for example, between generative AI that creates content and machine learning AI that analyzes data, like Google Performance Max.
Katie Kingthe CEO of AI in Business and author of AI strategy for sales and marketing: Connecting marketing, sales and customer experience (a new edition will be published in 2025), tells me that she has been in the industry for more than 30 years and says that “everything used to be really manual at all levels of advertising, public relations and marketing,” recalling remember that she had to use fax machines and wait for answers (Oof.).
King says AI is now acting as a “copilot,” or assistant, for marketers, automating repetitive tasks and freeing up time for more strategic, creative thinking. This confirms what we found a HubSpot survey by more than a thousand marketing and advertising professionals.
Of the people who already use AI, most use it to save time so they can focus on other things, like creativity and doing tasks they enjoy.
Speaking of strategy, King says the use of AI should balance advertisers more strategic because it “takes out the finger-in-the-air guesswork. AI can help us understand, ‘Yes, this is the person I should target.’ This is what will resonate.’”
Before AI, focus groups were the best source of information for advertisers. And while focus groups are still important to many marketers and advertisers, AI has changed the way they work.
Now, King says that “focus group selection is often done by AI bots that can help you understand and identify who should be included in it.”
When I ask King what she wants advertisers to know about AI, she emphasizes that this is happening now – not in five years, not in ten years – and that understanding the ethics of AI and advertising is essential.
“You have to understand privacy, bias and transparency,” she says. “And the brands that use them in advertising will gain trust.”
Advertisers need to understand: “If we personalize too much, we can insidiously invade other people’s privacy.” But if the consumer or customer consents to the use of their data, the brand no longer has to treat people as a large, homogeneous mass.”
Advertising methods
- Print advertising
- Billboards and public transport advertising
- TV commercials
- radio
- Event advertising
- Direct mail
- Digital advertising
1. Print advertising
Print advertising refers to posters, bulletins, flyers and other physically printed advertising measures. It also refers to newspaper and magazine advertisements.
The way we create and consume print advertising has changed over the years, but it is a consistent advertising medium – especially as digital advertising has evolved (which we’ll discuss next).
In contrast to digital media, print advertising cannot be tracked and analyzed as clearly. Luckily, brands have found great ways to integrate print advertising into broader digital campaigns.
Absolute vodka
One of the most famous and longest-running print advertising campaigns was launched in 1981, just a few years after Absolut Vodka entered the U.S. market after a century in Sweden. The very first ad: “Absolute perfection“played with the brand name and added an angelic glow over the bottle.
These two simple elements – the word “Absolute” and an artistic photo of the bottle – left plenty of room for decades of variations on the theme. Absolut collaborated with well-known artists and introduced the brand to artists such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Annie Leibowitz.
The sheer number of variations, all of which are cleverly designed and executed, prompted people to start collecting these variations. (If you’re of a certain age, there’s a good chance that either you or someone you know has lovingly plastered their college dorm room with Absolut ads.)
Takeaways:
- simplicity can give you plenty of space and time to let your creativity run wild. The legendary Absolut campaign ran for 25 years and produced more than 1,500 print ads – that’s just over one new ad per week for a quarter of a century.
- Brand consistencyYou can expand your market reach, especially over several decades.
- creativity – including collaborations outside your usual wheelhouse – can strengthen your brand.
2. Billboards and public transport advertising
Poster advertising includes print advertising on a much larger scale. Because of their size, the design, placement, and cost of billboard and public transit advertising differ from typical print advertising.
For example, billboards are typically designed with few or no words to give the viewer time to process the message as they drive by in a car or train. Because these ads also serve to build brand awareness, they often only contain a brand name or phone number (as opposed to a website).
National Geographic’s Shark Bus
Public transit advertising is probably my favorite form of traditional advertising because it offers so many opportunities to have fun and make people laugh – which in turn makes your brand more memorable.
National Geographic’s Shark Week (now SharkFest) needs no introduction, and so a 2005 city bus ad used minimal text and maximum teeth.
A realistic image of a shark was created wrapped around an entire city buswith the shark’s mouth – and its extremely long, extremely sharp teeth – centered on the side door. Every time the bus doors opened and passengers walked in and out, it looked to passersby as if people were emerging from or disappearing into the gaping jaws of a shark.
Takeaways:
- Evaluate unique opportunities within a medium. What worked as bus signage won’t work as TV advertising. So don’t expect a TV ad to easily translate into a billboard or public transit ad.
- Make people laugh. The unexpected pleasure of watching public transit users go in and out of a shark’s mouth is something you won’t forget when you head back to your office.
3. Television advertising
TV commercials are short commercials developed and paid for by companies and organizations that want to target the audience of a television show or network program. Television advertising has been around since the invention of television and has changed drastically with the birth of streaming TV.
Television advertising has a large reach (millions) and offers viewers a multi-sensory advertising experience – something that print ads and some digital ads can’t quite do. On the other hand, TV ads are expensive, avoidable for your audience, and difficult to target as accurately as other channels.
John Lewis Christmas Ads
The John Lewis department store has become famous for its heartbreaking Christmas adverts (or adverts, as it is a British brand). The two-minute spots tell stories about the power of giving, like this 2022 ad that purports to be about a 40-year-old trying to teach himself to skateboard.
Grab some tissues:
Dr. Annemarie Hanlon, lecturer in digital and social media marketing at Cranfield School of Management, wrote in an article“The trend that John Lewis started is working because they have transformed advertising from something we want to ignore or fast forward to something we want to watch.”
Hanlon also writes: “John Lewis has historically been considered an expensive store, but their festive advertising positions the brand as a provider of small Christmas treats and encourages people who wouldn’t normally shop there to treat someone they love at John Lewis this year .”
By ditching the consumerism so often prevalent in Christmas advertising and foregrounding a meaningful story, John Lewis has increased its brand awareness.
Even people who don’t normally shop there – like Americans – now look forward to the annual holiday promotion.
Additionally, John Lewis builds anticipation among its target audience by adopting a scarcity mentality and only releasing one such ad per year.
Takeaways:
- Give the customer what they want, not what You want. Presumably John Lewis wants to boost its holiday sales, but instead of running ads for luxury gifts or special offers, it tells its audience a story. And like The Beginner ad above, there’s often a twist or reveal at the end that keeps you hooked.
4. Radio
Radio advertising refers to spoken commercials that are broadcast on radio stations between music and other programs. This method dates back to 1920, when commercial radio first began broadcasting.
Radio advertising is particularly effective for local and regional advertising. Today, podcast advertising is a similar but more effective method, especially for a national audience.
Dove’s “Autotune” campaign
Today, radio is a difficult medium for advertisers to conquer. If you listen to terrestrial radio at all, you’ve probably learned how to drown out screaming commercials among DJ chatter and Top 40 bops.
And if you don’t listen to terrestrial radio, you probably listen to podcasts that let you fast-forward through toothbrush commercials you’ve already heard a hundred times.
Dove’s “Autotune” commercial is a notable exception to this category as it uses the audio-only medium to its advantage.
A woman sings, “Magazine model / with flawless skin / so perfectly curved / and incredibly thin,” as her voice becomes increasingly auto-tuned. At the end of the 45-second song, an announcer declares, “True beauty is not a trick of technology.”
Dove rose to prominence for its “Real Beauty” campaign, which launched in 2004 and recently released an episode denouncing AI-generated images.
The radio spot acts as both a standalone ad and an extension of the Real Beauty campaign, cleverly showing how technology is often used to cover up or unrealistically highlight beauty.
Takeaways:
- Like advertising for public transport Consider opportunities that only radio offers.
- Consistent messaging. Even though Dove takes AutoTune in a different direction than we’re used to with its print or video ads, the message remains the same: Dove stands against unrealistic beauty standards and the technology that enforces them.
5. Event promotion
Events (both in-person and virtual) provide an opportunity to engage with your audience while promoting your brand and products. You can host your own event in the form of a conference, webinar, roundtable or luncheon.
Another form of event promotion is sponsoring an event or purchasing a booth at a conference or trade show. This is more cost-effective than hosting your own event, but you can still engage your audience and promote your brand.
ENTER
The 2024 DRIVEWAY 12,000 of the best minds from marketing, sales, CX and technology gathered in Boston. It’s an opportunity for HubSpot to showcase our products (and announce new ones, for example). breeze), but it also gives other companies the opportunity to connect with marketers and promote their brands.
6. Direct mail
Direct mail includes postcards, brochures, and catalogs that are sent directly to your target audience’s homes.
A direct mail advertising strategy is more personal than others on this list, but it is also very costly. (Consider the postage costs alone.)
Another direct mail strategy is email, typically through email newsletters or promotions. This overlaps with our next section – digital advertising. We’ll unpack that next.
KitKat Chunky
It’s hard to stand out in a category literally littered with minimalist luxury catalogs, colorful political ads, and dozens of foil-wrapped credit card offers.
Instead, Nestlé got involved.
In 2012, the U.K.-based direct mail campaign sent out mail that mimicked a Royal Mail card with the words “Sorry, we missed you.” The reason? Too clunky.
Recipients could take the card to their local newsagent (supermarket) and exchange it for a bar of KitKat Chunky chocolate.
Takeaways:
- Stand out in a crowded advertising channel by taking something familiar and giving it an unexpected twist.
- Reward commitment. In this case, recipients of the cleverly disguised advertising could receive a free candy bar and actually try the product.
Digital advertising: How to advertise online
As of today it’s over 5 billion internet users. This number is 427% more than 2005. The point is that internet usage is increasing rapidly and isn’t stopping.
Unless Advertising on the Internetyou are behind the curve. Not only does the Internet give you direct access to more than half of the world’s population – including more than half of your target audience – but it also offers so many different types of advertising and channels on which you can advertise.
Marketers now have the flexibility to reach their audiences on multiple fronts, in different ways, and with different budgets. There are also a number of tools (many of which are free) that can help you implement your advertising strategy.
Here are the most common ways to advertise online:
Paid search engine advertising
Be it Google, Yahoo or Bing, all search engines have their own paid advertising. This is called pay-per-click, or PPC, and involves bidding on keywords and placing ads at the top or sides of search results.
When someone conducts a search query through one of these search engines, advertisers have the option to display ads above the organic search results. That’s what makes PPC so powerful – it gives your ads prime exposure in front of people who are already searching for relevant topics.
Here is an example on Google:
The top entries in the red field are advertisements. Organic search results – those that were created through SEO – are located below the map section.
Use our free AI copy generator for Google Ads.
Social media advertising
Social media platforms know how valuable their content is and therefore offer the opportunity to sponsor or promote posts.
Social media ads communicate your message to your target audience and encourage them to engage, click through, and purchase.
More and more social media sites are prioritizing advertising space over organic content to drive more sales.
Whether you are an up-and-coming business or a brand new one, you should consider doing some social media advertising. These not only promote your products and services but also promote your social media pages and increase your fan base.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X each have their own version of such ads.
Here’s how they appear in their respective feeds:
Download our free lookbook with 50 Facebook ad examples we actually clicked on.
Download our free guide to running successful LinkedIn ads.
X
Download our free guide to using Twitter for business.
Native ads and sponsored content
Sponsored content has been around since 1922, when brands sponsored entire radio shows. Today, sponsored content refers more to native ads and blog or article content that is subsidized by brands. Native ads harmonize with the surrounding content and fit easily into any design.
Have you ever read a Buzzfeed article that heavily mentioned or recommended a particular product or service? It was probably sponsored by a specific brand.
Checkout 10 reasons to put your phone away on your next tripsponsored by Agodaa hotel or destination booking site. Are Agoda’s services obviously advertised? No. Its main purpose is to entertain and inform, although Agoda is referenced several times in the content.
Above, the byline reflects agoda’s sponsorship. And when you scroll down the page, another ad appears in the content.
Sponsored content is a great way to promote your brand with content your audience is already familiar with.
Banner and display ads
Banner and display ads are an extension of search ads and follow a similar PPC model. But instead of a text-based ad, consumers see a more visual ad.
Banner ads are typically horizontal boxes at the top of a webpage, while display ads are smaller and appear on the side (like in the screenshot above).
Whether you choose traditional print ads in magazines or subway stations or opt for online advertising on social media or search engines, there are a few rules that make for great advertising.
Below are some advertising best practices that you can apply to all of your ads.
Advertising best practices
There are many best practices, tips and tricks when it comes to advertising. It is an art that has been perfected over the years, and with the advent of modern advertising channels and new media, best practices continue to manifest themselves.
These advertising best practices are:
- Address emotions
- Create positive associations
- Create a bandwagon effect
- Focus on benefits over features
- Use storytelling
However, in this section, we’ll explore these five famous advertising concepts that still work today – no matter what type of advertising method or medium you use.
If used correctly, these advertising techniques will do wonders for your brand and products.
Address emotions.
While you may not think of the ASPCA as a company, their unforgettable Sarah McLachlan commercial is the perfect example of this emotional appeal to entice people to take action.
For most of us, the images in this commercial are difficult to view – we may even turn away. But because we care, we are more likely to donate to animals in need after seeing the horrors they go through.
Create positive associations.
When consumers associate your product with a feeling of happiness, a state of success, or an accomplished goal, they are more likely to take notice, remember your product or service, and make a purchase.
You may have been on the receiving end of this before without even realizing it. Have you ever seen your favorite celebrity or Instagram influencer posing with a product or brand and found this? You Did you want to be, do, or look the same?
Companies create this subconscious connection in advertising, hoping You Associate your positive feelings with the product or service they are promoting.
For example, Under Armor uses Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to create a subconscious connection with customers. It apparently works since his Rock Delta shoes were The fastest-selling Under Armor shoes of 2017.
Catchy songs like “Nationwide is on your side” are an example of how people associate friendliness with the Nationwide brand.
Coca-Cola has a brand advertising campaign that associates its product with friends, family and fun. If you’re thinking about what refreshments to serve at a party or picnic, Coca-Cola wants you to think about it.
When creating your ads, think about what feelings, desires, or goals you want your brand to be associated with. Incorporate these feelings or goals into your advertising through stories or videos.
Look for influencers who align with your brand’s core values and behavior and involve them to promote a positive association.
Create a bandwagon effect.
People want to fit in. This is human nature. Neither you nor I are immune to this.
And it is this human need for belonging that makes the bandwagon effect so effective. People don’t want to be left out. They value the opinions of their colleagues and don’t want to be the only ones not Using the latest and greatest product.
Brands like Maybelline understand this concept well and use it to their advertising advantage. A tube of their best-selling mascara is purchased every five secondsa statistic that provides social proof and further supports its claim as “America’s Favorite Mascara.”
Use customer reviews, survey data, or shareable content to promote your brand as one worth following or purchasing.
Take a different approach by offering a discount if you share your brand with a friend or family member – letting your audience do the selling for You. Either way, use your advertising to create an inclusive environment that people want to join.
Focus on benefits over features.
Features and benefits are two very different things.
Features are the details of the product or service you sell, such as the dimensions of a couch or the ingredients of a protein bar.
Benefits, on the other hand, explain why a person should buy a couch or protein bar from you and how their life would benefit from such a purchase.
Advertising should focus on the benefits of your product or service and not explain what you are physically selling.
Consider how Southwest Airlines advertises. Instead of explaining line by line what a Business Select ticket offers, Southwest paints a picture of what life would be like if you bought it. In this ad they focus on the benefits.
Instead of wasting valuable advertising space on your product specifications or service details, talk about the positive impact a purchase could have on your customers.
If done right, your creative, beneficial advertising will inspire them to research the features themselves.
Use storytelling.
Our love of a good story is not unlike our desire to fit in.
Storytelling helps paint a broader picture of a brand or company, rather than just promoting a single product or service. Additionally, when stories resonate with someone, it is much easier to motivate him or her to take action.
Storytelling is a technique you should incorporate into all your advertising. If you haven’t started crafting your brand’s overall story yet, you definitely should.
consumers are rather remember facts when they are part of a story and storytelling is a more compelling way to connect with customers and sell your product.
Dove relies on storytelling Campaign partnership with Operation Homefront. The videos feature true stories about reuniting military members and their families. The advertising does not directly promote Dove products, but rather tells the story of the Dove brand (and touches the heart too).
Identifying your brand story will help you learn how best to discuss your brand in all marketing efforts, not just advertising.
Next, let’s take a look at some of the most memorable advertising campaigns, some of which put these best practices into action.
5 unforgettable advertising campaigns
Here are five campaigns that have had a noticeable impact on advertising history.
1. Nike: Just do it
In the late 1980s, Nike launched its “Just Do It” campaign.
At the time, Reebok was selling more than Nike, and Nike had to move quickly to compete with the sneaker conglomerate.
But it wasn’t just the three-word phrase that captured global attention. Their new advertising campaign also focused on real people wearing and exercising with their products, rather than simply showcasing clothing and sneakers themselves.
This powerful combination of people and products helped Nike grow sales from $800 million in 1988 to $9.2 billion just ten years later.
2. The Absolut Vodka bottle
Yes, Absolut gets two spots in our guide – the advertising is just that consistent.
Absolut’s “Bottles in the Wild” advertising series is the longest continuous campaign in history.
In an attempt to promote Absolut’s name internationally, particularly in the United States, the Absolut bottle was introduced in various cities and countries around the world.
It was launched in 1985 and ran until 2000 – lasting an impressive 25 years.
Absolut’s campaign helped the company grow from a tiny fraction of the vodka market share (2.5%) to over half of the US import market share.
To date, the Absolut brand is the fourth largest spirits company due to its focus on the overall story and not just the product itself.
3. Miller Lite
The folks at Miller Lite used differentiation to achieve their goal: getting “real men” to willingly drink light beers.
With his “Great taste, less filling” campaign.After the broadcast of this first campaign, the company maintained a leading position in the light beer market for several decades.
4. Always #LikeAGirl
Always’s #LikeAGirl campaign was launched in 2014 to “address the things society does that could be damaging a young girl’s confidence during puberty.”
The multimedia campaign aimed to take “like a girl” from insult to admiration by asking men and women to show them what it means to run like a girl, throw like a girl and like a girl to fight.
They asked the girls the same questions; Men and women invariably interpreted “like a girl” negatively, and the girls saw it as neutral or positive.
Even though Always’s period products aren’t mentioned in the ads, it creates positive associations with the brand – and sends a strong message to viewers.
5. Dos Equis
With their edgy, cool and sophisticated aesthetic, it’s no surprise that the Most Interesting Man in the World campaign put Dos Equis on the map.
This campaign created a positive association between Dos Equis beer and the feeling of elegance and balance. After the campaign launched, sales quickly increased by 22%.
Dos Equis’ success was even more impressive at a time when craft beers were gaining a foothold in the market and imported beer suffered a 4% decline. This campaign was an integral part of that success.
Learn from the pros how to capture your audience’s attention. These campaigns are a great example of how brands use real stories, real people and real conversations to grow their business.
Advertising helps you grow better
Equipped with a dense, dynamic story, advertising is an incredible tool to add to your marketing toolbox.
Between print ads, radio sponsorships, TV commercials, and social media advertising, the options for advertising and promoting your brand are endless.
To best connect and engage with your audience, speak your customers’ language, appeal to their emotions and inspire their desire to be part of a community, create a clear and authentic brand story to illustrate , how your brand aligns with its values.
By applying these best practices to your advertising, you’ll build a magnetic brand that attracts customers, builds a following, and generates revenue.
If you do this, your brand will become a household name that will stand the test of time – just like advertising itself.