Advertising… it’s what most people think of when they hear the term “marketing”. Advertising, however, is a form of promotion, which is one of the 4 P’s of marketing and we’re constantly exposed to it in our daily lives. Whether we’re watching tv, waiting for the bus, driving on the freeway, listening to internet radio, etc, we’re always being told what we should buy next and why. Although most of the time advertisements can be extremely annoying, when done right, they are a great way to build positive brand awareness and sell the product or service your business is offering.

We love watching advertisements and they’re actually a great way to get creative inspiration. Over the years, we’ve kept track of some of our favorite ad campaigns and wanted to share them with you! These are ads that have either left us feeling warm and fuzzy on the inside, that made us take a double take, share it with a friend, or all the above. After analyzing these ads, here are the 3 characteristics we believe made them effective:

• Shows a problem and offers a solution
• Taps into your emotions
• Makes you think and reflect (aka you’re still thinking about the ad after it’s over)

And without further ado, here are 5 of our favorite advertising campaigns:

This advertisement for the Heathrow Airport gives you all of the feels: teddy bears, grandparents, and Christmas. No matter what your situation is everyone can relate to either coming home to someone or someone visiting you during the holidays. This commercial does a great job of making light of something we all dread during the holidays – airports. We have all had horrible airport experiences, but as you watch these bears navigate their way throughout the airport, you witness acts of kindness that help them reach their ultimate goal – seeing their family for the holidays. The Heathrow Airport is not only associating themselves with that warm fuzzy Christmas feeling, but it is also showcasing how easy traveling to and from there is. Honestly, the first time we watched this we had no idea that the bears were going to turn into grandparents, but the parallel definitely makes you think and wonder how you didn’t notice it before!

This next ad campaign for Sanzer Hand Gel taps into your emotions in a less cute kind of way. Ok, more like in a totally gross kind of way. Think of this emotion as Disgust from the Disney Pixar movie “Inside Out”. Using dirty hands, this advertisement shows just how gross all the public surfaces we touch really are (the problem) and their sanitizer gel is the solution to combating those filthy germs. Not only does this ad campaign make you stop and analyze the photos, but it also pops right back up in your head whenever you come into contact with a public surface. This is what is so genius about it! As a marketer, you want your audience to remember your ad even when they are not looking at it, so by associating Sanzer Hand Gel with a doorknob, train handle, and pay phone, all things we come across in our daily lives (ok, maybe not pay phones) the ad lives on far past its advertising space.

Every single one of you reading this can probably relate this advertisement to a time where you have encountered someone whether while scrolling through your social media or in person who seems to live this awesome life. This person is always in a different place or eating at a cool new restaurant that you have never heard of. This E-Trade campaign plays on that exact emotion of envy with a side of fascination for this cool person on your Instagram feed. You don’t dislike this person, you just wish you could do cooler things than them. The commercial offers a simple solution at the end suggesting you would like this cool person better if you made more money than he or she – suggesting that by using E-Trade, you can make more money. We think this commercial is effective because it is tailored to a younger generation, as it targets those silent thoughts we all feel with the presence of social media.

Bumble, a dating app where women make the first move, has launched bumble bizz (kind of like the dating app but for business connections) and bumble bff (for finding new friends) and we are obsessed with their female empowering billboards. These ads inspire, motivate, and totally leave you thinking. Society has led women to believe that they should marry wealthy, powerful men (CEOs, Doctors, Lawyers) and has never really placed an emphasis on women holding these positions. For Bumble Bizz’s launch, they put billboards in major cities reminding women that they can become these successful career people. Thus introducing their app to help them get there. Not only is this campaign totally relatable to almost all women, but it creates a positive connection between the audience and the bumble brand, especially to us!

We chose to include this ad given the recent school shooting in Florida because it really puts into perspective how ridiculous gun law is in this country. Moms Demand Action is an organization of mothers calling for gun law reform and in this campaign, they show two children, one holding a Kinder Egg (which are banned in the United States for being unsafe) and another holding a firearm, and the irony is that this country banned a chocolate egg but won’t do anything about gun law. This ad asks the audience a question which leaves room for reflection and connects back to all of the mass school shootings that American schools have unfortunately been experiencing.

All five of these ad campaigns have left a lasting impression on us and we hope they left you with some inspiration or awareness of effective advertising characteristics. We want to hear from you too! Leave a comment below with your favorite advertisement campaign. And if you would like to discuss the strategy and planning that goes into creating effective advertising campaigns in further detail, please feel free to contact us.