The world’s most effective ads
Every marketer knows that a good ad creative can make or break a campaign.
But what they don’t know is that the majority of the world’s most successful ads are based on 6 templates.
These templates have proven to work for decades.
And now they are here for you to steal.
In 1999, a research paper – The Fundamental Templates of Quality Ads – was published.
It stated that the majority of the award-winning ads are iterations of these 6 templates.
Of course, the age-old debate in itself is – does winning awards indicate success?!
But, IPA research shows that award-winning ads are 11 times more commercially effective than those that do not win awards.
However, a more recent paper from Peter Field (2019) states that recent award-winning ads are no more effective than non-winning ones.
But – that’s the best part now – is because they are simply not as creative as they used to be.
They are too short-termish and too focused on activation.
Due to the shift to digital marketing, all of the marketing has become poor direct response marketing. (Or content boosting)
So modern-day advertising isn’t primarily focused on building lasting memory connections, storytelling, and mental availability.
This makes these templates even more interesting. Because they are from the good ol’ days.
They are ideal for Brain Engine Optimization(BEO)
So, let’s assume the scientists back then knew what they were doing. And what they discovered is true.
We can use this as a proxy for efficiency.
And we can start making better creatives that get noticed and get us in the heads of category buyers.
No matter whether it’s merely for social media. Or for big campaigns.
1. The pictorial analogy.
Ads that use the pictorial analogy replace a symbol of the product with a symbol of the value it wants to represent.
2.Extreme situation.
Unrealistic situations to show the key attributes of the product.
This is the stuff that is taken up to 11. It’s crazy, fearless, absurd, and super shareable on social media.
3.Consequences.
This can either be an illustration of the extreme consequences of using the product.Or the consequences of not using the product.
4.Competition.
The competition is usually between a product and an object from a different class you wouldn't expect. The competition can
• be about the product attribute
• be about the worth of the product
• show an uncommon use of the product(competing for a use case).
5.Interactive experiment.
In these ads, the customer is invited to participate.
These are all the see-it-yourself/grab-a-person from the street ads.
6.Dimensionality alteration.
In these, the environment is manipulated in order to show a key attribute of the product.
Usually, it means altering time or size.
Here are all the templates with their subsets
