Both of these ads appeared one on top of the other in the Salem Statesman Journal on Wednesday May 27, 2009. Neither of these ads is terrible, actually both are pretty OK, but the best thing about both of them has nothing to do with the contents of either.
These ads were at the top right hand corner of page 2. Granted this is not the premo premo position in the paper, but it certainly beats being buried on the bottom of the right hand side toward the back of the section. Thumbs up for position. Call your rep up and give him a pat on the back, and he can pretend he had something to do with it.
Both of these ads have solid plusses and minuses. Black and white and small are marks of either a flight plan or a limited budget or perhaps both. Did they get their money’s worth? Only they can say, but here are comments none the less:
MAPS
This ad has two strong points and two weaknesses: hook, eye, headless, and crowd. Let me explain grasshoppa.
Hook
On the strong side, Maps uses a tried and true hook to get people into their ad, a money offer, actually two offers or four offers if you want to count them all individually. The hook is “$100 off closing costs,” everyone likes to save money; no one wants to turn down $100. So thumbs up for the headline.
Headless
Here is the other side of the headline...Because what is below is so large, the headline itself has less impact, therefore the ad is somewhat headless. The design of the APR section is big and reversed so you have to rely on that to let people know they will save money on the interest and hope they see your money offer. Because of that the ad is somewhat headless.
Eye
The three APR rates are eye catching, their size and reverse will draw the eye to it first…are these rates good or not? Who knows, perhaps a professional. But if I were in the market for a house and was looking at these types of figures the 4.00% might make sense to me. So this ad is specifically targeted to homebuyers.
Crowd
These ads were at the top right hand corner of page 2. Granted this is not the premo premo position in the paper, but it certainly beats being buried on the bottom of the right hand side toward the back of the section. Thumbs up for position. Call your rep up and give him a pat on the back, and he can pretend he had something to do with it.
Both of these ads have solid plusses and minuses. Black and white and small are marks of either a flight plan or a limited budget or perhaps both. Did they get their money’s worth? Only they can say, but here are comments none the less:
MAPS
This ad has two strong points and two weaknesses: hook, eye, headless, and crowd. Let me explain grasshoppa.
Hook
On the strong side, Maps uses a tried and true hook to get people into their ad, a money offer, actually two offers or four offers if you want to count them all individually. The hook is “$100 off closing costs,” everyone likes to save money; no one wants to turn down $100. So thumbs up for the headline.
Headless
Here is the other side of the headline...Because what is below is so large, the headline itself has less impact, therefore the ad is somewhat headless. The design of the APR section is big and reversed so you have to rely on that to let people know they will save money on the interest and hope they see your money offer. Because of that the ad is somewhat headless.
Eye
The three APR rates are eye catching, their size and reverse will draw the eye to it first…are these rates good or not? Who knows, perhaps a professional. But if I were in the market for a house and was looking at these types of figures the 4.00% might make sense to me. So this ad is specifically targeted to homebuyers.
Crowd
Lastly, and probably the most important part is that the ad is simply crowded. This is particularly true at the bottom where the typeface drops below the size of the newsprint. This is the tension with small ads and required information; it is a juggling act. How do you get the information you need in the ad space, plus some sizzle. The problem is, when you put the APR rates in the ad, you have to disclaim. So, for the size of ad you have, it is a necessary evil. Sadly the only remedy to this problem is to either shrink the APR rates or grow the ad. Given the size, the ad is crowded yet clear.
I have yet to see a local bank run an ad that says, “WE ARE SOLVENT” or “NO TARP HERE” or “OPEN AN ACCOUNT AND GET YOUR OWN TARP” (then give new customers an actual tarp); that would be amusing and eye catching.
YMCA
I actually like this ad better than Maps. It is simple, clean, has a nice little photo of happy people (the photo is probably a little too small but it is fine for the size of the ad). Even smaller than the Maps ad, but I think communicates their purpose a little better.
It is generally believed that you should never open with a negative in a newspaper ad. The YMCA ad is a perfect example of how to do a negative headline…notice that their negative is actually a positive anyway. I like it, that offer should work; people really don’t like paying contracts at fitness clubs. So, well done.
I have only one observation and that is repeated information. YMCA is pushing thee points at the top: no contracts, no judgment, and no one turned away. Then they restate the three points in the reversed out section of the ad…it is also here that we discover that the program they are discussing is fitness. Then at the bottom they asterisk the last point again. Given the ad space, do we want to repeat these points 2 or 3 times?
The only change I suggest is to carefully consider the text inside the reversed out box. The text block is on large 20+ word sentence. Generally, in newspaper advertising, it is a good idea to stay away from long or complex sentences. If you broke the sentence into two and pushed fitness up towards the top of that reversed box, you would have probably a little more impact, it certainly would be a little quicker to read.
Hi Marc,
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing our ad. Must mean it was somewhat effective, right? :-)
Your review raises some important thoughts that we have been discussing internally for a few weeks now, and provides good feedback for us. Nothing like a free focus group to help us direct our attention! As you mentioned, promoting rates does increase the need for disclaimers. We have been brainstorming some different ways to say, “Check us out, we’re a good deal!” in a way that is convincing enough to draw people in, but that doesn’t necessarily spell it out with a rate. We hope that will mean a chance to have a little more fun (and a little less text) in our ads. Maybe a few months down the road you'll be able to do a follow-up, before-and-after look at some MaPS ads and compare effectiveness.
Your TARP idea is clever, too…What a kick that would have been!
Thanks again for noticing and writing about our ad. Good luck with your blog!
Jill Nowacki
VP-Development
MaPS Credit Union