The Power of Ads
In today’s world of consumerism, money is everything. Therefore, companies are advertising their products everywhere we go. But how to persuade a customer to choose exactly them, when there are so many competitors around? Well, modern problems require modern solutions, and so ads today come in many different forms and are so much more than just billboards and fliers. What’s more, sometimes we don’t even realize we see, or make them as well, yet they are very effective.
But as far as I see, an investment into advertising is not always the best one, and it might not for sure succeed in rising the sales, if not well thought in advance. In my opinion, the world being flooded with so many ads results in them losing the powerful impact they potentially could have, especially because they all seem practically the same and aren’t anything special anymore. I’ve noticed for myself that living fast-paced life and having so many responsibilities anyway, it feels annoying to see boring offers on the bus driving home, all around the city when going out, or blocking my sight when visiting websites, over and over again.
If the companies want their ads to even be seen in the first place, they need to come up with something new, creative, and unique. Even though it’s indeed hard to show their product or service in a way to attract attention, I’ve found several very clever ideas some have implemented. The first one is used by Starbucks. They are especially well known for their variety of coffee drinks. The first time I visited the shop was last year while being on a family trip in Spanish Valencia. We placed our order, and as we were patiently waiting at the table, I loved listening to the sounds of a coffee machine. The place was bustling, but not too loud, which surprisingly puts me in a very calm, happy and productive mood, so perhaps you will see me writing another article in such coffee shop. After a few minutes, we picked up our drinks which were served in plastic cups. My favorite part was my name written on it. I’ve never seen any coffee shop do it before, and it made me feel like at home and just as the barista would have known me before. And that is the genius trick they use. Writing a name on a cup breaks the barrier between the employees and a customer, making him feel welcome and appreciated, so he loves to come back another time. Personalization of the cup gives a buyer a feeling of being connected to the product, like it was made especially for him. Even more, customers then want to share their unique experience on social media, without realizing that their posts of coffee drinks are actually millions of dollars worth of advertisements that Starbucks, this way, gets for free. Hats off to anyone who came up with this!
Coca-Cola followed a similar path. With the beginning of their “Share a Coke” campaign, the new version of the bottles with some of the most popular American names saw the light of day, according to Investopedia and Los Angeles Times. The bigger Coca-Cola bottles, containing at least 1.5 liter of the drink, were given words like family, friends and BFF, which encourages people even more to share it with someone else and spread the word about Coca-Cola. Later they took it even one step further, launching bottles with removable stickers which can be glued to shirts, notebooks, phone cases… you name it! The company also introduced a recognizable music connecting to the campaign, which is making it even more well known. If you can’t find a bottle with your name on it, you can now purchase one in the online store. The options they offer are endless, and you can even create your own meaningful message and then give it away to someone who is celebrating their birthday, having a wedding, hosting a family gathering, or for any special events like game days of famous sports teams.
Although sometimes boring and unexciting, some ads can be true masterpieces. I think it requires a lot of consideration, analytics, creativity and hard work to come up with something new and really get buyers’ attention nowadays. But no matter how unique they should be, at the end of the day, simplicity is still the key. In today’s industry era, where most of the products are made the same way and in large quantities, it’s all about putting in some small effort to add value and form a connection between a company and its customer – that’s what is so rare in today’s world but makes the biggest difference in the advertising game, and who would have thought that sometimes just a simple name is all it takes to win it.