Against the Tide
To grab attention in a crowded marketplace, try breaking away from the pack with an understated ad.
Flip through most big consumer magazines, and what do you see in
between the editorial matter? A blur of colors, exclamations,
toothy pitchpersons, toll-free numbers, a coupon here, a Web site
there. Or maybe it's page after page of anorectic models,
greased in almond oil and draped in designer gear. Or perhaps
it's a sheaf of toddler images showing little Trevors, Trents
or Madisons goo-gooing over their strollers, burpy dolls, car seats
or lozenges for little sore throats.
If any of these represent the kind of environment in which you
plan to advertise, maybe you need to be a contrarian and create an
ad that leaps out with clever understatement. That's what the
ad shown here does. Created by Chicago's famed Leo Burnett USA
ad agency for Eggo, a division of Kellogg, it is designed in an
unexpected letter format (contrasting with most of the ads before
and after it) and sports a fresh and whimsical, triteness-free
headline. No, the heading doesn't directly promote a benefit,
as we're taught in Headline Writing 101. But it gets an
exemption for being relevantly offbeat. To quote one of my favorite
advertising pooh-bahs, the late Victor Schwab, on the value of
developing headlines like this: "Many a headline fails to stop
readers because its vocabulary is so hackneyed. No word or phrase
in it has any attention-getting element of surprise. No words,
expressions or ideas are used that are not commonly seen in the
headline of an ad." So "You're sticky and we're
sorry" gets a thumbs up.
The rest of the letter-ad reads, in part: "To
our friends: For years you've had to eat your Eggo waffles with
syrup that can drip from the bottle onto your fingers. But now we
are putting an end to your suffering. [Eggo Syrup is] a great
tasting complement to America's favorite waffles . . . and even
better, it comes in a high-tech, no-drip bottle."
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The new Eggo Syrup bottle, with a "perfect pour no-drip
spout" (no doubt a shoo-in for the next technology time
capsule) leaps out as the only color element on an otherwise
black-and-white page. By contrast, the ad could have shown a
kitchen table full of little kids using the product and a headline
proclaiming the end of the sticky syrup bottle. But to me, it would
have been just another fleeting image in a blur of ads, lost in the
flutter of an eyelid.
What should you take away from this example? When it comes to
getting attention in advertising, always consider going the
opposite way of traffic.
Jerry Fisher (www.jerry-fisher.com) is a freelance advertising
copywriter and author of Creating Successful Small Business
Advertising.