Pack a Punch

Why do relatively few people actually read an ad all the way through? Because beyond the headline, the rest of the sales message is usually locked in a boring block of paragraphs below it. Unless their interest in the product or service is keen from the outset, readers aren't easily lured into the homework assignment that a copy block can look like. Indeed, the sales points embedded there may be superbly crafted and hugely persuasive, yet may never get read because the text looks like labor to get through.

That's why it's refreshing to see an ad like the one shown here from Graco, a well-known maker of baby gear. The company compartmentalized its key sales points about its car seat in eye-popping yellow bursts that float like clouds around the ad. In fact, the headline itself hovers in a little cartoon cloud. So a new mom who's flipping though a parenting magazine with little Kevin or Kaitlin napping or yapping on her shoulder can quickly get the key points.