I wanted to share with all of you what a great ad series looks like. These ads were done by an agency that goes by the name of Script and it is for AutoDesk’s AutoCAD Civil 3D program. If you are unfamiliar with AutoDesk, they have quite a few neat products that revolve around 2d and 3d design, animation, prototyping, and modeling. The Civil 3D program is mainly for the use of civil engineers in constructing simulated designs of various types of projects – basically a 3D model of whatever they want to build. Now take a look at the following three ads and tell me what you think. Photos are courtesy of Ads of the World (click to enlarge).

What’s so great about this campaign? A few things – - it’s simple, the visual is astounding and is straight from the program being promoted, and the copy matches the visual to perfection.

“Visit places that still don’t exist” – - This is one of those simple “DUH!” lines that just works and appears as if it was probably very easy to come up with. No matter the difficulty, when the copy and the visual are in such harmony, you can’t debate it. What’s important to think about is the impression these ads have on individuals who are civil engineers or would use this program; more than likely very effective.

I’m not going to go into any further discussion; I just wanted to give this some recognition.

I recently became a member of AdsoftheWorld.com and have viewed numerous advertisements and marketing ploys every day since. One of my favorites is by the agency Prolam Y & R done for Kitadol.

Courtesy of AdsoftheWorld.com

This is an excellent ad. The visual execution is fantastic, the copy is congruent with the message being conveyed, and the copy placement/style is good. So what’s the problem? This ad is targeted towards men.

Kitadol is a form of acetaminophen, and apparently there is a menstrual-relief-specific product as well. Barring the occasional gender-curious specimens or science experiments gone wrong, the only people who will be needing this product are women. Now I don’t have any research data in front of me, but I think it’s fair to say that most women buy their own “I hate you PMS” pills.

As for the boyfriends, husbands, and “What the hell am I doing this aisle” fathers that may be generous enough to throw this into their shopping cart either out of sincerity or personal defense; they are not the ones making the decision on which brand to buy. If they have any common sense or previous second-hand PMS experience, they will buy what the woman wants them to buy. There will be no man “shopping” through the variety of these pills and making his own decision on which to buy. I acknowledge the fact that there are always rarities in any population as well as extreme situations, but even then the number of male shoppers would account for a very, very low percentage.

While this is a great ad, does it do any good? It’s a clever idea and I give a lot of kudos for that, but it’s aimed at the wrong audience. Period.

How many companies are wasting money by promoting their product or service to the wrong audience? Do you have any examples of this?
That pun you noticed about 10 seconds ago…it was intended.

I came across this ad in the book Contemporary Advertising and thought it was very witty.

At first you think Gold’s Gym is just being environmentally friendly and simply positioning their name in a place where people who care about their physical appearance are likely to be. Then you read the line “And pick up the trash, too.” What a great double meaning for the first line!

I love it when a company can cleverly put a double meaning on something that is actually relevant to their business. There may be a small percentage of people who read it and never notice, or don’t get it. But I’m willing to bet that the majority will understand it rather quickly if not after a few seconds of thinking. And isn’t that what you want? Get your audience to not only see your name, logo, or slogan, but to get them thinking? This means that they are spending and extended period of time dedicating their thoughts to your company’s message and your message only. It’s a winner!

Do you have any favorite ads that use a double meaning?

Alright so I found this earlier on AdAge through a post by Ken Wheaton.

I watched this commercial before reading what Mr. Wheaton had to say about it. I’m not a smoker so this does not affect me directly, but I still think it’s a great ad. While I cannot speak for smokers, I do feel that it would have some sort of an impact on their thinking when purchasing another pack; at least for smoking mothers. How could you not feel some form of sadness when this little boy loses his mom and starts to cry?

The realness of this ad is “…leading some to call in complaints to the Department of Health” (Ken Wheaton). People are complaining because they believe that this little boy was not acting, he was put in a situation where he did react by crying. Now, this boy, who appears to be between 3-5 years of age, may be a “beyond his years” actor. However, in my own opinion, I have to believe this is not the case, and the boy was forced into a crying moment. I doubt that it was the exact situation depicted in the ad, losing his mother, but probably some other tragic situation. Donny Deutsch discusses this possibility with Matt Lauer, <a href=”http://adage.com/adages/post?article_id=135756″>just scroll down</a>.

Is this okay to do?

I am 100% for it. If in fact this kid was sadly forced to cry, I doubt it was anywhere near a life-altering experience. And in return, he’s helping everyone by getting people to quit smoking. I lost my mother once when I was probably around that age, maybe older. We were waiting in a checkout line at Stop &amp; Shop, I turned and she was gone. Yea, I started to cry, who wouldn’t. She had only moved a couple checkout counters over, I just wasn’t paying attention. She had her eyes on me though, so I was still safe. My point is that for those few moments I was lost, and alone, and I cried. Does that moment affect me at all now? Nope. Granted, this kid was at a train station or whatever it was, so the disarray and fear he would have experienced was far greater, but the creeps that can be found at Stop &amp; Shop can be just as horrifying.

Just because this ad targets smoking mothers, doesn’t mean they are the only ones who take something from this. The general message is about how ones smoking can result in tragic consequences for your loved ones. If a smoker unfortunately reaches the end of their line, they aren’t the only ones that are suffering the consequences. Loved ones, especially their children, have to deal with the consequences as well, and that can sure make current smokers have a guilty conscience about what they are potentially doing. For anyone who smokes and has children, watch that ad, and try to not feel guilty or heavy-hearted.