Creativity in Advertising: When It Works and When It Doesn't

• By Melissa Harmon
• 04-11-2022
• Digital Marketing

While it is not always the answer to everything, advertising has become a staple for businesses that wish to expand their reach, promote their products, and increase sales.

However, recent changes to many popular platforms’ algorithms means that running online ads is no longer as effective and affordable as before. This forces brands to rethink their ways. How can you make yourself stand out from competition?

One of the solutions is to turn to creative advertising, which makes sense if you want to do something different. You will want your ads to be eye-grabbing. You will want to set yourself apart from your competitors. Churning out generic and bland ads is not the answer, obviously.

What is Creative Advertising?

Creative advertising allows you more room to innovate and experiment. Your ads can perform so much better if they have the power to grab your target audience’s attention and capture their imagination. Appealing to their emotions will make your ads more perceptible. Creative ads are believed to positively impact consumer behavior.

Messages injected with creativity tend to resonate better with audiences. Of course, there is no empirical research that can fully confirm how creative advertising correlates with market performance. It is, however, disadvantageous to dismiss the positive impact of creative advertising in getting more attention and accumulating positive perception.

Why is Creativity Important in Advertising?

According to a study by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, only 16% of advertising is both recalled and attributed to the brand. This means that a large percentage of the effort and budget goes to waste. Customers do not always notice and remember you, just because you have been everywhere, from Facebook and Google to Pinterest and TikTok.

It takes so much more than a few good ads to leave a lasting impact to your prospect. If anything, the purchase cycle is complex. It does not happen overnight. But there are brilliant ways to catch your prospects’ eyes and leave a lasting impression.

Whether you go for a quirky copy or eye-grabbing graphics, creativity will make a huge difference to your advertising efforts. Here are some of the essential elements of creative advertising:

· It makes you stand out.
· It is memorable.
· It evokes emotion.

Giving your ads a touch of creativity will pique your audience’s attention. Keep in mind: many consumers are often flooded with commercial messages. Those messages are constantly ignored because of saturation. You will want your ads to cut through the noise and connect with your prospects on an emotional level.

Your ads should be more than ads. They should reflect the whole customer experience with your brand, attracting and holding your prospective customers’ attention no matter where they are in the buying cycle.

When Creative Advertising Works

It Tells Your Brand Story

Storytelling is one of the backbones of content marketing, and it is something that lends a distinct flavor to an ad. If you want to capture people’s attention and engage with them, you need a well-crafted narrative that can help forge personal connections. With creative advertising, you will be able to tell your brand story in a unique and compelling way. You will be able to appeal to your audience’s senses and persuade them to take your desired action, whether it is learning more about your brand, checking out your product offers, or signing up to your monthly newsletter.

When they know who you are and what you can do for them, they tend to keep you on top of their minds. They will also grow closer to your brand, eventually learning to trust you in the process. Winning your prospects over will also help you spread your brand’s reputation through word of mouth, which is still a powerful tool in marketing.

It Grabs Audience’s Attention

Ads presented in a creative way can effectively communicate your key messages to your target audience. They will be compelled enough to interact with your brand and learn more about you. People tend to dismiss bland information as they are often bombarded day and night. But if you choose to be creative with your ads, you will be able to hold your audience’s attention enough to give them your sales pitch.

You can craft irresistible offers and create a more effective funnel marketing. You can also employ creative advertising in formulating customer loyalty programs for your brand. Signing up to your email newsletter, for example, can give them a 10% discount at checkout.

It Stimulates Sales

Boring ads are no fun, especially if you are trying to convince your target prospects to buy your products. Highly creative ads can stimulate their senses, spurring their purchase decisions into action. Even with a lower budget, creative ads can still grab attention and promote your sales campaign more effectively than generic ads.

You may want to run a giveaway for your loyal followers. Creating a video that catches the eye and crafting a witty copy can compel them to join your contest. This can help expand the reach of your ads and give you more opportunities to promote your products and convert followers into paying customers.

When Creative Advertising Doesn’t Work

There is a Disconnect Between the Brand and Messaging

If you are too focused on creativity at all cost, you might lose track of your core message and objective. This is when creative advertising does not work. No matter how creative you get with your ads, if your message is not resonating with your target audience, it will not give you the result that you want. It will be hard to convert followers who might be compelled enough to click on your ads only to find that you are not delivering on your promise.

At the very least, creative freedom should go hand in hand with your consistent branding and messaging strategy.

You are Targeting the Wrong Audience

Sure, your ads are impressive enough to compel an average online user. However, if you don’t understand your target audience, or worse, targeting the wrong audience, then all your efforts will go to waste. They will not find your ad relevant and will not click on it no matter how spectacular it is. Serving your ads to the right audience will give you better chances to maximize your creative advertising efforts.

Creative Freedom Makes the Ads Less Relatable

Your ads are so creative that they do not seem to resonate with ordinary folds anymore. While there are plenty of benefits when you employ your creative juices into your ad campaigns, you might risk alienating your target market. Your ads, at the very least, should be able to strike a balance between being creative and being relatable.

Final Thoughts

Since we are talking about creativity, the extent of its impact on the performance of ad campaigns cannot be effectively measured. However, creative ads are still worth a try. They often display a high level of artistry, from aesthetically appealing elements that encompass sound, verbal, and visual to clever copy. These are often enough to grab and hold one’s attention.

But creative ads can only be as effective if you also keep other important elements of advertising in mind, including your campaign objective, budget, and optimizations.