Ad is short for advert or advertisement. It is any material used for promoting a product, service, or event or publicising a job vacancy through a public medium. Ads are created based on the goals the advertiser intends to achieve such as:

• Brand awareness: this refers to the extent to which consumers are familiar with or can recall and recognise the qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services.
• Brand positioning: this refers to how distinct a brand is and the place they occupy in the minds of the consumer
• Sales Conversion: this simply means convincing people to buy a product or patronise a brand. The ultimate aim of every advert is sales.
• Brand love: Some Adverts are so powerful that it does not only increase sales but also make the targets fall in love with a brand. Ads are a great way for the targets to see and understand a brand’s personality, and if there’s a connection, a love affair can be kindled.

There are different types of adverts and different ways to advertise, however, there are some general qualities every good advert must possess. A good ad must do three things – inform, educate and entertain the target audience all within the confines of the brand’s guidelines.

• Inform: A good ad must deliver a message. It must be simple, clear and convincing.
• Educate: A good ad must provide guidance on product use and operation or give instruction on product or brand. It must have a clear call to action which tells the customer the next step to take.
• Entertain: A good ad must be able to grab and retain attention, it must have memorising value, connect with the target audience and elicit the right emotion i.e make the target audience laugh, cry, sad, angry, shocked, excited or intrigued.

Finally, no matter how good an ad is, if it is not representative of or relevant to the brand, it is a bad advert which will destroy the brand perception over time. Which is why i always say, that the true test of creativity is delivering an out-of-the-box ad within the brand box – it’s guidelines.

So before you put out your next ad, be it a copy, graphic design or video ad, make sure it ticks all of the boxes above and you’ll be glad you did!

Image source: Airtel Nigeria