What a waste!

I know they say a picture is worth a thousand words but that only holds true when the picture is relevant to the message you are trying to get across. And what irritates me most are the big, beautiful one and two page full colour pictures for (generally very expensive) luxury products like jewellery, cosmetics, motor vehicle, watches and fashions.

Most times such adverts feature a large photo of whatever product is being flogged, the brand name and precious little else. I think they rely on the approach that, if you have to ask what it is or why it’s so good, then it’s not for you! In other words if you’re in their “in crowd” you’ll know all about it and no further explanation is necessary!!

I believe that approach is okay if you’re happy just marketing to your “in crowd”; personally I reckon you should use every opportunity to increase the size of your “in crowd” by also appealing to the people who don’t know anything about your product or service but would love to buy it if they did.

To do that you must overcome the curse of assumption… the belief that people know all about your products and services. Quite simply you do that by giving people reasons why they would love, want, use, enjoy your product or service. You tell them the story of your product or service and how it will benefit them… solve their problems, answer their wants and needs and so on. So I reckon the right amount of words supported by the right picture is the way to go.

So below is an advertisement that would have cost heaps and consisted of a very lush looking picture spread across two pages of a very upmarket readership magazine with a tiny bit of copy at the bottom of the advert. Regrettably, there was no headline to get attention so I think most readers would have just thought it was a great picture, relevant to nothing, and missed its message entirely. (You might argue that the fork in the front might have invited more studious attention!)

I’ve also blown up the copy in the advert about the product, minimal as it is. It really does break my heart how much more could have been said about the benefits of the product with a much smaller picture. In fact, instead of blowing a big part of their budget on one advert, they could have had four or more for the same money and got far greater exposure and results!