WOW-ing The World
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle material. Although helpful for the environment, this is actually terrible advice for Advertising! Reforming already used content is just a waste of money and time. Nobody likes stale bread so why would they enjoy stale ads? Get crazy, get creative, and get thinking!
Taking one thing and making it into another, or taking nothing and making it into something is real advice when it comes to Advertising! I personally think this is the WOW Factor in Advertising and Design. Thinking of new ways to present something to the world, ways in which they would have never dreamed of is the trick!
These are recent Advertisements that stood out in my mind for having a real WOW Factor. Each campaign turns nothing into something, and places high value on viewer experience by allowing them direct interaction with the ad.
These are some of the Ads that have that true WOW Factor in our books:
THE DRESS, The Salvation Army
This ad features a fad on twitter about a dress illusion that some people saw as being white and gold, while others saw it as blue and black. The ad takes this social media phenomenon and turns it into an anti-violence campaign. They claim. “The only illusion is if you think it was her choice”.
WOW Factor:
The Salvation Army took a meaningless concept that took over social media in roughly 15 minutes, and gave it a real meaning. The dress and its illusion had no connection to real life issues until this ad was released.
Taking an item that the public was already familiar with and making it an icon for anti-violence allowed viewers to be submerged right into the issue since they already knew what the “blue, black vs. white, gold” concept meant.
OREO, Blackout
During Super Bowl XLVII there was a minor power outage that stole all of the attention from the game; talk about an interception! Being quick on their feet, Oreo took advantage of the tragedy and created a humorous ad to reflect the event.
WOW Factor
Oreo’s marketing team came up with a campaign in no time that turned the whole event into a humorous act. They cheered up disappointed viewers by taking a negative incident and twisting it to having a positive outcome for viewers everywhere.
Oreo took a common event and connected it to their cookies. Whenever there’s a blackout people are sure to pick up a pack of Oreo’s and a tall glass of milk instead of staring into the darkness around them.
LOOK AT ME, Women’s Aid
A billboard was set up in the streets of London showing a moving, female face with evidence that she had been abused. She blinks, moves her head, and thanks her viewers if they achieve the goal of the Violence Against Women ad.
The point is for people walking past to look at her in order to help heal her wounds. The more people pay attention to her, the quicker she heals. If nobody pays attention she’ll never heal. The goal is to show that if people pay attention to the issues, they can be the solution.
WOW Factor:
The billboard takes viewer interaction to a whole new level! The ad places viewers directly in front of the problem and allows them to be the solution, forcing them to respond to the abused woman before them.
Although this ad doesn’t make something out of nothing, it takes an ignored issue in society and gives a voice to it as well as the women affected.
Take a look at the billboard in action, healing with one look at a time! “Domestic Violence, Live Billboard”
The WOW Factor in Advertising is to connect with viewers and make their experience memorable. This is achieved by taking any concept and making it into something unheard of. Expanding your imagination and thinking in abstract ways is the first step to WOWing the world through Advertising.
Written by Daniela Di Vito, Digital Design Blogger. daniela@magentadesign.ca
