Ad Comparisons Different Ads

¶ … features two ads for televisions, and both ads were featured in the same issue of Men's Health. Ad A, for the Zenith TV seems for the Men's Health demographic, the imagery being more stylish in nature, contrasted to Ad B's more stereotypical golf course male imagery. Ad A's copy is more left-brained as well, highlighting product attributes in a fairly technical manner. Ad B does not take this approach, but rather talks about the product benefits, in particular how crisp the images are with respect to watching sports.

Arguably, Ad B would test better among all men, though it would not be as dominantly popular among the MH demo. But the imagery and focusing on benefits should appeal to a broader cross-section of men than the ad that is stylish and strictly focused on a left-brained description of product attributes. B would seem to win on both imagery and copy. #6 features to ads in Bon Appetit, and both ads are for Audi.

Both ads have the same structure, with an image of a car from behind, and then a large block of text at the bottom. Initially, the Ad A is the more striking, for its asymmetry and the way that the image is in the reader's face more than the other one. The copy is an appeals more to the average man in that is talks more about transmissions, where the copy in B is about creativity.

So there is an issue here with the question -- Bon Appetit readers are more likely the creative type of men who are drawn to such discussions, not to mention the image of the convertible at the beach. All told, Ad B is more appealing I would think to male Bon Appetit readers, but Ad A is more appealing to men in general, being much more focused on the car. #7 features two ads for Pur water, comparing this water filter to bottled water.

The message is basically the same for the two. The first ad, which is darker and features money as a direct visual contrast to the Pur, is featured in People. The second ad, which also juxtaposes Pur versus bottled water, is from Better Homes and Gardens. Both ads are in mainstream magazines, so there are fairly similar demos for each. There are two things that will capture the audience -- one is the initial hit of the visual, which favors the black, especially in the most fashion-forward People.

Second, the juxtaposition is horizontal in the People ad, and vertical in the other one. I feel that the horizontal juxtaposition matches the way most people who aren't Asian read, and the black is more striking. Thus, not only does the ad catch the eye better, but it also captures the juxtaposition better, so the People ad should have tested better among women.

#8 features two ads from Glad garbage bags, entitled "Banana Split" and "Wake up and Smell the Coffee." The banana split ad is from Ladies' Home Journal and the coffee ad is from Cosmopolitan. The two ads fit well with their target audiences. The home journal ad is.