¶ … 13th set, there are two ads for Cottonelle, one from Ladie's Home Journal and the other from Better Homes and Gardens. These were in spring and winter respectively. The first ad features a boy playing football -- there is sort of a weird tie in about butts and cleanliness, but to be honest it does not invite good thoughts. This may have a humor to a niche part of the market, some kind of dark mother humor, but the joke kind of bombs. The second ad features a puppy cuddling the paper and the tagline "tested for softness." The ad is cute -- puppies are irresitable -- and pays homage to the kitten ads for a rival company. . Morever, coziness sells in winter, and this ad conveys that warmth and coziness effectively. The image tells the entire story, and there is almost no copy. With the first ad, it takes a lot of copy to sort of try to tell the story, which to be honest is a story that it hard to tell with any sort of bluntness. The warmth and delicate handling of a touchy subject should have had the second ad test higher. Boys playing football is better for advertising a stain remover, not toilet paper.
In example 14, there are two ads for toothbrushes. The ads is from Cosmopolitan and the second from People, but the product is fairly generic in nature. I feel that the People is, the second one, would have tested higher among women. In the first ad, the Cosmo one, the tag line is smoething about polishing pads. The visuals are cluttered and the copy is all over the place. Visually, it looks like a mess. In terms of the content, it does not sell a story very effectively. Who is Ms. Pomeroy and why do I care about...
The second ad, however, is much cleaner. First, it has an effective tag line "to clean where bad breath hides." This makes sense to most people speaks to a concern that a lot of women actually have. The visual is simple and fun. There is enough copy to present the product, but nothing extraneous. The overall presentation is cleaner as a result. The second ad is more likely to attract eyeballs, and it has greater clarity in its message, which should also make it more appealing.
The 15th set features two Volkswagen ads, both the same tagline "Hey, there's a ___ one" and no other copy. The visuals are the key to the ad's success. The first features a stunt motorcyclist jumping a bunch of cars, so implying that in the midst of this jump he is distracted by the black Volkswagen. The second one, featured in Self, features a man completely covered in bees, noticing a blue Volkswagen. From a strictly visual perspective the bee man is more eye-catching, but the image fits less with the theme. One is just sure what the bee man is looking at, where this is obvious in the case of the motorcycle jumper. That ad appeared in Men's Health and I think it would have tested higher, because it is easier to draw conclusions about the visuals. The entire scene plays out quickly and easily, and need no further explanation. The bee man ad is a bit less clear, and that means it probably does not test as well.
In the Set 16, there are two ads for Dannon smoothies.…
