Best Ads of 2015 – Did They APPEAL to You?

Author: Eileen Boh Category: B2B, B2C, Marketing, Nonprofit, Retail Date: January 15, 2016

Adweek has released their top 10 picks for 2015’s “most intriguing, inspiring and innovative work.” After reviewing Adweek’s top picks it is evident that although these brands are vastly different in industry category, there are some overlapping themes throughout these various ads.

Click here to see Adweek’s Top 10 Ads of 2015.

When creating an advertisement, marketing experts utilize the different marketing appeals.  Typically, advertisements include a combination of these various marketing appeals. Can you pick out which type/types of appeals are being used in Adweek’s Top 10 Ads of 2015?

Emotional Appeal

Emotional appeal include four subcategories of appeal – Personal, social, fear and humor. When using an emotional appeal, the advertisement’s goal is to target or trigger an individual’s psychological and social needs for purchasing a product/service. Personal appeal  seeks to trigger personal emotions that can drive individuals to purchase produces based on safety, love, self-esteem, ambition, nostalgia,  pride, etc.  Social appeal seeks to target purchases based on social factors that trigger emotions such as recognition, respect, involvement, acceptance, status and approval. Fear appeal can have an incredible influence on individuals. Fear is an often used appeal in the health and beauty industry. Humor appeal is element is used in over 30% of advertisements (just look at Adweek’s top 10 ads, which of these uses a form of humor?).

Sex Appeal

This type of appeal is very tricky, if used incorrectly not only can the advertisement be ineffective but it can also backfire by decreasing sales. Sex appeals is used to to elicit a feeling of sexuality or sensuality that raises the curiosity of the target audience.

Music Appeal

Music appeal is often used in conjunction with other types of appeals. Music appeal adds an intrinsic value to help increase the persuasiveness of the ad.

Scarcity Appeal

This appeal is used for promotional products or limited time period purchases, causing the “if I don’t buy it now, I won’t be able to get it later” feeling.

Rational Appeal

Rational appeal applies to the individual’s functional or practical needs for a product or service.

Masculine|Feminine Appeal

This type of appeal is most commonly used for cosmetic or beauty products as well as clothing. Masculine|Feminine appeal aims to create the impression of the “perfect person”. The message is that the product you buy will help you gain the qualities shown in the advertisement.

Brand Appeal

Brand appeal targets individuals who are brand conscious and brand loyal when it comes to their purchasing behaviors.

Snob Appeal

This appeal type is directed towards people to create a feeling of desire or envy. Think of top of the line products that are considered luxurious and elegant.

Adventure Appeal

Advertisers use this appeal to give the impression that buy purchasing this product/service your life with change radically and be filled with fun, excitement and action.

Less than Perfect Appeal

This is another type of appeal often used by the beauty|cosmetic and health industries. Advertisements using Less than Perfect Appeal are trying to influence people to make certain purchases by pointing out their target market’s inadequacies to make them feel “less than perfect” or dissatisfied with their current state of being.

Romance Appeal

These advertisements display the attraction between the sexes. This appeal is used to signify that buy purchasing certain products, it will have a positive impact on attracting the sexual partners and/or improve your romantic or love life.

Youth Appeal

These ads reflect the youthful aspects or ingredients of a product. Cosmetic products tend to use this type of appeal.

Endorsement

This includes celebrities and well known personalities to drive sales for a particular brand or product.

Play on Words

This is an appeal that tries to increase product/brand recall. These ads use catch phrases to convey the message.

Plain Appeal

Plain appeal seeks to portray “normal, every day life.”

Bandwagon Appeal

“Everybody else is doing it…” This type of advertising is meant to create an aspect of popularity or coolness for the individual/individuals who use these particular products/services.