When you’re creating advertisements for your business, you need to know how to appeal to your audience. What is really going to make them take action to become new (or returning) customers? Take this into consideration with every new ad.
The video below dives into 23 different advertising appeal examples that top brands use to incite action in their customers. Watch now to learn how you can incorporate each of these different types of appeal into your own advertisements.
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If you had to guess, how many ads do you think the average person is exposed to daily? A hundred? 500? Maybe a thousand? Digital marketing experts actually say that we’re susceptible to anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 ads a day.
Whether it’s TV commercials, magazines, online articles, radio advertisements or even those videos that you want to skip before watching a Youtube video, you are nearly constantly exposed to various brands.
Now, if you’re a marketer yourself, this poses a problem. How do you get your ad to stand out ? Well to begin, you must understand the two categories of advertising appeals – emotional and rational. From there, you decide from the 23 types of appeals that will effectively reach your audience.
Now, what are those 23 types of appeals? That’s a great question and that’s exactly why I’m here.
Hello world! My name is Mike Ploger with Visme, and over the next few minutes I will explain and provide advertising appeal examples of each of these 23 types of appeals to help you better brand your product.
Our first 14 types of appeals fall under the emotional category. These are intended to provoke feelings and emotions through imagery, impactful texts and even strong music.
The personal appeal is often referred to as the emotional appeal. It can persuade a viewer by inciting sadness, jealousy, happiness, anger, you name it.
Take this Gillette ad for example. It appeals to the concerns of fathers by using actual sandpaper and research to show the importance of skin to skin contact with a newborn baby, and the effects it could have later on.
Everyone wants to feel included or a part of the most popular trends, and we’re all influenced by what surrounds us. The social appeal captures just that. This IKEA example makes use of the social appeal by playing into the insanely popular TV show – get your ad to stand out .
Even non-watchers like myself know the phrase that Winter is Coming . But IKEA put their own twist on it after learning that the show uses IKEA rugs to recreate Jon Snow’s cape. Fans of the show instantly recognize it appealing to their social desires.
Everyone has a fear. Some we’re willing to admit, others we’re not and some way may not even realize. Use of strong visuals helps bring out those fears in us.
Here, the fear of losing even the most exotic animals may motivate us to want to save their habitat. If so, we note the link and we take action.
Bringing humor into an ad can be very effective. It’ll grab attention and spark response in a viewer. However it is much more rare because humor is subjective. What one person finds funny, another person might find offensive. So a marketer must fully understand their audience.
Given its name, Virgin Mobile will push the boundaries of their advertisements with sexually charged ads. This bus here is no exception.
We have all seen celebrities and athletes put their name on a product. Whether it was Beyonce in Pepsi or Payton Manning in Papa John’s. Or even Mr. T in Snickers.
We’re all influenced by these huge names even though they have nothing to do with their creation of a product. These ads stir popularity, and if your favorite celebrity is using a product, you are more likely to follow suit.
We have all heard the phrase sex sells, and most often it does. That why companies employ the most attractive models and even use sexy product shots in their ads.
The most thought of example with this is Victoria’s Secret. But you also see with Old Spice, GQ and Calvin Klein as you have here.
Heck, even Hardee’s gave it a whirl when Kate Upton was seen eating their burgers in a sleek convertible. It’s not something you’d expect but hey, they went for it.
A lot of us are suckers for a good love story, and just as romantic movies are big hits, the same can be said with romantic advertisements. They give us powerful, inspiring feelings and it even will give us a sense of nostalgia.
Ralph Lauren utilizes this appeal quite often, and quite frankly it doesn’t take much. Just a couple of that shares the look of love and happiness.
The target audience for the youth appeal is actually the older generation. But advertisers will use actors who are much younger than that target audience. The advertisers want the consumer to feel younger and more energetic, and they lead us to believe that this can happen by using their product.
This Centrum Silver ad uses Bruce Springsteen’s energy and passion despite his age and in doing so it makes us believe that Centrum Silver is what creates such liveliness in someone.
Car companies, active lifestyle brands and travel companies love the adventure appeal. Hypothetically, these show us where their product can take us. It’s new and exciting to the consumer and it even creates a sense of what if.
Think of Patagonia or Jeep as seen here. Just by seeing this ad, it makes me want to get a car that can take me to the beach, off-roading or wherever life takes me. Unfortunately for now, I’m stuck with a standard sedan.
Similar to the social appeal is the popularity appeal. When a lot of people want to wear or do something, you want to do it too. And companies will purposely brand their products with their logo to ensure society picks up on that trend.
One excellent example of this is actually a video which marketed the release of Baywatch in 2017. They held a slow mo marathon and hundreds of the movie anticipators participated in the event. I can guarantee you’ve never seen anything like it, so I encourage you to check it out to see what the popularity appeal is all about.
Just like in the movies, the music played over an ad must complement the setting or else the mood can be very confusing. The right music can inspire emotion or even encourage action from a viewer.
There’s an advertisement by Kohler TV where their music is upbeat and provides a very happy energy that adds to the color in quick shot transitions. In the end, this will make a viewer want to buy their brand rather than one of the others.
Our twelfth appeal is the empathy appeal. And this can actually be one of the more tricky techniques. You’ve got to get the viewer to identify a problem that they’ve maybe never seen before, and this is typically used in public service announcements to evoke emotion in understanding a cause.
Which is exactly what you have right here with this Safe at Home Foundation advertisement. The viewer will better understand the consequences of domestic violence and be more inspired to help after seeing the powerful imagery complemented by some research.
Turning dreams into reality is exactly what you have with the potential appeal. This is all about what could be. And LEGO nailed it when they helped kids see their potential with a series of ads placing them in rockstars, fire suits or space suits as you have here.
These ads were placed all around schools, playgrounds and museums. Where not only the kids would see it, but their parents would as well.
The brand appeal allows companies to sell their products for higher cost due to consumers wanting to reach a higher status level that can only be achieved by wearing or using the brand. This product has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with perception.
Take Starbucks for example. Everyone wants to be a part of the exclusivity that the logo carries. One’s status rises when drinking Starbucks, rather than an off brand of coffee.
Now that we’ve covered all the emotional appeals, let’s break into the rational ones. These are focused on facts and logic, and are much more trustworthy and authentic than the emotional appeals that we just covered.
The first type of rational appeal is the pain solution. Now most of us will wait to act until there is a problem that needs to be solved. We know we need help when these ads direct us on where to go and what to do to solve the issue.
This IKEA ad here focuses not on the product but the solution that they are providing for their consumers. Brands are typically much more successful if they identify a problem and create a solution to fix it.
The scarcity appeal is most often paired with the words “limited time.” The products maybe available but not for long, and it may be even harder to find, making it more desirable for the consumer.
Coke nailed this appeal with their personalized bottles campaign. Everyone wanted a bottled with their name on it or to send photos of bottles to their friends. Sure, more impulse buys were made with this appeal but who didn’t want a Coke with their name on it. I sure did.
Next we have the statistics appeal. Whoa, Mark Zuckerberg, Marla Zuckerberg? This ad transform the Facebook creator into a woman. Why? To highlight the wage inequality between genders.
With facts and statistics and in this case, a little imagination, you can appeal to those who are more rational in their approach.
Now, although it’s effective, testimonials don’t just have to be someone speaking highly of a product. You can think outside the box.
Like Doritos did when they asked fans to submit Super Bowl commercial ideas. Yeah, they got the public involved and more people were interacting with their brand. By thinking outside the box, these ads stand out from the crowd.
Our fifth rational appeal is the contrasting appeal. And surprise! We have another IKEA example. Clearly they need to pay their advertising team more as they have some of the best examples that we have seen.
Now, the contrast appeal can compare your product with another, or even highlight what life would be like without your product. Here, you can see then contrast between the unboxed IKEA unit and the surrounding units that clearly need to shop at the store.
With contrast, you can show how your brand is a step above the rest in a subtle way.
Our next ad example is not a shoe ad, this isn’t a shoe sole ad, this is actually a car advertisement. By appealing to those who have a love for fancy leather shoes, you are also reaching those who have a love for fancy cars like, BMWs.
It all signifies a certain status level that is quite subliminal. Often you’ll see apartments and fashion brands using this method and I do hope that whoever drove with these shoes, didn’t get too many speeding tickets as they had a clear love for the gas pedal.
Not every person or a product is perfect. And guess what? That’s OK. Being transparent about your flaws with an audience can show realness and in a sense actually earn brownie points.
Volkswagen had a problem with third row sitting in one of its earlier models. When they revealed a new model with additional seats, they played off of that previous model. We’ve posted a link to this commercial down in the description, so I encourage you to check it out for yourself.
With the beauty appeal, advertisers are showcasing their product in the most appealing way possible. Whether it’s perfect lighting or maybe photoshopping blemishes, all the focus will be on the product. This way the buyer can compare and choose the product that’s right for them.
This catalog from West Elm has beauty shots of all their products perfectly staged, lit and accessorized.
Speaking of photo editing, sometimes a more natural appeal will connect better with an audience. It’s not about the promise of perfection and more about natural beauty.
This ad by Lane Bryant takes the expectations of attraction and throws them in the trash with the I’m No Angel campaign. It’s everything Victoria’s Secret is not, and that message will leave an impact with their target audience.
Hey, ladies and gentlemen, that is it. That is all 23 advertising appeal examples. So now, it is your turn. Next time you are watching TV, reading a magazine or scrolling through the web, see if you can detect which type of appeal is being used.
Then, when you want to market your product, you will have an idea of how to do so.
Before you go, make sure you subscribe to our channel and head to Visme.com to see how we can help you. Until next time, my name is Mike Ploger with Visme, helping you Make Information Beautiful.
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