6 great templates for advertising creativity!

Many people think that creativity is mysterious and that it can only be understood but not expressed in words. This is especially true for advertising creativity , which requires a rich imagination. However, there must be some rules in the generation of creativity. In this article, the author cites works from international awards such as the Cannes Advertising Festival in France and the New York Advertising Festival in the United States as cases, and analyzes in detail the six major templates of advertising creativity for us. Let’s take a look.

Can creativity be learned? To many people, creativity is as mysterious as supernatural power. The explanation in the textbooks is even more confusing. In my opinion, creativity includes two aspects: one is the idea, the other is the method. Ideas, of course, must be innovative, unconventional, break established rules, and create new cognition. The method is to turn ideas into executable plans and implement them one by one.

Advertising creativity is the science of arousing curiosity, wonder and attention - using unexpected communication methods to make the most people understand and attract them.

However, most of the advertisements we see in our daily lives often find it difficult to meet such standards. They are either incomprehensible or lack appeal.

From a scientific perspective, there must be some commonalities and rules in the operation and generation of creativity.

If you have ever worked with professional creative masters, you will find that they have a higher output rate than amateur creators. This is because the thinking patterns accumulated over the years allow their brains to find more diverse possibilities.

American creativity researcher Goldenberg once summarized these common rules into six templates: analogy, extreme, consequence, competition, dimension change and effectiveness.

He studied a large number of award-winning advertisements and found that 90% of the excellent creative ideas applied these six templates. Similar to various artistic creations, whether it is movies or novels, before you reach a higher level, you might as well learn the most basic templates first. These templates ensure that you can change your thinking perspective and solve creative problems in the fastest way possible.

To make it easier to understand and remember, I have reshaped the names of these six creative templates into:

1. Give an example;
2. Go to extremes;
3. Show results;
4. Who is better?
5. Interdimensional;
6. Play live.

In combination with these six templates, this article uses works from international awards such as the Cannes Advertising Festival in France and the New York Advertising Festival in the United States as cases. These works represent the world-recognized authoritative level, and they will help you understand these six templates more intuitively.

Can creativity be learned? When you are at a loss for words, you might as well "pick up" these six keys of thinking, and perhaps the door to the goddess of inspiration will open for you immediately.

1. Example The Pictorial Analogy Template

Instead of talking about the product directly, it is better to give an example to show the characteristics of the product.

Just like the form of reasoning, there are some identical or similar properties of two objects, and we infer that they may also have the same or similar points in other properties, and then express them in a figurative way. You can find more than one example to express it. The more examples there are, the more vivid the interpretation will be.

Suppose you want to make a proposition: " How to highlight the safety of the product? "

1. First of all, think about what the symbol of "safety" is in the public psychology? What images can correspond to them? Hard hat, safe, fingerprint, traffic light?
2. Then think about which aspect of the product (such as the product packaging, logo, appearance, etc.) can be associated with a certain symbolic element of "safety"?
3. Create a new image that creates a direct visual connection between product features and safety imagery .

Volvo won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Advertising Festival with its simple idea of ​​"safety pin".

Case reference:

01

This is an advertisement for a door access system. It compares the "precision of a product" to a fingerprint.

The giant fingerprint serves as the visual center of the entire creative process. The virtual building constructed with reference to the delicate patterns is like a tightly guarded maze. In the lower right corner of the screen, the action of a finger touching the fingerprint lock demonstrates the product's usage scenario, emphasizing cutting-edge technology to ensure ultimate security.

02

This is a Big Babol bubble gum ad. It visualizes "blown bubbles" and simulates the appearance of sweet oranges, pears and lemons.

The child blowing bubbles is exaggeratedly shrunk and stuck to the bubbles he blows. He looks more like a bug clinging to the skin of fruit, as if intoxicated by the fruit fragrance. This fully demonstrates that the bubbles "created" by Bibab Bubble Gum are not only fruity, but also full of magic and childlike fun, making people unable to stop.

03

This is an advertisement for pesticide, highlighting " Natural Protection ".

The graphic elements draw inspiration from the biological world , comparing people's actions of "using pesticides" with the postures of animals "hunting insects" , reflecting the highlight of the product: it only kills insects without hurting people . When the insecticide sprays the target, it is like a frog or chameleon's precise strike when catching its prey, and no extra ammunition will be wasted.

04

This set of advertisements comes from the legendary off-road vehicle brand - Jeep .

It compares the outstanding performance of the car to that of an amphibious animal that is good at adapting to multiple living environments and can move freely in water, land, and grassland. The conception of the creative picture is like the playing cards we are familiar with, which can be viewed either forward or backward . For example: when viewed forward, it is an antelope, but when viewed backward, it instantly turns into a majestic sea lion; when viewed forward, it is an African elephant, but when viewed backward, it turns out to be the champion of grassland running - the ostrich.

In the advertisement, even the brand logo and slogan are repeated twice: "See Whatever you want to see" - (I translated it into: You can see whatever you want, whatever I want). It not only reminds readers that they can appreciate the advertisement from different angles , but also encourages drivers that as long as you have a Jeep, your world has no boundaries.

The Extreme Situation Template

The so-called extreme is to find a situation in which a certain selling point of the product is important to an unrealistic degree.

The performance of advertisements will deliberately push consumers' cognition to an extreme.

This selling point is either extremely important, with an extremely outrageous function that ordinary people cannot imagine and subverts similar products, or it is not important at all because you "have found" a better way - the advertisement uses this extreme situation to remind readers: if there is such an alternative, you don't have to buy our product at all.

Of course, the second approach is usually ridiculous and impossible to achieve. Therefore, this creative technique is also called " absurd substitution ".

Case reference:

01

The advertisement for Audi's navigation system depicts an " extreme situation ": in the densely packed and intricate urban jungle, if your car is not equipped with an Audi GPS, you can also choose an oversized "thumbnail" to pinpoint your destination - but how could this situation happen? This proves that choosing Audi's GPS navigation is your only wise choice!

02

The protagonist of this advertisement is actually the clothing brand " Benetton ". Benetton's advertisements rarely feature its clothing products, but instead focus on promoting the brand's unique perspective.

The concept it proposes this time is "UNHATE" - abandon hatred and love bravely . The "extreme situation" created by the picture is that even the mortal enemy is held in the arms without any barriers. The kissing scenes of the heads of state of many major countries are obviously computer-generated "effects", but they humorously convey the vision of Benetton as an international brand, which pursues great love that transcends politics and skin color.

03

This is Bausch and Lomb's presbyopic contact lens advertisement. For patients with presbyopia, "far away" is more convenient than "right in front of you" .

When they paint their nails, browse their phones or play chess, they wish they had super long arms or legs to solve their visual impairment. If you don’t have these special functions, you’d better buy Bausch and Lomb as soon as possible!

04

What the Dunlop tire advertisement says is: no matter how bad the weather and road conditions are, your car can run on flat ground.

The advertisement presents three extreme scenes : it is raining heavily outside the car, but not a drop of coffee is spilled; it is freezing cold outside the car, and the icy road may be slippery, but the stacked playing cards are as stable as Mount Tai; there are desolate mountains and rugged roads outside the car, but the long cigarette ash just won't fall off.

After reading this you might say: Impossible? ! Isn’t this too exaggerated? That's right, Dunlop is waiting to give you the answer.

05

This is an advertisement for DHL Express. How fast is express delivery? In the most extreme case, one hand has just sealed the box when the other hand starts to open it.

This creative advertisement integrates the two most common actions in the express delivery industry into the same scene: when the sender is still putting tape on the package, the recipient is already unpacking the package, which describes the logistics speed in an astonishing way .

The Consequences Template

Showing results means speaking with facts.

Advertisements usually present the positive results of using the product and visually display them to consumers. For products with obvious contrast effects, this model is straightforward and very intuitive.

But sometimes, in order to attract consumers' curiosity and attention, advertisers will do the opposite and deliberately exaggerate the "negative" effects of the product. Of course, the essence of this "negative" is often to say the opposite of what is meant, in order to show the brand's unique personality to consumers. For example, a product feature that is too good may lead to consequences that you cannot afford. To illustrate that men’s perfume is too attractive, you can say: “Don’t buy this perfume for your boyfriend, otherwise too many girls will chase him!” To illustrate that the car audio effect is too loud, you can remind consumers: “Don’t turn on the audio when crossing a bridge, otherwise it will collapse the bridge.”

Reference Cases:

01

OLAZ cosmetics says: Don’t use our whitening products, otherwise you will become so white that the visa officer won’t be able to recognize you !

02

This is an advertisement for Ricola throat lozenges . In terms of creative expression, the advertisement chose to use an intuitive and clear "addition formula" to derive the results - the singers on the left side of the screen (Louis Amstrong, Tom Waits, Janis Joplin) are all unique in their low, hoarse voices, but once they have taken Ricola, their voices have all changed dramatically!

The singers on the right side of the equal sign, Justin Timberlake, Dido and Prince, all belong to the "bright voice school" in the music world with a wide vocal range and clear voices. Just like going from a passerby to a goddess, all you need is the "Meitu XiuXiu" software; and going from a rough voice to a fairy voice, all you need is a Ricola.

03

This is an advertisement for WMF's Gourmet Knife Collection . Chinese martial arts novels often use the phrase "the blade is as sharp as autumn frost, it can cut copper and iron, and it can chop gold and jade" to describe the sharpness of swords.

Today, WMF knives are even more capable than before and can even cut objects that should not be cut. With one cut, heavy chopping boards, metal pot lids, and wine bottles can all be easily cut. It can be seen that the blade is very fierce, and it is sure to be loved by kitchen experts .

04

This is an ad for Howard's Auto Repair , which promises " Rapid Repairs ." Of course, it is good at "repairing" your car, but not your body.

Crutches, bandages, and plaster casts, these common healing scenes, become black humor in the advertisement - Howard's can allow you to get a repaired car in the shortest time, but it cannot guarantee that your injuries will heal at the same time. It looks a bit bitter, but it also highlights Howard's professional confidence in the field of car repair.

4. The Competition Template

Consumers are happy to see brands compete with each other and then reap the benefits.

In this competition of strength, if you do have an advantage, you might as well show off your unique skills and defeat all your opponents; but if your product is in a market with serious homogeneity, and the selling points that your competitors can mention are actually similar, then you will have no chance just by "head-on collision", and will instead be drowned out by more noise.

When comparing product selling points, you can find a unique way and use various unconventional methods :

1. Compare yourself with yourself;
2. Put the product in some "uncommon situations" to compare with others;
3. Compare with opponents who have nothing to do with you.

In short, you need to find a competitor, no matter who it is.

Reference Cases:

01

The Polo car advertisement is based on the life-and-death confrontation between police and criminals. In order to resist the enemy's bullets, the fully armed policeman actually abandoned the police car and hid behind a silver Polo . This proves that in the minds of the police, the safety factor of the Polo car is much higher than that of the police car! It just echoes its slogan: " Small, but indestructible ".

02

This is an advertisement for a South American zoo . It used "real animals" to compete with "animal toys" .

The picture is simple and clear: it costs 28 yuan to buy a toy stuffed bear, but only 7 yuan to see a real bear (zoo ticket price); it costs 30 yuan to buy a toy giraffe, but only 7 yuan to see a real giraffe.

The advertisement uses an unexpected contrast to tell the target audience that bringing children to the zoo to experience real natural life is a very cost-effective thing to do.

03

This is a magazine ad for the iPad mini , another masterpiece from Apple. In the four advertisements, the iPad mini displays the covers of four famous magazines: The New Yorker, Wired, TIME, and Wallpaper. The creative point of the advertisement is to place the iPad mini product on a real magazine page, echoing the cover of the current issue of the magazine. Such a comparison immediately shows the advantages of iPad mini's convenience and lightness.

04

This is an advertisement for McDonald's McCafe . The left and right pictures compare the mental state of the same person in the morning and afternoon . As the afternoon progressed, the protagonist became more energetic, his eyes brighter, and he felt more refreshed - apparently, this was the power of McCafé. The M in AM (morning) and PM (afternoon) is cleverly replaced with McDonald’s yellow logo to strengthen the brand’s unique symbol .

05

This is an advertisement for TVN Television Media . With advertisements becoming increasingly lengthy and viewers complaining repeatedly, is there any TV station that would rather make less money and let viewers watch more nutritious content?

That’s right, it’s TVN. Compared with the length of advertisements on other TV stations, TVN’s advertisements are so short that “makes advertisers angry” - I KEA is shortened to IA, Coca-Cola is shortened to Ca, Heineken is reduced to Hn, and SONY is shortened to SY . How could such a conscientious channel not become the audience’s first choice?

The Dimensionality Alteration Template

The so-called cross-dimensionality is to try to establish a new relationship so that elements that were originally in different dimensions can intersect, blend and even interchange, leaving a deep impression on the audience with novel visual effects .

If you have seen the cartoon "Havoc in Heaven", you will remember the classic line when the Monkey King Sun Wukong got the golden cudgel: "Big big big big big, small small small small small small!" It can be big enough to break through the sky, and small enough to hide in the ear hole.

Aren’t our creativity similar to this Ruyi Jingu Bang? If the product is transformed in time or space, or if it is decomposed, copied, and placed in the future or the past, the same magical results can be produced .

You can travel back in time and look into the future: what will this product be like in a hundred years? You can also go back in history: imagine what it was like in the Stone Age and what functions it performed. Such cross-dimensional space and time will inspire new insights.

Reference Cases:

01

This is a public service advertisement made by Fiat Automobile, which won the Grand Prix at the New York Advertising Festival. " Visible letters, invisible dangers " warns readers that using mobile phones while driving will lead to traffic tragedies.

Against the black background, 26 letters are carefully designed. The shadow part of R looks like a little girl holding a balloon, and the shadow part of F looks like a bus.

The picture warns readers that whenever you look at your phone, send text messages, or browse WeChat in the car, all your attention will be drawn to the letters on the screen, causing you to ignore pedestrians and vehicles in front of you, ultimately leading to a disaster.

02

This is an advertisement for Lego toys . LEGO's creativity, like its bricks, represents endless inspiration .

This time, it played an optical illusion game. At first glance, the picture is full of abstract colored dots, which make people confused; but if you move your eyes a little further away from the work, you will be surprised to find that there is a lot of secrets in it - these dots are the iconic raised points on Lego bricks, and the "mosaic" pattern they form can actually form classics such as Mona Lisa and Van Gogh's self-portrait ! The advertisement seems to be telling consumers: Don't underestimate the power of toys, they may turn your children into masters of art.

03

This is an advertisement for SONY sound isolating headphones . The product appeal is: Only by isolating the noise can you hear what is truly important . The busy crossroads and bustling demonstration scenes seemed to have turned into silent black and white films. The dimensions of hearing and vision are cleverly transformed in advertising.

The lyrics that should have appeared in the music have turned into letters on the car body or slogans, which are extremely eye-catching - "We will we will rock you", "I've got the moooooves like jagger"... The familiar lyrics attract the attention of music enthusiasts and enhance the professional performance of the headphones.

6. Playing the Interactive Experiment Template

The so-called live play means seamlessly connecting brand advertising with consumers' life scenes, so that they can truly play with the brand.

If your brand can rely not only on hard advertising, but can be embedded in consumers' real lives in a natural form and interact with their living environment, then your marketing effect will be twice the result with half the effort.

You can ask consumers to complete an action according to the requirements of the advertisement and directly experience the final result; or you can ask consumers to imagine the gains after participating in the action to stimulate their desire to try.

This type of creative template is often used in outdoor advertising or scenario marketing . When a static image becomes a three-dimensional installation, or even a game space suitable for all ages, such an advertisement will surely be very popular.

Case reference:

01

This is a customized environmental advertisement for LG washing machines on the football field.

It decorated the entrance to the player's tunnel into the shape of an LG washing machine. After the game, the players will definitely go through this circular doorway into the locker room - so in the eyes of the audience, this scene is like the players queuing up to enter the washing machine to wash off the sweat and mud on their bodies.

The copy above the ad is a double entendre, echoing the characteristics of the stadium while emphasizing the advantages of the washing machine: " The capacity is large enough to handle two teams at once ."

02

IBM's outdoor installation creativity follows the concept of "Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities" and turns traditional outdoor advertising into an optimization solution for public facilities throughout the city .

In the advertisement, facilities such as benches, awnings, and stairs are redefined and have a simpler and more stylish appearance, bringing convenience to citizens. Such a clever design not only enhances the corporate image, but also truly benefits the public, killing two birds with one stone.

03

This is an outdoor advertisement for Penline tape . Want to try out how strong its adhesion is?

The product works wonders. With just four pieces of tape, the huge billboard can be firmly fixed in the air. The effect speaks for itself.

04

This is an outdoor idea from the FedEx Office Supplies online store.

A ridiculously large bottle of correction fluid was placed in the middle of a city street. The bottle brush was thrown aside, pointing at the sidewalk, making it feel as if the white zebra crossings on the ground were also painted by it.

The exaggeratedly large bottle serves as a strong reminder: Go online quickly and buy FedEx office supplies!

Note: The cases in this article come from major international creative awards such as the Cannes and New York Advertising Festivals at the time.

Author: Le Jianfeng

Source: Creative Crazy