I was lacking an idea for a blog post, so I thought I’d flick through The Metro… and you know what struck me? So many ads are just wallpaper – completely bland, in the background, easy to flick past.
Check these out:
Bar different logos at the bottom, I view all of these as the same – one mass of ads, with nothing of interest to me: they’re simply interrupting the stories I’m trying to read.
Considering just the cost of the media space alone, there’s about £100,000 worth of adverts in the images above. You’d think they’d want to be considered as more than simply background noise.
This isn’t just a press ad thing either. Outdoor and cross-track posters can be viewed in just the same way.
When I stand on a train platform, faced with (roughly) 30 adverts, I barely register that they’re there.
Once in a blue moon, one ad will stand out because I like the product, or the ad is funny, or maybe part of a campaign that I like. Other than that, there may as well be a blank space opposite me.
Yes, the key message always has to come across first, before the creativity, but you definitely don’t want your ads viewed as wallpaper.
Then again, maybe that’s why when a good campaign finally comes along, it really stands out…