If you start a garden from seeds, you quickly discover that seeds need room to grow. Plant them too close together, and you end up with twisted, entwined carrots and daylilies that must be transplanted in order to survive.
Likewise, ads, billboards, banners and similar collateral require space to breathe, to catch the eye of the target market, to grow profits. It stands to reason, then, that since copywriters believe that their fantastic words grow sales of products or services, they should write ads, billboards and such including lots of great words to impress us, the audience, and grow business even more. Right?
Not quite.
Everyone knows that we are visually blasted with advertisements every day more times than we care to admit. And no one has time to read even a portion — let alone all — of those ads — even if they’re decent ads. Only a few ads are lucky enough to be read part of the way through.
We may read an ad because something caught us off guard visually or verbally. We may read it because it struck our funny bone. Or it ticked us off. Or it boggled our mind. Or, by some stroke of luck, we actually have the particular product or service on our smartphone’s shopping list and are loading up our shopping cart.
But what’s the magic that makes us stop and look? Minimalism is one answer. Not the only answer, mind you, but one worth its salt. Minimalistic ads:
- Have one shockingly good image that pulls us in — for whatever reason — and makes us go, “Hmmm.” That image is based on one idea. Not four ideas crammed into one; just one. On a rare occasion, no image exists; then it’s all on the writing.
- Are inherently devoid of copy. There’s a logo and possibly a tag line. Maybe — and that’s a big maybe — a headline. Even less likely, a tiny paragraph of copy may have managed to squeeze by the creative directors and editors.
- Are clean, as in no eye bombardment. Relatively simple concepts and a fair amount of white space entice the viewer to linger longer.
These three ads demonstrate the minimalistic point:
This interactive ad employs minimal copy for maximum effect.
The clean, white palette helps the visual tell the story.
In the category of "Things that make you go, 'Hmmm,'" this headline encourages the viewer to read on.
What’s not to love about these ads? They are all crazy-simple, unexpected concepts that induce the “aha!” moment. They all ensure that the company logo is obvious. And they all imbed in the typical viewer a positive memory of the brand.
Maybe the target market doesn’t want a Big ‘N’ Juicy burger today. But they may in a week or a month. Wonder if they’ll remember the gigantic napkin and its connotation?
Perhaps the magazine flippers aren’t looking for a new helmet right now. But they may think back to this ad and think, “Lazer makes good helmets, right?”
Most likely, those passing by McDonald’s hiring ad won’t read the fine print, nor the headline. But those who do may feel better about patronizing the fast-food chain — maybe enough to learn to say, “Do you want fries with that?”
Like planting seeds in a garden, you want to plant seeds in the viewer’s minds. Plant them too close together, too cluttered, and your produce will grow into a gnarled, twisted mess. Plant them with purpose and space to grow, and you’ll likely end up with what you were hoping for — and then some.
