Advertising techniques
How great ads persuade. Each technique links to real examples, with a note on exactly how every ad uses it.
The three appeals
Aristotle’s modes of persuasion: emotion, credibility and logic.
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Pathos
Ads that persuade through emotion: they make you feel something, then attach that feeling to a brand or a cause.
Examples: You Can't Stop Us, Believe, Gorilla
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Ethos
Ads that persuade through credibility: the authority, expertise, heritage or character of the brand or the person speaking.
Examples: L'Odyssée de Cartier, Moldy Whopper, FCK
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Logos
Ads that persuade through logic and evidence: facts, figures, reasons and proof the audience can check.
Examples: Evolution, At 60 Miles an Hour, Meet Graham
Classic persuasion techniques
The devices students are taught to spot in advertising and propaganda.
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Bandwagon
Ads that suggest everyone is already doing it, so you should too: mass participation, social proof and the fear of missing out.
Examples: Face, Spotify Wrapped, Women of Britain Say – ‘Go!’
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Testimonial and endorsement
Ads in which a person vouches for the product: a celebrity, an athlete, an expert or an ordinary customer.
Examples: The Epic Split, Divan Japonais, Dream Crazy
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Plain folks
Ads that present a brand or speaker as ordinary and down-to-earth, just like the audience.
Examples: Whassup?, Our Blades Are F***ing Great, The Swedish Number
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Transfer
Ads that borrow the prestige or emotion of a symbol people already value (a flag, a nation, a hero, a work of art) and transfer it to the product.
Examples: Believe, The Next Rembrandt, Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989
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Glittering generalities
Ads built on vague, virtue-laden words (freedom, beauty, belief, possibility) that feel good but promise nothing specific.
Examples: Absolut Perfection, Gandhi, Think Different
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Card stacking
Ads that build a one-sided case: only the favourable facts appear, and a weakness is often turned into a strength.
Examples: Surfer, Reassuringly Expensive, Think Small
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Fear appeal
Ads that show a threat (to health, safety, status or the future) and offer the product, behaviour or vote as the way out.
Examples: 1984, The First Digital Nation, I Never Read The Economist
Creative approaches
The forms and tactics great ads are built from.
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Humour
Funny ads: comedy, wit, absurdity and parody as the engine of the message.
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Storytelling
Ads that tell a story with characters and a narrative arc, rather than simply stating a message.
Examples: L'Odyssée de Cartier, Lamp, Surfer
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Demonstration
Ads that prove a claim by showing the product in action, often with a test, a torture test or a striking piece of visual proof.
Examples: Cog, The Epic Split, BMW Films: The Hire
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Comparison
Ads that take on a rival directly, by naming them, implying them or answering them in public.
Examples: 1984, Our Blades Are F***ing Great, Labour Isn't Working
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Shock and provocation
Ads that deliberately disturb, offend or provoke to win attention or force a conversation.
Examples: Moldy Whopper, Meet Graham, Back-to-School Essentials
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Mascots and characters
Ads built around a recurring brand character or mascot that audiences come to recognise and love.
Examples: L'Odyssée de Cartier, Compare the Meerkat, ZooZoos
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Jingles and music
Ads in which music does the persuading: a jingle, a song or a sung slogan that becomes inseparable from the brand.
Examples: Gorilla, I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke, Dumb Ways to Die
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Real-time and newsjacking
Ads and posts that respond to live events, news or culture as it happens.
Examples: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, FCK, Magic of Flying
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Purpose and cause
Ads that tie a brand to a social, environmental or civic cause, or do something genuinely useful for people.
Examples: You Can't Stop Us, The First Digital Nation, The Fun Theory
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Participation
Campaigns that the audience completes by playing, sharing, creating, replying or taking part.
Examples: The Pony, Did You Mean MailChimp?, Paving for Pizza
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Guerrilla and ambient
Unconventional, surprising placements in the real world: street interventions, ambient media and hijacked spaces.
Examples: The Fun Theory, Shutter Ads, Sundial
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Visual metaphor
Ads in which a single striking image, visual pun or metaphor does the persuading, often with few or no words.
Examples: Sundial, Absolut Perfection, Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk