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When Advertising Goes Terribly Wrong: A Case Study

Updated: Nov 8, 2023

Some ads are so bad that you just can't tear your eyes away from them. In fact, they can serve as valuable teaching opportunities. Just yesterday, I came across a prime example of a "good-bad" ad, and I couldn't resist sharing it with you all to illustrate what not to do when creating your own campaigns.


Look at the ad below.





๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜…๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—น๐˜† ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น?

Well, it's a bit of a mystery. The copy provides zero information as if it's guarding some kind of top-secret information.


Let's say, hypothetically, that you know it's an insurance company promoting an investment product (although I can't guarantee I have the proper security clearance to know for sure).


๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐—ฝ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜† ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป?

"Volcanic disaster insurance = good investment skills."

That's akin to claiming, "If our team can tap dance well, just imagine what they can do for your pet ferret!"

Huh? Precisely.


๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜†?

Let's consider this scenario: you're in the business of selling investment services. What's the last color your clients would want to see? You guessed it โ€“ red. The one color that covers over 50% of this ad. Not to mention the fiery magma erupting in your face!


๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ?

Here's the real kicker. It's painfully evident that this ad is a product of a poorly executed chatGPT process. A copywriter seemingly conducted zero research and requested AI spit out a catchy slogan. This slogan then made its way to the design department without any brief regarding the target audience. The result? A hefty budget spent on subway ads that nobody will comprehend. And even if they do decipher it, they'll probably want to steer clear.


In part 2 of this post, we'll reverse everything and learn how to get your ads right. Spend your money on results you can count on. Thatโ€™s how you build an empire ๐Ÿ’ช


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๐๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ค๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ง ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž? Hit me up ๐Ÿ“† bit.ly/goempirenow


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