Millions and millions are spent trying to develop the perfect ad that will reach exactly the right audience at the right time with the right message that will get them to buy a product.
Brand Managers provide sales data and competitive reporting.
Focus groups and surveys are used to uncover the exact insight that will drive consumer behavior.
Media Planners work on identifying the optimum mix of vehicles to reach the audience cost efficiently.
Numerous hours are spent concepting. Back and forth with the Creative Director. Back and forth with the account people.
The ad is presented, reviewed, provided feedback, revised. Round again and again by sometimes dozens of people.
After all of that, there’s still a 50/50 shot whether anyone will bother to even look at the ad. Much less pay attention to the entire thing. Even less of a chance that they’ll actually tell themselves I should buy that the next time I’m in the store or online. And even then they still have to remember they wanted to buy it after they saw a thousand other ads asking for the same attention.
The goal is always to create the perfect ad that could get people to go through all of that and buy.
But the problem is that there is no perfect ad. Because a single ad can only do so much.
It can raise awareness. It can nudge a change in perception. It can remind you or give you an extra incentive about stuff you were already planning to buy.
So don’t try to craft the perfect ad. Cultivate a perfect reason for people to buy and have all of your marketing efforts naturally follow.