Advertising is a guessing game. We want to get the consumers’ attention, and try everything to do so. Whether the advertisement is bizarre, provocative, funny, or intense, advertisers are hoping consumer attention is rendered, products are coveted, and dollars are spent.

How far should we go in attracting the intrigue of customers? Does the eccentric approach work? How different should we design our advertisements?

Consider the following:

Making advertising relatable

Advertising pundits regularly suggest making your ads relatable to your audience. Your product or services must fulfill a need or desire in their lives. Call out to their wants. The ad should pose a relatable issue and your products and services should serve as the solution.

This means identifying and understanding your target audience. Your advertisers need to walk in the customer’s shoes. They must know where they shop, what television programs they watch, what radio programs they listen to, what magazines they read, etc.

Your ads should feature situations they can relate to, people who look and act like them, and realistic and desirable outcomes.

Making advertisements pleasurable

Our attention gravitates towards images and things we find pleasurable. Many ads feature beautiful models for this reason. The models are paired with the goods and services creating a satisfying feeling in the viewer. It is our hope that the viewer makes a conscious or subconscious connection of the feeling to our products and services. Scenery, babies, music, etc. can serve the same purpose.

People enjoy pleasantries; yet, what constitutes a pleasantry? Beauty is subjective, so as an advertiser, you will have to (again) research your target audience. What entities do they find pleasurable? When you answer this question, you can work on implementing them into your advertising.

People find humor pleasurable; everyone likes to laugh. Advertisers think of clever ways to integrate humor with their products and services. Again, not everyone will share the same sentiments regarding what is funny. Know your target market. There may be certain scenarios they would consider funny based on their likenesses.

Making advertisements surprising

Eccentricity is closely related to the concept of novelty. ‘Strange’ is also ‘new’ to most. In advertising, we attempt to orchestrate novel and riveting images to demand attention. The element of surprise captivates consumer attention, and keeps their attention long enough until the ad features hosted services and products.

Unexpected occurrences work well, but unfortunately, will work only once. Also, new eventually becomes old. The tactic is worthy of accolades, but the amount of effort may be too much considering the tenacity of the surprise and novelty.

Implement some of the aforementioned techniques and research the behavior of your target market. Use what works and modify what doesn’t. Advertising is a continuous, evolutionary process.