There is nothing worse than sitting around a boardroom table with your creative team and no one is able to come up with amazing ideas for your next advertising campaigns. With advertising, there is no second chance at making a first impression. If your advert hasn’t grabbed the viewers attention in the first 10 seconds then it is ineffective. Adverts are costly and time consuming to produce, so make sure your one stands out in the crowd of noise. It’s very important to showcase your product in a clever way. Some companies take this aspect too far, and create an ad that has to be explained which by that point they have failed. We recently put together 5 tips to make your TV advert stand out but our team chose 5 of the most successful advertising campaigns help kickstart your creative juices.

Mercedes Motion-Blur Illusion

If you love clever illusions that mess with your mind, then you’re going to get a kick out of this new guerrilla advertising for Mercedes-Benz. To launch their new 2012 C-Class Coupe, they worked with BBDO Toronto, Canada to come up with this creative idea. A Benz was parked in front of a motion blurred wall, sidewalk, and billboard that read: “Looks fast. Even in park. The 450hp 2012 C-Class Coupe.”

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Nike Run

Actual park benches were removed all over various cities to promote the new running shoes launched by Nike.

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Absolut Vodka: The Absolut Bottle

Despite having no distinct shape, Absolut made its bottle the most recognizable bottle in the world. Their campaign, which featured print ads showing bottles “in the wild,” was so successful that they didn’t stop running it for 25 years. It’s the longest uninterrupted ad campaign ever and comprises over 1,500 separate ads. No matter how boring your product looks, it doesn’t mean you can’t tell your story in an interesting way.

Dove: Real Beauty

In their Real Beauty Sketches campaign, Dove created ads around a social experiment in which an FBI-trained sketch artist was asked to draw a female volunteers twice: First, as each woman described herself and the second time, as a random stranger described her. The images that were drawn were completely different, and Dove accompanied this finding with a compelling statistic that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. The results? The different videos showing Dove’s sketches were viewed more than 114 million times, shared 3.74 million times, uploaded in 25 languages, and seen in 110 countries. The PR and blogger media impression amounted to over 4 billion. It clearly resonated with their audience and people were touched both by the ads and by the statistics Dove used to back up their message.

Old Spice: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

The very first part of Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign, created by Wieden + Kennedy and launched in February 2010, was the following commercial. It became a viral success practically overnight:

What makes an effective TV ad? The most effective TV adverts are created in such a way that the audience remembers not only the ad, but also the brand and the message behind the advert. Your TV adverts must spark a connection with your brand and your audience. Without that connection, your brand likely won’t be remembered, even if people remember the advert itself. A memorable advert doesn’t equal an effective advert. There have been so many TV adverts that have gone viral, think Old Spice, think Nando’s. But what makes these adverts so effective? We’ve done some research and we’re convinced if you follow these 5 tips, you will be on the right path.

1. Create a great script
Your advert should have a “big idea.” Before starting with your script, take a step back and ask yourself and your brand team, “what is the big idea that will get people looking at our product or service?” Once you know exactly what it is you’re selling, you can get started. For example, if your service is a travel agency, instead of selling flights and packages, you are selling experiences and memories to your customers.

2. Keep it simple
TV adverts are not longer than 30 seconds; a very limited time frame. You will need to use this time to convey your message, grip the viewer and indicate a call to action. Keep the message and storyline as simple as possible and refrain from using convoluted words and sentences. Remember that your audio should also tell the customer what you’re advertising even if the customer is in another room and can’t see the TV when your advert airs.

3. Hire a Production Company
If there was ever a time to DIY, this would not be it. You want your advert to be professional, and so unless you are lucky enough to know people who do this for a living, you’ll have to hire a production company. They can handle all aspects of your advert, including writing, shooting and editing your advert.

4. Create a call to action
You want your advert to be so impactful that viewers will wake up from the couch and rush down to the shops to buy your product. If your product or service can be purchased online, then you can tap into that market by leaving your website address and contact details. Encourage the viewer to act upon the advert immediately, for example, “don’t wait for life to pass you by, book your dream holiday with us today by visiting www.yourwebsiteaddress.com.”

5. Schedule your advert strategically
Placement of your advert is very important. It determines who will see your advert and how much you will pay for its air time. Having your advert air at 3 a.m. will save you money but if you don’t reach your audience it’s not money well spent.

Use a media buying agency such as Get Set Go Media to assist you with media planning and buying. If you’re looking for an agency that can help you sell more by advertising in Africa, then you’ve come to the right place! Our in-depth, well-established and local knowledge of key African countries, provide single-store to global brands with a full range of strategically customized advertising products. If you would like to enquire about how we can create media opportunities for your brand contact our team.

According to Nielsen, Namibia is the seventh most business friendly country in Africa. Namibia’s economy, political stability and per capita income have consistently ranked among the best in Africa. Also, the popularity of supermarkets can ease distribution challenges. In comparison to other Sub-Saharan countries surveyed, it’s easier to reach out to consumers in Namibia as they are better educated and well connected through media. The affluent consumer segments in Namibia are brand loyal and willing to pay more for better and faster service. The low population density in rural areas can be a hindrance for making deep inroads into the country, however, a fast growing urban population in Namibia and a large affluent consumer base offers a multitude of opportunities for potential investors.

Demographic of users in Namibia

Urban centers in Namibia are populated by the more modern and wealthy consumer segments like trendy aspirants and progressive affluents. Nine out of ten consumers in these segments are educated beyond secondary school and they are more likely than the general population to spend more on home and personal care products such as fabric care products, cosmetics, disinfectants and sanitizers. Organized trade is well developed in Namibia with nine out of ten consumers stating that supermarkets are their most important channel for grocery purchases. Consumer Packaged Goods categories account for 28 percent of total monthly household expenditure. Driven by high income segments such as progressive affluents and trendy aspirants, penetration of value-added products such as deodorants, butter and margarine, hair care products, air fresheners and packaged fruit juices are higher in Namibia compared to other Sub-Saharan countries surveyed. Across all segments, brand loyalty, affordability, and availability are key purchase drivers. Beverages, such as iced tea and sports/energy drinks, are areas of opportunity where consumers expressed high interest to try.

Digital penetration

At 93 percent penetration, the mobile phone is a central part of life for most Namibians. While text messaging is used by almost everyone, 40% of mobile phone users said that they access the Internet directly on their mobile phone. About 33% of mobile phone users, especially trendy aspirants, evolving juniors and progressive affluents, use picture messaging/MMS, download music, listen to the radio, or access social networking websites. Driven largely by these affluent consumer segments, 75% of all Namibian respondents own a radio and a color TV. TV (86%) and radio (78%) are widely popular and Namibia has higher penetration of newspaper (86%), magazines (60%) and Internet (51%) compared to other Sub Saharan countries surveyed. This is driven by high literacy (89%) and greater concentration of affluent consumer segments such as progressive affluents and trendy aspirants.

Advertising to the Namibian market

There are many reasons why we encourage brands to extend their advertising reach to Namibia. Not only does the Get Set Go Media team have expert knowledge and decades of experience when it comes to Namibia but the media landscape is perfect. With most Namibians consuming information through multiple sources including TV, radio, print and digital, Namibia becomes the perfect place to launch campaigns that are geared towards success. If you’re interested in finding out more about how we can help your brand, get in touch with our team today.

Instagram is becoming increasingly popular. It is no longer about editing your photo’s with multiple different filters; it’s about sharing visual moments. Instagram is now an end-to-end advertising solution that drives real business results. If you have exciting things to sell then there is no reason for you not to capitalize on the Instagram market by sharing visual moments, promote app downloads or promotions. Instagram has more than doubled its user base in South Africa over the last year with 2.68 million users.

24% of major brands say they plan to start using Instagram in the coming year and 42% of major brands are currently using it for marketing purposes.

With a community of more than 500M, Instagram is one of the world’s largest mobile ads platforms. Businesses can share their stories with a highly engaged audience in a creative, high-quality environment and drive action with their ads. Instagram ads are now available globally for all businesses — big and small. Businesses can create three different type of adverts: photo’s, video’s and carousels. We are huge fans of video adverts. Video ads offer the same visually immersive quality as photo ads on Instagram — with the power of sight, sound and motion. And now, you can share videos up to 60 seconds long and in landscape format.

Instagram advertising solutions support the following objectives:

• Send people to important sections of your website
• Get people to install your mobile app
• Get people to take specific actions on your website
• Get more activity on your mobile app
• Tell a story using video
• Achieve predictable reach and greater control over message frequency
• Get people to engage with your ad
• Reach people near your business and drive them into your store.

How can your brand get started with advertising on Instagram?

Instagram ads can be purchased and managed through Facebook’s self-serve interfaces—Ads Manager and Power Editor. Simply visit the Facebook Ads Manager and follow the prompts to create your adverts. You do not need a business Facebook page in order to create adverts but it is always recommended that a business has a Facebook presence.