Good ads, okay ads, and bad ads

About this blog: The previous posts were blog entries I made for a fashion class. The assignment was to maintain a blog about something fashion related...I convinced my partner that we needed to post about ads...and they should probably be fashion related to fulfill the requirements.

Future of this blog: I have graduated college and now work at a Digital Publisher. I see tons of ads every day. While these are banner ads instead of print ads, I still look at them and pick my favorite. We get some really good ads, some okay ads, and some really bad ads. For the bad ads, my co-worker used to say that the advertiser had their 12 year old son create the ad. In college, a speaker came to one of my classes, among many words of advice, he said every ad should be tested with the face test. If it hurts your face to look at it, send it back.  


Tips to creating an ad that I feel fails the face test, and I have seen on banners

• Comic Sans - Don't expect me to take your ad seriously if it is written in Comic Sans and is not for a child related product.
• Random off-center line of text - it's pretty easy to center text if everything else is centered. For that matter, how did someone approve this ad?
• Put a picture of everything you sell on your GIF animated banner. Then in the last frame, list every way a person can contact you so there isn't a need to click on the ad to go to the site
• Spell your company name wrong - especially when you spell it correctly in the site URL  

And those are just a few of the things I've seen.  But this blog isn't about the bad ads that I see. This blog is about ads that I like. Ads that stay with me to the next day, to the next year. The ads that have made me buy something, and continue to buy it. The ads with a story. The name of the blog: Advertising Anonymous. I love to discuss ads, what I like and don't like, comparing the ads when the agency has changed. I was talking to my coworker about my love of ads, he didn't realize how much until I mentioned that I have a 3 inch binder full of my favorite ads through the years, all in plastic protectors. There should probably be a meeting for this...Hello my name is Sara and I'm addicted to ads. For this blog I will post different ads that I come across that made me stop and think, interact with the ad, or a great branding strategy that can't be ignored.