We’ve all seen them. They are the ads with the lovely new watch on the strikingly beautiful woman doing nothing other than just sitting there, being lovely, wearing the watch.

Then, of course, there are the ads that completely cross the line and border on inappropriate, even dirty.

Is there a happy medium in the creative spectrum? Perhaps an ad that is risque enough to be attention getting, yet remains within reason and effectively gets the point across? I believe there is.  My personal opinion as a consumer is that these ads do more than just successfully engage the viewer. Rather, they treat us with the respect we deserve by acknowledging that now, more than ever, the consumer is intelligent, thoughtful and capable of getting an inside joke. Similar to the lessons we’ve heard passed down through the years such as “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?”, advertisements that hide nothing and are outspokenly inappropriate leave nothing to the imagination. On the opposite end of the spectrum, adverts presented in good taste with a hint of risque seem to interact with consumers on a higher, more intellectual level. We get that marketers understand us and know that a shred of humor in an otherwise boring slew of constant advertising (see first picture above) is a welcome reprieve, whether in a magazine, on a billboard or as a part of a direct mail campaign. We appreciate the obvious creative effort that went into it and praise them for taking the time to humor us.

A wonderful example of this kind of effort is seen below in the Wallis “Dress to Kill” campaign:

This particular campaign is fun, humorous and sure to pull a smirk from the viewer. It is obvious that the creatives on the other side of this campaign thought this through, rather than simply finding the tackiest image available that would astonish their audience. The “Dress to Kill” campaign, in my opinion, covers all the right bases.

On the home front here at Zoom Creates, I’ve been fortunate enough to take part in many a creative brainstorm. What I know is that usually, the initial ideas brought to the table are perhaps “good enough” but not the best we could come up with. The best ideas seem to come to the surface a little later on, sometimes in the last 15 minutes of the brainstorm. What I’ve learned from this is that the time invested up front is directly related to the top notch end result that is produced.

From the Zoom Creates archives comes the Consolidated Press ad campaign that incorporates a little humor, a clear message and striking, eye catching visuals. Enjoy!