Marketing Profs

In designing or approving print ads, here's a good rule of thumb: think two seconds. On average, people look at a print ad for no more than two seconds (see Giep Franzen, Advertising Effectiveness: Findings from Empirical Research. NTC Publications, Oxfordshire, 1994). That is a chillingly short time to hook them with a seductive sales pitch. Your ads have to become “two-second hookers.”

High-Impact Visuals

It takes something special to make your ad cut through—to stop people scanning and pay attention. High impact visuals are often the key.

Visuals are often better “hookers” than headlines, because in 90% of cases people look at the visual before the words. About 1.5 seconds of the two seconds spent on the average ad is devoted to the picture, and only about 0.5 seconds to the copy.

Visuals also communicate faster than words. In the same time it takes us to mentally process a visual, we can read only about 10 words. But when using visuals to cut through, don't lose sight of what follows. The ad must also communicate the brand and deliver a positive message. So, the high-impact visual should also reinforce the main message—not just get attention.

Double Duty

In other words, the visual should do double duty—like the antismoking ad aimed at pregnant mothers. A smoking baby is not only visually arresting, it powerfully reinforces the main message of the headline: Smoke when you're pregnant, and your baby smokes with you.

In going for attention, don't lose sight of the other things that the ad must do if it is going to work.

Beyond the reinforcing of a positive message, here are three more guidelines.

1. Watch out for negative side effects