Fill in the blanks


One of the more effective ways in getting your point across is to invite the reader's involvement in your messaging. If you can get them to mentally "close the loop," it can help them internalize and remember your message longer. One big caveat, though: When you're overly familiar with the brand image, it's easy to lose your perspective and end up with an ad that's more obscure than illuminating.  ( An art director I work with refers to those misguided attempts as "ads for people who were at the brand meeting.")

The two ads above do a terrific job at avoiding that pitfall. Simple, straightforward headlines coupled with images (or in the second ad, lack of images) that are slightly at odds with the assumed visuals -- cubes of crushed metal instead of cars, blank space instead of kids -- but not so confusing that your mind can't quickly reconcile the dissonance and appreciate the implied benefit.

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