Using analogies in advertising

At Partisan Advertising, we believe there are five tenets upon which effective and memorable advertising campaigns can be built and how they can be used for the betterment of your advertising. They are:

Humour, testimonial, metaphor, analogy, and demonstration.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at analogies used in advertising. An analogy can be a powerful and effective tool in advertising campaigns. By using analogies we create associations with your target audience, making your products more attractive and interesting, which helps to build an emotional connection with potential customers.

An analogy is a figure of speech that compares two objects, often for the purpose of clarification or emphasis. It takes something abstract or difficult to understand and makes it easier to comprehend by connecting it to something more easily understood.

Analogies can be used effectively in advertising campaigns to help customers connect with your brand and product in a meaningful way.

Why use analogies?

Humans compare what is happening to them in the present with what happened to them in the past. Based on previous experiences and memories stored, our brain makes connections and comparisons.

For example, when you see a car, your brain automatically tells you ‘this is a car’ and based on previous experiences, you know how a car works. You don’t have to ‘re-learn’ a car. Your brain makes a connection between all the cars you’ve ever seen or driven before and connects this information with any new car you will see. This ‘connection’ is an analogy that your brain does subconsciously.

In advertising, analogies and metaphors are everywhere. The motivational power of an advertisement often depends on the analogies used. A well-chosen analogy will vastly improve the memorability and impact of your advertising.

How We Use Analogies in Advertising.

The key to using analogies successfully in advertising is to come up with a comparison that is both meaningful and relevant. We start by thinking of some tangible objects that can be connected to your product or brand. Then, we consider how these objects are similar in terms of qualities or characteristics. Finally, we create an analogy that ties back to the message you are trying to communicate with your audience - such as “Your product is like a sunny day - it brings warmth and light into people’s lives!”

We look for analogies that are meaningful and emotionally impactful. We try to pick objects that have personal relevance to our customer base. Additionally, we make sure the analogy is relevant to the message we are attempting to send with our advertising.

We avoid generic comparisons and instead focus on creating something original and interesting that will stand out in the minds of viewers.

Finally, we’re always direct and don’t leave too much room for interpretation, making sure our audience can follow the connection between the analogy and the product or brand.

Tap Into Trending Topics with Analogies.

Everyone talks about current events, pop culture and trending topics. We look to make meaningful connections between those trends and your brand message so that your customers are more likely to remember it.

Analogies serve as strong bridges - they help paint a vivid picture while emphasising deeper meaning to the subject. Finding a clever analogy that reflects an aspect of your brand’s ethos can make your next advertising campaign memorable!

Using metaphors in advertising.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at using metaphors in advertising.

At Partisan Advertising, we believe there are five tenets upon which effective and memorable advertising campaigns can be built and how they can be used for the betterment of your advertising. They are:

Humour, testimonial, metaphor, analogy, and demonstration.

Metaphors are the kings of advertising and can be a compelling option to explore when creating effective advertising campaigns.

What you’re doing is taking two dissimilar things and putting them together based on something they have in common. For example, drawing a comparison between a condom and a motorcycle helmet. They're very different in terms of size, how they’re made, and what they’re made from, but they both offer protection where and when it matters most.

Some messages can be clear and simple (like the condom example), but sometimes, a better and more unique impression can be made using very different elements, like an eel and a car (figure it out).

We often test products and brands based on what we can see, feel, hear, touch, and taste but there’s something more at play that creates a strong association with the brand and I call that the “smile factor”. This is the reality that there are a lot of other benefits that brands can offer that our five senses can’t describe – subconscious messages with deeper meanings and emotions which influence our decisions to make a purchase.

And this is where the metaphor comes into play.

Metaphors come in two varieties: pure metaphor and fused metaphor.

What is a pure metaphor?

This metaphor represents a completely different thing from your product; it is used to stand in for the product or the feelings we get from it. Here is one example:

Sofia is a newly established bank. Banks are boring and often their advertising is even worse. This ad seems to have no connection to banking, but it’s packed with associations: the visual tells the story that the bank is new but it is smart and knowledgeable in all things banking despite its age.

What is a fused metaphor?

This is when you take the product and something unique about it and combine it with something else. Here’s a great example that needs no explanation:

How we use metaphors:

• We look for pairs to parallel.

• We mix the product’s symbols with imagery that is somehow related to the product.

• We work in terms of addition or substitution.

• We start putting the product into formats to help make connections and create images:

  • “It’s like a ____.”

  • “It’s like a ____ for your ____.”

  • “Think of it as a _______.”

  • “If it were a ____, it would be a _____.”

If our first ideas are too clichéd, we don’t lose hope. We’re prepared to hold out for the second, third, or 20th comparison. Metaphors will start pouring out and the originality will come.

The brilliance in using metaphors lies within how we spark a connection between the product or service to the audience. Ultimately, metaphors are tools for communication whereby using one means your audience will better understand the purpose of why they can make use of your product/business.

Using testimonials in advertising.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at using testimonials in advertising.

At Partisan Advertising, we believe there are five tenets upon which effective and memorable advertising campaigns can be built and how they can be used for the betterment of your advertising. They are:

Humour, testimonial, metaphor, analogy, and demonstration.

We need to start at the very beginning. Way back before social media and the Internet, when we had to actively look for advice from friends, family, and industry experts – word-of-mouth was the most powerful marketing tool around (and it still is).

In the previous century, being a film or food critic (or any critic for that matter) was being someone with a make-or-break influence to those being reviewed. These days, everyone’s a critic. Is that a problem? It doesn’t appear that way except (once again) for those being reviewed.

Using testimonials in advertising is so powerful because we trust people more than we trust brands. According to research by UK think tank WyzOwl, 42% of people say testimonial videos are compelling because they showcase an actual person and help the viewer understand their story.

WyzOwl also said that 95% of people they interviewed say that reviews, whether positive or negative, influence their purchasing decisions.

This points toward the importance of video testimonials as a marketing and advertising tool. Video takes word-of-mouth marketing to the next level. A video is harder to fake. This is a real customer willing to associate their face and name with your brand. It creates trust and helps create a strong, authentic relationship between the viewer, the person in the video, and the brand. This strengthens the relationship between the brand and the consumer.

Testimonial commercials are a highly specialised form of advertising, and they can be tremendously effective.

• Testimonials make the invisible visible.

• Testimonials can demonstrate conversation benefits.

• A testimonial can add legitimacy and increase engagement.

• Testimonials can provide direct targeting through strong resonation with the audience.

In the past eight years, Partisan Advertising has successfully used testimonial-based commercials for our client, TR Group. Our approach to generating testimonials is simple:

• The customer does not have a script to follow. This results in a short, to-the-point, natural, and believable delivery.

• We position TR Group’s clients in their environment, at work, and doing business.

• We ignore marketing “buzzwords”.

So how has testimonial-based advertising helped TR Group?

• It has built stronger trust from the customers doing the commercials.

• The customers’ brand is showcased free of charge on a large media spend.

A testimonial is so powerful. To put it simply: even a short, 30-second TV commercial can show that there are clear benefits to using your product or service.

In our next blog, we’ll take a look at using metaphors to create better advertising.

Using humour in advertising.

In this blog, we’ll be looking at using humour in advertising.

At Partisan Advertising, we believe there are five tenets upon which effective and memorable advertising campaigns are built. They are:

Humour, testimonial, metaphor, analogy, and demonstration.

I’ll start by saying what we all know: humour isn’t universal but it’s super powerful and very popular. However, one man’s sense of humour can often be another man seconds away from being offended, or worse, not laughing. Humour can bring people closer together or push them further apart.

Human beings like to recall how humour made them feel, and because humour releases endorphins, jokes get remembered, retold and heard more frequently. A sense of humour can make us feel liked and connected, and humour can help develop our relationships. Humour is a fantastic method to appeal to customers’ emotions and gain their trust.

In the world of advertising, humour works and can easily cut through the noise and help brands stand out when it comes to communicating key messages. However, it’s not easy to find the perfect line to make your advertising humorous.

Years back, the word “viral” was the talk of the town. Every advertising agency was on the road to creating viral work, most often trying to go viral by using humour. But things have changed dramatically and the concept of viral has been turned on its head by current social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, and just about anything can go viral with (or without) the use of humour.

When the Superbowl rolls into town on the first Sunday of February, advertisers pay extravagant fees to get their products and brands in front of millions of eyeballs on the biggest day in TV for advertising, and the vast majority use humour to break through and appeal to audiences. Superbowl advertising has become so popular that many people watch the Superbowl just for the ad breaks.

However, what is humorous can often quickly become imitated and boring, leading to a loss of memorability and, in worse cases, leading to a lack of likeability, as these three ads produced for Superbowl viewers show.

So here are ten easy tips to remember to crack the “humour effect” for your brand:

1. Show your personality.

2. Be authentic and believable.

3. Be relatable to your audience.

4. Don’t be offensive (unless it fits in with your brand positioning).

5. Don’t force your humour.

6. Don’t insult your audience.

7. Remember that humour is subjective.

8. Don’t use sarcasm, as it can’t always be communicated through text - as seen in the “Pepsi, Where’s my Jet?” advertising campaign.

9. Stay classy - don’t poke fun at your competitors.

10. Get a second opinion from a lawyer.

Here are five great places to use humour to build your brand besides on video:

1. Recruitment ads, like this one from SodaStream.

2. Internal communications. Just make sure that managers and leaders are fully onboard.

3. Email signatures. Here are some great ideas from RightInbox.

4. Create backgrounds for digital media meeting platform meeting rooms like Zoom and Google Meets using Xsplit Vcam.

One should never forget that using humour in advertising is the riskiest of our five tenets. Humour isn’t for everyone, but if you crack the code, prepare to enjoy the rewards.

In our next blog, we’ll take a look at using testimonials to create better advertising.

And while we’re waiting, here are 17 minutes of great examples of humour used in advertising. Enjoy!