We’ve recently looked at award-winning ads from big companies that taught us how to handle criticism and target the right audience.

We’ll look at a new ad today that’s all about getting attention.

Jeep had the first car ad ever to win top prize at the Cannes Film Festival:

Can a Jeep really do that? No. But the imagery is captivating, right?

The idea here is to grab attention. You’ve probably heard this again and again; it’s preached to death in the marketing world. To help you out, we’ll get a little more specific: you want to capture attention with shock value (the good kind, of course).

Jeep wasn’t going to capture attention with a flashy car leaping and bounding over rocky terrain during a storm. Every single car company has done that and the commercials have gotten as dramatic as is realistically possible. They’re glamorous and they’re death-defying and they’re… boring to us, right? We’ve seen them a hundred times. So to actually grab attention, Jeep had to take it a step further.

Translating this to marketing your own business, think about what people usually expect to hear about a business like yours. Now think about what would shock them to hear. Use it.

There is a danger with using shock value to grab attention. Do it the wrong way, and you can seriously annoy some people. I’m willing to bet we all hate getting a piece of mail that’s designed to look like it’s from the government and stamped with a phrase like, “Legal matters require you to open this immediately.” You start to get a little worried! You start to wonder if you pushed the “submit” button when you were filing your taxes.

So the question is, how do you make marketing with shock value work well for your customers?

1. Don’t give a tease in the subject line and a “just kidding” inside the email. Unless it’s April 1.
2. Do use humor if possible. This can often come as a pleasant shock.
3. Do relate it to your product. If your “shock value” is just a gimmick that has nothing to do with your business, it will lose its impact.

We wrap up award-winning ad lessons with a look at how storytelling can get your audience excited. Don’t miss it – sign up to join our email list below!