“Anti-Ad” Ads Making a Trend in Marketing
Advertising’s newest strategy? Candor. Their taking “truth in advertising” to a new level but tactfully telling the consumers exactly what they’re looking at.
As consumer awareness has grown, viewers are more privy to advertisements and what’s being sold to them. Eyes are peeled as consumers are more cautious and hesitant to buying into what’s being sold to them.
Advertisers have caught onto the growing knowledge and concern that consumers have. In 2018, a video commercial with Dennis Quaid for Esurance Insurance, actually walks the viewer through the scenes of the commercial, explicitly stating what is clearly happening (https://www.ispot.tv/ad/dSiK/esurance-its-surprisingly-painless-featuring-dennis-quaid). The end of the commercial ending with, “Now you might not believe any of this, since this is a television commercial, but that’s why they’re being so transparent. Anyways, this is the end of the commercial where I walk off into a very dramatic sunset to reveal the new Esurance tagline so that you’ll remember it.” The tagline then pops up “Surprisingly Painless.”
Advertisers are clearly still selling and persuading. However they are becoming more strategic in their methods to contest the threat of consumer concern. Instead of concealing and hiding the fact that the advertisements are, well, advertisements, they are acknowledging that their sole job is to sell and persuade. They are camouflaging that exact messaging with explicit copy that simultaneously takes responsibility for advertising, but distracts that back to the actual brand and print itself.
RXBar has gotten in on this trend as well, creating some of its best ads thus far. RXBar has revolutionized protein bars for consumers. The bar has become highly popularized by people everywhere: athletes, on-the-goers, students, even kids (RXBar has a kid’s line with more proportional-friendly servings). The bars are health conscious, with only 5-6 ingredients per bar. The ingredients are all naturally occurring with no added sugar, dyes, preservatives, etc. Some of their most popular include chocolate sea salt (made up of egg whites, almonds, cashews, dates, and spices), peanut butter (egg whites, peanuts, dates, spices), mixed berry (egg whites, almonds, cashews, dates, spices) and chocolate peanut butter) egg whites, peanuts, dates, spices). Besides their health and clean classification, the bars popular for their satisfying, filling, and easy to grab-and-go nature.
But the marketing team for RXBar wanted to create an ad campaign that was different from other protein bars and granola bars in the industry. “No B.S.” has been stamped on each RXBar product packaging, creating a sort-of brand stamp for the company. The “No B.S.” is listed right under the simple ingredient list of the packaging. In looking at the packaging of the bars and RX product line, everything is simple and clean with no overly-stylized colors, fonts, or vectors. Much like the product itself, the packaging is simple. And that’s what the marketing team wanted with its ads. So, they ran what they called a “aggressively simple” campaign. Thus was born print ads that are anti-ad in that they are showing the consumer what they already know by telling them precisely what they are looking at.
These ads are incredibly engineered for brand consistency. Like the RXBar products, they are telling the consumers and viewers exactly what they are looking at. It’s a genius marketing move. The fonts are consistent with the brand packaging, as are the colors. And of course, they include the tagline “No B.S.” tucked away small, but visually in the corner of each ad.
Visually, the ad is not overwhelming: it has simple typography and includes only the text and a small picture of an RXBar. Simultaneously however, it is eye-catching because it is so simple. And the text itself (i.e. “This is a headline” and “This is the word ‘Maple’ really big.”) is satirical, comical, and connotes a fun-loving nature behind the brand. They know the truth of their marketing and commercializing; they want consumers to laugh along with them.
The marketing team mixed large, bold, simple fonts with colors that are vibrant and coherent with the product packaging. It makes for a consistent brand image and message: clean, simple, understandable, no hidden agenda.
Consider telling the consumer what they already know. Reassurance is an upcoming strategy that is proving to be malleable for each brand as well as popular, humorous and well-received by consumers.
Wohl., J., Wohl, J., & Jessica. (2018, August 08). 'I'm famous and this is a commercial': Ice-T tells it like it is in protein bar ad. Retrieved from https://adage.com/article/cadent/ice-t-delivers-rxbar-s-b-s-message-campaign/314531/