Play the part of a print ad executive: How good advertising in 2010 got done--and what it looks like.

A behind the scenes look at how ad executives think.  

I meet people all the time who tell me they want break into the world of advertising--they think it would be so exciting because it would be so "creative."  Well, I suppose that to some degree or other, they're right--the world of advertising has to be more creative than say auditing or determining stock values!

However, most students of marketing and advertising are not prepared for the serious, analytic side of building, scheduling, and then "placing" paid commercial messages.  They fail to understand that much of advertising involves more "numbers" and people-with-green-eye-shades than they at first think.

How hard can something so simple really be?

I ran across a listing of 2010's most effective print ads and I thought that even if you never really had a hankering to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at first, what good print advertisements look like and, then, why they get to be considered as outstanding in the first place--you might like to see a few business "internals" just the same.  

In the following paragraph I'm going to give you a link I have that opens a small window on that world.  When you follow it, I would encourage you to do two things:  First, pay attention to the vivid colors, the smart layout designs, the ingenius and creative use of headlings and sub-heads; let me assure you, none of the ads in this collection were done by beginners; instead they represent the collective work of a smart, likely experienced, creative team.  

Secondly, I want you to pay attention to the analytics--the reason why your eye tells you that what you are looking at is an above-average ad.  You will find impact values and category ratings that show why this image is more than just "creative," or attention-getting; indeed, below each ad image you'll find some compelling "numbers" that prove it was more than just a pretty picture with copy.  

You be the advertising exec for the next five minutes!

When you do this you'll get a feel for what it's like to think and choose award winning and commercially successful ads!  The material is from the people at Media Age and the "story" that over-arches the ads is "See the most effective ads of 2010."  

Go ahead and for the moment enjoy playing the part of an ad executive!  This is really the most enjoyable part of the job--how one gets to this point is a different matter.  But that's a story for another day and a lot of hard work as well!  

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Follow Keith's biz blog on Twitter for updates and see more of what he's reading about on his Facebook Page. If you are inclined, you can write him at kmurray@bryant.edu.