Sweet Deals on new homes

A scoop of ice cream in the height of summer is bound to get everyone's attention. And the headline-- Sweet Deals-- begs the reader to discover more.

Copy is well written and clever.

You might think this ad should get high marks for effectiveness.

Problem is that serious home buyers, and the number grows each day as the market rebounds, might miss this display ad because it forgets a basic rule: newspaper ads have but 2 seconds to get the reader's attention. And the readers that count are the ones that are warm or hot prospects.

Make the ad larger, add a photo of a happy couple stepping across the threshold of their new home at Alamo Creek and the marketers at Shapell Homes are likely to see higher traffic counts this weekend at their model homes.

Doctor, is that you?

Okay, many recruitment advertisers have take their postings to the web but there are still some great examples of powerful newspaper help wanted ads.
Take this one, for example, from the Denver Post.
Graphically this message calls to the doctor who may be the next Director of Surgery at Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, Co.
The photo does the selling. Her eyes speak to the hard-to-find candidate who is compelled to stop and ask: is this position the perfect fit for me.
Effective ads like this serve as interruption advertising, stopping the passive job seeker for a moment when they least expect it.