2. Overcrowding

Most bad advertising suffers from overcrowding. This is the act of trying to get as much information into the advertisement as possible in an effort to let your audience know as much as possible. This can and usually is a combination of too much copy, too many headlines and too many photos. This method fails in many ways. For starters, overcrowding dilutes the impact of messaging. It is almost impossible to get a clear message across with too much information. Secondly, overcrowding tends to make ads blend with other content in magazines or newspapers. In advertising less is more. A break in clutter is actually eye catching. Finally, unless you’re a supermarket, overcrowding tends to look cheap. So you’re a thrift store you say? Well consider this, Ebay could be considered the one of the few companies justified in having an overcrowded ad but do they? No. Because they know the secret lies in a clear message that their audience will respond to.

3. Inappropriate Design

Inappropriate design is the act of using imagery, typography and sometimes humor that is not really best suited for the nature of the business or target audience. Let’s talk examples. Take for instance a commercial real estate firm who’s target market is large corporations. Their image should then portray confidence, integrity, power, expertise and business savvy. Therefore the use of an overly feminine font in a feminine color of, let’s say, lavender does not really portray the right image now does it?. Imagine a high end furniture showroom with an affluent target market. Their ad needs to appeal to an affluent appetite and lifestyle. Now imagine their typography is a paintbrush type of font or even a crayon front highlighting numerous starbursts of sale items throughout the ad. This ad would not really appeal to an affluent audience’s sense of lifestyle and status. You wouldn’t see this sort of thing in a Mercedes ad and for very good reason. Inappropriate design also includes the imagery and

1 | 2 | 3