5 Lessons my Dog has Taught me About Advertising

Lola is the Chief Impact Officer of MDM Ads.

1. Dogs are always happy and loving. Any ads specialist will tell you that it’s really difficult to run a ‘negative’ advertising campaign — and they’re right! The value of the word ‘happy’ can’t be underestimated when we want customers to feel good about their purchase. This means we need to focus on creating uplifting messages instead of negative ones like sadness or anger (and yes, I know that one is great for clickbait — but less so for ads — trust Lola!)
2. Dogs don’t give up. When your ads don’t perform as you’d hoped, it can be tempting to quickly cut your losses and pull the plug. Facebook has a learning phase that takes about 4 days so you really can’t know if an ad is successful or not until that has completed. And even if this particular ad wasn’t successful in terms of reaching its targeted audience, you will still have some valuable data. Be like Lola chasing the birds and don’t give up too easily.
3. Dogs have a strong sense of loyalty. Advertisers, like Alsatians, need to be human focussed. We need to create and build relationships, but stay loyal to the brand values we are communicating. It’s harder than you’d think sometimes!
4. Dogs always make people feel good. An ad that’s fun and makes a customer feel good is the Holy Grail for all advertisers. There are entire websites devoted to ads from the 70s and 80s which still evoke happy childhood memories. My own favourite was the Cadbury’s Smash Men. Ads specialists should focus on creating ads that are fun to watch or listen to.
5. Dogs represent the perfect combination of innocence and fun. This is why they are so amazing. They don’t play games with our emotions, and they never mislead us about what’s really happening in the moment of an interaction. Any advertiser who cheats or disappoints customers will quickly find themselves blocked and possibly even banned from Facebook or the other platforms.

Lola and her kind have a lot to teach us about advertising. They know how to get our attention, hold it and persuade us to take action. And we love them for it!

And by the way, what’s your favourite childhood advert? Why did it resonate with you? Let me know!