Ads Review - Classic Ad Style

Welcome back to the Digital Advertising Review. This week, I’m breaking down a classic style ad from Tip Top Cocktails. Tip Top makes fully prepared cocktails in cans and ships directly to consumers. Their entire brand is reminiscent of everything classic, and this ad takes that to the next level. First, I’ll break down why this works, then I’ll present some ideas to make it better.

Why This Works

This ad looks like a classic magazine ad from the 60s. A great product photo paired with a paragraph of copy. It automatically takes you back to a different time, and makes a strong brand association immediately. At first it might seem like this is merely a fun brand piece, but when analyzed as the piece of digital marketing that it is, it actually holds up to modern advertising best practices too. Here’s how.

First, there is a big, clear product shot. The Facebook ads that crush these days feature a large product shot unashamedly. Many brands are resistant to this, but Tip Top gets the big product shot in their ad while still doing something cool for their brand. 

Second, they have a strong logo placement, not only in the product photos, but also at the bottom of the ad. Putting three logos in one ad would be nearly impossible to pull off in virtually any other ad, but since this looks so classicist makes sense. This will increase brand lift tremendously. 

Third, they have a customer review quote as the copy in the paragraph. Customer reviews dominate in digital ads, as the social proof really moves the needle in our saturated world. 

Ideas To Make It Better

I only have a few ideas to make this better. First, I’d like to see a slightly pared down version of this ad with less text. By removing the “Tip Top ’To-Go’ Manhattans” text in red, it might bring more attention to the product shots and the review. 

My second idea is to create an animated video version of this ad, where each layer of text emerges one by one. It could start with just the product photo, then the “Looking for a Manhattan to-go?” text could pop in, one word at a time. Then, the can image could slide in, and then the review could pop up. Something like that would be more engaging and would bring attention to the right parts of the ad one by one. 

Closing

Thanks for reading! Hopefully this has been helpful for you. I’m arranging a little database on my site to display all these ads in one place. That should serve as a great place to find inspiration for your next campaign.