I decided to put together a collection of what I believe to be creative as well as informative advertising examples, which is rare in an industry filled with completely misleading information. But first…
Welcome to the advertising industry. Here’s your obligatory vomit bag.
I studied advertising for three years, graduated as an art director and then begrudgingly worked in the advertising industry for 2 years. I found it a very unpleasant area to work in personally. Mostly due to the nauseating vapidity of the industry but also some-what due to the long hours, low pay and no credit for my work.
I soon became very disillusioned and bored so I decided to leave and work as a designer while I started my journey as an internet entrepreneur.
The Beatles are back- Cause they’re walking backward across Abbey Rd. 
What is good advertising?
In my experience it’s one that makes you laugh or one that annoys the pants off you.
Whatever the message is, a good ad creates an emotional connection with the viewer. Whether it’s making people laugh, making them cry, making them feel guilty or pissing them off, you’ve got to elicit an emotional reaction. This is the technique advertising-people use to create memorable content which is really important.
Think about how long you look/listen to an ad. 30 seconds? 10 seconds? In a magazine… 2 seconds? If that advert connected to you emotionally it will have an imprint on your memory and therefore have a lasting effect long after you’ve seen it. If you remember the ad you will remember the brand. (hopefully, otherwise there again it fails.)
A few creative and informative advertising examples
Here’s a few informative advertising examples. Informative in the sense that they attempt to connect to their on an emotional level and provide a clear message in a creative way.
Probably a realistic look into the future.
Take a vacation from work and get some fresh air.
Filthy clothes? No problem. OMO washing powder.
There’s a reason that advertising agencies employ designers. That reason is… to scare you with negative space.
It’s a great idea but it doesn’t relate in anyway to what Mercedes Benz sells
This is an example of doing a great looking ad that has absolutely no brand recognition at all.
What an incredible looking double page spread. I’d honestly print this out as a poster and stick it on the wall. Maybe that was the intention, but I can tell you that when I look at this, the word “car” does not come to mind so it’s not surprising that I can never remember that it’s an ad for Mercedes Benz.
I know what happened here. All the creatives got into a room together and started to discuss what the brand Mercedes Benz is all about. They started saying things like “It’s about German precision!” and then some gear-head creative said “It’s also about beautiful design” and so they reached a consensus that it would be amazing to show those two qualities of Mercedes in an ad, but they were wrong because Apple also embraces those two qualities. Even worse, so does Lamborghini a competitive car brand. I’m sure many other companies do too.
I swear I’m not biased toward the WWF they’ve just produced some incredible adverts.
Again this is a great example of how good visual effects can be used correctly, and not just for eye candy, to instantly get the message across.
It’s dry, desert-like color palette showing an elephant crumbling to sand communicates a very straight forward message. You don’t need to understand English to get what it’s about.