Recently came across this ad in the "Buffalo News."

It's a great example of a two-step ad that could be swiped for a great many applications. Notice the use of the free-recorded message too.

That a nice little gem, Winicki.

Non-hypey, hope-filled, sets up a common enemy ("they" - all those pills, postures, gadgets, etc that haven't worked) and a new solution that might be just right for you.

Just as important, doens't really "look" like an ad. Notice the deft touch "Buffalo, NY" under the headline as if it was a mini-article.

And yeah, I like the free recorded message too.

Wow - this thread is going to come in handy right now... Right Michael? LOL!

- Cherilyn

Could be.

Subtle, I agree. The ad could have been much, MUCH better, and, as you note, if they wanted to truly make it not look like an ad, they could have followed all your points listed below.

I was simply noting (among other things) - in comparison to many ads that appear in newspapers, it didn't look as much like an ad as others often do. Matter of degree, I guess.

Hey, any little thing helps.

If I correctly recall, Gary Halbert often did the same thing. He might use quotes around the headline, or even cap each word, but also add little things like:

By Camille Stevenson
Medical Correspondent

- Buffalo, NY

And so on...

Or something along those lines. Helps give it a little bit of a feel of news-type article.

But absolutely, if one wants to reap the rewards of higher response, go with your suggestions, especially the latter of calling up the newspaper and getting detailed info on which font, size, etc. and make your ad truly look like a newspaper article.

I agree that the closer it is matched to the particular publication, the better.

I did an article ad for a client last year -- a travel agency who had been at their new shop for almost 2 years, and advertised in the "traditional" advertising style for a lot of that time. When we ran the editorial style article -- even with the publication/legal requirement of having "ADVERTISEMENT" across the top -- the travel agent had people call/tell her that it was the first time they'd seen her in the paper.

Matched headline font/layout column width/body font and leading, photo and captioning exactly, and had good right-hand early page (helped to have a copy of the paper before I did it).

From memory, the whole spread only had 1 "real" article, plus our editorial-looking ad. Whenever I show people that spread, and ask them how many articles are on the page, vs how many ads, they always count the travel agent's ad as an article.

Personally, on Michael's example, I would have written the article more in a journalistic style (I haven't seen a news article open with "It appears"), and watched for hard line breaks within paragraphs, along with Subtle's points, but it's a great base to start from.

Cheers,