How can I get better ideas for making advertising ads?

Question

I would like to get into advertising so I am working on creating my portfolio, but so far it's been hard for me to come up with ideas. Any suggestions, besides sleep...

Answer 1

ideas are born of inspiration, which is something that just hits me. keep a little notepad with you and everytime you have an idea worth keeping, wirte it down. then go back and extrapolate from that. also keep yoruself surrounded by art or anything that moves you.

Answer 2

All of the above answers are substantially wrong.

Your question reflects the common wisdom that's taught in marketing classes, which is also wrong.

The purpose of advertising is to get customers into the sales process. So the only measure of success is sales. The best predictor of future success is past success. So you should study which ads from the past have resulted in successful sales increases.

This entirely rules out most ads you see. Why? Because they have no way to measure or prove their impact on sales. They hide this fact by rattling on about creativity and branding. But really, they're just masturbating.

If you really want to do advertising that works, study the classics like Caples, Hopkins, Dan Kennedy, Gary Halbert (wrote the sales letter that still holds the record for most mailed... they don't keep mailing direct mail letters unless it works, provably).

Answer 3

I'm in advertising... I assume you mean the creative track? You need to tailor your portfolio to the job listing. Create a variety of samples so that you can quickly create a custom tailored portfolio for each job that you apply to. A basic collection should include:

• Print ads
• Business Cards/Letterhead
• Package design
• Newsletters/Magazines
• Web design

Use ads that showcase your collective talent with different software programs. Get an internship. This will give you good materials to show employers and also, hopefully, give you a good reference. Email me if you need more tips.

Answer 4

Some steps that work for us in our agency;
1) Think about the product or service.
2) Think what people think, know, feel about this product, and ask any person what would they do to advertise it. Now you know what NOT to do. Because you have to make anything new, anything different, you should refresh what people think about a product.
3) Think different. If you are making an add for Burger King , you should not think about the people that use to go to Mc Donald's, try thinking about people who goes to pizza Hut for example.
4) Leave youre pc away and take a piece of paper and a pencil. Write down all the things you could relation with the product. Then write down the things you'll never relatin with the product and try to relation them. For examle, Hamburguer= cheese, meat, bread, onion, pickles, tomato, letuce, mayonese, eggs, sauce. But try to relation hamburguer with rocket, or car, or lion, or sky, or ocean, or island. There you could find a different way to comunicate what you want and also get the audience attention.
5) Experience the life: walk under the rain without shoes, run naked, practice a new sport, try to do anything of the oposite sex, go to a funeral, go to a hospital and try to look out for a birth, at the hospital look people feeling, go out and become a homeless for a day. Any new experience would make you grow in many ways. One of this way is a creative way.

Sorry of my english. Any question, mail me

Answer 5

A had a similar experience when I was starting.
I recommend to get a book called
The Non-Designer's Design Book, Second Edition (Paperback)
ISBN: 0321193857
It is the best $12.99 + shipping you will spend.

Answer 6

Try doing things unrelated to advertising. Smell flowers, tie one arm behind your back, hop on one foot, rearrage furinture or sonething else. Clearing your head and doing something silly has been shown to influence creativity.

Answer 7

Try writting with your other hand. It will use the side of the brain that has the most creativity. I have tried it and it seems to work.

Answer 8

keep looking around and you will find it once you see it

Answer 9

Try office.microsoft.com.......in the templates section.......it's freeware.