• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
You’re here. Awesome! 😉 Here’s a Free Thank You Gift.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
DBD International Logo

Award-winning branding, rebranding and package design

How brands outshine, outlast and outperform their competition

  • Home
  • Start Here
    • About David Brier
    • In The Press
    • Keynote Speaking Engagements
    • The #1 Alexa Skill on Branding and Rebranding
  • Brand Intervention
    • Branding
    • Rebranding
    • Storytelling for Entrepreneurs
    • Leadership
    • Portfolio
  • Videos
  • Contact
  • Blog
Rising above the noise with David Brier

When Did the Best Ads of All Time Stop Roaming the Earth?

Reading Time: 4 minutes
The Best Ads featuring Apple's famous "hello" on a Mac 2

Whatever happened to the best ads for companies?

Remember ads like “Got milk?” or “Plop, plop. Fizz, fizz. Oh, what a relief it is.” for Alka Seltzer?

Or the timeless and always welcome “Just do it” ads for Nike or Apple’s “I’m a Mac. I’m a PC.” campaign?

When did the best ads take a vacation and move to a remote exotic island for an extended stay?

The Best Ads are Like Long-lost Friends We Invite for a Drink

One of the most enduring and memorable campaigns was the “Most Interesting Man in the World” for Dos Equis.

Most interesting man example of a best ad

We all fell in love with him and the bravado of his persona.

Here are just a few of the brilliant bits of copy that built up the bigger-than-life aura of this 100% fictional character who always ended an ad with “Stay thirsty, my friends”:

  1. He lives vicariously through himself.
  2. He once had an awkward moment just to see how it feels.
  3. His beard alone has experienced more than a lesser man’s entire body.
  4. If he were to mail a letter without postage, it would still get there.
  5. Mosquitos refuse to bite him purely out of respect.
  6. His business card simply says, “I’ll call you.”
  7. He has won the lifetime achievement award, twice.
  8. If he were to punch you in the face, you would have to fight off the urge to thank him.

An Important Question Every Brand Must Ask Itself

When was the last time you saw an ad and told others about it?

Or one that made you smile and think, “I didn’t see that one coming. That was brilliant.”

Those days seem so much in the distant past.

3 Steps To Creating Memorable Ads Again

When I work with clients (after I have established that it is a product or service that adds value to a specific person or company and how it is different from what’s out there), I seek to create ads that have three traits to make them memorable:

  1. An element of surprise
  2. Intelligence that speaks our language (and our minds)
  3. Insightful humor or commentary. 

Recently, I’ve been able to put this three-pronged strategy into practice for Nimbl Vehicles, a brilliant new company that builds and manufactures Expedition Vehicles.

The Forest from the Trees

Here is an example of a holiday message created for them. 

At first glance, people commonly see trees. 

A little farther away from their screens, they see the company name and logo appear in the trees.

Don’t see their name in the trees? 

Just step back from your device, and presto, it’s there.

Applying my best ads checklist to a holiday message

Below are three more ads for Nimbl that show this strategy in action:

Social distancing shown as one of the best ads for Nimbl Vehicles

After learning that the entire hemisphere has 9,096 stars in the sky, I realized one theoretically has about half of those to enjoy under the night sky.

Which led to this question: Why settle for 5-star lodging when you can enjoy over 4,500-star lodging?

5 Star Hotel ad is one the best ads of the year in the expedition vehicles space

When in doubt, go bigger.

This was the inspiration for this ad. Compare a Nimbl to one of the most recognized landmarks in all of outdoor travel: Mount Rushmore.

Using Mount Rushmore as a reference elevated this ad to be one the best ads of the year.

As you see, each of these ads incorporates these three key traits:

  1. An element of surprise
  2. Intelligence that speaks our language (and our minds)
  3. Insightful humor or commentary. 

I hope you found this helpful in creating ads and content that are memorable and effective in rising above the noise.

I first discovered the best ads in Manhattan

WHENEVER YOU’RE READY, HERE ARE 4 WAYS I CAN HELP YOU:

1.  → Download The Lucky Brand: 10 Golden Rules of Branding to Outshine, Outperform, and Outlast Your Competition: Ten immediately actionable steps you can apply to your brand right now to elevate how you’re seen while expanding your impact.

2. → Grab Brand Intervention: 33 Steps to Transform the Brand You Have into the Brand You Need  The exact strategies I use to go from zero to 100k+ followers, millions in income with no paid ads…  sharing the tested and proven strategies, responsible for over $7 billion in sales for companies just like yours.

3. → Apply Transform your business in 9 weeks and be mentored directly by me. 

4. → Schedule Work with me and my team 1:1

Related articles:

What Facebook's Stupid (and Irresistible) Ads Made Me Do
The Secret to Brands That Seem to Change the World
Scratching That Itch You Just Can't Reach
What Helped This Napa Valley Rebel Break Tradition (and Triple Sales)?
Contact David Brier

Found this helpful? Never miss an issue

Join 7,500+ subscribers who get step-by-step
actionable brand strategies every two weeks


    Ready to defy gravity?

    For over 30 years, David Brier has worked with large and small companies and startups that refuse to blend in and want — not only a brand that has something to say but — a brand that demands to be heard: to defy gravity and rise above the noise. Read More…

    Discipline
    • Branding
    • Rebranding
    • Storytelling
    • Leadership
    • Portfolio
    4 ways I can help you
    • It’s the Entrepreneurs Bible. Yours Free
    • Amazon’s #1 BestSeller “Brand Intervention”
    • Transform Your Business and Brand in 9 weeks
    • Work With Me And My Team :One to One
    Subscribe to my branding insights email and get my free e-book on branding
    Free Branding Ebook - The Lucky Brand
    You Know You Want To!

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube

    Copyright © 2023 · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Log in