Digital marketing is dominating the advertising world for many reasons. There’s the unprecedented access of email marketing, with an annual growth of 4.4% year after year. There’s also the precise targeting of mobile and social media marketing. Traditional advertising could only dream of having such specific insights into their customer’s lives.

Digital marketers have every reason to be ecstatic about the potentials of digital marketing. But that doesn’t mean that traditional advertising doesn’t have its merits.

Advertisers are still spending 50% of their marketing budgets on print ads. Why? Print lasts longer and has the hallmark of trustworthiness, which is increasingly important in today’s marketing industry.

The best advertising and marketing campaigns make the most of every tool at their disposal. Physical advertising like print ads still have things to teach us, as marketers and business owners.

Let’s take a look at some of the best print ads for some inspiration for your next marketing campaign, whether it’s online or on paper.

The Best Print Ads For Your Inspiration

Good marketing should strike a balance between novelty and familiarity. Your customers need to see something they’ve never seen before to pique their interests. If it’s too foreign, however, it becomes unintelligible and fails to resonate.

Volkswagen’s Park Assist

German automaker Volkswagen’s ad campaign for their park assist feature from a few years ago showcases several features of what makes an effective print ad.

First of all, it’s beautiful. Volkswagen’s visual design offers a nod to upscale Scandinavian graphic design, arguably some of the finest graphic design on the planet. The limited color palette means their print ads never becomes too busy or confusing.

Secondly, they don’t waste much time with words. Clearly, marketing inspiration runs both ways. Print advertisers seem to be learning from online advertisers as much as we learn from them.

In online advertising, you need to get in and get out. Visuals are used to maximum effect, letting them speak 1000 words. Make your visuals do as much work as possible, whether advertising online or in print.

Burger King’s McWhopper Campaign

Controversy sells. It gets our neurons firing. It makes our mouth water.

It’s the marketing version of watching a big boxing match. There’s a sense of real danger. Someone could get hurt.

It’s no mistake that clickbait has been on the rise with each passing year, even as we are on guard against it. It plays to our most primal urges, eliciting sometimes very real and powerful physical responses.

Burger King took a real risk with their McWhopper print ad campaign from a few years back. Normally, corporations will not mention another company by name. Especially not their biggest competitor. They prefer to pretend they’re the only hamburger in the land.

Burger King went against this accepted wisdom with their McWhopper campaign. They offered an olive branch, reaching out to McDonald’s on a collaboration between the two brands. They took out ads next to McDonald’s billboards. They also took out a print ad in the New York Times.

Sadly, McDonald’s declined to take them up on their offer. We’ll never get to see the McWhopper, which sounds kind of delicious, to be honest.

Burger King didn’t just rely on a tacky, professional wrestling-style marketing gimmick to make their ad work. It’s a testament to solid design principles, as well. Just look at the way they employ McDonald’s instantly recognizable golden arches next to a letter E made to look like a hamburger.

Burger King’s cleverness and solid graphic design results in one of the most popular print ads in recent years. Take notes (but market responsibly.)

StrongerMarriage.org

The best print ads let your audience come to their own conclusions. Instead of bludgeoning them with the message, you lead them to water and hope they drink.

StrongerMarriage.org’s print ad campaign is often cited as one of the most clever and masterful ad campaigns of the 21st century. It makes the most of the visual elements while keeping text to the minimum.

The print ad simply shows the word ‘ME’ with the letter ‘M’ surrounded by a perforated line. The text is simple and stark. It simply reads ‘For A Stronger Relationship,’ 1. cut on dotted line and 2. rotate 180 degrees.

The message isn’t immediately obvious. Instead, it dawns on you, like solving a math problem or a riddle that’s been haunting you for days. Once you get it, you realize the advice is actually very profound.

One of the secrets to a happy marriage is listening. One of the secrets of successful marketing is listening to your audience. They are telling us something with their unabashed embrace of StrongerMarriage.org’s print ad campaign. Pay attention and incorporate these insights into your next ad campaign.

And of course, you can always check in with seasoned professionals and tastemakers like this company to check your work!

Minnesota State Fair Bingo Cards

Print advertisement isn’t limited to full-page magazine and newspaper ads. It’s any form of visual branding that is used to raise awareness about an organization, business, product, or service.

Like the other examples we’ve looked at, the Minnesota State Fair combine the new and novel with the familiar. They also integrate user interaction in a particularly clever way, which is one of the hottest trends in digital marketing.

To showcase the wonders of their upcoming season, Minnesota State Fair employ the uber-familiar bingo card format to alert their patrons of things to see and do while they’re there. It also encourages visitors to make a game of it, marking off each sight until they’ve reached a bingo.

Good print ads last the test of time. They can even become works of art, on their own. Look at the iconic branding of Coca-Cola in the 20th Century as an example.

Remember, Coca-Cola invented the modern configuration of Santa Claus! Spend some time and energy on your own advertising, whether it’s on paper or in the cloud, and your company could have a similar lasting impact.

Looking For More Business Inspiration?

We’re here for you! We compile as many of the most interesting people, places, and things from all over the world, each and every day!

If you’re looking for more ways to emulate the best print ads, browse through our business articles and get inspired!