Welcome to the debut of the #WooWithCopy series! Get ready to dive into ads that tug at your heartstrings and stick with you long after the screen fades.

Today, we’re going to look at three ads from three brands. One of these even made it to tear-jerker challenges on Youtube. Tell me which one it was in the comments.

What is copy?

For everyone new to the word “copy”, here’s what it is – any message written to sell.

Copy is everywhere! It’s on billboards, flyers, TV ads, Youtube ads, Instagram ads, pop-ups, notifications, alerts, emails…wait, have I made you more aware?

Next time you see an ad and think “woah, nice,” chuckle or involuntarily raise your eyebrows, remember that’s the power of copy.

Ad Analysis

So, what makes these three ads special?

They made me feel. If you are quick to hit “skip ad” on Youtube, you’re missing out.

Watch it

The Farmer’s Dog:

Thai Life Insurance:

Canva India

Think why. What makes these ads stand out?

Emotion: Feeling comes first. If you watched these ads without knowing they are ads, feelings would come first. You wouldn’t be waiting to see what the product is at the end. At the end, the feeling stays. It’s like the Coca-cola ads. The ad shows you a chilled glass, but you know the taste just by watching it.

Relationships: You feel drawn into the narrative and relate to it without even wanting to. I don’t have a dog, but I got teary eyed because it’s a dog! Of course, the music too.

Storytelling: The story flow connects the dots at the end. So when you see the product, your final thought, hopefully is, “okay, my dog will like this,” or “Canva looks handy for last-minute plans”

But do these ads do the job?

Let’s be honest, okay?

I would get the dog food. If my dog feels like the dog in the ad, what more could I ask for? Plus, all the benefits are mentioned before it ends. Neatly typing up the emotion and reason to get the product.

Would I get Thai Life Insurance? No. While the ad is great and I`ll cry every time, it tells me nothing about the insurance itself. What does it cover? What do I get? Why is it better than competitors? The Farmer’s Dog does that.

The idea behind Canva India’s ad is good. The acting, script and product features were a 10/10. Then what’s lost? The ad itself is too long. I watched it out of curiosity or sheer luck, I don’t remember. But would you be willing to watch a six-minute ad with a skip option available? Hmmm….

Karthik Srinivasan critiques ads on LinkedIN and he said had this to say: “an office using Canva to prepare for a farewell party hardly seem like marketable use-cases for a product, from a large target audience perspective.“

Canva is great for design amateurs and professionals alike. But would you use it for a farewell party? Maybe. Would it be more apt for a last minute presentation or pitch? Maybe. I think that Canva is trying to break away here from being a wistful designer’s stepping stone or influencer’s go-to. It’s trying to appeal to a different audience through this one ad. But if you’re Call-To-Action (CTA) comes after six-minutes, is it worth it?

The almost-ending

While appealing to emotions is great, we’re in a world where people now have popcorn brain –an attention span of about 47 seconds. So it’s important for the ad to get the job done while coaxing a tear or two out of you.

The end

Don’t forget to guess which one ad has made it to tear-jerker challenges.

In the next post, we’ll look at big name brands competing with each other through advertisements.