Zata Blog

There are 6 templates that were identified by researchers at the University of Jerusalem. Click on the links to get more detailed explanations and examples.

1. Pictorial Analogy: Substitute another item in place of your product (or service) to create an unexpected explanation of the value of your product.

2. Extreme Situations: Show your products or services being tested beyond the limits of normal use.

3: Extreme Consequences: Show the an exaggerated result of using your products.

4: Uncommon Use: Create an element of mystery (what’s this commercial or ad about) and then surprise the viewer by showcasing a single trait of your product.

5: Interactive Experiment: Get your customers involved to “Prove to Themselves” the value of your offering.

6: Time Leap: Show the use of your product or service at various points in time. In print, this can be a before and after example.

Participants in the researchers studies trained one group to use these templates, another in creative thinking techniques and a third group was not trained at all (the control group). The group that used these templates consistently outperformed the other two groups in creating effective advertisements as measured by recall and subjective judging by industry experts.

Independent restaurants and retailers can use these templates to create highly effective advertisements for print, radio and television and compete with their much larger rivals.

- Brad Brooks