In Comparative Ads, Don't Show Users

In media advertising and store-based signage, we might choose to market a product by comparing it to alternatives. "Buy our house brand because you get a larger package size for the same price." "Choose our new merchandise addition because it offers superior safety features."
     Here are a few tips about comparative advertising:

• Include tables and charts that make the differences easy to recognize. Remember that the shopper will be spending lots less time looking at the ad or sign than you spent designing it. What you can figure out from looking at the comparison might be too complicated for the shopper who's in a hurry.
• Include a picture of the product you're recommending to the customer. If the product comes in a package, show the package, not the product itself. You're wanting to prime the shopper's brain to feel comfortable with the product package when they see it on the shelf. Familiarity—even recent familiarity—breeds comfort. This is especially important when what you're recommending is a product new to your shelves or is an unfamiliar brand.
• Do not show pictures of the products or product packages to which you're comparing the recommended item. Those other pictures would dilute the memory of the target product package. We want to shopper to keep the comparative advantages top-of-mind, but not be picturing the competing products.
• And here's one you might find surprising: In comparative ads, do not show pictures of people using the product. University of Maryland researchers discovered that such pictures lead shoppers to start thinking about using the products themselves, and when they do this, they put too much mental energy into thinking about just the recommended product. They forget to pay attention to the comparative advantages, so the power of the comparative ad fades away.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers