Don’t follow the crowd, follow the idea

John Foust

Jul 1, 2026

When advertisers say, “Make my ads stand out,” they’re usually thinking of big headlines and big logos. There are other ways.

During my ad agency days, one of my accounts was a fumigant manufacturer. Their products were developed specifically for commercial pest control companies, not for direct-to-consumer use. For example, grain transportation and silos need protection from rodents and insects. And golf courses need to keep their grounds (especially the greens) safe from moles and voles.

One ad was targeted to industries who have to deal with rodents. I spent some time researching competitors’ advertising and discovered that most depictions of rodents were cartoon drawings or photographs of ones that had (excuse the terminology) expired. Those two concepts were so common that it looked like advertisers flipped a coin to see which one they would use.

We needed something that would stand out from other ads in pest control publications, so I produced a black-and-white ad with a large photograph of a live rat set against a plain background. The headline simply read, “Sitting duck,” a term for something that is defenseless. The copy supported the fact that the fumigant was an effective treatment. In tests that measured the noticeability of ads which ran, it consistently posted high scores. The best news was that sales increased.

The decision to run that campaign was a bold move for the advertiser. They had to resist the temptation to make small tweaks to their existing ads, which were similar to their competitors’ ads.

Advertisers — like the rest of us — often struggle with “fit in or stand out” decisions. While we all want to fit in with our peers, at the same time, we want to be unique.

That’s one reason why a real estate advertiser will claim a desire to stand out from the crowd and then run ads that look like all the other real estate ads in the paper. The same goes for clothing stores, car dealers and local insurance agencies.

A daring advertiser might venture off the beaten path and develop something that is truly different. If it’s effective, others may follow. And later — perhaps years later — that different approach could become the new standard that everyone follows. Then another advertiser will take a new approach. And so it goes. New becomes old, and old leads to new.

Every advertiser has to make a choice. Fit in or stand out? Be a follower or a trailblazer? Stick with the familiar or take a risk that could lead to bigger rewards?

It takes courage to break away from the crowd. When you’re discussing ad ideas with clients, that’s a perfect time to shine a light on the choice between the new and the old. That will put both of you in position to keep the best of the old, discard the worst of the old — and consider new ideas that can help the next ad campaign stand out on the page.

John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training DVDs to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com