Happy Friday, and welcome back to Marketing Qualified. Here’s what we’re talking about today:

• So bad that it’s good. Sharing our favorite ad campaign of 2024 so far and why we love it.

• Think reviews don't matter? Think again. Crunching the numbers on how star rating impacts customer trust.

😵‍💫 So bad that it’s good.

Our favorite advertising campaign of the year so far just dropped, and we had to share it with you.

It comes from the UK cereal brand Surreal. (You might remember we’ve written about their incredible ads before here)

This month, they launched a new campaign, and it’s safe to say that it breaks all the rules.

They use ‘forbidden’ typefaces like Comic Sans. It’s full of bad stock images and poorly drawn stick figures. The copy has typos, and the layouts are bad enough to make any graphic designer cry.

And yet, people are loving it.

So, what makes this campaign so good?

They break the pattern.

A lot of marketing is simply about finding ways to capture attention. This campaign does that in a genius way through what’s called a pattern break.

People are used to seeing glossy and beautiful billboards. Airbrushed models, impeccably styled food, perfect copy, etc.

These ads are the opposite. They break the pattern.

They're ugly. They break every rule of graphic design. And have glaring typos in them.

But it’s the errors and ugliness that stand out and get people to pay attention.

They match a feeling.

Great branding is about evoking a feeling from your audience.

Companies try to accomplish this every January with a sea of “new year, new you” messaging.

But the bottom line is that message has a very short window in which it might work. For most consumers, the motivation never lasts. 23% of people quit their New Year's resolutions within the first week of January, and 80% failed before February.

Surreal’s campaign still plays on emotions, but they take the refreshing approach of leaning into the more negative aspects of January. But in a fun and light-hearted way.

These ads are the epitome of laziness, on purpose.

Surreal makes the viewer feel better about acting lazy by being lazy themselves.

They follow a trend.

For years now, social media and advertising have become more informal and ‘lower production value.’

Consumers, especially Gen Z and younger, value authenticity and realness above all else. Brands know this and have adjusted accordingly.

Surreal’s campaign is informal to an exaggerated degree. But since the ads are funny, it still works.

We like to call this “Meme Marketing,” and when done correctly, it can get excellent results.

As buyers continue seeking realness from brands, we expect “Meme Marketing” to become even more common throughout the year.

📰 In the news this week.

🗑  A shocking amount of the internet is already AI garbage.

📊  Run these GA4 reports to set 2024 priorities.

💻  What’s the average conversion rate for a landing page?

➗  19 of the best Excel templates for marketers.

🗣  What to expect as Google rolls out conversational AI in search ads.

🌟 Think reviews don't matter? Think again.

If you think company and product reviews aren't important for your brand, think again.

Data shows that trust drops a mind-blowing 67% when reviews go from 4 stars to 3 stars.

On the flip side, 5 star ratings result in 95% trust.

If that’s not incentive to go above and beyond for your customers, we don’t know what is!

😂 Marketing meme of the week.

How'd we do with this week's newsletter?

• 😍 Loved it

• 😐 Meh, do better

• 👎 You didn't bring the heat 

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