Best Magazine Ad Designs in 2023

Traditional advertising is becoming more popular than it’s been since digital advertising became popular. Today, above 50% of consumers often watch traditional advertisements or read print adverts. That number is increasing because more people dislike ads that play before a video and pop-up ads. Moreover, print ads have the ability to connect more emotionally with consumers than digital ads.

Check out some interesting stats:

• 82% of consumers trust print ads the most when making a purchase decision.
• 92% of young adults between ages 18-23 prefer print content over digital content because they find it easier to read.
• Your marketing campaign can bring 4x more ROI when you combine digital and print mediums.
• People are 70% more likely to remember print ads than digital ads.

Recognizing these numbers, marketers have sought to leverage print ads to generate more awareness and revenue. Beyond these numbers, magazines offer unique benefits, such as the following:

• Longevity & Permanence: Don’t be fooled; the internet does forget, especially regarding ads. Your page might be suspended or banned, or your social media service provider may crash. On the contrary, your magazine ad can stay for as long as you want it. It can also be kept in the library for reference. The chance of all printed copies getting lost at once is near impossible.
• Highly Targeted: Most magazines are niche-based and targeted at certain audiences. For example, some magazines are solely created for creatives, sportsmen, sit-at-home moms/dads, movie lovers, or foodies, among many others.
• Attention-grabbing: Unlike digital ads or other traditional ads such as billboards or posters, you won’t have to compete with other brands for attention. Your audience will pay undivided attention to your message without fearing missing out on other content.

Interestingly, 2023 has ushered some pretty disruptive print ads that strike us as insanely creative with top-notch messages and excellent delivery. We’ll be going through some amazing magazine ads in this article to inspire you.

Let’s talk about what makes a great magazine before we dive in.

Qualities of a great magazine ad design

Keep the following in mind when brainstorming for new print ad design ideas:

• Concise Message: If you know how to KISS, your magazine ad is the best place to apply it. Keep your message short and simple enough to capture readers’ interest at a glance; assume you have less than 5 seconds to leave a lasting impression with your copy. Ideally, you should be focused on delivering a single message, not one that highlights the features and benefits of your products or services in a manner that requires effort to understand.
• Powerful Image: Furthermore, a showstopping image should accompany your copy. The image should be so compelling it stops readers from flipping the pages to focus on your ad.
• Brand Visual Elements: Both the creative copy and attention-grabbing won’t be effective if they don’t reflect your brand’s personality. While the voice might change if you’re trying something new, the visual identity should remain consistent with other your brand’s marketing assets. The design elements – lines, colors, typography, and other elements-should enhance your overall brand message, not distract from it.
• Story: The combination of all the elements in a great design is a solid, memorable story.

Ensuring that these qualities reflect in your magazine ad design can help increase your ROI by capturing your audience’s attention and increasing your memorability.

Now let’s look at some examples that can inspire you to create captivating magazine ads for your business.

1. Bumble – MakeRomanceEqual

This is a good example of brands tapping into prevalent social issues to make themselves seen and heard. The dating app, Bumble recently created a unique print, leveraging common dating tropes as visualized in the DMs. Although faux DMs, the messages in the ad are humorous and relatable as they tap into dating norms such as waiting days to text back and arriving to dates 20 minutes late to avoid being seen as overly interested. Interestingly, the brand uses its visual elements to make itself recognizable.

2. Heinz – “Pass the Heinz”

The tagline in this print ad is rooted in pop culture. The ad is captivating because it tells a powerful story of what the product can do through the images. Consumers can easily think of Heinz when they have food that traditionally goes with ketchup. Check out some finest magazine design ideas.

3. McDonald’s – Take Away Your Takeaway

Combining print, digital, and outdoor ads, Macdonald’s delivers a strong message to its consumers, campaigning for accountability and waste reduction. The ads use unpolished yet striking images exposing the reality of the issue to send a sincere, authentic, and concise message.

4. Lacoste – Ageless

Lacoste’s luxury fashion brand demonstrates that all generations can embrace fashion with this print campaign. The ads feature individuals from different generations realizing they are wearing the same Lacoste clothing. Featuring mostly people who had not modeled previously allows the ad to exude an air of authenticity and relatability.

The campaign excels in evoking a positive feel through friendly, vibrant photography. Overall, the ads communicate a sense of unity and connectivity between different generations and people from all walks of life, emphasizing the brand’s suitability for a wide range of target audiences.

5. Burger King – Meat?

When it comes to creating print-based advertising, photography may take center stage and help you reinforce your message to drive sales.

Burger King recently designed an ad to give its audience a double take. Meat lovers are especially affected by this Plant-Based Whopper optical illusion. You’ll be forgiven if you also see animal meat. Actually, that is red pepper, beetroot, and radicchio.

This magazine ad design demonstrates the brand’s knack for hard-to-miss fun, tongue-in-cheek humor, and smart advertising. Since this ad’s release in March 2022 up until June 2022, searches for ‘Burger King Vegan Options’ are up by 70%, according to Google Trends.

6. Band Aid – Hulk on Bandage

Is Bruce Banner on a bandage? The seeming impossibility of that is what makes this imaginative ad more striking, Band-Aid highlights the flexible fabric of their bandages by showing the incredible Hulk’s hand with a bandage on it. Who would have thought?

7. Volkswagen – Precision Parking

DDB Tribal, Volkswagen’s advertising agency, created a print ad campaign using animal symbolism to communicate the features and benefits of the automobile brand’s Park Assist system.

They highlighted the risk of the “tight squeeze” between two cars. The ad uses a picture of a porcupine perfectly placed between goldfish in three fragile water-filled bags.

The risk of the porcupine puncturing one of the bags looks inevitable, but the communicates to the audience that VW’s Park Assist system makes sure nothing of the kind – or at least the real-life equivalent – will happen.

8. Revolution cooking – Toast Doneness

Do you see color swatches or toast-doneness? Yeah, that’s the trick. This magazine ad design arouses curiosity and showcases the advertised product’s capability.

9. iPod Shuffle – New York Central Park

The intelligent design of this iPod shuffle is a map of the user’s running route in New York City’s Central Park.

The imagery creatively shows the product used by joggers and people who like to listen to music while they walk or run, making it relatable to the consumers.

10. Expedia – Whatever Floats Your Boat

Created for Expedia by designers from Ogilvy, this magazine ad example uses three-letter airport codes to convey messages that readers will associate with the perks of vacationing in exotic locations.

This ad is inspired by the experience of one of the agency’s employees who saw a woman at an airport with the IATA code “FUK” hanging off of the suitcase.

The message “Find whatever floats your boat” appears in a passport-style stamp just below, making for a creative, humorous, and memorable ad. Check out the guide about magazine cover design.

11. Adidas – Forever Sport

This ingenious use of magazine fold demonstrates how you can leverage space and surface in magazine ad design.

The Adidas: Forever Sport campaign’s double-page spread uses the fold and images exercising so that when a reader opens and closes the pages, the women will stretch, lift weights and perform crunches, bringing the ad to life.

12. Faber-Castell – Aha Moment

In the hands of creatives, pencils can be a source and instrument of inspiration. Understanding this, Faber-Castell pencil company leveraged it in their magazine ad design.

The ad tagline, “In every pencil, there is an idea waiting to be discovered,” sends a strong and clear message to the audience.

13. Save the Children Indonesia – Sweet Threats

Not all magazine ads are designed to make sales. It could be to inform the world about a prevalent issue like in this example. Between 2011-2019 over 30, 000 have been reportedly kidnapped, trafficked, or sexually abused. These cases are often triggered by sweet treats that lead to the threat.

These magazine ad designs deftly capture the threat in the powerful images of young children with ice lollies that initially seem harmless until you focus on what lies underneath.

14. Febreze – Fresh Air

Over time, researchers have investigated the effects of odors on human mood and behavior. This magazine ad design for Febreze creatively replicates one of the results in captivating pictures. The images combine three elements to deliver a powerful message.

First, the onion, cheese, and egg images represent bad odor. Furthermore, the negative triangular shape with the spray nozzle on one side depicts the effect of the product on odor. Finally, the overall image is a pie chart representing the given stats.

15. Volkswagen – Break A Pattern

The human mind is hardwired to recognize and enjoy patterns. So, when an element breaks a recognized pattern, it will stand out. In this print ad design for Volkswagen, the brand passes a subtle yet powerful message that fits the concept of pattern disruption. The copy complements the picture so well that the readers are in no doubt about what the message is.

16. Audi – Bodrum Music Festival

This magazine ad design uses a compelling image that shows both a road trip and a guitar fretboard at the same time. This manipulation is the creation of a graphic designer.

Undoubtedly, the graphics help to convey a strong business branding and identity. Hire the best graphic designers for your magazine ad designs.

17. WWF – What if they were gone?

This magazine ad design seeks an emotional response from readers. The World Wildlife Fund’s Desertification” campaign uses striking imagery of an animal turning to dust alongside a question arousing conversation about how readers can help mitigate the impending problem.

18. Barilla – Fireworks

Sometimes, minimalist magazine ad designs can help you deliver more powerful messages than others can. Barilla leverages the power of minimalism to wish its audience a Happy New Year while using its spaghetti as fireworks, giving an inventive and interesting look to the otherwise basic product.

19. Shchusev State Museum

These magazine ad designs developed by Saatchi & Saatchi show what could be beneath some of Russia’s famous landmarks; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Bolshoi Theatre, and Saint Basil’s Cathedral.

Of course, the images are products of manipulation. The idea behind these designs is that what we know about buildings is just a little; there’s so much more to their history than what meets the eye. The ad aims to raise awareness for the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture and arouse tourists’ interest.

20. WMF – Sharper than you think

WMF cleverly shows how sharp their blades can be. This image gives the audience a glimpse of what they’ll get when they purchase the product – a knife literally sharp enough to cut through anything in the kitchen.

How can you make the most of magazine ads?

Research shows that we are exposed to an average of 362 ads per day, from TV to flyers, billboards, and digital ads (not including brand exposure). However, only 3 percent of these will make an impression. That’s just twelve ads a day that captivates us.

So how do you stand above the clutter and make a memorable print advertisement for your audience or target market?

First, develop a solid advertising concept. One clear thing from the examples above: solid strategic creative ads can result in heightened brand awareness and commercial success. So, you must focus on creativity and concept regarding thought-provoking photography and short, catchy copy.

Today, audiences are moved by social and environmental issues. Genuinely leveraging this in print-based ads in authentic, unexpected ways can position your brand as one with core values, keeping you top of your audience’s minds.

Also, you must pay attention to layout and presentation. Attention to concept, creativity, layout, and presentation is what will make your ad successful.

Contact All Time Design for your Winning Ad Designs

Our team of designers is insanely creative and battle-tested to create captivating magazine ad designs for your business. The best part of our service is the lightning-fast turnaround and affordable prices.

Interestingly, we provide comprehensive graphic design services at ridiculously affordable prices, including web design, email newsletters, flyers, magazine layouts, billboards, logo design, packaging design, and much more.

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