Why Silence is Sometimes Louder Than Words in Advertisement

When one thinks of advertisement, they usually think of someone talking to them or to someone else about a product. It’s usually a person with a problem, and then a random person talks to them about how a certain product will fix all their problems. Although that works very well most of the time, silence is another great tool to get the viewers’ attention and give them time to think about the ad.

A lot of time when ads are speaking, we don’t always think, this happens because the ads tell us what we have to think and they plant the thoughts in our minds. When an ad or commercial is filled with silence, we are left to make our own ideas from what we see. This makes the ad keep us more engaged and be more memorable for us to remember. Author and Professor of Marketing G. Douglas Olsen states “silence can increase attention and subsequent retention of information in an advertisement”. A good example of this is the “Break Free” ad by Adidas, this ad shows an old man thinking all day about how he used to run and be active when he was younger. There are no words spoken in this ad, so the silence and the light background music reel you in and keep you engaged at all times.

Silence can be a fabulous device to keep people’s attention, allow them to retain information, and make them feel the emotion that the main character is feeling. It is a difficult tool to use, but when used correctly it can do wonders and it can be the difference between a good ad and a great ad.

Image by: Rodrigo Guerrero