Is Your Ad Creative Aligned With the Job Your Product Does?

Take a second to think through the last time you bit into a Snickers bar. The initial chocolate taste from the delicious coating, the smooth creaminess of the nougat and the caramel, the satisfying crunch as your teeth bite through the peanuts; it all adds up to an incredible moment.

So why on earth, after all of the work that goes into engineering such a perfect product, do the advertisements in their latest ad campaign not mention any of it?



The simple answer is that the marketers are incredibly aware of the Job to Be Done that the Snickers bar gets hired to do.

Out of all of the products that compete for your dollars in the moment when you're hungry and cranky ("do I stop for a burger, grab an apple, drink a Coke?"), the marketers at Mars want to be certain that you'll think of the Snickers bar.

Far too often do we see advertising creative that touts the latest feature or benefit of a product, and it's an easy thing for companies to rationalize: "We spent millions of R&D dollars creating this breakthrough innovation, now we need to support it with ad dollars." The issue that arises is that you haven't given potential consumers any context for when they should purchase/consume/"hire" your product.

As more companies employ the Jobs To Be Done framework (or Milkshake Marketing as it's been affectionately referred to) and design products for specific situations (as opposed to specific demographics) it's exciting to see some of them leverage the insights in their ad creative.

If you know of any other ad creatives that are doing a good job of this, leave a comment and let us know about them.