A few years ago Sony brought out the latest version of their Xperia mobile phone. As is the often the case with tech, the latest version was Sony’s most powerful yet.

The phone’s new specs outstripped those of the latest iPhone by a fair margin. So the Sony people were keen to get the word out via a series of posters, like this:

Although I can’t find it online, I remember one of the posters well. It was a shot of the phone with copy that said something like ‘20.7 MP camera. The most powerful mobile camera ever.’ The point was clear. You couldn’t get better anywhere.

Under the circumstances, you might have expected those who valued the quality of their phone’s camera to rush out and buy. The trouble was, at the time, the Apple guys were running stuff like this;

The two campaigns are a masterclass in advertising.

To stand any chance of success, ads must demonstrate or dramatise the proposition.

The iPhone campaign quite arguably demonstrated and dramatised the iPhone’s powerful camera.

The Sony campaign did neither.

You can learn from both of these campaigns. What to aim for – and what to avoid – when advertising.

But flick through any magazine, newspaper or Facebook feed and you’ll see: few people ever will.

If you fancy working with someone who has, give me a shout. And bear in mind:

One of the above campaigns still runs today.

The other can no longer be found online.