Understanding the Goals and the Obstacles of Advertising
To understand why we go about this process in the way that we do, it’ll help to gain a perspective on how advertising works and the obstacles that are typically at play when seeking to achieve your goals.
Firstly, the goal of advertising is to increase sales by enabling buyers of the category to select the brand at their time of need or want.
So how does advertising enable sales? Simply put, advertising is a form of communication to buyers from the brand to let them know they have a solution.
Although, it’s very important to point out that the vast majority of potential buyers are not ready to buy at any given point in time. In B2B contexts, it’s been coined as the 95:5 rule (less than 5% are ready). This isn’t 5% of people who see your ad — it’s 5% of all potential category buyers, whether they see your ad or not. That means most of your audience today won’t buy today, but many will later — and your brand needs to be the one they remember.
This has a profound implication advertising and this fact alone is something that most business professionals are ignorant about, or negligent about. This unfortunately breeds both unwanted noise and unethical (sales) practices, which also creates ad avoidance (creating yet another obstacle for us).
The implication of most buyers needing the solution later, us that advertising must be remembered later. To go an extra step, the goal of the marketer is to have the brand be remembered in the most common scenarios when buyers enter their buying cycle. Scientifically, these are named Category Entry Points (CEPs).
If we want our brand to be remembered, it helps to understand how memory works—specifically, that emotion enhances the strength and longevity of memories. This is due to the amygdala, a brain region involved in processing emotion, which boosts the encoding and consolidation of emotional experiences.
Since emotion plays such a key role in our ability to remember, it must play a key role in advertising for those ads to perform optimally.
Shepherd®’s process
Prerequisite Voyager tasks: Basic customer research (CEPs) and Logo Creation.
The following is a process used to develop a creative output using a series of questions to induce a strategically relevant and emotionally powerful message. Shepherd® has developed this over years of experience, practice, learning and is still perfecting and improving on it to this day. We believe this is one the most valuable services we offer, given how often we see multi-million dollar campaign ideas fall short of the quality we can produce using these steps.
1. What is your business?
State the business, what’s being sold, the industry or category.
2. What are your current business goals?
Describe broad goal of the brand based on it’s current performance and future direction.
3. What are your services/products?
Outlaying the range of solutions available begins to set the context.
4. What are the customer segments for these?
Identifying the segments e.g. for B2B this would be the different industries and the characteristics of the individuals within them paints the backdrop. It’s our target audiences.
5. What are their CEPs in order of volume/most common?
Ideally using a combination of our basic and advanced customer (CEPs) research insights identified as part of Voyager’s Foundations tasks, this makes it clear the specific moments in which we want our audiences to be able to remember the brand, and to receive our messaging. They are the contexts with which we can make our messaging relevant.
6. what emotions do they experience as part of these CEPs?
Humans experience hundreds if not thousands of feelings every single day. Before we harness it, let’s understand the kinds of emotions they are already experiencing. We may know these from our Foundational research insights.
7. What do we want them to feel?
The same or something different as a response. Note some potential emotions as options.
8. What memory (or any concept of thought) would we like to bind our brand with as part of this emotional experience?
This may be the most challenging step. However, given this is a creative process, creativity is required.The quality of creative input into this step is what creates publicity and impact – which is the very essence of marketing effectiveness (and hence, in the long run, business performance). This is why I believe creativity, applied with artifice in any area of life (education, sport, arts) is the key to achieving results most effectively or efficiently. Its the magic dust; your wild card. Introduce something different, yet genius. Take as long as it you need until you are convinced you’ve found the perfect ingredient to the campaign.
9. What do we stand for or what specific action do we want them to take?
The call to action (CTA) or slogan for the campaign (or the business). This is not imperative, however for some campaigns, this can be used as a powerful tool based on the context knowledge (main CEP) being targeted.
10. Execution
There are two main approaches to executing your campaign creative:
- Using stock media to produce the advertisement in-house
- Outsourcing production to a professional videographer or animation team (Voyager covers this in the High End Creative Production task)
In both cases, your responses to the strategic questions above become the creative brief—defining the core message, emotion, and scenario to be captured.
A third option is now emerging: AI-generated video. Platforms like Artlist have recently introduced AI video tools that allow users to animate still images with emotional realism. This may be a potential route if stock video is not doing it for you.
Whether it’s video or static, your audience should be able to tell—even subtly—what you’re offering and which category you belong to within a few seconds. Clarity builds memory.
Static ads
For static image-based ads, our go-to is Adobe Stock, though Shutterstock is also well-known for high-quality photography. Adobe Stock offers a generous 10 free assets as part of their trial—usually enough to complete one strong campaign idea.
Here’s what to expect:
When you first generated your idea using Shepherd’s creative framework, you probably had a certain visual in mind. That’s normal—but stock libraries are finite, so you’ll need to adapt. This part of the process involves translating the idea into execution using what’s available, which means some elements may change. The goal is to find visuals that best express the strategy and emotion you’ve already established.
This step requires good taste and a sharp eye for design, so it often pays off to include your designer or senior marketer in the process. Choose images that align with your target audience, campaign scenario, and emotional tone. This isn’t the time for guesswork—it’s about applying creative direction to the best available options.
To bring cohesion to your ad and subtly reflect your brand, consider adding a soft gradient overlay using your brand colours—fading from a corner or edge, with high transparency (10–20%) to avoid overpowering the image. This can help create visual warmth or depth without distracting from the main message. Always ensure your logo is clearly placed, ideally in a consistent corner, and avoid clutter—ads should be easy to digest at a glance. Stick to one focal point, minimal copy, and strong contrast between text and background.
A word on feedback: focus groups rarely work, especially for B2C brands targeting the general public. They tend to overthink, overanalyse, and rarely mimic real-world exposure. A better alternative is to post the ad up somewhere visible (like the office) and observe people’s first reactions—what they feel, notice, or say. Take it with a grain of salt, but it can help validate your design instincts. Remember: every ad should be built for a specific audience in a specific moment. Generic feedback often misses that.
Video ads
For video ads, two of the most reliable, creator-friendly platforms are MotionArray.com and Artlist.io. Both offer affordable monthly subscriptions with full commercial licenses, giving you access to professional-quality creative assets without breaking the bank.
Motion Array is our go-to for all-in-one production. It offers:
- High-quality stock video footage
- Soundtracks to create emotional resonance
- Sound effects for polish and energy
- And now: AI voiceovers in various accents and styles—realistic enough to replace hiring a professional
Designers can download preview versions of video, audio, and animation assets to build mockups for client approval—so you don’t need to license anything until you’re confident.
For our clients, we are happy to download assets for them as we usually do on a case by case basis if they contact us sending us a link to the previews.
Final Compliance Note
Regardless of how or where your ad runs, you must comply with your region’s advertising and consumer protection laws. In Australia, for example, the AANA (Australian Association of National Advertisers) handles public complaints and sets guidelines across all ad formats. The ACCC can issue fines, require businesses to run corrective advertising, or even take legal action if your ad causes harm or misleads the public.
Make sure you review:
- Industry-specific laws
- Country-specific standards
- The platform’s advertising policies
This isn’t just about avoiding trouble—it’s about protecting your brand’s long-term reputation.
