When a brand wants all features in one ad (and why this is a disaster)
Are you doing this?
Ever been in that meeting where the client's like "Let's just put ALL our features in this one ad!" and your soul just... leaves your body?
The meme that inspired this post shows a frankenstein car, made of 3 different cars. A perfect metaphor for what happens when you try to cram every single feature, benefit, and selling point into one piece of creative.
The result? A bloated mess that fails to deliver on any front.
Here's why this approach is killing your marketing effectiveness.
The human brain has limits (shocking, I know)
Our brains simply can't process 17 different value props simultaneously. When you overload your audience with information, they retain... wait for it... absolutely nothing.
Research shows that people typically remember just 1-3 key points from any message. So when you're throwing the entire feature list at them, you're essentially guaranteeing they'll remember zero.
Clutter kills conversion
The more elements you add to an ad, the harder it becomes for viewers to take action. Every additional feature creates friction in the decision-making process.
"But our product does ALL these amazing things!"
I get it. Your product probably does have 12 awesome features. But your ad isn't supposed to be a comprehensive product manual - it's supposed to hook someone enough to take the next step.
The solution: single-minded messaging
Instead of creating one bloated ad, create multiple lean, focused ads—each highlighting ONE key benefit that solves ONE specific problem for ONE specific audience segment.
This approach lets you:
Test which messages resonate most with different segments
Optimize your messaging for different parts of the funnel
Create more memorable, impactful ads
For example, if you're marketing a SaaS tool, don't try to highlight the time-saving, cost-reduction, ease-of-use, and integration capabilities all at once. Create separate ads for each benefit, target them appropriately, and measure which drives the best results.
The stakeholder challenge
Of course, the real challenge isn't understanding this principle…it's convincing stakeholders who want to see their pet features highlighted.
This is where data becomes your best friend. Show examples of high-performing, focused ads versus cluttered ones. Use A/B tests to demonstrate how single-minded messaging outperforms the kitchen-sink approach.
If you're still getting pushback, try this compromise: create a series of ads, each focusing on a different key benefit, but run them as a coordinated campaign. This way, over time, your audience gets exposed to the full range of features, but each individual touchpoint remains clean and focused.
Effective marketing isn't saying everything at once…it's saying the right thing at the right time to the right person.
So next time someone suggests adding "just one more feature" to that already-packed ad, show them the car pic. Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words…especially when those thousand words definitely shouldn't be in your ad.
What messaging challenges are you facing with clients or stakeholders? Have you found effective ways to push back against feature overload?