Whether it’s ballroom dancing, sports, movies, or advertising, genius make it look easy. And what’s so freaking cool about this Facebook ad, is that it really does fall into that category.

Take a look and see for yourself:

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If it doesn’t look amazingly ingenious, that’s sort of my point.

But, seriously, think about this one through with me:

You’ve got a pair of dress pants that are made out of sweat-pant material. So they LOOK like dress pants, but feel like sweats. What a great idea!

But how do you SHOW that in a picture?  Because in a picture the pants will probably look like what they’re designed to look like — dress pants. And frankly, a picture of dress pants will hardly capture anyone’s attention.

So what kind of photo will show off the true nature of the pants while also creating a bit of visual interest and intrigue?

The fact that the advertisers came up with a perfect answer to that that works even in the micro-small image size of a Facebook Ad is brilliant. In retrospect the answer seems obvious: display an “action shot” that shows off the inside of the pocket:

  • The “action” part gives some excitement to the picture
  • The contrasting pocket lining ads some visual prominence
  • The fact that the picure is of a person’s “bum” works on a more primal level
  • And the high-contrast pocket lining helps visually communicate that these seemingly boring “dress pants” are something special.

Brilliant. But I guarantee you some serious thought went into this — it wasn’t as easy as it looks. It never is.