Relief
Ads and videos written to this emotion: 166. 62 make the Say move, 82 make the Avoid mistake.
The Emotion Map's entry, written for B2B buyers.
What it is
The release when a feared outcome passes or a hard stretch ends.
Where it shows up
The first report that makes sense, the first month the numbers reconcile.
Sounds like
"Finally, I know where the money goes."
Say
Name the relief in onboarding and renewal messages. It is what the client bought.
Avoid
Promising relief in acquisition copy. Relief the buyer has not felt yet is only a claim.
In consumer ads
Say: Name the relief to people who have felt it, and show it: a user's own words, a shown result, a demonstration the viewer can watch.
Avoid: A bare promise of relief the reader has not felt yet. With nothing to check and nothing lived, it is only a claim.
Doing it right
Ads that make the Say move.
"Concerning Three Presidents" testimonial ad
Three signed letters, from Mary Meader, Mrs. Steptoe C. Wood and Berma Naomi Seaman, each tell a near-disaster before a President that Lux resolved, so the relief comes in users' own words.
Bishop's Natural Fruit Saline ad, al-Musawwar 1929
'My, this is refreshing' trails in hand lettering toward the smiling man's face, a first-sip verdict heard before any claim and tied to the heat, tiredness and headaches of a Cairo summer.
Poudre Persane insecticide ad with seven vignettes, ca. 1880
Seven captioned users show the pests already gone, a cook with a pan of gathered cockroaches, couples sleeping through the night, under the line no more fleas, no more bedbugs.
Aspro cold and flu tablets ad, al-Musawwar 1945
Two signed letters from users whose lasting colds cleared back the promise that Aspro ends cold and flu in one night, set beside a column of simple winter health rules and a 2-tablet price.
Cuticura Soap and Remedies trick drawing advertisement, 1888
The relief is told by those who lived it: a parent whose girl's eczema beat several doctors, and H. E. Ryan's sworn account of six physicians 'all alike failing', beside seven healthy boys.
Aspro tablets ad, al-Musawwar 1941
Beat influenza tonight sets a result the reader can test by morning, and about ten named men, each with his job and town, report the relief they already had.
Hood's Sarsaparilla ad in the Chicago Inter Ocean, 1895
The relief comes in Mrs. Lutz's signed account from Grayville, Illinois: son Robert, druggist Charles Hall, the doctor's failed treatment, a relapse, and a cure holding from age two to eight.
Aspro pain and cold tablets ad, al-Musawwar 1941
The relief comes in checkable voices: three photographed, named Egyptian readers, one a journalist, describe in their own letters what Aspro did for them, under a friend pointing his bandaged companion to the tablet.
Rural Electrification Administration poster, When I think back
The first-person 'When I Think Back' over a calm old man tuning his radio lets people who lived before the power lines name the release themselves, with the calm after shown, not promised.
Aspro cold tablets ad, al-Musawwar 1941
Two letters, one with a photo from a Glass Institute employee in Cairo, one from a Coptic schools secretary in Suez, back the promise that two tablets with hot lemon clear a cold overnight.
Ivory Soap 'It Floats' advertisement
The letter says a cake rigged with two flags ended her boy's yelling at bath time, the picture repeats it, and the brand's own lines stay flat: it cleans but does not injure.
Aspro tablets hot weather ad, al-Musawwar 1941
Sleepless hot nights and frayed nerves get one small act, 'why not try Aspro tonight?', and three readers with photographs under headlines like 'the headache is gone' vouch for the relief.
The relief is told by a member who lived it, saying he briefly forgot he had a chronic illness, and it is tied to the specific services that made the difference.
خليك مرتاحة، والباقي علينا #درايف_يهتم
The relief comes in a customer's own words, someone called, asked if she was okay and stayed with her until Najm came, rather than as a brand promise.
كيف استفاد علاء من برنامج طبتم
The relief is a member's lived account, not a promise: Alaa names what stopped, regular hospital trips, and what replaced it, a technician at his home.
It names a relief viewers have lived, the long-awaited bank message that lifts the mood, rather than promising one, and shows what it allows: a full grocery trolley.
اعلان كيتو .. ناموس عمال يقرص ياخويا . قديم
The relief comes in the sufferer's own words after nights of biting mosquitoes: since he put in Kito not a single mosquito is left and he sleeps, with real hands loading the mat.
مع بوبا العربية، اضمن تأمين صحي بجودة عالية وخبرة طبية موثوقة
The release, 'الحمد لله' as the surgeon reaches Riyadh, comes after the viewer has watched each step that earned it, so the relief is shown, not just promised.
Doing it wrong
Ads that make the Avoid mistake.
Rivo pain reliever ad, al-Kawakib 1963
The 1963 cartoon ring runs from headache to runny nose around one tablet and promises each pain gone fast, with no user, result or test behind it, only the heart-and-stomach assurance.
Cuticura Soap Skins on Fire advertisement, 1893
'SKINS ON FIRE' promises itching 'instantly' allayed and sleep restored where 'physicians, hospitals, and all other remedies fail', on the ad's own word; the 100 testimonials sit in a book mailed on request.
Rivo pain relief tablets ad, al-Kawakib 1962
Eight sufferers ring the tablet so each reader finds her own pain, yet the only backing for 'quickly and safely' is the pair of claims that it spares heart and stomach.
Cuticura Soap relief for suffering children advertisement, 1893
It promises a suffering baby's mother 'rest and sleep' and a lasting cure where 'the best physicians, hospitals' fail, backed only by that claim and a free book, with no parent's own account.
Rivo painkiller tablets ad, al-Kawakib 1962
Every one of the eight labelled panels ends in the same line, Rivo removes pain quickly and safely, repeated as a promise with no sufferer's words or shown result to check it against.
Cuticura Soap scratching man advertisement, 1893
A man scratching and 'Torturing, Disfiguring Eczemas' set up the agony, then relief 'in the majority of cases by a single application' is simply asserted, with no sufferer's account to check.
Rivo pain tablets ad, al-Kawakib 1959
Jagged bolts at the temples sit right above a big tablet stamped RIVO, so pain and cure share one glance, but the promise rests on the picture alone, with no proof beneath it.
'Stop' remedy poster by Paul Scheurich, c. 1910
The one-word name 'Stop' and 'indispensable for every haemorrhoid sufferer' promise relief backed only by a DRGM registration mark, with no user's words, demonstration or even the device shown.
Rivo pain relief tablets ad, al-Kawakib 1958
A grid of seven sufferers with a dose under each promises the pain goes 'quickly and safely', but no user's words, shown result or test backs the relief: it stays a claim.
Beecham's Pills advertisement, 1891
A long italic list of complaints, from sick headache to disturbed sleep, is promised relief by one 25-cent box, with no testimonial, figure or named doctor behind the claim.
Zam-Buk ointment ad, al-Kawakib 1939
Beside a man gripping his lower back, 'Put an end to the agonising pain of piles' promises relief from a twice or thrice daily routine, backed only by the maker's claim that swellings shrink.
Pomada Aspaime respiratory remedy advertisement, ca. 1910
The promise 'alivia al momento y cura radicalmente', stretched from a cough to pneumonia and asthma, stands alone: no user's words, no shown result, only a smiling boy and the claim.
If this library is useful, leave an email
We send new patterns, ads, and notes when we add them. Name and phone are optional.
You are on the list
We will write when we add more library material.