Slate have posted an excellent article that explores Donald Gunn’s theory that all great advertising used one of 12 formats.

“In 1978, Donald Gunn was a creative director for the advertising agency Leo Burnett. Though his position implied expertise, Gunn felt he was often just throwing darts—relying on inspiration and luck (instead of proven formulas) to make great ads. So, he decided to inject some analytical rigor into the process: He took a yearlong sabbatical, studied the best TV ads he could find, and looked for elemental patterns.”

Example from the sixth format, ‘benefit causes story’. Here we follow a series of events caused by the product’s benefits…

“In this Lynx ad, we see a series of attractive women forgiving a guy’s uncouth behavior. (It’s OK that you’re late, it’s OK that you forgot my birthday, it’s OK that you cheated on me, and so forth.) In the payoff, it’s revealed that the guy has been using Lynx body spray. The product’s benefit—beguiling women to the point of dementia—creates the story.”

View Slade’s interpretation of the 12 formats in their slideshow.