Advertising makes good better, but it won’t fix bad

For more than 20 years, I’ve lived in the trenches of advertising, spanning roles in agencies and publishers across the UK and Australia, running e-commerce side hustles, and eventually, launching Lexlab. This journey has been both humbling and enlightening, teaching me one undeniable truth: advertising is the ultimate amplifier, but only with a solid foundation.

Ever tried polishing a turd? Advertising a bad product is kind of like that. It might shine a little brighter for a second, but the stink? Still there.

Great ads can’t fix a bad product. Period.

A flawed website or a product nobody wants? Advertising will only amplify those problems. I call it the “blunt accelerator effect”. Imagine selling handmade soap to people who don’t care about soap, it’s not the ads that fail. It’s the soap.

Step 1: Do They Even Want It?

Before you pour your budget into ads, consider Mark Ritson’s wisdom: While all 4Ps are important, the most vital will always be Product. Advertising can’t conjure demand from thin air. A product has to resonate. If you’re selling left-handed oven mitts, are you sure enough left-handed bakers exist?

Too many brands skip this fundamental, but critically important, step, falling victim to overconfidence and ego, expecting ads to create magic where none exists. Creativity and emotional connection can help bridge this gap but it can’t fundamentally create more left-handed bakers.

Step 2: The Onsite Experience

Advertising can lead the horse to water, but if your website is a muddy, bug-infested pond, don’t expect anyone to drink. A clunky site or painful checkout process kills conversions faster than you can say “cart abandoned” – even if you have a good product.

At Lexlab, we’ve seen campaigns drive droves of people to a website spending high dwell times on the site, only to watch them leave without buying, frustrated by poor UX. Fix the waterhole first. Make it inviting, seamless, and crystal clear.

Step 3: Then, and Only Then, Call a Good Media Advertising Partner

Once your product is solid and your website is as smooth as butter, advertising becomes the difference-maker. This is the moment when a great media advertising partner comes in, not to fix what’s broken, but to amplify what’s already working. They’ll pair creative brilliance with cutting-edge targeting, ensuring your message reaches the right people at the right time.

The WARC ad effectiveness studies are clear: great creative is essential, and your media partner should make it sing.

But here’s the catch: even the most memorable ad won’t succeed if the ecosystem supporting it isn’t up to scratch. Advertising doesn’t work in isolation.

Take Chupa Chups’ extremely delicious, incredibly addictive Incredible Chews range (or “candy crack” as it’s affectionately known in my house). The product was undeniably strong, but awareness lagged behind.

Working alongside their amazing creative agency partner, we leveraged targeted broad reach channels and a curated list of paid influencers to supercharge visibility. The result? A sweet spike in engagement and sales, proving what happens when the right product meets the right amplification.

A thriving ecosystem needs a product people genuinely want, a seamless customer journey, and compelling creative, all supported by the right technology. When these pieces align, advertising stops being a gamble and becomes a powerful growth engine.

Without them, even the best campaigns will stumble, leaving potential untapped.

So, before you spend a cent on ads, ask yourself: is your product genuinely ready to shine? Is your website primed to convert curiosity into action? And do you have the right media partner to turn your good into great?

If the answers are yes, congrats, you’re ready. If not, well, no pressure, but the horse is starting to look suspiciously thirsty.

Alfie Lagos is director and founder at Lexlab

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topics Alfie Lagos Lexlab

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