Ads that featured a ‘Before – After’ theme have been around since the dawn of mainstream media and have spanned several categories like beauty, wellness, automobiles, apparels, TV channels, hairdressers,beverages, pest control, fitness etc over the years.

Today, while most ads that execute this ‘before-after’ theme, smack of predictability…

There are those few that stand out for their sheer creativity and ingenuity – like the Reynolds Marker ad below: 

Medifast – a US based Weight Management Centre recently came out  with a great spin to this Before-After theme of advertising. Their campaign called Conversations With Yourself features actual people that underwent their weight loss program with a twist: the heavier version of the participant actually talks with his/her lighter self. Thanks to some clever editing and a ‘straight from the heart’ dialogue, these spots make for a very engaging viewing and strike a very strong chord with the viewers. Do check out all their 3 spots.

(Agency: Solve)

See all the 3 spots featuring Tina, Joseph and Kimberly here. Read more about the making of these spots here.

A great execution that powerfully lands (and personalizes) the key message around change. 

Interestingly, in 2012,  a Norwegian Yoghurt brand called Tine, made use of this very construct to communicate the opposite – of some things NOT changing despite growing up. Check out the brilliant execution here:

Conversations with Yourself – as a construct – is rife with possibilities and can be a powerful  means to land ideas that resonate emotionally with the consumer and become strong hooks to the category.

Immensely liked the power and the simplicity of these spots.