Why Yellowstone’s ads are so good

The show Yellowstone is sweeping the nation, and for good reason. It’s well shot and really well written, but today I want to focus on the ads that are played in between the show.

When it came to the ads played between Yellowstone, there was a pretty substantial gap between the really good and the really bad ads.

You know an ad is good when you can picture yourself using the product or service and bad when you can’t see yourself doing that.

Can your customer envision themselves using your product? Have you made it clear what the benefit is so they understand it, want to use it, or have a picture of what it would look like to use it?

Nearly all of the ads that played in between Yellowstone did this well. Here’s how.

#1 — Setting scenes to feel like Yellowstone

Whether they used the landscape, the characters, or Yellowstone’s visual mood, the good ads attracted attention by making it seem like the show had almost returned earlier than expected.

This connection can be made visually through the way the scene is set up to poising actors as characters from the show.

This mentally excited the audience because they were making a cognitive connection between whatever brand and the show itself.

#2 — Transition to average everyday experiences

This was a huge dividing point between the good and the bad ads. The bad ads forgot to include the consumer, which made them difficult to resonate with.

The good ads portrayed people who aren’t necessarily generationally wealthy ranchers in Montana…

  • Camping
  • Driving a truck
  • Wearing a certain coat

…or whatever else it might be. They showed those things in average American lives, which allowed the audience to engage and resonate with them.

#3 —  Clear messaging

The good ads had very clear messaging to explain that—even if you’re not a billionaire landowner or Western roughneck—there is a use case for you to be able to participate with our brand and with our product.

They didn’t just demonstrate their selling proposition, they literally said the words. Whether verbally or via a graphic on a screen, they explained how their product could relate to the average consumer.


While this formula is simple, many ads missed the simple things: Do you excite me? Can I relate to you? Do you give me clear instructions on how to act? Those are really the three steps.

  1. Excite, engage, or hook me
  2. Make it seem like something I could do or accomplish
  3. Tell me exactly how to do those things

If you do those things, then it’s easy to see why those ads work and effortless as a consumer to engage with those ads.