Several years ago, I used to make designs for Slash Root, a former coffee shop in New Paltz, NY, which was then turned into a hot dog joint, and now a diner in the distant future. I seem to be getting off topic at the moment, I apologize.
Anyway, one of the designs I did for them was a tiny local ad shared by many other ads used for pizza boxes. My design for Slash Root is on the bottom right corner of this image. Just try and soak in all of the distracting ads

Most of them are poorly laid out designs. The photos are either scattered, or they are few and far in between, or they are awkwardly misplaced at inconvenient spots. Some of the text is difficult to make out, especially the ones with background images or fading gradient backgrounds. These ads have more than one kind of font, which is okay unless it's not overkill. 
And the same thing goes for the information that is put within the ad. Yes, an ad must display the name of the business along with its address and phone number and email, which is the most undeniably obvious part of advertising. Anything else that describes what the business does, must be kept to a consistent minimum.
Sometimes advertisement does not have to be flashy to gain the attention of a potential customer, nor is local advertisement always obnoxious. A few of the ads above have kept such descriptions to a minimum, nothing too gimmicky or busy. 
For example, the Prudential ad has a clean layout of text and info. The photo on the top right of the ad fits in without being overwhelmingly out of proportion. Another example is Dr. David L. Shaff, Practice of Optometry, which also has necessary info. The alignment of the text could use a little more work, but at least the text is readable. The 10 percent discount mentioned is not necessary. The eye in the background is the only image used in the ad, which is okay. However, the eye could be smaller and perhaps placed somewhere else that wouldn't be overlooked. 
Even when creating local advertising, they should be treated with care to make effective designs.