Because learning changes everything.

CHAPTER 8
Creative Strategy:
Planning and
Development

© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution w ithout the prior w ritten consent of McGraw Hill LLC.
 Learning Objectives

LO8-1 Describe the role of creative strategy in advertising.

LO8-2 Discuss the creative process for advertising and

inputs to this process.

LO8-3 Describe the development of creative strategy.

LO8-4 Examine approaches to developing the major selling

ideas that are used as the basis for an advertising
campaign.

© McGraw Hill 2
 The Advertising Message

Creative Strategy
• Determines what the advertising message will say or communicate.

• Creative tactics:

• Determine how the message strategy will be executed.

• Big idea: central theme of campaign.

© McGraw Hill 3
 Exhibit 8-1

Advertising can be used to

create images or
associations and position a
brand in the consumer’s
mind. Many consumers who
have never driven a BMW
perceive it as “the ultimate
driving machine,” as
portrayed in the company’s
ad for the ultimate road
home sales event.

© McGraw Hill Source: BMW of North America, LLC 4

 The Importance of Creativity in Advertising

Creative Ads
• Good creative strategy and execution are central to determining
success of product or service.
• Do not always increase sales.
• May not revive a declining brand.
• Many in industry are ambivalent toward advertising awards.

© McGraw Hill 5
 Advertising Creativity 1

Different Perspectives on Advertising Creativity

• Managers perspective:
• Advertising is creative only if it sells the product.

• Ads are promotional tools used to communicate favorable impressions

to the marketplace.

• Risk-averse and want more conservative ads.

• Creatives perspective:
• Ad creativity in its artistic value and originality.

• Ads are communication vehicles for promoting their own aesthetic

viewpoints and personal career objectives.

• Maximize impact of message.

© McGraw Hill 6
 Advertising Creativity 2

Determinants of Creativity
• Advertising creativity:

• Ability to generate fresh, unique, and appropriate ideas that can be used
as solutions to communication problems.

• Two central determinants:

• Divergence.

• Relevance.

© McGraw Hill 7
 Exhibit 8-3

This ad for Allstate is

part of the “Mayhem”
campaign which has
high fluency. The
campaign has run
since 2010 and
features scores of ads
showing a villainous
character wreaking
havoc on vehicles and
property.

© McGraw Hill Source: The Allstate Corporation 8

 Advertising Creativity 3

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Divergence:
• Extent to which ad contains elements that are novel, different, or unusual.

• Achieved through:

• Originality.

• Flexibility.

• Elaboration.

• Synthesis.

• Artistic value.

This ad for KFC Hot and Spicy chicken uses

divergence based on originality and artistic value.

© McGraw Hill Source: KFC Corporation 9

 Advertising Creativity 4

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Relevance:
• Degree to which elements of ad are meaningful, useful, or valuable to
consumer.

• Achieved through:

• Ad-to-consumer relevance—Ad contains execution elements that are

meaningful to consumers.

• Brand-to-consumer relevance—Advertised brand of product or service

is of personal interest to consumers.

© McGraw Hill 10
 Advertising Creativity 5

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Studies of advertising creativity have shown that it:
• Impacts consumers’ responses across various stages of response
hierarchy.

• Draws more attention to advertised brand, higher levels of recall, greater

motivation to process the information, and deeper levels of processing.

• Positively impacts emotional reactions including attitudes and purchase

intentions.

© McGraw Hill 11
 Planning Creative Strategy 1

The Creative Challenge

• Must transform advertising message into engaging and memorable ad.

• Every marketing situation is different, and each campaign or

advertisement requires a different creative approach.

© McGraw Hill 12
 Planning Creative Strategy 2

Taking Creative Risks

• Essential for creating breakthrough advertisements that get noticed.
• Agency clients must be open to new ideas.

Nike’s willingness to allow

their ad agency,
Wieden+Kennedy, to take
creative risks has paid off
in powerful and effective
advertisements like this
one featuring tennis
champion, Serena Williams
on her retirement.

© McGraw Hill Source: NIKE Inc. 13

 Planning Creative Strategy 3

The Perpetual Debate: Creative versus Hard-Sell Advertising

• “Suits” or “rationalists”:
• Advertising must sell the product or service.

• The more selling points in the ad, the better chance of purchase.

• “Poets”:
• Advertising must build an emotional bond between consumers and brands
or companies.

• Consumers want to be entertained and inspired.

© McGraw Hill 14
 Planning Creative Strategy 4

Creative Personnel
• Often have a background in nonbusiness areas. (BNU/NCA vs.
LUMS)

• Tend to be more abstract and less structured, organized, or

conventional.

• Everyone involved in IMC must seek creative solutions.

• The client relationship should not inhibit the creative process.

© McGraw Hill 15
 The Creative Process 1

Young’s Model of the Creative Process

• Immersion: Gathering raw material and data; immersing oneself in the
problem.
• Digestion: Analyzing the information.
• Incubation: Letting subconscious do the work.
• Illumination: Birth of an idea.
• Reality or verification: Studying the idea and reshaping it for practical
usefulness.

© McGraw Hill 16
© McGraw Hill 17
 The Creative Process 2

Wallas’s Model of the Creative Process

• Preparation: Gathering background information needed to solve
problem through research and study.
• Incubation: Letting ideas develop.
• Illumination: Finding the solution.
• Verification: Refining idea and analyzing whether it is an appropriate
solution.

© McGraw Hill 18
 The Creative Process 3

Account Planning
• Conducting research and gathering relevant information about the
client’s:
• Product/service and brand.

• Consumers in target audience.

• Account planners:
• Provide decision makers with information required to make an intelligent
decision.

• Responsible for research conducted during the creative strategy

development process.

• Drive the process from the customers’ point of view.

© McGraw Hill 19
 The Creative Process 4

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination
• Background research.

• Fact-finding techniques:

• Read everything related to the product or market.

• Ask everyone involved with the product for information.

• Listen to what people are talking about, particularly the client.

• Use the product or service and become familiar with it.

• Learn about client’s business.

© McGraw Hill 20
 The Creative Process 5

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Background research. continued
• General preplanning input:

• Gather and organize information on product, market, and competition.

• Analyze trends, developments, and happenings in the marketplace.

© McGraw Hill 21
 Exhibit 8-8

Source: BAV Group, Inc.

Y&R Group’s proprietary tool the BrandAsset Valuator (BAV ) uses four pillars:
energized differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. These pillars
identify core issues for the brand and evaluate current and future financial
performance and potential.

© McGraw Hill 22
 The Creative Process 8

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input.
• Provides valuable insight at early stages of creative process.

• Focus groups: Consumers from target market are led through a

discussion regarding a topic.

• Insights from focus groups:

• Who target audience is.
• Who creatives need to write, design, or direct to.
• Which creative approach to use.
• Critics believe testing can weaken creative execution and interferes
with creative process.

© McGraw Hill 23
 Exhibit 8-10

The Aflac duck did

not test well in focus
groups, but the
company continued
anyway. This
creative award-
winning campaign
has been very
successful for Aflac.

© McGraw Hill Source: Aflac Incorporated 24

 The Creative Process 9

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input. continued
• Ethnographic research: Observing consumers in their natural
environment.

• Researchers prefer it over focus groups to eliminate undue

influences.

• Expensive to conduct and difficult to administer.

© McGraw Hill 25
 The Creative Process 10

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input. continued
• The Advertising Research Foundation initiated the David Ogilvy Awards.

The “As Real as It Tastes”

campaign for Michelob
ULTRA Organic Seltzer won
a David Ogilvy Award for an
IMC campaign based on
consumer research.

© McGraw Hill Source: Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC 26

 The Creative Process 11

Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision

• Process:
• Evaluate ideas.

• Reject the inappropriate ideas.

• Refine the remaining ideas.
• Give ideas final expression.

• Techniques:
• Directed focus groups.
• Message communication studies.

• Portfolio tests.
• Evaluation measures, such as viewer reaction profiles.

© McGraw Hill 27
 The Creative Process 12

Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision continued

• Storyboard: Series of drawings that present a proposed commercial’s
visual layout.
• Animatic: Videotape of storyboard along with audio soundtrack.

© McGraw Hill 28
 Exhibit 8-12

Marketers can gain

insight into
consumers’
reactions to a
commercial by
showing them a
storyboard or an
animatic such as
this storyboard for
“Splash of Life”.

© McGraw Hill Source: Courtesy of The Lambesis Agency 29

 Creative Strategy Development 1

Advertising Campaign
• Set of interrelated, coordinated marketing communications activities
that center on a single theme or idea.
• Appear in different media across specified time period.

• Campaign theme:
• Central message communicated in all advertising and promotional
activities.

• Expressed through a slogan or tagline.

• Summation line that briefly expresses company or brand’s positioning

and the message it is trying to deliver to the target audience.

© McGraw Hill 30
 Creative Strategy Development 2

Advertising Campaigns continued

• Creating effective slogans:
• Should be simple, catchy, and predictable.

• Should connect with consumers emotionally.

• Many companies are not using them.

• Campaign themes:
• Attempt to develop campaign themes that last many years.

• Guided by specific goals and objectives.

• Creative strategy statement is outlined in copy or creative platform.

• Try to connect with consumer values and personalities.

© McGraw Hill 31
 Exhibit 8-13
Guidelines
for
Advertising
Slogans

© McGraw Hill Kumail Hemani 32

 Figure 8-2 Examples of Effective Advertising Slogans

Company or Brand Slogan

1. Toyota Let’s Go Places
2. Home Depot How Doers Get More Done
3. Amazon Spend Less. Smile More
4. McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It!
5. Sony PlayStation Play Has No Limits
6. Walmart Save Money. Live Better.
7. Bounty The Quicker Picker-Upper
8. AirBnB Belong Anywhere
9. Capital One What’s In Your Wallet?
10. Dunkin America Runs on Dunkin

© McGraw Hill 33
 Creative Strategy Development 3

Creative Brief
• Document that specifies key elements of the creative strategy and
serves as basis for communication between client and advertising
agency.
• Association of National Advertisers (ANA) provides guidelines for
developing effective briefs.
• Two-step process: Client creates assignment brief and then ad agency
develops creative brief.

• One collaborative brief: Client takes lead and develops brief with ad
agency.

• Often gaps in information.

© McGraw Hill 34
 Figure 8-3 Key Elements of a Creative Brief

1. Basic problem or issue the communication must address or solve.

2. Communication objectives.
3. Target audience.
4. Insights to drive creative work.
5. Key benefits or major selling idea to communicate.
6. Reason to believe/supporting information.
7. Tone and manner/brand personality.
8. Deliverables (what is needed and when).
9. Measures of success (should be tied back to objectives).

© McGraw Hill 35
 Creative Strategy Development 4

The Search for the Major Selling Idea

• Major selling idea: Strongest singular thing company can say about
its product or service.
• Has the broadest and most meaningful appeal to target audience.
• Basis of many creative, successful advertising campaigns.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

campaign for Old Spice is one of the
best campaigns of the new
millennium. What is Old Spice's
major selling idea in this campaign?

© McGraw Hill Source: Old Spice by Procter & Gamble 36

 Creative Strategy Development 5

Developing the Major Selling Idea

• Most creative ideas try to dramatically and effectively convey the
key benefit claim.
• Approaches:
• Using a unique selling proposition.

• Creating a brand image.

• Finding the inherent drama.

• Positioning.

© McGraw Hill 37
 Creative Strategy Development 6

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
• Each advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product and you
will get this benefit.”

• Competition either cannot or does not offer. It must be unique in brand or

in the claim.

• Must be strong enough to pull over new customers to the brand.

• Advertisers must consider whether USP provides a sustainable

competitive advantage.

© McGraw Hill 38
 Exhibit 8-16

This ad for
ThermaCare
uses a unique
selling
proposition by
describing what
makes the
product different.

© McGraw Hill Source: ThermaCare 39

 Creative Strategy Development 7

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Creating a brand image:
• Image advertising: Strategy used to develop strong, memorable identity
for a brand.

• To be successful:

• Associate brand with symbols or artifacts that have cultural meaning.

• Use visual appeals that convey psychosocial associations and

feelings.

© McGraw Hill 40
 Creative Strategy Development 8

Developing the Major Selling

Idea continued
• Finding the inherent drama.
• Characteristic of a product that
makes consumers purchase it.

• Advertising should:

• Be based on foundation of
consumer benefits.
• Emphasize the dramatic
element in expressing those
benefits.
The “Time We Have Left”
campaign for Ruavieja liqueur
used an inherent drama
approach for the big idea.

© McGraw Hill Source: Licores Ruavieja 41

 Creative Strategy Development 9

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Positioning:
• Establishes product or service in a particular place in consumer’s mind.

• Done on basis of distinctive attributes.

• Basis of firm’s creative strategy when it has multiple brands competing in

same market.

Subway used the “Eat Fresh

Refresh” campaign to
reposition the sandwich chain
around freshness.
© McGraw Hill Source: Subway IP LLC 42
 Creative Strategy Development 10

Contemporary Approaches to the Big Idea

• Many creative styles and strategies are available.
• Big ideas must:
• Capture consumer attention.

• Differentiate the brand.

• Be adaptable to be used across various media.

• Engage consumers and enter into a dialogue with them.

© McGraw Hill 43
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© McGraw Hill LLC. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution w ithout the prior w ritten consent of McGraw Hill LLC.