Role of Creativity in Advertising

WHAT IS ADVERTISING ?
 Advertising is derived from the Latin word
‘advertere’ , which means to turn attention towards
specific thing.
 The dictionary meaning of advertising is to announce
publicly or to give public notice.
 According to AMA, “Advertising is a paid form of
non-personal presentation and promotion of goods,
services or ideas by an identified sponsor.”
 WHAT IS CREATIVITY ?

Creativity is one of the most commonly used term in

advertising.

Creativity means to turn all of the information regarding

product features & benefits, marketing plans, consumer
research & communication objective into a creative concept
that will bring ad message to life.

So ads are often called CREATIVE.

 ADVERTISING CREATIVITY

Advertising creativity is the ability to generate fresh, unique

and appropriate ideas that can be used as solutions to
communication problems.

To be appropriate and effective, a creative idea must be

relevant to the target audience.

Every business requires creative thinking from everyone

involved in the promotional planning process.
 ROLE OF CREATIVITY IN
ADVERTISING

Creativity in advertising leads to the success of a product as

well as of the organization.

Good creative strategy and execution can often be central to

determining the success of a product or service or reversing
the fortunes of a struggling brand.
PLANNING CREATIVE
STRATEGY
1. THE CREATIVE CHALLENGE
Those who work on the
creative side of advertising
often face a real challenge.

Their job is to write copy,

design layout and
illustrations, or produce
commercials that effectively
communicate the central
theme on which the
campaign is based.
 2. TAKING CREATIVE RISKS
Creative people say it is important for clients to take some risk
for breakthrough advertising that gets noticed.

Example of one agency that has been successful in getting its

clients to take risk is Wieden & Kennedy, best known for its
excellent creative work for companies such as NIKE,
MICROSOFT & ESPN.

WRIGLEY is another co. that has begun taking more creative

risks with its ad. For many years the co. has long dominated
the market for chewing gum but in 2000 Wrigley decided to
develop a new image for brand & begun using a new
campaign for new product.
 3. CREATIVE PERSONNEL

The education background of creative personnel is often in non

business areas such as art, literature, music, humanities, or
journalism.

So the interest & perspectives of creative personnel differ from

those of managers with a business education or background.

Creative people tend to be more abstract & less structured.

Creative people must create an environment that fosters the

development of creative thinking and creative advertising.
THE CREATIVE
PROCESS
 THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Creativity in advertising is best viewed as a process and
creative success is most likely when some organized approach
is followed.
 1. ACCOUNT PLANNING

 Account Planning is a process that involves conducting

research and gathering all relevant information about a client’s
product or service, brand, and consumers in the target
audience.
 2. INPUTS TO THE CREATIVE
PROCESS
(a) PREPARATION:
• It means doing background research.
• The creative specialist should be knowledgeable about
general trends, developments in the market place &
techniques that might be effective.
• The creative specialist can acquire background information
by:
(1) Reading anything related to product or market like books,
trade publications, research report, etc.
for example: ad industry group like American Association
of Advertising Agencies publish research report that provide
information on market trends.
(2) Listening to what people are talking about. Visit to stores,
malls, restaurants can be informative.
(b) INCUBATION:
• Incubation means putting the problem out of your conscious
mind and turning the information over to the subconscious to
do the work.
• It means getting away and letting ideas develop.

(c) ILLUMINATION:
• Illumination means seeing the light or solution.
• It is the birth of an idea.
(d) VERIFICATION & REVISION:
• The verification & revision stage of the creative process
evaluates ideas generated during the illumination stage, rejects
inappropriate ones, refines & polishes those that remain, and
gives them final expression.
• Techniques used at this stage includes directed focus groups to
evaluate creative concept, ideas, or themes and evaluation
measures such as viewer reaction profiles.
CREATIVE STRATEGY
DEVELOPMENT
 1. ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
Is an organized program of advertisements.
A planned program using advertising aimed at a
particular target market or audience over a defined
period of time for the purpose of increasing sales or
raising awareness of a product or service.
In ad campaign there should be a campaign theme. It
should be a strong idea, as it is the central msg. that
will be communicated in all the ads & other
promotional activities.
For e.g.
2. COPY PLATFORM
The written copy platform specifies the basic element of the
creative strategy.
It is also called as creative platform, work plan, creative brief,
or creative blueprint.
The a/c representative or manager assigned to the a/c prepares
the copy platform.
Copy platform outline:
 Basic problem or issue the advertising must address.
 Advertising & communication objectives.
 Target audience.
3. THE SEARCH FOR THE MAJOR
SELLING IDEA

The important part of creative strategy is determining the

central theme that will become the major selling idea of the
ad campaign.
The major selling idea should emerge as the strongest singular
thing u can say about your product or service.

There are several approaches that can guide the creative team’s
search for a major selling idea:
 Using a unique selling proposition: For e.g.. Colgate
Total ad uses a USP when it says that it is accepted by A.D.A
for protection against decay and cavities.
 Creating a brand image: Image advertising has become
very popular & is used as the main selling idea for a variety of
products & services like soft drinks, cars, airlines, financial
services, etc.
 Finding the inherent drama: Another approach to
determine the major selling idea is finding the inherent drama
or characteristics of the product that makes the consumer
purchase it.
 Positioning: Advertising is used to establish or “position”
the product or service in a particular place in the consumer’s
mind. Positioning is done for companies as well as for brands.
Creativity in Excess
Thank You