Significance of English

Language in the field of

Advertising

S.Femina,
Lecturer,
Sri Kaliswari College,
Sivakasi.
 The Field of Advertising
• Living in an era of knowledge explosion advertising seems
to be an indispensable building block of the media.
• The opportunities that the profession offers are more
varied and creatively more challenging.
• In advertising one has a diverse range of jobs to choose
from, to suit one's inclination, talent and personality.
• Advertising is itself a communication link between the
producer and the consumer.
• The media to advertise includes newspapers and
magazines, radio, television, posters and everything that
can be used to inform the customer about the product or
service.
 Need for advertisement
• To influence and persuade people to act or
believe.
• Announcing a new product or service.
• Expanding the market to new buyers.
• Announcing a modification or a price change.
• Educating customers.
• Challenging competition.
• Recruiting of staff and
• Attracting investors
To meet all these needs language,
i.e., choice of expression is of crucial
importance.
 Career in Advertisement
• It is quite alluring.
• At the same time challenging with more and more
agencies opening up every day.
• It is actually brand-building through effective
communication.
• It helps to create demand, promote marketing system
and boost economic growth.
• Most advertising agencies recruit candidates with a
formal management or advertising/mass
communication qualification.
• Preference is given for MBA's for posts in the market
research, client servicing and media planning
departments.
 Requirements for a Career
• In the creative department, on the other hand, a general BA with a
command of the language of communication plus knowledge of
designing packages like Photoshop, Corel draw is the requirement.
• Basic qualities like creativity and a flair for writing or ability to
translate ideas into a visual format are required for making a
successful career in this field.
• An advertiser should have insight into the interests of people from all
walks of life.
• Ability to work as part of team.
• Mental and physical toughness to be able to withstand high pressure
and criticism,
• Must be sociable and have calm temperament.
• Market and media researchers should have an analytical and logical
brain.
• Those in creative field should possess artistic abilities to make the ad
appealing to the masses.
 Fields in advertising
• The job in this field is categorized into two- Executive and
Creative.
• Executive side includes Client Servicing, Market Research
and Media Research.
• Creative side consists of copywriters, script-writers,
visualisers, photographers and typographers.

I would like to focus on the Creative department.

The Creative Department designs and conceptualizes the

advertisement.
 Creative Department
• Consists of copywriting department and art
department.
• Copywriting department works on text for the ad
and themes for campaign.
• Art department visualizes the campaign.
• The Copywriter evolves a theme for the campaign
and provides the text for advertisements.
• They work out the campaign slogan, jingles,
scripts and promotional literature of the product
or service as well as proposals, concept notes and
film treatments.
Volkswagen
Beetle Ad
 Copywriters
• Copywriters are responsible for making the ad
look attractive and delivering the message to the
point.
• Copywriters need to have a flair for writing.
• They also need to have skill in analyzing clients'
needs, and research skills for finding out about
the products and services they are helping to sell.

Donate Eyes
 Significance of language in the
creative department
• The wide use of advertising has created a special
style of English-advertising English.
• As a means to disseminate information, advertising
English must be compact, vivid, visual, emotional
and attractive.
• Advertisement must use oral and popular language
to make it easy to understand and memorize.
• For example: “Hello Moto – Motorola”. And as in “He keeps
going and going and going.- Energizer Batteries”.
 Language Tricks
• One can never express one’s ideas in the
best possible way unless one
understands the nuances of a language.
• Although the ultimate purpose of
advertising is to persuade consumers to
buy its products, advertisers seldom use
the word “buy”.
• Therefore in the choice of verbs the
copywriters must be careful. The most
frequently used verbs are: try, ask, get,
take, let, send for, use, call, make, come
on, hurry, see, give, come, remember,
discover, serve, introduce, choose and
look for.
 Copywriting
• The task of the copywriter is to use
words in a certain combination to attract
the attention of the consumers.
• To achieve this the oft quoted adjectives
and compound words are: new, crisp,
good, better, best, fine, free, big, fresh,
great, delicious, real, sure, special, rich,
honey-coated sugar puffs, home-made,
relief-giving, record-breaking, best-selling
etc.,
• It will get better effect to use simple
sentences than compound sentences to
stimulate the consumers. For instance,
“Easy as Dell - Dell Computer”.
 Imperative and
Interrogative
• The imperative sentences have a meaning
of claiming, calling and commanding.
For example: United Airlines- Life is a
journey, travel it well.
• Interrogative sentences are quick and
effective to arouse readers’ response.
To quote a few, “Where do you want to go
today? – Microsoft”,
“How do you spell relief? – Rolaids”.
Hair Darkening Medicine: “Are you going
grey too early?”
 Rhetorical devices
• Rhetorical devices such as metaphor, simile,
exaggeration, personification, pun, alliteration etc.
are frequently used consciously in advertising.
• In advertising the simile is a device both of art and
explanation, comparing an unfamiliar thing to some
familiar thing (an object, event, process, etc.) known
to the reader.
• The simile is usually introduced by “like”, “as”. For
example: “Cool as a mountain stream…cool fresh
Consulate.”
 Usage of Metaphor
• Compared with simile, metaphor is usually more
often used in advertising. Metaphor compares two
different things by speaking of one in terms of the
other. Unlike a simile or analogy, metaphor asserts
that one thing is another thing not just that one is
like another.
• However, metaphor is a profoundly important and
useful device like simile and analogy.
• To cite,” A woman expresses herself in many
languages, Vimal is one of them.”
 Pun Play
• Pun is a play on words, sometimes on different
senses of the same word and sometimes on the
similar sense or sound of different words.
• For example, “Now your faxes can find you, even if
your office can’t.” Sharp Photocopier: “From Sharp
minds. Come Sharp Products.”
Weight-Watcher Ice Cream: Spoil yourself and not
your figures. This is the headline of the
advertisement for Weight-Watcher Ice Cream. “Spoil
oneself” means “enjoy oneself to heart’s content”,
while “spoil one’s figure” means “make your figure
unsatisfactory”.
It skillfully takes advantage of the double meaning of
“spoil”.
 Repetition-for a good cause
• Repetition or reiteration is the repetition of the same
word, or the same phrase, or the same sense in
different words, for the purpose of making a deeper
impression on the audience.
“Lipton Tea: When you’re sipping Lipton, you’re
sipping something special.”
“Timex Watch: Give a Timex to all, and to all a good
time?”
Seven-up: “Fresh Up with Seven-up.”
Intel: “Intel inside”.
 Copywriting skill

A
• A complete written advertisement (newspaper,
magazine) is usually composed of headline, body
copy, slogan, illustrations and colours, trademark and

I
brand name.
• The headline must be attractive.
• The body copy persuasive, and the slogan
memorable. (Attention-Interest-Desire-Action)
• “Synthesis of conception, economy of expression, D
the lyricism that contributes to memorability- these
skills that are so essential to good advertising is the
basic tools of the poet.”- says June A.Valladres.(30) A
 Of course, it’s a tough job…
• Gone are the days when smart appearance and the
gift of the gab were enough to find an entry into
advertising.
• It is not just playing with words or pretty pictures,
the world of lovely models or even film stars, and
dining and wining.
• It demands long hours of work, high energy,
imagination and ambition.
• Subrata Baneerjee says, “The creativity calls for
imagination moderated by a very deep sense of
social reality” (12). She also opines that” the words
must be pregnant with meaning, fresh and vibrating
and must strike home.”(154).
 Towards the goal…

• As a writer one must have a passion for reading.

There is no writer who does not love words and the
way they are put together.
• June has rightly pointed out that when one does not
have passion for written words, one “may become
king in a mediocre agency, and may even win a few
awards, but will never be great.”(31)
• The copywriter must be able to write for the eye as
well as the ear.
 How to earn???
• The scope of advertising seems unlimited and the
variety infinite.
• It is possible for someone to set up one’s own shop,
particularly in the electronic media, producing audio-
visual advertising material, or providing photographic
services or even as freelance writers and commercial
artists.
• As this provides career opportunities, this is a highly
talent-intensive industry. At the same time one
cannot depend mainly on one’s talent.
• Every single activity demands a particular type of
talent.
 How to much to earn???
• Everything is interesting and exciting but there arises a
valid question what about the material benefits for all the
hard work?
• As advertising is becoming more scientific, more
mechanized, more talent-oriented and skill intensive, the
range of remuneration is also rising higher.
• A graduate would start as a trainee in an average sized
advertising agency between Rs 3,000 and 5,000 a month.
• For an MBA the amount might be around Rs.7,000 a
month.
• But rewards for talent and hard work are also high and
promotion is quick.
• The monthly income can rise to about 1,00,000 plus
attractive perks if not more. (Baneerjee, 13).