Principles Of

Advertising
DEVELOPMENT IN CREATIVE STRATEGY
 An advertising campaign's objective(s) also affects the content and form of an
advertising message. If an advertiser faces the problem of low brand awareness
and its advertising objective is to increase brand awareness, the message may
need to repeat its brand name many times.

 In order to persuade consumers to buy its product, the key and supportive
customer benefits should also be included in the advertising message.
Advertising Appeals

 Advertising appeal refers to the basis or approach used in the advertisement to

attract the attention or interest of consumers and/or to influence their feelings
toward the product, service, idea, or cause. Advertising appeals can be broken
down into two categories—
 informational/rational appeals (hard sell)
 emotional appeals (soft sell).
Informational/Rational Appeals (Hard
Sell)
 These appeals focus on the consumer's practical or functional need for the product
or service and emphasize features of a product or service and/or the benefits or
reasons for using or owning a particular brand. Many rational motives can be used
as the basis for advertising appeals, including comfort, convenience, and
economy.
Emotional Appeals (Soft Sell)

 These appeals use an emotional message and are designed around an image
intended to touch the heart and create a response based on feelings and attitudes
(see Illustration 9.2).

 Advertisers can use emotional appeals in many ways in their creative strategy.
Humor and sex appeals, or other types of appeals that are very entertaining,
upbeat, and/or exciting, affect the emotions of consumers and put them in a
favorable frame of mind. Fear appeals can be equally dramatic in arousing
emotions but have an opposite effect on the viewer's frame of mind.
Humor appeals

 Consumers have historically given high ratings to humorous advertising (see

Illustrations 9.3 and 9.4). Among consumers' all-time favorite ads are the
Energizer bunny that "just keeps going and going"; the hip, singing-and-dancing
California raisins; and the Taco Bell Chihuahua with its meaningfully raised
eyebrows and suave style.
Sex appeals

 The old adage "sex sells" may not always be true. For instance, men gave high
ratings to Special K ads featuring nearly nude, extremely thin women copping
sexy poses in front of a mirror, but the ads did not appeal to the group targeted—
women. An Anheuser-Busch ad that showed a wife luring "her husband to their
bedroom with the promise of a Bud Light" was. rated the top ad of 2002 by USA
Today's Ad Meter number one hall of fame
Fear appeals

 Long a staple of advertising, these appeals have heightened consumer fears about
social acceptance and isolation (expressed in ads for anti-itch creams and diarrhea
remedies), personal hygiene (advertisers originated the term "athlete's foot" and
made "halitosis" a household word), and motherhood (ads for cheese and peanut
butter products commonly consumed by children have used such guilt-producing
slogans as "Choosy mothers choose Jif').
 Fear appeals have also been heavily used in campaigns designed to combat drug
addictions and other health-related problems. In 1998 the Hepatitis Foundation
International ran a print ad showing a young woman wearing a bright bathing suit
and eating a salad.

 The advertisement resembled a travel ad for a tropical resort. The travel industry
claimed that the headline, "She just picked up a virus to bring home to her family
and friends," and a color-coded map, which showed most parts of the world as
danger zones for hepatitis, inflamed travelers' fears about diseases
Combination Appeals

 These appeals combine informational/rational and emotional appeals. In many

advertising situations, the creative specialist does not choose an emotional over a
rational appeal, but rather decides how to combine the two
 . Consumer purchase decisions are often made on the basis of both emotional and
rational motives, and copywriters must give attention to both elements in
developing effective advertising. For instance, the success of Pepsi's Super Bowl
advertising has combined product focus with the use of humor, minimal dialogue,
and an underlying universal truth. Some of the commercial spots have been
directed by Joe Pytka who has used the appeals of animal magnetism (e.g., the
goldfish and chimps) and big stars (e.g., Cindy Crawford) in thirteen of Pepsi's
highest-scoring ads
 Pepsi's Super Bowl XVI spot featured a bear that "clawed its way" to become the
Bowl's second most popular spot.19 The bear disguised "itself as a grizzled bear
hunter to pass a check for Pepsi at a convenience store."
 Rational and emotional appeals have been further differentiated by Foote Cone &
Belding. In 1978 the advertising agency developed a model based on the
assumption that consumer buying decisions are affected by their degree of
involvement in the decision. The model, shown in Table 9.2, provides a matrix
with each quadrant
 • High involvement/thinking. This type of appeal can be successful when
advertising a product of high importance to the consumer, such as a car or
computer. Long, informational copy would be appropriate.
 • Low involvement/thinking. This appeal applies to products or services that are
routinely purchased; rational appeals that encourage trial purchases (such as
cents-off coupons) will be more effective than long copy.
 High involvement/feeling. Emotional appeals work best for products or services
related to the consumer's self-esteem, such as makeup, fashion accessories, and
clothing (e.g., see Illustration 9.5). The emotional value of some types of clothing
has been illustrated by the length to which some teenagers have gone—including
theft and violence—to acquire name-brand athletic shoes. Teenagers are
especially vulnerable to esteem appeals.
 Low involvement/feeling. Emotional appeals also work well for products and
services that satisfy desires for personal gratification, such as soft drinks, beer,
liquor, and tobacco products. Since such purchases are often enjoyed socially,
appeals to the desire to be accepted by a certain group can also be a factor. For
instance, the circular argument "Coke Is It" has no valid logic but implies social
acceptance.
 It is clear that most advertising works. It is also clear that not all advertising
works equally well. What is unclear is what makes one campaign more effective
than another. For years, experts have tried scientifically to pinpoint the ingredients
that make an exceptionally effective campaign. However, these efforts have
seldom been conclusive. Opinions about what works and what does not generally
fall into two schools: the straightforward and the creative.
 Those who prefer straightforward, no-nonsense, factual advertisements like
appeals that deliver relevant facts in support of the product. They want
presentations to be professional, but they do not believe it is important for the
advertisements to be artistic.

 Others favor a creative, emotionally based approach. They believe that

advertisements focusing heavily on information are likely to be ignored, and that
focusing on emotion is more likely to create the desired response.
 In the end, the advertisements that achieve exceptional results more often
communicate a deep understanding of how consumers feel rather than what they
think.
Creative Execution Styles

 Once the specific advertising appeal that will be used as the basis for the
advertising message has been determined, the creative specialist or team must
then turn its attention to execution. Creative execution refers to the way in which
an advertising appeal is carried out or presented. In addition to using humor, an
advertising message or appeal can be presented in numerous ways.
 • Testimonial. Also called word-of-mouth advertising, this approach uses well-
known figures or an unknown, "typical" person to provide product testimonials.
 • Problem-solution. This tactic presents the viewer with a problem to be solved
and the solution is provided by the advertiser's product.
 • Demonstration. This is designed to illustrate key advantages or benefits of the
product or service by showing it in actual use or in some contrived situation.
 • Slice-of-life. A variation of the problem-solution approach, this technique
portrays a real-life situation involving a problem or conflict that consumers face
in daily life. The ad then focuses on showing how the advertiser's product or
service can resolve that problem.
 • Fantasy. This approach uses special effects to create an imaginative place,
events, or characters.
 Advertising is both an art and a science. The art comes from writing, designing,
and producing exciting messages. The science comes from strategic thinking and
planning, including research. The creative specialist or team must first deal with
the problem of coming up with a concept.

Then the specialist or team must develop a creative strategy, determine

appropriate appeals, and select a style of execution. The ad must then be cast into
a print, television, radio, or other format.
 At this stage, copywriters generally collaborate with artistic or production teams
to create the actual advertisement. From start to finish, the process of ad creation
involves a multitude of decisions that require understanding of both the product
and the consumer as well as knowledge of the various formats and media.