Principle of an advertising is to keep it short & simple, yet effective. It can be summarized as follows.
'To show, don't tell'
Advertising
This means that too much exposure on the target audience can cause trouble for your campaign & can seriously affect the intended purpose.
Anatomy Of A Press Ad
'It is far easier to write a speech about good advertising than it is to write a good ad.' - Leo Burnett
Press ad can be divided as follows:
• Headline
• Visual
• Text / body copy
• Logo
• Base / punch line
(above can be black & white or in colour. With borders or without (bleed))
'Ads are the cave art of 20th century' - Marshall McLuhan (1993)
'A picture speaks a thousand words'
Logo - Greek word - stands for spirit, culture & purpose of a company
Type / Ad Category
• Industrial - engineering/ OEM
• Corporate - co. image
• Public services - AIDS/ anti pollution/ health/ family welfare
• Financial - loans/ fin. Schemes/ insurance
• Public issue - IPO
• Classified - sale/ wanted/ matrimonial/ to let
• Consumer perishable - soaps/ beverages/ eatables
• Teaser
• Cartoon strip - generally for child products
• Consumer durable - white goods/ brown goods
• Promotional - boost sales/ clear stocks/ offers/ discounts
• Souvenier - e.g. rock concert to raise funds
• Advertorial - advertising message printed in the form of an editorial
• Direct response - require direct response from the reader (e.g. coupons)
• Launch - new product/ service/ branch
• Buried offers - to see if people notice the ad
Creative Approaches
• Testimonial - use famous people to testify the product
• Life style - lifestyle is used as the main appeal
• Problem - solution - before & after comparison
Agency Brief & Advertising Strategy
An agency brief has all the raw material that an agency needs to work out a sound strategy
Agency Brief Client's approval--------> Advertising Strategy (long term/ short term)
Advertising strategy satisfies the advertising objectives
Agency Brief satisfies the marketing objectives & it contains information about:
• Company
• Product
• Marketing policy
• Marketing objectives
• Sales policy
• Sales objectives
• Management policy
• Competition
• Customers
• Future plans
All the detail in an agency brief is from the view point of the company. Agency's business is to look it from the consumers' viewpoint so as to lay foundation for the advertising strategy.
Setting the Advertising Strategy
Advertising strategy is decided by
Sr. mgr. + Creative + Media & A/c planning + Research wing = Team Work
Written Advertising Plan contains:
• Statement of advertising objective
• Written advertising strategy
• Product positioning statement
• List of reasons for buying
• Creative blueprint
Advertising strategy
• 'What' will be the advertising message
• 'How' it should be said (press/ tv/ film/ radio etc.)
• 'Who' are to be targeted
• Analysis of consumer behaviour & attitudes to the product
• Thinks of the product as a future brand
• Finds a positioning for the brand
• Thinks ways to overcome or eliminate competitors' advertising strategy
• Lays the basics for media strategy
• Decides on the budget
• Considers what research, if any, to be undertaken
• Works out a time plan for advertising
Creative Brief & Strategy
Advertising strategy --------------> Creative brief to copy/ Art team
Creative brief
Tells about the product/ competition/ market/ consumer profile/ marketing objective/ advertising objective
Advertising Task
• Brand visibility
• Usage
• Promotion
• New brand awareness
• Repeat usage
• Educate
• Explain a new concept
'The consumer is not a moron, she's your wife' - David Ogilvy
Setting the creative strategy
• Problem assessment
Creative strategy
• Target audience
• Brand positioning
• Image
• Tone of voice
• Recommendation
• Research
Target Audience
e.g. toothpaste
• Target audience - men/ women/ children of middle income group living in metros
• Whom to address - decision maker - wife
• Who are the secondary/ hidden influencers - kids
For a peppermint toothpaste the target audience are kids. The taste will appeal kids, who in turn will influence/ pressurize their mothers to buy peppermint flavoured toothpaste.
'There is no such thing as Mass Mind. The mass audience is made up of individuals & good advertising is written from person to another. When it is aimed at millions, it rarely moves anyone' - Fairfax Cone (Foote, Cone & Belding)
Tone of Voice
• It is crucial in designing your communication message
• Visual should echo the same tone of voice
• It depends on how you want to communicate your message
o Joyfull
o Fear
o Instruction
o Appeal etc.
Suppose you are the PM & the war broke out. How would you communicate it to your:
• Son
• Wife
• Citizens
• President of USA
(this shows that the tone of voice depends on the message & the target audience)
Brand Image
Image - others' perception of me
Personality - what I am
Brand image leads to Brand Personification
(what the consumers think you are & what you look like or how they imagine you)
Its pure perception or impression
The Proposition
Rosser Reeves coined the term USP in his book 'Reality in advertising' in 1970
Proposition = Consumer benefit + reason 'why' - Alyque Padamsee
e.g. Pears soap keeps your skin as soft & smooth as a baby's because it contains pure glycerine
therefore, proposition for Pears soap = soft skin (benefit) + glycerine (reason)
Lux Soap ad.: 'Beauty soap of the film stars'
• Close up of a beautiful film star
• Soap picture
• Headline is a testimonial from the star
• Baseline - 'beauty soap of the film stars' & is signed by the star
Consumer perception
Lux soap will immediately produce a film star complexion in even the plainest faces.
Brand Positioning Statement
• What you want the people to think of the brand
You need to know about the 3 P's to formulate a brand positioning statement:
• Product
o Does it fill a definite need/ desire
o Are most users satisfied
o Does it have exclusive features
o Is it positioned correctly
• Prospects
o Demographics
• Men/ women/ children
• Young/ mid aged/ old
• Rich/ poor/ average
o Where do they live
o Teates in reading/ tv/ radio
o What do they know about the brand
• Purchases
o Where do they buy products from
o Seasonal or special occasion buying
o Premeditated or impulsive
o How does price compare with the competition
Brand Positioning
- Cadillac quality car
- Volvo safe car
- McDonald's burger place
- Dominos instant delivery pizza
- AT&T the telephone company
- Xerox the photocopying company
From Proposition to Headlines
• Be clear
• Be simple
• Headline should compliment the visual
• Be imaginative
• Headline+Baseline+Visual - should reflect the proposition
Headline+Baseline+Visual = 90%; Body Copy = 10%
• Maintain land to sea ratio
Advertising - Summary
Gurdeep S Raina
New Delhi