Copywriting and Design
Part 4: Effective Advertising Messages
Chapter 13 & 14
The Writer as an Advertiser
•
•
•
•
"I have learned that it is far easier to write a speech about good advertising than it is
to write a good ad."
– Leo Burnett, quoted in 100 LEO's, Chicago, IL: Leo Burnett Company, p. 27.
"If you are writing about baloney, don't try to make it Cornish hen, because that is
the worst kind of baloney there is. Just make it darned good baloney."
– Leo Burnett, quoted in 100 LEO's, Chicago, IL: Leo Burnett Company, p. 23.
"I have discovered the most exciting, the most arduous literary form of all, the most
difficult to master, the most pregnant in curious possibilities. I mean the
advertisement . . . . It is far easier to write ten passably effective Sonnets, good
enough to take in the not too inquiring critic, than one effective advertisement that
will take in a few thousand of the uncritical buying public."
– Aldous Huxley (1923), British author, quoted in Robert Andrews, The
Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, 1993, New York, NY: Columbia University
Press, p. 18.
"The trouble with us in America isn't that the poetry of life has turned to prose, but
that it has turned to advertising copy."
– Louis Kronenberger (1954), quoted in Rhodas Thomas Tripp, The International
Thesaurus of Quotations, 1970, New York, NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company,
p. 18.
13 - 2
Copywriting:
The Language of Advertising
•
Four types of ads in which words are crucial
1.
2.
3.
4.
•
If the message is complicated
If the ad is for a high-involvement product
Information that needs definition and explanation
If a message tries to convey abstract qualities
Copywriter
–
The person who shapes and sculpts the words in
an ad
13 - 3
This Norwegian ad is somewhat copy
intensive, but uses copy for artistic purposes
13 - 4
Advertising Writing Style
• Copy should be as
simple as possible
• Should have a clear
focus and try to convey
only one selling point
• Every word counts;
space and time are
expensive
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Practical Tips
Be succinct
Be single-minded
Be specific
Get personal
Keep a single focus
Be controversial
Be original
Use variety
Use imaginative
description
13 - 5
Copywriting for Print
• Display copy
– Elements readers see in
their initial scanning
• Body copy
– Elements that are
designed to be read and
absorbed
The Headline
• Key element in print
advertising
• Conveys the main
message
• Works with the visual to
get attention and
communicate creative
concept
13 - 6
How to Write Headlines
• A good headline will
attract those who are
prospects
• The headline must work
in combination with the
visual to stop and grab
the reader’s attention
• The headline must
identify the product and
brand, and start the sale
• The headline should
lead readers into the
body copy
– Direct-action headlines
– Indirect-action headlines
13 - 7
Types of Headlines
Headlines Can be Grouped Into Two General Categories
Direct Action
Indirect Action
Assertion
Puzzles
Command
How-to
Statements
Associations
News
Announcements
13 - 8
How to Write Other Display Copy
• Captions
– Have the second-highest
readership and serve an
information function
• Subheads
– Sectional headlines used to
break up a large block of copy
• Taglines
– Short, catchy, memorable
phrases used at the end of an ad
to complete the creative idea
• Slogans
– Repeated from ad to ad as part
of a campaign or long-term
brand identity effort
13 - 9
How to Write Body Copy
• Body copy
– The text of the ad
– Primary role is to maintain the interest of the reader
• Lead paragraph
– The first paragraph of the body copy
– Where people test the message and see if they want to read
it
• Closing paragraph
– Refers back to the creative concept and wraps up the Big
Idea
– Call to action
13 - 10
Print Media Requirements
• All media in the print
category all use the
same copy elements
• The way these elements
are used varies with the
objective for using the
medium
Newspapers
• Copy does not have to
work as hard to catch
audience’s attention
• Straightforward and
informative
• Writing is brief
13 - 11
Print Media Requirements
Magazines
• Better quality ad
production
• Ads can be more
informative and carry
longer copy
Directories
• Use a headline that
focuses on the service or
store’s personality
• Little space for
explanations
13 - 12
Print Media Requirements
Posters and Outdoor
• Primarily visual
• Words try to catch the
consumer’s attention
and lock in ideas
• An effective poster
marries words with
visuals
Product Literature
• Also called collateral
• Used in support of an ad
campaign
• Typically a heavy copy
format
13 - 13
Principles of Effective
Print Advertising
By Steve Blom
Principles of Effective Print
Advertising
•
•
•
•
Establishing an Objective
Sell to the Objective
Designing the Ad
Evaluate the Ad
13 - 15
Establishing the Objective
• Main selling idea should be aimed at the
objective; resist the temptation to add more
• Support the main selling idea with all elements
of the ad
– Headlines
– Visuals
– Copy
13 - 16
Sell to the Objective
• Sell the merits of the Product or Service
– What’s in it for me?
• Emphasize benefits, not facts
– Fact: Birdie Drivers are made of solid unobtanium with a
unique plasticized hydroid alloy core
– Benefit: Birdie Drivers are lighter, faster, harder, and
cheaper than our competitor Bogie Drivers, and they
consistently hit longer, straighter shots
13 - 17
Designing the Ad
• Design for Easy Reading
–
–
–
–
–
–
KISS
Solve a problem
Call to action
Don’t try to cram everything in
Don’t overfancify your design
Avoid:
•
•
•
•
•
Dark backgrounds
Small headlines
Difficult to read fonts
Unrelated images
Atypical layouts
13 - 18
Designing the Ad
• Illustrate your product in use
– Show what the product can do for the reader
– Avoid static graphics showing whole lines of
products
• Avoid Humor and Shock value
– You’re probably not as funny as you think you are
– Humor or shock almost never works toward your
objective
13 - 19
Evaluate the Ad
• Repeat a Successful Ad; Drop an Unsuccessful One
– Repetition is good, to a point
– Good ads wear out a lot slower than you think
– Because you are tired of it doesn’t mean your audience is
• Don’t Blame Ad Placement for Poor Performance
– Design has far more to do with the success than getting it
on cover 4.
L
13 - 20
Designing for Print
• First responsibility of the art director is to
choose visual elements used in ad or
commercial to produce a layout.
– Plan that imposes an orderly arrangement that is
aesthetically pleasing.
– Map, the art director’s blueprint.
– Communication tool for others so that the idea can
be discussed and revised.
– Many ways to lay out an ad; different ways create
different feelings about the product.
13 - 21
Layout (Handout)
The General Steps in a Layout Are:
Thumbnail Sketches
Preliminary Sketches
Rough Layouts
Ads Done to Size Without Attention to Looks
Semicomps
Layout Drawn to Size, Used for Presentations
Comprehensives
Art is Finished, Designed to Impress Audience
Mechanical
L
Largely Computer Based and Generated to Guide
Color Separations
13 - 22
How to Write Radio Copy
• Must be simple enough for consumers to
grasp, but intriguing enough to prevent them
from switching the station
• Ability of the listener to remember facts is
difficult
• Theater of the mind
– The story is visualized in the listener’s imagination
13 - 23
How to Write Radio Copy
• Voice
• Music
• Sound effects
• See radio script in
handout packet
•
•
•
•
•
•
Radio Guidelines
Keep it personal
Speak to listener’s
interests
Wake up the
inattentive
Make it memorable
Include call to action
Create image transfer
13 - 24
How to Write Television Copy
• Moving action makes television so much more
engaging than print
• The challenge is to fuse the images with the
words to present a creative concept and a story
• Storytelling is one way copywriters can
present action in a television commercial more
powerfully than in other media
13 - 25
Tools of Television Copywriting
•
•
•
•
•
•
Video
Audio
Voice-over
Off camera
Other TV Tools
The copywriter must
describe all of these in
the TV script
•
•
•
•
Talent
Announcers
Spokespersons
Character types
Celebrities
13 - 26
Scripts and Storyboards
• Script
– The written version of the commercial’s plan
– Prepared by the copywriter
– See handouts
• Storyboard
– The visual plan or layout of the commercial
– Prepared by the art director
– See handouts
13 - 27
Frontier Photoboard
13 - 28