8
Creative Strategy:
Planning and Development
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All right reversed
Old Spice Case History
• Around since 1938
• Men’s aftershave products
• Nautical and sailing ships
theme
• At a time that men used
only bars of soap
8-2
Old Spice Case History - continued
• Proctor & Gamble did focus
group research
• Men were using body
washes
• Repositioned Old Spice
towards 13-34 year olds
8-3
Old Spice Case History - continued
• Old Spice faced tough
competition from AXE
• Irreverent , risqué
ads and suggestive
taglines
8-4
Old Spice Case History - continued
• Old Spice needed a BIG IDEA
• Positioning:
• “Help guys navigate the seas of manhood”
• Objective:
• Create ads that both men and women would enjoy
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Advertising Campaign for Old Spice Body Wash
Isaiah Mustafa:
“The man your man could smell like”
Show TV commercials
8-6
Advertising
• Communicates information
• Source of entertainment, fascination,
fantasy and irritation
• Creates images and positions a brand in
consumers' minds
8-7
Campaign Theme Quiz
1. Breakfast of Champions
2. The ultimate driving
machine
3. When you care enough
to send the very best
1. Wheaties
2. BMW
3. Hallmark
8-8
Advertising Creativity
Creative
Strategy
Determining WHAT the
advertising message will say
Creative
Tactics
Determining HOW the
message strategy will be
executed
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BIG IDEA
• Central theme of advertising campaign
• Translated into attention getting,
distinctive and memorable messages
• That will break thru the clutter
8-10
Altoids – “the curiously strong mint”
8-11
Award Winning Creative
• Cannes Gold Lions – most prestigious
advertising award
• Ad may be popular, but may not
increase sales
• Alka-Seltzer…
- I can’t believe I ate the whole thing!
- Mama Mia! That’s a spicy meatball!
8-12
What is Creativity?
• Ads are called “creative”
• People who develop ads are called
“creatives”
• Advertising creativity is the ability to
generate fresh, unique ideas that can
be used as resolutions to
communication problems
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Client and Agency Structure
Client
Marketing Manager
Agency
Account
Planning
Department
• Conduct research
• Gather information
about product and
consumers
Creative
Department
Art Directors
and
Copy Writers
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Different Perspectives on Creativity
It isn’t creative
if it doesn’t sell
Managers
Only artistic
value, originality
and awards count
Creatives
(Marketing & Account)
Need both perspectives – give client range of options!
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Determinants of Creativity
Divergence
Relevance
meaningful
celebrities;
music
surprising
Originality
Ad-to-consumer
different
ideas
Flexibility
Brand-to-consumer
unexpected
Elaboration
blend
unrelated
ideas
Synthesis
attractive
colors
Artistic Value
Brand has
personal interest
8-16
Creative Advertising for Absolut
8-17
Guidelines for Creative Advertising
• Product positioned simply and clearly
• With a clinching benefit
• With a Power Idea
• With a Brand Personality
• The advertising is unexpected
• Single-minded
• Rewards the prospect
• Is visually arresting
• With great craftsmanship
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The Creative Challenge
There are no rules:
A dozen creatives will come up with
12 different ideas!
8-19
Residence Inn Takes a Creative Risk
8-20
Creative vs. Hard-Sell Advertising
• “Suits” are
rationalist
salesmen who
want to move
product
• Want mostly
selling points
in ads
• “Poets” are
proponents of
creativity
who want to
move people
emotionally
• Want to
entertain and
inspire
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Creative Personnel
Unconventional
Abstract
Less structured
Less organized
Intuitive
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Marketing / Account Managers
Business
Background
Logical
Profit Oriented
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Four-Step Creative Process
Preparation
Gather background information
through research and study
Incubation
Getting away and letting ideas
develop
Illumination
“Seeing the light” or solution
Verification
Refining and polishing the idea and
seeing if it is appropriate
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Test Your Knowledge
A client manufactures maternity clothes for
businesswomen, and it wants a new advertising
campaign. Visits to obstetrician's offices to observe
the clothes being worn and to maternity shops to
see how they were selected could be a part of the
_____ stage of the creative process.
A) Preparation
B) Verification
C) Revision
D) Illumination
E) Incubation
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Background Research
Read anything
related to the
product or
market
Conduct
studies of
product,
service,
audience
Use the
product to
become
familiar
with it
Work in and
learn about the
client’s
business
Listen to what
people are
talking about
Ask everyone
involved for
information
Watch the Mel Gibson movie: “What Women Want”
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Input Verification and Revision
Objective
Techniques
•Evaluate ideas
•Reject the inappropriate
•Refine the remaining
•Give ideas final expression
•Focus groups
•Use storyboards
•Viewer reaction
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Storyboards and Animatics
Animatic
is
a videotape of
storyboard with
soundtrack
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Types of Research
• General Pre-Planning Input
• Books, trade publications
• Clipping services
• Market trends in Ad Age / Wall St Journal
• Product Specific Research
• Specific studies
• Qualitative research (attitude studies / focus groups)
• Problem detection research
• Ethnographic research (observe consumers at home)
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An Advertising Campaign
Integrated
Interrelated
Marketing
Communication
Activities
Coordinated
In Different
Media
Centered on a
Theme or Idea
Over a Time
Period
8-30
Campaign Themes
Company or Brand
Slogan / Tagline
American Express Don’t leave home without it
U.S. Army
Be all that you can be
Apple
Think different
Avis
We try harder
McDonald’s
I’m lovin’ it
DeBeer’s
A diamond is forever
M&M’s
Melt in your mouth; not in your hand
Las Vegas
What happens here, stays here
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Test Your Knowledge
Advertising campaign themes:
A) Are always tactical in nature and design
B) Set the tone or direction for all of the
individual ads that make up the
campaign
C) Are typically designed by the client and
implemented by the agency
D) Are usually used for ads that run in only
one type of media vehicle
E) Are described by all of the above
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The Creative Brief
Specifies elements of the creative strategy:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Basic problem the advertising must address
Advertising and communications objectives
Target audience
Product positioning
Key benefits to communicate; reasons to
believe
Creative strategy statement
Supporting information and requirements;
tonality; creative considerations
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Marketing Information Flow
Knowledge
of vital
marketing
information
Client/agency
communication
Client gatekeepers
(Brand manager)
Internal client
decision
to share
information
with agency
Internal agency
communication
Agency gatekeeper
(Account manager)
Creative staff
Agency gatekeeper
decision on sharing
client info with staff
Art is created
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Search for a Major Selling Idea
Finding the
Inherent Drama
Use a Unique
Selling Position
“The strongest
thing you can
say about your
product”
Positioning
Create a Brand
Image
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The Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Benefit
Unique
Buy this
product and
get this
benefit
Must be
unique to
brand; rivals
can't or don't
offer it
Strong
Promise must
be strong
enough to get
consumers to
buy it
Sustainable competitive advantage that competitors can’t copy
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Colgate’s Unique Selling Proposition
What is Colgate’s USP?
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Image Advertising
• For products that are
difficult to differentiate
on a functional or
performance basis
(whiskeys, fashion,
cigarettes, beer)
• Build a sharply defined
personality
bee-bee
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Positioning
• Establish a particular place in the customer’s
mind for the product
• Good for multiple brands from the same
company
“Keeps your colors
“Gets out
all kinds of stains”
colorful”
“Delivers an amazing
scent experience”
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Inherent Drama
• Messages presented in an emotional way
(Show Hallmark commercial)
• Focuses on benefits in a dramatic way
(Show Zerex commercial)
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Test Your Knowledge
Which of the following is most often the basis of a
marketer's creative strategy when the company has
multiple brands competing in the same market?
A) Unique selling propositions
B) Brand image
C) Inherent drama
D) Transformational advertising
E) Positioning
8-41