The Creative Side and
Message Strategy
Part 4: Effective Advertising Messages
Chapter 12
Effective Advertising Messages
• Part 4 examines breakthrough advertising, and
how creatives are developing messages people
want to watch and read
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Chapter Outline
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Chapter Key Points
The Art and Science of Creative Advertising
Creative Strategy
Facets of Creative Strategy
Planning and Managing Creative Strategy
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Key Points
• Define creative advertising and explain how it
leads to a Big Idea
• Describe the characteristics of creative people
and their creative process
• Discuss key creative strategy approaches
• Outline the key parts of a creative brief
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The Art and Science of
Creative Advertising
• The ROI of effective advertising
– Relevant, original, and has impact
• The Big Idea
– Implements the advertising strategy so that the
message is both attention getting and memorable
• The Creative Leap
– Jumping from the strategy statement to an original
idea that conveys the strategy in an interesting way
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The ROI of Effective Advertising
• Relevant
• Original
• Has impact
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The Big Idea
• Implements the advertising strategy so that the
message is both attention getting and memorable
Video Snippet
How AFLAC developed its
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‘Big Idea’
The Creative Leap
• Jumping from the
strategy statement to an
original idea that
conveys the strategy in
an interesting way
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Creative Thinking
• Free association
– Creates the juxtaposition of two seemingly
unrelated thoughts
• Divergent thinking
– Uses exploration to search for all possible
alternatives
• Analogies and metaphors
– Used to see new patterns or relationships
• Right-brain thinking
– Intuitive, nonverbal, and emotion-based thinking
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Creative Thinking
• Creative Roles
– Copywriters and art
directors develop the
creative concept and
draft the execution of the
advertising idea
• The Creative Person
Creative Characteristics
• Problem solving
• Ability to visualize
• Openness to new
experiences
• Conceptual thinking
– In advertising, creativity
is both a job description
and a goal
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Young (and Rubicam) Wrote The
Book on Creative Thinking
Visit the
Site
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Creative Strategy
• Where the art and
science of advertising
come together
• A Big Idea must be
– Creative
– Strategic
• Creative strategy
– What the advertisement
says
– Also called message
strategy
• Creative execution
– How it is said
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Message Objectives
1. Perception: create attention, awareness, interest,
recognition, and recall
2. Cognitive: deliver information and understanding
3. Affective: touch emotions and create feelings
4. Persuasion: change attitudes, create conviction and
preference
5. Transformation: establish brand identity and
associations
6. Behavior: stimulate some form of action
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Head and Heart Strategies
• Two basic approaches to translating message
objectives into strategy
• Hard- and Soft-Sell strategies
– Hard Sell: touches the mind and creates a response
based on logic
– Soft Sell: uses emotional appeals or images to
create a response
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Head and Heart Strategies
• Most advertising messages use a combination
of two basic literary techniques to reach the
head or the heart of the consumer
• Lectures and Dramas
– Lecture: a serious instruction given verbally
– Drama: relies on the viewer to make inferences
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Facets of Creative Strategy
Drive Perception
• Attention and awareness
• Interest
• Memory
Drive Cognition
• These messages get
consumers to learn
about products by
focusing on a product’s
features
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Facets of Creative Strategy
Touch Emotions
• Highlight psychological
attraction of the product
to the target audience
through emotional
responses
Persuade
• Appeal
• Selling premises
• Conviction
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Facets of Creative Strategy
Transform Product
• Branding
• Image advertising is
used to create a
representation in the
customer’s mind
• Associations
Drive Action
• A signature that serves
to identify the company
or brand
• Also serves as a call to
action if it gives
direction to the
consumer about how to
respond
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Message Approaches
•
•
•
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Straightforward
Demonstration
Comparison
Problem
solving/Problem
avoidance
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•
•
•
•
Humor
Slice of Life
Spokesperson
Teasers
Shockvertising
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Planning and Managing
Creative Strategy
• Creative brief
– Prepared by the account
planner, summarizes the
marketing and
advertising strategy
– Vary in format, but must
combine basic strategy
decisions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Strategy Decisions
The problem
The objectives
The target market
Positioning strategy
Type of creative
strategy
Selling premise
Execution suggestions
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Planning and Managing Creative
Strategy
• Message execution
– The form in which the
ad’s message is
presented
• Message tone
– Reflects the emotion or
attitude behind the ad
• Global campaigns
– Require ad work that
addresses advertising
objectives and reflects
the positioning strategy
– Usually desirable to
adapt the creative
execution to the local
market
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The Go/No-Go Decision
• Assess the effectiveness of the ad’s creative features
– Structural analysis
– Copy testing
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Steps and Stages
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•
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Immersion
Ideation
Brainfog
Incubation
Illumination
Evaluation
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Creative Strategy
• Where the art and
science of advertising
come together
– Creative strategy
– Creative execution
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Message Objectives
• Perception
• Cognitive
• Affective
• Persuasion
• Transformation
• Behavior
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Messages That Drive Perception
• Attention and awareness
• Interest
• Memory
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Messages That Drive Cognition
• These messages get consumers to learn about
products by focusing on a product’s features
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Messages That Touch Emotions
• Highlight psychological
attraction of the product
to the target audience
through emotional
responses
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Messages That Persuade
• Appeal
• Selling premises
• Conviction
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Messages That Transform a Product
Into a Brand
• Branding
• Image advertising is
used to create a
representation in the
customer’s mind
• Associations
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Wrigley:
The Quintessential American Brand
Visit the
Site
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Messages That Drive Action
• A signature that serves
to identify the company
or brand
• Also serves as a call to
action if it gives
direction to the
consumer about how to
respond
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Planning and Managing
Creative Strategy
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The problem
The objectives
The target market
Positioning strategy
Type of creative strategy
Selling premise
Execution suggestions
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Creative Strategy Brief
Figure 12.3
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For Everything Else
There’s MasterCard
Visit the
Site
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