Chapter 5: Creative Strategy
The creative strategy
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Establish objective
Identification of target market/consumer
Create message theme
Supporting information
Identify constraints
Need a creative concept, or “big idea” to express that message]
The creative brief
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A document used to articulate a strategy to the creative department
Each creative brief may vary, but generally answer the following questions
o Who are we talking to?
o What is the objective?
o What is the message?
o Why should they believe us?
o Where and when are we telling them? (timing and source(s))
Marketing Communications Theory
There are 3 primary theoretical frameworks used to evaluate the creative development process:
1) Hierarchy of Effects Model
2) Means-end chain Model
3) Elaboration likelihood Model
Hierarchy of Effects Model
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Suggests there are 6 steps a consumer or a business buyer moves through when making a
purchase
This model can help a creative understand how a customer reaches purchase decisions
Not completely accurate, 6 steps not always the route taken
o Someone makes an impulse buy and later develops knowledge, liking, preference, and
conviction
o Shoppers may purchase with little or no preference because of purchase incentives like
coupons and discounts cause them to choose one brand over the other
Benefits of this model are it is one method used to identify typical steps consumers/businesses
take when making purchases, all six must be included to encourage brand loyalty
Creative development can take into account these processes (cognitive, affective, conative) and
develop communications that help the audience move through each phase of attitude
development
The FCB grid is a useful tool in the evaluation of hierarchy of effects model for a given product:
Rational
Emotional
High Involvement
Process:
Process:
Cognitive->Affective->Conative
Affective->Cognitive->Conative
Example:
Example:
Appliances
Clothing/Fashion
Critical campaign elements:
Critical campaign elements:
Websites/newspapers
Magazine/Out-of-home
Low Involvement
Process:
Process:
Conative->Cognitive->Affective
Conative->Affective->Cognitive
Example:
Example:
Frozen Food
Chewing Gum
Critical campaign elements:
Critical Campaign Elements:
Coupons/Sampling
Point of sale
Means-End Theory
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This model suggests that marketing communication should contain a message, means that leads
the consumer to a desired end state
The end states include personal values such as:
o Comfortable life, equality, freedom, happiness, personal accomplishment, security etc.
The purpose is to start a process in which the marketing communications leads to the consumer
believe that using the product will help them reach on of these personal values
The theory is the basis of a model called the Means-End Conceptualization of Components for
Advertising Strategy (MECCAS)
The MECCAS is also used in business to business messages
The MECCAS model suggests using 5 elements in creating ads:
o The product attributes
o Consumer benefits
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Leverage points
Personal values
Message tactics
Importance of the Leverage Point
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Both the hierarchy of effects and the means end chain model lead to a leverage point
The feature of the ad that leads the viewer to transform the advertising message into personal
value
To be affective it must build a pathway that connects a products benefits with the potential
buyers value system
Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
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This model examines how likely a person is to spend time thinking deeply (elaborating) about
any specific piece of marketing communication
Premise is that marketing communications influences audiences based on how much the
audience thinks about the message
There are 3 routes in which consumers process messages:
1) Central Route- audience processing of a message that uses arguments or
information presented in the message
2) Peripheral Route- audience processing of a message that focuses on cues, such as
spokespeople, images or colors
3) Low Involvement Route- audience persuasion that occurs even when an audience is
not actively processing a marketing communications message
Types of Marketing Communications Appeals
Rational Appeals Emotional Appeals
Fear
Commonly used as a base for messages
- Numerous companies use fear to sell their
Price is often relative to competitors prices
products i.e. life insurance, dandruff
Typical in sales promotions such as
shampoo
coupons
- Fear appeals can be highly effective if used
correctly
- The behavior response model helps to
explain the way a fear appeal can work
Performance
Humor
- Usually involve some sort of value
- Used in 30% of all advertisements
equation by the consumer
- Excellent of capturing attention
- A premise of outperforming their
- Score high in recall tests
competitors
- Should be related directly to customer
benefits
- Humor causes audiences to:
Watch, laugh, remember
- Reasons for humor ads: Captures
attention, holds attention, often wins
creative awards, high recall scores,
consumers enjoy funny ads, evaluated as
likable ads
Price
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Scarcity
Based on limited supply
- Based on limited time to purchase
- Often tied with promotion tools such as
contests, sweepstakes and coupons
- Encourages customer to take action
Sex
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Like humor, this type of appeal can break
through clutter
Sex appeals can be presented in different
matters:
Subliminal techniques- only registers in
subconscious mind
Nudity or Partial Nudity
Sexual suggestiveness- gay and lesbian
themes, encourages use of imagination,
requires greater mental processing
Overt sexuality – used for products that
are sexually oriented
Sensuality – more sophisticated approach
b/c relies more on imagination
Rational Appeals
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Based on the Hierarchy of Effects Model
Print Media is well suited for rational appeals
Used by business to business advertisers
Well suited for complex and high involvement products
Emotional Appeals
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Based on 3 ideas:
1) Consumers ignore most ads
2) Rational ads go unnoticed
3) Emotional ads can capture attention
Viewed by creatives as key to developing brand loyalty
Are sex appeals effective?
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Sex and nudity do increase attention
Rated as being more interesting
Often leads to strong feelings about the advertisement
Brand recall is lower than messages using other appeals
 People pay attention however not to the brand but to the sexual theme
Often interferes with message comprehension
Controversial ads are more interesting but they fail to increase the transmission of information
May impact feelings toward the brand: pleasant of offensive?
Chapter 6: Creative tactics and advertising strategies
Message strategies are used to deliver a message theme
Message Tactics
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Cognitive Tactics
o The presentation of rational arguments or pieces of information to consumers designed
to stimulate cognitive processing
o Generic messages
 Direct presentations of product attributes or benefits without any claim of
superiority
 Works best when firm is clearly the brand leader and is dominant company
 The goal of generic message is to make brand synonymous with product
category Ex. Campbells soup, Intel micro chips
 Good tactic for creating brand awareness
 Develop cognitive linkages between specific brand name and product
category
 May not give much on product attributes but purpose to simply put the
brand name in a person’s cognitive memory
o Preemptive messages
 Claim superiority based on products specific attribute or benefit
 Purpose to be first company to state the advantage
 Ex. Crest toothpaste “ the cavity fighter”
o Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
 An explicit, testable claim of uniqueness or superiority that can be supported or
substantiated in some manner
 Ex. Kal Tire sells die hard battery that is “best selling” automotive battery
o Hyperbole Approach
 Makes an untestable claim based on upon some attribute or benefit
 Ex “the number 1 movie in America”
o Comparative messages
 When a marketer directly or indirectly compares a good or service to the
competition
 ad may or may not mention competitors name (more effective if named)
 when comparisons are made both brand and message awareness increase
 Negative side is many consumers think comparative messages are less
believable
 Negative comparative messages have lower believability
Affective Tactics
o Invoke feelings or emotions and match those feelings with the good, service, or
company
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Such messages are prepared in order to enhance the likability of the product, recall of
the appeal, or comprehension of the message
o Affective tactics are a common approach to developing strong brand name
o Affective->Conative->Cognitive
 When an ad gets you to like a brand and have positive feelings for a brand the
hope is you will buy the brand then you cognitive beliefs about the brand will
follow
o Ex. Porch ad
Conative Tactics
o Are designed to lead more directly to some type of consumer response
o The goal is to elicit behavior, ads encourage quick action stating that it can only be
purchased for limited time
o Action inducing messages
 Create situations in which cognitive knowledge of a product or affective liking of
the product may come later (after actual purchase) or during product usage
 Ex. POP displays are designed for people to make impulse buys
 Conative->Cognitive->Affective
Executional Frameworks
An executional framework is the manner in which an appeal tactic is presented
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Slice of Life
o Made famous by P&G in 1950’s
o Messages normally show common experiences and specially the problems in which
people encounter, then the good or service is made available to solve the problem
o Good for B2B messages
o Is an excellent example of how one framework can be used to manifest either a rational
or emotional appeal
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Animation
o Growing popularity in recent years with available graphics technology
o Initially only used by firms with low advertising budget
o Animated characters as spokespeople cannot have bad reputation, publicity
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o Recently has been an effective framework for B2B
Dramatization
o Similar to slice of life, it uses the same format in which the problem is presented then a
solution is offered
o Uses a higher level of excitement and suspense to tell the story
o Builds on crisis point leading to suspenseful climax
o Not all dramatic execution styles can accomplish the high level suspense often making it
easier to use slice of life
Demonstration
o Shows how the product works
o B2B messages often present demonstrations
o Well suited for television and internet media
Fantasy
o Designed to lift the audience beyond the real world to a make-believe experience
o The more irrational and illogical a message the more clearly consumers recall them
o This approach commonly used with products targeted at homemakers
Informative
o Present info to the audience in a straightforward manner
o Less common in television and print and used mainly for only verbal communication
such as radio
o Other communications tools such as sales promotions often rely heavily on informative
executions because they simply present a deal
o Have limited uses but can be effective when placed properly
Testimonials
o When a customer is presented in a message telling about a positive experience with the
product
o Testimonials provide references in advance
o Strong framework for B2B marketing, more people believe what others say about a
company more than the company
o Also great in promoting services b/c they are intangible: they cannot be seen or touched
Authoritative
o In this framework the marketer is seeking to convince the audience that a given product
is superior to other brands
o Presented by and expert or authority in a particular field and often include some type of
scientific survey or evidence
o Assumes consumers and business decision makers rely on cognitive processes when
making purchase decisions
 This means that they will pay attention to the message and carefully think about
the message conveyed
Sources of Spokespersons
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Celebrities
o Unpaid spokespeople
o Celebrity voiceovers
o Dead-person endorsements
CEO’s
Experts
Typical Persons
Matching Source Types and Characteristics
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Celebrities
o Tend to score high on credibility
o Negative publicity
o Endorsement of too many products
CEO
o Trustworthy, expertise, and some credibility
o Must exercise care in selection
Expert
o Seek experts who are attractive, likable, trustworthy
o Valid credentials important
Typical person
o Multiple typical persons increase credibility
o Real person vs actor
Principles of effective advertising (consistency)
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Visual and verbal consistency
Campaign duration
Repeated messages and taglines
Consistent positioning
Simplicity
Identifiable selling point
Effective flow of message
Variability theory
o Theory suggests encoding occurs when consumer sees the same message in different
environments over time, hey increase recall and effectiveness by encoding the message
into the brain through various methods
o Same message in different environments and media
Beating Ad Clutter
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Use repetition
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Variability Theory
Use Multiple Mediums
Create ads that gain attention
Create ads that relate to the target audience
Chapter 7: Advertising
Media Planning
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Focus on consumer behavior
Create plans that reflect the purchase process (Chapter 3)
Positively influence consumer in the marketplace
Study media choices
Listening and viewing habits
Factors that have changed the role of Media
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IMC- more than just mass advertising now
Cost factors
Technology
Globalization
Complexity of the media function
Profitability
Media Selection Factors
Reasons as to why certain media are selected:
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Organization Objectives
Target markets(s)
Costs
Message theme
Constraints
Product/Service considerations
Media Selection
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Media selection factors influence our marketing communications mix
Marketing communications mix- the combination of tools used to promote a product or
service. Could include, but not limited to, advertising media (many forms), sales promotions,
public relations and digital and social media
Selecting Media
o TV
o Radio
o Transit
o Billboard
o Outdoor/Out-of-home
o Internet
o Magazines
o Newspapers
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Direct Mail
Alternate Media
Developing Logical Combinations of Media
Achieving Advertising Objectives
1) Three-exposer hypothesis
o Intrusion Value
o Takes minimum of three exposers for an ad to be effective
o Effective Frequency- number of times that one must be exposed to a message to
achieve its objective
o Effective Reach- percent of target market that must be exposed to ad to achieve its
objective
o Size, placement, length of ad are factors to consider
o Number of media used is important (variability)
2) Recency Theory
o One exposer may be enough
o Effective the closer to a purchase
o States that consumers use selective retention when they consider ads
o Advertising is a waste of money of intended market is not reached
3) Media Multiplier Effect
o The combined impact of using two or more media is stronger than using either medium
alone
o Often the reason for using several different media
o This ensures a broader effective reach
Ad Campaign Continuity
Continuous Campaign:
Advantages
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Serves as a constant reminder to the customer
Covers the entire buying cycle
Disadvantages
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Higher Costs
Potential of over exposer effect
Flighting Campaign:
Advantages
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Cost efficiency of advertising, only used during purchase cycles
Allows for more than one medium or vehicle on limited budgets
Disadvantages
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Lack of awareness, interest, retention or promotional message during non-scheduled times ->
could lead to decay
Pulsating Campaign:
Advantages
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Same as two previous methods
Disadvantage
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Not required for seasonal products, or other cyclical products, therefore adding to organizations
expenses
Advertising Terminology
Reach- number in target audience exposed, typically 4 week period
Frequency- average number of exposers within a given period
Opportunities to see
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