Message Execution &
Creative Insights
MKT 846
Professor West
Agenda
 Continuation
with Message Execution
 Turning
a strategic plan into a creative campaign
 Where do break-through ideas come from?
 Approaches for creative inspiration:
 Unique Selling Proposition
 Brand Image
 Inherent Drama
Learned Through Copy Testing – Purvis
 Test your skills at identifying effective advertising
 Lessons
The Execution
 How
do you transform a message strategy
into an exciting, attention getting, and
memorable idea?
 What
words, sounds and music, images,
setting, and lighting will best convey the
message?
 Where
do break-through ideas come from?
Uncovering Valuable Insights
 “Got
Milk” Story (circa 1993)
 Facing
declining sales, particularly in CA
 CA Milk processors formed a board and
hired Jeff Manning
 Manning
hired Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
 Objective: Increase sales, not image enhancement
 Target Market: People who already drink milk, rather
than nonusers
“Got Milk” Story
 Results:
 In
the first year sales rose 1.8 percent, an
increase of 13.5 million gallons, or $34
million in retail sales.
 The ads win almost every major prize on the
ad circuit including the coveted Cannes in
1996, 1997, 2003
“Got Milk” Story
 How
do you keep a good
thing going?
 2001
Contest to produce your
own “Got Milk” commercial
 2002 Peanut butter sandwich
contest
 2003 Commercial
Milk Story Continues
 How
does the mustache fit in?
 National
Fluid Milk
Processors (Milk Pep) hired Bozell to change the
image of milk in 1995.
 Research showed that milk was viewed as
unhealthy due to cholesterol and fat
 Target Market: 25-44 year old women
Milk Story Continues
 The
two campaigns were
merged
 Web
Sites: www.whymilk.com
 Grassroots: SHAKE STUFF UP
TOUR, themed in conjunction with
television advertising campaign
encourages teens to Shake Stuff
Up by drinking flavored milk.
Sources of Creative Inspiration
 Using
a unique selling proposition (USP)
Rosser Reeves
 “Buy this product and you will get this benefit”
 The proposition must be one that the competition
doesn’t offer
 The proposition must be strong (relevant) enough to
pull new customers
Sources of Creative Inspiration
 Creating
a brand image David Ogilvy
“Every advertisement should be thought of as a
contribution to the complex symbols which is the brand
image”
 The image or personality of the brand is particularly
important when brands are similar
 This approach has become the mainstay in for selling
soft drinks, liquor, cars, perfume/colognes, and
clothing.
 Your target market must identify with the brand
personality

Nike Goddess
 Nike
has become one of the world’s greatest brand
names. The Nike ethos is captured in the “Just Do
It” slogan
 The largest seller of athletic footwear and
apparel with sales of nearly $10 billion in 2002
 While a leader in the $15.6 billion athletic market
it looked for new growth opportunities by
targeting women
 Women’s footwear accounts for one-third of total
industry, and over fifty percent for apparel but
only 20 percent of Nike’s revenue.
Nike Goddess
 In
2001 Nike launched a new strategic initiative
termed “Nike Goddess” with the goal of changing
how the company does business with women.
 Objective: To double Nike’s sales to women by
2005
 Learning how women conceive of sport

Spent time scouring trendy workout locations and
listening to women talk about how fitness fit into their
lifestyle
Nike Goddess
 Insights:
 For
most women, high performance isn’t about
sports, it’s about fitness fitting in with their active
lifestyles.
 The difference between women and men is that
women don’t treat athletes like heroes.
Sources of Creative Inspiration
 Finding
inherent drama Leo Burnett
 Advertising
should be based on a foundation of
consumer benefits with an emphasis on the
dramatic element in expressing those benefits
Using Romance to Sell Coffee
 Taster’s
Choice “Brewing Romance” Campaign
(circa 1990)
Product positioned as “tasting closest to fresh brewed”
 McCann-Erickson was hired to kick up the emotional
connection to the brand
 Research revealed that Taster’s Choice drinkers were
discriminating, self-assured, and sophisticated.
 A spin-off of a British soap-opera style campaign
(introduced in 1987) featuring two flirtatious neighbors,
Tony and Sharon, was adopted.

“Brewing Romance” Campaign
 UK
Campaign quickly adopted an avid following
British tabloids chronicled the series
 Viewers wrote in for autographs and sent script
suggestions
 Campaign lasted for six years and 12 episodes
 Sales of Gold Blend soared by 40 percent.
 Ended with Sharon and Tony wedding and driving happily
off into the sunset
 The campaign was expanded to the US, Canada, Chile,
Australia, New Zealand, and Japan

“Brewing Romance” Campaign
 US
Campaign launched in 1991
Generated a reaction similar to the UK
 The debut of each new “episode” became a major
media event, often premiering on network shows
such as “Good Morning America.”


In February 1998, Taster's Choice ran a contest.
The results were announced in Soap Opera Digest
Advertising Effectiveness
 Just
because an ad is creative or popular does not
mean it will increase sales or revive a declining
brand
 Alka-Seltzer’s agencies developed ads believed to
be some of the best of all time…
“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing”
 “Mama Mia! That’s a spicy meatball”

 However
they lost the account because sales
continued to decline
Advertising Effectiveness
 Brand
managers tend to be risk averse and want
more conservative commercials than the creative
people they work with, who want to maximize
message impact
 A major determinant of success in changing brand
preferences is “likeability” or the viewer’s overall
reaction to the message.

Ads that are well executed and generate emotional
responses can create positive feelings that are transferred
to the brand
Lessons Learned Through Copy Testing
 Offer
a major benefit
 Make it easy to follow
 Establish audience identity
 Attract by being new
 Be believable
 Stress what is unique
 Be fresh
 Reward the viewer/reader for his or her time
Next Time…
 Turn
in Project 2 by Friday afternoon
 If you are interested in knowing more about
using the Digital Union…
 Friday,
2/6 at 10:30 in Gerlach 355