The Creative Side and Message Strategy Advertising Principles and Practices

The Creative Side and Message Strategy

Advertising Principles and Practices

12-2Prentice Hall, © 2009

Part Four: Part Four: Effective Advertising MessagesEffective Advertising Messages

• Examines breakthrough advertising, and how creatives are developing messages people want to watch and read.

• Advertising creatives must be innovative and use ideational thinking and processes, in spite of constraints and political pressures from clients.


Questions We’ll AnswerQuestions We’ll Answer• How do we explain the function and

most important parts of a creative brief?• What are some key creative strategy

approaches?• Can creative thinking be defined, and

how does it lead to a Big Idea?• What characteristics do creative people

have in common, and what is their typical creative process?

A “Whole Different Animal”A “Whole Different Animal”

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• Frontier’s “Flip to Mexico” campaign advertised the route in a fun and attention-getting way.

• Used 30 TV spots, fake news stories, staged protests, podcasts, blogs, a Flip anthem, and a Flipmobile in Denver.

• Bookings rose 56% and unaided awareness doubled after the campaign ran.

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Visit the Site

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http://www.frontierairlines.com/frontier/fun-stuff.do


The Two Sides The Two Sides of Advertisingof Advertising• Media and message

strategy work together to create effective advertising.

• Creative activities work in parallel with the media strategy.

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• The advertisement translates the logic of planning decisions into a creative idea that is original, attention getting, and memorable.

• Ads must persuade people to take action and make a relevant connection with the audience be presenting a selling idea in an unexpected way.

The Art and Science of The Art and Science of AdvertisingAdvertising

Principle: Effective advertising is the product of both

science (persuasion) and art (creativity).


• Advertising creativity is a product of teamwork between copywriters, art directors, and even broadcast directors work together to generate concept, word, and picture ideas.

• In advertising, creativity if both a job description and a goal.

• Creativity is a special form of problem solving.

The Role of Creativity The Role of Creativity in Advertisingin Advertising


Message PlanningMessage Planning• The creative strategy phase brings together

the art and science of advertising.– Ad ideas must be creative (original, different,

novel, unexpected) and strategic (right for the product and target; meets advertising objectives.

• Creative strategy/message strategy– What the ad says

• Execution– How it is said


Creative BriefCreative Brief• Spells out the creative strategy and key

execution details• Prepared by the account planner to

summarize the basic marketing and advertising strategy

• Provides direction to the creative team to develop a creative concept


Key Points in a Creative BriefKey Points in a Creative Brief• Problem that can be solved by communication.• Target audience and key insights into their attitudes and

behavior.• Brand position and other branding decisions, such as

personality and image.• Communication objectives that specify the desired

response to the message by the target audience.• Proposition or selling idea that will motivate the target to

respond.• Media considerations about where and when the message

should be delivered• Creative direction that provides suggestions on how to

stimulate the desired consumer response. These aren’t creative ideas but may touch on such execution or stylistic direction as the ad’s tone of voice.

The Road Crew CampaignThe Road Crew Campaign

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Social marketing campaign to get young men in Wisconsin small towns who drink and drive to use a ride service.

Prentice Hall, © 2009

http://www.roadcrewonline.org/


The Road Crew Creative BriefThe Road Crew Creative Brief• Why are we advertising at all? To create awareness for an evening

alternative ride service.

• What is the advertising trying to do? Make the new ride service appealing to men in order to reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes.

• What are their current attitudes and perceptions? “My car is here right now. Why wait? There are few options available anyway. I want to keep the fun going all night long.”

• What is the main promise we need to communicate? It’s more fun when you don’t have to worry about driving.

• What is the key moment that we tie to? “Bam! The fun stops when I need to think about getting to the next bar or getting home.”

• What tone of voice should we use? The brand character is rugged, cool, and genuine. We need to be a “straight shooter” buddy on the barstool next to the target. They do not want to be preached to or told what to do. We need to communicate in a language they can relate to. (Words like “program” may cause him to tune out.”)


• See/hear—create attention, awareness, interest, recognition

• Feel—touch emotions and create feelings• Think/learn—deliver information, aid

understanding, create recall• Believe—change attitudes, create conviction and

preference• Connect—establish brand identity and

associations, transform a product into a brand with distinctive personality and image

• Act—stimulate trial, purchase, repurchase or some other form of action.

Message Objectives Based Message Objectives Based on Facets Modelon Facets Model


• Goal—reduce alcohol related crashes by 5%

• Objectives– Create awareness of the ride service program and

positive attitudes toward it – Establish a cost-efficient level of rides in the first

year of operations, which involved fund-raising, soliciting volunteers, and other community support

– Address the gap between awareness (don’t drink and drive), attitudes (risky, scary, potentially dangerous), and behavior

– Encourage a behavior change consistent with new attitudes and awareness (get

Goal and Objectives ofGoal and Objectives ofRoad Crew CampaignRoad Crew Campaign


TargetingTargeting• Target decisions are very important to message

strategy.

• Target audience for Road Crew Campaign– 21- to 34-year old single men with a high-school

education and a blue-collar jobs

– They are responsible for most alcohol-related crashes; most likely to kill or be killed

• Consumer insight– Tended to worry about driving home drunk and

this worry took the edge off an otherwise delightful evening


BrandingBranding• Brand positions and brand images are built

through message strategies and brought to life through advertising executions.

• Advertising creates brand salience.– The brand is visible, has a presence in the

marketplace, consumers are aware of it, and the brand is important to its target market,

• Brand icons reinforce lend personality, emotion, and stories to their brands.– Burger King’s “creepy” BK King– GEICO Gecko– Frontier’s animals

Video SnippetAflac’s agency reveals how they came up with

the duck as an icon.

Frontier’s “Flip” CampaignFrontier’s “Flip” Campaign



Message StrategiesMessage Strategies• Based on objectives, the goals are translated into

strategies

• A creative strategy is an approach that makes the most sense given the brand’s marketing situation and the target audience’s needs and interests.


Creative Strategy ApproachesCreative Strategy Approaches• Head and Heart

– Head: uses more rational, cognitive (thinking) objectives

– Heart: uses more emotional, affective (feeling) objectives

• Hard Sell and Soft Sell– Hard sell: uses an informational message that

touches the mind and creates a response

– Soft sell: uses emotional appeals or images to create a response based on attitudes, moods, and feelings


Creative Strategy ApproachesCreative Strategy Approaches• Frazer’s Six Creative Strategies

– Six creative strategies that address various types of advertising situations; identify common approaches to advertising strategy.

• Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Wheel– Divides strategies into the Transmission view

(“head” strategies and the Ritual view (“heart” strategies).

– Each view is divided into three segments: Rational, Acute Need, and Routine on the Transmission side; and Ego, Social, and Sensory on the Ritual side.


Strategy Description Uses

Preemptive Uses a common attribute or benefit Used for categories with little

but brand gets there first–forces differentiation or new product

competition into me-too positions. categories.

Unique Selling Uses a distinct difference in Used for categories with high

Proposition attributes that creates a meaningful levels of technological consumer benefit. improvement and

innovations.

Brand Image Uses a claim of superiority Used with homogeneous low-

distinction based on extrinsic factors tech goods with little such as psychological differences in

differentiation.the minds of consumers.

Positioning Establishes a place in the consumer’s Used by new entries or small mind relative to the competition. brands that want to challenge

the market leader.

Resonance Uses situations, lifestyles, and Used in highly competitive, emotions with which the target undifferentiated

product audience can identify. categories.

Affective/ Uses an emotional, sometimes even Used where competitors are

Anomalous ambiguous message, to break playing it straight and through indifference. informative.

Table 12.1 Frazer’s Six Creative Strategies


Table 12.3 Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Wheel

The wheel divides message strategy into two general views—the Transmission view and the Ritual view. These are roughly equivalent to our “head” and “heart” strategies.


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Lectures

– A series of instructions given verbally

– Speaker presents evidence to persuade the audience

– Lectures are inexpensive, compact, and efficient

– A “talking head” delivers a lecture about a product

• Dramas– Funny or serious stories

about how the world works– Characters speak to each

other and audience infers lessons


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Selling Strategies

– A selling premise uses a rational (head) approach that states the logic behind the sales offer.

– An appeal uses an emotional (heart) approach to make the product attractive or interesting.

– A feature or attribute has a practical effect on customers.

– A claim is a product-based strategy based on how will the product will perform.

– Support is the proof or substantiation needed to make a claim believable.


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Rational Customer-focused

Strategies

• Benefit—what the product does for the user; benefit

• Promise—what benefit the user will get in the future

• Reason—why you should buy this “because”

• Unique selling proposition—a benefit unique to the product and important to the user


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Message Formulas

– Straightforward

– Demonstration

– Comparison

– Problem solution /problem avoidance

– Humor

– Slice of life

– Spokesperson

– Teasers


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Matching Messages to Objectives

– Get attention– Create interest– Resonate– Create believability– Are remembered

• Slogans • Taglines • Key visual

Principle: To get attention, ad ad must have stopping power, which

comes from originality, relevance or intrusiveness—an idea that is novel or surprising.


Strategic Formats and FormulasStrategic Formats and Formulas• Matching Messages to Objectives (cont.)

– Touch emotions– Inform– Teach– Persuade

Principle: When advertising gives consumers permission to believe in a

product, it establishes the platform for conviction.

– Create brand association– Drive action

Principle: Not only does advertising have to stop (get attention) and

pull (create interest), it also has to stick (in memory).

Tangible and Intangible FeaturesTangible and Intangible Features



• It’s an idea—a thought or concept formed by mentally combining pieces and fragments into something meaningful.

• Concepting—the process of coming up with a new advertising idea.

• James Webb Young defines an idea as a new or unexpected combination of thoughts.

What is a Creative Concept?What is a Creative Concept?


• The point of focus for communicating the message.

• A theme or central concept (creative concept).

• The “Road Crew” name helped define the campaign’s big idea.

• The “Beats driving” slogan supported the Big Idea and communicated a benefit.

Advertising Big IdeasAdvertising Big Ideas


• According to DDB agency, an effective ad is relevant (means something to target audience), original (novel, fresh, unexpected, unusual), and has impact (makes an impression)

The ROI of CreativityThe ROI of Creativity

Principle: An idea can be creative for you if you have never thought of it before, but to be truly creative it has to be one that no one else

has thought of before.


• Divergent, right-brain thinking explores possibilities rather than using rational thinking

• “Thinking outside the box”

• Taking creative risks

The Creative LeapThe Creative Leap

Principle: To get a creative idea, you must leap beyond the

mundane language of the strategy statement and see the problem in a novel and unexpected way.


• Characteristics of creative people– Assertive, self-sufficient, persistent, self-disciplined.– High tolerance for ambiguity and powerful egos; risk takers who

are internally driven. – Don’t care much about group standards and opinions; typically

have inborn skepticism and strong curiosity.

• Key characteristics of advertising creatives – Problem solving – The ability to visualize – Openness to new experiences– Conceptual thinking

Dialing Up Your CreativityDialing Up Your Creativity

Principle: Emphasize concepts. Worry about execution later.


It is hard work; usually involves a series of steps:

1. Immersion—read, research, learn about problem

2. Ideation—look at the problem from every angle; generate as many ideas as possible

3. Brainfog—you may hit a wall and want to quit

4. Incubation—let your subconscious work on it

5. Illumination—the idea often comes when you’re relaxed and doing something else

6. Evaluation—Does it work? Is it on strategy?

The Creative Process: The Creative Process: How to Get an IdeaHow to Get an Idea


BrainstormingBrainstorming• Get a group of 6–10 people together to come up with ideas.• People and ideas play off of each other and stimulate more ideas than one could alone.• Stay positive, don’t judge, don’t criticize.• No distractions or interruptions.• Write everything down.• Only after all ideas have been expressed and every avenue exhausted, you start picking through and evaluating the

ideas.


How to Create Original IdeasHow to Create Original Ideas

• What If? • An unexpected association

– free association • Dramatize the obvious • Catchy phrasing • An unexpected twist • A play on words • Analogy and metaphor • Familiar and strange • A twisted cliché • Twist the obvious• To prevent unoriginal ideas,

avoid “the look-alike” and the tasteless.


Little Guys and Big IdeasLittle Guys and Big Ideas• Small, boutique agencies may be more open to risk.• Sources like Zimmerman Advertising sell stock advertising online.• A professional licensing firm, Thought Equity, recycles unused advertisements.• User-generated “citizen ads” like those found on YouTube or contributed

through contests can form an entire campaign.


Thought Equity Stock VideoThought Equity Stock Video

Visit the Site

• Sells royalty-free stock video footage for use in television commercials, client pitch presentations, and corporate videos.


Managing Creative StrategyManaging Creative Strategy• Extension: an Idea with Legs

– A strong “Big Idea” be an umbrella for a variety of executions

• Adaptation: taking an Idea Global– Standardizing the campaign across multiple markets only works if

the strategy and objectives are the same– Creative executions may be customized due to cultural differences

• Evaluation: the Go/No Go Decision– Is it on strategy?– Structural analysis:

• The power of the narrative• The strength of the product claim• How well the two are integrated

• Copy Testing– A formal method to evaluate effectiveness

– Vampire creativity—so creative the product may not be remembered

Discussion Questions


Discussion Question 1Discussion Question 1

• Find an ad in this book that you think is the most creative.

• What is its Big Idea? How and why does it work?

• Analyze the ad in terms of the ROI formula for evaluating effective, creative advertising.

• Re-create the creative brief that would summarize the ad’s message strategy.


Discussion Question 2Discussion Question 2

• Divide the class into groups of 6 to 10 people and discuss this problem: Your community wants to encourage people to get rid of their cars and use alternative forms of transportation. Brainstorm for 15 minutes as a group, accumulating every possible idea. How many ideas are generated? Here’s how to run this brainstorming group?– Appoint one member to be the recorder who lists ideas as

they are mentioned.

– Appoint another member to be the moderator and suggest techniques described in this chapter as idea starters.

– Identify a cheerleader to keep the discussion positive and find gentle ways to discourage critical or negative comments.


Discussion Question 2 (cont.)Discussion Question 2 (cont.)– Identify a cheerleader to keep the discussion positive and

find gentle ways to discourage critical or negative comments.

– Work for 15 minutes throwing out as many different creative concepts as your team can come up with, regardless of how crazy or dumb they might initially sound.

– Go back through the list as a group and put an asterisk next to the 5 to10 ideas that seem to have the most promise

• When all the groups reconvene in class, each recorder should list the groups best ideas on the blackboard. As a class, pick out the three ideas that seem to have the most potential. Analyze the experience of participating in a brainstorming group and compare the experiences of the different teams.


Discussion Question 3Discussion Question 3• Three-minute debate: Here’s the topic: Is

entertainment a useful objective for an advertising campaign? This is an issue that advertising experts debate because, although entertainment may get and keep attention, some experts believe the focus should be on selling products not entertaining consumers. Build a case for your side—either pro or con on the effectiveness of entertaining ads.

• In class, organize into small teams with pairs of teams taking one side or the other. Set up a series of three-minute debates with each side having half that time to argue its position.

• Every team of debaters has to present new points not covered in the previous teams’ presentations until there are not more arguments left to present. Then the class votes on the most compelling argument.


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The Creative Side and Message Strategy Advertising Principles and Practices