The Creative Side and Message Strategy

1. The Creative Side and Message Strategy Part 4: Effective Advertising Messages Chapter 12

2. Chapter Outline • Chapter Key Points • The Art and Science of Creative Advertising • Creative Strategy • Facets of Creative Strategy • Planning and Managing Creative Strategy

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Creative Roles Copywriters and art directors develop the creative concept and draft the execution of the advertising idea The Creative Person In advertising, creativity is both a job description and a goal Creative Characteristics Problem solving Ability to visualize Openness to new experiences Conceptual thinking Creative Thinking

7. Steps and Stages • Immersion • Ideation • Brainfog • Incubation • Illumination • Evaluation

8. 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 Creative Strategy

9. Message Objectives • Perception: create attention, awareness, interest, recognition, and recall • Cognitive: deliver information and understanding • Affective: touch emotions and create feelings • Persuasion: change attitudes, create conviction and preference • Transformation: establish brand identity and associations • Behavior: stimulate some form of action

10. 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

11. 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

12. Drive Perception Attention and awareness Interest Memory Drive Cognition These messages get consumers to learn about products by focusing on a product’s features Facets of Creative Strategy

13. Touch Emotions Highlight psychological attraction of the product to the target audience through emotional responses Persuade Appeal Selling premises Conviction Facets of Creative Strategy

14. 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 Facets of Creative Strategy

15. Straightforward Demonstration Comparison Problem solving/Problem avoidance Humor Slice of Life Spokesperson Teasers Shockvertising Message Approaches

16. 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 Planning and Managing Creative Strategy

17. 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 Planning and Managing Creative Strategy

18. The Go/No-Go Decision • Assess the effectiveness of the ad’s creative features • Structural analysis • Copy testing