Art of adviting

1. The art of advertising 3

2. Message strategies 3

A few words about creative strategy 10

Some final thoughts about the message strategy 15

Dictionary. 17

Inputs to message strategies

The art of advertising

Nowadays market economy is widespread all over the world. Any

company, working in this conditions face a lot of different questions such

as arranging marketing system, arranging management system and so on. And

the problem of advertising the product is practically at the top of this

list. Some people think that to advertise means to let the customers know

about your product. Maybe it was so many years ago. Today, in times of

severe competition, a function of advertising is much more complex. You

should not only let people know you should make them buy. In different

forms, in different words you should convince everybody that your product

is the best. So when such a problem appeared, advertising was transformed

into a science. It was a mixture of management, marketing and psychology.

But the large amount of ads all around began to aggravate people. And then

the science was developed into the art of advertising. It became creative.

Today exist even special institutes where people learn to advertise and to

do it professionally.

Message strategies

It is not creative unless it sells. This is the stated philosophy of

Benton&Bowles and the unwritten philosophy of most other major advertising

agencies, and it should be everyone’s guiding star in advertising.

Creativity is essential, but for its own sake it is insufficient; it must

be used to show the unique benefit of the product in a memorable way. And

all the process can come to a full stop when creativity is misguided and

doesn’t show a benefit or implies a wrong product. But how can we get to

know what is creative and what is not? The only way to find this out is

through the philosophy that guides Benton&Bowles. They worked out the main

formula of creativity: It’s not creative unless it sells.

So any advertisement usually consists of an image and some text. The

text part deals with message strategy. What should be said to consumers so

that the objectives set earlier can be met? Liberal doses of art and

science must be combined to answer this question. The science of research

gives insights into the appropriate attributes, benefits, position, and

target market; verbal, visual, and musical arts translate this dry, sterile

data into a compelling message.

In addition, the message strategy must fit into the decision sequence

framework. Much of the information gathered in the situation analysis will

be used here to give insight to the writers and artists who ultimately

create the message. Also, the message must help the advertiser to meet its

objective (relevant issues here are the task of the message in terms of

movement along the hierarchy of effects and the target market to be

pursued) and to meet its position (the unique meaningful benefit of the

brand). Finally, the message must be consistent with constraints imposed by

the media and promotions strategies that are being developed

simultaneously. The message strategy part will be divided according to the

following topics:

1. The relevance of issues derived earlier from the situation analysis

and objectives and positioning These issues are generally broken down

to include the product, the consumer, and the competition. The

writers and artists must immerse themselves in all available

information before they can create a message of relevance. In this

section the key issues are reviewed from the perspective of their

relevance to message design.

2. Legal constraints Many laws govern advertising. Most of them constrain

the type and presentation of information in the message. Current

regulations, primarily from the Federal Trade Commission, are

presented here.

3. Creativity This is an elusive concept and is certainly not the

exclusive domain of writers and artists. It is most appropriately

discussed as part of message strategy because it is here that the most

visible creativity takes place in terms of the creation of the

message.

4. Broad and specific classes of message appeals and execution styles

Appeals can be product oriented or consumer oriented and they tend to

locate somewhere on a continuum of rationality and emotion. Styles

include humor, fear, sex, slice of life, documentary, and many more.

5. Copy and layout Copy deals with the verbal aspects of the message,

layout deals with the visual aspects. It is in the areas of copy and

layout that the creative translation of dry fact to interesting visual

and verbal art takes place. While copy and layout are terms specific

to print, the concepts of verbal and visual message components also

hold for broadcast.

6. Production After each message has been created and put on paper in

rough form it must be produced in its appropriate medium. An

understanding of production issues is necessary to help contain costs.

7. Advertising research Although extensive research has occurred in the

situation analysis, a special class of advertising research must be

discussed as part of message strategy. This research deals with the

measurement of the message's impact and can take place at several

levels ranging from a test of an early creative concept to a test of a

finished commercial that is being shown on television. Dependent

variables range from awareness through behavior depending on the

nature of the objectives.

The goal of the message strategy is to develop a message or a series

of messages that will be informative and persuasive in their compelling

presentation or relevant issues to the target audience. This concept can be

broken down so that its components can be examined.

1. A message or series of messages. The message can be in print or

broadcast media. There can be one message or a number of messages

working together. In many cases it is preferable to have several

messages coordinated over time as a campaign.

2. Informative and persuasive. All advertising has elements that are

either informative or persuasive. Some is geared to be more of one or

the other, but all messages have some of each component. Bu nature, all

advertising tries to persuade the consumer to purchase a particular

brand and at the same time they tries to be minimally informative.

3. Compelling presentation. In order for the informative and persuasive

dimensions to have an impact, the message must be presented in a way

that stops the consumer and holds attention. The world’s best product

will go unnoticed if it is not presented in an interesting way.

4. Relevant issues. A compelling presentation is necessary to stop the

consumer, but relevant issues are necessary to hold the consumer. The

wonderfully entertaining but totally irrelevant messages will also hold

the consumer attention, but they don’t necessarily sells the product.

5. Relevant audience. Target market is an issue throughout the development

of the campaign.

Very important moment in creating the ad and especially in choosing the

message is to clearly and correctly set the objectives. The objective has

four components:

Target market

Task of advertising

Time period within which to accomplish task

Amount of change to achieve within target

Only the first two of these will be relevant to message objectives; time

period and amount of change are more relevant for the media and promotions

areas. Although the objectives here will just be concerned with the target

and task, it is still necessary to achieve a high level of precision in the

objective statement. It will also be useful (and should be required) to

justify each of the component parts .

It is often said that objectives and strategies are the enemies of

creativity, that objectives and strategies stifle, restrict, and confine,

that strategies should only provide guidelines. These statements almost

always come from writers or artists and show a lack of concern for the

business of the client and for the ultimate need to influence behavior.

Of course, the complaints are accurate. Objectives and strategies do

stifle, restrict and confine. That is their purpose. Given the level of

competition in most product classes and the perceptual defenses put up by

most consumers, it is important to direct creativity. It is important that

the creative work be on the mark so that it accomplishes the proper task on

the proper target market. This doesn't stifle real creativity. Real

creativity leads to the development of a unique, memorable, forceful

message that is also consistent with the campaign objectives. Remember,

it's not creative unless it sells.

As David Ogilvy wrote, "What you have to say is more important than how

you say it. Your most important job is to decide what you are going to say

about your product, what benefit you are going to promise."

Ed Meyer, head of Grey Advertising, says, "The stimulation of creative

advertising starts with the clear articulation of its objectives."

And Dick Rowan of Marschalk Advertising says, "The trouble with most

advertising is that few people ever stop to think through the marketing

problem and objectives first. "

The rigor imposed by objectives, positioning statements, and strategies

is designed to focus rather than constrict creativity. It permits the total

creative effort to be directed toward execution rather than toward a search

for directions and, ultimately, allows for a measurement of the success of

the messages in accomplishing their goals. A nicely written defense of

strategies was prepared a by Howard Shank of Leo Burnett; as it appears

below:

A few words about creative strategy

It seems to be in the nature of creative people to chafe at those

little pieces of paper entitled "Creative Strategy."

To watch a lot of creative people react, you'd think those documents were

really headed, "Arsenic. Take full strength. Do not dilute."

There is, to be sure, some reason for this revulsion. It is not unheard

of for writers and art directors to be asked to execute something that

should really be called an "un creative strategy."

The authors of these papers have been known to be neither creative nor

strategic in their thinking and to mask a certified non-idea behind

formularized words. If you execute such a non-idea, what you are bound to

have is a noncompelling advertisement. No matter how cleverly you write

and visualize.

Basic truth, you folks: the highest form of creativity in advertising

is the setting of real creative strategies.

We must never forget it.

It's what buid this business.

It's where your future and my future lie.

It's where at least half the joy in our business is found.

It's also where the hardest work is found, I'll admit. But don't

forget, you always love hard work.

If you're still with me, I'd like to tell you what a real creative

strategy is.

But first, I'll suggest to you some of the things it is not.

.

It Is not just a sentence that says, "The advertising will convince

people that our product is the (tastiest) (freshest) (mildest) (hardest-

working) (classiest) (fastest) product in the store.

It is not the product of logic and analysis alone—although they're

part of how you get there. It is not the province of the client or the

account man—although they should be heavily involved.

It is not a jail for creative execution. Rather, if you've got a real

creative strategy, it will inspire you to write and visualize at the

height of your powers.

It is not aimed at robots but at human beings with hearts and guts as

well as brains.

The last sentence is the crux of the matter.

The real creative strategy is the one that relates product to yearnings.

Formula to life style.

If you can look at a thinner cigarette and see not only as a special

cigarette for women but also as a symbol of equality for women, you can

create real creative strategies.

If you can look at a bar of soap with pumice in it and see not only an

efficient hand washer but also the solution to the problem of "Public

Dirt," you can create real creative strategies.

If you can look at a glass of chokolate milk and see it not as just a

yummy thirst-quencher or a hunger fighter but as a cure to kid’s

whimsicalities, you can create real creative strategies.

In all truth, the process that leads to real creative strategies is

the process that leads to inventions.

It involves the seeing of old facts in new relationships.

It involves the discovery of needs and wants in people that even the

people may not have discovered in themselves. (Hardly anyone knew he

needed a telephone until A. G. Bell came along.)

It also involves hard work. As I said before.

When you have a creative strategy problem on your plate, you are

confronted by a need to know everything you can get your hands on. About

the product itself. About competitive products. About the market: its

habits, its attitudes, its demographics. About the advertising history of

the category.

You need to study all the research you can get your hands on.

You need to ask questions until people hate to see you.

You need, in short, to dig, dig, dig.

The dismal truth is that your chances of finding a compelling creative

strategy are in direct proportion to how much information you stuff your

head with.

If you are working on a new coffee, say, you will wind up knowing more

about coffee than you ever thought you wanted to know.

There is a very good reason why you must do this human sponge act if you

are to invent real creative strategies.

Your subconscious mind—where a very important part of the invention

process goes on—needs a richly-stocked data bank to do its best work.

The job of your subconscious is to review and re-review everything you

know about a subject. It searches, even during your sleep, for new

relationships between people and products; searches, as I suggested

earlier, for new combinations of old Ideas; searches for the new insight

that can give even a very old product the right to ask for new attention

in the market.

If you stint your subconscious on the input side, it will surely stint

you on the output.

Creative strategy goes around in the world under several pseudonyms:

basic concept, basic selling idea, product positioning, basic selling

proposition.

But whatever the name, the purpose of real creative strategizing is

simple and vital: the invention of a big idea.

I said earlier that this kind of creative strategy work is the highest

form of creativity in advertising.

I believe it wholeheartedly. I also believe wholeheartedly in the

power of brilliant execution.

What I believe in most of all is the synergism you create when you couple

a big idea with brilliant words and pictures.

When you can do that regularly, you can't help getting rich and famous.

Not to mention happy in your work.

Responsibility for developing objectives and strategy lies at the

agency, but before execution can be initiated there must be approval from

the client. The statement of objectives and strategies should be complete

but concise and should show justifications for decisions that emerge from

the situation analysis.

Tightly defined strategies also give freedom to copywriters because

they know that their work should be judged solely against these preexisting

guidelines. This direction should, therefore, be cherished. From another

perspective, Norman Berry of Oglivy & Mather says "There is nothing, in my

view, so stupid, or so wasteful of time, talent and money, as to produce a

whole lot of work saying one thing brilliantly, when in fact one should

have been saying something else in the first place."

To set accurate message objectives, a quick revue of relevant issues

will be useful.

In terms of target market:

Describe the audience as precisely as possible in relation to demographics,

geographics and psychographics

What the problem that the brand will solve. for consumers.

In terms of the task:

Describe the task in terms of the stage of the hierarchy of effects.

Describe the task in terms of audience involved.

Describe the task in terms of the brands benefits.

Describe the task in relation to the competition.

Describe the desired tone of advertising

Some final thoughts about the message strategy

The statement of message tasks must cover four specific areas:

Whom to sell

What to sell

Support of selling idea

Tone of selling idea

For a message to be effective in accomplishing its tasks it must be:

Attention getting.. It must attract and hold the receiver.

Understandable. It must use symbols that are common to both the sender and

the receiver.

Relevant. It must arouse basic needs and suggest the way to satisfy them.

Acceptable. It must suggest the solution that is compatible with the

receiver.

In developing objectives and tasks, the manager must develop a

coordinated campaign, not just one or a series of messages. There must

ultimately be continuity across all messages so that consumers can learn

more easily.

Dictionary.

|Accomplish |выполнять |

|Advertise |рекламировать |

|Advertisement |реклама |

|Affirmative |утвердительный |

|aid |помощь |

|aim |цель |

|appeal |обращение |

|appropriate |соответствующий |

|approval |оправдание |

|audience |аудитория |

|awareness |осведомленность |

|benefit |выгода |

|bias toward |склоняться к |

|brand |марка |

|captivating |увлекательный |

|commercial |реклама |

|compelling |убедительный |

|competition |конкуренция |

|conceive |постигать |

|conductive |способствующий |

|connotation |дополнительное |

| |значение |

|constrain |сдерживать |

|constrict |сократить |

|controvertial |спорный |

|conventional |обычный |

|conсise |сжатый |

|copy |рекламный текст |

|core |суть |

|creative |творческий |

|creativity |творческий подход |

|customer |покупатель |

|degrade |приходить в упадок |

|department |отдел |

|derive |происходить |

|dimension |направление |

|disparage |относиться с |

| |пренебрежением |

|dominant |доминант |

|elicit |извлекать |

|emphasise |подчеркивать |

|enlarge |развивать |

|evident |очевидный |

|execution |исполнение |

|expose |подвергать |

|extol |превозносить |

|fragile |хрупкий |

|gasp |замирать |

|generic |общий |

|goal |задача |

|guideline |руководство |

|hamper |мешать |

|hierarchy |иерархия |

|immerse |погружать |

|impact |воздействие |

|implicitly |косвенным образом |

|innovative |изобретательный |

|invention |изобретение |

|involve |вовлекать |

|justify |определять |

|layout |формат |

|life cycle |жизненный цикл |

|management |управление |

|market |рынок |

|marketing |маркетинг |

|mediocre |посредственный |

|merit |достоинство |

|misperceive |неправильно понимать |

|niche |ниша |

|nonconformity |несоответствие |

|objective |задача |

|on behalf |в пользу |

|parity |соответствие |

|particular |определенный |

|perceptual |восприимчивый |

|persuasive |убедительный |

|positioning |позиционирование |

|precede |предшествовать |

|promotion |продвижение |

|province |область |

|prudent |предусмотрительный |

|purchase |покупка |

|pursue |преследовать |

|quantifiable |исчислимый |

|rational |рациональный |

|regulation |ограничение |

|reject |отвергать |

|relevant |актуальный |

|represent |предсавлять |

|rigor |оцепенение |

|share |доля |

|solely |единственно |

|solution |решение |

|stem |происходить |

|stifle |сдерживать |

|stint |ограничивать |

|stray |блуждать |

|stumble across |натыкаться |

|subcontious |подсознательный |

|superb |превосходящий |

|superiority |превосходство |

|tangible |осязаемый |

|target market |целевой рынок |

|tradeoff |торги |

|trigger |спусковой крючок |

|vendor |продавец |

|virtue |достоинство |

|visual |визуальный |