Some about advertising

Strategies

When planning your ad, you should first define your products Unique Selling Proposition (USP). To find the USP, ask yourself "How is this product different?"

Positioning is an attempt to place a product into a certain category in consumers' minds: "the best", for example (best deodorant, best soda, etc.) ("The best" is, however, extremely difficult to establish for a new brand). Types of positioning are Against (eg, Hertz vs. Avis, 7-up vs. colas), Niche (a sub-division of a category), New, and Traditional.

A Brand Character Statement sets the tone for an entire campaign.

A simple way to start planning your advertisement is with this statement: "Advertising will ____A_____ ____B_____ that ____C_____ is ____D_____. Support will be ____E_____. Tone will be ____F_____." where A is a verb, B is a target demographic (such as, "girls between 14-18 years old"), C is your product, D is an adjective or phrase. E is what the meat of your ad will be. F is your ad's "attitude".

For example, "Advertising will convince artististic types age 18-35 that Apple computers are hip and cool. Support will be two men discussing Macs and PCs. Tone will be humorous."

Part B of this strategy statement is the target audience. Advertisers use many methods to gain information about this group, including demographics, psychographics (how the target thinks), and focus groups.

Part C is the product itself. Advertisers spend time studying this as well. Important questions to ask are "Why would anybody buy this?" "What's the product's advantage?" and "What is the client's image?" The last one is important to consider in order to make sure that your ad doesn't jar with the public perception the company has created for itself. For example, hip or edgy ads probably won't go over well with a company that has a public image of being "conservative" and/or "family friendly."

Support is anything that can demonstrate or otherwise back up the premise presented in the first sentence. Some examples are facts (e.g., statistics), images, or a scenario.

A strong "call to action" is another element used to good effect.

Exercises

1. Pick 5 products and write up USPs for them.
2. Pick 10 products and write a strategic statement for each one using the formula above.

The FCB Grid

The FCB Grid.

The FCB Grid was created by Richard Vaughn. With this model, messages are categorized by "thinking" and "feeling", "low" and "high."

• Low Think (practicality, pragmatism)
• High Think
• Low Feel (sensuality, pleasure)
• High Feel (product as extension of self)

A Low Feel commercial demonstrates the pleasure obtained by using the product. This approach is popular for foods.

A High Feel commercial could emphasize how the product makes the consumer hip or cool. This approach is popular for advertising products like clothing, shoes, or sportscars.

The Ladder

Types of advertising messages can be arranged in a hierarchical ladder, based on what perspective they use to discuss the product.

• Values (This product makes me Y)
• Consumer Benefit (This product helps me Y)
• Product Benefit (X does Y)
• Product Feature (X can do Y)
• Attribute (X is Y)

The further up the ladder you go, the more consumer-based the message becomes. The further down you go, the more product-based it becomes. You can see that the first two statements tell how the product helps the consumer ("me"), while the other statements focus more and more on the product (X).

Here are some examples:

• Values (Axe Body Spray makes me irresistable to women)

In her book Hitting the Sweet Spot: How Consumer Insights Can Inspire Better Marketing and Advertising, Lisa Fortini-Campbell argues that an advertising "sweet spot" can be attained by combining consumer insight and brand insight.

Political

Tony Schwartz pioneered the concept of "resonance". Some of his most well-known work are his political ads. One of his TV ads for Lyndon Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign against Barry Goldwater was legendary. As a little girl picked petals off a daisy, a voice counted down from 10, followed by a nuclear explosion. Known as Daisy, this commercial is considered to be instrumental in Johnson's victory.

Another well-known political ad that is believed to have tipped an election are the anti-Dukakis, "Willie Horton" ads during the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis and George Bush. Willie Horton was a convict serving time for murder in Massachusetts. When Dukakis was governor of Massachusetts, he escaped while on furlough and raped someone. This incident was alluded to in Republican ads mentioning Horton, attempting to convince the public that Horton's escape showed that the Democrats were soft on crime. Like the Daisy ad, it is believed that the ad was instrumental in Bush's victory.

Print

Print ads use a combination of headlines, subheadings, body text and/or images. Often, there is a logo or slug, for brand identification, as well.

To be effective, headlines must be attention-grabbing. They should "draw in" a viewer. A headline should also be a complete message.

Types of headlines are News, Questions, and Testimonials.

However, it has been estimated that only 10% of readers will actually read an ad. So, make sure the product appears in a picture or is mentioned in the headline.