TARGET PRACTICEAdvertisers know that the same product or ad won’t appealto everyone so they divide buyers into groups (based onage, gender, culture, occupation etc). Then, they either

target their advertising towards the group most likely topurchase their product or tailor their advertising to suiteach group. This is called market segmentation andthe group of people an ad focuses on is known as thetarget audience. A car company, for example, wouldn’twaste its time advertising to 10 to 15-year-olds becausethey don’t have their driver’s licence. Their ads would

target adults and if it was a family car (like a peoplemover) they were selling, they’d specifically make their

ad relevant for parents.As most children don’t have huge amounts of money to

spend, any advertising targeting children really sets out toprompt them to nag their parents to buy a particularproduct. This is commonly known as pester power.

Ads are everywhere —from the back of yourcereal box in the morning,to the radio station youlisten to in the car, theapps you play on youriPad, the TV shows youwatch after school andthe magazines you read inbed. In fact, the averagechild will see about20,000 commercials ayear on TV alone. Adsmight be annoying attimes but withoutthem, mostnewspapers, TVstations andinternet sitescouldn’t afford torun. The money thatcompanies pay toadvertise their brand indifferent media actuallyhelps provide theservices that you want.

4 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 ED! THE WEST AUSTRALIAN THE WEST AUSTRALIAN ED! TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 • 5

ED! •Topic: AdvertisingKirsty Pitman

5

We asked these Year 6 students from Sacred Heart Schoolin Mundaring: tell us about an ad you think is really

effective or memorable.

AWESOME ADS

Emil Cholich has been a juniorcopywriter at Meerkats sincegraduating with a creativeadvertising degree 18 monthsago.

We asked him:What made you choose acareer in advertising?I was studying graphic designmainly. I did one advertisingclass and realised I had morefun coming up with ideasthan designing themafterwards.Who are some of the clientsyou’ve worked with?Mrs Mac’s, Brownes, MurdochUni, Lotterywest, iiNet andP&N Bank.

Your company calls itself a“brand leadership” agency.What exactly does thismean?We do more than just ads. Wehelp good businesses findtheir reason to exist otherthan making a lot of money.Then we help them with howthey interact with peopleeverywhere, like in stores orin phone apps or even howthey talk to their ownemployees.Describe a typical workdayfor you.I get in at like eight, readsome blogs, wheel aroundand distract people. I’ll havebriefs to work on. A brief islike a job from clients. I’ll bewriting or coming up withideas for those briefs.Sometimes I do it at a desk orcouch. Sometimes I do it atcafes or parks like a hipster. Ido that till 5.30. It’s heaps offun working on lots ofdifferent things.

Which ad campaign haveyou most enjoyed workingon so far?I’ve enjoyed doing brandideas for the West CoastFever netball team. And I hada great time writing a brandbook for a non-profit calledBefriend.What do you find mostchallenging about your job?Coming up with better andbetter ideas. But it’s also thefunnest bit. If you’re notchallenging yourself at work,you get bored.

BRANDED ASCREATIVE

Heaps of fun: Emil Cholich enjoyshis job as a junior copywriter.Picture: Juliet Coghlan

ROSE (10): I generally don’t see a lot ofads but one of my favourites is theQuitline ad. I know it stopped a while

ago but I really like itspoint. I feel like

people shouldbe more aware

of the harmthey aredoing to theirbodies by

smoking.

REMI(11): Ilike the

AAMI adwhere the

man tries toget the cat out

of the tree and then the cat getsdown from the tree and the mangets stuck in the tree! Then hejumps on a trampoline and flies onto the cars. It was funny.

KENDAL (11): My favourite ad would be the one for the iPadAir because it has cool music. It’s like piano or somethingand it makes me feel happy.

DAIRINE (10): I like the adwhere the man is playingvolleyball and he hits what hethinks is a volleyball but itturns out to be a seagull! Itwas advertising that the manshould’ve gone to Specsaversfor glasses.

Pictures: Kirsty Pitman

Advertising is the practice ofdrawing people’s attentionto a particular brand,product, service, event orissue. Its goal is to prompt aresponse from you, whichoften is buying something.

However, advertising can be for many thingsand the response that it seeks could be toattend a festival, support a charity, wear aseatbelt or use less water. It isn’t alwaysabout buying a product.

THE ART OF PERSUASION

Positiveinfluence: Thisad encourageskids to eat freshfruit andvegetables. Picture: GettyImages

Attentiongrabber:This signencouragespeople towear aseatbelt.Picture: GettyImages

WHO DUNNIT?Ads are often created by advertising

agencies. The company seeking the ad iscalled the client. A creative team, whichmight consist of a copywriter and an art

director reporting to a creativedirector, will come up with the ideas.

Sometimes companies choose to createtheir ads themselves (in-house) rather than

use an advertising agency. They may stillhave a full creative team but focus on

promoting only their own brand.

THE GOOD,BAD ANDUGLYSome advertisements influenceus in a positive way, like if theyencourage us to eat healthyfoods, drink more water, keep fit,avoid smoking and drive safely.Not all ads, however, are forproducts that promote goodhealth and wellbeing. Many foodads feature items that aredangerously high in fat and sugar;some ads promote products likealcohol and gambling, which canbe OK in small doses but causehuge social issues when peoplebecome addicted to them. Sometimes, the product beingadvertised is not the problem butthe nature of the ad itself. Forexample, consumers may find anad offensive, deceptive, toographic or unsuitable for children.In Australia, people can directsuch complaints to theAdvertising Standards Boardand sometimes ads arewithdrawn as a result.

IN THE TOOLKITAdvertisers carefully select different techniques (tools) to persuadetheir target audience. Some of these include:� HUMOUR Funny ads can be highly memorable and effective, aslong as the humour is appropriate for the target audience and relatesto the product. Otherwise, people will remember the ad but not whatit was actually promoting. � FEAR Some ads play to our fears, like the thought of being in a carcrash or our lungs being filled with tar. Then the product or message— like slowing down on the roads or quitting smoking — is presentedas solving the problem. This technique is usually used for adult targetaudiences. � ENDORSEMENT Sporting and movie stars are often paid toendorse, or support, a particular product. When we see familiar facestalking about how great a product is, we feel as if we “know” thepeople involved and are therefore more likely to trust what they say.� ASSOCIATION Some ads encourage us to make a mental linkbetween what they are offering and something they know we want —like fun, popularity, love or beauty. So an ad for a children’s clothingcompany might show a few kids wearing trendy outfits leapingthrough long grass chasing butterflies. What the advertiser is tryingto do is prompt us to associate its product (clothing) with thedesirable things we see in the ad (fun, nature and friendship). Sowhen we think of that particular brand, even without an ad in front ofus, we might think “fun and fresh” clothing.

Understanding ads makes us better consumers because we areaware of how ads are trying to persuade us and therefore less likelyto simply accept what they promise.

DOING THEIR HOMEWORKCompanies use market research to learn more about buyers (e.g.their age, gender, level of education and income level), theirshopping habits, factors which affect their purchasing decisionsand their future intentions regarding buying particular products.This information can be obtained through phone surveys,questionnaires and focus groups where a small number of peopleare invited for a group discussion. The better a company knows itsbuyers — especially what they want and how they think — the moreaccurately it can target its future ads.

Advertising research aims to test and improve the effectivenessof advertising. Pre-testing involves trying out an ad before runningit to see what audience response is likely and what could beimproved. This sort of research is important because companieswant to make sure they don’t waste money screening or publishingads that are not going to work. Post-testing is a check to see howeffective an ad campaign has been. Do consumers remember thead? Are they aware of the brand? Do they intend to buy theproduct? As with general market research, this information can beobtained through phone surveys, questionnaires and focus groups.

IT COST HOW MUCH?Some of the most expensive TV advertisements have cost tensof millions of dollars to produce and are almost like a short film.Have a look at “Honda — The Cog” on YouTube, which cost$6.2 million and required 606 takes to get everything right.However, $6.2 million was a very worthwhile investmentbecause the ad reportedly increased Honda’s revenue bymore than £400 million ($780 million).

Creative: Some advertisers use humour to persuade people. Picture: Getty Images

Positive associations: This could be an ad for children’s clothing.Picture: Getty Images

5 QUICK TIPSFOR CREATINGAN EFFECTIVEAD� Keep it simple.� Make it relevant to the target

audience.� Tell a story.� Make it visual.

� Try to evoke positive emotions.

Brainstorm ideas, use persuasive languageand show off your creativity as you preparean ad for a real company. Organised by TheWest Australian’s Media Education and ED!sections, the Design an Ad competition isfree to enter and closes on July 3.

Each company will award $100 to twoprimary and two secondary winners, and aselection of successful ads will be publishedin a special edition of ED! on August 25. For more information go toeducation.thewest.com.au/competitions.

Create an adfor a chanceto win greatprizes.