Advertising

What is advertising?

Advertising is a form of communication that typically attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service.

Many advertisements are designed to generate increased consumption of those products and services through the creation and reinforcement of "brand image" and "brand loyalty". For these purposes, advertisements sometimes embed their persuasive message with factual information.

Advertising

Every major medium is used to deliver thesemessages, including television, radio, cinema, magazines, newspapers, video games, theInternet and billboards. Advertising is often placed by an advertisingagency on behalf of a company or other organization. ( political parties, interest groups, religious

organizations, and military recruiters. Non-profit organizations are not typical advertising clients, and may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as public service announcements.)

Examples

Take a good look at these following ads and try to identify:

. What is being advertised (a product, an idea, a service...)

. The target audience

. Some of the strategies used...

Advertising techniques and strategies

Advertising techniques are tools. The tools you use to attract attention, engage minds, trigger emotions, and change what people

think. All of which can lead to sales. Or votes. Or clicks.

1. Language .humour, irony, drama....persuasive features like adjectives and adverbs....usually short, simple and catchy lines. . use of a slogan that summarizes the ideal of the product/brand/company.

2. Image. use of real or created images, photos or videos.

. known characters or celebrities are also part of the ad world.

3. Sound. the power of music (known hits, soundtracks, instrumental music, or simply generated for

the campaign)

Ads’ lines, pictures and sounds linger in people’s minds long after the product they served was forgotten!

Strategy 1:Make a metaphor

Here are some clues...

Create a symbolic representation of the key idea you want to communicate by using two images or statements that are completely different, but when placed together create a new idea.

=

The sponge retains as much water as the bucket.

Strategy 2:Promise a benefit

Here are some clues

Promise consumers a compelling benefit that the product or service can deliver.

A benefit is something of value to the target audience. Ask, “what can this product or service do for me?” And the answer is a benefit.

=

If you get this showering cream, you will have firmer skin.

Strategy 3:Mention a problem

Here are some clues...

Problems. Everyone has them. And some products solve them.This is a technique to grab attention, to engage people who have the problem. Or people who want to avoid getting the problem.

Later in your ad, commercial, or mailer you’ll explain how your product solves the problem. But the focus of the ad, the concept, should be about the problem.

= If I pay too much for my insurance, that’s my problem too!

Strategy 4: Get Really Real

Here are some clues...

Show what people really think. About the opposite sex, their job, or relatives.Show how people really feel. About money, their spouse, or financial security in old age.How people really dress and act at home.Be natural and realistic in the copy or dialog you write, in the characters you cast. "Real" people are not "beautiful" people.

= These women are not models or celebrities, so the tests and

results must be trustworthy.

Strategy 5: Create a Character

Here are some clues...

Create a character that adds interest, story value or recognition to your campaign.Could be an actor playing a role. Or a cartoon character. Or a dead politician. He, she or they are all "created" characters because you define the role they play in the advertising.While a brand character must represent a characteristic or the personality of the brand. An invented character does not.These engaging, out-of-the-ordinary characters will grab attention.

= If my Office is not up to date I’m a dinosaur myself!

Strategy 6: Inject dramatic conflict

Here are some clues...

Create a campaign that uses drama to focus attention, to heighten interest in your message.

The essence of drama is conflict.

It's always nice to have a resolution to the conflict, you know, like a happy ending in the movies. But it's not necessary. Because dramatic conflict is essentially a way to engage viewers in your ad.

=A classic husband vs wife conflict may be (or not!) solved

using eachone’s expertise with word formation. The game adds fun to brains.

Strategy 7: Exaggerate

Here are some clues...

Take the basic idea you want to communicate, your concept, then exaggerate it. Take it to extremes. Push it beyond reason, beyond reality. In the copy. With visuals. Or both.

Exaggerate the benefit. Exaggerate the problem. Exaggerate size, the physical appearance.

To work with this technique, it can help to simplify your message, the main thing you want to say, into one sentence or one visual.

=

The new Pepsi cans are really tiny.

Strategy 8: Eye Candy

Here are some clues...

Create a visual so luscious, unusual and striking that it leaps off the screen to grab attention.

These ads stop and engage readers with the look of "Wow. I've never seen anything like that."

Eye candy is the visual equivalent of "Let me show you something new and interesting."

Frequently, the product is the hero in an eye candy ad. But visually rich advertisements can communicate brand characteristics as well. Including a sense of style, an appreciation for fine design, that readers or viewers can associate with.

But usually the creative and persuasive energy lies in the look, the visual. Bang, it grabs and engages eyeballs.

= These chips are anything like I’ve seen before!!

Strategy 9: Make it human

Here are some clues...

Give human characteristics to your product, or to something that represents your service.  

This technique - personification - can help you create ads that are more interesting, and relevant to viewers. More human and engaging.

You can literally turn the product into a person. Or give it human abilities, such as speech, thought or emotion.

= This ketchup is so good that even french fries run towards it!

Strategy 10: Take a position

Here are some clues...

Create a one sentence statement that positions your company, product, or service in the minds of consumers.

You might want to, first, identify a specific attribute that sets you apart.

=Real men buy this car. Those who don’t, are mere boys.

Strategy 11: Make an offer

Here are some clues...

Make the audience a compelling offer, and tell them exactly how to get it.

=

They join cookies and icecream and also allow me to save money!

Other Techniques...

Simplify Brand character That's unexpected Attack Demonstrate Famous faces Do the twist Hook New and improved Brand personality Promo partner How To Show words Say pictures Big bang That's news

Differentiate Save at the sale Go Off Screen Side by side Enter to win Make it sexy Trigger emotionTime machine Fascinating faces Shocking! Where is that? What is the story?Tales of true users Before and after Offer extras

Useful websites for further information...

http://www.adcracker.com

http://www.foothilltech.org/rgeib/english/media_literacy/advertising_techniques.htm

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advertising-techniques/

http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentProjects/00-01/9703228/project/html/advertising.htm

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