Kirsty Pitman THE ART OF PERSUASION Amediaeducation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/... · THE...
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TARGET PRACTICE Advertisers know that the same product or ad won’t appeal to everyone so they divide buyers into groups (based on age, gender, culture, occupation etc). Then, they either target their advertising towards the group most likely to purchase their product or tailor their advertising to suit each group. This is called market segmentation and the group of people an ad focuses on is known as the target audience. A car company, for example, wouldn’t waste its time advertising to 10 to 15-year-olds because they don’t have their driver’s licence. Their ads would target adults and if it was a family car (like a people mover) 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 to prompt them to nag their parents to buy a particular product. This is commonly known as pester power. Ads are everywhere — from the back of your cereal box in the morning, to the radio station you listen to in the car, the apps you play on your iPad, the TV shows you watch after school and the magazines you read in bed. In fact, the average child will see about 20,000 commercials a year on TV alone. Ads might be annoying at times but without them, most newspapers, TV stations and internet sites couldn’t afford to run. The money that companies pay to advertise their brand in different media actually helps provide the services that you want. 4 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 ED! THE WEST AUSTRALIAN THE WEST AUSTRALIAN ED! TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015 • 5 ED! • Topic: Advertising Kirsty Pitman 5 We asked these Year 6 students from Sacred Heart School in Mundaring: tell us about an ad you think is really effective or memorable. AWESOME ADS Emil Cholich has been a junior copywriter at Meerkats since graduating with a creative advertising degree 18 months ago. We asked him: What made you choose a career in advertising? I was studying graphic design mainly. I did one advertising class and realised I had more fun coming up with ideas than designing them afterwards. Who are some of the clients you’ve worked with? Mrs Mac’s, Brownes, Murdoch Uni, Lotterywest, iiNet and P&N Bank. Your company calls itself a “brand leadership” agency. What exactly does this mean? We do more than just ads. We help good businesses find their reason to exist other than making a lot of money. Then we help them with how they interact with people everywhere, like in stores or in phone apps or even how they talk to their own employees. Describe a typical workday for you. I get in at like eight, read some blogs, wheel around and distract people. I’ll have briefs to work on. A brief is like a job from clients. I’ll be writing or coming up with ideas for those briefs. Sometimes I do it at a desk or couch. Sometimes I do it at cafes or parks like a hipster. I do that till 5.30. It’s heaps of fun working on lots of different things. Which ad campaign have you most enjoyed working on so far? I’ve enjoyed doing brand ideas for the West Coast Fever netball team. And I had a great time writing a brand book for a non-profit called Befriend. What do you find most challenging about your job? Coming up with better and better ideas. But it’s also the funnest bit. If you’re not challenging yourself at work, you get bored. BRANDED AS CREATIVE Heaps of fun: Emil Cholich enjoys his job as a junior copywriter. Picture: Juliet Coghlan ROSE (10): I generally don’t see a lot of ads but one of my favourites is the Quitline ad. I know it stopped a while ago but I really like its point. I feel like people should be more aware of the harm they are doing to their bodies by smoking. REMI (11): I like the AAMI ad where the man tries to get the cat out of the tree and then the cat gets down from the tree and the man gets stuck in the tree! Then he jumps on a trampoline and flies on to the cars. It was funny. KENDAL (11): My favourite ad would be the one for the iPad Air because it has cool music. It’s like piano or something and it makes me feel happy. DAIRINE (10): I like the ad where the man is playing volleyball and he hits what he thinks is a volleyball but it turns out to be a seagull! It was advertising that the man should’ve gone to Specsavers for glasses. Pictures: Kirsty Pitman A dvertising is the practice of drawing people’s attention to a particular brand, product, service, event or issue. Its goal is to prompt a response from you, which often is buying something. However, advertising can be for many things and the response that it seeks could be to attend a festival, support a charity, wear a seatbelt or use less water. It isn’t always about buying a product. THE ART OF PERSUASION Positive influence: This ad encourages kids to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. Picture: Getty Images Attention grabber: This sign encourages people to wear a seatbelt. Picture: Getty Images WHO DUNNIT? Ads are often created by advertising agencies. The company seeking the ad is called the client. A creative team, which might consist of a copywriter and an art director reporting to a creative director, will come up with the ideas. Sometimes companies choose to create their ads themselves (in-house) rather than use an advertising agency. They may still have a full creative team but focus on promoting only their own brand. THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY Some advertisements influence us in a positive way, like if they encourage us to eat healthy foods, drink more water, keep fit, avoid smoking and drive safely. Not all ads, however, are for products that promote good health and wellbeing. Many food ads feature items that are dangerously high in fat and sugar; some ads promote products like alcohol and gambling, which can be OK in small doses but cause huge social issues when people become addicted to them. Sometimes, the product being advertised is not the problem but the nature of the ad itself. For example, consumers may find an ad offensive, deceptive, too graphic or unsuitable for children. In Australia, people can direct such complaints to the Advertising Standards Board and sometimes ads are withdrawn as a result. IN THE TOOLKIT Advertisers carefully select different techniques (tools) to persuade their target audience. Some of these include: ᔢ HUMOUR Funny ads can be highly memorable and effective, as long as the humour is appropriate for the target audience and relates to the product. Otherwise, people will remember the ad but not what it was actually promoting. ᔢ FEAR Some ads play to our fears, like the thought of being in a car crash or our lungs being filled with tar. Then the product or message — like slowing down on the roads or quitting smoking — is presented as solving the problem. This technique is usually used for adult target audiences. ᔢ ENDORSEMENT Sporting and movie stars are often paid to endorse, or support, a particular product. When we see familiar faces talking about how great a product is, we feel as if we “know” the people involved and are therefore more likely to trust what they say. ᔢ ASSOCIATION Some ads encourage us to make a mental link between what they are offering and something they know we want — like fun, popularity, love or beauty. So an ad for a children’s clothing company might show a few kids wearing trendy outfits leaping through long grass chasing butterflies. What the advertiser is trying to do is prompt us to associate its product (clothing) with the desirable things we see in the ad (fun, nature and friendship). So when we think of that particular brand, even without an ad in front of us, we might think “fun and fresh” clothing. Understanding ads makes us better consumers because we are aware of how ads are trying to persuade us and therefore less likely to simply accept what they promise. DOING THEIR HOMEWORK Companies use market research to learn more about buyers (e.g. their age, gender, level of education and income level), their shopping habits, factors which affect their purchasing decisions and their future intentions regarding buying particular products. This information can be obtained through phone surveys, questionnaires and focus groups where a small number of people are invited for a group discussion. The better a company knows its buyers — especially what they want and how they think — the more accurately it can target its future ads. Advertising research aims to test and improve the effectiveness of advertising. Pre-testing involves trying out an ad before running it to see what audience response is likely and what could be improved. This sort of research is important because companies want to make sure they don’t waste money screening or publishing ads that are not going to work. Post-testing is a check to see how effective an ad campaign has been. Do consumers remember the ad? Are they aware of the brand? Do they intend to buy the product? As with general market research, this information can be obtained through phone surveys, questionnaires and focus groups. IT COST HOW MUCH? Some of the most expensive TV advertisements have cost tens of 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 investment because the ad reportedly increased Honda’s revenue by more 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 TIPS FOR CREATING AN EFFECTIVE AD ᔢ Keep it simple. ᔢ Make it relevant to the target audience. ᔢ Tell a story. ᔢ Make it visual. ᔢ Try to evoke positive emotions. Brainstorm ideas, use persuasive language and show off your creativity as you prepare an ad for a real company. Organised by The West Australian’s Media Education and ED! sections, the Design an Ad competition is free to enter and closes on July 3. Each company will award $100 to two primary and two secondary winners, and a selection of successful ads will be published in a special edition of ED! on August 25. For more information go to education.thewest.com.au/competitions. Create an ad for a chance to win great prizes.
Transcript of Kirsty Pitman THE ART OF PERSUASION Amediaeducation.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/... · THE...
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
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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.
