Presentation and Execution of Advertisement

An advertising message can be presented or executed in numerous ways:

• Straight sell or factual message

• Scientific/technical evidence

• Demonstration

• Comparison

• Testimonial

• Slice of Life

• Animation

• Personality Symbol

• Imagery

• Dramatization

• Humor

• Combinations

1.  Straight sell or factual message

·       Relies on a straight forward presentation of information.

·       Often used with informational/rational appeals.

·       Focus of the message is the product or services and its attributes.

2.  Scientific/technical evidence

·      In a variation of the straight sell, scientific or technical evidence is presented in the advertisement.

·      Advertisers often cite technical information, results of scientific or laboratory studies to support their advertising claims.

3.  Demonstration

·       It is illustrate the key advantages of the product by showing it in actual use or in some staged situations.

·       It can be very effective in convincing consumers of a product’s utility or quality and of the benefits of owning or using the brand.

4. Comparison

This type of execution involves a direct or indirect comparison of a brand against the competition.

5.  Testimonial

Many advertisers present their marketing communication messages in the form of a testimonial whereby a person speak on behalf of the product based on his or her personal use of and/or experiences with it.

6. Slice of Life

This type of execution is often based on a problem/solution type of format. The ad attempts to portray a real-life situation involving a problem, conflict or situation consumers may face in their daily lives. The ad then focuses on showing how the advertiser’s product can resolve the problem

7.   Animation

This technique used animated characters or scenes drawn by artists or on computer.

8.  Personality Symbol

This type of execution involves the use of a central character of personality symbol to deliver the marketing communication message and with which the product can be identified. The personality symbol can take the form of a person who is used as a spokesperson, animated characters or even animals.

9. Imagery

This type of appeal is often used for image marketing communication by showing an imaginary situation or illusion involving a consumer and the product

10.                   Dramatization

This execution technique creates a suspenseful situation or scenario in the form of a short story.

Dramatizations often use the problem/solution approach as they show how the advertised brand can help resolve a problem.

11.                    Humor

Humor can be used as the basis for a marketing communication appeal. However, humor can also be used as a way of executing the message and presenting other types of marketing communication appeals.

12.                   Combinations

Many of these execution techniques can be combined in presenting a marketing communication message.

For example, slice-of-life ads are often used to demonstrate a product or make brand comparisons.

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Projective Techniques in Qualitative Research

Projective Techniques

Qualitative studies often incorporate projective techniques. Projective techniques have roots in the psycho-dynamic tradition, and work on the assumption that people cannot easily access certain mental content directly, but can express it indirectly by "projecting" their feelings and beliefs on other objects. Projective techniques are popular in marketing research, particularly brand image and attitude studies.

Trained moderators often incorporate projective techniques into their qualitative research to uncover participants’ hidden thoughts. Projective techniques originate in the field of psychology, along the lines of Rorschach ink blot and Thematic Apperception tests. Qualitative researchers have adapted these approaches for use in the market research field.

Projectives are questions or exercises designed to uncover people’s deeper feelings on a topic. They are purposely set up to ask key questions in an indirect way. They are not meant to replace top of mind responses to direct questions, but can provide insight not gleaned from traditional questioning. Projective techniques are used to obtain deep understanding of emotional needs, barriers and motivators.

To reveal a new level of insight into your participants, I’ve included three examples of projective techniques you can include in your next qualitative research study: Mindmap, Picture Sort and Deprivation.

Mindmap: 

This is a great exercise for kicking off a focus group. Each participant receives a mindmap with a word (or phrase) related to the topic in the center. Rather than asking directly what they like about a particular topic, ask participants to write down as many words and phrases as come to mind while they think about that topic. Be sure to add that this could include anything good or bad including their thoughts, feelings, senses, associations, impressions, images and preferences. This approach gathers a much broader range of responses and typically uncovers topics that would not have been discussed when just asking what they like about a particular topic.

Picture Sort:

One technique we have found to be particularly effective is a spin-off of Thematic Apperception tests. Spread pictures on the table and ask each person to select a picture that best represents how they feel about ______ (insert the topic being discussed). Each participant then shares why they chose the image and how it represents how they feel about ______. The images provided are purposely abstract and could have different meanings. For example, someone might respond, “This is a picture of a bridge to nowhere, although to me it shows optimism. I see _____ organization as one that takes on challenges and works to be creative. They can easily turn this bridge to nowhere into a great opportunity.”

Deprivation:

Another successful technique to understand how people really feel about something is to ask them to describe life without that brand, product or service. This can be as informal as asking participants to share how they might feel if they were deprived of that brand/product/service or you could ask them to write a eulogy for the particular brand, product or service. This is a fun exercise that encourages people to think outside the box,  With a little prompting, perhaps even a eulogy sentence completion form, participants are easily able to describe how they would feel and what they would miss if that brand/product/service was no longer available.

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Focus Group in Qualitative Research

Introduction

Focus groups share many common features with less structured interviews, but there is more to them than merely collecting similar data from many participants at once. A focus group is a group discussion on a particular topic organized for research purposes. This discussion is guided, monitored and recorded by a researcher (sometimes called a moderator or facilitator).

Examples. Students group, Employee group, etc.

A focus group is a common qualitative research technique used by companies for marketing purposes. A focus group is qualitative research because it asks participants for open-ended responses conveying thoughts or feelings. The other prominent research type is quantitative research. A focus group typically consists of a small number of participants, usually around six to 12, from within a company's target market. The consumers are brought together and led through discussions of important company and brand topics by a moderator.

This is more data-driven research that uses surveys or questionnaires to derive numerical-based statistics or percentages. With qualitative research, researchers seek more open and complete perspectives on the brand or product. However, more general interpretations and uses of the research are necessary, since you cannot as easily break down the research into facts.

Focus Group Features

Within a focus group, a moderator poses a series of questions intended to gain insight about the way the group views the brand, product and related images, slogans, concepts or symbols. As a representative sample of consumers targeted by the company, a focus group can offer insights consistent with those shared by the broader target market. Focus group moderators should pose questions in a way that does not lead group members to provide desired responses, but rather honest and insightful responses.

·      Benefits

A focus group is generally more useful when outcomes of research are very unpredictable and the researcher is looking for more open feedback, as opposed to comparisons of potential results as in a quantified research method. A focus group also allows consumers to express clear ideas and share feelings that do not typically come out in a quantified survey or paper test. Because of the open conversation among group members, topics and discussion are more free-flowing and members can use comments from others to stimulate recall.

·      Drawbacks

"Groupthink" is a primary concern with focus groups. When you bring a group of people together to talk about a brand, the tendency exists for influential group members to affect the expressions of others within the group. Additionally, consumers are often more reluctant to express negative ideas in a face-to-face setting than in a more indirect research format when they know the company is conducting research.

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Qualitative Research and Interview tool

Qualitative research

Qualitative research gathers rich data about experiences, motivations, beliefs and mental and social dynamics. It strives for understanding, holistic descriptions and deep insights. Unlike quantitative research, it studies relatively small samples of respondents and rarely, if ever, uses statistical methods for data analysis. Qualitative researchers use a variety of tools and methods in their research.

Role of the Researcher

The main tool of qualitative research (be it in-depth individual interviews, focus groups or observations) is the researcher. Qualitative approaches emphasize the role of the researcher; accept that all data gathering is more or less subjective and value-laden. In many ways, qualitative interviewing is a two-way process.

Interviewing Tools

Interviewing techniques that qualitative research uses often derive from clinical and diagnostic interviews in medicine or psychology. In addition to straight forward questioning, qualitative interviewers use probing, clarification requests, paraphrasing, reflection, laddering and listening techniques to explore the topic in depth.

Most qualitative interviews use a topic list, sometimes called the guide or the agenda. This might be a short overview of all issues that the researcher needs to cover or a more specific list of questions, usually open ended. In all cases, the focus is on obtaining particular information, not on asking a specific, standard question.

Depth Interview

They generally use small samples and also conduct direct one to one personal interviews. A detailed background is provided by the respondents and elaborate data concerning the respondent’s opinions, values, motivation, expression, feeling etc are obtained. Even their non-verbal expressions are observed. They take long time, therefore lengthy observations are involved.

These are conducted to customize individual responses. The questions will depend on what kinds of answers are given. Even interview climate influences the respondents. The success of interviews depends on the rapport of the interviewers established with the respondents.

Advantages of Depth Interview

1.     Lot of detail is provided.

2.     Information obtained is comparatively more accurate.

3.     Personal or intimate topic can also be discussed since the personal rapport is established between the respondent and the interviewer

Disadvantages of Depth Interview

1.     It is difficult to generalize since the interviewers are non-standardized

2.     Since the success depends on the interviewer, there are chances of bias.

3.     Data analysis takes a lot of time.

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Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research. Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured than Qualitative data collection methods. Quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

 

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Brand Image

The impression in the consumers' mind of a brand's total personality (real and imaginary qualities and shortcomings). Brand image is developed over time through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme, and is authenticated through the consumers' direct experience. 

Brand image is the current view of the customers about a brand. It can be defined as a unique bundle of associations within the minds of target customers. It signifies what the brand presently stands for. It is a set of beliefs held about a specific brand. In short, it is nothing but the consumers’ perception about the product. It is the manner in which a specific brand is positioned in the market. Brand image conveys emotional value and not just a mental image. Brand image is nothing but an organization’s character. It is an accumulation of contact and observation by people external to an organization. It should highlight an organization’s mission and vision to all. The main elements of positive brand image are- unique logo reflecting organization’s image, slogan describing organization’s business in brief and brand identifier supporting the key values.

Brand image is the overall impression in consumers’ mind that is formed from all sources. Consumers develop various associations with the brand. Based on these associations, they form brand image. An image is formed about the brand on the basis of subjective perceptions of associations bundle that the consumers have about the brand. Volvo is associated with safety. Toyota is associated with reliability.

The idea behind brand image is that the consumer is not purchasing just the product/service but also the image associated with that product/service. Brand images should be positive, unique and instant. Brand images can be strengthened using brand communications like advertising, packaging, word of mouth publicity, other promotional tools, etc.

Brand image develops and conveys the product’s character in a unique manner different from its competitor’s image. The brand image consists of various associations in consumers’ mind - attributes, benefits and attributes. Brand attributes are the functional and mental connections with the brand that the customers have. They can be specific or conceptual. Benefits are the rationale for the purchase decision. There are three types of benefits: Functional benefits - what do you do better (than others ),emotional benefits - how do you make me feel better (than others), and rational benefits/support - why do I believe you(more than others). Brand attributes are consumers overall assessment of a brand.

Brand image has not to be created, but is automatically formed. The brand image includes products' appeal, ease of use, functionality, fame, and overall value. Brand image is actually brand content. When the consumers purchase the product, they are also purchasing its image. Brand image is the objective and mental feedback of the consumers when they purchase a product. Positive brand image is exceeding the customers’ expectations. Positive brand image enhances the goodwill and brand value of an organization.

To sum up, “Brand image” is the customer’s net extract from the brand.

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Creative Styles

Types of Advertising Appeals and Execution Styles — What Sells

 Being creative requires more than being funny. Targeting consumer needs with the right advertising appeals is critical in marketing.

 In advertising, there are many choices to be made concerning the message that should be conveyed. How to convey that message needs to be strategic and well conceived. One of the most important first steps is to determine what the purpose of the campaign is and the specified target audience. By clearly knowing the purpose and the intended target audience, then creative talents can be focused on what should be the appropriate common theme and which set of advertising appeals and execution styles should be employed.

An advertising appeal is an approach that uses a type of message intended to influence the way the consumer relates to what is being sold. In order to reach the consumer, the right appeal (tactic) needs to use and that is based on objective of campaign and the type of consumer being targeted.

Emotional appeals are the most common appeals utilized by marketers. This type of appeal targets a consumer’s emotions and influence consumer engagement. Anytime a marketer can get a consumer to identify with the situation, especially through emotion, the percentage of conversion (purchase) increases dramatically.

Simply stated, the idea of using an emotional appeal is to relate to the individual’s psychological and social needs for purchasing a product or service.

Emotional appeals include:

• Personal appeal-Focused on emotions centered around the need for love, joy, self-esteem, happiness, safety, and family well-being
• Social appeal-Focused on the individual need for recognition, respect, involvement, affiliation, and status
• Fear appeal-Focused on individual needs based on fears….fear of loss of health, safety, and beauty
• Humor appeal-It is proven that “humor” sells, because of attention, association, and memory recall is improved through an engaging humorous message
• Other common types of appeals include sex appeal, music appeal, scarcity appeal, brand appeal, adventure appeal, endorsement, romance appeal and others.

The next step in using a specific appeal is to determine the executional styles for advertising.  This is critical to get correct and has to be aligned with the type of appeal.

Executional styles include: 

·       Lifestyle: One of the most successful, relevant current strategies—shows “how” the product or service will “fit” perfectly into the consumer’s lifestyle or raise their convenience or quality of life. This format can be associated with personal appeal, causing the consumer to desire the lifestyle they see others in the advertisement experiencing, because they have the product depicted. If a consumer cannot “see” and “feel” the benefit of product/service to them, the sale will not happen. Lifestyle “shows” the consumer “how” and creates an aspiration for the offering. (i.e. A beautiful set of new lawn furniture being enjoyed by a family).

·       Slice-of-Life: Another successful style, usually associated with social appeal, depicts people in a normal setting enjoying life because of a certain product or service. This style is aimed at creating an attachment to an offering through showing how “they” could enjoy a slice-of-good-life if they were to engage in the offering. (i.e. An advertisement depicting a luxurious cruise.)

·       Spokesman/Testimonial/Endorsement: Having celebrities or experts explain a product is often a way to have a consumer gain trust in a brand. However, trust has to be authentically created and not just a paid voice that is not behind the brand. Consumers today are smarter than ever and loyalty and trust cannot be bought, only earned.

·       Fantasy: Creating a fantasy around a product and what it can do for a consumer often aligns well with a social appeal-the need to identify with something bigger than oneself. (i.e. The status of having a sports car with the fantasy of a beautiful women being impressed by it.)

·       Humorous: Aligns directly with the humor appeal to engage a consumer in something that is funny and memorable. More than 30% of advertisements utilize humor for greater success.

·       Other execution styles include musical, scientific, mood/image.

Overall, being creative is very important, but before one can be creative in the right direction, the purpose of the campaign and the target audience needs to be determined. From there, an appropriate type of advertising appeal and execution style will provide creative direction. The funniest message in the world may not have the effect desired if it does not evoke the right emotional recognition of a need and appeal to the person who “sees” the advertisement.

Written by: Sabrina Pack-Professional Marketing Consultant

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Creative Strategy

Definition: 

“Creative without strategy is called art; creative with strategy is called Advertising” -  Jef I Richards

Advertising creativity is the skill of generating novel ideas that can serve as solutions to the various communication gaps. Creative strategies are developed by the creative teams of the ad agency. They determine the content of the message to be used in the advertisements by preparing a definite outline. These strategies are developed to meet the advertising goals and objectives. Broadly it should answer the four questions with regards to its target audience.

How you decide to introduce your brand to the world is one of the most important business decisions you will make. Even after a successful introduction, how you continue to present your brand’s image is an on-going effort. Developing a brand’s creative strategy requires an investment of your attention and a portion of your marketing budget.   
 
Creative strategy is the intentional and strategic approach a company takes in developing and implementing steps that will ensure and support the business’ growth.

Essentially, it is the outline or blueprint of how the end goals will ultimately be met. Your creative strategy provides the guiding principles for copywriters and art directors who are assigned to develop the advertisement. Within the context of that assignment, any ad that is then created should conform to that strategy.  A creative strategy contains moving parts. Each of these parts plays an integral role in meeting the goals that are set. The moving parts consist of detailed market research, an imaging plan, and effective strategic delivery. 

What Questions Should You Ask When Developing Your Creative Strategy?

1.     What is the story of your business?

2.     What are your primary objectives?

3.     Who is your target audience?

4.     What are your customers looking for?

5.     What calls to action will you utilize?

6.     What is the offering, what's in it for the consumer?

7.     What marketing channels will you use?

8.     What deliverables will you need?

9.     What budget can you put towards your creative strategy?

10.                        What is mandatory that need to be on your creative assets? Do you want the telephone number, email address or website address?  Sadly, this question is often missed.

11.                        What reference materials will you use to create your creative strategy?

12.                        What is your story?

When considering creative strategy, be sure to remain focused on effective communication. It can be lost in the midst of all the planning, but it is critical. The overall goal of any brand strategy is to communicate to the public effectively. What you choose to communicate is up to you and is where you get to be creative. However, making sure the public gets the message you intend can be the tricky part. 
 
Consider your long-term goals when developing your creative strategy. Pay attention to how much room you allow for growth. You do not want to box yourself into a genre or an image that is stifling. This is where market research will aid in the process. 

The above diagram depicts a general Marketing Information Flow across the advertising agency. The brand should have significant brand equity and propose a Unique selling Proposition to its customers. It should position itself in the minds of the customers as something which is unique, beneficial and has the potential to serve their needs.

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Selection of a Brand Endorser

How to select a suitable "star spokesperson"?

A star is usually the spokesperson of multiple ads or categories. Therefore, you should be cautious and try not to “busy yourself but merely benefit others” when choosing a star as your spokesperson. Then, what are the standards for selecting the right spokesperson?
Find the lux ad timeline in India

1. Compared with the popularity of the star, one thing is more important: whether the star fits the brand. A better fit can lead to better performance of the ad.

Ex. Salman Khan in Thums Up

2. In general, to be a good story, the leading role must be played by the brand, rather than the star him/herself. Instead of taking away the limelight of the brand, the star in the ad will “serve” the brand.

Mortein is gathering more importance than Madhuri Dixit

3.The popularity and recognition of a star vary with areas in India. Therefore, prior to choosing the right star, a brand needs to know how popular the star is in the target area.

Anushka Shetty in Chennai Silk Sari Ad

4. The negative news or word of mouth of the star spokesperson will directly harm the brand image. So, the reputation and image of a star is essential!

Ex. Negative words in Media through Amir Khan in Indian social issues made a negative impact on Snapdeal. At last Snapdeal had to end its contract with Amir Khan

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Advertising Copy: Rational & Emotional approach

Advertising Copy

Text of a print, radio, or television advertising message that aims at catching and holding the interest of the prospective buyer, and at persuading him or her to make a purchase all within a few short seconds. The headline of an advertising copy is said to be the most important part, and quite often a small change in its wording brings disproportionate results. Although a short advertising copy is more common in consumer-product advertising, according to the UK advertising guru David Ogilvy (1911-1999) people do read (and listen or attend to) lengthy advertisements if they are skillfully written.
Most advertising copy is based on advertising/consumer research and is composed by professional copywriters hired by advertising agencies.

Rational & Emotional approach of advertising

A rational appeal tells about the facts, figures and scientific use of the product and services.

An example of Rational advertisement

An Emotional appeal connect customer with the product with its uses, safety, etc.

An example of Emotional Advertising

A rational appeal in advertising means more emphasis is placed on providing factual information and specific details about product benefits. A household cleaning product ad might show the product in use and then offer an explanation of how it cleans twice as well as competing brands and costs less. The same product could be promoted with a more emotional appeal that emphasizes the ease of cleaning, the hassle-free experience and the environmental benefits it offers.

Data

Rational appeals tend to turn market data into a more straightforward message that appeals to the intelligent reasoning of the customer. A toothbrush ad that claims "four out of five dentists recommend" the product appeals to your ability to reason that if dentists believe in the product, so should you.

Involvement

Customers tend to put more time and effort into making informed decisions when purchases are more involving. Big ticket items, those intended for long-term use, and other products of personal importance are all more involving than routine, everyday items like shampoo and milk. A December 2010 article from marketing agency DMN3 indicated that rational appeals typically have more influence on big ticket purchases. Companies still use emotion in messages, but customers need to see more facts and sound, logical reasons to buy when they put more time into their decisions.

Why should you care about the rational or emotional appeal?

No one size fits all relates to advertising as well. At a certain level, both rational and emotional appeals are at work in advertising. However, one is dominant while the other is submissive, as even an emotional appeal requires logical reasoning and may need facts to base the campaign structure. On the other hand, if a rational appeal is at center, then these too ultimately provoke emotional reaction, as emotion plays a role in how viewer reacts to everything. The reaction further is personal as consumers have their own past experiences and thus bring their personal perceptions about products or brands.

The crux of the matter is the most effective advertisement campaigns use both emotional as well as rational appeals to persuade consumers.

Rational Appeal: What is said?

Emotional Appeal: How it is said?

Here are two examples of the most viral ads from the past which justify how marketers blend the emotional and rational part of the campaign.

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