unit

Advertising
William Bernbach (19111982), US advertising executive

Advertising isnt a science. Its persuasion, and persuasion is an art.

overview
vocabulary Advertising media and methods reading A new kind of campaign listening How advertising works language review Articles skills Starting and structuring presentations case study Alpha Advertising

starting up vocabulary
A

discuss the advertisements above. Which do you like best? Why? newspapers are one example of an advertising medium. Can you think of others? Look at these words. Label each word 1 for advertising media, 2 for methods of advertising or 3 for verbs to do with advertising.
advertorials 2 banner ads billboards (AmE)/ hoardings (BrE) cinema commercials communicate endorse exhibitions free samples Internet leaflets/flyers outdoor advertising place point-of-sale pop-ups posters press product placement radio run sponsor sponsorship target television viral advertising

advertising media and methods

44

unit 5 advertising

Which of the methods do you connect to which media?

example: television commercials

Which of the verbs you identified in exercise B combine with these nouns?
1 a campaign 2 a product 3 an advertisement 4 an event 5 a consumer 6 a message

Choose the most suitable words to complete these sentences.

1 A lot of cosmetics companies give away leaets / commercials / free samples so that
customers can try the product before they buy.

2 Advertising companies spend a lot of money on creating clever slogans / posters /

exhibitions that are short and memorable, such as the message for Nike: Just do it.

3 Celebrity exhibition / research / endorsement is a technique that is very popular in

advertising at the moment.

4 If news about a product comes to you by word of mouth / the press / the Internet,
someone tells you about it rather than you seeing an advert.

5 Many companies use post and electronic slogans / mailshots / posters because they
can target a particular group of consumers all at the same time.

give examples of:

1 any viral campaigns you have read about 2 clever slogans that you remember from advertising campaigns 3 sponsorship of any sporting or cultural events.

What makes a good tv advertisement? think about ones you have seen. use some of these words.
clever powerful interesting strange funny shocking inspiring informative eye-catching sexy original controversial

do you think that these advertising practices are acceptable? are any other types of advertisement offensive?
1 Using children in advertisements 2 Using actors who pretend to be experts 3 Using nudity in advertisements 4 Using shock tactics in advertisements 5 Promoting alcohol on TV 6 Comparing your products to your competitors products 7 An image flashed onto a screen very quickly so that people are influenced without
noticing it (subliminal advertising)

8 Exploiting peoples fears and worries

I
See the DVD-ROM for the i-Glossary.

Which of the following statements do you agree with?

1 People remember advertisements, not products. 2 Advertising has a bad influence on children. 3 Advertising tells you a lot about the culture of a particular society.

45

unit 5 advertising

reading

read the article and choose the best headline.

a) Honda predict record sales as advert breaks new ground b) Honda skydivers push limits of TV adverts c) Viewers tune out of normal TV advertising; Honda responds

a new kind of campaign

by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
In a new denition of a publicity stunt, Channel 4 and Honda have turned to a team of skydivers to tackle the problem of viewers tuning out of traditional television advertising. On Thursday night, the broadcaster was due to devote an entire 3 minute 20 second break in the middle of Come Dine With Me, its dinner party programme, to a live skydiving jump in which 19 stuntmen spelt out the carmakers brand name. Described as the rst live advertisement in modern times, the campaign is the latest attempt by advertisers and broadcasters to nd alternatives to the 30-second spot. The development of digital video recorders such as Sky+ and Tivo, which allow ads to be skipped, has forced advertising agencies and channels sales teams to collaborate on more innovative attempts to keep the viewers attention. We wanted to create something unmissable, said Andy Barnes, the broadcasters Sales Director. This concept breaks the boundaries of TV advertising, he added, highlighting a Channel 4 campaign called innovating the break. The campaign follows initiatives such as LGs Scarlet campaign, in which the television manufacturer ran advertisements appearing to trail a glamorous new television show, which turned out to be a promotion for the design features of its hot new series of screens. Thursday nights live advertisement, while designed to demonstrate the power of television advertising, was backed up by a complex multimedia and public-relations campaign. The campaigns developers including Channel 4s in-house creative team, Wieden + Kennedy, Starcom, Collective and Hicklin Slade & Partners spent more than a month pushing the Honda slogan of difcult is worth doing before Thursday nights slot. A poster campaign, a series of television teaseradvertisements and a website have been backed up by digital advertising and press coverage. All are building up to a traditional 30-second advertising campaign, starting on June 1, said Ian Armstrong, Marketing Manager of Honda UK. The 30-second ad is alive and well, Mr Barnes said, pointing to data released this week which showed that commercial television had enjoyed its best April in ve years. For Honda, however, the elements surrounding the core 30-second campaign are designed to generate the intangible buzz of word-of-mouth advertising, Mr Barnes added. Thursday nights skydive would almost certainly go on YouTube, Mr Armstrong predicted. Commercially, thats a fantastic result, as it means our marketing investment becomes more efcient because consumers are doing our marketing for us.

30

55

10

35

60

15

40

65

20

45

70

25

50

75

read the article again and answer the questions.

1 Why did Honda need a new publicity stunt with skydivers? 2 Why was the Honda advert unique? 3 Why are Sky+ and Tivo a problem for advertisers? 4 What happened in the Honda advert? 5 What happened in LGs Scarlet campaign? 6 What did the Honda campaigns developers do? 7 What different types of advertising did Honda use?

46

unit 5 advertising

Find all the word pairs in the text using the words advertisement or advertising. Match the words in bold in the word pairs (15) to their meaning (ae).
1 publicity stunt 2 design features 3 Honda slogan 4 poster campaign 5 press coverage
a) newspapers and magazines b) a short phrase that is easy to remember c) a series of actions intended to get a particular result d) an important, interesting or typical part of something e) something done to get peoples attention

Complete the text with some of the word pairs from exercises C and d.

PUBLICITY STUNT TIPS

Nothing will get your product noticed faster than a well-thought-out and well1 2 performed . First, you need to plan an . You could start with some 3 4 on radio or TV and design some large adverts for a . You need to 5 6 highlight all the key . Alert the local media and get good . Tip off the local radio or TV station that something is going to happen. When it comes to the 7 actual publicity stunt, ensure that all or logos are visible. And if you have 8 9 the money, why not try a on TV? Finally, try to get some free and hopefully end up on YouTube.

in groups, brainstorm some ideas for some live advertisements or publicity stunts.
CD1.31 WPP is a world leader in marketing communications. Mindshare is part of the group and Marco rimini is its Head of Communications Planning. Listen to the first part of the interview and complete the gaps with a maximum of three words.

listening

How advertising works

I always go back to the beginning and , what is the person whos paying for 2 3 the campaign ? What is that persons , what is it that that person 4 5 as a result of on this advertising campaign?

CD1.31 Listen again. What reasons are there for advertising, apart from selling a product?

C
Marco rimini

CD1.32 Listen to the second part. What are the four stages of a typical

advertising campaign? D
CD1.33 Listen to the final part and answer the questions.

1 What are viral campaigns? 2 Regarding the Ronaldinho viral, what did people argue about?
Watch the interview on the DVD-ROM.

in groups, tell each other about a viral campaign or advertisement that you have discussed with your friends.

47

unit 5 advertising

language review

articles

a/an

We use a or an before singular countable nouns.

a publicity stunt We use a or an to introduce new information. They are building up to a traditional 30-second advertising campaign

We often use a or an to refer to peoples jobs.

Shes an accountant

We use a before consonants and an before vowel sounds

a commercial, an advert the

We use the when we think our listener will know what we are talking about.
the Internet

We use the when it is clear from the context what particular person, thing or place is meant because it has been mentioned before.
The campaign is the latest attempt to ...

zero article We do not use an article before: uncountable nouns used in general statements. Information is power. the names of most countries, companies and people. Poland, Honda, Ian Armstrong A few countries require the: the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United States
Grammar reference page 148

Look back at the article on page 46. in paragraphs 1 and 2, why are a or an used instead of the before these words?
1 publicity stunt 2 team of skydivers 3 entire 3 minute 20 second break 4 live skydiving jump

in the first two paragraphs of the article, which specific examples of the following are referred to?
1 a problem 2 a broadcaster 3 a brand name 4 a live advertisement 5 a campaign

tick the correct sentences. add the where necessary in the other sentences. You may need to add the more than once.
1 Knowledge of advertising code of practice is vital to those wishing to work in
advertising industry.

2 We want to film a TV commercial in Russia. 3 The Think small Volkswagen Beetle advert was one of most successful advertising
campaigns of 20th century.

4 Four major brands AOL, Yahoo!, Freeserve and BT all achieve awareness of over
40% amongst UK adult population.

5 Next year, I am going to work for an advertising agency in USA.

this text is about a television advertisement. some of the articles are missing. Write in the missing articles a, an or the where appropriate.
Almost as soon as the gorilla television commercial for Dairy Milk chocolate was rst shown on 31 August, people started posting it on YouTube. People also started asking questions, like did it feature real gorilla playing drums? So what role did the extraordinary take-up of gorilla ad on Internet play in Dairy Milks success? And was success of the advert a lucky break? For like Unilever and Diageo, Cadbury has beneted from the free viral distribution of its advertising on Internet as consumers e-mail, post and create spoof versions of gorilla campaign. Gorilla commercial is most viewed advertisement so far this year on YouTube, the contentsharing website.

48

unit 5 advertising

skills

A B

What factors do you need to consider when preparing a business presentation?

CD1.34 Listen to two different openings of a presentation. What is the same/different about them? Which do you prefer? Why?

starting and structuring presentations

How many sections is the content of the presentation organised into? Look at the useful language box below and divide the phrases into two groups, F (formal) or i (informal). Compare your answers. Choose one of these presentation situations. Write and practise the opening of the presentation.
1 Your company is launching a new product. (Audience: a group of potential customers) 2 You are presenting your place of work or study. (Audience: a group of potential
customers or students)

3 Your company/organisation is introducing a new way of working. (Audience: a group

of colleagues)

CD1.35 an important part of structuring a presentation is letting the audience know what is going to happen next, or signalling. Listen to an extract from later in the presentation in exercise B and fill in the gaps.

1 where this is very important. Just to give you a specific example:

the next slide, the chart that the key age group is 18 to 25, but that this will become less, not more, important as the product matures in the market. the target markets. the final part, and the media we plan to use. Well start in , before are that firstly

2 As I say, this is reflected across all the markets. Right,

3 This will be linked to a coordinated press campaign starting in June.

we go to the storyboard:

What is the purpose of the missing expressions in each of the three extracts in exercise e?
a) to introduce a conclusion b) to change section/topic c) to refer to visuals

Firstly is an example of a sequencer. What other examples did you hear in the presentation? Prepare and deliver a three-minute presentation on your chosen topic from exercise d. try and use some signalling language.

useful language
IntroDuCInG yoursElF On behalf of Alpha Advertising, Id like to welcome you. My names Marc Hayward. Hi, everyone, Im Marc Hayward. Good to see you all. IntroDuCInG tHE topIC Im going to tell you about the ideas weve come up with for the ad campaign. This morning, Id like to outline the campaign concept weve developed for you. GIvInG A plAn oF your tAlk Ive divided my presentation into three parts. Firstly, Ill give you the background. Secondly, Ill discuss the media we plan to use. Finally, Ill talk you through the storyboard. My talk is in three parts. Ill start with the background to the campaign, move on to the media we plan to use, and finish with the storyboard for the commercial. InvItInG quEstIons If theres anything youre not clear about, feel free to stop me and ask any questions. Id be grateful if you could leave any questions to the end.

49

Alpha Advertising
A large advertising agency with a reputation for creating imaginative and effective campaigns is competing for new business.

Case study

Background
Alpha Advertising is based in Turin. It is competing for several new contracts. It has been asked to present ideas for exciting new campaigns to the management of the companies concerned. Concepts are required for the following new goods and services.

Panther Air
An on-demand jet charter service, based in Hamburg, Germany High standards of safety, quality and service Expert advice on choice of plane; competitive prices Target consumers: top business executives and VIPs Aim: To target the worlds top business people

E-Book
An electronic book recently launched slim; it can t into a pocket or handbag It has a 200-novel memory and sells at 250 euros. When turned on, it takes readers they were reading. straight to the last page the E-Book consults A next read feature: es which may be a database of related titl r. It then makes of interest to the reade wnloading or recommendations for do purchase. ed with 150 books. The E-Book is pre-load press and Aim: An international TV campaign

Rooms at competitive prices.

Safe Haven: a new group of hotels in your country

Excellent facilities: a mini-spa on every oor; free aerobic classes three times a week; musical entertainment in the loun ge every evening Hotels all in downtown areas Hotel restaurants offer a wide rang e of local dishes, prepared by well-known che fs all guests

Aim: A creative campaign to attr act more customers

A comprehensive advice service for

50

unit 5 advertising

Task

You are members of the creative team at alpha. 1 Prepare an advertising campaign for one of the products or services. use the Key questions on the right to help you. 2 Present your campaign to the management of the company concerned. When you are not presenting your campaign, play the role of the companys management. Listen and ask questions. 3 use the assessment sheet below to choose: a) the best campaign concept b) the most effective presentation.

Key questions (advertising team)

What is the campaigns key message? What special features does the product or service have? What are its USPs (Unique Selling Points)? Who is your target audience? What media will you use? Several, or just one or two? If you use: an advertisement, write the text and do rough artwork. a TV commercial, use a storyboard to illustrate your idea. a radio spot, write the script, including sound effects and music. other media, indicate what pictures, text, slogans, etc. will be used. What special promotions will you use at the start of the campaign?

Assessment sheet (managers)

give a score of 15 for each category: 5 = outstanding, 1 = needs improvement. Campaign concept Presentation

1 Will it get the target audiences attention? 2 Will it capture their imagination? 3 Does it have a clear, effective message? 4 Will it differentiate the product or service? 5 Will it persuade the target audience to buy the
product or service?

1 Was it interesting? 2 Was it clear? 3 Was it loud and clear enough? Was it varied in pitch
or monotonous?

4 Was the pace too quick, too slow or just right? 5 Was the language fluent, accurate and appropriate? 6 Did it impress you? Was there enough eye contact?
tOtaL: ___ / 30

6 Will the target audience remember the campaign?

tOtaL: ___ / 30

Writing
as the leader of one of alphas advertising teams, prepare a summary of your concept for your Managing director. the summary will be discussed at the next board meeting.

Watch the Case study commentary on the DVD-ROM.

Writing le page 131

51