8/29/2023

CHAPTER 3.
AUDIENCES AND
MESSAGE DESIGN
3.3. Message design & execution

COMMUNICATION BRIEF
• Communication brief is the brief received by
the Account department from the client.

• It consists general information about the

client’s brand and marketing objectives, as
well as the requirements that the agency
needs to fulfill.

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CREATIVE BRIEF
• The output of the account planner/strategists
reaches agency creative departments in the
form of a strategy statement called a creative
brief.
• The brief is a distillation of the
communication strategy, which guides the
work of those charged with the responsibility
of generating ideas.

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Creative Brief
Del Monte
► The Objective – increase awareness of the
smaller-size cans with pull-top lid.
► Target Audience – senior citizens, especially
those that live alone and suffer from arthritis.
► Message Theme – the new cans not only contain
a smaller portion but are easier to open.
► Support – 30 cent introductory coupon to
encourage usage.
► Constraints – copyright logo, toll free number,
Web site address, legal requirements of a
coupon, and what is meant by a small serving.

Del Monte
Advertisement
Based on Creative Brief in
the previous slide.

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Roles in advertising agency

• Account management
• Account planner (Planner)
• Media
• Creative
• Support and specialty areas
What does it mean to work at an Advertising Agency?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7guqCK55LM

Inside The World Of Creative Advertising Agencies (discusses the work of the creative team in producing a
digital ad): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1srBfuooE8

Account management
• Managing the relationships with portfolio of
clients.
• Managing the external affairs of the agency.
• Managing the project budget/timeline.

Intern => Executive => Manager => Director =>

General Director

Account planner/ Planning

• Develops the advertising strategy and guides its
implementation in the creative work.
• UK planner John Griffiths when it states that the
advertising planner is ‘a trained researcher who is
responsible for bringing a whole consumer perspective
to the communications process’..

J. Planner => Planner => S. Planner => Strategic Planner =>

Planning Director

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Media
• Media people are good with figures and dealing.
• Making use of data.

• Can come in many names, as well as share functions

with Digital, Social.

Intern => Executive => Manager => Director

Creative

What kind of people are needed

in a creative team?

Creative
• Copywriter: Think in words
• Art Director: Think in visual.
• Creative team consists of copywriters and art director
working together.

• Social media specialist.

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DEBATE

Is creativity a
science or art?

What is Creativity?

► Advertising is creative only if it sells the product

vs.
► The creativity of an ad is judged in terms of its artistic or
aesthetic value and originality. Creative ads can break
through the competitive clutter, grab the consumer’s
attention, and have some impact.

► Everyone involved in planning and developing an

advertising campaign must understand the importance of
balancing the “it’s not creative unless it sells” perspective
with the novelty/uniqueness and impact position.

Advertising Creativity

► The ability to generate fresh, unique, and

appropriate or relevant ideas that can be used as
solutions to communication problems.
► Two central determinants of creativity:
► Divergence: Originality, Flexibility, Elaboration,
Synthesis, Artistic value.
► Relevance: the degree to which an ad is meaningful to
the consumer and provides information or an image that
is pertinent to the brand

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Underlying all of these

messages, however, are a
creative strategy that
determines what the
advertising message will
say or communicate and
creative tactics for how the
message strategy will be
executed.

What are the attributes of

creative people?
(logically and emotionally)

THE BIG IDEA

Behind every effective advertisement is
a BIG IDEA, a creative concept that
implements the advertising strategy so
that the message is both attention-
getting and memorable.
Nothing is more efficient than creative advertising.
Creative advertising is more memorable, longer lasting,
works with less media spending, and builds a fan
community . . . faster.” - Stephan Vogel, Chief
creative officer of Ogilvy & Mather Germany.

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THE BIG IDEA

- The solution for the problem

- The theme or premise of the
campaign
- Can be expressed visually and
verbally
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yvRNp-XtCE

The Search for the Big Idea

Four best-known approaches :
•Using a unique selling proposition.
•Creating a brand image.
•Finding the inherent drama.
•Positioning.

Unique selling proposition

Rosser Reeves, former chair of the Ted Bates agency, noted three
characteristics of unique selling propositions:

1. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not just

words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising. Each
advertisement must say to each reader: “Buy this product and you will get this
benefit.”
2. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not
offer. It must be unique either in the brand or in the claim.
3. The proposition must be strong enough to move the mass millions, that is,
pull over new customers to your brand.

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Creating a Brand Image

Developing a strong, memorable

identity for the brand through
image advertising (not a
unique attribute or benefit!)

bebe uses advertising to build an image as a sexy and stylish brand

Source: bebe Stores, Inc.

Finding the Inherent Drama

advertising based on a foundation of consumer benefits with an

emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing those benefits.

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Positioning

The basic idea is that advertising is used to establish or

“position” the product or service in a particular place in
the consumer’s mind.
Positioning is done for companies as well as for
brands.

Advertising for Special K

reflects the new
positioning strategy for
the brand

Source: Kellogg Co.

CREATIVE PROCESS

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CREATIVE PROCESS
1. Immersion. Gathering raw material and information through background
research and immersing yourself in the problem.
2. Digestion. Taking the information, working it over, and wrestling with it in
the mind.
3. Incubation. Putting the problems out of your conscious mind and turning
the information over to the subconscious to do the work.
4. Illumination. The birth of an idea—the “Eureka! I have it!” phenomenon.
5. Reality or verification. Studying the idea to see if it still looks good or
solves the problem; then shaping the idea to practical usefulness.

(James Webb Young, a former creative vice president at the J. Walter

Thompson agency)

CREATIVE PROCESS
1. Immersion. Gathering raw material and information through background research and
immersing yourself in the problem.
2. Digestion. Taking the information, working it over, and wrestling with it in the mind.
3. Incubation. Putting the problems out of your conscious mind and turning the information
over to the subconscious to do the work.
4. Illumination. The birth of an idea—the “Eureka! I have it!” phenomenon.
5. Reality or verification. Studying the idea to see if it still looks good or solves the
problem; then shaping the idea to practical usefulness.

(James Webb Young, a former creative vice president at the J. Walter Thompson
agency)

MESSAGE APPEALS
• Approaches used to attract the attention of consumers and/or to
influence their feelings toward the product/ service.
• Rational appeals designed to touch the mind and create a response
based on logic.
• Emotional appeals used to create a response based on attitudes,
moods, dreams and feelings.

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Rational appeals

• Focus on the customer’s practical, functional, or

utilitarian need for the product or service and emphasize
features of a product or service and/or the benefits or
reasons for owning or using a particular brand.
• Based on hierarchy of effects model.
• Print media is well suited for rational appeals.
• Frequently used by business-to-business advertisers.
• Well suited for complex and high involvement products.

Emotional appeals
• Relate to the customers’ social and/or psychological
needs for purchasing a product or service.
• Why emotional appeals?
- Consumers ignore most ads.
- Rational ads go unnoticed.
- Emotional ads can capture attention.
• Is key to developing brand loyalty.
• B-to-B advertisements using more emotional
appeals.
• Effie Awards – humor and emotions

Fear Appeal

What level of fear is

appropriate?

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Humor
Appeal
• Used in 30% of all
advertisements.
• Excellent at capturing attention.
• Score high in recall tests.
• Should be related directly to
customer benefit.

Combining Rational &

Emotional appeals
“Few purchases of any kind are made for entirely rational reasons. Even
a purely functional product such as laundry detergent may offer what is
now called an emotional benefit—say, the satisfaction of seeing one’s
children in bright, clean clothes. In some product categories the rational
element is small. These include soft drinks, beer, cosmetics, certain
personal care products, and most old-fashioned products. And who hasn’t
experienced the surge of joy that accompanies the purchase of a new car?”
(David Ogilvy)

ADVERTISING EXECUTION

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Message Strategies
Cognitive Affective Conative

► Generic (focusing on selling the category rather than the specific brand)
► Preemptive (be the first to make a claim about product or service)
► Unique Selling Proposition (highlights something unique about your
product or brand that others do not offer)

► Hyperbole (Depicting people, products, and objects in ways that far exceed their capability)
► Comparative

An advertisement by
Bonne Bell using the
unique selling proposition.

Message Strategies
Cognitive Affective Conative

► Resonance (engaging TA by delivering advertising messages

that reflect their own interests and values)

► Emotional (make TA feel an emotional connection to the

product or brand)

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Advertisement by Cheerios
using a resonance, affective
message strategy.

Corporate Advertising

► Promotes corporate name and image

► Often uses an affective message strategy

Microsoft  “Your Potential, Our Passion”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3lHbVSL_84

GE  “Childlike imagination”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIO5ZokkGEE

Message Strategies
Cognitive Affective Conative

► Action-inducing
► Promotional support

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An advertisement by
Fisher Boy
encouraging
consumers to enter
the contest.

The Hierarchy of Effects Model, Message Strategies, and Advertising

Components

Executional Frameworks

► Straight-sell or factual message

► Authoritative
► Demonstration
► Testimonial
► Slice-of-life
► Animation
► Personality symbol
► Fantasy (Imagery)
► Dramatization
► Combinations

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Straight-sell or
factual message
► Straightforward presentation of information concerning the product
or service
► The focus of the message is the product or service and its specific
attributes and/or benefits.
► Used extensively in print ads
► Business-to-business usage
► Level of involvement

This ad for the Mach3

Sensitive razor uses a
creative straight-sell
execution
Source: Gillette by P&G

Authoritative
► Expert authority
► Scientific or survey evidence
► Independent evidence
► Business-to-business ads
► Cognitive processing
► Specialty print media

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Opti-Free promotes how it is

the number 1 doctor-
recommended brand to
support the product
performance claim

Source: Alcon, A Norvartis

Company

Spokespersons

► Celebrities
► CEOs

► Experts

► Typical

persons

Characteristics of Effective Spokespersons

Credibility

Attractiveness Likability

Trustworthiness Expertise

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Demonstration
► Shows product being used
► Business-to-business sector
► Television and Internet

Testimonials
► Business-to-business sector
► Service sector
► Enhance credibility
► Source
► Customers
► Paid actors

Slice-of-Life
► widely used advertising format, particularly for packaged-goods products
► generally based on a problem–solution approach:
► portrays a problem or conflict that consumers might face in their daily lives,
then shows how the product or service can resolve the problem.

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Slice-of-life
A business-to-business print
advertisement using a slice-of-life
executional framework.

The text asks:

“If the average single female
breaks up with 4.3 men,
avoids 237 phone calls and
ignores 79 red lights per year -
What are the chances she’ll
read your e-mail message?”

Animation

• Originally only used by firms

with a small advertising
budget.
• Cartoon animation is
especially popular for
commercials targeted at
children. (e.g., Green Giant
vegetables - the Jolly Green
Giant)

Personality Symbol

► Developing a central character or personality symbol that can deliver

the advertising message and with which the company or brand can
be identified.

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Personality
KFC has brought back Colonel
Sanders as a personality symbol

Symbol
for the brand

Source: KFC Corporation

7-
Fantasy 62
BK320 Donavan

Beyond reality
Common themes
 Sex
 Love
 Romance
 Perfume/Cologne

An advertisement by Jantzen using a

fantasy executional framework.

Drama

► The focus is on telling a short story with the product or

service as the star.
► Dramatization is somewhat akin to slice-of-life execution
in that it often relies on the problem–solution approach,
but it uses more excitement and suspense in telling the
story. The purpose of using drama is to draw the viewer
into the action it portrays.

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