6/13/2022

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Learning Objectives

LO1 Describe the role of creative strategy in advertising.

LO2 Identify inputs to the creative process.

LO3 Describe the development of creative strategy.

Chapter 8 LO4 Examine approaches to developing the major selling
Creative Strategy: Planning and Development ideas that are used as the basis for an advertising
campaign.

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No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill. © McGraw Hill 2

The Advertising Message Exhibit 8-1

Creative Strategy
• Determines what the advertising message will say or communicate.

• Creative tactics:

• Determine how the message strategy will be executed.

• Big idea: central theme of campaign.

Source: Initiative

Advertising can be used to create images or associations and position a brand in

the consumer’s mind. Many consumers who have never driven in a BMW
perceive it as “the ultimate driving machine,” or as this ad states “joy is the all.”

© McGraw Hill 3 © McGraw Hill 4

The Importance of Creativity in Advertising Advertising Creativity 1

Creative Ads Different Perspectives on Advertising Creativity

• Good creative strategy and execution can determine success of • Managers’ perspective:
product or service.
• Advertising is creative only if it sells the product.
• Does not always increase sales.
• Ads are promotional tools used to communicate favorable impressions to
• Debate over advertising awards. the marketplace.

• Risk-averse and want more conservative ads.

• Creative people’s perspective:

• Ad creativity in its artistic value and originality.

• Ads are communication vehicles for promoting their own aesthetic

viewpoints and personal career objectives.

• Maximize impact of message.

LO8-1

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Advertising Creativity 2 Advertising Creativity 3

Determinants of Creativity Determinants of Creativity continued

• Advertising creativity: • Divergence:

• Ability to generate fresh, unique, and appropriate ideas that can be used • Extent to which ad contains elements that are novel, different, or unusual.
as solutions to communication problems. • Achieved through:
• Two central determinants: • Originality.

• Divergence. • Flexibility.

• Relevance. • Elaboration.

• Synthesis.

• Artistic value. Source: KFC Corporation

This ad for KFC Hot and Spicy chicken uses

divergence based on originality and artistic value.

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Advertising Creativity 4 Advertising Creativity 5

Determinants of Creativity continued Determinants of Creativity continued

• Relevance: • Studies of advertising creativity:
• Degree to which elements of ad are meaningful, useful, or valuable to • Does impact consumers’ responses across various stages of response
consumer. hierarchy.

• Achieved through: • Draws more attention to advertised brand, higher levels of recall, greater
motivation to process the information, and deeper levels of processing.
• Ad-to-consumer relevance—Ad contains execution elements that are
meaningful to consumers. • Divergence achieved through novelty/originality and/or elaboration is
particularly important.
• Brand-to-consumer relevance—Advertised brand of product or service
is of personal interest to consumers.

© McGraw Hill 9 © McGraw Hill 10

Figure 8-1 Impact of Combinations of Creative Elements

Planning Creative Strategy 1
on Sales

% Relative Effectiveness The Creative Challenge

What Creativity (Sales Uplift of Pairing
Combinations Work Best? Relative to Average • Must transform advertising message into engaging and memorable ad.
Effectiveness)
Originality + Elaboration More effective +96 • Every marketing situation is different, and each campaign or
Originality + Artistic value +89 advertisement requires a different creative approach.
Elaboration + Artistic value +28
Originality + Synthesis +1
Originality + Flexibility −1
Synthesis + Elaboration −5
Flexibility + Synthesis −20
Synthesis + Artistic value −29
Flexibility + Elaboration −59
Flexibility + Artistic value Less effective −99

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Planning Creative Strategy 2 Planning Creative Strategy 3

Taking Creative Risks The Perpetual Debate: Creative versus Hard-Sell Advertising
• Essential for creating breakthrough advertisements that get noticed. • Suits or rationalists:
• Advertising must sell the product or service.

• Poets:
• Advertising must build emotional bond between consumers and brands or
companies.

Nike’s willingness to
allow their ad agency,
Wieden+Kennedy, to
take creative risks has
paid off in powerful and
effective advertisements
like this one.

© McGraw Hill Source: NIKE Inc. 13 © McGraw Hill 14

Planning Creative Strategy 4 The Creative Process 1

Creative Personnel Young’s Model of the Creative Process

• Background in nonbusiness areas. • Immersion: Gathering raw material and data; immersing oneself in the
problem.
• More abstract and less structured, organized, or conventional.
• Digestion: Analyzing the information.
• Everyone involved in IMC must seek creative solutions.
• Incubation: Letting subconscious do the work.
• Clients should not inhibit creative process. • Illumination: Birth of an idea.
• Reality or verification: Studying the idea and reshaping it for practical
usefulness.

LO8-2

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The Creative Process 2 The Creative Process 3

Wallas’s Model of the Creative Process Account Planning

• Preparation: Gathering background information needed to solve • Conducting research and gathering relevant information about the
problem through research and study. client’s:
• Incubation: Letting ideas develop. • Product/service and brand.

• Illumination: Finding the solution. • Consumers in target audience.

• Verification: Refining idea and analyzing whether it is an appropriate • Account planners:

solution. • Provide decision makers with information required to make an intelligent
decision.

• Responsible for research conducted during the creative strategy

development process.

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The Creative Process 4 The Creative Process 5

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation, Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,
Illumination Illumination continued
• Background research. • Background research. continued

• Fact-finding techniques: • General preplanning input:

• Gather and organize information on product, market, and competition.

• Read everything related to the product or market.
• Analyze trends, developments, and happenings in the marketplace.
• Ask everyone involved with the product for information.

• Listen to what people are talking about, particularly the client.

• Use the product or service and become familiar with it.

• Learn about client’s business.

© McGraw Hill 19 © McGraw Hill 20

The Creative Process 6 The Creative Process 7

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation, Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,
Illumination continued Illumination continued
• Product- or service-specific research. • Product- or service-specific research. continued
• Gathering information through studies conducted by client on product or • Branding research:
service and target audience.
• Helps gain better insight into consumers and develop more effective
• Problem detection: campaigns.

• Asking consumers familiar with product to list aspects they do not like. • Y&R Group’s BrandAsset Valuator (BAV™).

• Provides:
• Input for product improvements or new product development.
• Ideas regarding which features to emphasize.
• Guidelines for positioning brands.

© McGraw Hill 21 © McGraw Hill 22

Exhibit 8-7 The Creative Process 8

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input.
• Provides valuable insight at early stages of creative process.

• Focus groups: Consumers from target market are led through a

discussion regarding a topic.

• Give a better idea of:

• Who target audience is.

Source: BAV Group, Inc.

• What audience is like.
• Who creatives need to write, design, or direct to.
Y&R Group’s proprietary tool the BrandAsset Valuator (BAV™) uses four pillars:
energized differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. These pillars • Which creative approach to use.
identify core issues for the brand and evaluate current and future financial • Critics believe testing can weaken creative execution.
performance and potential.

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Exhibit 8-9 The Creative Process 9

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
The Aflac duck did not test • Qualitative research input. continued
well in focus groups, but
• Ethnographic research: Observing consumers in their natural
the company continued environment.
anyway. This creative
• Expensive to conduct and difficult to administer.
award-winning campaign
has been very successful
for Aflac.

© McGraw Hill Source: Aflac Incorporated 25 © McGraw Hill 26

The Creative Process 10 The Creative Process 11

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation, Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision
Illumination continued • Process:
• Qualitative research input. continued • Evaluate ideas.
• The Advertising Research Foundation initiated the David Ogilvy Awards. • Reject the inappropriate ideas.
• Refine the remaining ideas.
• Give ideas final expression.

• Techniques:
• Directed focus groups.
The Cleaner of Your Dreams
• Message communication studies.
campaign for Mr. Clean won
the Grand Ogilvy Award for an • Portfolio tests.
IMC campaign based on
consumer research. • Evaluation measures, such as viewer reaction profiles.

© McGraw Hill Source: Procter & Gamble 27 © McGraw Hill 28

The Creative Process 12 Creative Strategy Development 1

Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision continued Advertising Campaigns

• Storyboard: Series of drawings that present a proposed commercial’s • Set of interrelated, coordinated marketing communications activities
visual layout. that center on a single theme or idea.
• Animatic: Videotape of storyboard along with audio soundtrack. • Appear in different media across specified time period.

• Campaign theme:
• Central message communicated in all advertising and promotional
activities.

• Expressed through a slogan or tagline.

• Summation line that briefly expresses company or brand’s positioning

and the message it is trying to deliver to target audience.

LO8-3

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Creative Strategy Development 2 Figure 8-2 Examples of Effective Advertising Slogans

Advertising Campaigns continued

Company or Brand Slogan
• Slogans:
1. Nike Just do it.
• Should be simple, catchy, and predictable.
2. Home Depot More saving. More doing.
• Should connect with consumers emotionally. 3. Gillette The Best a Man Can Get
• Many companies not using them. 4. McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It!
5. Chipotle Food With Integrity
• Campaign themes:
6. Walmart Save Money. Live Better.
• Attempt to develop campaign themes that last many years.
7. Bounty The Quicker Picker-Upper
• Guided by specific goals and objectives. 8. Gatorade Win From Within
• Creative strategy statement outlined in copy or creative platform. 9. Under Armour Protect This House. I Will.
10. Dunkin America Runs on Dunkin

© McGraw Hill 31 © McGraw Hill 32

Creative Strategy Development 3 Figure 8-3 Key Elements of a Creative Brief

Creative Brief
• Document that specifies key elements of the creative strategy and 1. Basic problem or issue the communication must address or solve.
serves as basis for communication between client and advertising 2. Communication objectives.
agency.
3. Target audience.
• Association of National Advertisers (ANA) provides guidelines for 4. Insights to drive creative work.
developing effective briefs. 5. Key benefits or major selling idea to communicate.
• Two-step process: Client creates assignment brief and then ad agency 6. Reason to believe/supporting information.
develops creative brief.
7. Tone and manner/brand personality.
• One collaborative brief: Client takes lead and develops brief with ad 8. Deliverables (what is needed and when).
agency.
9. Measures of success (should be tied back to objectives).
• Often gaps in information.

© McGraw Hill 33 © McGraw Hill 34

Creative Strategy Development 4 Creative Strategy Development 5

The Search for the Major Selling Idea Developing the Major Selling Idea
• Major selling idea: Strongest singular thing company can say about • Most creative ideas try to dramatically and effectively convey the key
its product or service. benefit claim.
• Has the broadest and most meaningful appeal to target audience. • Approaches:
• Basis of many creative, successful advertising campaigns.
• Using a unique selling proposition.

• Creating a brand image.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like • Finding the inherent drama.
campaign for Old Spice is one of the
best campaigns of the new millennium. • Positioning.
What is Old Spice's major selling idea
in this campaign?
Source: Old Spice by Procter & Gamble

LO8-4

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Creative Strategy Development 6 Creative Strategy Development 7

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued Developing the Major Selling Idea
continued
• Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
• Creating a brand image:
• Benefit:
• Image advertising: Strategy used to
• Buy product/service and you get this benefit. develop strong, memorable identity for a
• Unique: brand.

• Proposition must be unique to brand or claim; rivals can't or don't offer • To be successful:
it. • Associate brand with symbols or
• Potent: artifacts that have cultural meaning.

• Promise must be strong enough to move mass millions. • Use visual appeals that convey
psychosocial associations and feelings. Source: Bebe Stores, Inc.

bebe uses advertising to build an

image as a sexy and stylish brand.

© McGraw Hill 37 © McGraw Hill 38

Creative Strategy Development 8 Creative Strategy Development 9

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued Developing the Major Selling Idea continued
• Finding the inherent drama. • Positioning:
• Characteristic of a product that makes consumers purchase it. • Establishes product or service in a particular place in consumer’s mind.

• Advertising should: • Done on basis of distinctive attributes.

• Be based on foundation of consumer benefits. • Basis of firm’s creative strategy when it has multiple brands competing in
same market.
• Emphasize the dramatic element in expressing those benefits.

Advertising for Hallmark such as the Kellogg has repositioned

“Put Your Heart to Paper” campaign Special K cereal using the
often uses inherent drama. “Power of You” campaign.

© McGraw Hill Source: Hallmark Licensing, LLC 39 © McGraw Hill Source: Kellogg Co. 40

Creative Strategy Development 10

Contemporary Approaches to the Big Idea

• Many creative styles and strategies are available.
• Big ideas must:
• Capture consumer attention.

• Be adaptable to be used across various media.

• Engage consumers and enter into a dialogue with them. Because learning changes everything. ®

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© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
© McGraw Hill 41 No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.