1. The Creative Side and Message Strategy
Part 4: Principles: Creativity and Breakthrough Advertising
Chapter 12
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2. Questions We’ll Answer
How do we explain the function and most important parts of a creative brief?
What are some key creative strategy approaches?
Can creative thinking be defined, and how does it lead to a Big Idea?
What characteristics do creative people have in common, and what is their typical creative process?
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3. The Art and Science of Advertising
THE TWO SIDES OF ADVERTISING
The Art and Science of Advertising
The advertisement translates the logic of planning decisions into a creative idea that is original, attention getting, and memorable.
Ads must persuade people to take action and make a relevant connection with the audience while presenting a selling idea in an unexpected way.
Effective advertising is the product of both science (persuasion) and art (creativity).
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4. THE TWO SIDES OF ADVERTISING
The Role of Creativity
Advertising creativity is a product of teamwork between copywriters, art directors, and even broadcast directors working together to generate concept, word, and picture ideas.
In advertising, creativity if both a job description and a goal.
Creativity is a special form of problem solving.
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5. What is creative strategy?
MESSAGE PLANNING
What is creative strategy?
The creative strategy phase brings together the art and science of advertising.
Ad ideas must be creative (original, different, novel, unexpected) and strategic (right for the product and target; meets advertising objectives.
Creative strategy/message strategy
What the ad says
Execution
How it is said
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6. MESSAGE PLANNING
The Creative Brief
Spells out the creative strategy and key execution details.
Prepared by the account planner to summarize the basic marketing and advertising strategy.
Provides direction to the creative team to develop a creative concept.
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7. Key Points in a Creative Brief
MESSAGE PLANNING
Key Points in a Creative Brief
Problem that can be solved by communication.
Target audience and key insights into their attitudes and behavior.
Brand position and other branding decisions, such as personality and image.
Communication objectives that specify the desired response to the message by the target audience.
Proposition or selling idea that will motivate the target to respond.
Media considerations about where and when the message should be delivered.
Creative direction that provides suggestions on how to stimulate the desired consumer response. These aren’t creative ideas but may touch on such execution or stylistic direction as the ad’s tone of voice.
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8. The Road Crew Creative Brief
MESSAGE PLANNING
The Road Crew Creative Brief
Why are we advertising at all? To create awareness for an evening alternative ride service.
What is the advertising trying to do? Make the new ride service appealing to men in order to reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes.
What are their current attitudes and perceptions? “My car is here right now. Why wait? There are few options available anyway. I want to keep the fun going all night long.”
What is the main promise we need to communicate? It’s more fun when you don’t have to worry about driving.
What is the key moment that we tie to? “Bam! The fun stops when I need to think about getting to the next bar or getting home.”
What tone of voice should we use? The brand character is rugged, cool, and genuine. We need to be a “straight shooter” buddy on the barstool next to the target. They do not want to be preached to or told what to do. We need to communicate in a language they can relate to. (Words like “program” may cause him to tune out.)
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9. Message Objectives MESSAGE PLANNING
See/hear—create attention, awareness, interest, recognition.
Feel—touch emotions and create feelings.
Think/learn—deliver information, aid understanding, create recall.
Believe—change attitudes, create conviction, and preference.
Connect—establish brand identity and associations, transform a product into a brand with distinctive personality and image.
Act—stimulate trial, purchase, repurchase or some other form of action.
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10. Road Crew Goals and Objectives
MESSAGE PLANNING
Road Crew Goals and Objectives
Goal—Reduce alcohol related crashes by 5%
Objectives
Create awareness of the ride service program and positive attitudes toward it.
Establish a cost-efficient level of rides in the first year of operations, which involved fund-raising, soliciting volunteers, and other community support.
Address the gap between awareness (don’t drink and drive), attitudes (risky, scary, potentially dangerous), and behavior.
Encourage a behavior change consistent with new attitudes and awareness..(get
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11. Targeting MESSAGE PLANNING
Target decisions are very important to message strategy.
Target audience for Road Crew Campaign
21- to 34-year old single men with a high-school education and a blue-collar jobs.
They are responsible for most alcohol-related crashes; most likely to kill or be killed.
Consumer insight
Tended to worry about driving home drunk and this worry took the edge off an otherwise delightful evening.
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12. Branding MESSAGE PLANNING
Brand positions and brand images are built through message strategies and brought to life through advertising executions.
Advertising creates brand salience.
The brand is visible, has a presence in the marketplace, consumers are aware of it, and the brand is important to its target market.
Brand icons reinforce lend personality, emotion, and stories to their brands.
Burger King’s “creepy” BK King
Geico Gecko
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13. Creative Strategy Approaches
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Creative Strategy Approaches
Head and Heart
Head: uses more rational, cognitive (thinking) objectives.
Heart: uses more emotional, affective (feeling) objectives.
Hard Sell and Soft Sell
Hard sell: uses an informational message that touches the mind and creates a response.
Soft sell: uses emotional appeals or images to create a response based on attitudes, moods, and feelings.
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14. Creative Strategy Approaches
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Creative Strategy Approaches
Frazer’s Six Creative Strategies
Six creative strategies that address various types of advertising situations; identify common approaches to advertising strategy.
Taylor’s Six-Segment Strategy Wheel
Divides strategies into the Transmission view (“head” strategies) and the Ritual view (“heart” strategies).
Each view is divided into three segments: Rational, Acute Need, and Routine on the Transmission side; and Ego, Social, and Sensory on the Ritual side.
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15. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Lectures
A series of instructions given verbally
Speaker presents evidence to persuade the audience
Lectures are inexpensive, compact, and efficient
A “talking head” delivers a lecture about a product
Dramas
Funny or serious stories about how the world works
Characters speak to each other and audience infers lessons
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16. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Selling Strategies
A selling premise uses a rational (head) approach that states the logic behind the sales offer.
An appeal uses an emotional (heart) approach to make the product attractive or interesting.
A feature or attribute has a practical effect on customers.
A claim is a product-based strategy based on how well the product will perform.
Support is the proof or substantiation needed to make a claim believable.
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17. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Rational Customer-focused Strategies
Benefit—what the product does for the user; the benefit.
Promise—what benefit the user will get in the future by using the product.
Reason—why you should buy this product; “because.”
Unique selling proposition—a benefit unique to the product and important to the user.
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18. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Message Formulas
Straightforward
Demonstration
Comparison
Problem solution /problem avoidance
Humor
Slice of life
Spokesperson
Teasers
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19. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Matching Messages to Objectives
Get attention
Create interest
Resonate
Create believability
Are remembered
Slogans
Taglines
Key visual
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20. Strategic Formats and Formulas
MESSAGE STRATEGIES
Strategic Formats and Formulas
Matching Messages to Objectives
Get attention
Create interest
Resonate
Create believability
Are remembered
Slogans
Taglines
Key visual
Touch emotions
Inform
Teach
Persuade
Create brand association
Drive action
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21. What is a creative concept?
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
What is a creative concept?
An idea—a thought or concept formed by mentally combining pieces and fragments into something meaningful.
Concepting—the process of coming up with a new advertising idea.
James Webb Young defines an idea as a new or unexpected combination of thoughts.
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22. CREATIVE CONCEPTS
Advertising Big Ideas
The point of focus for communicating the message.
A theme or central concept (creative concept).
The “Road Crew” name helped define the campaign’s big idea.
The “Beats driving” slogan supported the Big Idea and communicated a benefit.
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23. CREATIVE CONCEPTS
The ROI of Creativity
According to DDB agency, an effective ad is relevant (means something to target audience), original (novel, fresh, unexpected, unusual), and has impact (makes an impression).
An idea can be creative for you if you have never thought of it before, but to be truly creative it has to be one that no one else has thought of before.
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24. CREATIVE CONCEPTS
The Creative Leap
Divergent, right-brain thinking explores possibilities rather than using rational thinking.
“Thinking outside the box.”
Taking creative risks.
To get a creative idea, you must leap beyond the mundane language of the strategy statement and see the problem in a novel and unexpected way.
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25. Characteristics of Creative People
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
Characteristics of Creative People
Assertive, self-sufficient, persistent, self-disciplined.
High tolerance for ambiguity and powerful egos; risk takers who are internally driven.
Don’t care much about group standards and opinions; typically have inborn skepticism and strong curiosity.
Key characteristics of advertising creatives:
Problem solving
Ability to visualize
Openness to new experiences
Conceptual thinking
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26. The Creative Process CREATIVE CONCEPTS How to get an idea:
Immersion—read, research, learn about problem.
Ideation—look at the problem from every angle; generate as many ideas as possible.
Brainfog—you may hit a wall and want to quit.
Incubation—let your subconscious work on it.
Illumination—the idea often comes when you’re relaxed and doing something else.
Evaluation—Does it work? Is it on strategy?
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27. Brainstorming CREATIVE CONCEPTS
How to get an idea:
Get a group of 6–10 people together to come up with ideas.
People and ideas play off of each other and stimulate more ideas than one could alone.
Stay positive, don’t judge, don’t criticize.
No distractions or interruptions.
Write everything down.
Only after all ideas have been expressed and every avenue exhausted, you start picking through and evaluating the ideas.
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28. How to Create Original Ideas
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
How to Create Original Ideas
What If?
An unexpected association
Free association
Dramatize the obvious
Catchy phrasing
An unexpected twist
A play on words
Analogy and metaphor
Familiar and strange
A twisted cliché
Twist the obvious
To prevent unoriginal ideas, avoid “the look-alike” and the tasteless.
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29. Little Guys and Big Ideas
CREATIVE CONCEPTS
Little Guys and Big Ideas
Small, boutique agencies may be more open to risk.
Sources like Zimmerman Advertising sell stock advertising online.
A professional licensing firm, Thought Equity, recycles unused advertisements.
User-generated “citizen ads” like those found on YouTube or contributed through contests can form an entire campaign.
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30. Little Guys and Big Ideas
MANAGING CREATIVE STRATEGY
Little Guys and Big Ideas
Extension: An Idea with Legs
A strong “Big Idea” be an umbrella for a variety of executions.
Adaptation: Taking an Idea Global
Standardizing the campaign across multiple markets only works if the strategy and objectives are the same.
Creative executions may be customized due to cultural differences.
Evaluation: The Go/No Go Decision
Is it on strategy?
Structural analysis:
The power of the narrative
The strength of the product claim
How well the two are integrated
Copy Testing
A formal method to evaluate effectiveness.
Vampire creativity — so creative the product may not be remembered.
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Publishing as Prentice Hall
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