Advertising “Tricks of the Trade” Entrepreneurship 12

Introduction  Advertisers use many different methods to get consumers to buy their products. Often, what they try to sell is less the product itself, and more a lifestyle or image.  Here are some advertising “tricks of the trade”

The Cool Factor/ Excitement  By associating celebrities and “ideal” people with fun, excitement and attitude, advertisers work hard to convince consumers that their product is cool

Example of The Cool Factor/ Excitement

Celebrity Endorsements  Magazine photos of musicians, models and actors to promote a product. Some people may believe that by using products like a celebrity they may in some ways be successful like the celebrity.  For Example, Jessica Simpson as a spokesperson for ProActive.

Celebrity Endorsement Queen Latifa

Dreams and Insecurities  Playing on insecurities about body image.  Ads geared to young men use rugged, independent, masculine-looking models. Ads geared toward women tend to have slim, tall women.  Also playing on things you fear may happen

Example of Dreams and Insecurities

Facts and Figures  Using statistics and “pseudo-science” to give the impression that something is safe or popular.  An example is, “Four out of five dentists…”

Example of Facts and Figures

Friends, Fun and Excitement  Images of people having lots of fun while using a certain product.  For example, images of happy smokers at parties, in restaurants and even in the great outdoors reinforce the connection between smoking and good times.

Example of Friends, Fun and Excitement

Example of Friends, Fun and Excitement

Humour  Using tongue-in-cheek humour to attract customers.  For example, because smoking is becoming less acceptable in society, humour in tobacco ads frequently pokes fun at non-smokers, or at those who feel that smoking is unhealthy.

Example of Humour

Keeping up with the Joneses  Ads that try to attract people by appealing to their desire to have what other people have.

Music  Advertisers often use catchy music in advertisements that make you associate their product with a tune or song.

Product Placement  Cigarette ads can pop up in the most unusual places, such as video games.  This is especially true of racing or driving games, where players drive by virtual “billboards” advertising cigarettes.

Example of Product Placement

Scale  Advertisers will often use tricks of scale to make their product look bigger – and hence more appealing.  This is commonly done in make-up and fragrance ads where the product is larger than it would be in real life.

Example of Scale

Slogans  Advertisers often use catch one-liners that stick in your mind the same way a song or jingle would.

Slogan Samples  “Reach out and touch someone.”AT&T  “The quicker picker-upper.”Bounty  “Have it your way.”Burger King  “Where do you want to go today?” Microsoft  “It's Miller time!”Miller  “It's everywhere you want to be.”Visa  “Drivers wanted.”Volkswagen

Analyze 5 magazine advertisements 1. What is the product being advertised? 2. What “Trick of the trade” is being used? 3. Explain how this “Trick of the Trade” is being used. 4. What demographic is targeted in the ad? (Age, sex, marital status, family size/ stage) 5. Did the ad convince you to buy this product? Why or why not? 6. What changes could be made to this ad to market to a different age group? Specify the age group. Tricks of the Trade:  The Cool Factor/ Excitement  Celebrity Endorsements  Dreams and Insecurities  Facts and Figures  Friends, Fun and Excitement  Keeping up with the Joneses