Creativity in

Advertising

Role of Creativity in Advertising

Creates Top of Mind Awareness

Helps advertisers to inform
Aids in persuasion
Enhances brand image
Helps in making ads stand class apart
Develops positive attitude
Gives competitive advantage
Enhances brand loyalty

USP
Unique Selling Proposition
Unique difference or attribute of a
product that distinguishes it from
competitors.
Unique must be different from
competitors
Selling strong enough to pull customers
Proposition must provide specific benefit
to customers

 Steps to building USP:

- Decide what is unique about the brand.
- Uniqueness should provide solution to
consumers problems.
- USP should be strong enough to induce
purchase.
- Proposition must not only be unique but
also must be viewed as beneficial by
consumers.
Eg:
H&S Anti-dandruff
Dove soft skin
Olay younger looking skin

Positioning
Act of designing a companys offering and
image to occupy a distinctive place in the
mind of the target market.
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.
Positioning is a long term activity.
Position occupied has to unique and
distinct.

Positioning Strategies

Product features
Price & quality
Use
User category
Product class
Cultural symbols
Competitor
Products benefits
Corporate image
Emotions

Source in Ads
Refers to person, authority or organisation
that provides some information or
knowledge about the product that is
advertised.
Credibility of the source impacts the ad
message.

Types of Sources

Celebrities
Professionals
Research reports
Loyal customers
Radio and TV announcers
Competitive brands

Role of Source in Ads

Creates awareness
Develops attitude
Facilitates action
Counters competitors claims
Enhances brand image
Instant recall of ad

Celebrities as a Source
Celebrities endorsement is a big, growing
market in India.
Used because of the intensity of
involvement of common people with
celebrities.
Credible source of product information.
Guidelines:
- Credibility
- Broad appeal
- Personality match

Advantages of using
Celebrities

Breaks clutter
Creates brand awareness
Builds brand image
Emotional connect with customer
Creates differentiation
PR
Repositioning of brand

Disadvantages

Multiple endorsements
Public controversies
High cost
Shifting loyalty of celebrities
Gap between endorsement and usage

Styles of Presenting Ads

Two approaches to communicate
advertising objectives:
- Head Strategy: Rational appeal. Talks
about product benefits to help customer
to make a rational decision.
Eg: Cars, White goods.
- Heart Strategy: Emotional appeal.
Dramatises buying motives like love,
affection, pride, fear, etc.
Eg: Chocolates, Soft drinks, Insurance.

 Depending upon the approach used, the

advertising copy can be of 2 types:
- Hard sell copy: Emphasises on tangible
benefits.
- Soft sell copy: Subtle and ambiguous
words. Emphasises on emotions.
- Combination of Hard and Soft sell copies
to impact the target audience.

Elements of an Ad

Main headline
Sub headline
Body copy
Captions
Slogans
Taglines
Logos
Call to action
Jingles

Testing Advertising Effectiveness

Refers to the process of finding out the
effect of advertising on the target
audience.
May be undertaken at 2 stages:
- Pre-tests: To find out whether the ad
will be in a position to achieve objectives.
- Post-tests: Whether the ad has achieved
its objectives.

Purpose of Testing
Purpose of Pre-tests:
- To find out the communication effect on
TG.
- To find out technical errors in ads.
- To make ads more effective and
impressive.
- To reduce wastages in advertising.

 Purpose of Post-tests:
- To find out whether the ad has been
seen.
- To find out if the ad message has been
properly understood by the TG.
- To understand the effect of ad on buying
behaviour of consumers.
- Effectiveness of media.
- Impact of personalities and appeals.

Methods of Testing
Pre-testing methods:
1. Check list method
2. Consumer Jury method
- Order of merit
- Paired comparison
3. Sales area test
4. Inquiry test
5. Projective techniques
6. Portfolio tests
7. Mechanical laboratory tests

 Post-testing methods:
1. Recall test
2. Recognition test
3. Attitude and opinion test