Creative

Messaging
Strategies
Group-3
Aditya Das- 2014SMN6568
Ishani Das-2014SMN6587
Rajneesh Gupta-2014SMN6605

Introduction
O Creating effective advertisements is

far more than just a clever slogan.

O Process
of advertising requires
careful planning regarding all the
important facets.

Message-?
O A coherent message that will reach the

target audience and persuade the

consumer to make a decision to
purchase the product.
O Organisations and advertisers employ
different executional frameworks and
advertising appeals to reach the target
audience with a persuasive message
that contains both verbal and visual
aspects.

Factors to be considered for

Messaging Strategies
O Identification of Target Audience
O The Basic Problem Issue
O Opportunity

to

be

addressed

advertising
O Major Selling idea or Key Benefit

by

Generic Steps to Creative

Process
O Orientation- pointing out the problem
O Preparation- gathering the data
O Analysis-

collecting

the

relevant

material
O Ideation- thinking on alternative
ideas
O Incubation- putting problems aside
O Synthesis- putting relevant material,
analyzing and piecing together
O Evaluation- evaluating the resulting
ideas

Creative Brief
O Statements

about a brand that

summarizes
the
research
and
insights for the creative team.
O Also known as IMC Message Strategy
Brief, Creative Platform, Creative
Plan or Work plan, Creative Strategy
or Copy Strategy

Developing a Message
Strategy- Impact
O Determining

communication
objectives: What type of impact does
the message need to achieve?
O Cognitive: awareness, educate,
explain, brand knowledge
O Affective: image or personality,
attitudes & brand liking, desire
or need, strike emotional chord
O Behavioral:
increase
trial,
purchase, repurchasing

Developing a Message
Strategy- Customer Insight
O Customer Insight: Finding diamonds in

the data
O Below-the-surface attitudes & beliefs
that influence customers behavior.
O For example, Marlboro cigarettesInsight that young and middle-aged
men fantasize about freedom &
macho independence of cowboys. It
allowed men to escape into this
fantasy.

Developing a Message StrategySelecting a Selling Strategy

O Selecting a Selling Strategy
O Feature: attributes that give a product

a distinctive difference
O Value-pricing: offers the best quality
product you can buy for that price.
There may be better-quality products
but it would cost more. Price is fixed,
value is not. Value is a perception of
what something is worth in terms of
quality and price.

Developing a Message StrategySelling Strategy Contd.

O Unique-selling

proposition: selling
strategy based on a products most
distinctive
difference
from
competitive products; provide reason
or proof on which a claim, benefit or
proposition rests
O Generic: stresses a basic feature or
benefit of a product that is not brand
specific
O Pre-emptive: focuses on an attribute
or benefit that any other product on
the category could have claimed but
did not.

Developing a Message
Strategy- Selling Strategy
O Informational: based on going facts about
O

a brand & its attributes

Credibility:
heightens
conviction
&
decreases perception of risk; use of
endorsers, PR, testimonial
Emotional: connects with customers &
prospects at the affective level & moves
them to respond with feelings
Association: psychological connection
between a brand & its customers &
prospects
Lifestyle: Uses situations & symbols of
lifestyles that the target audience can
identify with or aspire to.

Developing a Message
Strategy- Selling Strategy
O Incentive:

Creates a sense of
immediacy & rewards customers for
responding quickly
O Reminder: Keeps a brand top-of-mind
with the target.
Used by mature
brands
with
established
brand
identity & designed to jog the
customers memory at point of
purchase.
O Interactive:
Creating
two-way
communication in order to open up
communication with customers &

Selling Strategies
Type of
Response

Message
Objective

Message
Strategy

Think

Awareness,
brand
knowledge,
understanding,
conviction

Info, generic,
pre-emptive,
credibility

Feel

Brand image &

personality,
liking, desire,
self identity

Emotion,
association,
lifestyle

Do

Buy, try,
repeat, visit,
contact

Incentive,
reminder,
interactive

The Creative ProcessExploration

O It is the formal procedure followed

for
increasing
productivity
&
innovative output by an individual or
a group
O Step 1: Exploration
O Brainstorming:

gather

to

generate

many new ideas

O Lateral thinking: bouncing from one
thought
to
another
in
free
association; look for metaphors of
what the product is like

The Creative Process- Insight

O Step 2: Insight
O Reviewing

all info, analyzing the

problem, identifying patterns and
searching for a key verbal or visual
concept to communicate what needs
to be expressed
O Patterns- Changing patterns
O Different Perspectives- Looking at
things in different perspectives
O Adaptation- change context
O Imagining- what if?

The Creative Process- Insight

Contd.
O Reversal- opposite, negative effect

(what would happen if you did not

use the product?)
O Connection- joining 2 unrelated
ideas
O Comparisonin the form of a
metaphor
O Elimination- subtract or break rules
and eliminate the irrelevant
O Parody- make fun of something

The Creative ProcessExecution and Evaluation

O Step 3: Execution
O Focus on the execution of the creative idea
O Ideas need to be sold, how well the ideas
are sold is a marketing strategy
O Step 4: Evaluation & Copy testing
O Copy testing: testing the effectiveness

of a brand message, a creative

concept, or elements such as a
headline, slogan, or visual for creative
impact and understandability

The Balancing Act

O The real art in planning for the creative IMC message

lies in the balancing of the big ideas and the selling

strategies put together.
O Whenever the creative message overpowers the
selling strategy, the message may be engraved in
the minds of the consumer however the brand may
be forgotten
O If the strategy overpowers the message, then the
message would be dull and no attention may be
given to it.
Brand Stories are achieved when they are based on the
insight into how the customer perceives and feels
about the brand.