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CHAPTER TWELVE
CREATIVE STRATEGY AND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
OBJECTIVES
To show how advertising strategies are translated into creative briefs and message strategies that
guide the creative process. The chapter examines the characteristics of great advertising, styles of
thinking, the nature of creativity, its importance in advertising, and the role of the agency creative
team. We discuss how research serves as the foundation for creative development and planning,
and we review common problems and pitfalls faced by members of the creative team. (p. 370)
After studying this chapter, your students will be able to:
1. Discuss the meaning and the importance of creativity.
2. Identify the members of the creative team and their primary responsibilities.
3. Tell how to differentiate great advertising from the ordinary.
4. Explain the role of the creative brief and its affect on the artistic expression in an ad or
commercial.
5. List the principal elements that should be included in a creative brief.
6. Explain the purpose of the message strategy and how it differs from the creative strategy.
7. Define the four roles people play at different stages of the creative process.
8. List several techniques creatives can use to enhance their productivity.
TEACHING TIPS AND STRATEGIES
This chapter introduces students to the creative process. Students are amazed when I
explain to them that a 30-second commercial can take days to shoot in some cases.
When I would finally have a client ready to create local advertising, the next step (most
important in my opinion) was to contact the creative team. At this point, the creative
team would meet with the client and try to create advertisements that meet the philosophy
of the business. On paper that is….
I found working with creative people to be fun (they are some of the nicest people you
could ever meet). The problem was getting them to deliver the message the client was
trying to deliver. Many times, I had to intervene in a polite way when the creative ideas
were veering off course.
Creative people get awards for great advertising, yet that does not mean the ad was
effective. I was always concerned with the ad being effective and bringing the client
more sales/awareness. Our creative department was interested in developing wonderful
beautiful ads that had the latest flair etc. Do you see the problem? I am not advocating
that creative ads do not sell, they do. My problem with the local advertising was
sometimes our producers/clients would get too involved into the process of creating the
ad and not the message.
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On page, 398-401 is the portfolio review, which shows award-winning ads. Have
students decide which of the ads are informational or transformational. Then most
importantly, do the students feel the ad was effective, why or why not?
LECTURE OUTLINE
Introduction (pp. 370-371) — VitroRobertson, a team with incredible creative synergy,
creates and develops the "Big Idea" for improving Taylor Guitar's name awareness.
II. The Creative Team: The Authors and Encoders of Advertising (p. 373)
As discussed in Chapter 1, the source in the marketing communications process is
multidimensional (sponsor, author, and persona). In advertising, the encoding of
messages — the conversion of mental concepts into symbols — is the responsibility of
the creative team. While the client is the sponsor of the advertising, the creative team is
the author. All of the following members of the creative team play an important role:
A. Copywriter develops the verbal message — the copy (words) within the ad spoken
by the imaginary persona.
B. Art director is responsible for the nonverbal aspect of the message — the design —
that determines the visual look and intuitive feel of the ad.
C. Creative director (often a former copywriter) who is ultimately responsible for the
creative product — the form the final ad takes.
D. Creatives — the group of people who work in the creative department, regardless of
specialty.
III. What Makes Great Advertising? (p. 373)
A12-1 a brick ad uses The Great Wall of China to leave the audience with a lasting
impression (p. 373)
We often see ads we like, and “ad liking" is important to an ad's success, but when is an
ad great? If we were to examine many great ads, we would find two dimensions of ad
greatness: audience resonance and strategic relevance.
A. The Resonance Dimension (p. 374). To resonate means to echo, reverberate, or
vibrate.
Example: Taylor Guitar ad achieves the “boom factor” creating a lasting impression
(p. 374)
1. Resonance within an audience is created with a boom factor (like a cannon's
boom) that gets the audience's attention and captures its imagination.
2. Informational and transformational ads can create resonance. As discussed in
Chapter 5, negatively originated motives (i.e., problem avoidance or removal) are
often handled with informational ads. Positively originated motives (i.e., sensory
gratification, intellectual stimulation, or social approval) are resolved with
transformational advertising using positive reinforcement.
3. Most ads fail to resonate with audiences because of poor execution.
Example: California Dept. of Health uses negatively originated motives (p. 375)
B. The Relevance Dimension (p. 375)
How well the message strategy relates to the audience's needs and wants.
1. Ad must be relevant to sponsor's strategy or it will fail.
2. Even if it resonates with the audience, it may not be great advertising.
I.
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IV.
IV.
Formulating Advertising Strategy: The Key to Great Creative (p. 374). While the text
and the visual carry the ad message, behind the creative team's choice of tone, words,
and ideas lies an advertising strategy.
The advertising strategy consists of four elements: the target audience; product
concept; communications media; and the advertising message.
The agency and client team must understand and agree to these four elements of the
advertising strategy before any creative work begins. The account management group
develops ad strategy, while, in some agencies, account planners research the market
with input from account management. When the strategy is developed, it is
communicated to the creative department by preparing the creative brief.
A. Writing the Creative Brief (Copy Platform) (p. 376).
The creative brief serves as the creative team's guide for writing and producing the
ad. In some agencies, it may be referred to as a copy platform, a work plan, or a copy
(or creative) strategy. In all cases, it is a simple written statement of the most
important issues to consider in the development of the ad or campaign — the who
(prospect's nature), why (wants or needs by which to base an appeal: rational
appeals directed towards functional needs and wants, and emotional appeals target
psychological, social, or symbolic needs), what (product features, claim, or position),
where and when (medium, time of year, country, etc.), and what style (tone,
approach).
Exhibit 12-1 Selected advertising appeals (p. 377)
A12-1 (p. 377)
1. How the benefits are presented is the creative team's job:
a. Objective statement: what advertising is to ac-accomplish (such as solve a
problem, etc.).
b. Support statement: evidence that backs up product promise or reason for
benefit.
c. Tone or brand character statement: Tone statements are short-term emotional
descriptions. Brand character statements are long-term descriptions of the
enduring values of the brand.
2. Delivery of the creative brief ends development of the advertising strategy and
marks the beginning in which the creative team develops a message strategy.
B. Elements of Message Strategy (p. 376)
The message strategy (or rationale) is a simple description and explanation of an ad
campaign's overall creative approach — what the advertising says, how it says it, and
why. The creative team develops the message strategy. The message strategy has
three components:
1. Verbal — guidelines for what the ad should say.
2. Nonverbal — overall nature of the ad’s graphics
3. Technical — Execution approach, mechanical outcome (budgeting &
scheduling), mandatories (addresses, logos, slogans, etc.)
Example: Samsonite advertisement uses a nonverbal message (p. 378)
Example: Nike Ad to appeal to Chilean audiences during the 1998 World Cup
(p 379)
How Creativity Enhances Advertising (p. 379)
A. What is Creativity? (p. 379). To create means to originate, to conceive a thing or
idea that did not exist before. Typically, creativity involves combining two or more
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previously unconnected objects or ideas into something new. The creative process is
a systematic procedure that can be learned and used to generate original ideas.
B. The Role of Creativity in Advertising (p. 380).
Creativity is vital to advertising's basic mission of information, persuading, and
reminding.
1. Creativity Helps Advertising Inform (p. 380)
Good creative work adds vividness, which researchers believe, attracts attention,
maintains interest, and stimulates consumer's thinking. Advertising writers and
artists must arrange visual and verbal message components according to a genre
of social meaning so that readers or viewers can easily interpret an ad using
commonly accepted symbols.
2. Creativity Helps Advertising Persuade (p. 380) Advertising has been used to
create myths and heroes to motivate customers (Jolly Green Giant, Energizer
Bunny) and helps position a product on the top rung of consumers’ mental
ladders. To be persuasive, an ad's verbal message must be enhanced and
reinforced by the creative use of nonverbal message elements.
3. Creativity Helps Advertising Remind (p. 380)
We are entertained daily by creative ads — for soft drinks, snacks, and cereals —
whose primary mission is simply to remind us to indulge again. Innovation is
needed to keep the message interesting year after year.
Ad Lab 12-A “The Psychological Impact of Color” (p. 381)
4. Creativity Puts the "Boom" in Advertising (p. 381) Great advertising works much
like a great joke. It takes an everyday situation, looks at it creatively, adds
exaggeration, and then delivers it as a surprise.
C. Understanding Creative Thinking (p. 382).
Some people exhibit more of it than others do, but creativity lives within all of us.
1. Styles of Thinking (p. 382). Around 1900, the German sociologist Max Weber
determined that people think in two ways: objectively versus qualitatively. By
the 1950s the focus was on narrowing and expanding one's ideas (also,
convergent versus divergent thinking). In the '70s, it was left brain versus right
brain thinking. In addition, in the '80s, five styles of thinking were defined (two
fit Max Weber's fact-based, two his value-based and one was in the middle). Van
Oech defined thinking as hard versus soft thinking. Another model names four
kinds of personality and relationship behaviors (the relater, the socializer, the
director and the thinker).
2. Fact-Based Versus Value-Based Thinking (p. 383). People whose preferred style
of thinking is fact-based tend to be uncomfortable with ambiguity, and fragment
concepts into components and analyze situations to discover the one best
solution. They tend to be linear thinkers and prefer facts and figures. In contrast,
value-based thinkers make decisions based on intuition, values, and ethical
judgments. They are good at embracing change and using their imagination.
3. How Styles of Thinking Affect Creativity (p. 383).
The creative team needs to understand the overall style of thinking used by the
campaign's target audience so that it can shape an appealing and effective
advertising message. In most computer market segments, for example,
customers tend toward a fact-based style of thinking more than value-based. In
addition, that dictates which approach to use.
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V. The Creative Process (p. 383)
This is the systematic procedure used to discover original ideas and reorganize existing
concepts in new ways. Over the years, many notions of the creative process have been
proposed. Any of these models can be effective depending on your style of thinking.
The new generation of advertising creatives will face a world of ever-growing
complexity. They must handle the many challenges of IMC as they help their clients
build relationships with highly fragmented target markets.
Hence, we use the 1986 model designed by Roger von Oech's four-step model, a model
used by Fortune 500 companies today:
1. The Explorer searches for new information, paying attention to unusual patterns.
2. The Artist experiments and plays with a variety of approaches, looking for an
original idea.
3. The Judge evaluates the results of experimentation and decides which approach
is most practical.
4. The Warrior overcomes excuses, idea killer, setbacks, and obstacles to bring a
creative concept to realization.
VI. The Explorer Role: Gathering Information (p. 384).
Copywriters and art directors thrive on the challenge of creating advertising messages —
the encoding process. First, they need the raw materials for ideas: facts, experiences,
history, knowledge, feelings. That is the role of the Explorer.
RL 12-1 “Checklist of Product Marketing Facts for Creatives” (Website)
A. Develop an Insight Outlook (p. 385)
In advertising, the Explorer gets off the beaten path to look in new and uncommon
places for information — to discover new ideas and to identify unusual patterns. An
"insight outlook" is a positive belief that good information is available and that you
have the skills to find and use it.
B. Know the Objective (p. 385)
If people know what they are looking for, they have a better chance of finding it;
thus, "a problem well-stated is a problem half solved" (philosopher John Dewey)
means that a well-stated objective is half the battle, giving definition to the objective.
To get their creative juices flowing, most copywriters and art directors maintain an
extensive library of advertising award books and trade magazines. Many also keep a
tickler (or swipe) file of ads they like that might give them direction.
C. Brainstorm (p. 385). A process developed by Alex Osborn of BBDO in which two
or more people get together to generate new ideas. A brainstorming session is often a
source of sudden inspirations. To succeed, it must follow a couple of rules: all ideas
are above criticism (no idea is "wrong"), and all ideas are written down for later
review. The goal is "free association," which allows each idea to stimulate another.
Van Oech suggests: leave your own turf; shift your focus; do not overlook the
obvious; stray; write ideas down before they are lost.
VII. The Artist's Role: Developing and Implementing the Big Idea (p. 385). For creative
people, the artist is both the toughest and the most rewarding role to play.
A. Task 1: Developing the Big Idea
It is the long, tedious, difficult task of reviewing all the pertinent information
gathered by the Explorer, analyzing the problem and searching for a key verbal or
visual concept to communicate what needs to be said. It means creating a mental
picture of the ad (visualization or conceptualization) before any copy is written or
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artwork begun. The resulting concept is often called the big idea. The big idea is a
bold, creative initiative that builds on strategy, joins the product benefit with
consumer desire in a fresh and involving way, brings the subject to life, and makes
the reader or the audience stop, look, and listen. The big idea requires inspiration and
gives life to an idea while a strategy requires deduction and only describes the
direction of a message.
1. Transforming Concepts: Do Something To It (p. 386). A good artist has many
strategies for transforming things. Von Oech suggests several simple techniques
for manipulating ideas:
a. Adapt — change contexts.
b. Imagine — ask what if? Be zany.
c. Reverse — look at it backward.
d. Connect — join two unrelated ideas together.
e. Compare — use one idea to describe another.
f. Eliminate — subtract something.
g. Parody — fool around; have some fun.
A12-3 Ad for David T. Smith furniture Co. uses connection and humor to
deliver the message. (p.387)
A12-4 Ad for Taylor Guitar transforms the ideas of trees into lifelike
creatures (p. 388)
2. Blocks to Creativity (p. 388)
Everybody experiences a time when the creative juices just will not flow.
a. There are many causes: information overload (fact-base frame of mind),
mental or physical fatigue, stress, fear, insecurity, or using the wrong style of
thinking.
b. Van Oech suggests techniques to improve integrative thinking: seek crossfertilization, slay a sacred cow, imagine how others would do it, laugh at it,
and reverse your viewpoint.
c. Creative ideas are why clients seek agencies. Thinking like the client leads
to blocks (particularly with fact-based clients), leading to resignations over
"creative differences.” Creative fatigue sometimes happens when an agency
has served an account for a long time and all the fresh ideas have been
worked and reworked, especially after a client has rejected a series of ideas.
If this becomes chronic, the only solution may be to appoint an entirely new
creative team or resign the account.
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A12-5 Volkswagen Ad (p. 389)
Ethical Issue “Does Sex Appeal?” (pp. 390, 391)
3. Incubating Concepts: Do Nothing to It (p. 390)
When the brain is overloaded with information about a problem, creatives
sometimes find it's best to just walk away from it for a while, do something else,
and let the unconscious mind mull it over. Upon returning to the task, the
creatives discover a completely new set of assumptions.
B. Task 2: Implement The Big Idea (p. 390)
Once the creatives latch onto the big idea, they have to focus on how to implement it.
1. The real art of advertising is to translate the idea into a tangible ad.
2. Writing the exact words.
3. Designing the precise layout, the "art" of advertising. Art direction — the act or
process of managing the visual presentation of the ad. The term art actually
refers to the whole presentation — visual, verbal, and aural — of the commercial
or advertisement.
C. The Creative Pyramid: A Guide to Formulating Copy and Art (p. 392) – The creative
pyramid uses a five-step structure similar to the advertising pyramid to help the
creative team convert the advertising strategy and the big idea into the actual physical
ad or commercial. Based on the cognitive theory of how people learn new
information (discussed in Chapter 4), it serves as a guide for creatives to shape the
message.
12-2 The creative pyramid (p. 392)
A12-6 (p. 392),
A12-7 The ad for K2
skis exemplifies the 5 steps of the creative pyramid (p. 393)
1. Attention (p. 392). The purpose of advertising copy and design is to persuade or
remind prospective customers to take some action to satisfy a need or want. First
they need to be made aware of the problem or, if the problem is obvious, a
solution. The first objective of any ad, therefore, is to break through consumers'
physiological screens to create attention that leads to perception. "Attention" is
the first objective, a fundamental building block in the creative pyramid, and
triggers the ad's boom factor.
a. In print, headlines in bold type create the focus of attention.
b. In electronic media, special sound effects, music, animation, or unusual
visual techniques are used.
c. The attention-getting device should create drama, power, impact, and
intensity, express the big idea, and it must be appropriate — relate to the
product, to the tone of the ad, and to the needs or interests of the intended
audience.
2. Interest (p. 392) — extremely important — carries the prospective customer, now
paying attention, to the body of the ad and into the text.
a. To maintain audience interest, this step must answer the headline or add
interesting facts.
b. The tone and language should be compatible with the target market's attitude.
c. The interest step must break through the consumers' psychological screens
and create "resonance.” One way is to talk about consumers' problems, their
needs. There are many effective ways to stimulate interest: a dramatic
situation, a story, cartoons, or charts.
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d. In radio, copywriters use sound effects or catchy dialog. Television
frequently uses quick cuts to maintain interest.
3. Credibility (p. 393) — counters audience skepticism about the product or service.
a. Claims must be backed up by facts.
b. Well-known presenters lend credibility.
c. Advertisers often show independent test results to substantiate product
claims. To work, such "proofs" must be valid, not just statistical
manipulation.
4. Desire (p. 394) — the writer invites prospects to visualize themselves enjoying
the benefits of the product or service using phrases like "picture yourself" or
"imagine."
a. The desire step hints at the possibilities and lets the consumer's mind take
over.
b. The desire step is one of the most difficult to write — and that may be why
some copywriters omit it.
c. In broadcast media, TV characters may hold up the product and say "yeah!"
or, in radio, the announcer says, "You'll look your best" (the implied
customers receiving the benefit).
5. Action (p. 394) — the purpose here is to motivate people to do something —
send in a coupon, call the number on the screen, visit the store — or at least to
agree with the advertiser.
a. This block of the pyramid reaches the smallest audience, but those with the
most to gain from the product.
b. Generally, the call to action is explicit.
c. It is important to facilitate people's response (by providing a Web site
address, toll-free telephone number, etc).
Portfolio Review: The Creative Director’s Greatest Ads (pp. 398-394)
X.
XI.
Ad Lab 12-B “Applying the Creative Pyramid to Advertising” (p. 393)
The Judge Role: Decision Time (p. 394).
The next role in the creative process is the Judge. This is when the creatives evaluate the
practicality of their big idea and decide whether to implement, modify, or discard it.
A. The Judge's role is delicate.
1. The creatives must be critical enough to ensure that when it is time to play
Warrior they have an idea worth fighting for.
2. However, they also need to avoid stifling the imagination of the artist. The
Judge's purpose is to help produce good ideas, not to revel in criticism. As the
Judge, creatives can ask: is that “an aha!” or an “uh-oh”? What's wrong with this
idea? What if it fails? What is my cultural bias? What is clouding my vision?
B. The Judge's role is vital because risk is involved — if an ad fails, it can hurt sales and
lead to ridicule. In addition, if the Judge does a good job, the next role in the creative
process — the Warrior — is easier to perform.
12-3 Leo Burnett Global Product Committee’s Rating Scale (p. 395)
The Warrior Role: Overcoming Setbacks and Obstacles (p. 396)
A. The Warrior wins territory for new big ideas in a world resistant to change. This
means getting the big idea approved, produced, and placed in the media.
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1. Von Oech suggests Warriors must be bold, sharpen their swords (skills), examine
criticism in advance, overcome obstacles, use their energy wisely, be persistent,
savor victories, and learn from defeat.
2. To get the big idea approved, the Warrior has to battle people within the agency
and often the client, too.
Ad Lab 12-C “The Creative Gymnasium” (p. 397)
B. So part of the Warrior's role is turning the agency account team into co-warriors for
the presentation to the client. To give a presentation maximum selling power,
Bendinger suggests five key components:
1. Strategic precision. Selling idea must be on strategy.
2. Savvy psychology. Presentation should be receiver-driven.
3. Slick presentation. Must be prepared and rehearsed, use great visual and
emotional appeals.
4. Structural persuasion. Presentation should be prepared and rehearsed with great
visuals and emotional appeals.
5. Solve the problem and you will sell the big idea — and do it with style.
C. For clients, recognizing a big idea and evaluating it are almost as difficult as coming
up with one. Ogilvy recommends clients ask: Did it make me gasp when I first saw
it? Do I wish I had thought of it myself? Is it unique? Does it fit the strategy to
perfection? Could it be used for 30 years (campaigns that run for five years or more
are superstars)?
D. When the client approves the campaign, the creative person's role as Warrior is only
half over. Now the campaign has to be executed with leadership by the warrior. The
next step in the process, therefore, is to implement the big idea — to produce the ads
for print and electronic media.
AD LAB 12-A “The Psychological Impact of Color” (p. 381)
Explain the moods or feelings that are stimulated by two color ads or packages illustrated in this
text.
Discussion guidelines:
Check if there is a predominate color — it may be as obvious as a continuous tone spread across
the background of the ad. It may be in little areas scattered all around in the ad’s layout. If
neutral tones (which are relatively colorless) predominate the ad, ask yourself if the neutral tends
to be “warm” (faintly red or beige) or cool (hint of blue or green). If two colors occur in equal
volumes and intensities, making it difficult to choose one as the predominate color, ask what
color would result if they mixed (a brown or dark gray is often the result).
Once you have determined the predominate color, evaluate how it affects the mood or feelings of
the audience using the color descriptions in this Ad Lab.
Example: The Pepto-Bismol ad on (p. 401) depicts the color black in the background. This ad
helps the color of the Pepto-Bismol bottle come out. The reader’s eyes are drawn to the middle
of the page, due to the black background.
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AD LAB 12-B Applying the Creative Pyramid to Advertising (p. 395)
1. Find an ad that exhibits the five elements of the creative pyramid. (A print ad will be the
easiest to find and talk about, but radio or TV commercials also feature the five elements.
Beware: The desire step may be hard to find.)
Discussion guidelines:
The goal of this exercise is to help students fully appreciate the logic and understanding that
the advertising pyramid brings to the marketing communications process.
The art of building advertisements requires a structure. The creative pyramid provides that
structure — one that parallels the way consumers learn about and adopt products (see RL 4-1,
the consumer decision-making process). Thus, the creative pyramid is a guide for mentally
walking the consumer through the adoption process. It brings the consumer’s mental files
together with the product’s utility.
Each step of the pyramid prepares the consumer for the next step. The idea is to:
a. Attract the consumer’s attention away from the on-going daily tasks and draw them
into the ad (attention and interest steps).
b. Counter their objections with information (credibility step) and get them to have an
open mind about the product.
c. Help them to visualize a goal (desire step) and to accept the goal (requirements for
establishing motivation).
d. Tell them to take action (action step) in order to give direction to their motivation.
One interesting challenge with this exercise is that creative directors and art directors are
always searching for a unique “look” to give their ad some zing — and to do so, they bend
the creative pyramid and ad formats. To help you discuss any variations, here are some
details about the standard features in an ad relative to the creative pyramid:
a. Attention step (p. 395)
 Attract attention
 Establish the starting point for decoding the verbal and nonverbal elements of the
message
(Normal reading pattern for Western culture is from the upper left corner to the
lower right corner. This is generally followed in ad layouts for print ads: the
attention step usually appears in the upper half of a print ad, occasionally in the
lower half. Western ads feel and look better to audiences when this pattern in
followed. In Asian and Middle East countries this pattern is often reversed)
 Present the big idea — highest quality takes place when the visual and the verbal
message elements work together synergistically to drive home the fundamental
premise of the big idea.
b. Interest step (p. 395)
 Carries the audience’s focus from the attention step area into the body of the ad
(typically features significant, supplementary facts or an answer to a question
asked in the attention step).
 Must maintain audience interest (uses catchy sounds or visuals in broadcast and
middle-sized type in print)
 Prepares the viewer’s mind for the more dense material to come.
c. Credibility step (p. 395)
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
This section must reinforce the claims made in the attention step and interest
step.
 Facts and figures are often the key to reinforcing an assertion or promise and this
is the best section for presenting them. Moreover, this is the point where the
audience is ready to hear the details.
d. Desire step (p. 395)
 The objective of this section is to get a consumer visualizing him or herself
receiving the benefits — induced or actual — of the product’s utility.
 This section must be suggestive:
a) Use phrases like “imagine yourself... (being healthier, happier, the first on
your block, the center of attention).”
b) Indirectly portraying or implying the reward (...for a better tomorrow, and
everyone will smile again, for your loved ones)
e. Action step (p. 395)
 This step works for consumers whose objections have been answered by the
credibility step and are able to see that the goal suggested by the desire step can
be theirs.
 A command is often used (“buy it now,” “call today”).
 Describe what the consumer should do (go to your local mini-mart today, get up
out of your chair and call now, fill out the card and mail it today).
 Combine the action step with the desire step (call today and enjoy comfort
tomorrow).
2. Why do so many good ads lack one or more of the five elements listed here? How do they
overcome the omission?
Essentially, creatives have personal feelings about formats:
a. Some learned by following their instincts and have not studied formats
b. Some are aware of formats, but may use them only as a guide for what not to do or
refuse to follow them entirely.
c. Some creatives are aware of formats and use them willingly, but prefer to be very
subtle about how they apply them.
d. Nevertheless, there are times when the nature of the audience or the big idea forces
the creatives to bend the creative pyramid a bit.
The desire step is one of the most difficult to write — and that may be why some copywriters
omit it. They overcome the omission by compensating with one of the other areas of the
pyramid. However, the five elements should be artistically handled in some way in every ad
or commercial.
AD LAB 12-C The Creative Gymnasium (p. 397)
1. Attempt to solve the exercises above. Explain your choices.
a. The Explorer: the star is in the lower right hand corner
b. The Artist

Answers will vary widely.
megaphone)
Follow example formats (1012 microphones = 1
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 Answer provided in the ad lab
c. The Judge and the Warrior:
 Judge might say that the Time ad is too complex and that the mathematical formula
(that frames the images) in the Sonics ad will not be understood by a significant
number of their target market.
 The Warrior might say that both ads would work well because they ask the audience
to participate and to get involved. In addition, once audiences start to resolve the
puzzling elements, they will have invested some time in association with the product
concept — a factor that may increase their interest in taking a closer look at the
product.
2. Create a metaphor for each of these paired concepts:
a. Boxing + Water
b. Magnet + Library
c. Rainbow + Clock
Answer guidelines:
A metaphor is a figure of speech likening one object to another by speaking of as if were that
object.
Examples: Water + money gives us metaphors like liquid assets, cash flow, and pooling
assets. For boxing + water, (question An above): cascade of punches, flowing footwork,
boiling mad, punch drunk, etc.
ETHICAL ISSUE “Does Sex Appeal?” (p. 391)
1. How would you explain the "redeeming value" of sexual appeals in advertising?
Answer guidelines:
a. Basic issue: “choice enhancement” versus consumer protection.
b. Personal choices: For some people, sexual appeals have no “redeeming value.” Some
fear spillover to children. Before approving an ad that uses a sexual appeal, feminists
first look to see if the woman is portrayed as being in control. Most students, particularly
those in their teens and early 20's are not offended by sexual appeals in advertising and
consider it the "norm". Many people believe that "sex" sells.
c. It is important to note that the Miller light ad has helped to increase awareness of its
brand.
d. Legal distinctions:
 Obscene material is illegal.
 Indecent material is not illegal in many jurisdictions, but in some localized areas, it
can result in fines.
2. If ad sex is considered okay by audiences that are directly targeted, what responsibility does
the advertiser have for any effect on indirect targets, such as children? How can advertisers
protect themselves from this problem?
Advertisers must carefully examine all ad campaigns before launch because there are many
consumer activist groups who will attack campaigns if they feel that the ads will have a
negative impact on society. The cost to an agency and advertiser for an ad campaign, which
has to be withdrawn, is extremely high and the negative publicity may be even more
damaging. As we discussed earlier, Calvin Klein, whose ads typically feature nudity,
discontinued an entire campaign because some experts called it child pornography.
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Advertisers can protect themselves from this problem by hiring consultants in advance of a
campaign, to pass judgments on ads to ensure they are not offensive.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Select an ad from an earlier chapter in the book. What do you believe is the sponsor’s
advertising and message strategy? What is the ad’s boom factor? (pp. 376)
Student answers will vary.
Discussion guidelines:
Advertising theory consists of:
 Target audience — comprises of resellers, consumers, and centers of influence.
 Product concept — unique selling qualities.
 Media — type of media used (print, electronic, out-of-home etc.).
 Message strategy — is a simple description and explanation of an ad campaign’s
overall creative approach — what the advertising says, how it says it, and why.
Message strategy consists of three components: verbal, nonverbal, and technical.
 An ad’s boom factor, the punchline, is that precise moment when the joke culminates
in a clever play on words or turn of meaning.
2. What are the most important elements of a creative brief? (p. 376)
The creative brief serves as the creative team's guide for writing and producing the ad. In
some agencies, it may be referred to as a copy platform, a work plan, or a copy (or creative)
strategy document.
In all cases, though, it is a simple written statement of the most important issues to consider
in the development of the ad or campaign — the who, why, what, where, and when.
In the Proctor & Gamble example, the creative brief is divided into the objective statement,
support statement, and tone or brand statement.
3. What are the elements of message strategy and how does it differ from advertising (or
creative) strategy? (p. 378-379)
The advertising strategy focuses on the description and explanation of the rationale and
overall approach to what the advertising will say, how it says it, and why. It is summed up in
the creative brief.
The message strategy focuses on the wording, imagery, and mechanical elements of the actual
advertising (see the answer to question 1 for additional details).
4. In what ways have you exercised your personal creativity in the last week? (p. 379)
Discussion guideline:
The fundamental of creativity is origination — creating something that was not there before.
The creative process would be involved in some degree.
5. What characterizes the two main styles of thinking? Which style do you usually prefer?
Why? (p. 382-384)
Discussion guidelines:
Max Weber (the German sociologist) determined that people think in two ways:
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a. Fact-based — objective, rational, linear, and data-oriented
b. Value-based — qualitative, intuitive, holistic and emotionally oriented.
6. What are the four roles of the creative process? Have you played these roles in preparing a
term paper? How? (p. 384)
The four roles (Von Oech)
Use in making term paper
a. The Explorer
Research
b. The Artist
Outline, writing
c. The Judge
Editing
d. The Warrior
Negotiating with instructor for a better grade
7. What is the difference between a strategy statement and a big idea? (pp. 383-384)
An advertising strategy is a statement of direction consisting of four elements: the target
audience, the product concept, the communication media, and the advertising message. This
is usually presented as a multiple page brief.
The big idea is a bold, creative initiative (often expressed in a catchy phrase), that builds on
the strategy, joins the product benefit with consumer desire in a fresh involving way, brings
the subject to life, and makes the reader or the audience stop, look, and listen
Examples: “Do The Dew” (Mountain Dew), “The power to be your best” (Apple), and “Intel
inside” (Intel) — these are big ideas (not just slogans) because the focus of huge, integrated
marketing campaigns — including the development of all text, images and mechanicals —
has centered around delivering these phrases.
8. Select five creative ads from a magazine. What techniques of the Artist can you recognize in
those ads?
Discussion guidelines:
The Artist (p. 385):
a. Creates visualizations (the big idea).
b. Transforms concepts — concept-manipulating techniques: adapt, imagine, reverse,
connect, compare, eliminate, and parody.
9. In those same ads, can you identify each step of the creative pyramid?
Steps: attention, interest, credibility, desire, and action.
10. What are the important things to remember about making a presentation?
To give a presentation maximum selling power, Bendinger suggests five key components: (p.
396)
a. Strategic precision — the selling idea must be on strategy.
b. Savvy psychology — receiver-driven presentation to meet the client’s needs.
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c. Slick presentation — must be prepared and rehearsed, use great visual and emotional
appeals.
d. Structural persuasion — since clients relate well to organized thinking.
e. Solve the problem—meet the clients needs and explain everything about the had
because the client might have to justify it to higher-ups.
EXPLORING THE INTERNET
The Internet exercises for Chapter 12address the following areas related to the chapter: creative
strategy and execution (Exercise 1) and account planning (Exercise 2).
1. Effective Creative Strategy and Execution
Apply the creative process and the various means of deriving and judging “good” advertising
to the following websites, noting the quality of the creative and the strategic intent behind the
work. Be sure to answer the questions below.
 Adidas (www.adidas.com)
 Energizer (www.energizer.com)
 Nintendo (www.nintendo.com)
 Nissan (www.nissan-usa.com)
 SBC (www.sbc.com)
 Sea World (www.seaworld.com)
 Taco Bell (www.tacobell.com)
a. Who is the intended audience of the site?
b. What is it that makes the site’s creative good or bad? Why?
c. Identify the “who, why, what, when, where, style, approach, and tone” of the
communication.
d. Write an objective statement, support statement, and brand character statement for each.
Sample Answer:
Energizer
a. The intended audience of this site is consumers.
b. The creative for the site is very good because it is:
 highly unusual
 graphically friendly with animation
 ties in well with the advertising campaign and branding effort
 user friendly and easy to navigate
 site contains many extras (merchandising items, downloadables, etc.)
c. Identify:
 Who – battery consumers, largely in the U.S. (no real geographic skew), that are
interested in a battery with a long-lasting life. Demographic information such as age,
income, gender, and education are broad, and not as relevant as consumption, which
is quite heavy.
 Why – the communication is targeted to the consumer’s rationale approach to
purchase the battery is superior and has a long life.
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



What – high-technology batteries with long-lasting life
When – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Where – via the Internet on a global basis
Style & approach – the copy takes a colloquial style with a rational approach
expressing the product’s superior technology.
 Tone – the communication takes an edgy, upbeat tone.
d. Write:
 Objective statement – To communicate that Energizers are the most technologically
advanced, longest-lasting batteries on the planet.
 Support statement – The batteries have high-drain superiority, plus unsurpassed
performance in all other devices.
 Brand character statement – Energizer Advanced Formula batteries are the simple,
efficient, powerful choice throughout the world.
2. Account Planning
Account planners help ensure the research process has reaped the proper information for the
creatives. The function of account planning—namely the gathering of research and the
formulation of strategy for the creative team—cannot be understated. Browse through the
documents held at the Account Planning Group’s (APG) websites listed below and answer
the questions that follow.
 Account Planning Group, U.K. (APG) (www.apg.org.uk)
 Account Planning Group, U.S. (APG) (www.apgsf.org)
a. Who is the intended audience of the site?
b. What is account planning? Why is it important?
c. What is the primary document that the account planning function generates? What are
the main elements in the document?
d. Choose three of the essays or articles held on any of the APG sites, and discuss at length,
explaining the relevance of the topic to account planning and the advertising business.
Sample Answer:
a. The sites are intended for account planners and advertising agency professionals.
b. Account planning is the practice of thinking from the point of view of the consumer. It is
the planner’s role to be the consumer’s advocate in the creative process. Account
planning is important because it helps bridge the gap between the client, the creative, and
the consumer. The planner’s main tasks center on using consumer research to help
ensure a piece of creative is strategically sound. In general, the planner is responsible
for:
 Working with the account manager on strategy development
 Supervising any primary research in formulating strategy
 Preparing the Creative Brief
 Briefing the creatives, and checking their work for strategic relevance
 Conducting any pre- or post-research of the creative product
c. The planner is responsible for the generation of the Creative Brief, which includes the
following general elements:
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


Advertising Assignment/Task
Advertising Objective(s)
Target Audience (with demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioristic
profiles)
 Accepted Consumer Belief [about the product/category]
 Key Selling Idea (or Core Strategic Thought, Single-Minded Proposition, Unique
Selling Premise)
 Substantiation/Support
 Desired Brand Image
 Tone & Manner
 Mandatories
 Desired Consumer Response [to the advertising]
d. Answers will vary on a case-by-case basis.
IMPORTANT TERMS
advertising message, 376
art, 390
art direction, 373
art director, 373
Artist role, 385
big idea, 386
brainstorming, 385
communications media, 376
conceptualization, 386
copywriter, 373
creative brief, 376
creative director, 373
creative process, 383
creative pyramid, 391
creatives, 373
creativity, 379
emotional appeal, 376
Explorer role, 384
fact-based thinking, 383
informational, 375
Judge role, 394
Mandatories, 379
message strategy (rationale), 378
nonverbal, 378
product concept, 376
rational appeal, 376
target audience, 376
technical, 378
transformational, 375
value-based thinking, 383
verbal, 378
visualization, 386
Warrior role, 396
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ANCILLARY
ACTIVITIES & EXERCISES
1. Have the students form small groups of 4-6 each and discuss their predominant personal
thinking style and classify themselves as objective, rational, fact-based; or qualitative,
intuitive, value-based. Challenge them to think of an incident in which they have used the
opposite thinking style and why that particular style was used. Discuss their observations
with the group.
2. Have the students form small groups of 4-6 each and suggest an item or product. Ask them to
brainstorm (for about 15 minutes) for creative ways that this product could be advertised for a
new client. Remind the students that brainstorming is a process in which all ideas are above
criticism and to be written down for later review. Then have the class come together and ask
a member of each group to report to the class the ideas. This exercise will allow the students
the opportunity to see how endless the creative mind really is and they will be surprised how
many different ideas each group will create.
IMAGES FROM THE TEXT
Images are available as color acetates through your local McGraw-Hill/Irwin sales
representative.
A12-1
A12-2 Exhibit 12-1
A12-3
A12-4
A12-5
A12-6 Exhibit 12-2
A12-7
Brick ad (p. 373)
Selected advertising appeals (p. 377)
David T. Smith furniture ad (p. 387)
Taylor Guitar ad (p. 388)
Volkswagen ad (p.389)
Creative pyramid (p. 392)
K2 skis ad (p.393)
REFERENCE LIBRARY
Located on the McGraw-Hill
Contemporary Advertising website:
www.mhhe.com/arens04
RL 12-1
Checklist: Producing Marketing Facts for Creatives
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