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Essential Elements of Advertising

• How ad campaigns are developed• The creation of advertising headlines• The preparation of advertising copy• The selection of advertising illustrations• The significance of advertising signatures

What you’ll learn . . .

The Advertising Agency

• Advertising agencies work jointly with business clients to develop advertising campaigns.

• An advertising campaign involves the creation and coordination of a series of advertisements (both broadcast and print) around a particular theme

This building on Main Street, designed by Frank Gehry, is the headquarters of Chiat / Day / Mojo, an advertising agency. Its entrance is flanked by a Claes Oldenburg / Coosje van Bruggen binocular

sculpture.

Developing Print Advertisements

• Print ads are very important to most campaigns.

• They usually contain four key elements– Headline– Copy– Illustrations– Signature

• Some also include the company’s slogan• Each element enhances the overall theme of a

product promotion

Headline

• The headline is the saying that gets the readers’ attention, arouses their interest by providing a benefit, and leads them to read the rest of the ad.

• More than 80% of the people who look at a print ad just read the headlines.

• A headline provides a benefit to the reader

Writing Effective Headlines

• Most are brief – many people cannot take in more than seven words at a time.

• Effective headlines stress benefits by making a promise, asking a question, posing a challenge, or using a testimonial.

• Many headlines use familiar sayings with a twist.

Developing Headlines or Slogans for Ad Campaigns

• Alliteration (repeating initial consonant sounds) – Welcome to the World Wide Wow” (AOL)

• Paradox (a seeming contradiction that could be true) – “The taste you love to hate” (Listerine mouthwash).

• Rhyme – “Give a hoot, don’t pollute” (United States Forest Service).

• Pun ( a humorous use of a word that suggests two or more of its meanings or the meaning of another work similar in sound – “Time to Re-Tire” (Fisk Tires).

• Play on Words – “Let your fingers do the walking” (Yellow Pages).

Copy

• The copy is the selling message in a written advertisement.

• It expands on the information in the headline or the product shown in the illustration.

• It should be simple and direct• It should appeal to the senses• Tell the who, what, when, why, where, and how of your

product• Key words used in copy, such as compare, introducing,

now, price, save, easy, and new, establish immediate contact with the reader.

• It should provide a call to action to shoppers

Illustration

• The photograph or drawing used in a print advertisement.

• Its primary function is to attract attention

• It should transmit a total message that would be hard to communicate just with words.

• Illustrations may show the product, how the product works, and its features.

Signature

• No advertisement is complete without naming its sponsor.

• The signature, or logotype (logo), is the distinctive identification symbol for a business.

• Well-designed signatures get instant recognition for a business.

Signature

MAGAZINES

Magazine Categories: Size

Size classification

Magazine Example(s)

Approximate size of full-page ad

Large Life 4 col. x 170 lines (9 3/8 x 12 1/8 inches)

Flat Time, Newsweek 3 col. x 140 lines

(7 x 10 inches) Standard National Geographic 2 col. x 119 lines

(6 x 8 ½ inches) Small or pocket Reader’s Digest, TV Guide 2 col. x 91 lines

(4 ½ x 6 ½ inches)

Magazine Circulation

• Magazine advertising rates based on circulation• Readership = Total Circulation• Subscription and Vendor Sales

– Ratio of subscriptions to newsstand sales important to media buyers

• Subscriptions account for majority of magazine sales• Newsstand sales indicate that the purchaser really wants the

magazine and is not merely subscribing to it out of habit– Account for approximately 34 percent of total revenues

• Can increase effectiveness of advertisements if editorial, circulation, and readership are strong

NEWSPAPERS

Using Print Media: Newspapers

• Newspapers are now second largest medium (after television) in terms of advertising volume

• Major community-serving medium for both news and advertising

• Approximately 88% of revenue comes from local advertising

Pros and Cons of Newspaper Ads

• The Pros– Mass medium.– Local medium.– Comprehensive in scope.– Geographic selectivity.– Timeliness.– Credibility.– Selective attention.– Creative flexibility.– An active medium.– A permanent record.– Reasonable cost.

• The Cons– Lack of selectivity.– Short life span.– Low production quality.– Clutter.– Lack of control.– Overlapping circulation.

Types of Newspaper Advertising

• Public notices are legal announcements about changes in business, personal relationships, public governmental reports, notices by private citizens and organizations, and financial reports, inserted in the paper for a nominal fee

• Pre-printed inserts are ads or brochures, which the advertiser prints and delivers to the newspaper plant for insertion into a specific newspaper edition– Sizes range from typical newspaper page to a double postcard– Formats include catalogs, brochures, mail-back devices, and

perforated coupons– May be limited to specific circulation zones

Slogan

• May support a firm’s signature• A slogan is often added to the four main

elements of a print ad• Is a catch phrase or small group of

words that are combined tin a special way to identify a product or company The Breakfast of Champions

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