Creating Ads: Strategy and Process Chapter 8 McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning Objectives LO1: Identify the members of the creative team and their primary responsibilities. LO2: What makes great advertising? LO3: Explain the role of the creative strategy and its principal elements. LO4: How does creativity enhance advertising? LO5: Define the four roles people play at different stages of the creative process. 8-2

The Creative Team Creatives – Copywriter: words – art director: layout and design – creative director: head creative 8-3

Creating Great Advertising Resonance – attention – Wow Relevance – An ad can get you to think, but is it getting you to think about the right thing? 8-4

Formulating Creative Strategy Creative Strategy – A written statement guides the team who is writing & producing an ad. – Includes the who, what, when, where, and why. Also: Creative Brief, Work Plan, Copy Strategy, Copy Platform 8-5

Formulating Creative Strategy Writing the Creative Strategy – The basic problem advertising will address – Objective of the Advertising – Target Audience – Benefits to communicate – Support for the benefits – Brand personality – Special requirements 8-6

Check Yourself What are the important parts of the creative strategy (or creative brief)? What is the message strategy? What are its important parts? 8-7

How Creativity Enhances Advertising What is Creativity The combining of two or more previously unconnected objects or ideas into something new. The Role of Creativity in Advertising – Creativity helps advertising inform good creative work helps advertising more vivid, attracts attention, maintains interest, and stimulates thinking visual clues can aid in communicating ideas 8-8

How Creativity Enhances Advertising The Role of Creativity in Advertising – Creativity helps advertising persuade – Creativity helps advertising remind – Creativity puts the “boom” in advertising 8-9

How Creativity Enhances Advertising Fact-Based vs. Value-Based Thinking – fact-based thinking fragments concepts for analysis – value-based thinking uses intuitions, values, & judgments 8-10

Check Yourself What is creativity? How does creativity help advertising inform? Persuade? Remind? What is the “boom” factor in advertising? 8-11

The Creative Process The Explorer Searches for information & unusual patterns The Artist experiments with a variety of approaches The Judge evaluates experiments to find the practical approach The Warrior overcomes excuses, idea killers, setbacks, and obstacles 8-12

The Creative Process Transforming a Concept – Many strategies for transforming things adapt: change contexts imagine: ask, “what if” reverse: look at it backwards connect: join two unrelated ideas compare: take one idea, use it to describe another eliminate: subtract something parody: fool around 8-13

The Creative Process Blocks to Creativity – Caused by information overload, mental or physical fatigue, stress, fear, insecurity, or even the type of thinking – Can also occur when the agency “thinks like the client” or when the agency has served the client for too long – Bad for the agency 8-14

The Creative Process The Creative Pyramid converting ad strategy to creative strategy Action Desire Conviction Comprehension Awareness Action Desire Credibility Interest Attention 8-15

The Creative Process The Creative Pyramid Action Desire Credibility Interest Attention motivate consumers to use product get prospects to imagine using the product well-known presenters help credibility keep prospect excited/involved break through screens 8-16