1. Advertising: Introduction
Adapted from J. Scott Armstrong
Updated March 14, 2016
Introduction R33
The slides for this course are provided at adprin.com. Please send suggestions for improvements to Scott Armstrong.
These PPT are arranged for 80-minute time slots, but I try to use the last 15 minutes or so to allow people to make applications. It is easy to vary the time. I have done these in 40 minute sessions, and even less by allowing for less interaction, and by focusing on the more interesting principles. There is no need that the lecture must cover all principles. They are available on this PPT and in more detail in Persuasive Advertising (PA). Feel free to add and delete slides and to use your own examples. Prior to this first lecture, you might want to read the relevant section of Persuasive Advertising.
I usually take hard copies on the Bose ad and do the exercise.

2. Objectives of the experiential lectures
To understand and apply these principles and techniques (not to convince you). Ask for clarification as needed.
Set a goal for yourself on how many principles and techniques you plan to use by the end of this session. Even a goal of one will help you.
Note: I will aim to cover the slides headlined in red. When you go through the lecture  on your own, you will need to review it in “Slide Show” format to follow the experiential procedures.
It is typically difficult (and a bit upsetting) to students when they are asked to set objectives, so I go easy here.
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3. Experiential Learning for Evidence-based Content
Unfreeze 1. Prior Experience Described 2. Experience Generated in Structured Exercise 3. Comparison between #1 and #2 4. Disconfirming Evidence Made Available Change 1. Description of Alternative Approaches 2. Practice New Approaches in Supportive Atmosphere Refreeze 1. Learner Writes Summary of Changes 2. Learner Plans Applications

4. Use an Applications Diary
Primary purpose of the experiential lectures is to help you to apply what you learn. That is a useful way to retain the principles and techniques (it will also help you to remember). Focus on writing applications steps in a diary as you go through.

5. Procedure
Focus on understanding. Record questions in your learning diary that will help you to apply the techniques or principles, then, after you decide which ones you want to apply, try to answer these from the readings. If not clear, ask others for help.
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6. Persuasion principles can address many types of problems
List some areas where you could use persuasion principles. When finished, click for examples.
Examples:
Selling products and services
Donations (charities)
Votes
Social issues (smoking, weight)
Getting a job (resume)
Convincing a friend, family member, boss, employee
Convincing yourself (Principle )
The question at the bottom of this slide uses one of the principles in the course: (PA ).
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7. “Advertising is fundamentally persuasion.” Bill Bernbach, 1960
“Everyone is practicing oratory on others through the whole of his life.” Adam Smith. “One quarter of Gross Domestic Product is persuasion,” McCloskey & Klamer (1995)
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8. Can advertising be improved?
“ . . advertising is now so near to perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement.” Do you agree? Who said that and when? Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1697
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9. The benefits of advertising have been debated: Some early opinions
“Advertising is the very essence of democracy.”
- Anton Chekhov, late 1800s
“If I were starting life all over again, I am inclined to think I would go into the advertising business …It is essentially a form of education. …The generally rising standards of modern civilization …during the last half century would have been impossible without…advertising.”
- Franklin Roosevelt
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10. “Recent” views on effectiveness of advertising
David Ogilvy said, “Who is approving this junk called advertising? Have the clients gone crazy?” (1991) Graham Phillips, former CEO of Ogilvy and Mather said, “Too much of today’s advertising is irrelevant and a waste of money.” (2002) Gerry Tellis, a marketing professor, concluded, “Much advertising, as preached today, is ineffective.” (2004)
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11. Which doctor would you use and why?
Suppose that you are feeling ill. You call for a doctor and are offered two choices:
Dr. A: Graduate of Penn Medical School in 1990; has been practicing since then.
Dr. B: Graduate of Penn Medical School in 2010; has been practicing since then.
Who would you choose to diagnose your illness and why? Write the answer in your learning diary.
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12. How to choose a doctor
The more recent graduate would be expected to be better at diagnosis given recent exposure to evidence-based medicine.
Prior to 1940, doctors had little success in diagnosis of diseases. After 1940, there was increasing use of knowledge from experimentation and this led to increased life spans. PA (p. 2)
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13. Advertisers can benefit from evidence-based principles and techniques
Unique selling proposition for Persuasive Advertising: “Evidence-based principles for improved decision making in advertising.” This benefit is not claimed by anyone else. Ideally, it cannot be claimed by anyone else.
See the section of PA on the USP. Participants often have difficulty with this concept.
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14. Example of a Unique Selling Proposition
Revlon’s Silicare Cosmetic lotions can’t heal rough, red, hurt hands! Revlon’s new, medicated Silicare protects as it heals and softens your hands! Doctors recommend daily use of Silicare!
See the section of PA on the USP. Participants often have difficulty with this concept.
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15. Assessing your current knowledge
Complete Test your advertising IQ on adprin.com. (Guessing leads to a score of about 8.)
Instructors may want of skip this exam depending on your time.
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16. Principles can help create advertisements
A principle describes:
what to do (actions in operational terms)
when to do it (under what conditions)
That is, “Given the objective, product, and target market, use advertising action X...”
Example: Do not put a period at the end of a headline.
What is wrong with that as a principle?
Write your answer.
Then, click for the answer.
It has no condition
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17. Most important principle
Write the most important persuasion principle you can think of for persuading people. Check that it follows the definition for a principle. Write any evidence you know that the principle is true.
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18. Where persuasion principles come from
Experiments provide the only sure way to learn about complex uncertain phenomena
Advertising textbooks and handbooks make almost no use of experimental research (as with most textbooks in management schools).
2. Advertising is too complex to learn from experience.
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19. Evidence-based principles are often ignored or violated
Of the 195 evidence-based principles that apply to advertising:
None were found in an audit of 9 advertising textbooks and 3 practitioner handbooks
When asked whether “principles” were true or false, people did no better than if they had guessed
Current practice often violates the principles
The above findings have also been found for marketing principles
Source: “Evidence-based Advertising” by J. S. Armstrong (2011)
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20. Sources of evidence about principles
Unaided observation [very weak evidence]
Received wisdom [weak evidence]
Typical practice
Expert opinions
Empirical evidence
Non-experimental [mild evidence]
Quasi-experimental [fairly strong evidence]
Experimental (laboratory & field experiments) [strong evidence]
Meta-analyses of experimental evidence [very strong evidence]
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21. Observation often fails in learning about in advertising, especially for complex issues
Failures in observation
Example: Does humor sell?
___ Yes
___ No
Too many conditions exist to be able to learn about advertising effects from unaided observation.
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22. Systematic record keeping and observations can provide useful evidence
You have seen thousands of ads for watches. What time do they display?
By systematic observation of the evidence, one can quickly learn.
Most watch ads show the same pattern.
What time do they show?
Ten after ten or ten till two.
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23. Reasons why 10:10 or 1:50 are displayed
Happy face
Does not cover important information (e.g., calendar)
Tradition
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24. This shows the advantage in that it does not interfere with special features on the watch

25. Non-experimental evidence can be useful
Assume that you are a football coach. It is the 4th down and you are on the opponent’s 3-yard line midway through the first quarter. How would you decide whether to kick a field goal or go for a touchdown? Most coaches use unaided expert opinion. Alternative: Analysis of non-experimental data. The New England Patriots football team uses this effectively.
In this case it is best to go for the field goal. The expected vale of the play is about the same, but if you miss, the other team has a poor field position.
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26. Healing in a former British colony
In a former British colony, healers believed that a distillation of fluids extracted from horse urine, if dried to a powder and fed to aging women, could preserve youth, and ward off diseases.
The preparation became popular and was used widely by older women. Studies of hundreds of thousands of women showed that those who took the drug were healthier.
The source is Avorn, Jerry (2004), Powerful Medicines. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, p. 8.
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27. Healing Story - Part 2
The former colony is the United States, the time is now, and the drug is female hormone replacement products.
Women who watched their health sought best procedures. They were compared with people who put less emphasis on health. Thus, non-experimental data misled doctors.
Experimental studies revealed that long-term use of horse-urine extract was of limited value and that, it caused tumors, blood clots, heart disease, and perhaps brain damage in older women.
Source: Avorn. J. Powerful Medicines.
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28. To develop knowledge in complex and uncertain situations:
Experimental evidence can provide strong and reliable findings in advertising situations
To develop knowledge in complex and uncertain situations:
Quasi-experiments: Some key variables controlled for in a real situation
Lab experiments: Key variables controlled for in an artificial situation
Field experiments: Key variables controlled for in a real situation
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29. Quasi-experimental evidence: Effectiveness of comparable ads
Quasi-experimental data: Ad pair from Which Ad Pulled Best B
Our Extensive List of Priorities: You.
Right now, you can get an excellent Dream Deal rate at participating Doubletree locations all across the country. Which means you can get breakfast, comfortable surroundings, a caring staff, a warm cookie at check-in and earn Hilton Honors hotel points and airline miles for the same stay—all for one low rate.
For reservations, visit doubletree.com/dreamdeal or call TREE.
The WAPB ads are described in Appendix B of Persuasive Advertising. The WAPB ads from editions 4 through 9 can be found in the research repository. A
Work.
Dream.
We’ll leave that up to you.
But as far as taking care of you goes, you can leave that up to us.
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30. Conclusions on evidence
1. Prior research has shown that lab and field experiments yield similar conclusions. (Locke 1986). 2. Quasi-experimental analyses in advertising reached similar directional conclusions in all comparisons with lab experiments (26 comparisons), field (7), and meta-analyses (7) for the persuasion principles. (Armstrong & Patnaik 2009) 3. Meta-analyses of experimental evidence provide the gold standard for experimental evidence.
Sources for #1 include Locke, Edwin A. (1986), Generalizing from Laboratory to Field Settings. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books and Wilson, Elizabeth J. & Daniel L. Sherrell (1993), “Source effects in communication and persuasion: A meta-analysis of effect size,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21 (2),
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31. Experimental evidence is resisted when it challenges current beliefs
Semmelweis’ experiments on deaths of mothers shortly after delivery led to the recommendation that doctors should wash their hands.
How would you respond if you were a doctor?
Write your answer.
How do you normally respond when given evidence that you are wrong about something?
Write your answer
In 1847, Ignaz Semmelweis observed that the obstetric clinic of a hospital that was served by doctors had three times the mortality rate of the “lower-class” clinic, which was served by midwives. Given the many factors involved, it required much research to determine the cause— which was that the doctors were coming into the obstetric clinic after having performed various procedures and their hands contained germs. Semmelweis concluded that they should wash their hands prior to each procedure. However, his findings were met with skepticism. Despite his scientific publications, it was years after his death that hand washing gained acceptance.
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32. Doctors’ response to experiments
The doctors strongly resisted for decades as they did not believe Semmelweis’ experiments.
How does this compare to your original thoughts?
Evidence-based answer: You must identify what would change your mind then seek that evidence. Most people seek only confirming evidence. This issue is examined in the section on Resistance, page 104 of Persuasive Advertising.
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33. Analyze the Bose Ad (Print this ad): Do this exercise on your own
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34. Analyzing the Bose Wave Radio Ad
Examine the advertisement and rate it on a 1 to 5 scale before proceeding (1 = poorest rating and 5 = highest rating). 1. Do you like this ad? _____ 2. Rate the effectiveness_____ Record your ratings in your learning diary
Provide hard copy so participant can fill in their opinions and write on these pages. The results can be shown on the board.
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35. Analyzing ads
How would you analyze the Bose ad, given more time and money? Write your answers in your learning diary. When you finish, click here.
Bose tracks the response to each ad and this ad must have been successful because it was used many times.
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36. How to analyze ads Expert judgments: Pre-testing (copy testing)
Conformance with evidence-based principles
Field tests (recall, persuasion, sales)
Bose tracks effectiveness, and this ad was used for many years, so it was effective.
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37. Another ad by Bose: How it Sounds
How do you think the ad did using 1 to 10 for effectiveness
________
Write your rating in your learning diary.
Then click here.
This ad relies more on “image and emotion, than on information.” I saw it only once. They track all of their ads, so I expect that this one did poorly.
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38. Bose: How it Sounds
This ad violates many persuasion principles principles. Also, Bose tracks all of its ads and drops ads that have a poor sales response. This ad apparently had a short life.

39. The course also involves techniques
The stress is on evidence-based techniques. Structured techniques are superior to unaided judgment, especially for complex problems. One of the primary techniques for the course is the use of Checklists. The key checklists are summarized on the top bar of AdPrin.com.
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40. A sample of techniques for advertising
Here are some techniques that are useful in developing an advertising campaign.
Brainwriting (and gallery writing)
Copy-testing
Decomposition
Delphi
Formal planning
Index method
Non-directive interviewing
Parallel processing
Timelines
Virtual groups
Here is a more complete list. Set goals for yourself.
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41. Example of a complex problem: The King’s children
You are going to see a King
He has two children
You want to take presents for them but only have room for two
You find out that one child is a boy
What is the probability that the other is a girl?
Click here for the answer.
Hardly anyone gets the right answer here.
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42. Structured approaches help.
Here is one approach
One is a boy. Probability the other one is a girl is 2/3.
Boy Boy No
Boy Girl Yes
Girl Boy Yes
Girl Girl NA
As is happens there are various assumptions. The point is that you cannot do complex problems in your head.
By structured the possible outcomes, one can get the correct answer. This is a tricky question and it is not always obvious to people
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43. Advice on learning techniques
One study found that fewer than 10% of students were successful in applying new knowledge.
This went to 20% if they actively applied what they were taught during a class session.
It went to 90% when they worked with a learning partner and coached each other.
Select techniques to apply
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44. Follow-up ___Read the syllabus
___Take a tour of advertisingprinciples.com
3. ___Test your Advertising IQ
4. ___Complete the Predict WAPB assessment.
5. ___ Go through this lecture on your own (It is on the Educational Materials page)
___Study Persuasive Advertising up through page13 and record your reading time in your diary. Highlight the techniques that you want to apply.
___Take the end-of-chapter exam
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