Advertising in the Modern World
творческая работа учащихся по английскому языку (10 класс) на тему

Блинова Елена Геннадиевна

 

This paper deals with advertising.  Several books and articles on the problem have been studied, mainly American ones. America is the country of a developed market economy. On the contrary, Russia is just developing market economy. This is a hard work which involves production, management, marketing, advertising and other important things as the links of one chain. The chain can’t be strong if one of the links is weak.

The author’s modest wish is to find a personal place in the competitive world, to contribute to the country’s economy, and to get some profit from this contribution. To be successful and happy at work needs education and efforts.

The author of the paper sees the future career in the field of advertising (as part of marketing). This occupation seems to have good perspectives and will always be demanded in the job market.

In this paper an attempt has been to find the answers to some important questions.

What is advertising?

What place does advertising occupy in marketing?

What are the objectives of advertising?

What place do foreign languages and culture studies occupy in advertising?

What makes people criticize advertising?

What are the social benefits from advertising?

What is advertising as a career?

What are the methods of advertising?

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Advertising in the Modern World

Реклама в современном мире

Творческая работа

ученицы 11 гуманитарного класса

Корнеевой Юлии.

Руководитель: Блинова Е. Г.,

учитель английского языка.

Саратов 2007

Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………4

Chapter 1. Marketing and Advertising ……………………………………4

Chapter 2. The Main Objectives of Advertising………………………….5

Chapter 3. Some Language and Cultural Problems in Advertising………7

Chapter 4. Advertising as a Service. The Ethical Questions……………..8

Chapter 5. Advertising as a Career………………………………………..9

Chapter 6. Methods of Advertising……………………………………….12

Chapter 7. The Art of Advertising……………………………………….17

Chapter 8. Creating the Advertising Message…………………………...20

Conclusion………………………………………………………………..24

Bibliography………………………………………………………………25

Introduction

This paper deals with advertising.  Several books and articles on the problem have been studied, mainly American ones. America is the country of a developed market economy. On the contrary, Russia is just developing market economy. This is a hard work which involves production, management, marketing, advertising and other important things as the links of one chain. The chain can’t be strong if one of the links is weak.

The author’s modest wish is to find a personal place in the competitive world, to contribute to the country’s economy, and to get some profit from this contribution. To be successful and happy at work needs education and efforts.

The author of the paper sees the future career in the field of advertising (as part of marketing). This occupation seems to have good perspectives and will always be demanded in the job market.

In this paper an attempt has been to find the answers to some important questions.

What is advertising?

What place does advertising occupy in marketing?

What are the objectives of advertising?

What place do foreign languages and culture studies occupy in advertising?

What makes people criticize advertising?

What are the social benefits from advertising?

What is advertising as a career?

What are the methods of advertising?

Chapter 1

Marketing and Advertising

One should look at marketing as a wide number of activities which make sure that producers are continuing to meet the needs of customers and are getting value in return. Market analysis includes finding out what groups of potential customers (or markets) exist, what groups of customers you prefer to serve (target markets), what their needs are, what products or services you might develop to meet their needs, how the customers might prefer to use the products and services, what your competitors are doing, what pricing you should use and how you should distribute products and services to your target market. Marketing also includes ongoing promotions, which can include advertising, public relations, sales and customer service.

Marketing is more than just distributing goods from a manufacturer to the final customer. It includes all the stages between creation of the product and the after-market which follows the eventual sale. One of these stages is advertising.

The product or service itself, its naming, packaging, pricing and distribution, are all reflected in advertising, which has been called the life-blood of an organization. Without advertising, the products or services cannot flow to the distributors or sellers and on to the consumers or users.

Chapter 2

The Main Objectives of Advertising

The modern world depends on advertising. Without it, producers and distributors would be unable to sell, buyers would not know about products or services, and the modern industrial world would collapse. If factory output is to be maintained profitably, advertising must be powerful and continuous. Mass production requires mass consumption which in turn requires advertising to the mass market through the mass media.

Advertising is not easily defined, though many people have tried. Narrowly, it means a paid form of non-personal communication that is transmitted through mass media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, public transport vehicles, outdoor displays and the Internet, which aim to persuade, inform, and sell. It flourishes mainly in free-market, profit-oriented countries. It is one of the most important factors in accelerating the distribution of products and helping to raise the standard of living. Advertising cannot turn a poor product or service into a good one. But what it can do — and does — is to create awareness about old and new products and services. So, three main objectives of advertising are:

  1. to produce knowledge about the product or service;
  2. to create preference for it;
  3. to stimulate thought and action about it.

But the word is also used to cover a much broader range of activities — from design to public relations.

Advertising belongs to the modern industrial world. In the past when a shopkeeper had only to show and tell about his goods to passers-by, advertising as we know it today hardly existed.

Evidence of advertising can be found in cultures that existed thousands of years ago, but advertising only became a major industry in the 20th century. Today the industry employs hundreds of thousands of people and influences the behavior and buying habits of billions of people. Advertising spending worldwide now exceeds $350 billion per year. In the United States alone about 6000 advertising agencies help create and place advertisements in a variety of media, including newspapers, television, direct mail, radio, magazines, the Internet, and outdoor signs. Advertising is so commonplace in the United States that an average person may encounter from 500 to 1000 advertisements in a single day, according to some estimates. Advertising penetrates into everyone's daily life.

Most advertising is designed to promote the sale of a particular product or service. Some advertisements, however, are intended to promote an idea or influence behavior, such as encouraging people not to use illegal drugs or smoke cigarettes.

Advertising has become international. Corporations are looking beyond their own country's borders for new customers. Because corporations open new markets and sell their products in many regions of the globe, they are also advertising their products in those regions.

Chapter 3

Some Language and Cultural Problems in Advertising

In the world of advertising, selling products is the most important goal. As companies are becoming more global, they are looking for new ways to sell their products all over the world. It is true that because of global communication, the world is becoming smaller today.

But it is also true that the problems of global advertising - problems of language and culture — have become larger than ever. For example, Braniff Airlines wanted to advertise its fine leather seats. But when its advertisement was translated from English to Spanish, it told people that they could fly naked. Another example of wrong translation is when Chevrolet tried to market the Chevy Nova in Latin America. In English, the word nova refers to a star. But in Spanish, it means "doesn't go". Would you buy a car with this name?

To avoid these problems of translation, most advertising firms are now beginning to write completely new ads. In writing new ads, global advertisers must consider different styles of communication in different countries. In some cultures, the meaning of an advertisement is usually found in the exact words that are used to describe the product and to explain why it is better than the competition. This is true in such countries as the United States, Britain, and Germany. But in other cultures, such as Japan, the message depends more on situations and feelings than it does on words. For this reason, the goal of many TV commercials in Japan will be to show how good people feel in a party or some other social situation. The commercial will not say that a product is better than others. Instead, its goal will be to create a positive mood or feeling about the product.

Global advertisers must also consider differences in laws and customs. For instance, certain countries will not allow TV commercials on Sunday, and others will not allow TV commercials for children's products on any day of the week. In some parts of the world, it is forbidden to show dogs on television or certain types of clothing, such as jeans. The global advertiser who does not understand such laws and customs will soon have problems.

Finally, there is the question of what to advertise. People around the world have different customs as well as different likes and dislikes. So the best advertisement in the world means nothing if the product is not right for the market. Even though some markets around the world are quite similar, companies such as McDonald's have found that it is very important to sell different products in different parts of the world. So when you go to a McDonald's in Hawaii, you'll find Chinese noodles on the menu. If you stop for a hamburger in Germany, you can order a beer with your meal. In Malaysia, you can try a milk shake that is flavored with a fruit that most people in other countries have never tasted.

The products must be sold with the right kind of message. It has never been an easy job for global advertisers to create this message. But no matter how difficult this job may be, it is very important for global advertisers to do it well. In today's competitive world, most new products quickly fail. Knowing how to advertise in the global market can help companies win the competition for success.

In 2000 the United States was the leading advertising market in the world with total advertising spending of $ 147.1 billion. Japan ranked second with $39.7 billion, followed by Germany with $20.7 billion, the United Kingdom with $ 16.5 billion, and France with $10.7 billion.

Chapter 4

Advertising as a Service

The Ethical Questions. Advertising is often criticized, the most common reasons for criticism are:

  1. It is wasteful and increases prices (without its expense, the goods advertised would be cheaper);
  2. It is vulgar and tasteless;
  3. It exploits consumers and creates unnecessary needs.

          Its defenders point out that:

  1. Advertising seems to reduce rather than increase prices, especially in competitive markets;
  2. Taste is individual matter, and advertisements are often more attractive, tasteful and entertaining than the printed text that adjoins them; and ads reflect public needs rather than creating them;
  3. People tend to like advertising, seeing it as, at worst, harmless and, at best, entertaining and helpful.

Social Benefits. Although the average citizen is usually annoyed by all the advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines and the commercials broadcast on TV, the influence of the whole advertising industry on a single person is great and plays a very important role in our lives. Advertising absorbs vast sums of money but it is useful to the community.

 What are the functions of advertisements? The first one is to inform. A lot of the information people have about household devices, cars, building materials, electronic equipment, cosmetics, detergents and food is largely derived from the advertisements they read. Advertisements introduce them to new products or remind them of the existing ones. The second function is to sell. The products are shown from the best point of view, and the potential buyer, on having entered the store, unconsciously chooses the advertised products. One buys this washing powder or this chewing gum, because the colorful TV commercials convince him of the best qualities of the product. Even cigarettes or sweets or alcohol are associated with the good values of human life such as joy, freedom, love and happiness, and just those associations make a person choose the advertised products. The aim of a good advertisement is to create a consumer demand to buy the advertised product or service. Children are good example as they usually want the particular kind of chocolate or toy or chewing-gum. Being naive they cannot evaluate objectively what is truthful and what is exaggerated and select the really good products unless they buy the goods and check for themselves.

Thirdly, since the majority of advertisements are printed in our press we paу less for newspapers and magazines, also TV in most countries is cheap.

    The public advertising seen on street billboard, railway stations and buildings makes people's life more joyful. Moreover, all those small ads in the press concerning "employment", "education", "for sale” and “wanted” columns, help ordinary people to find a better job or a better employee, to sell or to buy their second-hand things, or learn about educational facilities, social events such as, concerts, theatre plays, football matches, and to announce births, marriages and deaths. Thus despite our dissatisfaction when being bombarded by all the advertisers' information, we must admit that they do perform a useful service to society, and advertisements are an essential part of our everyday life.

     Like it or hate it, advertising is generally recognized to have several practical benefits for society at large. One of these is that it largely finances the media. Without advertising revenue, the society would have no commercial TV or radio, far fewer and much more expensive newspapers and magazines, and of course no posters. Cinema tickets would be more expensive.

Finally, despite its cost (quite often as much as 5 per cent of total product costs) it has the tendency to reduce price, because of the efficiency it creates in the world of competition.

Chapter 5

Advertising as a Career

A Word of Warning

Most people think "advertising" is mainly concerned with a creative process. In fact, only a relatively small number of the jobs available within the industry are to be found in this area. While there is a considerable range of creative jobs, these vary greatly in importance and pay.

Despite its reputation, by no means all advertising work is exciting or highly paid. On the other hand, it offers an extraordinary wide range of interesting different jobs and career paths. And it's one of the recognized jumping-off points for posts in top management later on.

It's also quite a small business in terms of numbers. Because of the small numbers it employs, only a few of the many people who want to work in advertising succeed in finding jobs in it.

For gifted and determined people, it can be a particularly satisfying career which also offers constant opportunities for advancement, or a change of direction.

Just all advertising jobs demand an interest in people. If you don't like people very much, advertising won't be your cup of tea. The other qualifications depend on the specific job, which can call for very different interests, inclinations and temperaments.

Careers in Advertising

Careers in advertising may include working for advertisers, media, advertising agencies, or suppliers and special services. In opinion of American specialists only 35 colleges and universities in the USA have effective programs of advertising education. Fewer than 10 offer any truly significant amount of graduate work in advertising. However, advertising draws people from a variety of educational backgrounds.

Advertisers. Most companies that advertise extensively have advertising managers, or brand managers. Because these people help to coordinate the company's advertising program with its sales program and with the company's advertising agency, they must have abilities for both advertising and management.

Media. All media use salesmen to sell advertising space or broadcasting time. Media salesmen must be well-informed about business and skilled in salesmanship.

Advertising agencies. Different specialists are required in an advertising agency because it develops advertising programs, prepares advertisements, and places them in media. Those interested in advertising research and fact gathering should know both statistics and consumer psychology. Competence in media planning and evaluation is essential for a career in media. The media buyer must identify and determine the most effective media in which to expose the advertising messages, and pur chase space or time in these media.

Copywriting requires creative writing skills and ability to visualize ideas. The copywriter is a developer of advertising ideas and messages.

Layout, typography, and visualization are essential both for print advertising and for television commercials. Print-production specialists must know printing, phototype, and typography.

Experience in "show business", dramatics, photography, music, playwriting, and allied fields are excellent backgrounds for a television producer.

Besides, every agency needs an account executive to be a mediator between an advertiser and an agency who should have accountant background and managerial skills.

Suppliers and special service such as marketing research organizations, television and radio producers, film producers, photographers, producers of display materials, typographers  and product and package designers support advertising.

Job prospects. More than 0.1 % of the U.S. population works in advertising, but their numbers are expected to grow rapidly. Opportunities for rapid advancement are generally greater in advertising than in most other industries. How rapidly a person moves up in responsibilities and pay is based largely on his own efforts, more than on age or length of employment. In general the rate of pay is comparable to that of business executives and professional men, such as physicians and lawyers in the same community.

Chapter 6

Methods of Advertising

In the United States, the most popular media measured by the amount of advertising spending are television, newspapers, direct mail, radio, Yellow Pages, magazines, the Internet, outdoor advertising, and a variety of other media including transit advertisements, and point-of-purchase displays.

In 2000, television attracted about 23.4 percent, or $50.4 billion, of the advertising dollars spent in the United States. Television is available to advertisers in two forms: broadcast and cable.

    To run commercials on television, advertisers buy units of time known as spots. The standard units of time are 15, 30, or 60 seconds in length. These spots are purchased either locally or from a national network. Because of the high cost of national network spots, ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, only large national advertisers can afford to run network television spots. Advertisers wishing to reach a local audience can buy time from an individual station. But even these spots cost so much to produce and run that small and even many mid-sized companies cannot afford them. Because television commercials combine sight, sound, and motion, they are more dramatic than any other form of advertising. Advertisers consider television an excellent medium to build a product's brand image or to create excitement around a particular event such as a year-end auto sale. But TV spots are too short to provide much product information. As a result, television works best for products such as automobiles, fashion, food, drinks, and credit cards that viewers are familiar with and easily understand.

In the United States, newspapers are the second most popular advertising medium after television and in 2000 received 21.7 percent, or $4.6 billion, of all advertising dollars. Newspapers enable advertisers to reach readers of all age groups, ethnic backgrounds, and income levels. Two types of advertising appear in newspapers: classified advertising, such as the want advertisements, and display advertisements. Display advertisements range in size from as large as a full page to as small as one column in width and less than one centimeter in length. Display advertisements often contain illustrations or photographs and usually provide information about where the product or service being advertised can be purchased. Typically, advertising makes up about 65 percent of a newspaper's contents and generates about 65 percent of a newspaper's income.

Brochures. For many small businesses, a printed brochure may be helpful. They tell the story in more detail. Computer typesetting and laser printing reduce the cost of producing a brochure. Free layout help is available at many copy centers. Brochure having standard 8.5 x 11 inch of triple-fold design that will fit into a standard business envelope is very cheap. Other Local Print Media such as booklets available for free pickup in high-traffic areas like convenience stores, banks and motels should not be overlooked. These may include guides to local television programs, entertainment or sporting events.

Direct mail is the third largest advertising medium, attracting about 19.2 percent, or $41 billion, of all U.S. advertising dollars in 2000. Direct mail advertising, as the name implies, is advertising that is sent directly to people by mail, usually through the postal system. Increasingly, however, electronic mail (e-mail) is being used as a direct mail device. Direct mail can be as simple as a single letter or as complex as a catalogue or an elaborate e-mail known as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) mail that offers graphics and links to more information.

       Because advertisers are speaking directly to those who are most likely to buy their product or service, many advertisers consider direct mail the most effective of all advertising media for generating immediate results. Direct mail through the U.S. postal system, however, is rather expensive form of advertising. But because of the results it produces, many advertisers believe the expense is justified.

Radio. In America 280 million people own more than 300 million radios. Contrary to the predictions of doom during the advent of television, radio is alive and well today. In its pre-television days, radio was the national advertisers' most economical way to communicate with millions at a time. The programs of music, drama and news were a common part of the American life-style. With the advent of television, radio moved to the automobile and the beach. Along came the transistor and radio moved to the shirt pocket. Today radio is everywhere.

It attracted about 8 percent, or $17.2 billion, of all U.S. advertising dollars, making it the fourth largest advertising medium in 2000. Although national advertisers can buy national network radio time, 90 percent of all radio advertising is local. Unlike television which reaches a broad audience, the specialized programming of radio stations enables advertisers to reach a narrow, highly specific audience such as people who like sports or urban teenagers who listen to the latest styles of popular music. Because people listen to the radio while doing something else such as driving or working, radio commercials can be easily misunderstood. As a result, radio advertisements work best when the messages are relatively simple ones for familiar, easily understood, products.

Yellow Pages, the thick directories of telephone listings, display advertisements, represented the fifth most popular advertising medium in 2000, attracting $12.6 billion, or 5.9 percent, of total advertising spending. Almost all advertising in the Yellow Pages is local advertising.

Magazines ranked sixth in 2000 in total U.S. advertising spending, representing 5.3 percent, or $11.4 billion. They reach all different kinds of readers, who have similar interests.

The magazine's ability to reproduce beautiful colour photographs can add to a product's appearance. Because such advertising is expensive and because most magazines are distributed regionally or nationally, they generally feature national advertising rather than local advertising.

Magazines generate 63 percent of their income from advertising.

In 2000, the Internet accounted for $1.9 billion advertising income in the U.S., or 0.9 percent of total advertising spending. The most important aspect of Internet marketing is that the World Wide Web allows advertisers to personalize their message for individual customers. For example, each time a customer visits a commercial Web site he is often welcomed by name and is offered information about new products based on the type products the person has bought in the past. Moreover, the customer can order the product immediately without visiting a store.

Outdoor advertising amounted to 0.8 percent, or $1.7 billion, of total ad spending in the U.S. in 2000. Outdoor advertising is an effective way to reach a highly mobile audience that spends a lot of time on the road. It offers the lowest cost and it produces a major impact, because it is big, colorful, and hard to ignore. The messages on outdoor boards have to be very short. So outdoor advertising primarily serves as a reminder medium and one that can activate an impulse buy. One of the forms of outdoor advertising is hoarding.

Hoarding advertisements are usually put up in eye-catching positions at the side of the road. The cost of the advertisement will depend on where the hoarding is and how large it is. If it is a very good place and near the center of the city where it will be seen by many potential customers, then it will probably be quite expensive. The sites are usually rented out to clients on a monthly basis by an advertising agency.

Transit advertising is mainly an urban advertising form that uses buses and taxi tops as well as posters placed in bus shelters, airports, and subway stations. Like outdoor boards, transit is a form of reminder advertising that helps advertisers to place their name before a local audience.

Finally, point-of-purchase advertising places attention-getting displays, streamers, banners, and price cards in the store near where the product is sold to explain product benefits and promote impulse buys. A wide variety of other advertising media are pencils and pens with the firm's name imprinted, business cards and even sandwich boards — all can perform an effective advertising role for some advertisers. It is very difficult for advertisers to tell whether a particular advertisement or method of advertising has been effective, but there is no doubt that without advertising the customer would never hear of some products. Perhaps the most effective advertising of all is the recommendation of the product by a satisfied customer to a potential customer — advertising by word of mouth.

Chapter 7

The Art of Advertising

 Any company faces a lot of different questions such as arranging marketing system, arranging management system and so on. And the problem of advertising the product is practically at the top of this list. Some people think that to advertise means to let the customers know about the product. Today a function of advertising is much more complex. In different forms, in different words you should convince everybody that your product is the best.

Advertising may be perceived positively or as annoyance by some people. For example, consumer groups have been whitewashing billboards advertising tobacco products because they believe such advertisements encourage children to smoke. Now advertising doesn’t simply present the product benefit. Instead it began to create a product image. Due to it the leading companies such as Doyle Dane Bernbach in New York City, the Leo Burnett agency in Chicago, Illinois, Ogilvy& Mather in New York City, all have come to prominence and led what has been called the "creative revolution". Bernbach's agency felt the spirit of the new age. Advertising was transformed into a science. It was a mixture of management, marketing and psychology. Benibach believed that advertising had to be creative and artistic or it would bore people. He also believed that good advertising began with respect for the public's intelligence. The advertisements this agency created were understated, sophisticated, and witty. The science was developed into art of advertising. Today there exist even special institutes where people learn to advertise and to do it professionally.

Message Strategies

It is not creative unless it sells. This is the stated philosophy of Benton & Bowles and the unwritten philosophy of most other advertising agencies, and it should be everyone's guiding star in advertising. Creativity is important, but it is not sufficient; it must show the benefit of the product in a memorable way. But how can we get to know what is creative and what is not? The only way to find this out is through the philosophy that guides Benton & Bowles. They worked out the main formula of creativity: “It's not creative unless it sells”.

Any advertisement usually consists of an image and some text. The text part deals with message strategy. What should be said to consumers so that they can buy the product? Art and science must be combined to answer this question. The science gives the explanation of the attributes, benefits, position, and target market.  Verbal, visual and musical arts translate this dry facts an attractive message. The message strategy part will be divided according to the following topics:

  1. Creativity is an elusive concept and is certainly not the exclusive field of writers and artists. It should be discussed as part of message strategy because the most visible creativity takes place in terms of the creation of the message.
  2. To create a message of relevance, the writers and artists must find out all useful information.
  1. Message appeals should be product oriented or consumer oriented.
  2. Copy and layout. Copy deals with the verbal aspects of the message, layout deals with the visual aspects. It is in the fields of copy and layout that the creative translation of dry facts to interesting visual and verbal art takes place. Copy and layout are terms specific to print, the concepts of verbal and visual message components also hold for broadcast.
  3. Production. After each message has been created and put on paper in a rough form, it must be produced in its suitable medium. An understanding of production issues is necessary to help contain costs.
  4. The goal of the message strategy is to develop a message or a series of messages that will be informative and persuasive in their presentation. There can be one message or a number of messages coordinated over time as a campaign. The message can be in print or broadcast media.

A very important moment in creating the advertisement and especially in choosing the message is to set the objectives. The objective has four components:

  1. Target market;
  2. Task of advertising;
  3. Time period within which to accomplish task;
  4. Amount of change to achieve within target.

People who do not know the business often say that objectives and strategies are the enemies of creativity, that objectives and strategies stifle, restrict, and confine, that strategies should only provide guidelines. But they don't stifle real creativity. Real creativity leads to the development of a unique, memorable, forceful message that wins the campaign objectives. Remember, it's not creative unless it sells.

Creative Strategy

No matter how cleverly one writes and visualizes, the highest form of creativity in advertising is the setting of real creative strategies. It's what builds this business. What is a creative strategy? But first, it should be noted what is not.

  1. It is not just a sentence that says, "The advertising will convince people that our product is the (tastiest) (freshest) (fastest) product in the store.
  2. It is not the product of logic and analysis alone.
  3. It is not aimed at robots but at human beings with hearts and brains.

The real creative strategy is the one that relates product to demand. It involves the discovery of needs and wants in people that even the people may not have discovered in them. (Hardly anyone knew he needed a telephone until A.G. Bell came along.)

It also involves hard work. When one faces a creative strategy problem he needs to know everything about the product itself, about competitive products, about the market: its habits, its attitudes, its demographics. It is necessary to study all the research, in short, to dig, dig, and dig. It is necessary to search for new relationships between people and products.

The purpose of real creative strategy is simple and vital: the invention of a big idea. This kind of creative strategy work is the highest form of creativity in advertising. The big idea should be combined with brilliant words and pictures. Specialists, who can do that regularly, get rich and famous. Not to mention happy in work. Responsibility for developing objectives and strategy lies at the agency, but before execution must be approved by the client.

There is an advertising myth that anyone can write an advertisement.

Yes, anyone can put words on paper, add some clip art and call it advertising. In fact, this stuff comes across our desks everyday. But will this type of advertising sell you products or service? Most likely, all that effort will go unnoticed. That's because poorly planned and executed advertisements end up going nowhere, except in the trashcan.

On the other hand, a successful, well-written advertisement (be it print or electronic) seldom wastes words or time. Instead, a good ad delivers a clear, short message that informs and persuades the reader.

Chapter 8

Creating the Advertising Message

If a firm's advertising campaign is to be successful, they must try hard to create advertisements which form a correct and full picture, with a powerful and persuasive message about your product or service.

Copy. The verbal portion of the advertisement is copy. It includes headlines, sub-headlines, body copy and signature.

When preparing advertising copy, marketers try to move the target audience through a persuasive sequence called AIDA: attention, interest, desire, and action. Consumers will not visit a store, try a product or make a purchase of an unfamiliar product unless marketers first attract their attention, gain their interest and make the product appear desirable. Emotive and persuasive advertising plays a key role in this process.

The headline is vital because often it is the only part of the copy that people read. It should attract their attention and create enough interest to make them want to read the body copy. The sub-headline, if there is one, links the headline to the body copy. Sometimes it helps explain the headline.

The body copy for most advertisements consists of an introductory statement or paragraph, several explanatory paragraphs and a closing paragraph. Some copywriters have adopted a pattern or set of guidelines to develop body copy systematically: (1) identify a specific desire or problem of consumers, (2) suggest the goods or services as the best way to satisfy that desire or solve that problem, (3) state the advantages and benefits of the product, (4) indicate why the advertised product is the best for the buyer's particular situation, and (5) ask the buyer for action.

Recent research conducted at Yale University found the following 12 words are the most personal and persuasive words in our language. You Discovery Safety Money Proven Results Love Guarantee Save New Easy Health. Notice the overused word free is not on the list.

The signature identifies the sponsor of the advertisements. It may contain several elements, including the company's trademark, logo, name, and address. The signature should be designed to be attractive, clear, and easy to recognize in different sizes.

Artwork. Artwork consists of illustrations and layout of the advertisement. Illustrations are often photographs; they can also be drawings, graphs, or tables. Illustrations are used to attract attention, to make the audience read or listen to the copy, to communicate an idea quickly or to communicate an idea that is difficult to put into words.

They are especially important because consumers tend to recall the visual portion of advertisement better than the verbal portions.

The layout of an advertisement is the physical arrangement of the illustration, headline, sub-headline, body copy and signature.

Slogans, Logos, Type. An effective slogan can also act as a powerful summary statement for your advertisement. It can help to increase a firm’s recognition.

Like your slogan and logo, the type and layout that is selected for the advertisement should reflect a firm's personality and image, and make an impression on the existing clients, potential clients, employees, and the general public.

ONE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT WHEN THE MESSAGE IS PRINTED IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, IT IS FAR MORE DIFFICULT FOR READERS TO FOLLOW AND REMAIN INTERESTED. EVEN IN HEADLINES ALL CAPITAL LETTERS SHOULD BE AVOIDED.

What's Your Tone?

The tone of the advertisement should reflect the nature of your target audience.

For example, if the advertisement is to attract physicians, the message should be written the way doctors think and speak. If the advertisement is to attract clients in a particular industry, it should use their phrases, images, and language.

Some thoughts about colour. It's quite well known that the color red inspires impulsive buying. Our eyes are drawn to the color like ducks to water. Just walk into any supermarket and look at the color most often used on products. It's red. The next one is yellow. Both colors tend to raise your blood pressure. They cause excitement, which goes to prove one thing: color affects us.

The advertisement can also attract attention by using a combination of colors. For instance, Stagg® Chili uses a black background with gold letters. Total® uses a blue package and a red logo. Green Giant® uses a white background with the famous green logo. Healthy Choice® is another example of using green. Both products are trying to emulate freshness or healthfulness.

There have been studies done on colour. Here's short review of some of the basics used today in advertisements or product development and what they mean:

Blue

Here is the all-time color favorite for most folks, especially men. It's a cool color that is extremely versatile inspiring us in so many different directions.

Yellow

Along with red, this color raises our blood pressure a bit and catches our eyes specifically when used against black. Yellow embodies life, joy and offers a high-visual impact. It adds brightness to our lives.

Red  

It is considered the hottest color with the highest influence on attention and action.

Green

This is the symbol of health. Green is often used with health food products.

Brown

Although considered a masculine coluor, it has a strong influence on women as well. It symbolizes earth, wood, home, warmth, comfort.

Black

Black is usually used for expensive products. It is also a wonderful colour to be combined with yellow, red and orange.

 Orange

This is the color of autumn — the edible colour and it evokes strong emotions regarding holidays, home, good things to eat.

But whatever the color a firm chooses, it should be simple (not more than three colors per item) and consistent. One should stay with the same color palette. It helps the identity and is certainly more pleasing to the eye.

Conclusion

Marketing is not just distributing goods from a producer to a customer. It is like a chain with different links one of which is advertising. The chain will break if one of the links is weak.  The product or service itself, its naming, packaging, pricing and distribution, are all reflected in advertising. Without advertising, the products or services cannot flow to the sellers and on to the consumers or users.

As a paid form of non-personal communication it can be transmitted through mass media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, public transport vehicles, outdoor displays and now also the Internet, which aims to persuade, inform, or sell. It is one of the most important factors in increasing the distribution of products and helping to raise the standard of living. Advertising cannot turn a poor product or service into a good one. But it can create awareness about old and new products and services.  

Most advertising is designed to promote the sale of a product. Some advertisements, however, promote an idea or influence behavior, such as encouraging people not to use illegal drugs or smoke cigarettes.

Advertising has become international. It is true that the problems of global advertising -problems of language and culture — have become larger than ever. This matter encourages advertisers to study foreign languages and take into account foreign cultures.

It is true advertising is often criticized. People say it is increases prices, it is tasteless, and it creates unnecessary needs.

But to say the truth in competitive markets advertising reduces rather than increases prices; advertisements reflect public needs rather than create them.

One should keep in mind that advertising has some social benefits.

The advertisement informs. The information about household devices, cars, building materials, electronic equipment and so on comes from the advertisements people read. The advertisement helps to sell products and services. It gives people work. Since the majority of advertisements are printed in our press we paу less for newspapers and magazines, also TV in most countries is cheap. Small ads concerning "employment", "education", "for sale” and “wanted” columns, help people to find a better job or a better employee, to sell or to buy their second-hand things, or learn about educational facilities, social events. We must admit that advertising performs a useful service to society, and is a part of our everyday life.

Finally, advertising is an interesting occupation. It gives rode to creative people.

Bibliography

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