L4 - Message strategy and persuasion Flashcards
Comparing Media:
To make decisions about media classes, a planner must make intermedia comparisons
The main question is whether they can logically be made on a statistical basis
The numbers for one media class are usually not comparable to those of another class
Newspapers pros and cons:
PROS
- Sense of immediacy
- Local emphasis
- Flexibility
LIMITATIONS
- Lack of target audience selectivity
- Limited coverage
- Higher national advertising rates
- Small pass-along audience
- Variation in ROP colour quality
Magazines pros and cons:
PROS
- Selectivity
- Access to light TV viewers
- Fine colour reproduction
- Pass-along audience
- Controlled circulation
LIMITATIONS
- Early closing dates
- Lack of immediacy
- Slow building of reach
Newspaper supplements pros and cons:
PROS
- Local market impact with magazine format
- Good colour fidelity
- Depth of presentation
- Broadened coverage area
- Less competition on Sundays
- High readership
- Flexibility
LIMITATIONS
- Little pass-along or secondary readership
- No demographic selectivity
- Limited readership
- High cost
Television pros and cons:
PROS:
- Sight, sound, and motion for dynamic selling
- Flexibility
- Reach of both selective and mass markets
- Cost-efficiency
LIMITATIONS:
- High cost
- Low attention
- DVR commercial skipping
- Short-lived messages
- High commercial loads (clutter)
- No catalog value
Cable TV pros and cons:
PROS
- National audience
- Added reach and frequency
- Relatively low cost
- Less susceptible to DVR recording
- Precisely defined target audiences
- Broader spectrum of advertisers
- Reduced total and average spending costs
LIMITATIONS:
- Fragmented audiences
- Less than full national coverages
Product placement TV pros and cons:
PROS:
- Less expensive than paid commercial advertising
- Not overtly presented as advertising
- Implied endorsement by entertainment characters using the placed product
- Ability to select program environment consistent with product’simage
LIMITATIONS:
- Lack of control by the advertiser
- Limited communication value
- Variable exposure time
- Obsolescence
Radio pros and cons:
PROS:
- Reach of narrow demographic target audiences
- High frequency
- Supporting medium
- Excellent for mobile populations
- High summer exposure
- Flexibility
- Geographic flexibility
- Active medium
LIMITATIONS:
- Many stations in one market
- No catalogue value
- Low attentiveness for some formats
Internet display pros and cons:
PROS
- Low-cost corporate legitimacy
- Great creative flexibility
- Precise targeting by behaviour, geography, timing or, other factors
- A great many ways to evaluate alternative sites
- Supplemental information
- Easy documentation of effectiveness
- Low-cost marketing research tool
LIMITATIONS:
- High cost to achieve adequate reach
- Constantly changing medium
- Lack of consistent research
- Conflict between internet sales and traditional sales channels
- Low response (click-thru) rate
- Limited penetration
Sponsored search pros and cons:
PROS:
- Proven interest in product or service
- Direct link to advertiser’s website
- Two-line sales message
- Complete response metrics
LIMITATIONS:
- Requires target interest
- Requires active management of buy due to auction-based pricing
- Requires previous knowledge of the advertiser
- Plain text only- no graphics, logo or picture
- No exclusivity- side-by-side appearance with competition
Mobile advertising pros and cons:
PROS:
- Most personal marketing channel available
- Measureable for return on investment (ROI) purposes
- Permission-based opt-in
- Opportunity to research consumers on the road prior to retail store purchase
- Ability to deliver coupons with a UPC code (barcode)
LIMITATIONS:
- Small screen size limits creativity
- Slow network speeds
- Lack of standards across carriers and platforms
- Success of the medium depends on the primary carriers
- Privacy
Direct mail pros and cons:
PROS:
- Easy verification of response
- Personal quality
- Flexibility
- Long life for certain mailings
- Potential savings
LIMITATIONS:
- High cost
- Inaccurate and incomplete lists
- Variance in delivery dates
- Clutter and consumer resistance
Outdoor advertising pros and cons:
PROS:
- Wide coverage of local markets
- High frequency
- Low CPM
- Largest print ad available
- Geographic flexibility
- High summer visibility
- Around-the-clock exposure
- Simple copy theme and package identification
- Mass coverage of metropolitan area
LIMITATIONS:
- Limited to simple messages
- No guarantee of high recall
- High out-of-pocket cost
- Limited availability in upscale neighbourhoods
Transit media pros and cons:
PROS:
- Mass coverage of a metropolitan area
- High frequency
- Relative efficiency
- Flexibility
- Opportunity to position messages to consumers on the way to their points of purchase
LIMITATIONS:
- Limited message space
- High competition from other media and personal activities
- Frequent inspection
Out-of-Home Video pros and cons:
PROS:
- Additional brand exposure
- Flexibility
- Sight and motion
- Builds reach
- Highly targeted
- Production efficiency
LIMITATIONS:
- Lack of standardised research across all venues
- Availability varies market-by-market and within markets
- Limited reach potential
- Fragmentation of suppliers
- Proof of play and proof of performance reporting varies by supplier
- Complex creative production due to multiple suppliers and venues
But People Don’t Like Advertising:
- Irrelevant and Offensive
- Ad Clutter
- Advertising is an interruption
- Evidence to suggest that people are viewing less advertising (think DVD, MP3 technologies…)
- Consumer power-Freedom to skip (e.g.,Adblock, TiVo, Bugmenot.com…)
Effective communication depends on many factors, including:
- the nature of the message
- the audience’s interpretation of it
- the environment in which it is received
Also……
- Acceptance
- Perception
- Attention (two very different things)
The communications process:
Noise factors
Noise refers to any unplanned distortion to the message
A model of cognitive response:
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM):
Focuses on the way consumers respond to persuasive messages based on the amount and nature of elaboration or processing of information.
Routes to attitude change:
- Central route to persuasion – ability and motivation to process a message is high and close attention is paid to message content
- Peripheral route to persuasion – ability and motivation to process a message is low and receiver focuses more on peripheral cues than message content
Implications of ELM:
Level of consumer involvement is directly related to information processing.
- In low-involvement situations, consumers may rely on peripheral cues rather than detailed message arguments.
- In high-involvement situations, consumers are motivated to process detailed message arguments.
Persuasive communications:
The ‘right’ message:
- Connects emotionally with the target audience (i.e, engages)
- May need to connect in different ways for different audiences
- Contains a key insight or big idea
- Is distinctive, memorable and creative.
The creative process:
Message strategy (What to say?)
- Major selling argument
- The ‘big idea’
Execution (How to say it?)
- Advertising appeals
- Execution techniques
Executional techniques - I
Executional techniques - II
Structure of an Advertisement:
- Headline (promise of benefit)
- Subheadline (spelling out of promise)
- Amplification
- Proof of claim
- Action to take
Visual Communication:
Art directors and designers decide whether they will use words or an image as the main visual treatment in an ad to achieve the following aims:
- Attract attention
- Be memorable
- Cement belief
- Tell interesting stories
- Communicate quickly
- Anchor associations
Print Art Direction:
Illustrations and Photos:
- Photos: The authenticity of photography makes it powerful
- Illustrations: Illustrations eliminate many details of a photo
Colour in print:
- Attracts attention
- Provides realism
- Establishes mood
- Builds brand identity
Print Media Requirements:
All media in the print category use the same copy elements. The way these elements are used varies with the objective for using the medium (e.g. Excellent photographic and colour reproduction differentiate magazines from newspapers).
Newspapers
- Copy does not have to work as hard to catch audience’s attention
- Straightforward and informative
- Writing is brief
- Not a good surface for reproducing fine details.
Magazines
- Better quality ad production
- Ads can be more informative and carry longer copy
Posters and Outdoor
- Primarily visual
- Words try to catch the consumer’s attention and lock in ideas
- An effective poster marries words with visuals
Collateral Materials
- Used in support of an ad campaign
- Typically a heavy-copy format
Copywriting: The Language of Advertising:
Four types of ads in which words are crucial:
- If the message is complicated
- If the ad is for a high-involvement product
- If the ad is for a product that needs to establish its credibility or authority in a category
- If a message tries to convey abstract qualities
Copywriter: The person who shapes and sculpts the words in an ad
How to Write Headlines:
A good headline will attract those who are prospects (ie those for whom it is relevant).
The headline must work in combination with the visual to stop and grab the reader’s attention.
The headline must identify the product and brand and start the sale.
The headline should lead readers into the body copy.
-
Direct-action headlines
- Assertion
- Command
- How-to headlines
- News announcements
-
Indirect-action headlines
- Puzzles (suits HNC persons)
- Associations
- Empathy
Copywriting for Radio:
Must be simple enough for consumers to grasp, but intriguing enough to prevent them from switching the station.
The ability of the listener to remember facts is difficult. (why? Active listening is hard/a skill to develop)
Theatre of the Mind:
- The story is visualised in the listener’s imagination
How to Write Copy for Television and Video Ads:
- Moving action makes television so much more engaging than print (nodding approval)
- The challenge is to fuse the images with the words to present a creative concept and a story.
- Storytelling is one way copywriters can present action in a television commercial more powerfully than in other media.
Copywriting for the Web:
More interactive than any other mass medium.
Copywriter is challenged to attract people to the site and manage a dialogue-based communication experience.
Banners (useless – c/t < 1/1000 exposures)
- Most common form of online advertising
Summary and conclusion:
- Creative messages require a ‘big idea’.
- Developing the campaign involves consideration of both message strategy and execution.
- Execution elements
- Copy and design vary according to media in which ad is placed.
- Models of persuasion and overcoming advertising scepticism are key to producing successful campaigns
