1. UNIVERSITY OF KOTA, KOTA
COMMERCE AND MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
A
TERM PAPER
ON
“Advertising Campaign and Creativity in Advertising”
Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of
Under Guidance Of:
Ms. Pragya Dheer
Submitted by
Sevya Kumari
(Roll No………)
1

2. CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that SEVYA KUMARI student of Second semester has
completed his TERM PAPER Titled as
“Advertising Campaign and Creativity in Advertising”
for the partial fulfillment of the award of Master of Business
Administration Degree in DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE &
MANAGEMENT, UNIVERSITY OF KOTA, KOTA.
This Bonafide work is done under the guidance of -
Ms. Pragya Dheer
(Term Paper Supervisor)
2

3. Acknowledgement
It takes in availing me of the opportunity to express my gratitude to
my mentor & guide Ms. Pragya Dheer. She extends towards me her
valuable guidance, indispensable help and inspiration from time to time.
Despite of his hectic schedule she has sprade sufficient time to solve my
problem during my term paper preparation.
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4. Preface
Advertising is one of the most important factors behind the success
of any product today. The quality of a product may be superb, but if it fails
to create a buzz in the market in terms of visibility and covetability, it is
more or less written off.
In advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that
share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing
communication (IMC).
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5. Contents
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNING
1. Introduction
2. What is an advertising campaign?
3. Why to Advertise in Term of a Campaign?
4. How long should be a Campaign?
5. Basis of campaign
6. Types of Campaign
7. Why to Plan Campaign
8. Campaign Planning
9. Creation Stages
10. Five Steps to Effective Advertising
11. Some Indian Advertisement Campaigns
Creativity in advertising
1. Introduction
2. Creative process in advertising
3. Advertising message strategy
4. Appeals in advertising
5. Searching for appeals
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6. 6. How does one find appeals
7. Types of Ad Appeals
8. Direct and Indirect Appeals
9. Essentials of an Advertisement Appeal
10. Selling Points and Appeals
11. Copy in advertising
12. How an advertisement works
13. Style of Copy
14. Visualization
15. Layout
16. USP or Unique Selling Proportion
17. Copy Testing
19. Plagiarism
20. Case Study
 Temptation Campaign
 Kinetic style
 Hitachi Air-Conditioners: “Perfect
 World Search Championship
 Coca-Cola "Open Happiness" Campaign
 Nike’s “Just Do It” Advertising Campaign
 Vodafone Essar's Advertising Strategy The 'Zoozoos' Campaign
21. References
6

7. ADVERTISING
CAMPAIGNING
AND
CREATIVITY IN
ADVERTISING
7

8. Introduction
Advertising is an important component of your marketing strategy. The
aim is to promote your business and communicate the information you
want to send to your intended audience, usually with the aim of increasing
sales or making your audience aware of your products or services
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that
share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing
communication (IMC). Advertising campaigns appear in different media
across a specific time frame.
The critical part of making an advertising campaign is determining a
champion theme as it sets the tone for the individual advertisements and
other forms of marketing communications that will be used. The campaign
theme is the central message that will be communicated in the promotional
activities. The campaign themes are usually developed with the intention of
being used for a substantial period but many of them are short lived due to
factors such as being ineffective or market conditions and/or competition in
the marketplace and marketing mix.
What is an advertising campaign?
“An advertising campaign is an organised series of advertising
message with identical or similar message over a particular period of time”.
It is an orderly planned effort consisting of related but self contained and
independent advertisements. Through the campaign is conveyed through
different media, it has a single theme and a unified approach.
8

9. The independent ads used in a campaign are similar to one another,
and this is deliberate. There is a psychological continuity due to a unified
theme. The physical continuity is provided by similarity of visuals and orals.
In a broad sense, a campaign is a co-ordinative effort of promotion of
a particular product/ service during a particular period of time to attain
predecided objectives.
Advertising effort does not remain erratic or spasmodic or
opportunistic when we plan a campaign. It is a concrete advertising plan
consisting of several advertisements, and has a time-frame of a few weeks,
or months or years. All promotional efforts is tied to a campaign and does
not come into conflict with it. The campaign tries to accomplish certain
objectives or tries to destroy certain objective.
Why to Advertise in Term of a
Campaign?
Buyers are forgetful of erratically appearing ads. Often due to a
clutter of large number of advertising messages, they overlook several of
them. It is therefore better to approach them in the form of a campaign
which is sustained advertising effort.
Part of our advertising effort goes waste at any given point of time,
since some buyers are not real prospects at a point of time the advertising
appears. New prospects emerge over a period of time. Campaigns force us
to look an advertising effort retrospectively so as to improve it.
Co-ordination, balance, timing, continuity and performance- all
favour for an advertising campaign.
How Long should be a
Campaign?
Campaigns are of varied length – say a seasonal campaign of cough
syrup or Vicks Vaporub or wollen garments or it may last the whole year.
9

10. The logic behind yearly campaign is that they co-incide with accounting
year, at the end of which sales and profits are computed. There are several
advertisers who keep a campaign running without any change for two or
even three years. Lux soap campaign where it is promoted as a beauty
soap of cinema stars, adhere the present queen bee of Hindi films
endorses it. The factors which affect the duration of campaign are the type
of product offered, the nature of advertiser’s marketing programme,
seasonality of sales, media policies and the competitor’s advertising.
Basis of campaign
The geographical spread of a campaign can be the basis. The
campaign can be limited to a local market, or one entire region. It can be
national campaign too. National campaign is ruled out for test marketing
and for small budget companies.
Pioneering campaigns introduce new products. Competitive
campaign emphasis competitive superiority to retain the present market
and to expand it either by increasing the products consumption or by
weaning the customers away from a competitive brand.
Campaign can be classified in term of media, e.g., direct-mail
campaign, newspaper campaign, TV campaign etc.
Campaign’s purpose can be the basis of classification, e.g., direct
action campaign where a customer is expected to buy a product or indirect-
action campaign. Some campaigns promote products, while some build up
a corporate image.
Types of Campaign
There are three types of campaigns:-
10

11. 1. Multi- media campaign put the message across in
different media vehicles.
2. Single –media campaign remain confined to a single
media. However, the theme is expressed through a variety of
executions, each reflecting the basis proposition and personality of
the brand.
3. Brand – building campaign develop creative execution
over a period of time, maintaining the consistency and relevance,
and contributing to proposition, personality, presentation and
positioning of the brand. The executions can be contemporized to
make them relevant. There should be repetition without monotony.
A campaign should have elastic format. There should be some
synergy between one and the next ad.
Why to Plan Campaign
Campaigns are to be planned with the following objectives in mind:
 to determine the market and its potential
 to obtain the consumer profile
 to study the consumer psychology
 to know the frequency or size of buying
 to decide about the channels and their satisfactory operation
 to bring about product modification
 to determine the geographical scope of the campaign
 To do media planning
 To develop a central idea or core idea around which the selling
points revolve. The idea has to be discovered. The strength of this
idea forms the basis of effective campaign planning.
 To determine the fundamental human desire to which the adv-
 ertisement will appeal
11

12.  To determine the type of copy
 To determine the scheduling and space buying
 To prepare actual ad copies with a dominant central idea which
has been effectively presented and laid out? So that it appeals to
the motives. The consistency is maintained.
 The placement of the copy in the media to run the campaign
 To do the budget for the campaign
 To co-ordinate with the general administration, sales staff and
other promotional activities.
Campaign Planning
Campaigns, a term borrowed from military science, is an organised
and carefully planned use of paid publicity for fulfilling a definite purpose.
Campaign planning is broader then mere creation of individual
advertisements. The basis of any campaign is the consumer behaviour and
the market profile .the demographic and psychographic study of consumer
constituting a market is a must to create advertisements for the right target
audience with the type of appeals.
Campaigns are governed by the
following parameters:
 The total advertising budget
 The media availability
 The consumer profile
 The product profile
 The campaign’s duration and its timing
 The advertising and marketing objectives
 The distribution channels
 The marketing environment including pressure groups and
competitors
 A review of previous advertising / promotional effort
12

13.  The creative considerations
 The new plans.
Some factor like the demographic study of the consumers, the media
availability and the competitor’s activities are uncontrollable factors. They
are called the limiting parameters or the constraints.
Advertising planning involves making certain what specific
objectives are, what is the nature of the message to be conveyed (the
Unique Selling Proposition,) and the budget to cover production and media
cost. It also involves pre-testing to find out how a sample of the target
audience ‘read’ the advertisement. Sometimes, an ad can turn people off
by its language or illustration; certain negative images of rival products or
brands can turn the target audience hostile to the product.
An ad campaign determines what the advertiser wants to say. It also
determines how, when and to whom the advertiser wants to say it. It also
answers the big question – how much to spend?
These simple questions like ‘what ‘and ‘who’ etc. have different
names in advertising terminology. Like ‘whom’ in advertising is the ‘target
market or audience’? ‘How’ is the creative strategy and ‘what ‘is the
message. ‘Where’ is the media strategy, ‘when’ is the ‘timing’ and ‘how
much’ is the advertising budget.
This planning process includes the following activities:
1. Situation Appraisal :
Before planning any activity, one requires relevant information
regarding the situation. For planning an ad campaign, we require
information about three things:
 The target market and consumer,
13

14.  The company or product, and
 The competition.
Information is collected using primary and secondary research
techniques. The three important research areas are:
 Consumer Research and Market Research.
 Product and Company Research.
 Competitive research.
Consumer Research and Market research :
Who buys the product? When do they buy it? how frequently do
they buy? How do they use the product? what are their attitudes and
perceptions about the product? Who takes the decision to buy? Who
influence them to buy? What decision process do they go through before
buying?
Consumer research and market research find answer to the above
mentioned and other related questions. The target market has to be
described geographically, demographically and psycho-graphically.
 Product and Company Research :
Product research covers the quality of the product, its uses,
distinctive features, packaging, price, unit of sales, brand image,
distribution, positioning and its product life cycle, etc.
Company research includes the image of the company, its
reputation, the resources, the corporate philosophies, etc.
 Competitive Situation Research :
This involves finding the activities of the competitiors with - both
direct and indirect- with respect to market share, product range, product
features, positioning and targeting strategies, distribution network, prices,
etc. This also covers the competitors’ current and past advertising
strategies, media expenditure and advertising schedules.
14

15. 2. Situation Analysis
Research conducted to collect information about the target market,
the product and competition needs to be analysed to find out relevant and
significant facts. These facts help in developing strategies. The following
things are done after collection of information.
 SWOT Analysis
 Key Problem Analysis
 Competitive Advantage Analysis
SWOT Analysis :
SWOT stand for Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
From all the information collected, campaign planners find out the strengths
of the product. This strength could be an area. For example, it could be a
new or better product feature, better servicing or distribution network,
lesser price, durability, etc. The strength often leads to new opportunities to
be explored.
SWOT analysis also reveals the weakness of the product in
comparison to its competitiors. Weakness makes the product vulnerable to
threats from others. For example, if a product is priced high, the
competitors could offer their products at a lower price. If the servicing
network is poor, then competitors could exploit this. So all the weak
areas need to be guarded.
Key Problem Analysis :
Form SWOT analysis, the campaign planners find communication
problems that need to be addressed through the campaign. Key
communication problems include:
 Information the consumres,
15

16.  Increasing their awareness level,
 Changing a negative attitude ,
 To reinforce a message or image,
 To reassure the consumers,
 To change an image,
 To create a new image,
 To create broad differentiation in the minds of the consumers,
 To bring about acceptance of goods or ideas, etc.
Finding the Competitive Advantage :
This particular analysis focuses on finding what respects the
product is better than its competitors. This analysis tries to find out an area
that is important to consumers and if the product has any advantage over
its competitors in that area.
3. Strategic Planning:
Strategic planning is the process of making intelligent decision. It
start with finding out what to do (setting objectives), deciding how to
accomplish the objectives (determining strategies). It also decide whom to
address (the target audience), how to distinguish the product (positioning),
how much to spend (budgeting) and for how long to run the campaign
(duration).
Setting the Objectives :-
Advertising objectives are determined directly from the key
problem analysed earlier. These objectives are usually answers to such
question as ‘what does this campaign need to accomplish or what effect
should it have on the target audience?’
As far as the first question goes, advertising objective could be:
 To inform about a new product.
16

17.  To change, modify or reinforce consumer attitudes and perspectives.
 To persuade consumers to try a new product to buy more of it.
 To create a new image or personality for the product.
 To create a unique position for it.
 To sustain an image.
Other set advertising objectives on the basis of the impact or effect
they create on the consumers. One classic approach is John D.
Leckenby’s AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action).
Russel Colley developed a slightly different model called the
DAGMAR (Defining Advertising Goal for Measured Advertising
Results).This model begin with awareness, moves on to comprehensive ,
Then conviction, and ends with action.
Michael L. Ray developed the think-feel-do model. Here think stands
for awareness, and knowledge, feel stands for liking and preference and do
stands for acceptance and purchase.
Advertising objectives are used to guide the development of the
campaign strategy. Also these are used to measure the result of the
campaign at the end of the campaign.
Some additional objectives are listed below:
 To boost immediate sale.
 To build a brand image.
 To contribute to increased sale.
 To build consumer satisfaction.
 To help the trade channel.
 To project the corporate image.
Targeting:-
The next step is to identify the present and the potential buyers.
They are called the target market or the target audience. Target market or
the target audience (the first is a marketing term and the second is an
17

18. advertising term) includes present and the potential customers. It includes
those people who influence the buying decision.
In addition to geographic, demographic and psychographic features,
the target audience is also profiled in terms of personality and lifestyle of
the typical audience member.
Positioning:-
Positioning is a marketing strategy. It is the perception about a
product in the minds of the consumers in relation to the competitors. For
example, ‘Luna’ is the ‘no tension moped’. ‘Maggie noodles’ is a ‘two
minutes snack’.
It involves product feature analysis. The most important and relevant
features of the product are then compared with features of competing
brands.
Duration of the Campaign:-
Advertising campaigns vary in length, i.e., duration. Some run for
few days, some for weeks, some campaign run for month and some other
run for years together.
Factors that determine the duration of a campaign are the
competitors, media strategies, the market situation, the seasonal sales
curve of the product, the life cycle of the product, the advertising fund,
campaign objectives and the nature of the advertisers’ marketing
programme.
Budgeting:-
Budgeting is finding out how much is going to be spending for the
campaign before one starts planning the campaign. Client companies
usually finalise an exact amount and ask the agency to fit the campaign
expenditure with in that amount. Or they give an approximate idea and ask
18

19. the agency to finalise the budget amount or the advertising appropriation or
ad spend.
There are some of the methods companies use to set their
advertising campaign budgets.
1. The Percent of Sales Method:
The advertising campaign budget is a constant percentage of desired
sales. A car manufacturer may spend less than 1% of sales, while a small
retailer may budget 3 -7% of sales. A jewelry store may budget 8 -12% of
sales and other companies may budget 20% or more.
This method works as long as the advertising campaign budget is set
as a percentage of desired sales. If the budget is set to actual sales, and
sales drop, you do not want to cut your advertising campaign budget, or
you will get caught in a downward spiral.
2. The Task Objective Method:
How much money do you need to spend to reach the specific goals
you have outlined for the advertising campaign? This is especially effective
when you are starting out, or if you are trying to grow rapidly. Some
advertising campaign strategies call for heavy spending upfront in order to
win long-term customers.
3. The Historical Method:
How much did you spend to reach your sales goals in previous years
or periods? You will find that by tracking your ads, you will know in advance
what you need to do to accomplish your goals.
4. Share of Market - Share of Voice:
19

20. This method links market share to advertising expenditure. A
company with a 20% market share would spend slightly more than 20% of
the total advertising dollars spent in the market for that product or service.
For new companies, expenditures would be 1.5 times the desired market
share until that position is attained. [So if you want 20% market share, you
spend 30% of total advertising dollars in that market until you get it].
5. Competitive Parity:
With competitive parity you spend in equal amounts to your
competitors as a percentage of market shares. This is a self-defense
method of budgeting marketing and advertising expenditures.
6. The Combination Method:
The best advertising campaign budget you can set will be based on
some combination of all of the previous models. You want to maintain a
minimum level of advertising, fulfill specific goals, maintain your market
share, keep up with your competitors, and compare everything to last year.
4. Creative Planning:-
Creative planning is a simply a way to analyse the
communication problem and find ways how to solve it. The creative
planning helps as a guideline for all the people involved in the creative
development work in one direction. Creative planning includes developing a
theme, the creative strategy and finally deciding the creative tactics.
Developing a Theme:-
20

21. A campaign is a series of ads built around one central theme.
This is also called the ‘big idea’. Big idea is an idea that leaps across all
problems faced by a brand. The big idea is an outcome of deep insight into
the consumers. There should be an awareness regarding his attitudes
towards a product category and brand.
The characteristics of big idea are given below:-
1. It sums up the brand proposition creatively and effectively.
2. It is so flexible that the whole campaign can built around it.
3. It is so durable that it lends itself to different executions over a period
of time.
4. It is relevant today in the changed environment.
Brand Big idea
Wills Made for each other
Amul Utterly butterly topicality
Eveready Chupa rustum
Raymonds The complete man
Lux The beauty soap of film stars
Thums up Victory’s symbol
Lifebuoy Tandurasti ki raksha
Air India Maharaja
Bajaj Scooters Hamara Bajaj
Marlboro Cowboy
Smirnoff Pure thrill
Pepsi Choice of a new generation
Coca Cola Open happiness
Benetton’s united colours
The theme or creative concept is the part of all different ads of the
campaign that are prepared for different media, situations, audiences and
different times of year. The theme, thus, need to be a strong concept to be
able to hold all there different and diverse ads together.
For example: Pepsi has been using the ‘Pepsi Generation’ theme for
decades. Thumps- up used the ‘thubunderous taste’ theme for a very long
21

22. time. Lux has been using the ‘beauty soap of film star’ theme for over five
decades now.
A powerful brings out what is called synergy to the campaign.
Synergy works as a ‘binding factor’ that intensifies the impact of the
campaign through repetition.
Also the theme provides a psychological continuity or link among all
the ads of the campaign. For example, using the same slogan in ads for
different media creates this continuity.
A theme must always relate to and reflect the campaign objectives.
Also a theme should be tied to the need, wants and problems of buyers
and to the advertiser’s product as the answer to these problems and wants.
Effective themes are true, believable, and convincing. And finally it should
be distinct and unique to be able to establish competitive superiority.
Creative Strategy :-
Creative strategy decides the type of message. It flows from the
communication problem and the objectives. The creative strategy outlines
the impressions the campaign wants to create. Some of the common
creative strategies are:
• Generic Strategy: -
This is used by market leaders who ignore the presence of
competitors.
• Pre-emptive Claim Strategy: -
Here the brand is the first to pick up a particular feature. In
the minds of the people, it becomes associated with that brand.
For example, everybody associates PUF with Godrej refrigerators
while it is present in all fridges.
• Unique Selling Proposition {USP} Strategy: -
22

23. Here the campaign talks about some feature which is unique
to that advertised brand and it is not available in others.
• Brand Image Strategy: -
When there are no strong differentiating features among the
competitors, then brands try and create images. For example,
Pepsi in the ‘new generation drink’, Maggi Hot and Sweet tomato
sauce is ‘different’, etc.
• Product Positioning: -
Sometimes products or brands are position differently from
competing brands. For example, Maggi noodle is a “two minute
snack”.
All the above creative-strategies or message-strategies try
to set brand apart from all its competitors. Here one can take an
informative approach where one gives straightforward facts. This
approach is suitable for high –involvement products like slow
moving consumer goods (Cars, TV, Fridge, Washing machines,
etc) where consumers are looking for information to make the
purchase decision.
The other approach is the associational or emotional
approach. This approach adopt for low involvement goods like fast
moving consumer goods(chocolates, toothpaste, cigarette, etc)
where consumer do not need much information to decide. Here
advertising tries to establishing tries to establish image or touch
emotions.
5. Creative Tactics and
Implementation
Now that we have developed a theme and decided on creative
strategy, it is time for executing them. Creative execution translates the
strategy into advertising messages. It dramatise strategy to capture the
attention of the audience, make it memorable and effective.
23

24. An advertisement is called creative when it is original or novel and
has features that stand out. To be effective, an ad has to be relevant and
connect the audience with the product.
Creative tactics or implementation (execution) includes copy writing,
deciding the visuals and layout in case of print advertisement. In case or
radio and TV ads, it includes writing the script, recording, editing, giving
music and other special effects.
6. Media Planning:-
The ultimate goal of advertising is to reach the target audience with
the advertising message. The major decisions that need to be taken are:
• Which media to be used?
• Where to advertise (geographic region)?
• When to advertise (timing and scheduling)?
• How intense the exposure should be (frequency)?
Media planning is a ‘behind the sense’ part of advertising. It plays an
integral role in merging the science of marketing with the art of advertising.
A media planner has to find out about the availability of various
media. Then the media planner has to choose such media which would
reach the target audience effectively-both impact and cost wise.
Deciding the Media:-
Form the newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, and films to pamphlets,
leaflets, brochures and posters to outdoor and transit media. Advertising
uses many means to reach the target audience. All these media have
different reaches, different rates, different characteristics and they also
differ in terms of popularity.
24

25. A media planner has to select and choose the medium or media mix
depending on the above mentioned things as well as the target audience
and the advertising objectives. One important consideration here is low
much money is available for media buying in the ad budget.
Once the media planner chooses the medium or media mix, the next
step is to choose the vehicles within these media. For example, if the
medium chosen is newspaper, then there are many vehicles available like
national, regional or local newspaper, various language newspapers,
general newspapers or special newspapers like economic and business
newspapers. For television, there are so many channels available
Media Scheduling:
When to run the campaign and for how long to run it. This is
called media scheduling or finalizing the day, time and other specifications
about the placement of ads.
One important aspect of scheduling is the frequency or the number
of time an advertisement message is delivered (published and broadcast)
with in a given period of time (usually a week or month).
Another important aspect is timing pattern. Some common timing
patterns are:
Seasonal: this pattern is used for product which sells seasonally
like sunscreen lotion, air coolers and refrigerators in summer, cold creams,
water heaters, room heaters, woolen in winter.
Steady Pattern: This pattern is used for products that sell
uniformly throughout the year like soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, etc.
Pulsing: this is also called fighting. Pulsing involves short bursts
of advertising in a few markets for a short duration rather than going for a
25

26. steady pattern. It increases the awareness level of consumers to a much
higher level that continues while the product is not being advertised.
Media Booking:-
After the planning is over, then the media buyers contact the various
media and book the space and time according to the media plan devised.
Big agencies with media buying wing do it on their own. Many agencies,
however, leave media booking and media buying to specialized media
buying organisations
7. Coordination:-
Advertising is often thought to be the only means of reaching
prospective consumers with the selling message. In reality, it is only a part
of marketing communication or promotion. Personal selling, sales
promotion, publics relations are the other means of reaching the target
audience.
Advertising, depending upon the product and the situation, may play
a dominant role with other activities supporting it. It may also play a
supplementary role to other promotional activities. All these promotional
activities have the same goal—of achieving increased sales or acceptance.
Thus, there is a need for proper coordination among all these promotional
activities the people planning ad campaigns should be fully aware of the
other promotional activities and plan the campaign accordingly.
8. Evaluation:-
Constant and periodic evaluation of the ad campaign at various
stages is required to judge the effectiveness of the campaign. Some
advertisers do not pay much attention to this aspect and get the evaluation
26

27. conducted informally. However, there is a greater need to conduct
evaluation by way of formal and proper research.
Evaluation of an advertising campaign is conducted at two strategies:
• Pre-evaluation (pre testing)
• Post-evaluation (post testing)
Pre –testing: -
This is conducted after the creative execution is over and before the
advertisements are placed in the media.
The prepared ads are shown to a cross section of the largest
audience. If they like the ads then they are released to be placed in the
various media otherwise the ads are changed accordingly
Post- testing:-
27

28. This is done after the campaign is over i.e., after the ads have been
published aired or broadcast for the duration decided. The results are
matched with the original objectives (both advertising and marketing
objectives).
The main purpose of post- testing is to evaluate the effectiveness of
the campaign and to learn lesson for future campaigns. This way one can
repeat effective and successful practices and avoid or change ineffective
practices.
Creation Stages
There are three phase involved in the creation of any campaign:
1. Strategy Development Phase,
2. The Briefing Phase, and
3. The Creative Phase
1. Strategy Development phase:
This phase decides the objectives and contents of communication. It
analyses the research data and decides positioning of a brand. The
strategy formulation is in modern day’s agencies a team effort. The creative
persons from a part of this team not as creative persons but a mind. There
is brain storming sessions. The brilliant ones in the team pick up one or two
ideas from the total of ideas generated and develop them. Our strategy
should give us a competitive edge.
28

29. 2. Advertising Brief to the Creative:
In this phase the strategy formulated is communicated to the creative
people. They are briefed about how to create the advertising the product
needs. The strategy should be communicated with clarity. The strategist
should be a good motivator for the creative team.
Proper briefing is going halfway as far as creativity is concerned. Bad
brief to the creative team results into bad work. Good brief ensures good
work.
Creative brief of strategy contains a key consumer insight. If the brief
acquaints you with the consumer, and how his mind works, it has the seeds
of creativity in it. It gives stimulus to creative team.
Success or failure of the advertisement is largely dictated by the
brief.
Great briefs inspire great work. Briefs should have clarity and single-
minded objective. They should aim at a target person. The idea is to have
the desired response. All briefs must suggest a benefit or a product plus.
3. The Creative Phase:
Here, the lateral thinkers come on the scene. They leap from a single
unidirectional idea of the strategist to an advertising idea that will add value
to the product / brand. The creative persons are supposed to be right-
brained---lateral thinkers, irrational thinkers as against the accounts director
who is left brained, I.e., logical. They make connections that had not
existed before. They rearrange the order of things. They create abruptions
in the consumer mind. There should be a beautiful marriage between the
strategy and the lateral thinking in the creative people.
Spink of the Lowe group says “Strong creative are probably the
cheapest competitive advantage that a company can have.” The best
29

30. creative are derived from a complete understanding of the product and the
benefits it offers. But a thorough understanding of the target audience
provides an edge.
Norman Berry of O&M says, “It is the sensitive understanding of the
audience that takes one’s creative from logic to magic.”
Five Steps to Effective Advertising
1. Prepare:-
Good advertising begins with good information. And the best way to
gather the information we need is with a little Q&A.
Some basic questions that help in preparing for just about any ad
written assignment.
 Description: What is the product/service/opportunity in 50 words or
less?
 Purpose: What does it do? How does it work?
 Price: How much does it cost?
30

31.  Features: What are the vital facts about this product/
service/opportunity?
 Benefits: What will it do for people? What specific problems does it
solve? Saves money or time? Makes life better? What is prime benefit?
 Competition: Why is my product/service/opportunity better? How is it
different? What attributes can I stress that they don’t have?
 Guarantee: 30 days free trial? Money back?
 Prospect: Who is my ideal prospect? Male or Female? Income?
Lifestyle?
 Objective: What do I want? Inquiries, leads, sales, image building,
traffic, etc.?
 Offer: What’s the deal? Two for one sale? Limited time offer? Free
information?
 Deadline: When does my offer expire?
 Method of Payment: cash, VISA, Master Card, etc.?
 Method of Ordering: Mail, phone, fax, computer, etc, ?
2. Organize:-
After assembled a pile of information, the next step to
organise it. Some basic information which is essential for organizing:
 Description
 Purpose
 Price
 Features
 Benefits
 Competition
 Guarantee
 Prospect
 Objective
 Offer
 Deadline
31

32.  Method of Payment
 Method of Ordering
These are the central points that will need in writing an ad.
3. Write:-
After prepare and organise the next step is write an ad. It involves:
 Write headline
 Write sub heads
 Write body copy
 Write call to action
4. Edit:-
Edit the ad with some questions……
 Does headline get attention, select an audience, delivers a complete
message, and draws the reader into the body copy?
 Is headline clear and to the point? Does it relate to the product/
service?
 Do subheads logically expend on the headline in the order of
importance?
5. Review:-
32

33.  Use the “Three second test” with a prospect. If they do not know what
the ad is about after glancing at it for three second, it need to simplify.
 List negatives about the ad and correct them.
Some Indian Advertisement Campaigns
(that Were Too Intelligent for Their
Own Good):
1. Motorola (Model No):
The ad depicts three men in an office pouring their heads over
certain discrepancies in their financial sheets. The two bosses are
interrogating a subordinate who claims to be totally innocent and unaware
of how such a misappropriation could take place. This is when the
subordinate’s mother calls up on his mobile and the bosses notice the
expensive looking phone. They exchange knowing glances and start
questioning him on when he bought the mobile. The ad hopes to convey in
a humorous manner that it is a cheap phone that looks expensive and if
you choose to buy it, please face the consequences.
33

34. Let's for a minute imagine that many youngsters with limited pocket
money would like to go for a contraption that looks far more expensive than
it is. But isn’t the advertising loud and clear about the same aspect, which
makes the phone model very recognizable and defeats the whole purpose.
What is worse than being stuck with an average looking cheap phone after
all? Being stuck with a phone that set out to look expensive, but looks
cheap now because everybody knows how cheap it is!
2. Maggi Healthy Soups:
Now we all know what powdered soups are all about. A dehydrated
glib glob (read mass) of some circumspect vegetables with noodles of
hydrogenated fats and mono sodium glutamate thrown in for flavor. They
are high on convenience and the MSG ensures that we often even end up
yearning for these products. But to actually call them healthy soups is
getting a bit over ambitious. Just because you have printed ‘added calcium,
vitamins, iron and what not on the cover is no proof of its nutritive value.
Therefore this ad campaign fails to make a mark. It would be better if they
just highlighted it as an indulgence that any overworked working woman
resorts to in order to feed her family on stressed out days. But show me
one woman who serves Maggi noodles or soups to her kids without an iota
of guilt and I’ll show you an ad campaign that failed before it started.
3. Ponds Age Defying Complex:
34

35. Ok, those on the wrong side of thirty generally know about the fine
lines appearing on their faces, the crow’s feet, the laugh lines etc. Not that
one is thrilled to bits to see the first signs of aging, but the point is the way
in which the campaign tries to sell the product. To think that their models
are basically shown as these unsure, not-so-confident and unaccomplished
women in their late thirties with the sole ambition of getting their husbands
to notice the overnight change in their looks and take them out for candle lit
dinners leaves a lot to be desired. One almost feels like screaming and
telling them, “Please go and get a life first.” I, for one, would not be caught
dead buying such a cream. Wouldn’t it be much better if a campaign
celebrates all that a woman of substance stands for, who is not mortally
scared of aging gracefully and definitely not so insecure about her husband
passing her on for someone younger. The ad fails to create a positive vibe
among smart older women of today who would take pride in the wisdom
and maturity that comes with age and managing to look young is just a
bonus and not the end of life.
4. Tata Sky:
This ad is planned around the World Cup fever where a person is off
on a trip to the West Indies wearing a costume made out of grass. Hrithik
Roshan makes a timely intervention in the guy’s holiday plans and
suggests watching the matches on Tata Sky with the possibility of his being
the lucky winner and watching the Final in Hrithik’s personal theatre. Is the
ad aiming to dissuade people from traveling to an exciting destination
where they can watch great cricketing action unfold live in front of them? Or
is it a small hint that given the form of the Indian team, it is really not worth
going all the way. Whatever is the intention, the ad fails to make an impact
and Hrithik is truly wasted.
35

36. Creativity in advertising
36

37. Introduction
Creativity in the field of advertising is different. It is not self
expression. It is expression in a planned and calculated way. It has a
specific motive of persuading or motivating. And it is always goal oriented
i.e., it tries to achieve some goal and other. Creativity is the power of
quality of creation and creation mean the presentation of a new concept in
an artistic embodiment or manner.
Creativity in advertising is all about vigorous, vital, compelling and
persuasive messages that effectively achieve their objectives. Here, two
37

38. things come to the fore –advertising message role as a link between the
product and the audience, and the relevance of the advertising message.
On the basis of these two things , some people define creativity in
advertising as creating “unique and relevant connection .” these unique but
relevant connection are nothing but solution to the consumer’s problems.
Creative process models are very important for in the field of
advertising creativity. These models used an organized way to approach an
advertising problem. Preparation or gathering of information is the first step
in the creative process. The advertiser or ad agency starts by developing a
through understanding of the product or services, the target market and the
competition.
Creative process in advertising:-
Creative process starts with the gathering of information and ends
with seeing the solution. According to James Webb Young, the creative
process is “the production of ideas is just as definite a process as the
production of ideas, too, run on assembly line; that in this production the
mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled;
and that its effective use is just as much a matter of practice in the
technique as in the effective use of any tool”
Young’s model of the creative process contains five steps:
Young’s five steps creativity model
Step I: →
Getting raw material, data, immersing one’s self
in the problem to get the background.
38

39. Step II: →
Ruminating on the data acquired, turning it this way and that in
the mind.
Step III: →
Ceasing analysis and putting the problem out of conscious mind
for a time.
Step IV: →
A sudden inspiration or intuitive revelation about a potential
solution.
Step V: →
Studying the idea, evaluating it, and developing it for practical
usefulness.
Baker describes the concept of creativity as a pyramid divided into three
parts. Advertising creativity frequently takes off from a base of a systematic
accumulation of facts and analysis. The second phase represents
processing, or analysis, and the third part is the idea, that is the culmination
of creative efforts.
Creative input
39

40. Verification and Revision of Ideas
Use the
product to
become
familiar with it!
Read anything
related to the
product or
market
Work in and
learn about the
client’s
business!
Listen to what
people are
talking about!
Ask everyone
involved for
information!
40

41. English sociologist Graham Walls outlined the four steps in creative
process as follows:
Wall’s view of the Creative Process
Objective
Evaluate ideas
generated.
Reject
inappropriate
Ideas.
Refine remaining
ideas.
Give them final
expression.
Techniques
Directed focus
groups
Message
communication
studies
Portfolio tests
Viewer reaction
profile
41

42. Advertising message strategy:-
The advertising message strategy describes what is to be
communicated and how it is to be communicated. It consists of the:
Verification
Refining the idea
Incubation
Setting problem
aside
Preparation
Gathering
information
Illumination
seeing the
solution
42

43. • Message Idea: the main theme, appeal, or benefit to be
communicated in the message.
• Copy Plate form: A written statement that fully describes the
message idea.
• Message or Creative format: A broad creative approach used
to communicate the message idea to the target audiences.
Message or Creative Formats
• Testimonial.
• Slice of life.
• Analogy, association and symbolism.
• Trick photography or exaggerated situations.
• Work play or made –up phrases.
• Honest Twist.
• Fear.
• Comparisons.
Appeals
Appeals in advertising:
43

44. An appeal, in advertisements, is anything that motivates a person to
action. Human being are called bundle of wants. A human being is a
strange mix of hopes, ambitions, needs, interests, goals, etc .All these
things works as motivating factors. These are also called motives. Various
advertisements try to appeal to some of these manifold motives that force
people to take action.
An advertising appeal is nothing but a promise of a benefit the
advertised product will provide to the buyer. For example , the possible
promises or appeals for a home appliance could be comfort, convenience,
economy of installation , economy of operation , cleanliness, dependability
and durability, safety, multiple operation , many and varied features, trouble
free operation and smart looks, etc.
ADVERTISING APPEALS can be one of the methods that can
influence in some extent the buying behavior of consumers, by using
multiple appeals, rationally or emotionally it can impact the prospects of
consumer’s purchase decision.
Also three important characteristics need to be considered before
selecting the appeals. The appeals need to be meaningful, distinctive and
believable. Consumers spend a lot of money and thus, they are skeptical or
doubtful about the usefulness of the product. They would buy the product
only when they believe in the promises made.
Searching for appeals
Let us analyse few brands in one product category – Powered salt.
The first brand in this product category in India was Tata. As the earlier
available salt was not made mechanically it was considered to be impure.
But Tata claimed that its salt was prepared and cleaned using sophisticated
machine and thus, pure in quality. Also the name was a guarantee for
quality.
The next brand to enter the branded and powdered salt market was
Annapurna (Kissan).This brand started talking about purity (sudhata)
directly. All the two brand are using the same appeal –purity. However,
their presentation varies. And these different presentations have created
different and distinctive images for the two powered salt brands.
44

45. HOW DOES ONE FIND APPEALS:-
A product has a distinct characteristic. This could be either a physical
feature like size, shape , fragrance, weight, etc. or a functional feature like
how well it clean , how well it works, how long it performs, how little
maintenance it requires ,etc.
For example,
 Doy soaps for kid’s uses the animal shapes of soaps as appeal.
 Hero Honda claims to be the ‘no problem’ bike and Luna claims that
‘Luna mein hain no tension’, Baja claims to offer value for money for
years.
 Godrej almirahs use the appeals ‘kal aaj and kal’ or being long
lasting.
If a product does not have any distinctive feature then some
subjective or emotional features are attached to it through advertising. So a
biscuit become any time biscuit, for many people it is always Coca –cola or
for some others Pepsi is the right choice.
One of the problems faced by advertising people is not about finding
the possible appeals for a product but selecting the most appropriate
appeals that would attract the consumers. A lot of research is conducted by
ad agencies to find out the most appropriate appeals.
Structured research is used (to get specific answers to specific
questions). These mostly used random sample survey – through interviews
or questionnaire. Advertisers also use depth research methods.
These are also called motivation research and projective studies. In
such studies, individuals or small group of people are interviewed at depth
to know their preferences, likings and dislikes.
45

46. Types of Ad Appeals
Appeals are broadly classified into three types.
1. Rational Appeals
2. Emotional Appeals
3. Moral Appeals
1. Rational Appeals :
Rational appeals are those directed at thinking process of the
audience. They involve some sort of a deliberate reasoning process, which
a person believes would be acceptable to other members of his social
group. They attempt to show that the product would yield the expected
functional benefit. A rational ad becomes believable and effective.
We may consider some buying motives behind such appeal that can
be considered rational under normal circumstances.
High Quality Appeal;
Most of the consumers durable like Plasma TV, stereophonic music
system or other electronic or PC hardware items too are bought for their
high quality.
Low Price Appeal;
46

47. Many people buy low priced locally made like air conditioners for
their home because they believe that these products will perform the same
as rationally reputed brands. In this case he is exhibiting a rational motive.
 Long life Appeal;
The durability time factors plays important role for a few prospect
performance, case of use, re-sale value and economy are the matter
considered before purchase.
2. Emotional appeals:-
Emotional appeals are those appeals, which are not preceded by
careful analysis of the pros and cons of making a buying. Emotions are
those material agitation or excited states of feeling which prompt us to
make a purchase. Usually the emotional motives are below the level of
consciousness they may not be recognized by a person, even if recognized
the person may be unwilling to admit to others because he or she may feel
that it would be unacceptable as a proper reason for buying among his
her associates and colleagues.
Emotional appeals are designed to stir up some
negative or positive emotions that will motivate product interest or
purchase.
Negative emotional appeals:
We may induce a particular behavioral changes by emphasizing
positive or negative appeal, for example; positive aspects of a medical
drug would be its low cost easily available, no side effects etc & the
negative aspects-not using the prescribed drug would lead to illness- or like
if you have no fire insurance it will lead the danger of losing one’s
possessions or the ravages of fire.
47

48. Positive appeals use the strategy of ‘reducing’ a person’s anxiety
about ‘using’ a product, while negative appeals use the strategy of
‘increasing’ a person’s anxiety of not using the product.
For example : An advertising campaign to get the target audience
to buy fire insurance may stress the positive aspect – low cost relative to
other investment , the service the insurance company provides, early
settlement of claims, and so on ;or it may stress the negative aspects of not
getting insurance - the danger of losing one’s possessions or the ravages
of fire.
Positive emotional appeals
Love, affections, care, feelings, pride, prestige & joy are a few
positive appeals used to highlight a products benefits & attributes capable
of influencing consumer behavior.
For example; Mother’s love appeal used by Johnson and
Johnson which shows care and affections.
Other emotional motives appeal to be:
• Desire to be different
• Desire to be conform
• Desire to attract other
• Desire for prestige
• Desire to belongingness
In general, a positive appeal stresses the positive gains to a person
from complying with the persuasive message; the negative appeal stresses
his loss if he fails to comply.
Different dimensions of Emotional appeals.
48

49. Emotional Appeals: Response Categories
S.NO
.
Dimension of Response to
Emotional appeals
Illustration
1. Feeling of an upbeat mood
evoked by music humour and
other such ad element
‘Celebrate with Asian
Paint Home Coming’
Campaign!
2. Feeling of quite and relaxed
pleasantness used in cosmetic
commercials bringing out
sensuousness.
‘Lakme –she’s a woman
to me’ campaign.
3. Feeling of heart- warming and
tenderness.
Cadbury’s Mother-son
commercial.
4. Felling of motivational, appetite,
desire to buy or consume the
advertised brand/ category.
Food ads.
A part from the above four categories, the emotional roles the products play
in Indian context also affect the response.
Role Category of
the product
Details Example
1. Background Normal part of the
scene necessary to
set the stage on
which important
things I life occur
associated with
emotion- laden events
like marriage.
Room furnishings,
accessories, most
appliances, e.g. , Storwel
cupboard of Godrej.
2. Mediator to
interaction
Product necessary for
interaction to occur
Cameras
Souvenirs of events
which enable
49

50. reconstruction of these
events (VIP luggage
campaign Kal bhi, Aaj
bhi, Kal bhi).
Restaurant scene of Titan
watch ad. Husband gift
the watch to his wife. The
symbol of warmth is
watch.
The interactivness has
heightened. Background
music plays an important
part.
3. Expression
of Self
--------- Clothes, apparel and
accessory categories.
Reminders of self –
esteem. Raymond’s
‘complete man’
campaign. Sharmila
Tagore and Pataudi in
Gwalior suitings
campaign
4. Products
themselves
become
objects of
Emotion
High product
involvement object
becomes a substitute
for human relations.
‘Hamara Bajaj’ campaign.
Precautions while using the Emotional Route:
1. The advertising should have relevance. If the product needs attribute-
based rational advertising, emotional appeals should be avoided.
2. There should be natural flow of feelings.
3. Execution should not be exaggerated. The level of emotionality
should not exceed that experienced by the consumer.
50

51. 4. There is a difference between a consumer’s emotions associated with
the product/brand and a consumer’s emotional reaction to the ad
copy itself. Preferably, these two should be compatible.
Fear Appeals:
The fear appeal is most important among emotional appeals, and
also the most effective. It is said that the message’s effectiveness increase
with the level of fear it generates. The use of fear appeal in getting people
to start doing thing they should is very common. Many ad message of
toothpaste employ this appeal. They present the fear of tooth decay or
unhealthy gums or bad breath, and then suggest the use of a specific
brand of toothpaste to get rid of such fears.
Fear appeals are at times used in ad messages in connection with
getting people to stop doing the things they shouldn’t do. The
advertisements relating to prohibition, prevention of losses and
conversation of energy fall in this category. The warning on the cigarette
packet that smoking is injurious to health is a typical example, even though
this is a statutory warning and advertisers themselves would not like to
include it in the ad on their own.
3. Moral Appeals:
Moral appeals are those appeals to the audience that appeal to
their sense of right and wrong. These are often used in message to arouse
a favourable to social causes, such as prohibition, audit literacy, social
forestry, anti-smuggling and hoarding, consumer protection, equal right for
woman, social responsibility projects of corporations’ rural development,
siding weaker sections of society, employment generation, and so on.
There are messages that appeal for generous donations for flood
victims and for famine relief operations-these are often based on moral
appeals.
51

52. Many commercial advertisements are criticized on moral grounds. The
most controversial ad campaigns are by multinational companies marketing
baby food products. Many WHO experts are critical of these corporations
that promote bottle-feeding against breast-feeding.
4. Sex Appeal:
Sex Appeal in contraceptive ads have become explicit and are more
visual than verbal, research has shown that non- sexual illustrations are
more effective than sexual one’s while under going brand recall. Because
people usually tend to remember the sexy illustrations and not the brand,
hence in some extent it dilute the brand, but I think it all depends upon the
amount of sexual content within particular ad and the way of
representation, possibly that’s not going to effect brand image obviously if
you are selling innerwear or contraceptive devices.
Direct and Indirect Appeals
1. Direct Appeals:
Direct appeals are those that clearly communicate with the
consumers about a given need, followed by a message that extols the
advertised brand as a product that satisfies that need.
In industrial advertising, some ad may have a direct appeal,
satisfying the consumer’s technical need; but, in consumer advertising, the
direct appeal plays a very limited role. In America, the hamburger was once
advertised with the hunger appeal. The ad said: “When you get a man-size
hunger, eat a whopper hamburger.”
52

53. 2. Indirect Appeals:
Indirect appeals are those that do not emphasis a human need, but
allude to a need. Because advertisers understand the influence of needs
upon selective perception, they leave some ambiguity in the message so
that the consumers may be free to interpret it and the need to which the
advertiser is appealing.
There are two types of indirect appeals:
1. Product –oriented indirect appeals:
 Feature-oriented appeals
 Use-oriented appeals
 Product comparison appeal
2. Consumer-oriented indirect appeals:
 Attitude-oriented appeals
 Significant group-oriented appeals
 Lifestyle –oriented appeals
 Sub-conscious-oriented appeals
 Image-oriented appeals
Essentials of an Advertisement
Appeal
53

54. 1. It must be thematically sound.
2. It must be communicative.
3. It must be interesting.
4. It must have credibility.
5. It must have finality and be complete.
6. It must contain truthful information.
Selling Points and Appeals
Selling points are those product attributes that are listed in the
advertisement copy to impress upon the consumer the significance of a
product to him. They could be specifications, quality statements,
composition statements, descriptive or narrative or performance
statements. Some selling points are primary selling points and the rest are
subsidiary selling points. Selling points in order to be effective must have
the force to appeal to a particular buying motive. So selling points
successfully touch upon the buying motives
Copy in advertising
54

55. The term ‘copy’ has been in use since the days of early printing
when the compositor was given a manuscript and told to copy it. Copt
means all the words in advertisements- whether written (printed) or spoken.
How an advertisement works
It begins with the PROMISE OF BENEFIT. It then provides
AMPLIFICATION or elaboration. The next thing an ad does is provide
PROOF. And finally it ends with a request or call for ACTION. Advertising
professionals call this the PAPA (Promise, Amplification, Proof, and Action)
formula.
The promise or benefit is expressed at the beginning through the
headline. Amplification and proof and provided by the subheadings and the
body copy. Finally, the end part of the body copy and sometimes the
slogan make a request or call for action.
1. The Headline
The headline is the most read part of an advertisement. So
advertiser tries to tell maximum part of the product story through the
headline. A headline introduces the product, makes the promise statement
or puts a question. It basically tries to attract the attention of the reader and
creates curiosity so that the reader reads further.
The major types of headlines are:
• Direct promise of benefit,
• News (of the product),
• Curiosity or provocative, and
• Command headlines.
Direct promise headlines make a direct promise about how the
product will benefit the readers.
55

56. News headlines provide some new ‘information’ and are called news
headline.
Curiosity or provocative statement, the headline tries to create a lot
of curiosity about the product. It also forces the customer to read the copy
and the promise is made in the copy.
In command headlines, the customers are urged to buy the product
by promising a reward. For example “buy one, get one free”
Another type of headline is the select headline. This is directed at the
headline scanners. Such a headline selects its own audience. For example
such headlines are: attention all housewives, for all young men over thirty
etc. such headlines can reach selected groups by either addressing them
directly or by discussing their specific problems.
2. The Sub-Headline
When the advertiser wants say a lot at the beginning but the headline
cannot do the job, then the subheading is used. The headline and
subheading together can contain a longer message. The subheading
usually spells out or elaborates. The promise made in the headline or it
stresses on the product’s unique feature.
3. Body Copy
Most customers want to know many facts before they decide upon
buying the product. These details are given in the body copy. When the
headline usually makes a claim, the body copy elaborates upon it and
provides supporting proof. When the headline poses a question, the
subheading answers it.
Sometimes readers want proof or evidence of the claim made in the
advertisement. So proofs about quality, performance, durability etc, are
provided through arguments, proof by experts, testimonials by user or
through demonstrations in the body copy.
The final aspect in an advertisement is a call for action. Through this,
most advertisements try to strengthen the readers’ determination to buy or
56

57. continue buying. The call for action takes several forms in an
advertisement. It is usually part of the body copy. ‘Visit our dealers’, ‘see
the product in action’, ‘send for a free booklet on how the get the best out of
our product’, ‘write to us the following address’, ‘call your local dealer for a
free demonstration’, ‘full this coupon for a free information booklet’, etc, are
example of calls for action.
4. Slogans
The term slogan comes from the Greek word sluagh gaim, meaning
battle cry. A slogan is a short and catchy phrase that gets the attention of
the audience is easy to remember and comes on the tongue easily.
A slogan could help to describe the use of a product. Suggest the
special advantage or importance of the product; create an overall image of
the company (you are in good hands, we bring good things to life, believe
in the best, better than the best etc.) guard against substitutes (COCA
COLA is the real things, Gold Spot: the zing thing) slogan are mostly
emotionally charged. They motivate the selling story is to be presented
through headline, subheading, body copy and slogan in the promise,
amplification, proof and action formula.
Style of Copy
Style of copy is the way of presenting information. Advertisers follow
two basic approaches- the factual approach and the emotional approach.
1. Factual Approach:
The factual or rational approach deals with reality or what actually
exists. It calls for focusing on those facts about the product that are of most
importance to the reader, and then explaining their advantages.
For example: the slogan is ‘no one can eat just one’ of Raffles Lays.
2. Emotional Approach:
57

58. There are certain aspects that cannot be measured, weighed or seen
and touched. These subjective values can only be felt or experienced. For
example, one Suzuki ad had this headline ‘SUZUKI conquers Boredom’.
It is followed by this copy:
Life has always been what you make it. Excitement or just routine. And the
line between freedom and feeling trapped can be as simple as two wheels-
something like getting on a Suzuki and breaking away. Getting out seeing
the rugged land you never see from inside your car………. It’s your life.
And you can make it anything you like. A phone call to your nearest Suzuki
dealer can be a whole new beginning.
The fast moving consumer goods like chocolates, cigarettes,
toothpastes, soaps, etc. mostly use the emotional approach.
The advertisements do not use only the factual or the emotional
approach. They mostly use the approaches in combined.
Visualization
Visualization means to think in terms of visuals or pictures.
Visualization requires visual thinking. For example, think about the entire
picture that comes to mind when you think of the word ‘grip’. It could be the
grip of handshake, it could be a kid gripping his grandfather’s finger, it
could be the grip of a claw or the grip of a tyre. These kind of perceptions
need to be portrayed in the advertisement.
Visualization is only limited by the visualiser’s imagination. Visuals
and pictures help people dream and project themselves into another time,
place, or situation. Pictures appeal to our hidden and suppressed emotions.
Also pictures communicate ideas quickly and easily. And there is almost no
chance of misinterpretation.
Visuals not only attract attention, they hold the interest and often tell
maximum part of the story. Visuals also identify the product, arouse
interest, create a favourable impression of the product or the advertiser,
clarify claims made in the copy, make demonstrations, emphasise the
58

59. unique features of the product. And finally visuals provide continuity for all
advertisements in the campaign through the use of similar visuals.
What to Show?
The visual options before advertising people are limitless. These
include;
 Package containing the product.
 Product alone.
 Product in use.
 Product features.
 Cross- section of product to show internal functioning.
 User benefit.
 Comparison of products.
 How to use the product.
 Charts and graphs.
Layout
An advertisement has two major components—copy and visuals.
The placement of copy and visuals has to be attractive and at the same
time, it has to present the advertising message forcefully. This placement of
copy and visuals is called layout.
A layout could be the first pencil sketches which puts the idea on
paper. A layout could be the final piece after finishing touches. Good
layouts are forceful, attractive and full of vigour. Bad layouts could be
tasteless, vulgar, and unimaginative.
Stages of layout:
Layout process starts with thinking on paper.
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60.  Thumbnail Sketches:
A copywriter and a visualiser sit together and create ideas. These
ideas help in creating more ideas. These hastily drawn ideas are called
thumbnail sketches and from the first stage of layout. These sketches
need not be shown to any one. But the copywriter and visualiser can
visualise how the ad would look after these thumbnails are polished and
given the finishing touches.
 Rough Sketch:
The second step in creating layout is to choose the best options
out of the thumbnail sketches and polish them.
In the rough stage, bigger layouts are made so that more details
can be accommodated. These rough layouts are presented to the
agency’s creative director for approval. Then the rough layout is further
polished.
 Comprehensive Stage:
In this stage the rough layout is enlarged to its actual size. All the
copy is lettered or composed. Proper borders and other marks are put
on the layout; photograph and other visuals are cut from other places or
photocopied and pasted.
This layout is easy to understand. This layout is presented to the
client for approval. One the client approves the layout; it is ready for the
final finishing touches.
 Art work:
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61. This is the final stage of layout. Here care is taken to look into
each minute detail. The copy is properly composed or lettered. Proper
photographs, paintings, sketches or graphics are used. Other elements
like borders etc. are properly placed. Colouring is done. Finishing artists
give the final touches. At this stage the ad is now ready to be printed.
Advertising Layout Strategy
Proportional guideline:
1. Illustration 65 %
2. Headline 10 %
3. Copy 20 %
4. Logo 5 %
100 % of space allocation (20%+ white space
1. Illustration
In most ads, the illustration is used to attract attention. Large, single
illustrations attracted the most attention (advertising recall studies by
Starch). Though the headline may be the "stopper", the illustration is the
most critical element in the ad's success. It can also visually communicate
product benefits and concept, and lead the reader into the headline and
copy.
2. Headline
61

62. The headline is used to attract attention, arouse interest, and make
the ad more attractive and readable. However, it should not be over 10
words and more than 15 % of the ad's total area.
3. Copy
Style of typeface used in the headline, subhead and copy will impact
the mood and readability of the ad. Mixed type should be either very similar
or very different. Mixing more than two (or three at most) different typefaces
makes an ad busy and confusing.
4. Logo
Because we read left to right and top to bottom, the logo or company
signature can be strategically placed in the lower right hand corner of an
ad. With this position, the logo is the last element we see and most likely
remember.
5. Direct the viewer's eye
From the page's top, down through the center and end at the page's
bottom.
The eye sees the illustration first, and then we read down from there
(David Ogilvy). Headlines located below the illustration pull 10% more
readers (research by Simmons).
6. Emphasis
The optical center of an ad is in the center and two-thirds up from the
bottom. This should be the ad's focal point.
Proportional use of space
The proportional use of space in an ad is dependent upon the product and
market target. Product ads that try to communicate an image (perfume,
jewelry, etc.) will have a greater proportion of illustration and little copy.
Conversely, an ad for a technical product will have more copy.
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63. 7. White Space
At least 20 % of an ad should be blank (white space). Ample white
space helps gain attention, create contrast, and unify the ad.
Principles of Layout
A good layout takes into consideration the principles of balance,
proportion, movement, unity, mood, photography drawing, colour,
typography.
1. Balance
Balance may be defined as a matter of weight distribution. In layout,
it is related to the optical center of an advertisement. All the elements must
be in equilibrium and this can be achieved through balance.
2. Proportion
Proportion is related to balance but is concerned primarily with the
division of the space and the emphasis that need to be accorded to each
element. Proportion also involve the tone of the advertisement, that is, the
amount of light area in relation to the dark area, the amount of colour
required or the decision to avoid colour.
3. Movement
The eyes follow a particular movement. While designing, the
designer must take care of the element of movement in a deliberate
manner. For example, if a character in the advertisement is gazing in a
particular direction, the possibility is that the reader will follow the
movement of the gaze. This ensures that the reader will follow of being
read.
4. Unity
The term unity means the unification of the layout. All the elements in
the advertisement must be united to form a composite whole. This is
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64. achieved when the elements tie into one another by making use of the
same basic shapes. Unity can be achieved by grouping the elements, by
encasing the advertisement in a border, by aligning one element with
another, or by the overlapping of elements.
5. Mood
Size, textures, colours, and the type all contributes towards creating
a mood for the advertisement. It is always ideal to choose type from one
family create the right harmony and mood. Similarly, the use of white space
also creates the appropriate mood.
6. Photography
Pictures in advertisements create a feeling of immediacy, live action,
speed, empathy, association, and flexibility. The pictures encompass a
variety of subjects and objects. These are selected on the basis of the aim
of the advertisement.
7. Drawings
Drawings are used in advertisements when the visualiser feels that
their impact will be more then that of photographs.
8. Colour psychology
Advertising cannot be complete without role of colour. Colour adds
realism, apart from beauty and distinctiveness. The right blend of colours
adds a dash of magic to the advertisement. Colours have a psychology of
their own and various colours depict various moods.
What Are the Best Colors for Advertising?
The best colors for advertising are those that make people
comfortable or stimulate their senses. A color scheme that incorporates
warm colors encourages people to linger, leading restaurants to choose
deep burgundy, burnt orange and similar colors. They stimulate warmth
and comfort, and when people relax over dinner, they are more likely to
enjoy a leisurely dessert or a nice cup of coffee, thus spending more
money.
64

65. Hot colors are some of the best colors for advertising when it comes
to products like fast food. Bright red and yellow are hot colors, indicative of
fire, and they stimulate excitement. Warm and hot colors will encourage
people to eat more, which translate to revenue.
Cool colors have their own niche. Colors like green and blue are
some of the best colors for advertising when it comes to over-the-counter
medicines and other health products. Blue is associated with tranquility,
and also represents water, a life force.
Colors like sky blue and certain shades of green can also be
effective, since they evoke the feeling of being outdoors.
According to research, black and white can be two of the best colors
for advertising. They are used to signify power and create a sense that the
company is highly professional. Often a splash of color, such as red, is
included to accent the starkness.
9. Typography
Typography is another area that requires careful consideration,
especially in print advertising material. It involves various types, which
convey specific moods and ambience. Type styles are chosen keeping in
view the objectives and strategy of the campaign.
USP or Unique Selling
Proportion
65

66. The Unique Selling Proposition (a.k.a. Unique Selling Point or USP) is a
marketing concept that was first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern
among successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. It states that
such campaigns made unique propositions to the customer and that this
convinced them to switch brands. The term was invented by Rosser
Reeves of Ted Bates & Company.
A number of businesses currently use USPs as a basis for their
marketing campaigns. Contents
1. Definition
2. Examples
1. Definition
In Reality in Advertising (Reeves 1961, pp. 46–48) Reeves laments
that the U.S.P. is widely misunderstood and gives a precise definition in
three parts:
i. Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer. Not
just words, not just product puffery, not just show-window advertising.
Each advertisement must say to each reader: "Buy this product, and
you will get this specific benefit.
ii. The proposition must be one that the competition either cannot, or
does not, offer. It must be unique—either a uniqueness of the brand
or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising.
iii. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions,
i.e., pull over new customers to your product.
2. Examples
66

67. Some good current examples of products with a clear USP are:
1. Head & Shoulders: "You get rid of dandruff"
2. Some unique propositions that were pioneers when they were
introduced:
 Domino's Pizza: "You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in
30 minutes or less -- or it's free."
 FedEx: "When your package absolutely, positively has to get there
overnight"
 M&M's: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
 Wonder Bread: "Wonder Bread Helps Build Strong Bodies 12 Ways"
But their "uniqueness" is debatable (for example Head & Shoulders
is hardly unique in its claim) and it's not entirely clear what a 'proposition'
actually is. It is simply an assertion of a product benefit? By these
standards any assertion about a product could be called a USP.
Copy Testing
67

68. Constant and periodic evaluation or testing of the ad campaign or
copy at various stages is required to judge the effectiveness of the
campaign.
Testing of an advertising copy is conducted by three strategies:
1. Pre-testing
2. Concurrent testing
3. Post-testing.
1. Pre-testing
This is conducted after the creative execution is over and before the
advertisements are placed in the media.
The prepared ads are shown to a cross section of the largest
audience. If they like the ads then they are released to be placed in the
various media otherwise the ads are changed accordingly
Pre-testing of advertising copy take the following steps:
Pre-Testing
i. Concept
Testing
ii. Rough Testing
iii. Finished Art or
Commercial
Testing
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69. i. Concept Testing:
It is the basic communication concept around which a campaign
or copy may be developed. The objective of concept testing is to explore
consumers’ responses to ad concepts. It expressed in words, pictures,
or symbols.
A. Method
Alternatives are exposed to consumers who match
the target audience.
Reaction and evaluations are sought through focus
groups, direct questioning, surveys, etc.
Sample sizes depend on the number of concepts and
the consensus of responses.
B. Output
Qualitative and quantitative data evaluating and
comparing alternative concepts.
ii. Rough Testing:
Rough testing is based on the early stage testing. These tests
indicate how the finished advertisement would perform.
A rough ad unfinished execution that may fall into three broad
categories:
A. Animatic Rough
• Succession of drawings/ cartoons.
• Rendered art work.
• Still frames.
• Simulated movement: planning/ zooming of
frames/ rapid sequence
.
B. Photomatic Rough
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70. • Succession of photographs.
• Real people/ scenary.
• Still frames.
• Simulated movement: planning/ zooming of
frames/ rapid sequence
C. Live Action Rough
• Live motion.
• Stand-in/ non-union talent.
• Non-union crew.
• Limited props/ minimal optical.
• Local settings.
iii. Finished Art or Commercial Testing:
The basic purpose of finished art or copy testing is to establish
whether the message content and presentation are likely to perform their
allocated task efficiently and what changes and improvement may be
helpful. Finished art/copy testing involves the following tests:
1). Laboratory
• Consumer Juries
• Physiological Measures (eye tracking, awareness and
recall measures)
• Portfolio Test (respondents are exposed to a portfolio
consisting of both control and test ads.)
• Theater Tests (respondents are invited by telephone, mail
or tickets.)
• Comprehension and Reaction Tests (personal interviews/
surveys to measure respondents’ comprehension of the
ad.)
70

71. 2). Field
• Dummy Ad Vehicles (e.g., an ad is placed in “dummy”
magazines developed by an agency or research firm.
Recall, readership and interest of the ads are assessed.)
• On-air Tests [inserting the commercials into actual TV
programme. Then, on air testing is carried out (e.g.,
Nielsen is well known provider of on-air tests).]
2. Concurrent testing
This is done while the campaign is running i.e. when the ads have
been placed in the media. The reaction of the target audience to the ads
(including the recognition, recall, etc.) is collected through research. If the
ads are being liked by the target audience and doing well in terms of
increasing sales, then no changes are required otherwise the necessary
change are brought about to make the ads more attractive, appealing and
acceptable.
3. Post-testing
This is done after the campaign is over i.e., after the ads have
been published aired or broadcast for the duration decided. The results are
matched with the original objectives (both advertising and marketing
objectives).
The main purpose of post- testing is to evaluate the effectiveness of
the campaign and to learn lesson for future campaigns. This way one can
repeat effective and successful practices and avoid or change ineffective
practices.
Under post-testing, the following techniques or method or tests are
employed for measuring the effectiveness of the advertisement copy.
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72. 1. Recall Test
Under this technique, the reader is shown a magazine covered is asked
whether he has read that issue. If answer is yes, he asked to describe
anything he remembers after seeing that issue.
2. Recognition Test
In the recognition test, the reader is merely required to say whether
he has or has not seen or heard about the advertisement copy. If the
answer is yes, it is presumed that the advertisement is effective. This test is
conduct by personal interviews with readers or magazines or newspapers.
3. Association Test
This test measures the degree of brand name learning among its
users. The advertiser attempts to know consumer’s association of brands
with some benefits or the other. In the association test, the reader is pr
ovided with clues or ideas with which he is asked to associate a brand
name.
Post-Testing
Method
Recall Test
Recognition
Test
Association
Test
Attention
Test
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73. 4. Attention Tests
How the advertiser recogise is that in order to present their message
effectively, they must secure the attention of prospective customers whom
they want to influence. Measurements of attention tests are, thus, of
considerable importance.
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74. Plagiarism
Plagiarism, in its simplest sense, means copying. Plagiarism could
be called conceptual larceny. It appropriates the creative platform of
another ad. In India, sometimes we find that our ads are Xeroxes of some
popular western campaigns. Creative people in the ad agencies refer to
one show (for film/ print ads), black book (for photography), design and art
direction and the creative circle award for films. Plagiarism affects the
creative process adversely.
Advertising Agencies Association of India should address itself to the
problem of plagiarism. It is necessary to lay down guidelines for deciding
which ad must go off the media, if two of them are found to be similar.
Recently, Cadbury milk chocolate and Pepsi food’s Lehar namkin ads were
similar. Both of these depict a girl with henna-covered hands making a
series of contortions to get a bite of the respective products. It is true that
Cadbury’s dairy milk ad appeared first. However, the agency that created
Lehar nankeens ad claims that it was working on the theme for quite
sometime, and it has not been inspired by the Cadbury’s dairy milk ad. The
similarity could be just a co-incidence. But withdrawl of one them was
necessary to avoid the confusion in consumer’s mind. Norms related to
such controversies must be drawn up urgently.
74

75. Case Study
75

76. TempTaTion Campaign
Agency: Contract
Background
 The current state of market.
 The need gap analysis.
Campaign Objective
 To create a new premium category in the chocolate market.
 To communicate to the chocolate lover segment the availability of a
truly international chocolate eating experience.
The target audience
 Going beyond demographics and understanding the real chocolate
lover
 The importance of taste, the eating experience- what it should be,
what it means
Creative strategy
 Brand positioning
 The brand proposition
 The communication objective
 Challenges faced while developing communication
Bringing It Alive in Media
The strategy
 Conventional Media supported by Innovation
For example:- TV, Outdoor, Press
Innovations
 Web site- www.temptationsworld.com
 Contest linked to purchase
 Advertising at ATM kiosks
 sampling exercise at restaurants
 Week- Long Promotion at Crossword Book Store
 Cinema Slide- before the movie
Evidence of Result
Objective Achieved
 Sales
 Market share
 Brand awareness
76

77. KineTiC sTyle
Agency: Mundra
Upsetting the applecart in the scooterette category. In
Style!
Circa 1994, TVS launches Scooty, thereby creating a new category-
The scooterette. It picks up market share and dominates the category with
over 70% market share since launch.
The strength of Scooty being lower cost, the key segment that used it was
the college going teenagers in India, although it carried a disadvantage of a
lower powered engine (60cc.). It was preferred gearless scooter for those
who could not afford a Kinetic.
Kinetic perceived immense opportunity to supplement its brand
equity in the lower segment. To take the bull by the horns, Kinetic launched
Style in 1999.
Style was functionally superior in many aspects. Firstly, it came with
a 75cc power packed engine complemented with wider plusher seats and
more storage space. A better product spiced with the right kind of
communication might just about be enough to wrest market share from the
leader it was reckoned.
The whole strategy was distilled to the following objectives.
Communicate functional superiority of Kinetic Style with regard the space
and power, there by reposition TVS Scooty and eat into its sales.
Who should Style speak to?
In this non-aspiration category given the propensity to switch to
motorcycles, targeting female collegians would make the Style effeminate.
Working executives were more rational in their purchase decisions and
were sold out to motorcycles for want to economy.
77

78. Also, research threw up the fact that for young male collegians, a
scooterette served as a surrogate motorcycle- Their ultimate dream. Also, a
scooterette was seen to be a grudge purchase since parents were decision
makers. A product proposition of better power and comfort would appeal
more giving them vicarious pleasures of owning a motorcycle.
Style honed in on the key insight.
“Collegians rarely traveled single. They always moved around in pairs with
friends.”
The product strengths of bigger seats, more engine capacity couple
with the competitive need gap of underpowered engine gave birth to the
creative hook-Twins.
While twins fought for comfort all along their childhood trying to fit
into spaces like a bathtub and a swing, the moment they find themselves
on a Kinetic Style, their fights cease. They now had found a vehicle that
was perfectly “Made for two.”
Press and outdoor was used to launch the style regionally, and then
TV followed it in a mix of regional and national channels.
Was style successful?
Sales of Style picked up by almost 200 %( 1247units p.m. - 3654
units p.m.) gaining directly from Scooty sales (16848 units p.m. – 12112
units p.m.).
Apart from this image perception as per the IMRB research
LINKTEST model post communication confirmed the following findings:
 Kinetic Style is more powerful and spacious than other scooterette.
 Kinetic Style can seat two people comfortably unlike other
scooterette.
 Kinetic Style is a ‘scooterette-Made for Two’.
Kinetic thus romped home with more sales and improved brand
image……….in Style
78

79. HiTaCHi air-CondiTioners:
“perfeCT!”
Agency: Leo Burnett
Market Scenario
The market for Room Air- conditioners was small and crowed with
entrenched players and multi- product, multi- national brands. The market
was largely undifferentiated and besotted by “me-too” functional and
cooling claims and category clichés. The presence of a large unorganized
sector, the small market size and historically “low involvement” nature of
the product ensured that the market was highly price sensitive. Brands rely
heavily on dealer push, familiarity and incentives.
Market challenge
To penetrate this market with at least 50% growth without
compromising on a price premium of at least 10% (on the assumption, that
the market will grow at about 30% which was the reported growth for the
previous year).
The role of advertising in this ambitious target was to bring Hitachi
into the consideration set of the prospective customer.
To that end it was imperative to- build awareness- create salience for the
brand as a superior technology product (in a market where technology had
never been driver).
What was it that the campaign was designed to
achieve then
 To bring alive the unique and customized features that made Hitachi
Logi Cool a superior and premium product offering.
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80.  Thereby create a place for Hitachi’s technology in a market that had
not seen any significant product improvement for many years.
Who was the most likely target?
Hitachi’s most likely audience, at this stage, was a relatively younger
male. A new generation AC buyer, at ease with technology and gizmos.
Unafraid to indulge pleasure and comfort. His need to own the latest, and
most importantly his need to assert his individuality, formed the stepping
stone to the creative.
Creative Strategy
Step 1.
Create a brand halo: “Logi Cool”. Logi Cool became both an umbrella
and a hook that delivered credibility and value.
Step 2.
Bring alive the technology.
For those who seek perfection as a creative platform allowed us to deliver
the brand’s core proposition, in a manner that not just engaged but
appealed to the core target group. It brought to the fore Hitachi’s ability to
cater to a very basic insight: the “perfect temperature” is a very personal
need. The bald, bearded, fussy protagonist, who ran across
communication, delivered an extreme and exaggerated version of the
brand’s obsession with “perfection”.
 Television commercials used suitable humour and engaging,
unconventional formats to complement the mystery of the Logi Cool
technology, making it warmer and more relevant.
 Press advertising took the Logi Cool claim further, disseminating
information and driving traffic.
80

81.  Magazine advertising meanwhile delivered the “Brand Hitachi.”
What were the results?
 Awareness levels shot up.
 Spontaneous awareness grew by about 52%, reflecting the emergence
of the brand in the active consideration set.
 The brand showed very positive scores on “technology”, among the set
of “spontaneously aware consumers”.
 The market failed to grow at even a third of its projection, but the brand
exceeded its targets.
 Most importantly, in a market that saw prices plummeting and brands
jostling for a share of the pie, Hitachi maintained its price premium
without compromising volume objectives.
81

82. World searCH CHampionsHip
Yahoo! Launches the World Search Championship in association with
Chevrolet
In a unique endeavor Yahoo! Search went on the look out for the
World Champion in Search. World Search Championship is aimed at
today’s generation that is constantly seeking the 'New' and provides them
with a completely new experience on Search. The championship had
randomly generated questions thrown up to users and had pre-populated
Yahoo! Search bar which was programmed to pick up the relevant query,
giving the user an advantage and opportunity to experience the Search.
Chevrolet came on board as the presenting sponsor with its offering
Beat, a car that is a powerful call to action in itself. The Beat is radically
fresh, it inspires love and just like every Chevrolet, it delivers value without
compromise.
Chevrolet, the presenting sponsor, believed in the association.
Ankush Arora, Vice President - Sales, Marketing & After-Sales, General
Motors, said, "Chevrolet wants to be a pioneer in digital media. And since
Yahoo! is a leader in the digital space, the association works well for GM.
Chevrolet is constantly looking for engagement platforms and the search
championship has given good results in the past. With the company’s focus
on the mini segment, our TG core is now the youth and the activity helps
address the target audience."
And the platform engaged and how. The Search Championship drew
1.3 MM Unique Users and close to 10 MM Page Views. Also many of the 5
lakh users, who registered on the site, opted for a Beat Test Drive,
delivering its core target audience to Chevrolet.
82

83. CoCa-Cola "open Happiness" Campaign
The case is about Atlanta-based beverage giant Coca-Cola
Company's (Coca-Cola Company) global integrated advertising campaign
"Open Happiness". The campaign was launched in the first half of 2009 in
markets around the world with the aim of increasing sales of sparkling
beverages of the Coca-Cola Company. At a time when the weakened
economy was sapping soft drink sales, the "Open Happiness" campaign
invited people around the world to refresh themselves with a Coke and
continue to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.
The case discuses the various campaigns launched by the Coca-
Cola Company over the years and the role played by these campaigns in
enhancing the brand image of Coca-Cola.
The case also focuses on the "Coke Side of Life" launched in 2006 to
revive sales of Coca-Cola. The "Coke Side of Life" campaign invited people
to choose Coke and live positively. The objective of the campaign was to
make Coke more relevant to customers by creating a multi-cultural platform
in markets across the world. With the global economic recession and with
consumers drifting towards non-carbonated drinks, the company was
facing many difficulties. In order to boost its sales, the company decided to
create a new campaign and roll it out globally.
The case discusses in detail the objectives and various elements of
the "Open Happiness" campaign which included new point of sale,
promotions, outdoor and print advertising, digital and music components.
The case details the launch of the campaign in various countries and how it
was adapted in accordance with the tastes and preferences of the people
in those countries. The case also discusses the initial reactions to the
"Open Happiness" campaign. Some analysts felt that the campaign might
be successful in achieving its objective as it was able to extend the reach of
Coca-Cola to wider markets while others were apprehensive that it would
not succeed. The case concludes with thoughts on how the global
campaign could be made more effective so that it strikes the right chord
with its consumers in different countries.
83

84. niKe’s “JusT do iT” adverTising Campaign
According to Nike company lore, one of the most famous and easily
recognized slogans in advertising history was coined at a 1988 meeting of
Nike’s ad agency Wieden and Kennedy and a group of Nike employees.
Dan Wieden, speaking admiringly of Nike’s can-do attitude, reportedly said,
“You Nike guys, you just do it.” The rest, as they say, is (advertising)
history. After stumbling badly against archrival Reebok in the 1980s, Nike
rose about as high and fast in the ‘90s as any company can. It took on a
new religion of brand consciousness and broke advertising sound barriers
with its indelible Swoosh, “Just Do It” slogan and deified sports figures.
Nike managed the deftest of marketing tricks: to be both anti-establishment
and mass market, to the tune of $9.2 billion dollars in sales in 1997. —Jolie
Soloman “When Nike Goes Cold” Newsweek, March 30, 1998 The Nike
brand has become so strong as to place it in the rarified air of recession
proof consumer branded giants, in the company of Coca- Cola, Gillette and
Proctor & Gamble. Brand management is one of Nike’s many strengths.
Consumers are willing to pay more for brands that they judge to be superior
in quality, style and reliability. A strong brand allows its owner to expand
market share, command higher prices and generate more revenue than its
competitors. With its “Just Do It” campaign and strong product, Nike was
able to increase its share of the domestic sport-shoe business from 18
percent to 43 percent, from $877 million in worldwide sales to $9.2 billion in
the ten years between 1988 and 1998. Nike spent $300 million on overseas
advertising alone; most of it centered on the “Just Do It” campaign.
The success of the campaign is that much more remarkable when
one considers that an estimated 80 percent of the sneakers sold in the U.S.
are never used for the activities for which they have been designed. Nike’s
marketing tactics in the ‘80s, and in particular its campaign against Reebok,
gambled on the idea that the public would accept sneakers as fashion
statements. Nike later cashed in on the jogging/fitness craze of the mid
1980s, during which its “Just Do It” campaign expanded to attract the
female and teenage consumer, in addition to the stalwart 18 – 40-year-old
male consumer. (Nike was losing ground to Reebok during this time,
thanks to the explosion of RES3:990108 2 aerobics.) Phil Knight, the
founder and CEO of Nike, suffused his company and ads with the idea of
the intense, inwardly focused competitor. The ads rarely focused on the
84

85. product itself, but on the person wearing the product. Heroes and hero
worship abound on the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon.
The “Just Do It” campaign seemed to capture the corporate
philosophy of grit, determination and passion, but also infused it with
something hitherto unknown in Nike ads—humor. Nike had always been
known for its “detached, determined, unsentimental” attitude. “In a word,
[Nike is] cool.”
The new ads retained that attitude, but several of the original 12
“Just Do It” ads incorporate jokes, explicit and implicit, to make their point.
The Bo Jackson ad stands out. Jackson is seen working out at several
different activities, joking while on a bike machine, “Now when is that Tour
de France thing?” and after slam dunking a basketball contemplates “Air
Bo.” “I like the sound of that,” he says. The “Just Do It” campaign received
mixed ratings, ranging from “an instant classic” to “sociopathic.” One critic
went so far as to say the ads were “an impatient bordering- on-
contemptuous exhortation to the masses. Cool is one thing. Poverty of
warmth is another.” Eventually the campaign was credited with embracing
not just resolve and purpose, but also the “beauty, drama and moral uplift
of sport—even, every now and then, fun.”
Linking the Campaign to Consumer Needs
Through its “Just Do It” campaign, Nike was able to tap into the
fitness craze of the 1980s. Reebok was sweeping the aerobics race and
gaining huge market share in the sneaker business. Nike responded to that
by releasing a tough, take-no prisoners ad campaign that practically
shamed people into exercising, and more importantly, to exercising in
Nikes.
The “Just Do It” campaign was also effective in reassuring
consumers that the brand they picked, Nike, was a quality brand. This was
most effectively portrayed by celebrity sports figures such as Bo Jackson,
John McEnroe and later, Michael Jordon. If Michael Jordan can play an
entire NBA season in a pair of Nikes, certainly the average weekend
warrior can trust the shoes’ durability. Celebrity endorsements also
appealed to the consumers’ sense of belonging and “hipness,” as Nike
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