Advertising
Design
Different Appeals

Seven major types of advertising
appeals
 FEAR
 HUMOR
 SEX
 MUSIC
 RATIONALITY
 EMOTIONS
 SCARCITY

Which appeal to be used?
 Should be based on a review of the
creative brief
 The objective of the ad.
And
 The means-end-chain to be
conveyed

Final choice could depend on:
1. The product being sold
2. The personal preferences of the
advertising creative and the account
executive
3. The wishes of the client
4. Ad. Experts do know that certain appeals
are not effective in certain cases like sex
appeals not being effective when used in
the context of products unrelated to sex

Fear
 Insurance companies
use ads. that deal with
consequences of
untimely death
 Shampoo and mouthwash ads.
Invoke fears of dandruff and bad
breadth
 Advertisers use fear appeals plainly
because it works

 Fear increases both the viewer’s interest
in an ad. and the persuasiveness of the
ad. Many individuals remember ‘fear’ ads.
far better than the ones dealing with
warm and upbeat messages. Consumers
who pay more attention to an ad. is likely
to process the information it carries.
Various incidents can lead to negative and
positive consequences which then might
affect future behavior.

Example an ad. on
“Smoking and Fear:
Which wins out?”

 Fear ads. match well with certain
types of goods and services,
especially products that eliminate
problems or threats to a consumer’s
sense of personal security. We
should however decide if fear is a
good choice or if some other type of
appeal offers greater promise.

Humor
 Humor has proven to be
one of the best techniques
for cutting through clutter.
Humor can be effective at
both getting attention and
keeping it.
Something that
is funny has intrusive value
and grabs attention.

 Humor is used in about 24% of
prime time television ads. and 35%
of radio ads. Humorous ads often
win awards at the International
Advertising Film Festival at Cannes.
 Humor causes consumers to:
1. Watch
2. Laugh
3. And most importantly remember

 A funny ad captures the viewer’s
attention, cuts through ad clutter,
enhances recall, and elevates people’s
moods. Happy consumers can associate a
good mood with the advertiser’s products
.
 Humorous ads can go wrong; humor fails
when only the joke in the ad only is
remembered and not the product or the
brand!

 Sarcasm and joke made at someone’s
expense are often popular with younger
audiences but not necessarily among older
generations or the affluent. Put downs and
cruel jokes may not be liked by older
people.
 Humor is universal; but it should not hurt
the cultural sentiments of the locals,
minorities, and others. Humorous ads are
difficult to design. Humor ads that do not
work can create negative image for the
company.

Ford Ka
This humorous ad shows a pigeon sitting on tree branch
with a Ford Ka parked nearby. The bird swoops down to
bomb the car, but at the last minute the car hood springs
up and knocks the bird out.

Sex
 Sexual appeals are
often used as means to
break through clutter.
Nudity and other sexual
approaches are common.
Sex, however no longer
sells the way it used to
as it seems to have lost
shock value.

 Sexuality has been employed in
advertising in five ways:
1. Subliminal techniques – approaches
that place sexual cues or icons in
advertisement in the attempt to
affect a viewer’s subconscious
mind.

2. Nudity or partial
nudity – used to
promote sale of
clothing, perfume,
and cologne

3. Overt sexuality – using overt
sexuality in ads for products that
are sexually oriented is normally
accepted, but it often becomes
controversial when used for other
products.

4. Sexual suggestiveness

5. Sensuality
Many respond more
favorably to a sensual
suggestion than an
overtly sexual approach

Are sex appeals effective?
 There have been numerous studies of
sexual appeals and nudity. Most of them
conclude that sex and nudity do increase
attention, regardless of the gender of the
model in the ad or the gender of the
audience. Normally, the attention is
greater for opposite-sex situations than
same-sex situations. To encourage both
males and females to pay attention to its
ads, Guess often uses a male and female
in a sexually provocative manner in a
single advertisement.

 Although sexually oriented ads
attract attention, brand recall for ads
using sex appeal is lower than ads
using other appeals.

Musical Appeals
 Music helps capture the listeners’
attention. Music is linked to:
 Emotions
 Memories and
 Other Experiences

 Music can be intrusive that it gains
the attention of somebody who was
not previously listening to or a
watching a program.
 Music can tie up a product or service
with a certain jingle or musical piece.
For example the ‘Intel” tune is
immediately recognized by computer
buffs

 Musical memories are often stored in
long-term recall areas of the brain.
Most people can remember tunes
even from their childhood days.
 Music plays a number of roles in ads.
Sometimes the music is incidental
and in other cases, it may be the
primary theme of the ad.

 The use of music can sometimes misdirect the
audience for a surprise ending. In a Volkswagen
commercial shot in the streets
of New Orleans people are
seen sweeping streets,
bouncing basketball, and
unloading a truck with the
end line “ That was
Interesting” and the VW
logo followed.

 Sometimes a decision involves about the
selection of a familiar tune versus creating
original music for an ad. Common
approach is to prepare an original jingle or
musical score specifically for the
advertisement. Background or mood-
inducing music is usually instrumental and
advertisers often pay musicians to write
music that matches the scenes in the ad.

 Using a well-known tune in an ad has its
own advantages. The primary benefit is
that the listeners have already developed
an affinity for the song. Brand awareness,
brand equity, and brand loyalty are easier
to develop when consumers are familiar
with the music. This happens when
consumers transfer an emotional affinity
for the song to the product.

Rational Appeals
 A rational appeal follows the hierarchy of
effects stages of awareness, knowledge,
liking, preference, conviction, and
purchase. Creatives design ads for one of
the six steps.
 An ad oriented to the knowledge stage will
transmit a basic product information.
 In the preference stage, the ad shifts to
presenting logical reasons why one brand
is superior such as the mileage of a motor
cycle or safety record of a pressure
cooker.

 A rational ad leads to a stronger
conviction about a product’s benefits so
that it might lead toward a purchase.
 Rational appeals rely on consumers
actively processing the presented
information . The consumer may pay
attention to the commercial , comprehend
the message, and compare the message
to knowledge embedded in a cognitive
map.

Print media offer the best
outlets for rational appeals.
Print ads allow readers greater
opportunities to process copy
information. Unlike in the case of TV and Radio,
the audience can pause and deliberate on the
contents. B2B advertisers profusely use print
media. Many advertising account executives
believe that the trade journals are the best media
to reach the buying center.

 Conventional advertising wisdom is that
the rational appeals are well suited for
high involvement and complex products.
High-involvement decisions require
considerable cognitive activity , and
consumers spend more time evaluating
the attributes of the individual brands.
Rational appeals is superior to other
appeals in developing or changing
attitudes and established brand beliefs.

Emotional
Appeals

 Emotional appeals are based on three
ideas:
1. First, consumers ignore most
advertisements
2. Second, rational appeals go unnoticed
unless the consumer is in the market for a
particular product at the time it is
advertised.
3. Third, emotional advertising can capture a
viewer’ attention and foster an attachment
between the consumer and the brand.
 .

 Emotional advertising is often used
for developing brand loyalty.
Emotional appeals reach the most
creative right side of the brain.
Visual cues in ads are important in
emotional appeals. The visual
elements in the New Balance Ad
shown above contribute to a feeling
or mood of serenity.

Emotions used in advertising
 Trust
 Reliability
 Friendship
 Happiness
 Security
 Glamour-luxury
 Serenity
 Anger
 Protecting loved ones
 Romance
 Passion
 Family bonds with
parents
siblings
children
extended family
members

 TV is the best media for emotional
appeals. TV offers advertisers
intrusion value and can utilize both
sound and sight. Models in the ads
can be “real people”. Facial
expressions can convey emotions
and attitudes. Consumers learn
about a particular product and
develop attitudes based on those
vicarious experiences.

Scarcity Appeals
 Scarcity appeals urge consumers to buy a
particular product because of a limitation.
Platforms are:
 Limited number of products available
 Products are available for limited time
McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King
offer sandwiches (McRib, Hot N’ Spicy
Chicken, Dollar Whoppers) for limited time
periods through out the year.

 It is also used for musical
compilations or books which are
limited in availability
 A manufacturer may advertise a
limited price discount for a car or an
apartment, say up to December 31St
 Primary benefit of scarcity appeals is
that they encourage action from the
customers

The Structure of an Advertisement
Usually all ads would contain
following five ingredients:
1. The promise of a benefit, or the
headline
2. The spelling out of the promise, a
subheadline
3. Amplification
4. Prof of the claim
5. Action to take

Headlines
 In print ads headlines are crucial: after
seeing the visual first, the reader would
scan the headline. To keep the potential
customer interested, some method
(rational, emotional, humor) is used to
move the reader to the rest of the copy.
Typical features of a headline are that the
words are short, simple, and limited (less
than 12), inviting or interest-provoking,
and action oriented and portray enough
information to let the buyer know about
the product while appealing most directly
to the target audience.

 A headline should not be mistaken for a
tagline.
 A tagline is the key phrase within the
advertising copy.
 Subheadline, or spelling out the promise,
accompanies the headlines. In some
instances where the headlines are very
powerful enough by itself, subheadlines
will be missing.

 Amplification is the text or the body
copy. The wording should be concise. The
unique selling proposition or the major
selling idea is portrayed in the copy. The
company can be factual, imaginative, or
emotional in its approach. Amplification
copy is more important in the case of B2B
ads. Where complex features of a product
may have to be divulged.

 Proof of the claim include seals of
approval (e.g., Good Housekeeping),
guarantees (money back if not fully
satisfied), trial offers and samples,
warranties, demonstrations, and
testimonials.
 ‘The action to take’ : ‘buy now’, ‘stop by
for a free sample’, ‘tell your friends’, ‘give
us an opportunity to serve you’, ‘take a
test drive’. The action may follow the
route of the hierarchy of effects model:
awareness, knowledge, liking, preference,
conviction, or purchase