Advertising Techniques and Methods

Designing an ad requires a lot of work and ingenuity, but as much creativity a copywriter
would have, there still is a planning that is required to be met. It doesn't guarantee the
success, but it makes more efficient the work of ad creator. Simplified in two phases, the
planning should be the one below.

The first stage consists in determining the category of the ad, according to the
classification: national advertising, regional advertising, local advertising; advertising for
retail trade, industrial advertising, and professional advertising. The second phase
consists in establishing the five basic elements of planning the strategy, which bears this
name because the changing of any of them means the changing of the advertising
campaign. These elements are:

1. The client (the sponsor) and its reputation. Since the sponsor is the one who will
benefit and the one who pays, there must be known, in advance, some information about
the company size, its financial position, whether it is or not a traditional company, its
reputation, its model of distribution and marketing and who its clients are.

2. The product or idea that represents the image of the advertising. There must be studied
the characteristics of the product, the performances exposed compared to the real one,
how different it is from other products on the market, a trait of character (beneficial
ownership) to distinguish it from other products, how attractive it is for the buyers. An
essential point is the position of the product in its life cycle, whether it is new, old, rising
or declining. After this identification, a copywriter should be able to make a list of the
most appealing features of the product, known as sale of assets. The most important asset
should be in the top of the list. The advertising will contain a maximum of three assets,
the most important asset being the dominant asset.

3. The audience or the public (customers, buyers, and final users). The information about
them can be obtained from surveys, survey-based questionnaire formal or informal
interview, but they must be real and objective. Now matter WHO, WHERE, WHEN,
HOW and WHY he buys!

4. The advertising objectives. These can be:

a) Institutional; there are expected results in perspective and it's outlined the prestige of
the company, the low price, the 'efficient' value, the quality received for that price.

b) On product; there are expected seasonal or immediate results and the advertising
promotes a new product and the policy of the stable prices.

5. The way or the communication environment represents several information channels,

by which the message of the advertiser reaches the customer. The message can be
exposed in newspapers, magazines, mail (known in the Anglo-Saxon literature as "direct
mail"), "points of sale': posters, postcards, pins or radio and television/. Here are two very
important things: who will read the ad (audience magazines, newspapers, radio-TV
broadcasts) and the costs so that we are able to respect the advertising budget.

The advertising campaign

In the national ad for large enterprises, the ad plan is developed one year before. The year
is calculated from January 1, but more often it's considered the fiscal year, which begins
with the month with the highest volume of sales.

The planning of these programs starts with six months to a year before. The promotion
consists of a series of ads related to a product (service) which generally have the same
objective or central unifying idea. This can be expressed in several ways, but each ad has
a "family resemblance" with the other. This ensures maximum impact on the buyer.

Regardless of the budget, the continuity of a unified campaign makes that each campaign
to contribute to the following one. The central ideas can be categorized into four classes:

1) Verbal - a combination of words that will form the title of an ad campaign;

2) visual- photos, aesthetics, design;

3) A combination of the first two - there are applicable to those ads that are unified, ad
after ad, from the verbal title and visual illustrations;

4) Thematic - which refers to the core of the ad, to the message, which in the world of
American professional ad bears the name of "advertising copy" or simply "copy".

The visualization of the ad

The task of illustrating advertising belongs to the director of the department of art of
advertising agency. The creator of advertising or the "copywriter" must create the words
used in the ad and the basic concept. Therefore he must be able to think graphically, to
express his ideas and preferences to the drawer and must do it in a clear way, using fully
the different methods in which a product can be viewed.

Many designers think visually. That does not mean that they are able to draw. The
general opinion is that there are 20 ways of viewing which cover all possible situations,
and these are:

1. Illustration of a single product (the profile photo of a person);

2. The product in a frame (a person in a room full of people);

3. The product being used (the teacher writes a formula on the blackboard);
4. The illustration of a benefit resulting from the use of the product (the teacher next to
three students who look happy because of their diplomas);

5. The illustration of a disadvantage arising from the lack of usage of the product (the
teacher showing the list with the students who failed to the test);

6. Title staging is one of the strongest possible views. When it's well done, it's so efficient
that you can't say if the title or the illustrations have been created first.

7. The proof staging. (The teacher in sandals and shorts, receiving the Nobel prize for
Economics);

8. Dramatizing a detail. (The teacher confused by the volume of works prepared by

students);

9. The comparison (the product versus other similar product);

10. The contrast -the product compared with a totally different object: a picture 'before'
and 'after', the advertising brand and an inferior brand.

11. Cartoons;

12. Commercial mascots;

13. Maps and diagrams - very useful in advertising and technical trade. When used as
advertisements for consumer (public), they reduce the 'technical' appearance;

14. X-rays, a section of the product. They are never real, but they can be very realistic;

15. Symbolism - the illustration of an object that has acquired significance beyond the
literary - a shoe, a laurel wreath with two hearts together, a heart pierced by an arrow,
etc..;

16. Abstract illustration - used for advertising ideas or advertising services;

17. A series of small photos, a video device - camera.;

18. An emotional illustration- the teacher surrounded by students; the product in a

romantic environment;

19. The illustration of the product in its packaging - it's very important because this way,
the product will be recognized in the store, from the shelf, instantly;

20. The illustration of ingredients or raw materials of a product.

The choice of a certain advertising technique is influenced by the product, by the way in
which were created the advertising to the product by the proceeds. Certainly, the
visualization depends on who will watch to those advertising.

The slogan

A slogan is a sentence or part of a sentence designed to help the reader or listener to

retain the message.

Characteristics:

- To be short;

- To be easily understood;

- Easily recognizable;

To the creation of a slogan can be applied many figures of speech for poetry or literature.
The slogan may have rhythm, rhyme, or parallelism. The slogan functions are:

a) To describe the use of a product;

b) To suggest the very special advantage of the product;

c) To suggest the benefits resulted from the frequent use of the product;

d) To highlight the quality of the product;

E) To join a family of products;

F) To "sell" the company as an institution;

g) To prevent the substitution and to protect the patent rights.

The ad platform

It is part of the presentation made before launching the advertising campaign and it must
be approved by the client. It contains the "ad duties": what is allowed and what is
prohibited by the customer, what must be necessarily included in the ad and what can be
omitted. It is an affirmation of certain general concepts and a review of small details that
may prove as important as the large ones.

Among the general concepts is (1) the ad, (2) the selected target audience, (3) the central
idea of advertising, (4) sale strengths.
The details include specifications required by law, how it will be used the name of the
company, the correct address and small but important convention that must become part
of the final ad.

TV advertising

The characteristic features of television as an environment suitable for advertising are:

- Television is first of all a visual environment and it must be considered as it is from the
beginning;

- No other environment involves the consumer as fully as television, and this implication
makes the television the most powerful ad tool.

Basic principles to be considered are:

1. The picture of the company (popular, luxury)

2. Television channels that run ads;

3. The TV programs that precede and follow the ads;

4. The audience;

5. The product (benefic proprieties);

6. The company goal.

A television ad is written like a screenplay. The line appears in the printed page. At right
is the audio section that includes: announcements, messages, sound effects (the latter are
written in capital letters and will not be read). In the left box is the video all written in
block capitals. After reviewing and approving the script, the ad creator and the illustrator
will collaborate in achieving an explicit ad in the form of double panels at the top, like a
small TV screen, containing a scene of the ad.

These panels, called "storyboard", allow the agency to explain to the client the ad
appearance in a way that facilitates the perception on the scenes sequences. There are
extremely useful for studio film, because even if it will not be respected as such, it will
show clearly the idea behind the video advertisement.

TV ads generally take 30 or 60 seconds (only very large companies allow their ads to last
more than a minute), therefore an effective advertisement should be limited to a single
message. Although the video and audio should be connected one to another, the words
should rather interpret the film and not to follow step by step the action presented on the
screen. The video part should send at least half of the message meaning. It is preferred a
dynamic image instead of a static one.

Radio advertising

The radio is a personal environment, as different members of the same family listen to
different channels. It is a more selective environment, where the selection of the channel
shows accurately an age group, a family member, an income, an educational level and
others.

Geographically, the radio is even more selective. A customer can sponsor a program, can
participate to a program or can buy an ad. There are various points of minimum and
maximum audience, which translates into the cost required for transmitting the ad.

The ads can be presented live or taped and each has its advantages and disadvantages.
The first type of ad has vitality and charm, especially if the person who reads it is a well
known personality. The message can be adapted to current events; the taped message can
be realized better: there aren't possible human errors, but it's invariable and inflexible.
The best solution is a combination between those two, the body of the ad being taped and
the introduction and the end-live.

It is important to draw the listener's attention with a moment before launching the most
important message. That's why the ads start with sound effects or with a musical
introduction from a well known song.

Advertising on other environments

1. Direct mail. The functions of the mail messages are:

a) To get orders;

b) To inform the effective and potential buyers about the new products, information,
special offers;

c) To inform the merchants about the new plans distribution and promotion of the
company;

d) To offer pre-sales and post-sales services to the customers.

The mail is particularly effective when it addresses to some trade areas that are not very
well known. Its effectiveness depends on the lists that are used. In a shop it is used an
ordinary customer list, the list of buyers on credit, or those who have taken the name after
a purchase made with credit card or invoice.

The flexibility of the environment is reflected by the variety of existing lists: by

profession, by income, by membership of a club, by propriety (cars, houses, banks).
2. Advertising outdoors. Advertising to the sales point.

These advertising include:

1. Posters - lithographing sheets pasted on various media and generally lit at night;

2. Outdoor Painting - directly on a metal plate, illuminated at night;

3. Lighted ads, with smoke, steam or anything that draws attention.