Summary Chapter 5

Chapter 8: Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

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The Advertising Message

  • Creative Strategy: Determines what the advertising message communicates.

  • Creative Tactics: Focus on how the message strategy will be executed.

  • Big Idea: Central theme of the campaign.

  • Creative Ads:

    • Effectiveness of strategy and execution can determine product success.

    • Success does not always correlate with increased sales.

    • Debate exists over the value of advertising awards.

Advertising Creativity

Different Perspectives

  • Managers’ Perspective:

    • Advertising is only considered creative if it sells the product.

    • Ads are promotional tools aimed at creating favorable marketplace impressions.

    • Generally risk-averse, favoring conservative ads.

  • Creative People’s Perspective:

    • Values artistic merit and originality in ads.

    • Sees ads as vehicles for personal aesthetic expression and career advancement.

    • Focus on maximizing impact of the message.

Determinants of Creativity

  • Advertising Creativity:

    • Ability to generate unique and relevant ideas for communication.

    • Central determinants:

      • Divergence: Novelty and uniqueness of the idea.

      • Relevance: Importance and appropriateness to the target audience.

Planning Creative Strategy

  • The Creative Challenge:

    • Must turn the advertising message into a memorable ad.

    • Each marketing situation requires a unique creative approach.

  • Taking Creative Risks:

    • Essential for creating impactful advertisements that capture attention.

  • Creative vs. Hard-Sell Debate:

    • Suits (Rationalists): Emphasize that advertising must drive sales.

    • Poets: Argue for creating emotional connections with consumers.

The Creative Process

Young’s Model

  • Immersion: Gather data and immerse in the problem.

  • Digestion: Analyze the collected information.

  • Incubation: Let your subconscious process the information.

  • Illumination: Generate the initial idea.

  • Reality/Verification: Refine and validate the idea for practicality.

Wallas’s Model

  • Preparation: Research and gather background information.

  • Incubation: Allow ideas to develop organically.

  • Illumination: Identify the solution to the problem.

  • Verification: Refine and assess if the solution is fitting.

Creative Strategy Development

Advertising Campaigns

  • A coordinated set of marketing activities centered on a unified theme.

  • Campaigns appear across various media over a specified period.

  • Campaign Theme:

    • Central message delivered in all promotional efforts.

    • Typically expressed through a slogan or tagline.

    • Briefly conveys brand positioning and intended messaging.

Campaign Themes and Slogans

  • Slogans:

    • Should be simple, catchy, and emotionally engaging.

    • Many brands are moving away from using slogans.

  • Campaign Themes:

    • Aim to resonate over extended periods.

    • Guided by specific marketing goals and objectives.

  • Creative Strategy Statement: Outlined in a creative platform document.

Creative Brief

  • Document detailing key elements of the creative strategy.

  • Acts as a communication foundation between client and agency.

  • Developing a Creative Brief:

    • Client creates an assignment brief; the ad agency develops the creative brief.

    • Collaborative approach where clients work alongside the ad agency is also common.

    • Often, information gaps arise during the brief development process.

Developing the Major Selling Idea

  • Effective creative ideas convey key benefit claims dramatically.

  • Approaches include:

    • Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

    • Brand image establishment.

    • Highlighting inherent drama.

    • Strategic positioning.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

  • Benefit: Defines what buyers gain by choosing the product/service.

  • Unique: Proposition must distinguish the brand from competitors.

  • Potent: The promise must resonate powerfully with a mass audience.

Creating a Brand Image

  • Image Advertising:

    • Strategy to forge a strong, memorable brand identity.

    • Successful image ads link the brand with culturally meaningful symbols.

    • Use of visuals to elicit emotional and psychosocial associations.

Finding Inherent Drama

  • Emphasizes product characteristics that drive consumer purchases.

  • Advertising should:

    • Be founded on consumer benefits.

    • Use dramatic elements to express these benefits.

Positioning

  • Establishes a product or service in a distinctive place in consumer consciousness.

  • Based on the unique attributes of the offering.

  • Critical for firms with multiple competitive brands in the same market.