Deck 10: Effective and Creative Ad Messages

Question 1

Some critics contend that advocacy, or issue, advertising should not be treated as a legitimate tax-deductible expenditure. Present and justify your opinion on this matter.

Answer 1

Corporate Advocacy or Issue advertising is about taking up a social cause and creating an ad that revolves around this cause that the company believes in. Sometimes these causes that the company supports may prove controversial and could put some other organization in a spot. Hence, spending on this kind of an ad may be dicey as there is no guarantee whether such an ad will boost the company image or not. Therefore, an issue advertisement cannot be considered a tax deductible expense.

Question 2

The Marcom Insight described the famous Macintosh Computer advertisement and characterized it as perhaps the single greatest commercial in advertising history. Without using any of the examples presented in this chapter, identify several commercials that you regard as truly "great" advertising. Be sure to explain why you consider these commercials great.

Answer 2

Two of the ads that could be considered under "Great" advertising are listed below:
1. The T's launch of car C: This commercial was all about a father, remembering his times with his daughter. He was leaving her to the airport as she was about to join the army. The whole ad shows how the father has been there always for the daughter (in a way saying that the car will also be there for any occasion or any situation of life that the consumer may be in). The ad also shows the support that father gives to her daughter in her bold decision that she had made - which is synonymous to the bold choice a consumer may make to buy the car. The ad looks touching and inspiring as a whole and seems to generate an interest among the consumer to know more about the car.
2. B (an alcoholic drink): This commercial is about the story of friendship between a horse and a pup and how they watch each other's back. The message of the brand is to tell the consumer that the drink is like a best buddy with them and it is with them anywhere they need it. The same message is very beautifully captured with the horse and the pup - there are no words spoken, but the horse saves the pup in times of trouble.

Question 3

Early in the chapter when discussing how effective advertising must take the consumer's view, the following quotation was presented: "Consumers don't want to be bombarded with ads-they want to be inspired by ideas that will change their lives. Ads create transactions. Ideas create transformations. Ads reflect our culture, ideas imagine our future." What, in your opinion, does this quote mean

Answer 3

In order to understand the quote it should be examined line by line:
"Consumers do not want to be bombarded with ads - they want to be inspired by ideas that will change their lives" In other words, ads are not made to satisfy the marketers or the advertiser's objective. They are made to ensure that they catch the attention of the consumer in some way. To do that an ad should be made with the consumer in mind and how they will benefit out of it. An effective product ad is the one that will inspire the consumers to use the product and it will ease their life in some way.
"Ads create transactions. Ideas create transformations" - An ad without any original idea is just a video without any message. It will definitely fail to get the attention of the consumer. But a great idea well communicated in an ad will get the consumer thinking and get his attention. It will also try to bring about a change in the consumer's life if they try the product.
"Ads reflect our culture. Ideas imagine our future". When marketers make an ad they keep in mind the geography and demography for which this ad is being made so that the consumers' sentiments are not hurt. Whereas a great idea will reflect what the future holds for the consumer if the idea works and is tried out.
Hence, having an idea and being creative and distinctive is very necessary from a consumer's point of view to remain in their minds for a long time.

Question 4

When discussing the concept of advertising novelty, the chapter stated that novelty is a necessary, but insufficient condition for advertising creativity. Explain what this means.

Question 5

In context of the section on "sticky" advertisements, provide three examples of advertisers' efforts to concretize their advertisements. Television commercials would be a good source of ideas. Explain the specific elements in your chosen commercials that illustrate concreteness.

Question 6

Analyze three magazine advertisements in terms of which of the SUCCESs elements each ad satisfies.

Question 7

In your view, which of the SUCCESs elements are most important Offer an explanation and then rank the six elements from most to least important in terms of their ability to achieve message stickiness.

Question 8

When discussing the creative advertising style known as unique selling proposition, or USP, it has been claimed that in many respects the USP style is the optimum creative technique. Explain whether you agree or disagree with this assertion.

Question 9

Several examples of brand image advertisements were offered in the chapter. Identify two additional examples of advertisements that appear to be using the brand image, or transformational, creative style.

Question 10

One requirement for effective advertising is the ability to break through competitive clutter. Explain what this means, and provide several examples of advertising methods that successfully accomplish this.

Question 11

Select a magazine or newspaper advertisement and apply the MECCAS model to interpret the ad. Describe what you consider to be the ad's value orientation, its leverage point, and so on.

Question 12

Explain the differences between the USP and brand image creative styles, and indicate the specific conditions under which each is more likely to be used. Provide one illustration of each creative style, using examples other than those used in the text.

Question 13

Select two advertising campaigns that have been on television for some time. Describe in detail what you think their creative message styles are.

Question 14

Using the laddering procedure that was described in the chapter, select a product category of your choice, interview one individual, and construct that person's hierarchical map, or ladder, for two product attributes that are important to that person. Use the types of probing questions listed in the chapter to see how this individual mentally connects the product attributes with consequences, and how, in turn, these consequences extend into valued end states. Be persistent!