Module IV:

Developing a
Program

Learning Outcome-
The learner will be able to
analyze, recommend and
formulate the creatives for
the ad.
Module- 4
Part –1
Creative Strategy
:
Planning
and Development
Creative Strategy:
Planning and
Development

• Importance of creativity
• Advertising creativity
• Planning creative strategy
• Creative process- J. Young and
Wallas
• Creative strategy development
Importance of creativity
Glycodin Ambuja
Cough Syrup - Award Winning Adverti Cement Vijay TVC - YouTube
sement (youtube.com)
 Importance of
creativity
• It is a pillar to build the marketing mix -
personal selling, sales promotion, direct
marketing, public, relations and sponsorship.
• It differentiates the 'me too' products by
influencing attitude and feelings to position the
brand in preference above a
competitor’s brand.
• It provides knowledge thereby
stimulates thinking
• It can persuade, be relevant and meaningful
• It facilitates purchase and trial
• It creates loyal customers
• It transforms boring ads to interesting ads
• Creative ads achieve objectives
• Creates an image of prestige This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC.
ADVERTISING CREATIVITY

• What Is Creativity?
• Different Perspectives on Advertising Creativity
• Determinants of Creativity
 What is
Creativity?

• Advertising creativity is the ability to develop

fresh, unique as well as appropriate ideas
which can be utilised as solutions to
communication problems. To be appropriate
as well as effective, a creative idea must be
pertinent to the target audience.
• It is their job to turn all of the information
regarding product features and benefits,
marketing plans, consumer research, and
communication objectives into a creative
concept that will bring the advertising
 Different Perspectives
on Advertising Creativity
• Perspectives on what constitutes creativity in
advertising differ. At one extreme are people
who argue that advertising is creative
only if it sells the product. An advertising
message’s or campaign’s impact on sales
counts more than whether it is innovative or
wins awards.
• At the other end of the continuum are those
who judge the creativity of an ad in
terms of its artistic or aesthetic value
and originality.
• They contend creative ads can break
through the competitive clutter, grab the
consumer’s attention, and have some
Determinants of Creativity

1. Divergence
2. Relevance
• Advertising creativity is the ability to generate fresh,
unique, and appropriate or relevant ideas that can be
used as solutions to communication problems.
• Divergence refers to the extent to which an ad contains
elements that are novel, different, or unusual.
 Robert Smith and his colleagues have identified
five factors that could account for the
ways divergence can be achieved in
advertising, which they describe as follows

1. Originality Ads that contain elements that are

rare, surprising, or move away from the obvious
and commonplace.
2. Flexibility Ads that contain different ideas or
switch from one perspective to another.
3. Elaboration Ads that contain unexpected details
or finish and extend basic ideas so they become
more intricate,or sophisticated.
4. Synthesis Ads that combine, connect, or blend
normally unrelated objects or ideas.
5. Artistic value Ads that contain artistic verbal
impressions or attractive shapes and colors
• The second major determinant of
creativity is relevance which reflects the
degree to which the various elements of the
ad are meaningful, useful, or valuable to
the consumer.
• Relevance can be achieved in two ways
• Ad-to consumer relevance refers to
situations where the ad contains
execution elements that are
meaningful to consumers.
• For example, advertisers may use
celebrities with whom consumers
identify with, music that they like, or
visual images and other execution
techniques that capture their interest
and attention.
• Brand-to-consumer relevance refers
to situations where the advertised brand of
a product or service is of personal
interest to consumers.
• Relevance or appropriateness can also
be viewed in terms of the degree to
which an advertisement provides
information or an image that is
pertinent to the brand.
• Ads for many products such as fashionable
clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, and liquor
often rely on visual images to deliver
their message rather than providing
specific product information.
• However, these images are important to
consumers in forming impressions and
attitudes toward these brands and
deciding whether to selection one brand
over another.
• The ad for Absolut vodka shown is a
good example of a creative advertising
that relies primarily on thought-
provoking imagery.
• The ad is part of the integrated global
campaign which uses the tagline “In an
Absolut World” and plays off of the brand
name to illustrate a whimsical, imagined
world where everything is as ideal as
Absolut vodka.
• This particular ad features New York’s Times
Square adorned with famous works of art
rather than billboards and is designed to
show media clutter as a means to share the
world’s artistic treasures.
Planning creative strategy

• The Creative Challenge

• Taking Creative Risks
• The Perpetual Debate: Creative versus Hard-Sell
Advertising
• Creative Personnel
The
Creative Challenge
• Those who work on the creative side of
advertising often face a real challenge.
They must take all the research, creative
briefs, strategy statements,
communications objectives, and other
input and transform them into an
advertising message.
• Their job is to write copy, design
layouts and illustrations, or produce
commercials that effectively
communicate the central theme on
which the campaign is based.
• Rather than simply stating the features
or benefits of a product or service, they
must put the advertising message into a
form that will engage the audience’s
 Taking Creative Risks
• Many creative people follow proven
formulas when creating ads because they
are safe.
• Clients often feel uncomfortable with
advertising that is too different.
• Many creative people say it is important for
clients to take some risks if they want
breakthrough advertising that gets noticed.
One agency that has been successful in
getting its clients to take risks is Wieden +
Kennedy, best known for its excellent
creative work for companies such as Nike.
 The Perpetual Debate:
Creative versus Hard-Sell
Advertising
• On one side are the “suits” or “rationalists” who
argue that advertising must sell the product
or service, and that the more selling points or
information in an ad, the better its chance of
moving the consumer to purchase.
• On the other side are the “poets” or proponents of
creativity who argue that advertising has to
build an emotional bond between consumers
and brands or companies that goes beyond
product advertising
• Some note that even legendary adman David
Ogilvy, who many consider the greatest
copywriter of all time, once said: “If it
doesn’t sell, it’s not creative.”
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-ND.
Creative Personnel

• The image of the creative advertising person perpetuated in

novels, movies, and TV shows is often one of a freewheeling,
freethinking, eccentric personality.
• The educational background of creative personnel is often in
nonbusiness areas such as art, literature, music, humanities, or
journalism, so their interests and perspectives tend to
differ from those of managers with a business education
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND.
or background.
• A study of advertising copywriters and found that they work
without guidance from any formal theories of communication.
• Advertising creatives are sometimes stereotyped as odd,
perhaps because they dress differently and do not always
work the conventional 9-to-5 schedule.
• It is important to note that creativity is not the exclusive
domain of those who work in the creative department of
ad agencies.
• Integrated marketing communications requires creative thinking
from everyone involved in the planning and execution of IMC
programs.
Creative process- J. Young and Wallas

• Young’s model of the creative process contains five steps:

1. Immersion. Gathering raw material and information through
background research and immersing yourself in the problem.
2. Digestion. Taking the information, working it over, and wrestling
with it in the mind.
3. Incubation. Putting the problems out of your conscious mind and
turning the information over to the subconscious to do the work.
4. Illumination. The birth of an idea—the “Eureka! I have it!”
phenomenon.
5. Reality or verification. Studying the idea to see if it still looks
good or solves the problem; then shaping the idea to practical
• Young’s process of creativity is similar to a four-step
approach outlined much earlier by English
sociologist Graham Wallas in his classic book The Art of
Thought
1. Preparation. Gathering background information
needed to solve the problem through research and
study.
2. Incubation. Getting away and letting ideas develop.
3. Illumination. Seeing the light or solution.
4. Verification. Refining and polishing the idea and seeing
if it is an appropriate solution.
Creative Strategy Development

• Advertising Campaigns
• Campaign theme
• Slogan or tagline
• Creative Brief
• The Search for the Major Selling Idea
• Developing the Major Selling Idea
• Contemporary Approaches to the Big Idea
Advertising Campaigns

• Most ads are part of a series of messages that make up an IMC

or advertising campaign, which is a set of interrelated and
coordinated marketing communication activities that
center on a single theme or idea that appears in different
media across a specified time period.
• A campaign theme should be a strong idea, as it is the
central message that will be communicated in all the
advertising and other promotional activities.
• Slogan or tagline
• The theme for the advertising campaign is usually expressed
through a slogan or tagline that reduces the key idea into a
few words or a brief statement.
• Guidelines for Slogan
• Make it memorable- Amul Butter’s ‘Utterly butterly delicious’, ‘Hungry kya?’
Domino’s Pizza.
• Include the brand name- The Axe effect. ‘Kelvinator. The coolest one.’
• State the primary benefits- ‘Lasts long. Really long.’ (Amaron car battery)
• Differentiate your brand- ‘Be yourself’ (Elle 18), ‘On top of the world’
(Lakme).
• Convey the brand personality- ‘Taste the thunder’ Thums Up,
‘Forever sports’ Adidas
• Communicate the business strategy- Xerox’s ‘The Document
Company’, Economic Times ‘ The power of Knowledge’
• Watch the word length ie Be Succinct
• Try the rule of three- ‘Shines, nourishes and protects’ by Kiwi shoe
polish. Or Fill it. Shut it. Forget it.’ by Hero Honda.
• Check for meaning- Are you communicating anything?
• What do think about the following taglines
• ‘Growth is life’ Reliance Industries)
• SHIFT_the future Nissan X-Trail)
 Creative Brief
• The written creative brief specifies the basic elements of the creative
strategy.
• Different agencies may call this document a creative platform or work
plan, creative blueprint, or creative contract.
• Creative Brief Outline
1. Basic problem or issue the advertising must address.
2. Advertising and communications objectives.
3. Target audience.
4. Major selling idea or key benefits to communicate.
5. Creative strategy statement (campaign theme, appeal, and execution
technique to
6. be used).
• An example of a creative brief used
by the Lambesis agency to create
a print campaign for Tacori, a fine
jewelry company that has
experienced strong sales growth over
the past several years, and an ad that
was created based on the brief.
Model of Marketing Information Flow from the
Marketing Manager to the Creative Staff
The Search for the Major Selling Idea

• The major selling idea should emerge as the strongest

singular thing you can say about your product or
service. This should be the claim with the broadest
and most meaningful appeal to your target
audience.
• Once you determine this message, be certain you can live
with it; be sure it stands strong enough to remain the
central issue in every ad and commercial in the
campaign.
• Some advertising experts argue that for an ad
campaign to be effective it must contain a big
idea that attracts the consumer’s attention, gets a
reaction, and sets the advertiser’s product or service
apart from the competition’s.
• Well-known adman John O’Toole describes the big
idea as
• “that flash of insight that synthesizes the purpose of
the strategy,
• joins the product benefit with consumer desire in a
fresh, involving way,
• brings the subject to life, and
• makes the reader or audience stop, look, and listen.”
Developing the Major Selling Idea

• The four best-known approaches are the

following:
• Using a unique selling proposition.
• Creating a brand image.
• Finding the inherent drama.
• Positioning.
Contemporary Approaches to the Big Idea

• The modern creative kings don’t write books, rarely give

interviews or lay out their theories on advertising. They’ve
endorsed no set of rules, professed no simple maxims like Mr.
Ogilvy’s famous “When you don’t have anything to say, sing
it.” If pronouncements and books are out the window, what’s
replaced them is a conscious desire to lift the intelligence
level of advertising. Today’s leaders see advertising as
an uplifting social force, as a way to inspire and
entertain.”
• “Advertising works best when it sneaks into people’s lives, when it
doesn’t look or feel like advertising. It’s about treating people at their
best, as opposed to dealing with them at their lowest common
denominator.” They describe their creative formula as doing intelligent
work that the public likes to see and that, at the same time, has a
sales pitch.”
• “No rule book will tell you how to target the masses anymore. The best
of us understand the sociocultural realities of people and how they
interact with the media. If we didn’t, we couldn’t make the kinds of
messages that people would be able to connect with.”