Preparing Print Advertisements

Chapter 20

Ch 20 Sec 1 Essential Elements of Advertising

• How ad campaigns are developed

• The creation of advertising headlines

• The preparation of advertising copy

• The selection of advertising illustrations

• The significance of advertising signatures

What you’ll learn . . .

The Advertising Agency

• Advertising agencies work jointly with business clients to develop advertising campaigns.

• An advertising campaign involves the creation and coordination of a series of advertisements (both broadcast and print) around a particular theme

This building on Main Street, designed by Frank Gehry, is the headquarters of Chiat / Day / Mojo, an advertising agency. Its entrance is flanked by a Claes Oldenburg / Coosje van Bruggen binocular

sculpture.

Developing Print Advertisements

• Print ads are very important to most campaigns.

• They usually contain four key elements– Headline– Copy– Illustrations– Signature

• Each element enhances the overall theme of a product promotion

Headline

• The headline is the saying that gets the readers’ attention, arouses their interest by providing a benefit, and leads them to read the rest of the ad.

• More than 80% of the people who look at a print ad just read the headlines.

• A headline provides a benefit to the reader

Writing Effective Headlines

• Most are brief – many people cannot take in more than seven words at a time.

• Every headline should have a single focus or main idea.• Techniques you can use when writing headlines:

– Alliteration (repeating initial consonant sounds) -- Win with Wireless (Samsung)

– Paradox (a seeming contradiction that could be true) – It’s an environmental movement all by itself. (Honda Insight)

– Rhyme – Bounty. The Quicker Picker-Upper– Pun ( a humorous use of a word that suggests two or more of

its meanings or the meaning of another work similar in sound --Beauty and the Beef (Ball Park Franks)

– Play on Words – For Soft Babies and Baby Soft Hands

Copy

• The copy is the selling message in a written advertisement.

• It expands on the information in the headline or the product shown in the illustration.

• It should be simple and direct• It should appeal to the senses• Tell the who, what, when, why, where, and how of your

product• Key words used in copy, such as compare,

introducing, now, price, save, easy, and new, establish immediate contact with the reader.

• It should provide a call to action to shoppers

Illustration

• The photograph or drawing used in a print advertisement.

• Its primary function is to attract attention

• It should transmit a total message that would be hard to communicate just with words.

• Illustrations may show the product, how the product works, and its features.

Signature

• No advertisement is complete without naming its sponsor.

• The signature, or logotype (logo), is the distinctive identification symbol for a business.

• Well-designed signatures get instant recognition for a business.

Signature

Slogan

• May support a firm’s signature• A slogan is often added to the four

main elements of a print ad• Is a catch phrase or small group of

words that are combined tin a special way to identify a product or company The Breakfast of Champions

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