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MKT 337: WSK CREATIVE STRATEGY: PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Promotional Management

Chapter 8

CREATIVE STRATEGY: PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT


The Importance of Creativity

• The manner in which Advertising message is developed and

executed is critical to success

• Companies spend huge sums to get the right message that will stick

[Nike, Mastercard, Coca Cola, KFC]

• Creativity, however, does not ensure sales

• Creative Advertising Vs. Effective Advertising


ADVERTISING CREATIVITY


What is Creativity?

• Job to turn product features, marketing plans, consumer research and

communication objectives into creative concepts

• To come up with solutions that are novel/not obvious


Different Perspectives on Creativity

1. Advertising is creative only if its sells?

2. Creative if it has artistic/aesthetic value or originality [clutter-

breaking]

• Product managers – communication should be judged on whether it

fulfils the marketing and communicative objectives

• Agency personnel – vehicle for promoting their own aesthetic

viewpoints and personal career objectives

• Requirement: Balance between the two extremes


Determinants of Creativity

• Advertising creativity is the ability to generate fresh, unique, and

relevant ideas that can be used as solutions to comm. problems

• Two central determinants

– Divergence

– Relevance


Divergence

Divergence – the extent to which an ad contains elements that are novel,

different or unusual

1. Originality – rare, surprising, move away from the obvious

2. Flexibility – contains diff. ideas or switch from one perspective to another

3. Elaboration – contains unexpected details or finish and extend basic ideas so

they become intricate, complicated or sophisticated

4. Synthesis – combine, connect or blend unrelated objects or ideas

5. Artistic Value – contains artistic verbal impressions or attractive

shapes/colours






Other ways of divergence

• Humour, fantasy, emotion or imagery

• Fluency – ability to generate large number of creative ideas around

a creative idea


Relevance

• Relevance – degree to which the various elements of the ad are

meaningful, useful, or valuable to the customer

• Ad-to-consumer relevance: ad contains execution elements that are

meaningful to the consumers [eg. celebrities]

• Brand-to-consumer relevance: advertised brand is of personal

interest to the consumers





PLANNING CREATIVE STRATEGY


The Creative Challenge

• Take research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communications

objectives, and other input and transform them into advertising msg.

• Write copy, design layouts and illustrations or produce commercials that

effectively communicate the central theme

• Cannot simply state the benefits

• Must engage the audience’s interest

• Every marketing situation is different and all of them require a creative

approach

• No magic formula!


Taking Creative Risks

• Many people follow creative formula to be safe

• Clients feel uncomfortable with ads that are too different

• Important to take risks for breakthrough advertising

• Example: Dominos Pizza


Example of a risky campaign


Creative Vs Hard-Sell

• Those who believe ads should move people vs those who believe

ads should move products

• Rationalists Vs Poets

– Rationalists: the more information about the product, the better the

chances of moving the consumer to purchase

– Poets: advertising needs to create an emotional bond that goes

beyond product advertising


THE CREATIVE PROCESS


James Webb Young’s Creative Process

5 Step process

1. Immersion: gathering info and immersing yourself in the problem

2. Digestion: taking the info and wrestling with it in the mind

3. Incubation: turning the info over to the subconscious mind

4. Illumination: the birth of an idea

5. Reality/Verification: studying to see if it still looks good, then

shaping it to practical usefulness


Account Planning

• Similar to strategic planning

• Conducting research and gathering all info about client’s product and TA

• Work with the client, the creative and media personnel

• Feeds the creative strategy development process


INPUTS TO THE CREATIVE PROCESS PREPARATION, INCUBATION AND ILLUMINATION


Background Research

• Learn as much as possible about the product, target market, competition

and any other relevant information

• Techniques include

– Reading anything related to the product: books, articles, etc.

– Asking those involved about the product: designers, salespeople, consumers

– Listening to what people talk about

– Using the product/service and becoming familiar with it

– Working in and learning about the client’s business to better understand the

TA

• General and product-specific pre-planning input


Qualitative Research Input

• Focus Groups

– In depth discussion with consumers

– cannot test a creative concept through consumers

– Consumers are not experts on advertising

• Ethnographic Research

– Observing consumers in their natural environment


INPUTS TO THE CREATIVE PROCESS VERIFICATION, REVISION

• Evaluates ideas generated in the illumination stage, reject

inappropriate ones, polishes those that remain and give final

expression

• Testing

– Storyboard

– Animatic


CREATIVE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT


Advertising Campaigns

• Set of interrelated and coordinated marketing communications

activities that centre on a single theme or idea that appears in

different media across a specified time period

• Campaign theme

• Slogan

– Summation line that succinctly expresses the company/brand’s

positioning and the message it is trying to deliver to the TA

• Creative Strategy depends on TA, the basic product issue that needs

to be addressed, the selling idea, supportive info.


Creative Brief

• Creative platform/work plan/creative blueprint/creative contract

• Outline

1. Basic problem or issue the advertising must address

2. Advertising and communication objectives

3. Target audience

4. Major selling idea or key benefits to communicate

5. Creative strategy statement

– Campaign theme, appeal, execution technique

6. Supporting information and requirements


The Search for the Major Selling idea

• Must contain big idea that attracts consumer’s attention, gets a reaction

and sets the product apart from the competition’s

– “that flash of insight that synthesises 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” – John O’toole

• We try harder - Avis

• Just do it - Nike

• I’m loving it - McDonalds

• Imported from Detroit – Chrysler


Developing the Major Selling Idea

• Finding ways to dramatically and effectively convey the key benefit

• Four best known approaches

1. Unique Selling Proposition

2. Creating a brand image

3. Finding the inherent drama

4. Positioning


USP

• Developed by Rosser Reeves

• Three characteristics of USP

1. Must make a proposition “Buy it and you will get this benefit”

2. Must be something the competition cannot offer

3. Must be strong enough to move the mass millions [new customers]

• Sustainable competitive advantage



Creating a brand image

• For homogenous product categories

• Difficult to differentiate on a functional basis

• Soft drinks, cigarettes, clothing, etc.

• The greater the similarity, the more important image advertising

becomes

• Key is to develop an image that will appeal to the users



Finding the inherent drama

• Emphasise the dramatic element in expressing the benefits

• Present the benefits in a warm, realistic way

• “the biggest little thing you can do”


Positioning

• Jack Trout and Al Ries

• Position the product in the minds of the consumers

• Basis of product attributes, price/quality, usage or application,

product users, product class

• Positioning and USP can overlap




End of Chapter

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