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Morning Star Business Report • April 2008
Building the best ad to get your business noticed By David Termotto
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ARKETING Like any other fine craft, the creation of an advertisement is the product of talent, several talents -- creative direc- The most important tor, art director, researcher, tydecision to make is pographer, photographer, illustrator, and designer. A great what’s the product concept/idea is also required. In the hands of talent such an benefit to the potenidea will become a better ad tial customer? than one left to amateurs. The goal in creating an advertisement is effectivity with repairman, the Xerox monk and Joe Isuzu efficiency. To use an analogy, your existare just a few in a long list of characterizaing heater and air conditioner equipment tions. In each case, the product’s personifimay be costing you needless energy dolcation speaks volumes without the use of lars every month because its efficiency text or body copy. The same can be said rating may be at the 50 percent waste levof the Energizer bunny, the Bud frog, and el as compared to a state-of-the art, zero, American Tourister’s gorilla where perenergy waste model. Similarly, your good sonas are substituted with animal creaidea may be wasting its ad space, if it’s tures. presented weakly or wrongly (over the Professionals are trained to avoid cluttop). Before reviewing whether you’re ter, cuteness and boring the viewer. The getting the full value from your ideas in most important decision to make is what’s your ads, there are a few prior considerathe product benefit to the potential custions to make. tomer? Or conversely, what’s the loss of Which kind of communication -- clasnot using the product being advertised? sical, comparative or contemporary -- is The answer to this question usually fits most suitable for your product or service? into the space of a headline which is by The classical form of communication far the most important element of the ad. deals purely with the details of visual arts, Taken together, the headline and accompatypography and illustration. The headline, nying illustration have to identify the if there is one at all, is short and sweet -- a promise being proposed. That is to say phrase, motto, slogan, verse -- and often that the viewer has to have more than the nothing more than the logo. Less is more. faintest idea of what you’re trying to sell. The typestyle is as critical as any picture. A landmark study by the Advertising EduFor instance, if you’re advertising a steak- cational Foundation found that clearly one house, you may use an interesting western third of consumers are confused by the avtypestyle over the photo of a cowboy. erage advertisement. However, profession(Think of Marlboro.) ally crafted ads that stick to a single mesIn the comparative form of communisage are apt to be better understood. cating you’re mostly concerned with With respect to any body text, these are drawing comparisons from a basis of crithe main questions to ask yourself. Have teria. If you establish “friendliness, cleanyou addressed your target audience? (e.g. liness and service” as the criteria, then the moms - “having a baby?”; drivers - “click message in the ad will convey how you it or ticket.”) Does it include your product are rated by yourself or others or in relaname and location? Does it satisfy the pertion to other competitors in your market, ceived need? Does it contain a value referor according to a national standard. This ence? Power words that boost effectivity kind of ad relies more on persuasion than include: ”you,” “guarantee,” “easy,” on looks and appeals to those shoppers “free,” “quick.” who like to read consumer reports. Many advertisers fail to appreciate the The contemporary form of communiimportance of space design/layout, and as cation has emerged in modern times bea consequence their intended audience cause the public has become conditioned skips over their ad. Some tips to bear in by Hollywood’s caricatures. The Magtag
mind: longer text is more readable when set in magazine columns than in full space length; upper and lower case is easier to read than all caps; avoid compressing letters; forget reversed-out type for body text; caption pictures; serif typefaces are understood by four times as many people than sans serif.; accent color works (with a color wheel and in the hands of a designer). The whole point about space design (for a billboard or the back of a business card) is to resist cramming the space with words and colors as though it were a Yellow Pages ad on overload. Not only is that a poor reflection on your image, it’s also a flag that detours people away from your message. Speaking of billboards, can yours be read at a speed of 60 miles per hour? Over half of the boards on the highway are in violation for failure to comply with the proper viewing distance-to-speed ratios. Unbelievable! You’ll be better served to place nothing more than a logo and location in the space. Better still, Clear Channel has a special fine arts program in which an advertiser can sponsor (with their logo and location) a fine arts image. For example, if you’re a builder, instead of using an illustration of your construction project, you can use a classic art history image with an inspirational saying, “architecture is sculptured space” (by Frank Lloyd Wright). This
form of advertising by association is both appealing and produces residual inspirational effects. The same professional care goes for radio and TV ads. Are your scripts effective and efficient? Do they romance the listener or are they inadvertently repelling them? Do they surprise, or are they too shocking? Silken, or scaring customers away? If you have any doubts about whether they’re getting to the point, try testing ads on others. Testing is cheap and hard to argue with. Independent studies show that your ad competes with almost 3,000 other messages per day. Did you ever walk through a supermarket without noticing all the packaging? Why not get together with a professional who can dramatically improve the effectiveness of your ads? About the Author David Termotto has spent his career dedicated to the marketing profession, including advanced training in annual planning, sales promotion and direct marketing at two of the Top 5 Madison Ave. ad agencies (BBDO and OGILVY) in New York, Chicago, Spain, London and Washington, D.C. He has experience in 55 classifications of businesses, as well as credentials in high-volume media production and corporate client marketing. To arrange for a presentation or to obtain an audiotape, call 302-539-5496 for client services.
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