Tie It All Together

Now that you have read this chapter, you should be able to determine how to choose the right media for client messages:

• You can identify and define the two keys to superior advertising.
• You can provide illustrations of relevance and resonance.
• You can explain why having an emotional connection is the common denominator for most successful ads.
• You can list and describe the five factors that comprise likeability of an ad.
• You can list and discuss five advertising appeals that a creative team can use to structure advertising.
• You can provide illustrations of the five advertising appeals.
• You can recall the six categories of values that are universal in advertising.
• You can compare and contrast the five types of executional frameworks.
• You can characterize “star power” and its usefulness to advertising.
• You can characterize the members of an advertising creative team.
• You can classify the various literary forms and devices used by copywriters to create advertisements.

Use What You’ve Learned

1. What’s your favorite energy drink? America’s consumers who want a boost without drinking coffee or cola have made energy drinks an energized product line for most beverage makers. Go into any convenience store and note the amount of shelf or refrigeration space that is devoted to these high-pep drinks. Most stores have at least one POS display for this drink category.

   Which energy drink is number one? This obviously varies at any given point in time but it appears that Red Bull is the consistent leader in the industry, followed by Monster, Rockstar, AMP Energy, and Who’s Your Daddy, to round out the top five. With the popularity of the drink category we can expect more entries in the future. See any of the above products’ Web sites for more information on the appeals used to reach target markets.

   Your assignment is to demonstrate how relevance and resonance have been used by the makers of energy drinks to make their product category a success. Use at least one manufacturer’s product as an illustration of your ideas.

2. Tired of using your hands to type and text? Are you unsure that voice-activated controls of electronic devices and PCs really work? “Thought control” may have just solved your problems. Emotiv Systems specializes in creating systems that can be controlled by brain-computer interfaces or a computerized version of thought control. The company’s Epoc sixteen-sensor headset communicates wirelessly with a PC. The user is able to think a command and have that command activated on a computer. Since the device is tuned to an individual’s processing thoughts, security of thought protection seems to exist. See http://www.emotiv.com for more details on the technology and products.

   Your assignment is to designate a target market for initial introduction of the product. Next, describe the appeal format that you think would be best for the Epoc headset to use to reach the designated market. Explain your appeal choice. Conclude your assignment by selecting an executional framework that is consistent with your chosen target market and appeal. Describe the ad you would construct from such choices.

Digital Natives

Do you remember what a Q-score is? A Q-score is a way to measure the familiarity and appeal of a brand, company, celebrity, cartoon character, or television show. The higher the Q-score, the more likely the subject measured is familiar and appealing to viewers. See Wikipedia, Google, or http://www.qscores.com for more information on Q-scores and the “star power” behind them.

After exploring information about Q-scores via your online connections, select three to five subjects and obtain their Q-scores. If you are unable to find the scores for some of your subjects, either choose other subjects or estimate what you think the score might be (be sure to put “est.” after any such score). Once you have your Q-score list, match each of your subjects to at least one product line. Note how the Q-scored subject would be an asset to the advertising for that product line. Explain your rationale and justification for your picks. Discuss the findings of this assignment in class with peers.

Ad-Vice

1. Go to your favorite Web sites that contain advertising and find at least one example of relevance and resonance in the advertising. Explain why you believe your choices match for the two terms.
2. Go to at least one favorite magazine and find an illustration of an advertisement that makes an emotional connection with its readers or viewers. Clearly explain how this connection is made. It is OK to use yourself as an example; however, be specific in your description of how the emotional connection was made. What magazine elements were used to make the emotional connection?
3. Go to at least one favorite magazine and find an advertisement that would rate high on your likeability scale. Using the factors listed in the chapter that constitute the likeability of an ad, illustrate how well your ad embodies each of these five factors. Next, take an ad that you like somewhat, but not as much as your first choice. Illustrate how, by using the five factors, you could make the second ad more likeable. Explain your thinking and illustrations.
4. According to this chapter, copywriters use literary forms and devices to structure commercials. Take the terms lecture, drama, allegory, metaphor, and simile and find examples of them in specific ads from magazines you read, television shows you watch, and online browsing and surfing experiences. List the phrase from the chosen ads and indicate why the phrase matches one of the terms. Please provide a brief description of the ad itself. Comment on the importance of word choice in copywriting.