Outline
• Ad design (constructive elements)• Images – anchorage• Colours• People• Language
Ad construction
HEADLINE - draws attention, incites to reading + well targeted ATTENTION
ask a question1.short, snappy and
2. must affect the reader emotionally, either by making them laugh, making
them angry, making them curious or making them think
!!! avoid a headline longerthan fifteen words. People just don’t read as much as they
used to.
BODY COPY Stimulates interest, explains:
draws attention to the benefits of the product rather than focusing solely on the
features. "what's in it for me?" easy to understand, honest
Position beneath the headline - create
a visual continuity
Subheads : If you have lots of copy, break it up with interesting subheadsThis will make your ad more inviting,
more organized,and more easily to read
SLOGAN Motto – encapsulates – remember
Shortslogans and jingles - designed to be easily
remembered and repeated Ads have a limited "life" (six months or so)
but a long after-life ? Brainstorming: recalling slogans
Do you know their slogans?
• Nokia • Coca-cola• Nike• Tesco• Volkswagen
MODE – Choice between 3 means of communication: MUSIC,
PICTURES, LANGUAGE
Visuals imply: they implicitly suggest much more than words explicitly say.
IMAGES
do not require a lot of thinkingthe brain likes colour
stimulate the senses
Text and image in print ads
Text = headline, copy, slogan, company/product name
Text provides: 1. information about the product
2. anchorage for the Image (R. Barthes)
• What meaning does this underlying image have?
i.e. There could be many ways to
interpret the Image
• The text = extra information that guides the reader to a particular interpretation of the whole, and thereby a particular interpretation of the image
Mutual funds
Product / brand will narrow downtheInterpretations
What is the product?
the potential interpretations
Image • The Image may or may
not feature a representation of the product,
• and the product may or may not be "in use" (beer in a glass as opposed to a bottle of beer)
more than just one scene"before-after" type of advertisement
Suffering from allergy Alleviated symptoms
COLOURS
• are more than aesthetic decisions• affect (and reflect):
– a person's mood or emotions, – current style trends and – cultural beliefs and symbols
Fear ads
• Examine: people, colours, approach, devices
• ”before" advertisements: generally darker, using shades of black and white, green and brown;
• "after" advertisements: bright colors such as red, orange and yellow
• darker advertisements try to convey a problematic, sad or negative situation
• brighter advertisements show the happiness and cheer that can be achieved once the problem has been solved.
People
• people create a relationship between the image and its viewer
• angle• the size of frame, advertisements can even
suggest the type of relationship between viewer and image
• direction of a person's gaze
Angle = direction and height from which the scene is taken
Eye-level = factual (2)Looking down = viewer is more important,
detachment (6)Looking up = the subject’s importance (4)
Extreme close-up anything less than head and shoulders, or an isolated body part
Close-up head and shoulders
Medium close shot human figure from waist up
Medium shot human figure from knees up
Medium long shot full figure
Long shot full human figure occupying about half the height of the frame
Very long shot full human figure occupying less than half the height of the frame
Close-up head and shoulders vs Extreme close-up
Medium/Long shot – full figure
Sizes in frame correspond to the varying levels of social distance(Kress
and van Leeuwen)
• the closer you are to a person, the less you can see of their full body
• close-up suggests personal interaction• medium or long shot - distant relationship
between viewer and viewed
Gaze
• Demand: participants are looking directly at the camera (and therefore, the reader): YOU
• Offerparticipants have an indirect gaze address the reader indirectly = the viewer is not object, but subject of the look
Statistics
• People in fear advertisements: more averted gazes in "before" advertisements
and direct gazes in "after advertisements. • averted gazes are linked to insecurity and low self-
esteem; • the high number of averted gazes in "before"
advertisements reinforces the negativity of the situation. (not demand and offer!)
• Direct gaze: You can share my happiness if you use this product."
Layout
HORIZONTAL AXISLeft Right Given New• Elements placed to the left of the page's
vertical axis are presented as "given" pieces of information, or things that the viewer already knows; "new" elements on the right are not yet known or agreed upon.
GIVEN:
People suffer from allergies.
= PROBLEM
NEW:
Using Allegra will alleviate your allergy symptoms.
= SOLUTION
GIVEN:
The average woman owns a sleeveless black dress, much like the one seen here
NEW:
Secret deodorant will give you the confidence to wear it.
Vertical axis
TOP= IDEALappeal to the viewer's emotions, expressing
"what might be."
BOTTOM: REALinformative appeal, showing "what is."
Reversed pattern:
IDEAL
MUSICLanguage message: Subaru – Dust in the wind
Memory retention of a commercial jingle is 10 times faster than that of an all-talking ad
What does the music connote:
Coca Cola Hp
Sound - creates what is called "the theatre of the mind.": conjure in the listener's mind images and actions that don't
necessarily exist
Trust, comfort: What does it advertise? (Come home – click before end)
create the background conveys message (lyrically)contribute to memorability
help in forming brand identity – people associate different sounds with different brands: jingles
(Always CocaCola)
LANGUAGE
Words can obviously make people react: mother, patriotism, truth, God,
Allah, vomit, dentist ?? Dog
Most common words in a-ing are positive
• top five adjectives in female clothing advertisements: NEWGOODSOFTWARMFREE
Case study: Alcohol advertisements
Repetition is the golden rule of advertising
- comfortable with the familiar(favorite songs repeated, cans
One-shot ads seldom work.
Research indicates that the average consumer ignores two out of three ads and requires nine exposures before they readily remember an ad.
Run your ad several dozen times to make an impact
• Repetitive language rather than informativeness
• Code play (i.e. playing with the language: alliteration, rhyme, rhythm, etc.)
Alliteration = repetition of the same sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables
assonance
• repetition of identical or similar vowel sounds in neighboring words. Adjective: assonant.
Slogan for president Eisenhower campaign (1952)
Dangling Comparative
"Our toothpaste tastes better." The comparison is never finished except in the
minds of the audience.
Puffery = Exaggeration, Vagueness
Rhyme, proverbs
help memory alteration of proverbs: Thirst come, thirst
served
Slogans with proverbial structure: Buy now, pay later!
Get more, worry less! Work smarter, not harder
DEPARTURES FROM NORM
Misspellings : provodkativePuns: I’m More satisfied!
Ungrammaticality: B&Q it! I’m lovin’ it