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