Ebook Contemporary advertising and integrated marketing communications (15th edition): Part 2

PART THREE: Executing and Evaluating the Campaign.downloadslide.com C H A P T E R Creative Execution: Art and Copy Learning Objectives To present the role of art and copy—the nonverbal and verbal elements of message strategy—in print, radio, television, and on the web. Artists and copywriters include a variety of specialists who follow specific procedures for conceptualizing, designing, writing, and producing IMC messages. To be successful, creatives must be conversant with the copywriting and commercial art terms and formats used in the business.They must also develop an aesthetic sensitivity so they can recognize, create, evaluate, or recommend quality work. After studying this chapter, you will be able to: LO11-1 Describe the key principles involved in designing print layouts. LO11-2 Explain how to create great copy in print. LO11-3 Identify the important aspects of writing for radio and TV. LO11-4 Review ways to develop great spots in radio and TV. LO11-5 Suggest ways to write effectively for Websites and social media. LO11-6 List the challenges involved in creating messages for international markets. © bjeayes/Getty Images RF www.downloadslide.com Source: Metro Trains Melbourne hat seems like the easiest persuasion goals are actually the hardest. For example, how hard should it be to persuade people to not do things that may injure them, ruin their health, or even get them killed? ■ Nothing has been more frustrating in the history of PSAs than the failure of message campaigns to get people to quit smoking, not use drugs,not drink too much,not have unpro-tected sex, etc. ■ There are a host of reasons why campaigns to stop risky behaviors fail. For one, many focus on convincing people they are taking risks, even though their target audience already knows that. Smokers, for example, know perfectly well that smoking is dangerous.They do it anyway. Second, people don’t like to be preached at or told what to do. ■ These realities were understood by McCann’s Melbourne, Australia office when the Metro Trains network asked them to develop a campaign that would reduce fatal accidents around trains.What behaviors, you may ask, can result in a fatal accident around a train? Running across the tracks to an opposite platform.Walking along tracks. Standing too close to the edge of a platform. Even racing around a lowered gate at a crossing. ■ Why would people do these things? One reason could be igno-rance, but it’s also possible that certain individuals see risky behaviors around trains as heroic or as showing a devil may care attitude. For example, one news article reported on a gang of teens engaging in an initiation rite by standing on subway tracks until the last possible moment.1 ■ Given all of that, what would you advise an agency to do to reduce acci-dents around trains? Messages that scare or frighten people could actually incentivize those who take risks around trains. And messages that preach tend to turn everyone off. ■ This is exactly the kind of creative challenge that a great agency embraces. And McCann’s proved it was up for the challenge. The agency concluded a reframing was in order. They decided to show that dying by crossing rails when a train is coming isn’t heroic. It’s just dumb.To make their point, they developed a campaign named by Advertising Age one of the best campaigns of the 21st century,“Dumb Ways to Die.” ■ The hook is simple: show cartoon characters taking risks that others would not judge as just foolhardy, but as absurdly stupid. Use soft, almost child-like music and amusing, funny colors and movements to keep view-ers watching.You can watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw. “Dumb Ways To Die” (from public service announcement campaign by Metro Trains) Set fire to your hair Poke a stick at a grizzly bear Eat medicine that’s out of date Use your private parts as piranha bait [Refrain:] Dumb ways to die So many dumb ways to die www.downloadslide.com 338 Part Three Executing and Evaluating the Campaign Dumb ways to di-ie-ie So many dumb ways to die Get your toast out with a fork Do your own electrical work Teach yourself how to fly Eat a two-week-old un-refrigerated pie [Refrain] Invite a psycho-killer inside Scratch a drug dealer’s brand new ride Take your helmet off in outer space Use a clothes dryer as a hiding place [Refrain] Keep a rattlesnake as a pet Sell both your kidneys on the Internet Eat a tube of superglue I wonder, what’s this red button do? [Refrain] Dress up like a moose during hunting season Disturb a nest of wasps for no good reason Stand on the edge of a train station platform Drive around the boom gates at a level crossing Run across the tracks between the platforms They may not rhyme but they’re quite possibly The dumbest ways to die The dumbest ways to die The dumbest ways to di-ie-ie-ie So many dumb So many dumb ways to die Be safe around trains . . . a message from Metro ■ The campaign has been enormously successful as measured by views and attracting attention.Intended as a viral spot, the three-minute video had attracted 50 million views on YouTube by the end of 2013.2 ■ It was also a big winner at Cannes, perhaps the advertising top festival. In fact, by winning five awards, Dumb Ways to Die (DWTD) became the most successful campaign in Cannes history.3 ■ Whether the campaign has re-duced preventable accidents and deaths is a matter of some dispute.The client, Metro Trains, claimed a 21 per-cent decrease.4 But that claim has been challenged, in-cluding by judges at Australia’s Effie Awards.5 The Effies, unlike awards at Cannes, require evidence of advertising effectiveness.The debate over the final impact of the campaign on train deaths may not be resolved anytime soon. But there is no debate about the reach, influence, or success of the spots to raise awareness about dan-gerous behaviors around trains. ■ McCann’s success calls to mind the words of Bill Bernbach, perhaps the greatest creative mind in the history of advertising,once said,“You can say the right thing about a product and nobody will listen.You’ve got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don’t feel it, nothing will happen.” As “Dumb Ways to Die” shows, what’s shown is just as important as what’s said. The non-verbal aspect of a message carries at least half the burden of communication. It helps posi-tion the product and create personality for the brand. It creates a mood, determining the way a campaign feels to the audience. That mood flavors the verbal message, embodied in the copy. In this chapter, we discuss how creative concepts are executed from the standpoints of both art and copy. We examine the visual and the verbal details, first of print and then of electronic and digital media. Campaigns must inform (see My IMC Campaign 11-A), but they should do so in a clear, attractive, and engaging way. Design is about making that hap-pen. More so than others, this chapter focuses on planned messages, like advertising, since marketers and agencies have the greatest control over their look and content. Design is a less important consideration in sites that compel certain layouts (such as Facebook or other social media), and it is least important in many kinds of public relations activities, especially publicity. www.downloadslide.com Chapter 11 Creative Execution: Art and Copy 339 Designing Print Layouts LO 11-1 The Use of Layouts Design and Production: The Creative and Approval Process The term design refers to how the art director and graphic artist (or graphic designer) choose and structure the artistic elements of an ad. A designer sets a style—the manner in which a thought or image is expressed—by choosing particular artistic elements and blending them in a unique way. In general, clean lines, formally composed photographs, and sparse copy give an ad the breathing room it needs to draw the reader’s eye from one element to the next. A number of designers, working under the art director, may produce initial layouts of the ad concept. In collaboration with copywriters, these artists draw on their expertise in graphic design (including photography, typography, and illustration) to create the most effec-tive ad, brochure, or Website. A layout is an overall orderly arrangement of all the format elements of an ad: visual(s), head-line, subheads, body copy, slogan, seal, logo, and signature. The layout serves several pur-poses. First, it helps both the agency and the client develop and evaluate, in advance, how the ad will look and feel. It gives the client (usually not an artist) a tangible item to correct, change, comment on, and approve. Second, the layout helps the creative team develop the message’s psychological elements: the nonverbal and symbolic components. Sophisticated marketers want their messages to cre-ate personality for the product—image, if you will—and to build the brand’s (and the com-pany’s) equity with the consumer. To do this, the “look” of the message needs to elicit an image or mood that reflects and enhances both the marketer and the product. Therefore, when designing the initial layout, the creative team must be very sensitive to the desired image of the product or business. In the ads shown above and below for “Dumb Ways to Die,” the layouts reiforce the campaign’s big idea., which is that there is nothing he-roic about taking risks around trains. In addition, the childish figures, colors, and spacing, soften a message about a serious thing and add humor to what might otherwise might be distressing. As you look over the ads, how do you think this was accomplished? Third, once the best design is chosen, the layout serves as a blueprint. It shows the size and placement of each element in the ad. Once the production manager knows the dimen-sions of the ad, the number of photos, the amount of typesetting, and the use of art elements such as color and illustrations, he or she can determine the cost of producing the ad (see Ad Lab 11–A, “The Role of the Artist”). The design process is both a creative and an approval process. In the creative phase, the de-signer uses thumbnails, roughs, dummies, and comprehensives—in other words, nonfinal art—to establish the message’s look and feel. Then in the prepress (or production art) phase, the artist prepares a mechanical: the final artwork with the actual type in place along with all the visuals the printer or the media will need to reproduce the ad. In Chapter 12 we’ll see how this design process works to produce a finished ad. These two ads from McCann’s campaign Dumb Ways to Die use the nonverbal element and symbolic components successfully. The campaign also included lots of social media, a YouTube video that attracted tens of millions of visits, and even a game available at the Google Play and iTunes app stores. Source: Metro Trains Melbourne www.downloadslide.com 340 Part Three Executing and Evaluating the Campaign My IMC Campaign 11–A Product Facts for Creatives Art directors and copywriters must have a thorough un- ■ derstanding of the brand to create advertising that resonates. Make sure your creatives have the information that will help them write copy that sizzles and create layouts that stop consumers dead in their tracks. Market position What is the product’s share of the total market? Does its market share suggest a positioning strategy? What position does the company wish to occupy? ■ Proprietary information Product’s trade name Trademark Product symbol Other copyrighted or patented information ■ History When was the product created or invented? Who introduced it? Has it had other names? Have there been product changes? Is there any “romance” to it? ■ Research Are research results available? What research about the product does the supplier have? Which research will be most useful for each medium? ■ Life cycle What is the product’s life or use span? What stage is it in now and what style of copy should be used for that stage? What stages are competitors in? ■ Competitive information Who are the product’s competitors? Does the product have any advantages over them? Does it have any disadvantages? Are they all about the same? Do rival products present problems that this one solves? ■ Product image How do people view the product? What do they like about it? What do they dislike about it? Is it a luxury? Is it a necessity? Is it a habit? Is it self-indulgent? Do people have to have it but wish they didn’t? ■ Customer use How is the product used? Are there other possible uses? How frequently is it bought? What type of person uses the product? Why is the product bought? Personal use The approval process takes place at each step along the way. At any point in the design and production process, the ad—or the ad concept—may be altered or even canceled. Thumbnail Sketches The thumbnail sketch, or thumbnail, is a small rough, rapidly produced drawing that the artist uses to visualize layout approaches without wasting time on details. Thumbnails are very basic. Blocks of straight or squiggly lines indicate text placement, and boxes show place-ment of visuals. The best sketches are then developed further. Rough Layout In a rough, the artist draws to the actual size of the ad or Website. Headlines and subheads suggest the final type style, illustrations and photos are sketched in, and body copy is simulated with lines. The agency may present roughs to clients, particularly cost-conscious ones, for approval. ... - tailieumienphi.vn