Because learning changes everything.

Chapter 8
Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.
 Learning Objectives

LO1 Describe the role of creative strategy in advertising.

LO2 Identify inputs to the creative process.

LO3 Describe the development of creative strategy.

LO4 Examine approaches to developing the major selling

ideas that are used as the basis for an advertising
campaign.

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 The Advertising Message

Creative Strategy
• Determines what the advertising message will say or communicate.

• Creative tactics:

• Determine how the message strategy will be executed.

• Big idea: central theme of campaign.

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 Exhibit 8-1

Source: Initiative

Advertising can be used to create images or associations and position a brand in

the consumer’s mind. Many consumers who have never driven in a BMW
perceive it as “the ultimate driving machine,” or as this ad states “joy is the all.”

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 The Importance of Creativity in Advertising

Creative Ads
• Good creative strategy and execution can determine success of
product or service.
• Does not always increase sales.
• Debate over advertising awards.

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 Advertising Creativity 1

Different Perspectives on Advertising Creativity

• Managers’ perspective:
• Advertising is creative only if it sells the product.

• Ads are promotional tools used to communicate favorable impressions to

the marketplace.

• Risk-averse and want more conservative ads.

• Creative people’s perspective:

• Ad creativity in its artistic value and originality.

• Ads are communication vehicles for promoting their own aesthetic

viewpoints and personal career objectives.

• Maximize impact of message.

LO8-1

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 Advertising Creativity 2

Determinants of Creativity
• Advertising creativity:

• Ability to generate fresh, unique, and appropriate ideas that can be used
as solutions to communication problems.

• Two central determinants:

• Divergence.

• Relevance.

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 Advertising Creativity 3

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Divergence:
• Extent to which ad contains elements that are novel, different, or unusual.

• Achieved through:

• Originality.

• Flexibility.

• Elaboration.

• Synthesis.

• Artistic value. Source: KFC Corporation

This ad for KFC Hot and Spicy chicken uses

divergence based on originality and artistic value.

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 Advertising Creativity 4

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Relevance:
• Degree to which elements of ad are meaningful, useful, or valuable to
consumer.

• Achieved through:

• Ad-to-consumer relevance—Ad contains execution elements that are

meaningful to consumers.

• Brand-to-consumer relevance—Advertised brand of product or service

is of personal interest to consumers.

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 Advertising Creativity 5

Determinants of Creativity continued

• Studies of advertising creativity:
• Does impact consumers’ responses across various stages of response
hierarchy.

• Draws more attention to advertised brand, higher levels of recall, greater

motivation to process the information, and deeper levels of processing.

• Divergence achieved through novelty/originality and/or elaboration is

particularly important.

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 Figure 8-1 Impact of Combinations of Creative Elements
on Sales

% Relative Effectiveness
What Creativity (Sales Uplift of Pairing
Combinations Work Best? Relative to Average
Effectiveness)
Originality + Elaboration More effective +96
Originality + Artistic value +89
Elaboration + Artistic value +28
Originality + Synthesis +1
Originality + Flexibility −1
Synthesis + Elaboration −5
Flexibility + Synthesis −20
Synthesis + Artistic value −29
Flexibility + Elaboration −59
Flexibility + Artistic value Less effective −99

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 Planning Creative Strategy 1

The Creative Challenge

• Must transform advertising message into engaging and memorable ad.

• Every marketing situation is different, and each campaign or

advertisement requires a different creative approach.

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 Planning Creative Strategy 2

Taking Creative Risks

• Essential for creating breakthrough advertisements that get noticed.

Nike’s willingness to
allow their ad agency,
Wieden+Kennedy, to
take creative risks has
paid off in powerful and
effective advertisements
like this one.

© McGraw Hill Source: NIKE Inc. 13

 Planning Creative Strategy 3

The Perpetual Debate: Creative versus Hard-Sell Advertising

• Suits or rationalists:
• Advertising must sell the product or service.

• Poets:
• Advertising must build emotional bond between consumers and brands or
companies.

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 Planning Creative Strategy 4

Creative Personnel
• Background in nonbusiness areas.

• More abstract and less structured, organized, or conventional.

• Everyone involved in IMC must seek creative solutions.

• Clients should not inhibit creative process.

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 The Creative Process 1

Young’s Model of the Creative Process

• Immersion: Gathering raw material and data; immersing oneself in the
problem.
• Digestion: Analyzing the information.
• Incubation: Letting subconscious do the work.
• Illumination: Birth of an idea.
• Reality or verification: Studying the idea and reshaping it for practical
usefulness.

LO8-2

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 The Creative Process 2

Wallas’s Model of the Creative Process

• Preparation: Gathering background information needed to solve
problem through research and study.
• Incubation: Letting ideas develop.
• Illumination: Finding the solution.
• Verification: Refining idea and analyzing whether it is an appropriate
solution.

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 The Creative Process 3

Account Planning
• Conducting research and gathering relevant information about the
client’s:
• Product/service and brand.

• Consumers in target audience.

• Account planners:
• Provide decision makers with information required to make an intelligent
decision.

• Responsible for research conducted during the creative strategy

development process.

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 The Creative Process 4

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination
• Background research.

• Fact-finding techniques:

• Read everything related to the product or market.

• Ask everyone involved with the product for information.

• Listen to what people are talking about, particularly the client.

• Use the product or service and become familiar with it.

• Learn about client’s business.

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 The Creative Process 5

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Background research. continued
• General preplanning input:

• Gather and organize information on product, market, and competition.

• Analyze trends, developments, and happenings in the marketplace.

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 The Creative Process 6

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Product- or service-specific research.
• Gathering information through studies conducted by client on product or
service and target audience.

• Problem detection:

• Asking consumers familiar with product to list aspects they do not like.

• Provides:
• Input for product improvements or new product development.
• Ideas regarding which features to emphasize.
• Guidelines for positioning brands.

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 The Creative Process 7

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Product- or service-specific research. continued
• Branding research:

• Helps gain better insight into consumers and develop more effective
campaigns.

• Y&R Group’s BrandAsset Valuator (BAV™).

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 Exhibit 8-7

Source: BAV Group, Inc.

Y&R Group’s proprietary tool the BrandAsset Valuator (BAV™) uses four pillars:
energized differentiation, relevance, esteem, and knowledge. These pillars
identify core issues for the brand and evaluate current and future financial
performance and potential.

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 The Creative Process 8

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input.
• Provides valuable insight at early stages of creative process.

• Focus groups: Consumers from target market are led through a

discussion regarding a topic.

• Give a better idea of:

• Who target audience is.
• What audience is like.
• Who creatives need to write, design, or direct to.
• Which creative approach to use.
• Critics believe testing can weaken creative execution.

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 Exhibit 8-9

The Aflac duck did not test

well in focus groups, but
the company continued
anyway. This creative
award-winning campaign
has been very successful
for Aflac.

© McGraw Hill Source: Aflac Incorporated 25

 The Creative Process 9

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input. continued
• Ethnographic research: Observing consumers in their natural
environment.

• Expensive to conduct and difficult to administer.

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 The Creative Process 10

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation, Incubation,

Illumination continued
• Qualitative research input. continued
• The Advertising Research Foundation initiated the David Ogilvy Awards.

The Cleaner of Your Dreams

campaign for Mr. Clean won
the Grand Ogilvy Award for an
IMC campaign based on
consumer research.

© McGraw Hill Source: Procter & Gamble 27

 The Creative Process 11

Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision

• Process:
• Evaluate ideas.
• Reject the inappropriate ideas.
• Refine the remaining ideas.
• Give ideas final expression.

• Techniques:
• Directed focus groups.
• Message communication studies.
• Portfolio tests.
• Evaluation measures, such as viewer reaction profiles.

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 The Creative Process 12

Inputs to the Creative Process: Verification, Revision continued

• Storyboard: Series of drawings that present a proposed commercial’s
visual layout.
• Animatic: Videotape of storyboard along with audio soundtrack.

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 Creative Strategy Development 1

Advertising Campaigns
• Set of interrelated, coordinated marketing communications activities
that center on a single theme or idea.
• Appear in different media across specified time period.

• Campaign theme:
• Central message communicated in all advertising and promotional
activities.

• Expressed through a slogan or tagline.

• Summation line that briefly expresses company or brand’s positioning

and the message it is trying to deliver to target audience.

LO8-3

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 Creative Strategy Development 2

Advertising Campaigns continued

• Slogans:
• Should be simple, catchy, and predictable.

• Should connect with consumers emotionally.

• Many companies not using them.

• Campaign themes:
• Attempt to develop campaign themes that last many years.

• Guided by specific goals and objectives.

• Creative strategy statement outlined in copy or creative platform.

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 Figure 8-2 Examples of Effective Advertising Slogans

Company or Brand Slogan

1. Nike Just do it.
2. Home Depot More saving. More doing.
3. Gillette The Best a Man Can Get
4. McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It!
5. Chipotle Food With Integrity
6. Walmart Save Money. Live Better.
7. Bounty The Quicker Picker-Upper
8. Gatorade Win From Within
9. Under Armour Protect This House. I Will.
10. Dunkin America Runs on Dunkin

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 Creative Strategy Development 3

Creative Brief
• Document that specifies key elements of the creative strategy and
serves as basis for communication between client and advertising
agency.
• Association of National Advertisers (ANA) provides guidelines for
developing effective briefs.
• Two-step process: Client creates assignment brief and then ad agency
develops creative brief.

• One collaborative brief: Client takes lead and develops brief with ad
agency.

• Often gaps in information.

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 Figure 8-3 Key Elements of a Creative Brief

1. Basic problem or issue the communication must address or solve.

2. Communication objectives.
3. Target audience.
4. Insights to drive creative work.
5. Key benefits or major selling idea to communicate.
6. Reason to believe/supporting information.
7. Tone and manner/brand personality.
8. Deliverables (what is needed and when).
9. Measures of success (should be tied back to objectives).

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 Creative Strategy Development 4

The Search for the Major Selling Idea

• Major selling idea: Strongest singular thing company can say about
its product or service.
• Has the broadest and most meaningful appeal to target audience.
• Basis of many creative, successful advertising campaigns.

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

campaign for Old Spice is one of the
best campaigns of the new millennium.
What is Old Spice's major selling idea
in this campaign?
Source: Old Spice by Procter & Gamble

LO8-4

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 Creative Strategy Development 5

Developing the Major Selling Idea

• Most creative ideas try to dramatically and effectively convey the key
benefit claim.
• Approaches:
• Using a unique selling proposition.

• Creating a brand image.

• Finding the inherent drama.

• Positioning.

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 Creative Strategy Development 6

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
• Benefit:

• Buy product/service and you get this benefit.

• Unique:

• Proposition must be unique to brand or claim; rivals can't or don't offer

it.

• Potent:

• Promise must be strong enough to move mass millions.

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 Creative Strategy Development 7

Developing the Major Selling Idea

continued
• Creating a brand image:
• Image advertising: Strategy used to
develop strong, memorable identity for a
brand.

• To be successful:

• Associate brand with symbols or

artifacts that have cultural meaning.

• Use visual appeals that convey

psychosocial associations and feelings. Source: Bebe Stores, Inc.

bebe uses advertising to build an

image as a sexy and stylish brand.

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 Creative Strategy Development 8

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Finding the inherent drama.
• Characteristic of a product that makes consumers purchase it.

• Advertising should:

• Be based on foundation of consumer benefits.

• Emphasize the dramatic element in expressing those benefits.

Advertising for Hallmark such as the

“Put Your Heart to Paper” campaign
often uses inherent drama.

© McGraw Hill Source: Hallmark Licensing, LLC 39

 Creative Strategy Development 9

Developing the Major Selling Idea continued

• Positioning:
• Establishes product or service in a particular place in consumer’s mind.

• Done on basis of distinctive attributes.

• Basis of firm’s creative strategy when it has multiple brands competing in

same market.

Kellogg has repositioned

Special K cereal using the
“Power of You” campaign.

© McGraw Hill Source: Kellogg Co. 40

 Creative Strategy Development 10

Contemporary Approaches to the Big Idea

• Many creative styles and strategies are available.
• Big ideas must:
• Capture consumer attention.

• Be adaptable to be used across various media.

• Engage consumers and enter into a dialogue with them.

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 End of Main Content

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© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.