Good insight leads to great advertising
– What makes them tick
– New uses for products
– Knowledge ab New market areas
– Spot new trends
– RESEARCH provides essential info ab industry, company, brand, consumer and
competition
Getting to know brand
What do consumers think ab the brand?
Feel ab the brand
Does brand fulfill needs/wants/problems/interests of consumers ?
What ways does brand exceed or fall short of consumer expectations ?
Getting to know industry
– Brand leader?
– How long have they held that position?
– Trends in industry?
– Does brand set or follow trends??
Getting to know the company
– How long has company been around?
– High and low points of history?
– Corporate philosophy?
– Media coverage?
– Lists of brands/products?
Get to know consumer
– Demographic, psychographic etc
Getting to know the competition
Who?
What are they doing?
How are you different ?
Research process
1. State research Q’s
a. What do you want to know
b. Carefully planned questions
2. Gather info
a. Secondary research – already there ex: customer profiles , annual reports , PR
files
b. Primary research – surveys , focus groups, interviews, observation, experiments
3. Interpret date
a. Summarized in final report
Advertising Research Steps
1. SWOT analysis – defines and interprets strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats
2. Creative Platform
3. Creative Brief
COVID – drastically changed social patterns and lifestyles and provided threats and
opportunities
– Smart companies utilized a SWOT analysis to pivot and adapt and create brand
strategies
Creative Platform helps identify following :
features/benefits
Competitive advantage/weaknesses
Target audience
Goal: help you find the
One thing – simple overriding statement about the product
Feature = something your product has or is (inherent)
Benefit = outcome or result that user experiences by using product
Creative Platform
– Unique selling point
– Can product claims be sustained ?
– Is there a parent company ? relevant / important?
Creative strategy
– Bridge from where brand is to where it wants to be BY:
– Understanding the target audience
– Defining the actions you want audience to take
– Develop innovative and creative approaches to persuasively communicate those
actions to the desired audience.
– The way you plan to sell your product , identifying what you are going to say
– Creative tactics
– How do you do it ( words and images you use )
– Tone of voice, look / feel of ads , emotions used etc
– Strategic planning is stage between fact gathering and big idea
– Strategy
– Creative platform
– Creative Brief
– Big idea
Creative brief guides and stimulates the creative process
Objective:
– What are we trying to accomplish ?
– Who are we talking to ( audience/community)?
– Why should they care?
Strategy/Message statement
– What do they need to know?
Tactics
– How do we tell them? Tone of campaign?
Competition
– Who are the competitors?
– Who is leading the genre?
– What makes your brand different?
Channels?
– Where do we tell them?
Extensions
– What else can we do?
Launch
– How do we get there?
How do you find the BIG idea?
– More crucial as technology is constantly changing in the industry
– Game changers
– Social media – allows us to like / follow brands = tune into their social
media content
– Smart phones – introduced us to the world of apps
– GAMING .. relevant brand management
– QR Codes – provide an immediate connection between audience and
content
CONCEPT TRANSFORMATION
1. Adapt
a. Change context
b. what else could product be / for entertainment / unexpected uses of products
2. Imagine
a. What ifs
3. Reverse
a. Look at it backwards
b. Sometimes the opposite of what is expected has great impact and memorability
i. EX: Volkswagen
4. Connect
a. Join two unrelated items
5. Compare
a. Use one idea to describe another
b. Metaphors
6. Alternative
a. The alternative to your product
7. Testimonials
– Issues
– Does the person match the product
– Celebrity behavior
– Cancel culture
8. Eliminate
a. Subtract something
b. Got Milk?
9. Parody
