LAYOUT

Layout in advertising is in identical category with advertising copy. One may not be able to
totally isolate both copy and layout in the production of advertising campaign. While copy
is the integration of copy elements to produce a superb message, layout is the physical
show or sketch of the outcome of a copy work. Layout is primarily concerned with the
finished work of an advertising copy. It displays the aesthetic of a copy and presents the
physical arrangement of various parts of the advertisement, including the headline,
subhead, illustrations, body copy, and any identifying marks. The position of where each
part of an advertisement would be place is shown by the layout. Layout is usually in rough
format. This unit would examine and explore what advertising layout is as a concept in
advertising.

Qualities of a good layout:

The value of advertisement is enhanced when message is presented in a way to create

lasting impression. To do so, certain principles are to be respected in layout work. These
principles can also be called as the qualities of a good layout.

These are:

1. Balance:
Balance in advertisement is related with the weight distribution. It involves location
of sizes, shapes, and tones in relation to the optic centre. Balance is the relationship
that exists between right and the left hand sides of an ad.
Balance in ad layout is achieved by combining the elements in terms of size and
weight. Weight means the brightness or the darkness of shade. This balance may be
formal or it may be informal.

2. Rhythm:
Rhythm governs the movement of the eye from one part of the design to another.
Movement provides dynamism. Some people call this principle of rhythm as that of
‘movement’ or ‘gaze motion’ or ‘sequence. Here, the movement is the principle of
design that carries the reader’s eyes from element to element in the sequence
desired for the effective communication of the ad message. Eye direction is achieved
by mechanical devices like pointing figures, dangling leg lines, arrows dotted line,
special shading and so on.

3. Emphasis:
Emphasis or contrast emphasizes the important elements of an advertisement to
make it outstanding and enchanting. Emphasis is achieved through contrast and
contrast is the difference. Contrast is possible by variation in size, shape, tone, type-
style, colour and the density of the elements including the close-up shots.The other
ways of contrast are isolation and radiation. Emphasizing does not mean over or
under emphasizing but just giving true position and the contribution.
 4. Proportion:
Proportion implies the ratio of length to width. It has bearing on size and shape of
the masses given in an ad. It speaks of the relationship of the elements of an ad to
each other and to the back-ground in which they appear.
There is close relation between the principles of proportion and that of balance.
Anything in proportion is certainly pleasing to the eyes and appealing to the brain.
Proper proportion avoids sameness and monotony.

5. Unity:
Unity means union of all the elements in the layout to produce the effects of
homogenous whole and each part supports and reinforces another. Unity is oneness
providing cohesiveness to the advertisement.
Principle of unity or harmony speaks of making the advertisement more unified
than a piece consisting of disconnected parts. Unity in layout is achieved through
continuity or harmony.

6. Simplicity:
Clarity and comprehension are the products of simplicity. Lack of simplicity in
design would complicate and confuse the reader as it hinders the flow of message.
Complicated layout may be misunderstood or not at all understood by the reader.
Simplicity and layout sequence promote clarity and comprehension in layout.
Simplicity in layout is achieved through candid combination of logo-type trade-
mark, slogan and the company name into a single compact block. Clear illustration
and standard type-faces bring in simplicity.

Importance Of Layout
Ucheanya (2013: 58) states the followings as the purpose why advertising layout is
necessary and important. These are:

1. It enables the advertiser to see in advance before printing what the exacts picture of
the advertisement would be like
2. It gives the printer a guide on what to do
3. It provides to the printer in advance picture of the complete work and how it will
look like when printed.
4. It eliminates arguments and misunderstanding between the advertiser and the
printer in the areas of marginal notations.
5. It gives a concrete proposal to the agency to make a bold presentation to its client’
6. It gives the advertiser / client an opportunity to examine what the agency submitted
for approval. A carefully prepared layout makes the tasks of decision making easier

Advertising Layout Stages-

Advertising layout format explain the look or appearance the layout designer envisage for a
particular campaign. He also considers the copy sheet to determine the form which is
expected to take. For instance, he ask himself if the layout would be on a single sheet, a
folder, a label, a double sheet, a sticker, and so on. When this question is satisfactorily
answered, then he moves to work properly. John – Kanem (2006) and Ucheanya (2013)
agreed that there exist three basic formats of advertising layout. These include the
followings:

1. Thumbnail or Miniature Layout: Here the designer sketches his mind’s picture in
a sheet to help him develop on it. This experimental stage allows the layout designer
to demonstrate his intentions practically. He uses wavy lines to show and represent
each copy element. It is the pictorial form of a layout designer’s idea. Furthermore,
thumbnail layout format presents the ideas the words will represent, the elements
to be used, the relative importance of the ideas and elements and the order of
presentation which can be any size.

2. The Rough Layout: This formats exceeds the thumbnail, it is in a large format but
carries more information than it is, in a thumbnail. Rough layout carries the
resemblance of a finished work, it consist of the features of a proposed
advertisement. In it several draft may be called out for re – work on them, to take
care of revisions and changes. The final rough bears resemblance of the finished
advertisement but the elements are lettered in hastily and incompletely written. The
elements positions are so precise that printer can work with it to compose and
make up the advertisement without problem.

3. Comprehensive Layout: This is the finished version of the rough layout. It shows
the precise positions, colors, sizes, shapes etc of the layouts. The ready to launch
position of this layout makes it comprehensive. Proofs of composed types are
positioned for clients who may want a closer representation of advertisement than
is offered by rough layout.

COPYWRITING
Advertising copy is the sum of all the elements of a creative work. These are elements
annex to produce a ready-to-disseminate advertising message.

The elements that make up a copy include: Headlines, sub- headline, text, pictures, sounds,
and every other thing that would make the success of the advertising campaign; be it,
electronics, print or social media. Ucheanya (2013:60) opines that “advertising copy is to
perform the function of development of familiarity with the brand name, shapes, motive
and desire to build believability and to provide a reason for selecting a particular brand
over all other competing brands.” The existence of a copy is the reason for why most
advertising agency craves for excellent copy writers. Copy writing is a painstaking and
herculean task which requires critical thinking and application of ideas to the briefs
received in order to produce a salesmanship content that can provoke purchases from
target audience. Many product are competing earnestly for large market shares, as a result,
they invest heavily on advertising to enable them enough publicity that would drive traffic
to them as much as possible.

According to Ucheanya(2013), it is the function of a copy to high the unique selling point so
that the target audience would begin to get attracted to the brand, patronize it and
maintain patronage for as long as it exist in the market. The person who writes the copy is
known as a copywriters.
The copy writer concerns himself with every element that will appear in the complete
advertising massage. He ensures that all the copy elements are correctly and creatively
interplayed to ensure successful sales return after the campaign is launched. A copywriter
is an individual who is professional trained in advertising and who has good years of
experience in an advertising agency. There are no rules that state how copy elements
should be applied; this is why advertising is regarded as a highly creative job. Ucheanya
(2013) support this by saying “it does not matter if advertisement begins with an
illustration”. The expression of copy elements is the sole responsibility of the creativity of a
copy writer.

Copy writing is also a variety in advertising copy. It is the process or art of annexing those
elements that will project a brand to its audience in order to get patronage in return. John-
Kamen (2006) posits, “Since advertising space is very valuable, the copy writer must
convey his massage without waste of words. He must condense a bridge and revise what
his reader thinks in a thousand way.

Copy
Advertising copy is to perform the function of development of familiarity with product or
service brand name, shape, motives and desires to build believability, giving reasons for
selecting a particular brand over other competing brands.” Ucheanya assertion agrees with
the school of thought that defines advertising copy as salesmanship-in-print and putting
into consideration the advertising elements which he stated in his definition. Putting these
two viewpoints together, one would say advertising copy is aimed at stirring up a feeling
which can either be to sell, or buy something or sympathize and support a cause which is
directed to enhance better lives for the public.
In preparing an effective advertising copy, some vital principles need to be adhered to.
These principles are guides towards launching a successful advertising campaign. John-
kamen (2006) enumerates these five principles, they are:

1. You must make people see the advertisement: Your advertising copy must be
aesthetic enough to capture the sight of your target audience. The use of colours
such as red, blue and green catch attention more. It is practically the duty of the
copy developer to ensure this is achieved.
 2. You must make people read the advertisement: Every human is a rational being.
He tends to look for things and situation that is favourable to him. To get your
audience to read your copy, you must make sure you project more of the benefits he
would derive from the products or ideas you are selling. Again, showing concern for
your target audience endeared their interest toward your products. A quote goes
thus “people don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”.

3. You must make people understand your advertisement: Your copy is expected
here to be clear, distinct and intelligible enough to the type of audience you
designed it for. How comprehensive your copy is to your audience matters a lot; if
care is abused, your audience may not give you a second chance, so understand your
audience to determine the language and words you can reach them with.

4. You must make people believe it: Believe is a mental attitude, it can motivate or
demotivate a person. Most people believe aid them in life to either achieve success
or become failure. In the bible, romans 10:10 to be precisestates that man believes
with his heart before he confesses his support for or against a faith. As creative
personnel, if your copy lacks the trust of your audience, it aims automatically is
forfeited. It is therefore your job to package messages in a way that would provoke
sympathy or patronage for your products or service, making it truthful and simple.
This principle according to John-Kamen (2006:149) calls for the principles of truth
and restraint moderation in advertising copy. “These principles are unfortunately
and frequently disregarded. Some copy are full of extravagant claims and
superlative statements, which are far from convincing. As a matter of rule, over
statement is less powerful than understatement. Make fewer promises to your
audience but deliver more. With this, you would win their loyalty for a long period
of time.

5. You must make people want it: It is not all advertisement that leads to immediate
sales. Some advertisements are projected with the aim of creating goodwill and
friendliness. It aim is to register its presence in the mind of the audience to provide
them with different choices of product or service. Hence, providing consumers with
substitutes. For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi can operate on this level. As an
advertising copy writer, your copy must stir up the desire of your audience to want
and desire the product or service being sold.

John-Kamen (2006) finalizes that a copy writer must uphold these five principles with
utmost sacredness. He points that “if a copy has been seen, read, understood and believed,
if it leaves the reader cold, nothing has been achieved.”

Elements of a Copy
There are Seven (7) basic elements of an advertising copy. Some advertisement may
contain almost all or while some may contain two or three elements, the most important to
the copy, is its ability to deliver and get desired result. As said elsewhere, no rules guide the
application or usage of copy elements; it is solely the creative responsibility of the copy
writer to determine that. The followings are the basic elements of an advertising copy,
these are:

1. The Headline:
This is the first copy interface which anyone would come in contact with, it is
usually written in large type face. Also referred to as caption, the headline is
designed alongside a catchy illustration to capture and attract attention to the
advertisement. It drives prospective buyers to further investigate the brand.

2. The Sub-Head:
This goes after the headlines often, sometimes some copy writers, display the
subhead first before the headlines, and this is basically for a purpose which they
deemed would drive in audience to the entire copy. The subhead is written in a
smaller type face lesser than headlines but larger than the body text.

3. The Body Copy:

This is the illustration text, always in the smallest type face in the copy than the
headline and the subhead. The body copy explains a brand in a few and concise but
creative words that stick faster in the mind of the audience. It explains a brand in
the best possible ways.

4. Captions:
These are written in a smaller type face than the body copy to represent sales points
by illustrating and explaining them at the same time. Captions are less important to
the main selling points in the advertisement than the body copy

5. The Blurb or Balloon:

This is term used in advertising to represent that the illustration of an advertising
copy is coming out from mouth of one of the characters used in the advertising
campaign. At times they are used as headlines and displayed in large size.

These are elements in a copy which display unique and special information other than
those already displayed by the advertisement. They are use in such features as coupons,
special offers and contest rules.

AIDA Model of effective Copy Writing

Even though the world of advertising has become more and more competitive, the
principle behind the ad copy remains the same. The four steps that the copywriters use in
their ad to persuade the consumers to buy the products are attention factor, interest
element, desire element and action element which is called as AIDA. Advertising and
marketing objectives are met by the effective use of this model.
The phrase AIDA, in marketing communication was coined by American advertising and
sales pioneer Elias. St. Elmo Lewis in the late 1800s. The model talks about the different
phases through which a consumer goes before going to buy a product or service. According
to him, most of the marketers follow this model to fetch more consumers for their product.
Marketers use this model to attract customers to purchase a product. This model can be
seen widely used in today’s advertisements.

Theory

The acronym AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. These are the four
stages that a consumer goes through when watching or viewing an advertisement.
According to Lewis, first and foremost, the role of an advertisement is to attract the
customers. Once an ad grabs attention, it has to invoke interest towards the product in the
minds of the consumers. After creating an interest, the ad has to bring desire in consumers
mind to use the product and finally the consumer has to take a favorable action towards the
product by ultimately purchasing the product.

The Process Of AIDA

1. Attention: Attention is usually grabbed by the use of image, color, layout,

typography, size, celebrity, model etc.

2. Interest: Once attention is grabbed, it’s necessary to create interest in the viewers
mind so that they will read more about the brand being advertised. By the use of an
attractive sub head, interest can be invoked.

3. Desire: The element of desire is usually created by the use of body copy where you
write in detail about the necessity of buying the brand, thereby explaining the
features of the brand, facts and figures.

4. Action: Towards the end, the contact information of the brand will be given where
they expects the viewers to take action immediately. It can be in the form of shop
address, toll free numbers or website address

An advertisements success depends up on the viewer’s ability to notice and understand its
message. The AIDA model helps the copy writer to present the elements of a print ad,
Headline, Subhead, Body copy, slogan and contact information in a format that makes the
viewers read in a flow and understand about the product easily.