Advertising Design

Message Strategies and

Executional Frameworks
The Hierarchy of Effects Model and Message Strategies

Awareness
Cognitive
Strategies Knowledge

Liking
Affective
Strategies Preference

Conviction
Conative
Strategies Purchase
 Message Strategies
• The message theme outlines the key ideas in
an advertisement. It is a central part of the
creative brief. The message then can be
created using a number of different message
strategies, which is the primary tactic or
approach used to deliver the message theme.
Message strategies can be divided into three
main categories that correspond with the
three components of attitude – cognitive,
affective, and conative.
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• Cognitive: cognitive components refer to the
person’s mental images, understanding, and
interpretations.
• Affective: affective components contain the
feelings or emotions a person has about the
object, topic, or idea.
• Conative: conative component consists of the
individual’s intentions, actions, or behavior.
• Factors that drive the cognitive response:
Information processing leads to a cognitive response such as
understanding – the information is filed in memory and
can be recalled when needed.
1. Need: Generally, needs are basic biological motivations
but they are also something you think about, while
wants tend to be based more on feelings and desires.
When we refer to needs, we are usually talking about a
message that describes something lacking in consumers’
lives and that often stimulates a cognitive response.
Advertisers address consumer needs through
informational ads that explain how a product works and
what it can do for the user, that is, the benefits it offers
to the user.
i.e. Ad messages describe something missing in consumer’s lives.
2. Cognitive Learning: Consumers learn about
products and brands through two primary
routes: cognitive learning and conditioned
learning. Cognitive learning occurs when a
presentation of facts, information, and
explanations leads to understanding.
3. Differentiation: Differentiation is the
consumer’s ability to separate one brand from
another in a product category.
4. Recall: A measure of learning or understanding.
One remembers the ad, the brand and copy
points.
 1. Cognitive message strategy
• Generic message: which make the brand
synonymous with the product category.
• Preemptive message: strategy makes a claim
of superiority based on a product’s specific
attribute or benefit with the intent of
preventing the competition from making the
same claim. An effective preemptive message
strategy can occur when a company is the first
to state an advantage or benefit (e.g. Crest
“cavity fighter”.
• Unique Selling Proposition: message strategy focuses
on a testable claim of uniqueness or superiority. ”.
Such a claim is testable and must be able to support
this claim.
• Example: Domino's Pizza: "You get fresh, hot pizza
delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less -- or it's
free."
• M&M's: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand"
• Head & Shoulders: "You get rid of dandruff"

i.e. the message must stress a unique product feature.

• Hyperbole: message strategy is an untestable
claim based on some attribute or benefit. It
does not require proof, which makes it a
popular cognitive strategy approach.
• Example: “The best part of waking up is
Folgers in your cup” - This is clearly an
opinion, and the cup of Folgers coffee might
not be the best part of waking up for
everyone, every single morning.
• Disneyland - The happiest place on earth.
• Esso - Put a tiger in your tank.
• Comparative message:
• Direct or indirect comparisons
• Real or fictitious competitor
• Advantage – captures attention
– Brand awareness increases
– Message awareness increases
• Negative – less believable, negative attitude
– Negative comparative ad
• Choose comparisons carefully
 2. Affective message strategies
• Invoke feelings or emotions
• Attempts to enhance likeability
• Resonance Advertising
– Connects with consumer experiences (nostalgia)
– Comfort marketing (opposite to nostalgia, focus on using
known brands, up-to-date technologies)
• Emotional Advertising
– Emotions lead to recall and choice
– Leads to positive feelings
• Factors that drive the affective response:
Emotional responses are powerful, not only
because they drive perception, but also because
they break through disinterest.
1. Wants and Desires: “I want something” implies
desire. Wants are driven by emotions and
based on wishes. Impulse buying is a good
example of the motivational power of wants.
When you are standing in line at a store and see
a display of candy bars, you may want one, but
that doesn’t mean you need it. It’s strictly
desire and that is driven by emotion.
2. Excitement: If we are excited about something, we are
energized and more willing to participate or make a
commitment.
3. Feelings: Our passions and feelings are addressed in a
number of ways in advertising, such as humor, love, or
fear. Ads that rely on arousing feelings are referred to as
emotional appeals.
4. Liking: Two important affective responses to a message
are liking the brand and liking the ad. Liking reflects the
personality of the brand or the entertainment power of
the ad’s execution.
On the opposite side of liking is brand aversion, which
means people avoid buying a brand because they don’t
like the ads or what they associate with the brand.
5. Resonance
A feeling that the message rings true. amplify the emotional
impact by engaging a consumer in a personal connection
with a brand.
• On the opposite side of liking is brand
aversion, which means people avoid buying a
brand because they don’t like the ads or what
they associate with the brand.
 3. Conative message strategies
• Conative message strategies are designed to lead
directly to some type of action or response
• Action-inducing: encourage consumers (or
businesses) to act in some way, to do something.
It can be to make an inquiry or access a Web site
for more information
• Promotional support: are tied with some type of
promotion. It may be a coupon, a contest, or a
sweepstake.
• Mental Rehearsal: The mental rehearsal of
behaviors is made possible by showing visuals
of people doing things. Visualization is an
imagined action.
 Types of Advertising Appeal

• Fear
• Humor
• Sex
• Music
• Rationality
• Emotions
• Scarcity
 Fear Appeal
• Fear appeals are common: and are used for
products ranging from insurance, to home security
systems, to deodorant
• Fear increases interest and is remembered
• Severity and vulnerability
• Severity – level of consequence
• Vulnerability – probability of event occurring
• Rewards to Response efficacy
• is the likelihood that a change in behavior or actions will
result in a desirable positive consequence e.g. (quit
smoking “intrinsic rewards: social acceptance, extrinsic
reward: saving money)

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 Fear Appeal
• Most advertisers believe a moderate fear level
will be the most effective.
• Low level of fear may not be noticed.
• Strong level of fear can backfire, because the
message only generates feelings of anxious.
Fear Appeal
 Humor Appeal
• Excellent for getting and keeping attention
• Humor causes consumers to
• Watch
• Laugh
• Remember

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 Humor Appeal
• Advantages of humor
• Create interest
• Increases recall and comprehension
• Elevates mood
• Problems with humor
• Offensive
• Overpower message (consumer forget the product and
remember the joke)
• Humor should focus on product
• International usage
• Humor often rooted in culture
• Humor varies across countries

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 FIGURE 6.7
Reasons for Using Humor in Ads

• Captures attention
• Holds attention
• Often wins creative awards
• High recall scores
• Consumers enjoy funny ads
• Evaluated as likeable ads

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 Sex Appeal
• Breaks through clutter
• Not as effective as in the past

Copyright ©2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-29

 Are Sex Appeals Effective?
Attracting attention
• Sexually-oriented ads do attract attention
• Attention greater for models of opposite gender
• Brand recall is lower

Copyright ©2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-30

 Music Appeals
• Connects with emotions and memories
• Gains attention
• Increases the retention of visual information
• Better recall
• Can increase persuasiveness
• Stored in long-term memory

Copyright ©2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-32

 Rational Appeal
• Rational appeals are based on the
hierarchy of effects model and the
sequence of steps outlined in the model. It
implies active processing of information.
Rational appeals work best for print ads
where longer copy can be inserted and
online where there is very little limit to
what copy can be inserted.
 Emotional Appeals
• Brand loyalty
– Key to developing brand loyalty
– Creates bond with brand
• Media outlets
– Television best medium
– Internet
– Work well when tied with other appeals

Copyright ©2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. 6-35

• Most advertising creatives believe that
emotions are the key to developing brand
loyalty. Emotions and feelings will create
bonds with a brand.
• Emotional appeals work really well for
television where people can see and hear the
emotions. It works well for the Internet.
Emotional appeals work well with other types
of appeals and is often combined with other
appeals, such as with humor.
 Scarcity Appeals
• Based on limited supply
• Based on limited time to purchase
• Often tied with promotion tools such as
contests, sweepstakes, and coupons
• Encourage customers to take action

Copyright ©2016 Pearson Education Limited 6-37

 F I G U R E 7. 3
Executional Frameworks

• Animation
• Slice-of-life
• Testimonial
• Authoritative
• Demonstration
• Fantasy
• Informative
 Animation
• Originally – cheap method
• Usage has increased
• Enhanced graphics technology
• Costs coming down
• Business-to-business use
Slice-of-life
• In slice-of-life ads, advertisers provide
solutions to the everyday problems consumers
face.
• Slice-of-life ads describe the common
experience, especially problems people
encounter, and a product is introduced to
solve the problem.
 F I G U R E 7. 4
Components of a Slice-of-Life Ad

Encounter Problem Interaction Solution

 Testimonial
• Testimonials involve customers giving
testimonies about a product or service.
Testimonies can enhance the credibility of a
product. The testimonies can be given by real
customers or by paid actors. Real customers
are more believable, but lack polish for a TV
ad. Paid actors sometimes look like paid
actors, and the testimony benefits are lost.
 Authoritative
• When using the authoritative execution,
advertisers seek to convince consumers of the
product’s superiority.
• The most common approach is to use some type
of expert authority, such as a doctor, dentist,
lawyer
• Scientific evidence or even survey evidence can
be used to support the claim.
• Authoritative executions rely on cognitive
processing of the information, so work best with
print media where copy can be supplied.
 Fantasy

• Fantasy executions lift the audience beyond

reality to a world of make-believe. Some are
meant to be realistic, but most are fantasies
that are irrational and would never really
happen.
 Informative
• Informative executions present information to
the audience in a straight-forward manner. It
is used extensively in radio.
 Sources and Spokespersons

Celebrities

CEOs
Source
Experts

Typical persons
 FIGURE 7.6
Characteristics of Effective Spokespersons

Credibility

Attractiveness Similarity Likability

Trustworthiness Expertise