6 Creative Strategy

 What is a ‘BIG IDEA”:- The big idea is the idea that an advertiser selects for communicating the
brand’s strategic message in a creative way; it is a link between strategy and creative execution.
 In other words, it is a creative concept to execute the advertising strategy and serves as an
umbrella or central theme for a series of ads in a campaign.
 Once the strategic direction has been finalized, the hunt begins for the big idea and then follows
its creative execution.
 A Big Idea involves all – the head, the heart and the gut feeling.
 To come up with a big idea, a creative leap needs to be taken. The advertiser needs to distance
himself from the shelter of the strategy statement and plunge into the alien creative arena.
 While there are no outlined steps for arriving at the big idea, advertisers usually begin by
reviewing the advertising strategy and the researched information to get into the heart of the
problem they are trying to solve.
 Then begins the creative process of generating various alternative ideas for the problem in
question.
 Next, the ideas are evaluated from a reality check – whether they are really good, whether they
would solve the problem and whether they are in alignment with the strategy or not.
 If answer to any of these questions is in the negative, the idea is rejected. Finally, the one best
idea is selected for execution while the other ideas are retained as backup or support ideas.
 Hitting on an idea that communicates the strategic message in an artistic, imaginative & exciting
way is not an easy task. Advertisers need to lubricate their grey cells and put on their creative
thinking caps for best results.
 Creativity is both an art and a science that can be acquired with practice.
 Creativity:- Creativity is about giving birth to something that did not exist before. It is the
application of past experiences or ideas in a novel and unexpected way. It is about being
innovative, imaginative, original and different.
 Traits of Creative Minds:- Creativity requires qualities like flexibility, imagination, expressiveness
and openness to change. These skills may be genetic, acquired or situational. Additionally, the
following traits signal the presence of creativity:
i. A Questioning Attitude:- Have you ever noticed why a child learns the fastest? Or why things seen
or heard in childhood remain etched in memory? That’s because a child has an insatiable urge to
learn or know. As an infant, it tries to absorb the surroundings through its various senses.
 When a child learns to talk, it can’t stop asking questions which seem to be quite silly to others.
Like, ‘How do ants talk? Why do cars have four wheels and we have only two legs? Why can’t we
walk on water?’ These are grassroots thinking.
  But, unfortunately, before curiosity could kill the cat, modern education and social system kills
curiosity. First parents get bugged of the questioning and then the teachers. We are taught to
accept things as they are and to kowtow.
 Asking too many questions is considered pester-some. But, Creativity calls for breaking from this
conformity and reasoning things out.
ii. The Courage to take Risks:- We are all taught to tread the beaten path. Risks are only for the
adventurous ones. But the truth is that it is those who take risks that succeed. Of course, their
chances of failure are higher too, but that does not intimidate them.
 Creative people do not care much about the consequences of a certain action or what others will
think of them.
iii. A Sense of Humor:- Humor is an indicator that the creative system is at work because, to be funny
it requires thinking from a different perspective.
 Although a sense of humor is a trait that some people are born with, it can also be cultivated by
learning to laugh at one’s idiosyncrasies and follies. Don’t carry the undue baggage of grumps and
grumbles, worries and stress. Don’t make tragedies of trifles ……. Laugh them off.
iv. The Habit of Observation:- Tax your memory for a few minuts and answer the following questions:
• What items were placed on your dinner table last night? How full was the ketchup bottle?
• What did each of your family members or people you interacted with wear yesterday?
• What do the labels on your T-shirts say?
• What brand of bathroom fittings do you have in your house?
• What does the first hoarding outside your house say? What is the background colour used?
• To whom is the book you are reading dedicated to?
 If you’ve not been able to answer most questions satisfactorily, don’t worry. You are like most
people who are too preoccupied to observe. But observation skills can be developed, and they
needs to be, for creative people have a highly developed observation sense.
 They are alert and watchful, and often reach conclusions through instinct than through reasoning.
v. The Ability to Visualize:- Creative people have a good visual imagination although they can be quite
verbal. They don’t think of a monster called Shrek, they can see it in their imaginations – green and
ugly and big.
 They remember their shopping lists by visualizing the items kept in the ‘to-buy shelves’ of their
minds. They organize numbers in visual ‘spaces’ in their minds. They think not only in words, but
also in pictures.
 They are good at describing the looks, sounds, smells, tastes and feel of things either verbally or
visually. They are also very imaginative and can visualize the nonexistent.
vi. Openness to New Experiences:- How many times did you taste the new dish on the menu instead
of your usual favorite? Did you ever hang out with a bunch of people you weren’t very familiar
with? Do you always take the same road to college or home or try to explore newer routes?
  Creative people are open to new and unknown experiences. This essentially follows from their
courage to take risks. However, new experiences are not so much risk-bearing as they are different.
One just has to prepared for a change and be willingly embrace it.
 ‘New experiences give a novelist more characters to write about, a painter more scenes to paint,
and the creative team more angles from which to tackle an advertising problem.’
vii. A Positive Mindset:- There is an old saying ‘A man becomes what he thinks’.
 Several years ago an experiment was performed in a school in San Francisco. The principal had
called in three teachers and said, “Because you three teachers are the finest in the system and have
the greatest expertise, we are going to give you 90 selected high IQ students to teach. We’ll test
how much they learnt at the end of the year.” The principal told a similar thing to the selected
students as well. By the end of the school year, those students had achieved 20-30% more than
other students in the entire city. However, the truth was that the chosen teachers and students
were just run-of-the-mill teachers and students, selected at random by drawing names out of a hat.
 How then, did they perform at such an exceptional level for the entire year? The answer can be
found in their attitudes. They had an attitude of positive expectations; they believed in themselves
and one another and that attracted positive results.
 Tips on Stimulating Creativity:- If creativity is not inborn, using the following tips you can stimulate
creativity:
i. Meditate on your Goal:- Don’t lose sight of your dream. Think of the rewards your would get when
your goal is accomplished. Basking in the glory of achievements is a great impetus to working
hard. Create an atmosphere around you that constantly reminds you of your goals.
Ex:- If you want to take up photography as a career, start noting photographic situations and
setting, taking pictures with a beginner’s camera, making a paper-box camera, trying out different
compositions, visiting photography exhibitions, talking to experts, reading photography-related magazines,
etc.
ii. Meditate on your Self:- By meditation, we mean sitting in silence. In the modern day, we are
constantly bombarded with inputs from the media, other people, etc. Hence, we never spend time
in silence with ourselves.
 As long as our mind is full of thoughts, we can’t touch base with the subconscious. In meditation,
we relax and let the thoughts flow, and that is when most creative ideas come to us.
iii. Journal your Thoughts:- Journaling is akin to meditation. It is the free flow of pen to get past our
conscious thoughts.
 In her book, The Artist’s Way Morning Pages Journal, author Julia Cameron advises to write
anything that comes to your mind until you fill three pages because by then you’ll have gotten past
most of your conscious thoughts.
 It is best to try this technique earlier in the day, when you are not too full with the events of the
day.
 Don’t censor yourself, don’t let your pen stop and don’t use a computer. When the mind gets
purged of routine thoughts, creative ideas take deeper roots.
iv. Sleep on Problems:- Sleep stir up lateral thinking. During sleep, our brain reorganizes our episodic
memories, which store information about place, people, exchanges and experiences.
  This shuffling of the day’s events leads to thinking about problems afresh. It is also a time when the
powers of the subconscious brain can be utilized.
 When you sleep, brief your subconscious mind of the problem you are mulling over and command
it to come up with creative suggestions.
v. Take some Time Out for Yourself:- To read. To think. To take a vacation. To watch a play. To indulge
in a hobby. To take a leisurely walk in a park. To purge your brain free of all the garbage it keeps
receiving everyday.
 It is important to revel in the simple pleasures of life. Also, sometimes it is necessary to filter out
the clamor of the modern day. Throw your newspaper in a garbage bin and keep your television
and mobile turned off. The stock market is not going to do any better if your follow it, nor are the
Lok Sabha or the Ruling party.
vi. Nurture Hobbies:- Dance, sing, read, travel, take photographs, collect stamps …… do something
interesting. Hobbies lubricate your creative machines and prevent you from rotting from the daily
rut.
 Hobbies provide a vent for self-expression. They foster creativity. Also engage in creative activities
that catch your fancy. Sketch cartoons, visit an art gallery, attend a musical symphony, watch the
latest hit movie, read a wacky novel, hang out in places brimming with youngsters, and the like.
 Apart from aiding the creative process, they offer a change of activity from the trite routine and
kick-start the thinking process.
vii. Watch your Company:- People are known by the company they keep, and they get affected by it.
 If the company you keep is creative, positive-minded and vivacious, you will be too become like
that.
viii. Have Fun:- All work and no play makes a person dull. That is why people are most creative in their
childhood. Playing and having fun recharge your mind, exercise the creative muscles, and increase
the flow of positive energy.
ix. Speed Up:- Your conscious mind is slow, unlike the fast reflexes of your subconscious mind. Hence,
to circumvent your conscious mind and tap into the creative power of your subconscious mind, go
fast.
 You can start this with journaling and brainstorming without pausing, and can gradually bring the
speed to other areas of your thought process.
 Brainstorming for Creative Ideas:- One very useful technique for generating alternative ideas is
brainstorming. Brainstorming is the process of coming up with creative ideas in a group.
 In the words of Alex Osborn, the father of brainstorming, this is “a conference technique by which a
group attempts to find a solution for a specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by
its members.”
 It is a technique where participants put social inhibitions & rules aside and temporarily suspend
their judgment with the aim of generating maximum new ideas, regardless of their worth.
 Characteristics of a Brainstorming Session:-
 i. Unpredictable:- You do not know where the discussion is going to head. You may start out
discussing ‘ways of exaggerating the bonding power of your glue’ but may end up discussing
everything from ‘craft ideas for your glue’ to ‘comparison of your glue with competitors.’
ii. Energetic:- People should participate with full enthusiasm and ready to take the problem head-on.
To boost the energy levels, some agencies line up chocolates and sugared goodies for the
participants.
iii. Playful:- Brainstorming is a fun process. You can let creativity run wild without any checks and
controls.
iv. Collaborative:- It is a group process. Don’t feel pressured that you have to come up with the big
idea entirely on your own. You can take cues from others and build on their ideas.
v. Surprising:- Since there are no bounds within which to play, it can unfold many surprising solutions.
vi. Challenging:- It taxes your brain. You let ideas flow till you have nearly sapped your mental
resources.
vii. Unstructured:- Brainstorming is a random process in which ideas are not discussed in a structured
fashion. Form discussing colour ideas, one may immediately skip to location ideas and then towards
the end once again make a point on colours.
viii. Rapid:- The rule is that no one should halt. One after the other ideas should keep flowing freely, no
matter how juvenile or stale. Stop, and the link will be broken. Besides, that isn’t brainstorming.
That is structured thinking.
ix. Imaginative:- Brainstorming is an effort to bring out those imaginative ideas that were locked away
because you thought that the budget might be tight or the boss might not like it.
x. Spontaneous:- ‘Think before you speak,’ or ‘Look before you leap,’ are quotes that do not apply to
brainstorming. In this process, there is no premeditation. Ideas are not held back. When you hit on
an idea, you spit the idea.
xi. Ownerless:- Ideas belong to the group. No one person claims ownership of the idea.
xii. Illogical:- Not all ideas need to have the rational edge. Creativity springs from the irrational and the
unthinkable.
xiii. Often brainstorming sessions are arbitrated by an expert who keeps the tempo up and ensures that
the group stays on course.
 During the session, ideas are recorded by a designated person. After the session, good ideas are
sifted out from the rest.
 The quantity of ideas is often more important than the quality because it is often the 51 st idea that
becomes the breakthrough concept. Also, bad ideas can many a time serve as catalysts for good
ideas.
 The Art of Brainstorming:- When you begin brainstorming for advertising, the first rule to
remember is not to think in terms of advertising but to think in terms of ideas. Create an
environment of collaboration and comfort for ideas to spawn.
 Ideally, the brainstorming room should be spacious, with a large, long table in the centre, and a
facility for pinning large piece of paper to the wall.
  Summaries of preparatory work displayed around in the room can serve as sources of inspiration.
There should also be a large roll of paper and coloured marketers on the table for people to jot
down any random thoughts.
 Often, agencies also include representatives of the client in the brainstorming session.
 While there is no standard outlined process of coming up with ideas big and small, one can discuss
on the following variables:
i. Strategy:- One can begin by reviewing the strategy statement, as it checks one from going astray.
Moreover, strategy tells us what to do. It speaks volumes about the vision and mission of an
organization, its customers, the message to be conveyed etc.
Ex:- The strategy for Air India Express was to establish itself as a budget airline that didn’t
look and feel budget. To give the airline a decorous look, one of the ideas chosen was of showcasing India
to the world using the plane’s exterior as a canvas. The agency hoped that this would also portray the
airline as the cultural ambassador of India. Each plane’s tail thus had different designs on each side ranging
from the festivals of India to Indian motifs to musical instruments to camels and elephants. The chosen
designs, look and feel were to give the airline a distinctively Indian and yet a contemporary look. The
designs got the designer the ‘Best Graphic Designer Award’.
ii. Target Audience:- The member of your audience is not a mere statistic and the demographic
profiling can hardly take you anywhere. Think personality, think lifestyle, think behaviour. What
does your potential customer do, like, eat, wear, drive, speak, watch, etc?
 Jot down words and visuals that come to your mind when you think of your potential customer.
Dark, loves pink, is independent, plays with friends in the evening, always on the go, loves movies
etc.
 However, it is unlikely that all members of your target audience will match all the characteristics
you describe.
 Nevertheless, you can think of that characteristic customer who defines the group.
Ex:- Many years back Surf had defined its typical consumer as a thrifty Indian housewife
who demanded her money’s worth. She paid heed not only to cost but also to cost-effectiveness.
In other words, she bought not a cheap detergent, but a value-for-money detergent. She was
intelligent and vociferous and did not shy away from fighting for her rights if need be. She was a middle-
class housewife, with a kid of around 10 years of age and dressed in a traditional sharee. This detailed
profiling of the target audience helped Surf give birth to the onscreen character ‘Lalitaji’ who went down
the advertising hall of fame for her persuasive power.
iii. Product Names and Definitions:- Create new names or definitions for the product. Himalaya
Ayurvedic Concepts calls its dental product ‘dental cream’ instead of toothpaste. Livon calls itself
‘silky potion’ instead of hair conditioner.
 So, the idea is to come up with names that are catchy, tell you something about the product,
intrigue the audience, are easily pronounced and do not have similar sounding competitor brands.
iv. Media:- A lot of times the characteristics of the media you advertise in will serve as the springboard
for ideas.
 v. Often it is more productive to think first about the right media: in-store communication,
advertising, promotion, events, direct response, the web, public relations, etc. And then think
about the idea and how it applies.
vi. Never get stuck thinking that the world exists on a vertical page or a 30-second block of commercial
time. Rather, think of some unconventional media that you could use to promote your product.
Ex 1:- Some 10 years back a few clever media planners discovered the value of animated
moving logos on television during critical moments in cricket matches. Today it is Indian cricket’s most
expensive property.
Ex 2:- Similarly, to arose the sensitivity regarding bad body odour, Rexona deodorant stuck
life size stickers of people on automatic sliding doors of departmental stores. When someone approached,
it looked like people moved away from the nearing person owing to body odour. The entering person
found the brand message inside “People move away when you have body odour.”
v. Situation:- Try to figure out the situation when consumers will come across your advertisement.
Think where the billboard will be put up, what route will the bus you advertised will take, what
would people be doing when they watch Sony channel at 8:30 p.m., where would people be
listening to the radio at 9:00 in the morning, what page of the newspaper would your ad be
featured on, etc.
 Answers to questions like where and when a customer will see your message, in what condition,
etc. can spur a lot of creative ideas.
Ex:- The billboard of an apartment home scheme read, ‘If you were living here, you would
be home.’ Or a radio ad that was broadcast in the evening rush hours urged listeners on their way back
from work to turn their cars towards a shopping mall for availing benefits of a mega promotional offer that
closed that day.
vi. Current Affairs:- Current events quickly occupy people’s minds and catch attention. Consider
whether something noteworthy happened in the news or whether an issue has been hotly debated
about.
Ex:- Amul, a forerunner of such ads, has always kept its promotions up-to-date with current events
and issues. “Coach na Kaho! Amul Unite for it” (After Indian Cricket coach Mr. Greg Chappell resigns after
debacle in ICC World Cup 2007 and bitter feud with players)
“<Cheeni Kum, Butter Zyada> Amul <Sexy taste>” (On Bollywood romantic comedy film
‘Cheeni Kum’ (A Sugar Free Romance) in which superstar Amitabh Bachchan shares time with a little girl,
suffering from leukemia and wise beyond her years)
“Hoggers School of Wizardry! Amul Casts a spell” (On the popular movie ‘Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix’ with Harry Potter and other characters at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft &
Wizardry)
“Setting a President! Amul Easy choice” (On Congress-led UPA and Left Party’s nominee Ms.
Pratibha Patil for Presidential election)
“Sindhustan Hamara! Amul Shuttley Butterly Delicious!” (On P.V. Sindhu’s achievement in
the Olympics)
 While this tactical approach always keeps the communication fresh with new and changing ads, it is
an expensive one and not recommended if a given ad is intended to be in use for long time.
vii. Competition:- Often competition can be a source of creative ideas that can be used at a tactical
level, if not a strategic one.
Ex:- The continuous war between Surf and Tide, Colgate and Pepsodent.
viii. Shortcomings:- Consumers are usually smart in finding out what you do not have. Instead of trying
to veil the obvious, accept it gracefully and even cash it to your advantage. Perhaps it’s not such a
big deal as people are making it out to be, or perhaps you have something else that makes up for
the inadequacy.
Ex:- Avis, a US-based car-rental company humbly accepts, “We are #2. We try harder.”
Similarly, Pepsi turned around a missed opportunity when competition picked up the official
pouring rights to the Wills World Cup in India in 1996, with the immensely popular “Nothing official about
it!” campaign in inimitable Pepsi style.
ix. Correlations:- Does your product look, feel or behave like someone or something?
Ex:- Garnier Wrinkle Control cream compared wrinkles with the skin of a bulldog.
A print ad of Samsung mobile phone’s instant messaging feature correlated text messaging
to body language messaging by depicting an under-the-table shot of a lady trying to signal something to a
man with the touch of her foot. The headline read, “One-touch messaging.”
x. Personifications:- How would your product be if it were a living and breathing person or animal?
What if it could sing and dance? Imagine your product doing the office work, cleaning kitchen,
fighting germs hidden in your kids’ teeth, etc.
Ex:- The pink and flexible Big Babool chewing-gum man also quickly communicates the
product’s properties and entertains children.
 Personifications are powerful because they can communicate at many subterranean levels
effortlessly. You could even personify your product’s enemies to make them look harmful,
ferocious and calling for urgent solution, viz. your product.
Ex:- The sales of an agricultural pest killer increased manifold when the pest in question, which was
invisible to the naked eye, was shown in an enlarged version as a horned, evil-looking and notorious crop
destroyer.
xi. Popular Culture:- Films, music, books, sports, arts, etc. are often the inspiration behind many ads,
like the ad of Eveready batteries showed Amitabh Bachchan in the sarkar movie style setting,
telling the story of an unfortunate man who didn’t use Eveready. Similarly many brands weave
advertisements around cricket during the time of some important cricket series.
 Popular culture is often the best way of establishing fast connections with audiences.
xii. Colours:- Think colour. Can it be your product or communication differentiator? Print ads as well as
television commercials of Ever Yuth’s Orange Skin Vitalizer are orange whereas those of its
Cucumber Clear Skin Mask are green. Everything form the models’ dress and accessories to
background items are colour coordinated with the product colour.
 Eveready batteries go to the extreme of claiming, “If you aren’t red, you are dead.” In all the
advertisements the jingle “Give me red” continues in the background. There is no other creative
differentiator for this product other than its distinguishing red colour that stands for liveliness and
long life of the battery.
xiii. Shapes:- Shapes too can be used imaginatively. Absolute Vodka uses the shape of its bottle to
signify something different in each ad. In an ‘Absolute Jaipur’ ad, the bottle shape could be seen
carved in the Jharookha of a haveli.
xiv. Words and Visuals:- Consider communicating the message with just pictures or just words like, Tide
detergent showed three ghostly figures dressed in white and one being the whitest of them all.
 On the other hand, the message is communicated through works alone in a print ad for Cox & Kings
that reads:
TIGER. WOODS.
Jungle safari. A round of golf. Now enjoy both on the same holiday.
 Myths Regarding Brainstorming:-
i. More brains-more brainpower:- A group size of 6 – 12 is ideal. Anything larger than that ceases to
be a group and becomes a crowd. With a smaller group it is easier to build on ideas and easier for
ideas to be heard.
ii. Everybody is good at brainstorming:- Not quite. Brainstorming is a skill and talent. However, most
people get lot better with practice. Unfortunately, most brainstorming sessions are arranged in
crisis situations and there is hardly any time for practice or revisions.
iii. The best ideas are the first ideas:- Not usually. Studies say that more than three quarters of good
ideas come in the second half.
iv. It only works if you know all about the product:- Contrariwise, brainstorming works best with a mix
of experienced folks and beginners. Those who know about the brand well bring insight whereas
the greenhorns bring fresh ideas.
 Killer Phrases:-
 Good idea, but ….
 I don’t like that
 We’ve done that before
 That was my idea
 Our pockets are not that deep
 Let’s be realistic
 I’ll sound stupid if I say this, but ….
 That’s not our strategy
 That won’t work because ….
 Time out
 Killer Behaviours:-
 Dominate the room
 Figure out how it will work
 Impress everybody
 Edit, inhibit or censor others
 Stop the flow
 Own ideas
 Discuss problems with the idea
 Tips on Creating Creative Ads:- These can be few tips to come up with creative ads:
 i. Be a Constant Learner:- In advertising, ideas can come from anywhere. You may be working on a
liquor brand but the idea you develop could be based on your knowledge of animal behaviour.
 Similarly, subjects like anthropology, world heritage, photography, quantum physics, child
psychology, botany, astronomy, astrology, music and more could be sources of ideas for totally
unrelated products.
 Keeping one’s learning antennae up can also help in finding advertising insight, one of the most
difficult things to arrive at. This is because insight is not something that can be necessarily found
from sheaths of data or consumer research work. It may come through powers of observation,
personal experience or past learning.
ii. Indulge with Your Product:- If you are working on say Coca-Cola then “Sleep Coca-Cola, eat Coca-
Cola, drink Coca-Cola”.
 It is important to see, touch, feel, hear, read and experience your product to understand it fully.
How does it look like? How do you use it? What is it made of? Try finding facts about your product
and list them out.
Ex:- An advertiser’s fact-file on milk would read something like: milk is white, liquid, usually
obtained from cows and buffaloes, called wholesome diet, considered children’s drink, loved by mothers
and hated by children, an important ingredient for many recipes, almost always consumed in some form by
everyone, not consumed by naturopaths and lactose-intolerants, always boiled before consumption in
India (even if pasteurized), often mixed with water by milkmen, etc.
iii. Understand Your Audience:- A creative professional needs to put himself in the audience’s shoes.
He ought to know how the audience thinks and feels, what it values and what makes it tick.
Ex:- An advertiser of sweets might want to try out how his consumer feels if he does not have
sweets for days. Even interacting with consumers and involving them in the brand development process
can lead to newer ideas.
iv. Brainstorm:- Brainstorming is popularly used for arriving at the big idea. When you totally immerse
yourself in background information, play with it and exercise the flaccid brain muscles, you hit on
ideas that are all – relevant, original and impactful.
v. Know the Rules before You Break them:- There are no sacrosanct rules in advertising and often the
most creative ads have been the ones that have been bold enough to break rules. However,
advertisers need to be aware of what usually works and what might be a risky bet.
vi. Base Creativity on Strategy:- One of the biggest advertising mistakes is to come up with a brilliant
execution idea and then try to force the problem to fit it.
 Remember that in the lexicon of advertising, strategy comes before execution. A creative execution
that strays away from the strategy will lose its relevance.
 However, it is not bizarre for the strategy to change as the creativity is being developed. While
creativity should not be at the cost of a sound strategy, if creative ideas lead you to newer and
better strategies, don’t shy away form embracing the best solution.
vii. Learn to Work without USPs:- Not all products have Unique Selling Propositions, through brand
managers may tell you otherwise.
  Petroleum is petroleum, be it of Indian Oil Corporation or Bharat Petroleum. Research has
convincingly proven that consumers cannot accurately differentiate between two colas but
nonetheless, they prefer one over the other.
 Creativity lies in how you present products in ads – that’s what makes all the difference.
viii. Arouse Audience’s Interest:- Remember that most ads are viewed as an intrusion to the activity
that people are doing – reading, viewing or listening. Thus, advertisements not only have to deliver
the message but also have to capture the audience’s fancy; in other words, entertain them.
 However, while you attempt generating interest, also remember that what you are most concerned
about is attracting of your “target audience” and not of any passerby flipping through the magazine
or surfing through the channel sporting your ad.
 It is better to draw the attention of a serious buyer through a simple ad than use a clever ad and
pull other flippant readers who wouldn’t be interested in the product anyways.
ix. Break free from Stereotypes:- Average advertising always sticks to stereotypes, but good
advertising breaks those stereotypes and creates a spark.
 It’s time consumers got to see something more interesting, and also something that they can relate
to. The advertisers have to become more and more creative.
x. Don’t Overpromise:- Overpromising will only heighten expectations and increase the chances of
product failure so leave it to the Indian political parties.
 So, when advertisers claim. “Sab kuchh dho dale” or “Gori, Gori sirf 15 miniton mein”, they need to
think twice if they have left any holes unplugged. Instead, make promises that are tempting enough
and also safely deliverable.
xi. Reinforce Your Identity:- Apart from using creativity for attention-grabbing, use it for getting the
brand registered.
 Mention the brand name, and also the logo where appropriate, as many times and wherever you
can in your advertisements – in the script, in the headline and copy, and in the close of the
commercial, else you would end up like the Energizer ‘Bunny’, which for a long time was mistook by
many as Duracell’s icon.
 Unless a brand weaves its identity in its ad, people will remember only its creative execution, and
not the brand.
xii. Emphasize benefits, Not Product features:- Leo Burnett once said, “The greatest sales strategy in
the world is: Don’t tell me how good you make it; tell me how good it makes me when I use it”.
Women don’t buy cosmetics, they buy beauty. People don’t buy insurance, they buy risk cover.
xiii. Use numbers with Caution:- Advertisers are often obsessed with punching numbers into their ad
messages with a view to add seriousness to the product.
 Numbers can add to the credibility, offer a competitive advantage or prove to be meaningful when
they are put into context. For instance, in the case of Britannia cheese, which says one slice is equal
to two glasses of milk, or Maggi, which claims to be a two-minute noodle. Or even for categories
like computers or cars where tangible results are required to be shown.
 But often, numbers can baffle and inundate consumers – ’12 times more volume’ mascara, natural
care tea with panch ayurvedic tatwa, a fridge with sixth sense cooling, a toothpaste which fights
10 problems, etc.
  Also, if the product fails to deliver on the promise, numbers can lead to a quicker doom. Hence,
they should not be used for their sake alone.
xiv. KISS:- Keep it Simple and Stupid. Make the point clearly. Simple messages are effective, but not
easy to come up with.
xv. Keep the Communication Current:- While a brand’s value proposition may remain the same, its
message strategy may periodically adapt itself to the times.
 Creative executions should be refreshed even more frequently as fresh executions recreate the
interest in an otherwise old brand.
Ex:- The way Amul and Cadbury builds a bond with Indians.