The key method of excellent creative advertising!

Those advertisements that seem creative and amazing are neither the result of advertisers’ wild imagination nor inspiration found through hard thinking, but rather the application of the following creative methodologies.

For example, exaggeration: exaggerate the usage scenarios: exaggerate the usage scenarios of the product to make the scenarios in which the product exists more shocking and dramatic.

Onergy advertisement: For enhanced vigour and vitality (increase energy and vitality), which is what we call strengthening yang and strengthening the kidneys.

Forte security door: The security door is so strong that if you can’t break in through the door, you can only break in through the wall.

Or exaggerate product features: magnify certain features of the product again and again, and combine them with impactful advertising images to enhance user experience.

Volkswagen POLO: The Grand Prix winner of the 2004 Cannes Advertising Festival's Graphic Design Category - Volkswagen POLO "is small, but tough enough". Use exaggerated expression to highlight the tough characteristics of the POLO car. During the gunfight, all the policemen hid behind the POLO and used it as a shield.

Canon camera advertisement: The camera's anti-shake function can freeze a cheetah in motion while taking pictures.

By applying the above methodologies, you can produce creative advertisements in batches more efficiently and even win awards. Many experienced advertisers are already very familiar with these methods and practice makes perfect.

But in fact, these creative ideas are neither necessary factors for commercial advertising nor omnipotent. However, a large number of advertisers regard these creative methods as universal templates and try to apply them to various scenarios and industries. In fact, 90% of successful commercials follow some basic strategies rather than using some creative techniques in advertising.

So what is a creative strategy?

The creative strategy is to make the information conveyed more convincing, spread it within a limited time and scope, and have a greater impact on users.

So how do you be persuasive?

According to a large number of psychologists' studies, there are two main pathways for persuasion: the central pathway and the peripheral pathway.

1. Central Path

When people are proactive and can think about problems comprehensively and systematically, they are likely to accept the central route to persuasion, that is, to focus on arguments. If the argument is strong and convincing, it is likely to convince others. If the argument is weak, a thoughtful person will quickly notice this and refute it.

In marketing, the central path is used to persuade users, usually by providing detailed descriptions of product attributes, service advantages, etc.

In actual communication, it is mainly divided into one-sided appeal, two-sided appeal and another question-type strategy.

1. Unilateral appeal

1. Problem-solving advertising

2. Product description ads

For example, some of Xiaomi’s product advertisements use this method of persuasion.

3. Product comparison advertising

By comparing with other products, they prove that they are better. For example, the Hammer phone compares itself with other Android phones in its promotion.

Innovation comes from "dissatisfaction". Smartisan Technology reflected all kinds of dissatisfaction and complaints about the mobile phone experience at the time in some promotional posters, which resonated with a large number of users who valued user experience.

By binding with big brands and extracting certain features for comparison, one can increase one's own visibility. At the same time, big brands have familiarity, which makes it easier for users to remember after binding. Hammer phones also like to be compared with Apple.

4. Celebrity-endorsed advertising

Everyone is familiar with celebrity endorsement advertising, but there have been a large number of failed cases in history. Usually, the important thing about choosing a celebrity is high recognition, professionalism, credibility and likeability. These points seem simple, but unfortunately, most businesses make mistakes.

2. Two-sided appeal

Most people would think that focusing on one selling point of a product is the best, but in fact this is not the only way. In some scenarios, two-sided information is more effective, especially when negative associations must be overcome.

45 years ago, Hengmei Advertising Company received a business to introduce a small German car into the US market. At that time, there were no small cars on sale in the US market, and no imported cars had been hot-selling before. The advertising company used a series of advertisements to illustrate the car and the car company's small responsibility to show overall reliability, and ultimately achieved legendary success. It may take you some time to notice that in this ad, every set of positive comments is preceded by a negative one.

Of course, this strategy has also been applied to the e-commerce field today. Many smart merchants will include a certain proportion of negative reviews in addition to a large number of positive reviews.

(III) Question-based advertising: The best advertising is to ask questions and let users draw their own conclusions

If a BMW model is positioned for young people, strong definition will prevent older people from buying it. Some vague stimuli can lead to the formation of a broader market, thus bringing more spontaneous purchases.

Li Ning actually made such a mistake back then. In his advertisements, Li Ning defined his brand as targeting the post-90s generation, thus personally blocking users born in the 70s and 80s from purchasing his products.

Are you richer than you were four years ago? It was with this unforgettable rhetorical question that inspired voters to think that President Reagan climbed to the pinnacle of victory.

2. Peripheral Path

At this point, we will take the peripheral route to persuasion, that is, paying attention to external cues that can make people accept without thinking, regardless of whether the argument is convincing.

We don't have time to analyze all the problems carefully, so we often take a peripheral approach and are happy to use some simple and heuristic rules of thumb, such as "trust the experts" or "longer information is more credible."

During Double 11, due to time constraints, a large number of users adopted peripheral routes to shop, and brand, discounts, low prices, number of buyers, etc. became key factors.

Using the peripheral route of persuasion, the advertising appeal will elaborate on advantages or images that are not related to the product. It may depict what kind of people will use the brand or what kind of experience they will get after using it.

For example, incitement can stimulate positive emotions such as humor, love, pride, and joy that trigger purchases, or negative appeals such as fear, guilt, and shame, allowing people to do something (brush their teeth, have an annual physical examination) or stop doing something (smoking, drinking, overeating). Didi uses positive emotions such as "love" to inspire users to take action.

There are also motivational or "borrowed interest" strategies, such as the appearance of cute children, lively puppies, popular music, or provocative sexual appeals, which are often used to attract audiences' attention to an advertisement and increase involvement.

Computer advertisers typically use the central path because they assume that the audience for these ads will systematically compare the differences in performance and price among various products.

Beverage advertisers, on the other hand, use the peripheral approach; they simply associate their products with glamour, pleasure, and good mood. Advertisements for household cleaning products often address problems, while food products often use sensory-oriented ads that emphasize appetite.

In this difficult media environment with low consumer involvement and increasingly fragmented attention, creativity itself is not a necessary element for successful creative advertising, but the strategy in creativity is indispensable.

Author: Escape

Source: Taoxuzi (ID: taoxuzi23)