Donald Gunn is the creative resources director at Leo Burnett. He is responsible for collecting advertising works from around the world and organizing them for presentation to the creative directors within Leo Burnett.
After viewing the winning works of major advertising awards around the world and studying creativity for many years, Mr. Gunn summarized 12 advertising creation methods and held a Gunn Report briefing at the 2004 Cannes Advertising Festival to release these methods. In 2012, I discovered "Donald Gunn's Advertising Guide" on the Internet and immediately felt like I had found a treasure. Although I have collected creative methodologies from many famous advertisers and tried to summarize my own methodology, none of them has the system and standards of Mr. Gunn. So I immediately printed out this advertising bible and posted it on my desk. In addition, I created 12 folders on the computer - one folder for each method. Then I classified the good advertisements I had seen into these 12 folders according to their different creative techniques. I used a large number of cases to analyze the specific ideas and techniques of each method, and how to think of creative ideas. From then on, every time I see a new advertising work, I will compare it with these 12 methods and think about what its creative techniques are. If it is an existing method, put it in the existing folder. If it does not belong to these 12 methods, then think about what creative techniques it uses, summarize its methods, and then create a folder, and then look for new ideas to fill this new method. Of course, sometimes I will merge two folders into one method because of the similarity of creative techniques. In this way, after adding and subtracting, I also summarized 12 of my own advertising creation methods based on the Gunn Report. Share with everyone.
The first part of the value
When we do advertising, the most basic thing is to publicize the product's value, functional selling points, and tell consumers how good the product is. However, consumers will remain indifferent if you simply brag about the functions of your ad or talk about them in your own way. They will neither be interested nor believe it, and there is a high probability that they will even be annoyed by your ad. This requires us to cleverly transform the product value, so that it is related to the needs of consumers and has a relationship with the lives of consumers. There are three advertising methods that emphasize value through this transformation approach:
1. Results
The result method is to express the benefits and results that the product brings to consumers. If the advertising goal is to convey message A, then the creative expression is to explain the result B caused by A. A is a normal and ordinary value appeal, while B is an exaggerated and unexpected consumer story and brand effect. Advertising creation is to highlight the value of A by depicting B. For example, the Taipei Bank Lotto’s launch advertisement featured a huge outdoor advertisement on the outside of the Taiwan Financial Building. In the advertisement, a boy is half-kneeling with flowers in his hands, and the title is: Xiaoling, marry me. Apart from this, there is no other information in the advertisement. This huge marriage proposal advertisement immediately sparked discussion and speculation among people across Taiwan, including news reports. Everyone was talking about who proposed, who was so rich, and which girl was so lucky. A few days later, the answer was revealed in a TV commercial: "If you win the lottery, you can be so romantic, too." This was a very beautiful event marketing, with suspense, user participation, media coverage, and the answer to the mystery revealed. The key creative point of the entire marketing plan is to describe the "result of winning the lottery."
In fact, the real message of the advertisement is "If you win the lottery, you will get a lot of money, so hurry up and buy it" (A), and the actual message of the entire marketing is that after winning the lottery, you can use the money to do something, such as propose marriage, travel around the world, eat delicious food from all over the world, etc. (B).
By describing the results, the advertisement enhanced people’s expectations for the Lotto and successfully stimulated consumers’ desire to buy the Lotto. This is the benefit of the result method.
Glucosamine also has a print ad that shows a javelin stuck on the surface of the moon. The title is: "Someone must have drunk Glucosamine!" Glucosamine is an energy drink. The message it wants to convey is that drinking Glucosamine will fill you with energy (A), but the creative idea is about the result of drinking Glucosamine: being strong enough to throw a javelin onto the moon (B). There is neither drinking action nor consumers in the advertisement, but it makes people clearly understand the functional value of Glucosamine and leave a deep impression on them. There is also an advertisement for a zoo. The main point is that the zoo has started to open at night, so tourists can visit the zoo at night (A), and the picture shows animals yawning in broad daylight (B). The animals also have to receive tourists at night, so they start to feel sleepy during the day. This is the result of opening the park at night.
2. Problem
There is result law and there is problem law. The outcome method describes what benefits and effects consumers will gain after owning the product. The problem method shows what problems and consequences consumers will encounter if the product is not available or lacks the functions it possesses.
For example, a TV commercial for a British eyewear brand. Inside the car, the lady sitting in the passenger seat took the initiative to be intimate with the man sitting in the driver's seat, and then leaned down to help the man do something unspeakable. The man closed his eyes and reveled in the enjoyment, but after a moment he opened his eyes in surprise and found that the woman was fiddling with the car gear lever. At this time, subtitles appeared on the screen: NEED GLASSES? (Need glasses?), followed by the eyewear brand logo. This advertisement reveals the consequences of not having glasses and the problems caused by myopia. Nissin filmed a classic series of primitive man advertisements, describing a series of embarrassing things that happened to primitive men during hunting, such as being hit by stones by pterosaurs, being tricked by ostriches and falling off a cliff, being chased by giant wild boars, etc. Not only did they fail to obtain food, but they also got into a lot of trouble. At the end of the advertisement, a deep baritone tells everyone: hungry? Are you hungry? Here, I’ll give you Nissin Cup Noodles. Another advertisement with the theme of hunger is Snickers. For many years, Snickers' advertisements have followed the same pattern, with "When you are hungry, you are no longer yourself" as the core creative point, and a series of TV commercials have been shot, such as the football goalkeeper becoming a "Lin Daiyu" who falls down at the slightest touch and the drummer on the dragon boat becoming a "Tang Monk" who can only slowly beat the wooden fish. At this time, the teammates handed over a Snickers bar. After "Lin Daiyu" and "Tang Monk" took a bite, they immediately became full of energy and turned into energetic athletes again. Through this series of advertisements, Snickers tells everyone to "sweep away hunger and be yourself." This advertising technique describes the problems caused by hunger. When you are hungry, you become weak and cowardly, and you are no longer the same as before. So, grab a Snickers bar. At the same time, this series of creativity from Nissin and Snickers also adds fun to the brand through exaggerated techniques and funny plots. This kind of fun is very important for snack brands such as cup noodles and chocolate. By describing the problems and consequences caused by hunger, the advertisement makes consumers smile and empathize, which not only makes them more willing to buy the corresponding products, but also enhances their favorability and impression of the brand. Of course, the problems presented in question-based advertisements are relatively light-hearted and harmless, with only occasional embarrassment and awkwardness. But if the ad exaggerates the severity of the problem and presents the consequences and problems in a serious way, then this is a horror appeal ad. Horror appeals have their uses, but one must be mindful of scale and consumer acceptance.
3. Conversion
The problem method is a form of reverse thinking, and so is the conversion method. It refers to the conversion from the product perspective to the consumer perspective. Look at the product from the consumer's perspective and standpoint.
The reason why no one watches many advertisements and consumers are indifferent is that they always stand on the company's own standpoint and product perspective, and desperately praise how good their own products are. But the advertisements that really impress consumers and interest them are those that look at the benefits of the product from the consumers' perspective. If you look at the problem from a different angle, you will suddenly see the light. A typical example is the 2011 launch advertisement of Mini Oreos. In the video, a child was shocked after receiving an Oreo and immediately ran home to measure his height, only to find that his height remained the same. At this time, the narrator tells us: "You thought you got bigger? Hey, it's Oreo that got smaller. Mini Oreo, now available."
This advertisement changes the perspective of "Oreo becomes smaller" to "consumers become bigger". This change of perspective not only highlights the product information of "Mini Oreo is on the market", but also makes the advertisement full of fun and innocence.
There is also the new Audi Q7 launch advertisement. At the beginning, the copy tells us one by one: "What is important is not that it has the fifth-generation quattro full-time four-wheel drive system; what is important is not that it has the third-generation MMI multimedia interaction system; what is important is not that it has new LED technology; what is important is not that it has an adjustable air suspension system..."
Finally, the copywriter tells us: "What's important is not that it becomes stronger, but that you become stronger. The new Audi Q7 is the strongest."
Without the last sentence that points to the topic, the previous bunch of technical terms would be nothing more than a bunch of boring product manuals. The cleverness of this copy lies in that it transforms the product's "strength" into the consumer's "strength". As a result, the brand’s style was elevated, and the target consumers felt comfortable after watching the entire advertisement. They could not help but agree with the hidden message in the advertisement - the newly upgraded Audi Q7 is prepared for “strong people” like “me”.
There is also Taiwan's PX Supermarket, whose main selling point is cheapness, but this cheapness has been boycotted by young people because they feel that shopping at PX Supermarket represents cheapness and shame.
So PX Supermarket began to promote the "PX Economic Aesthetics", turning saving money into a personal attitude and lifestyle for young people. PX Mart’s copywriters say things like “I can buy it for eight dollars, why should I pay ten dollars?” and “A few dollars are important, because this is Lin Bei’s hard-earned money”... This series of copywriting is changing the stance, turning the product’s “cheapness” into consumers’ lifestyle attitude of choosing “cheapness”. As a result, PX Mart has won the recognition of consumers.
The result method, problem method, and conversion method are actually all about changing your perspective. Instead of simply shouting how good the product is, they stand from the perspective and standpoint of consumers, describing the problems in their lives and showing the benefits and changes that the product brings to them. This creative approach actually better reflects the function and value of the product.
Part II Views
The fundamental purpose of corporate advertising is to convey information to consumers, whether it is to convey product features and selling points or to express brand concepts and ideas. So, advertising performance is actually a proof question. You have to prove to consumers that what you say is right, convince them to believe in your product and be convinced by your ideas, so as to win consumers' recognition, trust and resonance. As for how to prove and make consumers believe the brand’s views? There are three more ways.
4. Experiment
Brands can conduct an experiment to prove their point and the value of their products.
For example, Gillette once conducted an event marketing campaign called "The Most Thrilling Shaving Action in the World". Gillette found two divers, asked them to put on diving suits and a full set of diving equipment, and go underwater to shave. One used a Gillette razor and the other used a razor from another brand. The thrilling thing is that the waters where they dive are where sharks are present. If you accidentally scratch your skin while shaving, the smell of blood will immediately attract a shark attack. Experiments have shown that divers who use Gillette razors are safe, while divers who use other razors scratch their skin and attract schools of sharks. Although the divers are protected in an iron cage underwater, the frequent collisions of sharks with the cage are still terrifying. Gillette successfully proved through experiments that its products are smooth and will never scratch the skin. In order to prove the startup speed of its laptop computer, Thinkpad once conducted a high-altitude skydiving experiment. The brand tied a parachute to a Thinkpad and threw it out of a plane. During the rapid fall, the laptop must be turned on within 10 seconds and the parachute opening procedure must be initiated, otherwise the laptop will be smashed to pieces. In the end, the Thinkpad lived up to its mission, booted up within 10 seconds, opened its parachute, and landed safely on the ground. This experiment proves the boot speed of Thinkpad convincingly. Experimental creativity not only convinces consumers of product functionality in a convincing way, but also transforms advertising from a simple creative content into an event marketing, where consumers can watch, participate in the interaction, and witness miracles happen together. This advertising technique turns a simple idea into a campaign. Experimental creativity is a big idea. There are many cases of winning major awards in this way at the Cannes Advertising Festival. For example, in order to prove that down jackets are very warm, a down jacket brand asked a person to wear a down jacket to hatch eggs, and broadcast the entire process live. For example, in order to prove that the Yellow Pages is effective, the brand conducted a tree house experiment. All the materials needed to build the tree house were ordered by phone through the Yellow Pages, and the tree house was finally successfully built. The entire construction process was broadcast live and spread through video editing as viral content, attracting a large number of consumers to watch.
When WIN7 was launched, Microsoft conducted an experiment to prove the usability of the operating system. They found a remote rural village where the villagers had little exposure to computers. Microsoft distributed computers to them and provided them with simple training. After just 7 days, the villagers became computer experts. Through this experiment, Microsoft proved the operating performance of WIN7.
There is also MINI Carmonica. In order to let consumers intuitively feel the speed of MINI like the wind, they glued 330 harmonicas on the body of MINI. When the car drives forward quickly, the harmonicas make sounds, like nature's music.
To do this kind of experimental creativity well, the brand needs to provide a sharp selling point and a unique value proposition, so that it can conduct an experiment with amazing results and turn it into a large-scale event marketing. For example, Gillette is super smooth, Thinkpad is fast, MINI is fast, WIN7 is simple to operate, and Chrome is fast.
(The idea of Chrome in Japan to play animations by turning pages in the browser window is the best experimental idea in my mind).
But when we do advertising normally, we often combine all the selling points and then find a broad, abstract concept that can cover many selling points to do advertising and establish a brand image. This way, we cannot come up with amazing experiments.
5. For example
For example, give an example to illustrate your point. This article is written throughout, actually just giving examples. “For example” is the most classic creative approach. The core concept of this type of advertising is a point of view or claim extracted from a product or brand, and the advertising performance is verified by using third-party examples. For example, the concept of a travel agency advertisement is "travel changes life." To prove this point, the advertisement gave three examples: one of them was Zhuo Jialin, who was selected by the troupe to tour the United States from Britain in 1912, spanning the entire United States from New York to California. After this tour, Zhuo Jialin gradually became a great actor. The second example is Che Guevara. In 1951, Guevara and his friends traveled around South America on motorcycles. During the trip, Guevara began to understand the poverty and suffering in Latin America, which laid the foundation for his thinking and changed his life. The third example is Mother Teresa, who was born Agnes Gonca Bogaciu in Kosovo. At the age of 15, she went to India with her sister to receive missionary training. She then became a nun and changed her name to Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa went on to become a world-renowned Catholic charity worker who dedicated her life to the poor of Kolkata, India. These three examples prove that “travel changes your life” is true and convincing. In 2015, Smartisan Technology released the Nut smartphone. In order to emphasize the selling point of the phone, which is both powerful and good-looking, Nut launched the slogan "Too beautiful to be powerful". How can we make consumers believe this? In its advertisement, Nut Mobile did not explain the “beauty” and “strength” of the mobile phone’s selling points, but instead cited several celebrities as examples. Hedy Lamarr, a Hollywood actress known as the mother of CDMA. She can write poetry, dance ballet, and charm the world on the big screen. In her spare time, she also does scientific research in the communications field and invented CDMA. One is Winston Churchill, who led Britain to victory in World War II as Prime Minister and also wrote a book that won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Another is Hemingway, a great novelist who could go hunting in Africa and fight on the battlefield. Of course, these people were all very good-looking when they were young, and these examples prove that they are "too beautiful to be talented." Although these examples have nothing to do with Nut phones. However, consumers have identified the concept of “too pretty to be powerful” through their stories, and will naturally believe that Nut is a mobile phone that is “too pretty to be powerful”. This is our psychological habit. Moreover, this creative example-based approach can make it easier for brands to generate UGC content. Consumers can use the title "too beautiful to be talented" to give more examples and generate more posters for re-creation and sharing, thereby helping brand communication to trigger a large number of participation on social media and gain huge momentum. For example, open-style creativity is an open way of creativity.
6. Testimony
Testimonial advertising is an extremely common advertising strategy. In fact, testimony is also a kind of example, but the difference between it and example-based advertising is that the examples given in example-based advertising are mostly unrelated to products or brands, but are only used to prove a point of view or concept. Testimonial advertising, on the other hand, uses a third party’s personal experience to directly speak of the benefits of a product. The most frequently used testimonial subject in marketing is the consumer, with ordinary consumers stepping forward to vouch for the brand. Secondly, there are corporate employees, experts, opinion leaders, celebrities, authoritative departments, corporate customers and cases, etc. For example, on November 11, 2016, JD.com released a group of courier posters. The text and pictures described the daily work scenes and real stories of JD.com’s deliverymen. The black and white images highlighted the protagonist’s red visual style, which also strengthened the JD.com brand imprint.
Zhu Kuntao, a deliveryman from Lushui, Nujiang, Yunnan, said: "I remember the first time I ziplined, I was so scared that I didn't dare to open my eyes. Now I am much more skilled and I don't close my eyes during the whole process!"
Huang Changyuan, a deliveryman at Fuliji Station in Suzhou, Anhui, said: "I have always heard that there is a thousand-year-old temple in this mountain. There is only one old monk in the temple. After delivering the goods, I found out that the order I delivered was the first in a thousand years." Chen Guodong, a deliveryman at the Alxa Left Banner Station in Inner Mongolia, said: "Although the desert is windy and sandy, it is very interesting. On the same road, you may see sand dunes today, but they may disappear tomorrow." Testimonial advertising is not very creative, but its advantage is that it is real, warm, and humane, and it is easy to win the trust of consumers. Therefore, when creating testimonial advertisements, two points should be noted: first, the selected witnesses should be real and credible, either lifelike or authoritative; second, the testimony copy should be objective and pertinent, and the testimony style should be natural and unpretentious. Avoid exaggerated performances and exaggerations, which will only make consumers feel false and not only will they have no trust, but will also feel disgusted. In 2009, after the melamine incident broke out, Nanshan Milk Powder launched a testimonial advertisement. In this advertisement, the boss of Nanshan Milk Powder personally appeared and said that the milk powder he gave to his children was the Nanshan milk powder produced by his own company. Because he understands his own products and knows the raw materials and craftsmanship very well, he is 100% assured when giving them to children. The last copy of the advertisement said, "He is the general manager of Nanshan; he is first and foremost a father." This testimonial advertisement immediately caught the attention of consumers at a time when domestic milk powder has lost the trust of consumers. It can be said that it was a good advertisement that was very suitable for the consumption environment at that time. In 2016, Nongfu Spring launched a new brand proposition, "Advocate of Healthy Drinking Water", emphasizing that Nongfu Spring "contains natural mineral elements". At that time, Nongfu Spring launched a TV commercial to elaborate on this brand proposition.
On the one hand, the advertisement uses a daffodil experiment to prove that plants placed in mineral water grow faster;
On the other hand, Nongfu Spring used the testimonies of three authoritative experts in medicine and nutrition, including a professor of medical physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, the chief professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and an associate professor of nutrition at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, to express the benefits of drinking mineral water and recommend everyone to drink water containing natural mineral elements. Please note that the three experts here recommend drinking "natural mineral water" rather than directly recommending drinking "Nongfu Spring", which makes the advertising information more objective and easier to win the trust of consumers. The three creative methods of experiment, example and testimony are actually all used to prove the selling points of the product and the brand's point of view, but the operation methods are completely different.Experimental advertising focuses on creating event marketing, increasing the topicality, virality and participation of advertising, that is, enhancing its dissemination power; example advertising focuses on storytelling, increasing the readability, fun and interactivity of advertising, that is, enhancing the content power; and testimonial advertising focuses on real people speaking out, increasing the credibility, authority and persuasiveness of advertising, that is, enhancing product power.
Part III Drama
After all, creativity is creativity. Advertising should not only clearly express the product value and brand concept, but more importantly, it should impress and shock consumers. After all, if consumers don't pay attention to it, it's useless no matter how great your product is. If an advertisement wants to trigger a response from consumers, it needs to emphasize "drama". The plot and content of the advertisement must be dramatic, and the advertisement must be able to show the inherent drama of the product, so as to attract consumers' attention and curiosity.
7. Exaggeration
The preferred way to create drama is to be creative in an exaggerated way, to show the results of the product in a dramatic way, and to interpret the problems encountered by consumers in their lives. For example, in a certain Viagra advertisement, the screen shows four bed legs sticking out from the ceiling. This is an exaggerated way of presenting the result of the product, and thus drama is created.
Exaggerated creativity can be an exaggeration of the product's selling points, exaggerating the product's functions to a certain extent. For example, there was a classic hot sauce advertisement many years ago. A strong man who was eating hot sauce was sweating all over because of the spiciness. At this time, a mosquito flew to his body to suck his blood. He stared at the mosquito but did nothing and let it suck his blood. As a result, the mosquito was full of blood and exploded with a "bang" not long after it flew out. At this time, the strong man smiled slightly and continued to eat his hot sauce. This advertisement presents the spiciness of the hot sauce in an exaggerated way, so spicy that it can make mosquitoes explode on the spot. FedEx's classic hand-to-hand advertisement emphasizes that the delivery of express packages is as fast as hand-to-hand delivery. Exaggeration can also be an exaggeration of character behavior and storyline, thereby expressing an extreme brand concept. For example, in a certain bank advertisement, the brand concept is to control risks, and customers can feel safe depositing their funds in this bank. Its advertising method is to show that its bank managers are very cautious and extremely averse to taking risks. When they play with their children in balloons at home, they will tie sandbags on the children to prevent them from being carried up into the sky by the balloons. When they ride strollers, they will lay several layers of roadblocks on the road for fear that the children will speed and get into danger. When barbecuing, they will dress the children in full protective clothing like firefighters for fear of burns. This series of planes vividly expresses the extent of the bank's risk control in an exaggerated way. There is also an advertisement from a bank that claims to be serious and that its loan products are truly zero interest. So in the film, a magician who was performing a magic trick actually stabbed his assistant to death in a box. The bank used the subtitles in this advertisement to say, "We are serious, not fake."
When story ideas are exaggerated to the point where it is unbelievable and would never happen in real life, it adds drama and makes people laugh. There are also some exaggerated advertisements, you can see for yourself.
8. Comparison
"Comparison" is one of the most commonly used techniques in advertising creativity. Comparison between different things can not only enhance the functional value of the product, but also increase the dramatic effect of expression. There are three types of "comparison": contrast, analogy, and metaphor.
Comparison is about finding differences. Strengthen the expression effect by using the differences between different things . For example, Pepsi has shot a large number of competitive advertisements against Coca-Cola, highlighting Pepsi's appeal to consumers through the comparison between the two cola brands. There was a Pepsi advertisement that went like this: a child went to a vending machine to buy Coke, but the Pepsi button on the machine was higher than the Coke button, and the child couldn’t reach it. So he bought two cans of Coca-Cola first, then kicked them under his feet, went to buy a can of Pepsi, and drank it contentedly. A TV commercial was shot for a rugby match, appealing to the intensity and confrontation of the sport, emphasizing that football is simply a women's sport compared to rugby. So the idea is that during a football match, an athlete is injured on the field, and the medical staff on the sidelines immediately run onto the field, help him comb his hair and put on makeup, and the athlete immediately becomes full of energy again. This is how the nature of the game of rugby is expressed through contrast.
There was an advertisement for 999 brand Pi Yan Ping in the early years, claiming that it could relieve itching quickly. A young man shouted "Itchy" in the room. The old lady downstairs heard the sound and immediately picked up a bamboo pole and jumped to the second floor like a pole vault and rushed over to tickle him. Unexpectedly, the young man's itch had been stopped by the dermatitis tablets. Piyanping relieves itching faster than jumping to the second floor to send a scratcher (a common way to relieve itching is to use a scratcher)
Motorola made an advertisement that advocated GPS, which advocated the accurate positioning of GPS, in contrast to the traditional way of navigation. You can’t trust people to give you directions, so just use GPS.
Another commonly used form of comparison is called "before/after", which is to compare the product before and after use to highlight the effect of using the product. For example, Volkswagen Golf has a print advertisement that appeals to the large space. The picture is a comparison of two pictures. On the left, a Golf is driving to an empty basketball court. On the right, eight people are playing golf on the court, and the door of the golf cart at the side of the court is open. This picture uses contrast to visually describe that a golf car can fit eight people and has plenty of space. The advantage of the creative way of "before/after" contrast is that it is clear at a glance. For other cases, just look at the plane directly, so I don’t need to introduce them in detail. (Advertisement for medicines for treating psoriasis) The second way of comparison is analogy . Comparison is about finding differences, while analogy is about finding similarities. For example, the print advertisement of the insecticide aerosol brand Kwik compares the insecticide to thousands of slipper soles, fly swatters, and newspaper rolls. The third way of comparison is metaphor . An analogy is a comparison between two things, while a metaphor is a direct comparison of one thing to another. For example, Peugeot once shot an advertisement in which it compared Peugeot to the king of beasts, the lion. When Peugeot cars appeared on the streets, other cars dodged and fled in all directions like small animals seeing a lion, or even hid in the garage and trembled, with all parts of the cars shaken off. For example, Audi's Quattro four-wheel drive technology can firmly grip the ground and avoid slipping. So Audi compares the Quattro to a gecko, which grips the ground like the suction cups on the paws of a gecko. Audi designed the logo of its technology brand Quattro into a gecko, and also used slippery banana peels and soap as metaphors in its creative expression.
9. Injury
Parody is the process of borrowing scenes from classic works such as movies, literature, drama, traditional stories, fairy tales, myths, etc., and transforming, repeating and imitating them. New versions of classics often give consumers a refreshing experience.
The Darth Vader in the classic movie "Star Wars" has the ability to manipulate objects remotely with his mind. In the 2011 American Super Bowl, Volkswagen Passat incorporated the Darth Vader into its advertisement. In the film, a little boy who COS as the Darth Vader fantasizes that he has super powers and can move objects with his mind. He tried various objects at home over and over again, and his repeated failures made him dejected. At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of his father coming home. The little boy rushed out excitedly, but instead of welcoming his father home, he used his qi to perform magic on his father's parked car. When the father returned home, he saw through the window that the little boy’s attempts had failed again and again, so he pressed the remote start button on the car key. The little boy was shocked to see his own hands start the car… This was using remote control of the car to parody the Darth Vader’s mind control, thus creating an unexpectedly surprising effect. The fairy tale of "The Three Little Pigs" is well-known in the West. In the fairy tale, in order to resist the big bad wolf, the three pig brothers built a thatched house, the second brother built a wooden house, and the third brother built a brick house. As a result, the thatched house and the wooden house were blown down by the big bad wolf, and only the brick house resisted the invasion of the big bad wolf. In 2012, the British newspaper The Guardian reinterpreted the story of The Three Little Pigs and reported it comprehensively as if it were a real news event. In the adapted story, not only did the three little pigs' house not get destroyed by the big bad wolf, they actually cooked and ate the wolf. After this case was reported by The Guardian, it immediately sparked a heated discussion among the public about citizens’ property rights protection, legitimate defense or excessive defense. As the case progressed, someone used a video to prove that the big bad wolf suffered from asthma and was spraying asthma medicine on the bus, and was completely unable to blow down the piglet's thatched house. Then the truth of the case was revealed. It turned out that the little pigs had defrauded insurance in order to pay for their home loans and conspired to kill the big bad wolf. The three little pigs were brought to justice. This, in turn, aroused people’s sympathy for the heavy burden of piggy loans and hatred of bankers, and triggered demonstrations. Through this new micro-film based on this story, The Guardian expounds on its own philosophy of objective, comprehensive and open news reporting, and also explains the advent of the era of universal media, where public opinion greatly influences the direction of public events. The idea won a Gold Lion at the Cannes Lions Festival. The parody-style creativity, on the one hand, creates a contrast between the original plot and the adapted parody story, which increases the drama. At the same time, it borrows the image of the classic IP, which helps consumers feel familiar and friendly.
10. Story
Storytelling creativity is to conceive an interesting or touching story and then cleverly integrate the product's functions or brand personality into it. To create a good brand story, there are two points that need special attention: First, the brand or product should preferably play the role of a prop to promote the development of the plot. Or, the theme and meaning expressed by the entire story are related to the brand value. If the entire story has nothing to do with the brand, the brand is just forced into the story as a human background. Then this is not a story tailored for the brand, but a kind of movie placement. The value of creativity will also be greatly reduced. Second, no matter whether it is a true story or a fictional story, a heartwarming story or an exaggerated and funny story, you must know that the core of a good story has conflicts, twists and turns, and obstacles waiting for the protagonist to overcome. Hu Xiangyun, Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Taiwan, said that the most important thing in a story is a "but", and that "but" creates dramatic tension. That’s where the drama comes from.
Let me share some of my favorite micro-film stories.
One is the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s “Buying Fish” episode. When he heard that his daughter was coming home, the father rushed to the market to buy vegetables. The family hadn't bought fish for a long time. Knowing that his daughter was coming back, the father decided to go to the fish stall and buy a silver pomfret for his daughter. While weighing the fish, the father suddenly received a call from his daughter, who said on the phone that she was too busy with work to come back. So my dad stopped buying the more expensive silver pomfret and bought an ordinary small fish instead. Finally, a thought-provoking subtitle appeared on the screen: "How long have you not been home?" Let's look at this story. First of all, the theme of the whole story is going home, and going home is the value of high-speed rail. Although there are no scenes about high-speed rail travel in the story, people can still feel the value of the brand and the concepts it advocates.
Secondly, the daughter coming home and the father buying groceries are just ordinary daily routines and there is nothing much to say. However, the plot twist where the daughter suddenly decides not to go home and the father buys small fish instead completes the emotional sublimation and deepens the theme of the story.
Another one is the micro-film of Hong Kong Telecom. It is also a story between a father and daughter. The daughter is busy with work all day and has no time to go home for dinner. She can't even spare time to answer the phone. So the communication between the two has become mainly through text messages and voice messages. Even if he doesn't have time to go home, the father wants to hear his daughter's voice often. So the daughter set up an automatic voice reply function on her mobile phone, so that whenever the father called her, he could hear the message. At this point in the story, the first "but" appears. One day, my daughter had a car accident on the way off work. After the death of her daughter, the father kept renewing her daughter's cell phone just to listen to her daughter's language messages when she calls every day. Immediately afterwards, a second "but" appeared again. One day, the telecommunications system was upgraded and all messages were cleaned up. The old man did not see the notification from the telecommunications company that the user asked the voice message to the new system by himself. He only found that one day he called his daughter's cell phone, but did not hear a familiar voice. So the old man hurriedly found the phone number to the telecom company and asked to resume the message. The waiter found the company supervisor, hoping to help the elderly restore their voice messages, but the supervisor refused because he violated the company system. So the operator told the supervisor about the old man's story. At the end of the story, the message was restored. The operator also specially recorded the message on the CD and sent it to the elderly. At the same time, this message story also touched the operator and the head of the telecommunications company, and changed their attitude towards their father. This is the good story in my mind. From the perspective of brand marketing, there are three standards for a good story: First, the theme of the story can connect brand value and values; second, the plot is conflicting, tension and twists and turns; third, the emotions contained in the story have touching power, and a good story can either make people cry or laugh.
Part 4 Brand image
In addition to the above creative methods, there are also some creative methods that start from the brand itself, establish a brand image, and shape the brand's unique value assets.
11. Features
One approach is to start from the unique characteristics of the brand, such as making creativity around product shapes, brand logos, typical consumer images, etc., which can represent the brand's identity characteristics, so as to help the brand create a clear imprint and let consumers remember the brand firmly.
For example, McDonald's focuses on logos, VIs and product styling. For example, the classic absolute vodka in advertising history has always been focusing on the shape of the bottle and the brand name "Absolut". There is also BMW, which is creative around the front face of the car.
12. Symbol
Symbol is a literary creation technique. It borrows the concrete images of people or objects to express an abstract concept, thought and emotion, thereby transforming abstract spiritual ideas into concrete and tangible images, thus leaving a deep impression on readers and the aftertaste of repeated chewing.
This technique is reflected in brand marketing, which is to find a symbolic language for the brand and represent the brand's image and personality attitude through various specific images. The most classic example is Marlboro cowboys. Consumers can perceive the ruggedness and masculinity represented by Marlboro through the images of cowboys and the wilderness of the western United States.
Therefore, symbolic creativity is mainly used in brand image advertising, and the brand image is presented through the image of the item. Saab Auto has a brand advertisement, and its core concept is "release me", so three images appear in its TV advertisements: a dog tied to a railing, trying to break free from the chains and barking in the distance; a dolphin in an aquarium, struggling to jump out of the water; and the dam opens the gate to release water. Through these images, consumers can feel the brand image of Saab, the momentum and personality it contains.
In addition to the above advertising creative methods, there are also creative methods imported from vision, creative methods that start from copywriting, playing visual games and word games, as well as borrowing and substitution methods, parallelism methods, insight methods, etc. But no matter how many methods are summarized, it is actually not important. What is really important is that I hope everyone will use this methodology as a blueprint to summarize and discover the advertising creation methodology that belongs only to themselves.
I also summarized a set of methods based on the advertising masters and the thinking of various creative works. But this method is my method, not yours. You can't make good ideas by copying them.
The method is dead, and the person lives. Theory is gray, and the tree of life is evergreen.
