Advertising and Marketing

Advertising success, whether it be print, radio, TV, online, point of purchase or outdoor, requires the ability to cut through the noise, attract attention and make a mark on consumer attitudes. All too many ads compete for the audience’s attention and you need experience and creativity to stand your ad out from the crowd. Creativity in advertising adds something unique and special and acts as a relationship builder between your brand and your potential customers - it should stop them in their tracks and make them sit up and take notice.

Given the thousands of marketing messages bombarding us every day, this stopping power is vital to the success of your advertising and marketing efforts.
Building a successful ad is a complex process but can be summarised as follows:

1.    The Creative Brief: This is the platform on which the creative juices are based. It generally comprises
a.    An Objective Statement: Clear and specific terms of reference for what the ad is supposed to accomplish and the target audience
b.    The Support Statement: Either based on fact and logic or on an emotional, intuitive appeal, what is the product’s promise and supporting evidence
c.    The Character: A distinctive tone, character or personality for the ad
d.    The Positioning Statement: A detailed description of how you want customers to think and feel about your product
e.    The Basic Statement: A single sentence which summarises what you want to say to the customer to convince them to buy/act/join etc

This brief is the basis for the development of your creative ‘big idea’ whether it is for a quarter page ad in a local newspaper, or for a high end, CGI laden TV ad series.

2.    The Creative Process: Dependent on the media in question, there are obvious technical skills required to build an ad with true stopping power (graphics, editing, cgi, etc) but certain principles apply:
a.    Demand Attention – great visuals, startling headlines, unusual imagery -  stop people in their tracks
b.    Demand participation - make them laugh, call a number, go to a shop, or just think – never let the audience take a passive role
c.    Evoke emotion - even if the appeal is simple and rational, try to stimulate passion against a basic human need
d.    Stimulate Curiosity – Always leave them wanting more
e.    Break all the Rules (occasionally) - a great way to take the audience by surprise and grab their attention by the throat

3.    The Analysis: Always track results against your ad campaigns, no matter how small they may seem. Media channel response data (including any A-B testing, where one version is tested against a variant), and of course any inbound channel of your own, are sources of valuable data which will be used as part of your ongoing advertising and marketing activities. Ensure here that you log sales conversations and customer calls/ visits linked to the campaign - this is a common area for missed feedback and learning opportunity.

Here at Atommedia, we very often work directly alongside our clients not only during the creative process but also as they build their initial creative brief. Given our extensive experience across many market sectors, we can make even this first stage of the process both enlightening and valuable. From a technical perspective, we have the full range of technical skills required to  support your advertising and marketing objectives  - from a newspaper print ad right through to broadcast quality tv. From a creative point of view, our range of clients speaks for itself.