WRITING THE COPY

The central element of an advertising program is the advertising copy, the messages that the target audience is intended to see (as in magazines, newspapers, and TV) or hear (as in radio and TV). This usually involves identifying the key benefits of the product that are deemed important to a prospective buyer in making trial and adoption decisions.

Message Content. Every advertising message is made up of both informational and persuasion elements. These two elements, in fact, are so entwined that it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart. For example, basic information contained in many ads such as the product name, benefits, features, and price are presented in a way that tries to attract attention and encourage purchase. On the other hand, even the most persuasive advertisements have to contain at least some basic information to be successful. Information and persuasive content can be combined in the form of an appeal to provide a basic reason for the consumer to act. Although the marketer can use many different types of appeals, common advertising appeals include fear appeals, sex appeals, and humorous appeals.

Fear appeals suggest to the consumer that he or she can avoid some negative experience through the purchase and use of the product. Life insurance companies often try to show the negative effects of premature death on the relatives of those who don't carry enough life insurance. The famous advertising slogan of "ring around the collar" shows that others will be repelled if they observe a person with a stained collar. When using fear appeals, the advertiser must be sure that the appeal is strong enough to get the audience's attention and concern but not so strong that it will lead them to "tune out" the message.

In contrast, sex appeals suggest to the audience that the product will increase the attractiveness of the user. Sex appeals can be found in almost any product category from automobiles to toothpaste. Unfortunately, many commercials that use sex appeals are only successful at gaining the attention of the audience; they have little impact on how consumers think, feel, or act. Some advertising experts even argue that such appeals get in the way of successful communication by distracting the audience from the purpose of the ad.

Humorous appeals imply either directly or more subtly that the product is more fun or exciting than competitors' offerings. As with fear and sex appeals, the use of humor is widespread in advertising and can be found in many product categories. Unfortunately for the advertiser, humor tends to wear out quickly, thus boring the consumer.

Creating the Actual Message. The "creative people," or copywriters, in an advertising agency have the responsibility to turn appeals and features such as quality, style, dependability, economy, and service into attention-getting, believable advertising copy. This often relies on creative use of fear, sex, humor, sound, or visual effects. A relatively new upstart among advertising agencies "Fallen. McElligott, Inc. (FM)" was designated as advertising Age magazine's Agency of the Year by using wit, irreverence, and shock in its advertising copy. Its basic premise: with the hundreds of advertising impressions most of us see every day, use creative ads – not bombardment – to get the target audience's attention.

FM's newspaper ad for ITT Life Insurance Corporation, promoting term over whole-life insurance policies, proclaimed, "Your whole life is a mistake." For newspaper and TV ads for the Wall Street Journal FM came up with the theme line "The daily diary of the American dream." Its magazine ad for Lee jeans situated among the many four-color ads in consumer magazines – is a snapshot picture of a second in the life of a Lee jeans wearer and is shown in striking black and white, except for the tiny Lee logo in the corner. Translating the copywriter's ideas into an actual advertisement is also a complex process. Performing quality artwork, layout, and production for the advertisements is costly and time consuming. High-quality TV commercials typically cost about $ 125,000 to produce a 30-second ad, a task done by about 2,000 small commercial production companies across the United States. High-visibility commercials can be even more expensive: two 15-second Rolaids commercials involved $ 500,000 and 75 people over a 6-month period. About 70 "takes" are necessary, and typical, to get things "right!"