Essential Advertising & Marketing Terminology

Understanding Core Advertising & Marketing Concepts

Right Brain vs. Left Brain Thinking

Right Brain: Intuitive, holistic, artistic, emotional, and expressive.

Left Brain: Logical, linear, inductive/deductive, and orderly.

Advertising Message Forms & Formats

• Announcement Display Ads

  The most basic form of advertising, often used for announcements.

• Association Transfer

  Utilizes symbolic association to link a product with a desired image or idea (e.g., Absolut vodka campaigns).

• Dominant Message Forms in Advertising

  These are common structures for conveying an advertising message:

  • Presenter: A spokesperson directly addresses the audience.
  • Testimonial: A user or expert endorses the product.
  • Demonstration: Shows the product in action.
  • Comparative Advertising: Directly compares the product to competitors (e.g., example link).

• Drama in Advertising

  Often involves a narrative with conflict to engage the audience.

• Entertainment in Advertising

  Aims to entertain and humor the audience (e.g., Old Spice commercials).

• Imagination & Animation in Ads

  Uses cartoons, film, and video technology to create imaginative scenarios.

• Special Effects in Advertising

  Employs various video technologies to showcase the product in action or create compelling visuals.

Key Advertising & Marketing Documents

• The Creative Brief

  A document that outlines the creative strategy and key execution details for a marketing communication idea. It is often prepared by an account planner to summarize the basic marketing and advertising strategy.

Advertising Strategies & Concepts

• Vampire Creativity

  Occurs when a commercial or message is so creative that the advertisement itself is remembered, but not the product being advertised.

• Reminder Advertising

  Aims to keep a product relevant in the lives of loyal and new customers, offering reasons to use the product repeatedly.

• Preemptive Advertising

  Involves being the first to make a specific claim about your product or service. While the claim might also be true for competitors, being first to communicate it to the target audience establishes a unique position.

• Copy Testing

  A process conducted after an ad is created, involving a dry run to test the message on a sample audience to gauge their reception.

Branding Elements: Taglines & Slogans

• Tagline

  A distillation of corporate values and identity into a pithy phrase. It reinforces the brand, highlights differences from competitors, and describes the company's purpose, product, service, or philosophy.

• Slogan

  A brief, catchy statement used for branding, typically representing a single product or part of an advertising campaign.

Selling Approaches in Advertising

• Hard Sell Advertising

  An informational message that appeals primarily to the mind, focusing on facts and logic.

• Soft Sell Advertising

  An emotional appeal that targets attitudes, mood, and feelings.

Advertising Objectives & Strategic Considerations

• Stimulating Action (Act/Do)

  An advertising objective focused on stimulating trial, purchase, or repurchase of a product.

• Changing Brand Attitudes (Believe)

  An advertising objective aimed at altering consumer beliefs or perceptions about a brand.

• Preemptive Strategy for Differentiated Products

  A creative strategy particularly effective for product categories with little differentiation or for entirely new product categories.

Marketing to Specific Demographics

• Marketing to the Hispanic Demographic

  Professional marketers recognize that the Hispanic market often desires to be treated as a distinct group. This can involve using some or all Spanish in advertisements, featuring all Hispanic models, or otherwise uniquely distinguishing this demographic from other American groups.

• Young Hispanic Identity: Cultural Unity

  A characteristic of young Hispanics today is their identification with sharing a common culture, despite their original country of origin.