Persuasive Advertising - J. Scott Armstrong [194]
Analyses of non-experimental data on 641 tested 30-second TV commercials from the Mapes & Ross company showed that day-after recall was 39 percent better and brand preference was 36 percent higher for commercials with five or fewer camera shots than for those with 20 or more shots. Surprisingly, short-scene (MTV-style) commercials were substantially less persuasive and less memorable for 18 to 34-year-old viewers than for viewers who were 50 to 65 (MacLachlan and Logan 1993).
Checklist 10 summarizes the principles related to advertising on media using motion and sound.
Checklist 10 Motion media
10.1. Scenes
10.1.1. Use an opening that is directly related to the product, brand or message.
10.1.2. Emphasize the product or message.
10.1.3. If believability is important, show the spokesperson on-screen.
10.1.4. Use short “supers” to reinforce key points.
10.1.5. Make the closing scene relevant to the key message
10.2. Voice
10.2.1. Use an appropriate voice.
10.2.2. Avoid orally ambiguous words.
10.3. Music and sound
10.3.1. Consider using music or sounds for low-involvement products, but not for high-involvement products with strong arguments.
10.3.2. If music or sound effects are used, make them relevant to the product.
10.4. Pace
10.4.1. Use rapid speech for simple messages about low-involvement products.
10.4.2. Use slow speech for strong arguments or to show concern.
10.4.3. Use short silences before and/or after strong arguments.
10.4.4. Hold scenes to hold attention.
Creativity
the most dangerous word in all of advertising [is] originality …. Here, misty, distant, and infinitely desirable, is the copywriter’s Holy Grail. Unfortunately it has ruined more advertisers than it has ever made.
Rosser Reeves (1961)
The persuasion principles provide only one of the elements in the creative process, albeit an important one. The application of the principles requires much creativity.
Based on my reading of the experimental evidence, I have concluded that common approaches to creativity are detrimental. These include meetings, retreats, rewards for “creative thinking,” team-building exercises, and urging people to be creative and to “think outside the box.” Not to mention the use of charismatic leaders.1 These approaches drew disdain from creative advertisers in the past. Bill Bernbach summarized it well when he said: “Today, everybody is talking ‘Creativity,’ and frankly, that’s got me worried ... I fear all the sins we may commit in the name of creativity.” It is still “today.”
If you are concerned about creativity, do not look at current practice in other organizations. Most organizations use procedures that thwart creativity. My own industry is one of the leaders in this effort. If someone has evidence on a useful new technique or principle, we ask two or three experts in the area to vote on whether the researcher should be allowed to publish his evidence. Given that these reviewers are involved with the old approach, at least one will invariably vote no (for experimental evidence, see Mahoney 1977). In other words, we censor new approaches. We call it peer review, and the original justification was that there is only so much space in journals. That argument has been eliminated by the Internet. But the system remains as a way to punish researchers who might stray and discover something new and useful.
This chapter provides advice on methods for identifying creative people and for nurturing their creativity. The research findings are counter-intuitive.
Find creative people
A review of research on creativity led to the conclusions that creative people describe themselves as original, emotional, enthusiastic, argumentative, assertive, independent, self-confident, rebellious, and impulsive. People who are not creative describe themselves as gentle, patient, peaceable, contented, and concerned with others.
Creative people also tend to be uninterested in facts for their own sake. They lack interest