Advertising Design: Theoretical Frameworks and Types of Appeals

The chapter deals with the designing of an advertising campaign by the account executives. The chapter is divided into two parts:

In the first part, we will see three different advertising theories or approaches that guide the advertising campaign design. These theories are

Advertising Theories

1. Hierarchy of Effects Model
2.  Means-End Theory
3.  Visual and Verbal Imaging

Hierarchy of Effects Model

The hierarchy effect model deals with the six steps that a buyer follows while making a purchase decision. The model has number of similarities with the tri component attitude model. These six steps of persuasion are as follows:

• Awareness
• Knowledge
•  Liking
• Preference
• Conviction
• Purchase

Means – End Theory

The means end theory states that an advertisement must contain a message or means that leads the

consumer to a desired end state. It is a basis of a model called MECCAS = means end conceptualization of Components for Advertising Strategy. The five elements stated in the model are as follows:
·         Products Attributes

·         Consumer Benefits                                                                    

·         Leverage Points

·         Personal Values

·         Executional Framework

Types of personal values

Equality	Inner peace	Self-fulfillment	Wisdom
Excitement	Mature love	Security	Happiness
Freedom	Personal accomplishment	Self-respect	Comfortable Life
Fun, exciting life	Pleasure	Sense of belonging	Social Acceptance

E.g.: Means-End Chain for Milk

Attributes	Benefits	Personal Values
Low Fat	Healthy	Self-Respect
		Wisdom
Calcium	Healthy Bones	Comfortable Life
		Wisdom
Ingredients	Good Taste	Pleasure
		Happiness
Vitamins	Enhanced ability	Excitement
		Pleasure
		Fun

Verbal vs. Visual Imaging

1.     Verbal - The greater emphasis is given on words in some of the advertisements in order to evoke the response from the target market

2.   Visual – The visual imagery is considered to be more effective than the verbal message. Visual imagery is stored both as pictures and words in brain and this dual processing increases recall level. Also the visual imagery is considered to be a universal language for the advertisers as an image will depict the same thing for audience belonging to different geographical and cultural settings. However the meaning of a word maybe different for different people. In this respect, the visual imagery is very effective.



In the second part, we will describe seven major types of appeals used by the advertisers.

Fear Appeal

Advertising Appeals
Fear Appeal - Degree of Fear created is considered important by number of advertisers to create desired impact.The way fear works can be described by behavioral response model 

Humor Appeal

     Humor Appeal – The Humor appeal is considered to be very effective to cut  through the clutter

      ·     Used in 30% of the ads

      ·      Should be directly related to customers

Reasons for using Humor in ads

• Captures attention
• Holds attention
• Often wins creative awards
• High recall scores
• Consumers enjoy funny ads
• Evaluated as likeable ads

Music Appeal: Easily linked to emotions, memories and other experiences music is considered to be very effective in increasing the recall level. A jingle is highly effective in a way that even without visual imagery audience can recall the brand associated with the music. Music gains attention and increases the retention of information as it becomes strongly intertwined with the product

• Has intrusive value
• Gains attention and increases the retention
• Can increase persuasiveness of the ad

E.g.: TV ad for Matt uses music appeal

Rational Appeal: Rational appeal follows the assumption that a consumer actively process all the information presented in the advertisement.

•  Based on hierarchy of effects model
• Print media is well suited for rational appeals
• Used by business to business advertisers
• Well suited for complex and high involvement products 

 Emotional Appeal
 1)    Based on three ideas:

Emotional Appeal

•  Consumers ignore most ads
• Rational ads go unnoticed
•  Emotional ads can capture attention

2)  Creatives believe that emotional ads are key to developing brand loyalty

3)  Works well when tied with other appeals

Emotions used in ads:

• Trust
• Reliability
• Friendship
• Happiness
• Security
• Glamour/luxury
• Serenity
• Anger
• Protecting loved ones
• Romance
• Passion
• Family Bonds

Scarcity Appeal: The scarcity appeal tries to convince a customer on the basis of scarcity of a particular product. The scarcity may be in terms of limited availability of product or more often, that product is available only for limited time

• Based on limited supply
• Based on limited time to purchase
• Often tied with promotional tools
• Encourages customer to take action

Sexual Appeal

        Sexual Appeal: The sexual appeal is another kind of appeal which has been used in an innovative way by  number of advertisers

• Breaks through clutter
• Use has increased in ads
• Advertisers shifting to more subtle cues

Structure of an Advertisement

The majority of advertisements follow a particular structure and tend to contain five elements. These are:

• The Promise of a benefit (the headline)
• The spelling out of the promise ( a sub headline)
• Amplification
• Proof of claim
• Action to take

These five parts of the structure of an advertisement must also be contained in the use of the message strategies and executional frameworks.