Significance of Creativity in Advertising

Have you ever imagined about something which you have never seen?

Have you ever spoken a dialogue which you have never heard?

Have you created something out of your own standing different from the rest of the world?

When unique marketing imaginations are expressed and brought into reality through various means of delivery, we call it creativity in advertising. Making ads is no child's play. Every ad you watch on the television is somebody's thought and efforts with an aim to present a product in the market. When unique content is created, it's generally referred to as creativity. Here, we'll understand the concept of creativity, it's importance, techniques and it's application on advertising.

Importance of Creativity in Advertising

Ads should be creative so that they can get placed in viewer's minds so that they are impressed and develop a positive attitude towards the brand. Let' understand why creativity is important in advertising.

1. Best way of delivering message: When ads are creatively prepared and delivered in the right media, it becomes the most appropriate way of delivering a message to the audience. An ad of packaged drinking water bottle can show the importance of water for human life and make audience understand the importance of water, along with promoting their brand. 

2. Impression: When ads are drafted with creativity, it creates an ever lasting impression in the minds of the audience. In reality, ads of Pidlite's Fevicol involves a lot of creative and entertaining content and has created classic impression in people's mind. 

3. Grab Attention: Grabbing attention of the audience is the most basic work of an advertisement. When ads use creative concept, it catches attention of the viewers.  A bright and creative billboard can immediately catch attention of viewers and can create a good impression.

4. Positive Attitude: With creative ads, a positive attitude can be developed in viewer's minds. When creativity is infused in ads, it makes a person to get a connect to the advertisement and automatically develops a positive attitude. Usually, when creativity is mixed with emotion or humor, it makes audience engagement easy.

5. Influence Viewer's Mood: Good ads which are creative ten to create a good mood and environment in viewer's minds. This is highly required, in order to influence the viewers so as to create a strong engagement.

6. Entertainment: Creative ads are entertainment pieces which fill a lot of joy in people's lives. Many ads show beauty of nature or classy home interiors or soothing background song or even funny conversations and dialogues.  

7. Viewer Engagement: When ads are creative, it triggers audience to get connected to it. This connection leads to engagement which is very much required for a brand to sustain in market. A good example can be "The Drinkable Ad" of Coke in the US which made people to use their mobile phone to scan the advertisement and engage with the brand, only because of the creative technology used in the ad. 

The Creative Process

Creativity in advertising is not a one time task. Rather, it's a process of researching, understanding, developing wide thoughts, implementing and measuring the impact from the viewer's perspective. Let's understand the creative process. Steps involved in developing creative content.

1.  Research: An advertiser should first research and gather information about media and market so as to develop contrasting content. 

2. Review of Past Ads: A responsible advertiser should review a plethora of old ads so as to understand the type of content that has already been delivered to the audience. This is the prima facie reason for dropping creativity in ads.

3. Situation Analysis: Advertise should know very well about what he is selling and to whom. A good knowledge about the product helps an advertiser to develop mind blowing ideas for marketing.

4. Creation of Ideas: With good research background and a thorough review of past ads, an advertiser can apply his mind in placing the product in front of the audience. Ideas are framed by group of people through brainstorming techniques and best ones are listed down. These ideas should be self evaluated and must be understood from the viewer's perspective so as to determine whether viewers will like it or not.

5. Selection of the best idea: Once number of ideas are formed, it becomes the responsibility of the advertiser to pick up the best one so as to implement it. When the above process is followed, it creates a flash though of the best idea among all the drafted ones and this makes the advertiser's job easy. 

Points to note during the creative process

• Clear Vision about the product so that audience understand the reason behind watching it. Basically, what is the product? What is the product for? For whom is the product? Why they should use the product? etc. Such questions should be answered in the ad.

• Focus on showing benefits of using the product so as to compel and persuade the audience. Benefits triggers audience to watch the ad and get along which ends them making a sincere customer.

• Ad message should be impactful with a powerful idea. There can be use of simple but powerful words so as to link the ad message with the product in most appropriate manner.

• Ads can also make use of endorsers and mascots to grab quick attention and create an influence. Here, message from an influential person stands powerful than a creative idea.

• Ads should be 'Out of the box' / 'outstanding', meaning way different from other brands and past advertisements. New contents are always found to be innovative by audience whereas repetitive / similar content is considered boring. Never bore the audience.

• Use keywords and a single minded preposition so as to create a top of mind awareness among the audience, when they watch the ad regularly. Such words create long lasting impact.

• Use emotional content or humor content to create tears or laughter among the audience. Creation of emotional content requires display of human relations whereas humor requires human action and reaction.

Creative Brief

Creative briefing is the plinth for a creative advertising campaign. It gives crisp idea about the creative inputs to be incorporated in making and placing of an advertisement. When it comes to advertising, the client company informs the ad agency about the product and it's features. Now, it's the duty of the Account team of the ad agency to coordinate with the client and form a creative brief out of the basic information furnished by the client. It merely looks like an interpretation of client's idea by the ad agency, but in a creative style. 

A Creative Brief includes the following:

• Brand Statement - what is the brand all about?

• Objectives of the Ad Campaign - To increase awareness or to increase sales or to have high engagement with the audience, etc.

• Background of the Ad Campaign - Overall details about the brand and the planned ad campaign.

• Targeted audience for the Ad Campaign - If the product is meant for females, then only females will be targeted. Further, age criteria can also be dropped in.

• Message for the Consumers - The message which the brand wants to convey to it's audience.

• Consumer Benefit points - Benefits of using the product. Problem solving ability of the product can be used as a benefit to be shown to the audience.

• Product Details - Details about the product right from it's deign to utility.

• Details about competitors - Existing rivals in the market against whom the ad campaign will defend and offend.

• Brand voice - Background of the brand like luxury, trustworthy, iconic, long-lasting, innovative, etc.

• Medium of advertisement - Media platforms where advertisement is to be delivered like television, outdoor, internet, etc.

• Requirements - Like brand logo, original product image, creative tagline, price, discounts if any, technological support, value for price, benefits, retail availability, contact information, website, etc.

Need of Creative Brief

Creative brief is a standard practice of an ad agency. This document forms to be the blue print of the work which is to be executed by the creative team of the ad agency. A creative brief serves several purpose like:

• Gives a clear idea about the product, brand, nature of the organization to the creative team of the ad agency to carry out their work.

• Allows Creative team to generate ideas with the existing information.

• Allows third party organizations to understand the the product and the projected ad campaign.

• Allows the ad agency to formulate and implement mind blowing media strategies.

To sum up, creative brief is prepared by the account manager of the ad agency in coordination with the client. This creative brief is then used by the creative team for the real implementation.

Check out the creative brief examples below for your understanding:

Visualization

Visualization is the process of imagining unique thoughts in mind which can be used as a way of communication. Visualization makes the ad maker to dive into another dimension so as to derive the best message to be communicated to the audience. It is all about creating scenes or images or words in mind so that it can put into reality. 

When the creative team obtains the creative brief, they start the process of visualization. The team applies various visualizing techniques and filters the best though that can be brought into reality. 

Techniques of visualization

1. Juxtaposition and Association: Juxtaposition refers to placing two things or ideas close to each so as to analyze it's contrasting effect. Juxtaposition technique helps advertisers to create new views, new patterns and new relationship between product and the idea to be applied for promoting the product. It enhances the concept of creating a new way of looking at things. Look at the below examples where a close link has been associated between the product and the imagery idea.

2. Color Psychology: Every still advertising needs to be well backed by a strong color combination be it color of the model, object, product or background. Many creative ads depend on the usage of impressive color schemes to deliver a message without using words. Check the below examples.

3. Analyze Competitor's Advertisements: It's very important for every advertiser to review a good number of ads made and run by competitors so as to think of a new idea. Reviewing wholesome ads is very important as it enables the advertiser to fill the gap. The gap of what has been done and what has not been done, which can now be done by the advertiser.

4. Brainstorming: Brainstorming is the process of making creative minds work in a closed environment allowing them to put down their ideas on paper and analyze whether it can be brought into reality. It is generally an informal way of throwing the topic to the branstormers so that there can be collective discussion and generation of creative ideas. Brainstorming is more of a problem solving mechanism which not only helps the creative team to frame ideas but also marketers and manufacturers to develop their plans and strategies.

5. Story Build-up: Imagine you're handing creative direction for a UPI based Online Payment App named WePay. You may interested in building up a story for making your ad once the media and theme is decided. The story may comprise stage wise events which has to be displayed and explained in detail with images, casts, music, lyrics and copy. Let's make a story for WePay

(i) Existence of Paan Wala: There is a Paan Wala sitting in his shop singing a Bhojpuri song with a 'gamcha' around his neck and seems like a funny character.

(ii) Cast is approaches the Paan Wala: After showing the paan wala, now the cast (hero) is approaching the paan wala to buy a paan. He asks the paan wala to make one Kalkatta Saada paan in full swag. This cast is wearing trendy clothes like polished shoes, jacket, jeans and goggles. "Bhaiyya, ek Kalkatta Sada"

(iii) Handing over paan to the cast: The paan wala hands over the paan (Kalkatta Saada) to the cast and tells him "pachis rupaye hue sahab" meaning "twenty five rupees only Sir". 

(iv) Cast makes payment in cash: After hearing twent five rupees, the cast removes his wallet and gets out cash to pay the paan wala. "Lo Bhaiyya"

(v) Paan Wala refuses: The paan wala refuses to accept cash and points out at the QR Code scanner placed right in front of him and says "Phone nahi hai kya?" meaning "you don't have a phone?"

(vi) Cast removes his phone: Hearing the paan wala, the cast immediately removes his phone in a hussle bussle and scans and pay the amount to the paan wala. 

(vii) Payment successful: After successful payment, there can be a funny expression by the paan wala and the cast together on the screen and the app WePay can be featured. 

The above main stories can be further divided into several sub stories for detailed planning.

6. Observation: Visualization can be done with general observation also. A visualizer can develop ideas while travelling, eating in a restaurant, driving, waiting at the station / bus stop, shopping, making love or even in the washroom while attempting nature's call. Such observations can be connected to a product and with minute or no alterations, they can be used to make advertisements. A good example can be showing behavior of people during certain situations and linking it with the product. 

7. Day to Day Stuffs: Visualization can also be carried out by observing or recalling day to activities performed commonly by individual. Incidents like students sitting in a classroom or students bunking School / College lectures will be a good way to attract School and College children. Also, showing local trains or railway platforms can be good way to grab attention of daily commuters.

Buying Motives

The prime duty of every advertisement is to persuade audience to know / buy / remember it's product. Hence, every advertisement is made with an aim of creating a reason in the minds of the audience to buy the product. In short, buying motives are the reasons created by an advertisement for the consumer to buy the product. Assume a salesman is approaching you who is selling water bottles. You may have a lot of bottles with you and may not be interested to buy one more. But when the salesman display variety of bottles, you may derive a desire to want it. This can be due to it's unique feature, color, handling, material, capacity, technology based, pricing, etc. This is what is done by an advertisement also. An ad shows information of a brand / product is such a way that it creates a buying motive (buying reason) for the audience. The consumers get an answer to their question of "Why should be buy your product?"

Many buyers have various reasons to buy a product. It can be out of love, feelings, desire, prestige, status, need, problem solving, fashion, 

Let's understand buying motives from various perspective:

1. Security: Security is an important motive when it comes to making buying decisions. When a product offers security to the consumers, it can become a buying a reason. Eg. insurance ads persuade minds to buy them for a financial security.

2. Love and Emotion: Creating a desire by way of love and emotions is a very popular way to persuade consumers to buy a product. Love exist between husband and wife, parents and children, siblings, friends, lovers, etc. which can be portrayed and a desire can be created among such audience. Eg. an act of Rakshabandhan can gear up emotions of brothers and sisters. 

3. Comfort and Convenience: Ads can create an impression in viewer's minds by showing the level of comfort or convenience their product can offer. Eg. advertisement of innerwear focuses on the level of comfort it gives to the user. Moreover, the product gets endorsed by a top level celebrity like Salman Khan or Akshay Kumar and becomes a hit like 'Rupa Frontlike - Ye Aaram ka Maamla Hai', 'Lux Cozy - Apna Luck Pehen ke Chalo'.

4. Luxury: Luxury is also a big reason why consumers prefer buying a product. Luxury benefits can attract rich audience when it comes to using it. Products like car, perfumes, watches, fashion products, airline tickets, house property, etc. Eg. 5 star apartment with an infinity pool can be luxury symbol for audience to buy because of the luxury. Many destination hotels and resorts adopt this approach as small families and couples prefer luxury stay.

5. Gain: Some advertisements focus exclusively on value benefits and monetary benefits of the product to the audience. Viewers who are aiming for gains tend to get attracted and end up buying. Research among youth says that people buy even when not required simply because of vale and monetary benefits like cash back and coupons. Eg. PayTM offers cash back and gift cards to users upon using the app for making online payments. This can trigger many users to install the app and make purchases.

6. Romance: Ads can also target the concept of romance as romance is filled with emotions. Such ads can trigger minds of lovers and couples and can motivate them to buy the products. Eg. dropping the moment of romance in a Coffee ad can stimulate many lovers to buy coffee.

7. Fear: Ads can also create a sense of fear in people's mind and make them buy the product. Products like insurance, cholesterol free oil, sugar free products, etc. create fear and awareness among the viewers. 

8. Health: Health is the area which is grabbing focus these days post COVID pandemic. Health and immunity oriented products tends to create a strong buying motive in people's mind and many people end up buying. Eg. Dabur Chyavanaprakash focuses on boosting immunity which can become a motive for many people to battle the problem of immunity.

9. Knowledge: Brands also focus on the creating knowledge on using it's product. Every parent is highly concerned about their child's education and this motive can be created easily. Knowledge is endless and everywhere you'll find knowledge seekers. What you are reading right now is also knowledge which is going to help you out at some or the other point of time. Eg. Whitehat Jr ads motivate parents to make their children learn coding as it got a wide scope in the future.

Advertising Appeal

An ad is more like an appeal made by the advertiser to the viewers to gain favorable attention and generate interest. A strong appeal helps an advertiser to influence the viewers towards customer building. Appeals mainly depend on advertiser's objectives and the nature of targeted viewers. 

In advertising, an appeal should be:

• Catchy

• Understandable

• Creative

• Believable

• Acceptable

• Action Oriented

• Appreciative

• Display consumer benefits

• Not controversial

• Not discriminate

• Not disrespect other brands

• Trendy

Following the various kinds of advertising appeals:

1. Emotional Appeal: Human beings are filled with emotions with respect to work, place, possession, people, relationships, situations and what not. When an advertisement relates their product to any of these areas, it resonates to the concerned viewer and creates positive feelings and attention. Example, an ad showing the love of a mother and her new born baby with a soothing music in the background. Check out these ads below that have appealed emotionally.

2. Logical Appeal: Generally, advertisements show data, facts, figures and statistics creating a rational presentation of information to the audience. Many viewers believe in what they see and hear. Such appeals focus on utility, value, features and benefits of the product. A good example can be an ad of a motorcycle focusing on mileage, comfort seating, rigid tyres, strong customer base, etc.

3. Musical Appeal: Appeals can be made with the help of strong background music or lyrics which can create a positive impact in the viewer's minds. Strong and pleasant music can be easily remembered and recalled by viewers and this creates a brand enhancement by improving it's image. Good ads who have adopted musical appeal are Washing powder Nirma, Airtel Hello Tune, etc. which flied very high in Indian markets.

4. Humor Appeal: Ads adopting humor approach generally create smile and laughter among the viewers, which automatically creates a positive attitude towards the brand. One definitely feels good being with someone who makes you laugh and smile. When humor is inserted in ads, it doesn't fail to grab viewer's attention. In fact, many viewers would watch the ad again considering the act of humor and this can help a brand to create top of mind awareness. 

5. Sexual Appeal: In sexual appeal, an advertisement tries to create thought of love, sex and romance in the minds of the viewers. When viewers are exposed to romantic or erotic content, they tend to develop feeling based thoughts and try to imagine themselves as the user. A good example can be an erotic perfume ad which drives women crazy. Now this appeal can make men use this perfume as who who not want women to fall for them! Some good examples of sexual ads are Axe perfumes, Durex Condoms, etc.

6. Price Appeal: India is a price sensitive market and you will find maximum economy buyers. Many ads concentrate on price factor (usually less than competitors) to attract viewers and make them take action. Most wanted products when offered at low price creates an instant reaction, which can be measured. A good example can be the strategy of Air Deccan which claimed to be a low cost air carrier in India and gained quick attention.

7. Fear Appeal: This appeal is useful to create an alert in the minds of the viewers. In fear appeal, negative outcomes are shown to the viewers for not using the product. When such ads are shown to conscious audience, they take the content pretty seriously and may end up buying out of fear. A good example can be cholesterol free oil for a healthy heart, sugar free sugar for controlling diabetes, showing an outcome of bad odour for not using body spray, etc. 

8. Bandwagon Appeal: In bandwagon appeal, the advertiser addresses the audience by using words like 'world's best' or 'India's No. 1' or 'people's choice' to make viewers believe that the product is a popular one. The message in a bandwagon appeal says buy this product because everybody does.   

9. Scientific Evidence Appeal: Such appeals make use of scientific laboratory tests or results of surveyed data to convince the viewers to buy the product. A good example can be a consumer product endorsed by a health expert quoting words like 'scientifically proven' or 'laboratory tested', etc. Such appeal builds trust among the viewers and play an important role in developing positive attitude.

Concept of Selling Point

"Selling point refers to a specific aspect or feature of a product or service that is highlighted and emphasized to attract potential customers and convince them to make a purchase. It's essentially a unique or compelling characteristic that sets a product or service apart from its competitors and creates a strong pursuance towards the customer. 

Selling points can vary depending on the nature of the product or service and the target audience. Some common types of selling points include:

1. Features and Benefits: These are the characteristics and advantages of a product that solve a customer's problem or fulfill a need. For example, Vivo advertisements focusing on high-resolution camera and front camera for selfie can be a selling point for people those who are looking out a mobile phone with an intention of doing photography.

2. Price: Offering a competitive or lower price compared to similar products can be a strong selling point for budget-conscious consumers. In many ads, products are promoted at lower than MRP rates in order to generate interest especially in price sensitive markets. For example, if tomatoes are Rs. 200/- per kilo in the open market but if Reliance Fresh is offering the same for Rs. 180/-, it becomes a strong selling point for Reliance Fresh covering the difference of Rs. 20/- which can be saved by customers, thereby enhancing sales.

3. Quality: Highlighting the superior quality, durability, or craftsmanship of a product can appeal to customers who value long-lasting items. An ad of Century Ply Club Prime endorsed by Pravin Gandhi, (Harshad Mehta from Scam 1993) promoting ply wood by vouching boiling waterproof, fire retardant, termite proof, original in nature, zero emission compliant, 30 years warranty can be a good example.  

4. Convenience: Products that make a customer's life easier or save them time can have convenience as a selling point. This could be seen in products like ready-to-eat meals or smart home devices. For example, Godrej Hair Dye stating "Katto, gholo, lagao" and ID Idli Wada Batter offering storing and cooking convenience. 

5. Innovation: Being at the forefront of technology or offering innovative features can attract early adopters and tech-savvy consumers. Example, Aqua Guard showing Universal, RO and UV technology and active copper ionic system in its advertisements showing innovation in solution, LG Front Load Washing Machine with DD Technology. 

6. Design: Aesthetic appeal and stylish design can be a selling point for products like fashion items, home decor, and consumer electronics. Good designs tend to create a strong appeal and has a high chance to pursue audience, especially out of fashion. Example, ads of Samsung, Kalyan Jewelers, Chennai Silks, Tanishq Jewelers, American Tourister Bags, 

7. Environmental Sustainability: Increasingly, consumers are drawn to products and services that have a positive impact on the environment. This can be a selling point for eco-friendly products.

8. Performance: If a product outperforms others in terms of speed, efficiency, or effectiveness, that can be a strong selling point.

9. Exclusivity: Limited availability or unique features can create a sense of exclusivity, making customers feel special and driving their desire to purchase.

10. Customer Reviews and Testimonials: Positive feedback from other customers can serve as a selling point, providing social proof and building trust.

Identifying and effectively promoting selling points is a crucial aspect of marketing. Businesses need to understand their target audience's preferences and needs to determine which features or benefits will resonate the most. By emphasizing these selling points in their marketing materials, businesses can create a strong value proposition that encourages customers to choose their product or service over alternatives.

Concept of USP

USP stands for Unique Selling Proposition. USP is a phenomenon which is widely used in advertising to throw light on the unique aspects of the product getting advertised. It is a kind of an appeal which focuses on that one essential point which makes the product different and better from others. It can be sensed that such unique points get well placed in viewer's mind and can create a long lasting recall value for the brand. 

USP is that marketing strategy which influences the advertising message, branding and other marketing actions which are sales driven. USP plays a great role highlighting the core strength of the product creating immense attraction for the masses. Such appeals create imagery slogans or content which hold deep and effective meaning. 

Let's understand some examples of USP based marketing:

1. Airtel, India's widest 4G network

2. Carlsberg, probably the best lager in the world

Endorsements

Endorsements is a kind of an advertising strategy which uses famous personalities or influencers to create a engagement with the audience in the market. Here, the required famous personality should hold strong recognition, trust, respect, dignity, love and awareness among the targeted audience. At a global level, several consumer goods, capital goods, services and ideas are endorsed by top class celebrities, sportsmen, models, politicians, cartoons, doctors, armymen, etc. who have a high recognition value in the society. It can also be seen that brands endorsed by such a representatives proves effective and create a lasting impression. 

Let's discuss various types of endorsers in advertising:

1. Professional Endorsements: Brands endorsed by people professionally associated to the nature of the product is professional endorsements. Example, a Dentist endorsing toothpaste, or a fashion designer endorsing fashion brands and accessories. Such professional endorsements generate a high trust level as they are backed by professionals who use / recommend it.  

2. Celebrity Endorsements: Brands endorsed by movie and television serial actors are celebrity endorsements. Example, a  body soap endorsed by Aishwariya Rai or chocolate bar endorsed by Aliya Bhatt or innerwear endorsed by Salman Khan. Celebrities in general have a high fan following. This enables the brand to develop a positive attitude among the viewers and make ads more appealing.

3. Sportsperson Endorsement: Brands endorsed by players involved in popular sport are sportsperson endorsements. Successful sportsperson hold a very positive image in the society, which helps them to engage with audience easily. Example, Boost endorsed by Indian cricketer Virat Kohli or Kellogg's Corn Flakes endorsed by Indian Badminton player Saina Nehwal.

4. Social Media Influencers: Many people gain followers and likes on social media platform for the kind of content they share and hence, they become influencers. Many people make review videos, product unboxing videos, product demonstration video, education content, dance videos, singing videos, etc. which attracts many followers. Taking an advantage of this, such content creators can also promote brands in a very effective manner. Example, a bike vlogger unboxing a helmet or tech vlogger showing specification of a newly launched mobile phone, or a dancer endorsing dance coaching and tutorials, etc. on various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.

5. Mascot Based Endorsements: Many brands create a unique character like representative for appealing the audience about the brand. Such mascot can be a cartoon character or an animated object which related to the brand and creates an effective engagement and recall value among the viewers. Example, Ronald representing McDonalds or Michelin Man representing Michelin Tyre or Mickey Mouse representing Walt Disney.

6. Testimony Based Endorsements: In such endorsements, product endorsement is done by satisfied users. Such users can speak about the benefit they have received after using the product, which stands more like a review for the audience. Example, group of ladies appreciating the glow in their skin after using Dive soap, or a housewife endorsing Tide for effective cleaning of clothes.

7. Endorsement by Word of Mouth: Endorsements can also happen by general public through power of tongue. A satisfied customer becomes a very strong marketing and referring material for a brand to gain more success in the market. This is the reason why we say customers are kings of the market.