| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

Advertisement

Page history last edited by PBworks 14 years, 7 months ago

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Definition

 

  • A commercial solicitation in a publication designed to sell some commodity, service or similar.
  • A publication produced in order to sell some commodity, service or similar.

 

http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/advertisement.html

 

 

Purpose

 

  • to persuade the audience to buy a product, use a service of attend an event
  • change public behaviour, e.g. “Don’t drive if you drink”

 

http://www.wsd1.org/PC_EnglishLA/Writing%20Folders2.pdf

 

Intended audience

 

  • depends on what the focus of the advertisement is about

    e.g. shampoo advertisement targets at everyone because shampoo is a necessity, shaving foam advertisement intended for men, education fair advertisements target at students and parents

 

Features

 

  • uses brevity, such as short phrases, keywords
  • bold text
  • images
  • big headings
  • colourful
  • if spoken, keywords are usually stressed to attract audience

 

Where to find them

 

  • magazines
  • newspapers
  • on television
  • radio
  • the Internet

 

What makes a successful advertisement

 

Successful advertisements follow the AIDA Theory:

 

Attention – catch public attention, e.g. catchy slogans

Interest – appeal to public’s emotions, weaknesses, problems in order to sustain their interest

Desire – stimulate public’s wants

Attraction – inviting public to take action, e.g. contact numbers, internet address of advertising company

 

http://www.wettropics.gov.au/st/rainforest_explorer/Resources/Documents/8to9/HowTo/Advertisement.pdf

 

Creating a good advertisement

 

Besides applying the AIDA Theory, some other things that make a good advertisement are:

 

  • using present tense to create a sense of urgency/immediate action required
  • using emotive language
  • using imperative verbs, such as “hurry”, “act now”
  • using images

http://www.wettropics.gov.au/st/rainforest_explorer/Resources/Documents/8to9/HowTo/Advertisement.pdf

 

Questions to consider when creating an advertisement:

 

  • How important is the headline?
  • What kinds of rewards do good headlines promise?
  • How many words should a headline contain?
  • What do people want?
  • How do you select your copy appeal?
  • What is the missing ingredient in many an otherwise good ad?
  • How do you present your facts?
  • How do you persuade people to grasp the advantages?
  • How do you ask for action?
  • How long should copy be?
  • What factors influence the effectiveness of an ad?
  • How do you get more inquiries? 

 

http://www.twipress.com/productpages/HowToWriteGood.htm

 

Example

 

An advocacy ad on “Save the Internet”

 

Link: http://www.dontregulate.org/

 

Why it is a good one:

 

Attention

 

  • Main idea brought out in the beginning “Save the Internet”
  • Key phrases “SAVE the Internet!” “Keep the Internet FREE!” let audience know what the advertisement is about
  • Simple images of how the Internet has developed “dialupàbroadbandàwifiàoptic fibres” = attractive, makes it easy for public to remember

Interest

  • The narrative voice in the advertisement states the current situation of the Internet, thus developing a close relationship with the audience. It leaves audience the impression that the advertisers are concerned about the welfare of the public.
  • Appeals to public’s emotions because the public will not want to be the victims of “net neutrality”, e.g “they’re (big corporations) gonna make billions, but they don’t wanna pay anything. Instead they wanna stick consumers with the whole bill”
  • There are pauses in between to show different sections of the advertisement and allows time for audience to think about what they just saw, e.g. just before “Is the Internet in danger?”
  • Even though cartoons used are simple and the advertisement does not use much colour, but the action involved is entertaining enough to make up for the loss. The grey colours suggest an unbiased nature of the advertisement, therefore is easier to persuade audience.

 

Desire

 

  • It talks about how building a more sophisticated network in the future will be a tough job and cost a lot of money, but big companies are not willing to pay for the bills and want the consumers to do it instead. This creates the desire of the audience to oppose to the idea of “net neutrality” and to reject the development of the network.

 

e.g. “They’re (big corporations) gonna make billions, but they don’t wanna pay anything. Instead they wanna stick consumers with the whole bill. And they call their plan ‘net neutrality’? ”

 

Attraction

 

  • States what the congress will be about to do at the end of the advertisement and tells audience to make up their own mind. The advertisement also leaves a link for audience to follow up if interested:

 

e.g. "Congress is about to vote/Make up your own mind/ It’s about the freedom of the Internet/ www.handsoff.org

 

 

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.