Understanding Advertising - Strategies and Persuasive Language

Advertising Strategies and Persuasive Language
Campaigns

Companies often employ a range of advertising forms to sell their products. A series of adverts focusing on the same product or range of products, often including different forms of ad are known as 'campaigns'. Companies and advertisers will use combinations of leaflets, insert, display ads, radio and tv ads, billboards, endorsements and internet strategies to increase the exposure of their product, service or idea.

Equally, narrative becomes a key part of advertising for larger companies. You may have noticed that the ads for alcohol, Stella Artois for instance, change regularly and you often find yourself wanting to know what happen next to the characters /animals in the ads. Mini cliffhangers are integrated to keep your attention. Sometimes, you will see the first part of a tv ad at the beginning of a commercial break and the second or final part just before the programme resumes. This is a technique often used with tv and satellite films.
Product Endorsement

An 'endorsement' is where a company pays a celebrity to associate themselves with a product in the media. They may be paid to wear an item of clothing or accessory, visit a particular club or use a particular service. They may be photographed with the product to add value to it.

The idea is that the audience identifies with the celebrity at some level, as an aspirational figure - cool, attractive, etc. and part of that persona is made up of clothing, costume, lifestyle choices, accessories. If the celebrity is wearing a Diesel t-shirt and they look good, the audience will be more inclined to want one for themselves.

This, in the eyes of the company desiring to sell the Diesel t-shirt, may increase the product's exposure to the target audience and increase sales. In short, companies use advertising to get a message across - usually with the objective of making a sale and increasing their market position and profit figures.

 

Product Placement in Films / TV

This is where producers of films and tv programmes incorporate branded products into their narrative and mise-en-scene.


In effect, the products the company wants advertising are 'placed' in the film or programme so they are visible to the viewer or audience.

Repetition and Frequency

This is a fairly basic idea. People remember things more easily when they encounter them more often. Advertisers know this so they repeat key words, brand names and persuasive adjectives to embed a product, service or idea in the mind of the audience which is advantageous to them making a sale.

Frequency refers to repetition too but also brings in the idea that something can be repeated across a range of adverts and media forms. Advertisers don't just have to repeat the same word in a single advert any more.

Persuasive Language & Catchy Music / Sounds

When you were learning how to write to argue, persuasive and advise and to detect these skills in the writing of other authors - you were getting a great introduction to Media Studies.

Adverts use the same techniques to grab and hold our attention. These include: positive and negative adjectives to make a product seem more attractive and a competitor's product less desirable. This is often done through comparing and contrasting. Political parties use this technique all the time.

Rule of 3... How often have you heard the virtues of something repeated with slightly different words three times? This is because we remember it better (due to repetition and frequency).

In tv and radio advertising, but mostly in radio, you will hear a catchy tune perhaps even accompanied by a slogan when a product or service is being advertised. This is called a 'jingle'.