Reflection: Copywriting for TV Commercials

Reflection: When you are doing copywriting for tv commercials, what are the important considerations you have learnt from your group's experience (3 points)?

Television is a great way to advertise, primarily because it incorporates both audio and visuals (moving visuals at that). One of the important considerations from our group exercise when writing for tv commercials is to have a strong opening. Most ads go unnoticed and its no different for tv commercials. To produce an ad that is successful, the first 5 seconds of the commercial has to be captivating and attention grabbing. This is because if the beginning of your ad doesn't interest viewers, it is likely that they would switch to another channel or not pay much attention to it. 

Another consideration would be to put emphasis on the product feature or benefit. This is because that is the main thing we would want viewers to remember and it would also be able to persuade consumers. Other than that, I've learned that it is wise to try and involve the viewers as well. for example, showing how the product can help them or captivate them with before and after pictures.

Lastly, showing the product and mentioning it several times is an important consideration. Not only does it give the viewers an idea on what it looks like, it would help them remember it easier. Repeating the brands name as well as showing the product visually would make it "stick" to viewers and help them recall it better. The overall idea of using repetition is to make the brand as memorable as possible. 

Most interesting TV commercials

GREY INC. - NX CINEMAS

The first TV commercial that i thought was quite interesting is Grey inc.'s commercial for NX cinemas. They used an offbeat way of showing the product while carrying a narrative throughout the commercial. It starts with a lady walking to the cinema hall and then looks closer at a movie poster when she hears a knock. When she does that however, the visuals seem to look so real that she screamed and ran to the cinema. Inside, its depicted that she continues being scared because of the quality of NX cinemas and how their visuals seem life like.

The selling proposition was definitely there as well was had a relation to consumers and what they would like. Grey inc.'s commercial was also interesting from the beginning. Audiences would be wondering what the commercial was going to be about and why the lady looked closer to the poster. All in all it was a solid idea with decent execution that made the commercial interesting.

G6 - RHYTHMIX

G6's commercial started off with one friend calling another asking who he was walking with after he had saw him with a girl. After finding out that it was his friend's new girlfriend, he starts to ask how he got one so fast. The friend continues to explain how the app "rhythmis" helped him "meet new people" through the sharing of his music. The commercial itself was particularly interesting because it has a continuous storyline and narrative to it. Other than that, it was a smart move that the commercial also used demonstrations as it was briefly shown how the app worked.

The Reflection

Why are Appeals Necessary for Ads

Advertising has always been about persuading, encouraging and in some ways manipulating viewers to believe in something, whether its a product a company is trying to sell or a social issue that non governmental organizations are trying to create awareness for.

Appeals are used in advertising mainly because we want the ad to speak to audiences on a deeper level. Being exposed to the ad is one thing, but to ensure audiences remember the ad and actually have a connection with it is another. This is where appeals come in, because an ad has to firstly be "appealing" to people before anything else, if it wants to make an impact on its audience.

We can say that appeal is the approach to attract a persons attention and to influence his/her feeling or perception towards a product/brand. These are also necessary for ads because there are basic human appeals that motivate us in our daily lives, for example, hunger, love, sex, etc. Therefore using appeals in advertising may motivate viewers to gravitate to your particular ad/product because it forms a connection through these appeals that are present in ads.

Rational Vs Emotional Appeals

Using rational appeals in advertising would be the same as to use rational logic in ads to try and persuade audiences into believing the message you're sending them. This means using statistics or facts to make the ad appealing to viewers. Examples of this would be listing product benefits or showing proof to convince viewers about your product. 

Samsung and iPhone 5 Print Ads

Emotional appeals on the other hand argues that effective advertising connects to people on a less obvious level. It relies more on the writing and graphic elements of the ad to speak to consumers through a subconscious language. Many believe that for an ad to work well and make a big impact, it needs to connect with audiences on a deeper level, and play with the emotions, where in-turn will form a bond between viewers and product. 

Cordaid Print Ad

It has been argued that rational appeal is the better one of the two because it clearly states the benefits of the product (as seen in the Samsung/iPhone ad) but no one can deny the strength that emotional appeal and connection can have on consumers and their subconscious mind. In conclusion advertisers can and have achieved success with both rational and emotional appeals, the trick here is to find the balance between the two and to also know which one is better suited for your product/service/brand.

Types of Ad Appeals (continuation)

Advertising Appeals 2.0

Volvo's Print Ad

  

Its pretty clear as to what appeal is used in this Volvo print ad, where it displays the cars hand break in focus with the tag line "we're just as excited as you". There is a clear sexual reference here when you merge the two elements of the ad together where sex appeal is clearly the basis of the overall idea.

Types of Ad Appeals

Advertising Appeals 1.0

To get the public to remember an ad or even pay attention to it, the ad must firstly be appealing. In advertising, there are several ad appeals that are used as the basis of the big idea for the advertising campaign. Whether its sex, fear or egotism, these appeals are used to attract people's attention and to influence their feeling and perception towards a product/brand.

  

WWF Print Ad

The ad appeal used in this particular print ad by WWF is the appeal of fear. Fear appeals focus on the negative outcomes that can happen from the lack of using a particular product or the continuation of a bad habit. Advertisers usually use fear appeals in ads where the objective is to change a negative behavior, for example, smoking or drunk driving.

In the WWF ad, it displays a man with a deformed face with the tagline "Stop climate change before it changes you". The appeal of the ad instills fear that if we do not do something about the  rapid change in climate, we (humans) may face dire consequences.