What Makes Some Ads So Powerful

guide for new marketers. by Derek D. Rucker and Tim Calkins

Marketing is a fast-growing and fast-paced career option. With new technological

advancements happening every day - better customer segmentation abilities, automation
tools, new social media platforms marketers have the opportunity to share their ideas more
widely and expand their audiences, perhaps more than ever.

Even so, the foundation of these innovations intersects around a critical element;
advertisements. No matter what tools you're using to optimize your approach, producing and
publishing ads across media platforms will likely be a part of your job. Early on in your
marketing career, you probably won't be responsible for an entire ad, but you will be a part
of a team that creates them. As such, it's important to understand what advertisements are
able - and unable -- to accomplish.

As a new marketer, it can be tempting to focus on ideating advertisements that are extra eye-
catching and creative, hoping to capture the eyes, hearts, and minds of your customers.
However, focusing too much on these elements can lead to poor marketing choices. You need
to consider what your audience actually wants and how your ad can speak to that in a distinct
and memorable way.

As professors of marketing, we leverage research from behavioral science to instruct students

and practitioners on the best ways to overcome common marketing mishaps. One such
approach is a framework called ADPLAN, an approach originally developed by Kellogg
faculty members Brian Sternthal and Derek Rucker to help future and present marketing
leaders craft effective messaging. You can use this tool to evaluate and develop
advertisements that will resonate with your intended audience.

The ADPLAN Framework

The framework identifies six factors of an advertisement, based on cognitive psychology,

social psychology, marketing, and behavioral science, that can influence consumers'
perceptions and behaviors. At its core, it encourages more elaboration, thinking, and
discussion around creative work. Let's take a look at each one of these elements.

Attention: Will this piece of communication attract interest?

This first area refers to whether your creative work will stand out. Intuitive as it is, attention
is an important criterion, and sometimes even the most innovative ideas just don't break
through the clutter. Think about how many times you turn away from a television ad, click
the close button on a web pop-up, or turn down the volume when an ad interrupts your music
playlist. When that happens, it can be a clear call for stronger and better advertising,
Evaluating attention requires considering how consumers will respond to your ad. When
thinking about an idea, ask yourself: Is there something interesting that will cause people to
stop and notice it? Could the inclusion of a celebrity, a viral song, or a bold analogy make
the difference? Attracting attention early is particularly important, so people don't opt out.

As an example, consider the Super Bowl. It's home to the world's most expensive advertising
- with a 30-second spot costing upwards of $7 milion dollars. It's also home to pieces of
creative work that excel at capturing attention. For example, CeraVe was able to use their ad
to capture the attention of millions by playing off of the use of Michael Cera as a
spokesperson that called attention to the similarity between the brand and his name.

Distinction: ls the ad unique?

In many categories, advertising can often blur together as if it was all cut from the same
cloth. Car ads, for instance, often feature shots of the vehicle and scenes driving along a
mountain road. In these cases, it's difficult for consumers to differentiate your ad from your
competition.

By contrast, consider a brand like Apple. It's doubtful that you have ever mistaken an Apple
ad for an IBM ad. For example, Apple's classic 1984 cast the brand as the hero against a
dystopian future that was fundamentally set to change how people thought about their
choices.

Great advertising sets a brand apart -- not only from competitors within the same industry,
but outside of it, too. To effectively eval uate distinction, you first have to know what the
competition is doing, not just what your brand is doing. Then, understand what aligns with
your product or service, and above all brand voice and image,to ensure that while your
creative is distinct, it's in line with your branding.

For example, Tide ran a Super Bowl ad that featured a stain that talked during the middle of a
job interview. How many times have you seen a talking stain? Tide wants their brand to be
synonymous with stains, and by using talking stain, they created a rather unique way of
associating themselves with the category. This creative device allowed the commercial to
stand out from the pack.-For a similar reason,- 0ld Spice typically ends their commercials
with a distinct whistle -it's an auditory cue that tells you who the ad belongs to. Old Spice
also uses the color red, which is a core aspect of its product packaging.

Positioning: Does the brand benefit come through?

If you ever looked at a product and said, "I don't believe it's that good, often the problem is
not the message, it's that you don't believe the message. Effective pieces of advertising often
do more than entertain; they help position the brand's benefit to the target consumer and
convince them of that benefit. For brand leaders, that means being clear on the value the
product offers, as well as clarifying why people should trust the product will deliver the
benefit.

Positioning questions should be at the heart of your strategy discussions as it is strongly

related to being able to narrow your target audience. Trying to reach everyone isn't going to
lead to an impactful effort because people are different and the benefit a product offers may
apply to a very specific group. Consequently, generic messages - a message that states a
product is made for everyone - rarely work.

Google's acclaimed Super Bowl ad Parisian Love reflected a clear positioning: Google is the
technology tool that helps people live a better life because it allows people to search and find
answers for a wide range of areas critical to their needs. For example, the ad showcased how
Google could empower all aspects of one's life from learning how to speak a language,
impressing a romantic partner, traveling, to assembling a crib. In contrast, Blackberry's Super
Bowl ad failed to state a clear positioning; the ad only demonstrated things the device
couldn't do.

Linkage: Will people remember and associate this advertising to your brand?

Linkage forces you to answer the question: Will people 'ultimately remember our brand and
its benefit? All too often, when we show our students advertising executions and ask, "What
was it for?" they struggle to remember. It's not because they were distracted or texting on
their phones, but because the advertising failed to get across such a simple point to the
consumer.

In an attempt to be more creative, some marketers accidentally focus their ad on the wrong
thing -- like a featured celebrity. You might remember the celebrity in the ad but may not
recall the brand or the positioning. The result may be entertaining, but not memorable.

In assessing linkage, ask yourself, ""Is the ad really about the product?" If the focal message
of the ad isn't really about your brand, then consumers may fail to remember you at all.
Electronic Data Systems (EDS) ran a famous Super Bowl spot featuring cat herders. The ad
was really about cat herders, and this is often what people remember when we have shared
the advertisement in our classes. They don't connect it to EDS, failing to remember the brand
or the benefit, mainly due to poor linkage.

Second, consider when your brand shows up in the execution. Late branding -or waiting to
reveal the product until later in the ad-- isn't always bad, but it shows up late, ask yourself
what you can do to make consumers remember it.

Amplification: What will people take away from the message?

When you step back from a particular piece of creative, ask yourself: Willpeople walk away
feeling better or worse about your brand? Unlike the positioning, which focuses on the
benefit, amplification is about whether the consumer has positive or negative thoughts about
the advertisement. Amplification is critically important; you want people to be left with
something that is positive and connected to your business.

Negative amplification can be a major problem. For example, Go Daddy ran, a Super BOWl
spot that featured model Bar Rafaeli kissing an individual represented as an awkward geek.
The intended positioning was to highlight the two sides of Go Daddy: the smart side and the
sexy side. Unfortunately, every time we have discussed this ad, people often focus on the
awkward, cringy kiss, and we often have to explain the message to them. Having to sit down
and explain the intended message is often a bad sign.

Positive amplification is powerful. It can mean people like the ad, like the message, and like
your brand. Indeed, after advertisements air one's that are positively received might be
trumpeted by influences and consumers in online discussion boards. This is true, for example,
of the CeraVe advertisement mentioned earlier in this article.

Net equity: Is this creative consistent with my brand?

Over time, brands develop meaning, and consumers associate them with certain
characteristics. Doritos, for example, has a very strong association with being crunchy,
craveable, and.cheesy, and has continued to leverage this effectively in their advertising,
Similarly, Jeep consistently taps into its history as a rugged vehicle with military roots. Great
advertising embraces these kinds of associations.

One of the tasks of your, as a marketer, whether you are a brand manager or an entrepreneur,
is to ask yourself if your ad campaign resonates with and reinforces the equity you have
already built. For example, if your brand is strongly associated with a particular color (e.g.,
red), emotion (e.g., confidence), or an identity (e.g., aspirational) ask if the creative work
you're doing reinforces or dilutes these associations. A common mistake we see brands make
is relying on a shiny or funny celebrity to deliver their message without implementing the
characteristics of the brand that people expect to see. This may undermine or erode what a
brand stands for.

Using the Framework

The ADPLAN framework highlights several strategic questions you should be asking and
answering in your new role, It can help move you away from personal preference and
towards creative work that resonates with your consumers.

Consider these six questions when reviewing each piece of creative. You can even conduct
experimental analysis to test your assessment against the response of your target audience.

While it's easy to say in hindsight that the winners are creative, it's not true that losers are not.
And herein lies the truth of the matter: Great advertising is more than exceptional creativity;
it requires strategic foresight to understand how to communicate your message in a way that
blends strategic with creative thinking. Creativity follows only after the strategy is clear.