Organizing Your Message

Some commonsense rules apply to the use of persuasion in advertising. First of all, people are more easily persuaded when they are primed or prepared for a message. You wouldn't run an airline commercial during a TV movie about a plane crash, or place an ad for men's suits in a kids' educational magazine. The airline commercial would go well with a travel show, though, and the suit ad would fit nicely in a finance magazine.

tip

Ads for broad audiences require a more conventional design approach than targeted ones. Viewers outside your target audience must still be able to understand the message and gain a positive impression of the product.

If the ad is placed where there is no priming available (like a billboard or the side of a bus), the ad must be a bit more conservative and also clearer because the audience is not narrowed in any way.

Second, a well-organized message is infinitely more persuasive than an unorganized one. The message and audience must be clearly identified. The most effective ads follow a standard formula, "AIDA":

A = (attract) attention

I = (hold) interest

D = (arouse) desire

A = (motivate toward) action

The last step of AIDA is arguably the most important. The ad must make the viewer want to perform an action suggested by the ad. To persuade a consumer, an ad must not merely promise a benefit, but also spell it out, amplify it, and make it obvious which action (usually "buy the product") must be taken.

Figure 8.10. With illustrations and colors that suggest the offerings of the advertised farmers' market, and details on how to get there, this design presents an organized message that compels viewers to visit.

A designer can use many approaches to accomplish this. These include identification, the appeal that if others are doing it, you should too ("4 out of 5 bakers choose brand x sugar"); a factual approach ("kills 99 percent of bacteria"); and an appeal to ethics or values ("less harmful to the environment"). Ads can also take imaginative or emotional tacksor combine two or more approaches to develop the total concept. Visually speaking, photos tend to get more response than illustrations; and before/after photos, though overdone, are good persuaders.

note

Photos of people (especially those who resemble members of your target audience) get the most attention. It's like making eye contact with your audience and can be very convincing and memorable.