Some Features of advertising messages The most important are that they are persuasive, brief, with a variable and impactful format.
Advertising is a means of mass communication in which a relationship is established between the producing company and the consumer.
In this vein, advertising is a marketing tool used to promote products and services to make them better known among consumers.
This means that advertising seeks to attract and convince viewers to acquire a certain element.
Due to the importance of advertising in the process of buying and selling, many have expressed that this is the soul and the motor of the economy . In this regard, Leo Boggart (1990) points out that advertising is a powerful economic force in any industrial society.
Boggart also indicates that the influence of advertising messages extends beyond the limits of the economy, since they also influence the culture, values and quality of life of human beings. In this regard, Blaise Cendrars states that advertising is a form of modern artistic expression.
Advertising messages are transmitted through various media, visual (such as newspapers, magazines and billboards), audio (such as radio) and audiovisual (such as television).
Main features of advertising media
1- Persuasive
The main characteristic of advertising is that it must be persuasive. This is in order to effectively promote a product or service.
To be persuasive, advertising uses the use of the conative language function. This language function is oriented towards the recipient and seeks to provoke a reaction on the part of the recipient.
Conative messages are usually in one of three formats:
- Mandatory phrases: Think different (slogan of Apple, the American multinational). Remove the tiger that is in you (Kelloggs Zucaritas).
- Exhortative: Let's go, let's go, let's do it.
- Vocatives: I ask you, my dear, accept this gift.
In advertising, the first form, the imperative, is used above all else.
2- Brief
Advertising should be brief so it does not bore the viewer. This feature only applies when advertising is transmitted by audiovisual means.
This is why most commercials on television do not exceed two minutes.
3- Repetition
In order to be efficient, advertising must be repetitive. Repetition causes the message to enter consumers' minds unconsciously.
In addition, repetition increases the chances that advertising reaches more consumers.
4- Creative
Advertising uses creative elements that attract the attention of consumers, such as sticky phrases (such as slogans), Metaphors , Comparisons, songs, among others.
5- Impersonal
Advertising messages are not usually addressed to any specific group, but are intended for any consumer.
This impersonal character makes it possible for anyone to identify with the advertised product, thus increasing the range of the message.
6- Shocking
In addition to the creative nature, advertising must create an impact on the viewer.
7- Variable format
The advertising messages can be presented in different formats, being the most common the audiovisual, transmitted through television and radio.
However, there are hundreds of ways to advertise. Magazines and newspapers have sections devoted to advertising.
At present, other formats have been popularized, such as advertisements on buses, on banks of plazas or parks, on balloons, on the streets, in the body (body-art), among others.
8- Media
Advertising is a means of communication that works as follows:
- The producing company is the issuer.
- The product is the message (advertising message, in this case).
- The consumer is the receiver.
- The medium is audiovisual (in the case of television), visual (in the case of magazines, billboards, balloons) and auditory (in the case of radio).
- The language is conative.
This is a unidirectional mode of communication, because the receiver can not establish contact with the production company when viewing the advertising.
9- Art
According to Blaise Cendrars, advertising messages are one of the contemporary forms of artistic expression, the most innovative of all because it is reinvented daily and adapts to any product.
"They have once thought how sad the streets, squares, stations, meters, dance halls, cinemas... without the innumerable manifestations, without the windows, without the luminous announcements. Yes, advertising is actually the most beautiful expression of our time."
10 - Method of action in the consumer, taken from"Successful Advertising"of Thomas Smith (1885), British merchant
The first time an individual sees an advertisement, he does not see it.
The second time, I did not notice it.
The third time, he is aware of the existence of advertising.
The fourth time, remember that you have already seen it.
The fifth time, he reads it.
The sixth time, he looks from top to bottom.
The seventh time, he reads complete and says to himself,"What do I care?"
The eighth time, he says"and here is this unbearable thing again."
The ninth time, he wonders what it means.
The tenth time, he asks the neighbor if he has tried the product.
The eleventh time, he wonders how the sponsor makes the product profitable.
Twelfth time, he thinks the product could be of some use.
The thirteenth time, he thinks the product must be good.
The fourteenth time, it is said that he had long wanted to buy something like that.
The fifteenth time, he is tempted to buy it, but he does not have the money to do it.
The seventeenth time, he tells himself that someday he will buy it.
The seventeenth time, he notes that he will eventually buy the product.
The eighteenth time, it is said"how bad I do not have money".
The fifteenth time, count the money carefully.
The twentieth time, buy the product or tell your partner to buy it.
References
- Advertising: Its definitions, characteristics and objectives. Retrieved on July 23, 2017, from yourarticlelibrary.com
- Characteristics of effective advertising. Retrieved on July 23, 2017, from pradipgharpure.wordpress.com
- 12 Characteristics of an Effective or Persuasive Advertising. Retrieved on July 23, 2017, from insightmrktg.com
- Characteristics of an effective or persuasive advertisement. Retrieved on July 23, 2017, from smallbusiness.chron.com
- Characteristics of an advertising professional. Retrieved on July 23, 2017 from advertisingcrossing.com
- Farrall (2001). A comparative analysis of advertising characteristics. Retrieved on July 23, 2017, from tandfonline.com
- Egan (2007). Marketing Communication. Retrieved July 23, 2017, from books.google.com.