Advertising, copywriting, creativity, do you really understand it?

What an advertising expert thinks about advertising, copywriting, creative and sales:

1 Hank Seiden, Hicks & Greist, New York Vice President

According to my own definition, the purpose of a print or television ad is not to entertain the public, but to try to persuade the right consumers to accept your product or service, and to convince those who would otherwise use a competitor's product or Don't hug those who serve. This is the most basic, or the most important goal that should be achieved.

To do this, you must promise that consumers can get all the benefits from you that they cannot get from current products or services, and you must focus all your efforts on satisfying these needs that are enough for consumers. on the demand for steering.

2 Alvin Eicoff, Chairman of A. Eicoff & Company

Over the years, some advertising agencies have made the mistake of ignoring reality. They emphasize appearance but ignore the essence of sales. The result is that too many print ads and TV ads look like third-rate vaudeville, painstakingly trying to attract the audience's attention with corny jokes, songs and dances.

Back to the basics, the specialty of advertising is to research the product, find out the uniqueness of the product, and then present its uniqueness appropriately. Only in this way will consumers be willing to buy the product. power.

3 Keith Monk, Senior Director of Nestlé Group Headquarters

The global advertising industry has received a lot of criticism, but what surprises us is that people are not criticizing the advertising itself. , but some advertising works. The main purpose of these works is to enhance the creative director's personal qualifications, or just to create beautiful pictures that are comparable to movies.

Perhaps the most important rule of thumb for any creative in any country is to realize that there are housewives, not ad agencies, creative directors, art directors or copywriters in the world These people exist. What's more, even if they knew, they didn't care; they were interested in the product, not the creative director.

4 Howard Shaye, Vice President of Burson-Marsteller

Of course, I never thought that creativity contributed much to an advertising agency. The more business magazines I read, the more convinced I became that advertising failures often come from too much creativity—creative techniques that seek to attract attention but fail to communicate with a specific audience; or, worse still, that fail to communicate with a specific audience. It is only used by advertisers for self-satisfaction.

5 Louis Kornfield, Chairman of 3C chain RadioShack

If your advertising copy directly asks consumers to buy, list the price and purchase location, and include the word "immediately" words, then this kind of advertising is forced-sales advertising, and it should be the most preferred advertising method. The ads that look the most aesthetically pleasing are often the ones with the least measurable effectiveness and the least sales potential.

6 Robert Snowdale, "Why TV Ads Don't Work" (published in Advertising Age)

Advertisements that try too hard to be funny usually turn off consumers. But currently there are many advertising companies that are popular with this approach. This raises a question in my mind: "Why do they create these idiotic characters who play tricks for 30 seconds or more, and who only mention the product name once or twice from beginning to end?"

Are they afraid to just show off their products and then explain why viewers should buy their products instead of similar products from their competitors? One of the stupidest mistakes advertisers make is to have characters explaining product features while having music playing in the background, often to the tune of deafening rock music. Often the music drowns out the human voice so that the ad is not as effective as it should be. More and more people rely on print ads to receive information and help them decide which products to buy; TV ads that emphasize entertainment are simply ineffective.

7 Richard Kirshenbaum, co-chairman of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners

Humorous advertising is difficult to deal with because you have to Create a connection between the product itself and the benefits it brings. Consumers often remember funny ads but not the products advertised.

8 Ted Nicholas, "How to Make Money from Writing" (published by Nicholas Direct Marketing Company in 2004)

Direct marketing is the only way to objectively measure Of the most effective forms of advertising, only direct marketing allows you to track where every sale comes from and where all the costs go. Large companies using traditional advertising can't tell which ads really move consumers, but if you use direct marketing, you can clearly see which ads are actually effective.

9 Eugene Schwartz, "Innovative Advertising" (published by Burden Press in 2004)

Copywriting cannot create the desire to buy goods, it can only evoke the desire that already exists in the world. The hopes, dreams, fears, or desires of millions of people, and then directing these “already existing desires” toward specific commodities. That’s the job of a copywriter: not to create desire, but to direct desire where you want it.

10 Claude Hopkins, "Scientific Advertising" (Published by Bell Publishing House, 1960)

Advertising is not used to entertain the public. If advertising becomes entertainment, it will attract people who want to be entertained, not the consumers you expect. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in advertising: the copywriter abandons his or her job. They forget that they are salespeople and act like entertainers instead; they expect to hear applause but are not pursuing sales.

11 Bruce Barton, co-founder of Huanghe International Advertising Company

If copywriters can create advertisements that encourage consumers to open their wallets, they must respect consumption The buyer's judgment ability and his sincere belief in the value of the product.

12 David Ogilvy, "Confessions of an Advertising Man" (published by Athena Publishing House in 1963)

Good advertising can sell goods while avoiding To demonstrate its own existence, it should keep consumers’ attention firmly on the product. Cleverly concealing operating techniques is the professional responsibility of advertising agencies.

13 James Wood, Advertising Age

The "literariness" of advertising is not the measure of its achievement. Beautiful rhetoric does not necessarily mean excellent promotional copywriting; other features such as being unconventional, citing scriptures, original imagination, or rhyming and being easy to remember are not essential elements for successful copywriting.

14 Eleanor Pearce, Print Magazine

I have a clear sense that advertisers are overly tolerant of flashy copywriting and put all their efforts into crafting cleverly worded sentences. Instead of trying to get sales.