This chapter discusses different types of copywriting for advertising. It covers writing for print, radio, television, and the web. For each medium, it outlines key elements to focus on such as headlines, body copy, scripts, and storyboards. It emphasizes keeping messages simple, focused, and memorable within the constraints of each format. The chapter also briefly touches on global copywriting and translating advertising appeals effectively across cultures.

1. Copywriting
Part 4: Effective Advertising Messages
Chapter 13

2. 13 - 2
Chapter Outline
I. Chapter Key Points
II. Copywriting: The Language of Advertising
III. Copywriting for Print
IV. How to Write Radio Copy
V. How to Write Television Copy
VI. Writing for the Web
VII. Copywriting in a Global Environment

3. 13 - 3
Key Points
• Explain the basic style used for advertising
copy
• Describe the various elements of a print ad
• Explain the message characteristics and tools
of radio advertising
• Discuss the major elements of television
commercials
• Discuss how Web advertising is written

4. 13 - 4
Copywriting:
The Language of Advertising
• Four types of ads in which words are crucial
1. If the message is complicated
2. If the ad is for a high-involvement product
3. Information that needs definition and explanation
4. If a message tries to convey abstract qualities
• Copywriter
– The person who shapes and sculpts the words in
an ad

5. 13 - 5
Advertising Writing Style
• Copy should be as
simple as possible
• Should have a clear
focus and try to convey
only one selling point
• Every word counts;
space and time are
expensive
Practical Tips
• Be succinct
• Be single-minded
• Be specific
• Get personal
• Keep a single focus
• Be controversial
• Be original
• Use variety
• Use imaginative
description

6. 13 - 6
Advertising Writing Style
• Tone of voice
– To develop the right tone of voice, copywriters write to the
target audience as if they were in a conversation
• Grammar
– Copywriters must know the rules of grammar, syntax, and
spelling, though they will play with a word or phrase to
create an effect
• Adese
– Formulaic advertising copy
– Brag-and-boast copy

7. 13 - 7
Copywriting for Print
• Display copy
– Elements readers see in
their initial scanning
• Body copy
– Elements that are
designed to be read and
absorbed
The Headline
• Key element in print
advertising
• Conveys the main
message
• Works with the visual to
get attention and
communicate creative
concept

8. 13 - 8
How to Write Headlines
• A good headline will
attract those who are
prospects
• The headline must work
in combination with the
visual to stop and grab
the reader’s attention
• The headline must
identify the product and
brand, and start the sale
• The headline should
lead readers into the
body copy
– Direct-action headlines
– Indirect-action headlines

9. 13 - 9
How to Write Other Display Copy
• Captions
– Have the second-highest readership and serve an
information function
• Subheads
– Sectional headlines used to break up a large block
of copy
• Taglines
– Short, catchy, memorable phrases used at the end
of an ad to complete the creative idea

10. 13 - 10
How to Write Other Display Copy
• Slogans
– Repeated from ad to ad
as part of a campaign or
long-term brand identity
effort
– Can also be used as
taglines
Slogan Techniques
• Direct address
• A startling or
unexpected phrase
• Rhyme, rhythm,
alliteration
• Parallel construction
• Cue for the product
• Music

11. 13 - 11
How to Write Body Copy
• Body copy
– The text of the ad
– Primary role is to maintain the interest of the reader
• Lead paragraph
– The first paragraph of the body copy
– Where people test the message and see if they want to read
it
• Closing paragraph
– Refers back to the creative concept and wraps up the Big
Idea
– Call to action

12. 13 - 12
Print Media Requirements
• All media in the print
category all use the
same copy elements
• The way these elements
are used varies with the
objective for using the
medium
Newspapers
• Copy does not have to
work as hard to catch
audience’s attention
• Straightforward and
informative
• Writing is brief

13. 13 - 13
Print Media Requirements
Magazines
• Better quality ad
production
• Ads can be more
informative and carry
longer copy
Directories
• Use a headline that
focuses on the service or
store’s personality
• Little space for
explanations

14. 13 - 14
Print Media Requirements
Posters and Outdoor
• Primarily visual
• Words try to catch the
consumer’s attention
and lock in ideas
• An effective poster
marries words with
visuals
Product Literature
• Also called collateral
• Used in support of an ad
campaign
• Typically a heavy copy
format

15. 13 - 15
How to Write Radio Copy
• Must be simple enough for consumers to
grasp, but intriguing enough to prevent them
from switching the station
• Ability of the listener to remember facts is
difficult
• Theater of the mind
– The story is visualized in the listener’s imagination

16. 13 - 16
How to Write Radio Copy
• Voice
• Music
• Sound effects
Radio Guidelines
• Keep it personal
• Speak to listener’s
interests
• Wake up the
inattentive
• Make it memorable
• Include call to action
• Create image transfer

17. 13 - 17
How to Write Television Copy
• Moving action makes television so much more
engaging than print
• The challenge is to fuse the images with the
words to present a creative concept and a story
• Storytelling is one way copywriters can
present action in a television commercial more
powerfully than in other media

18. 13 - 18
Tools of Television Copywriting
• Video
• Audio
• Voice-over
• Off camera
• Other TV Tools
• The copywriter must
describe all of these in
the TV script
Talent
• Announcers
• Spokespersons
• Character types
• Celebrities

19. 13 - 19
Planning the TV Commercial
• What’s the Big Idea
• What’s the benefit
• How can you turn that benefit into a visual
element
• Gain the viewer’s interest
• Focus on a key visual
• Be single minded
• Observe rules of good editing
• Try to show the product

20. 13 - 20
Planning the TV Commercial
• Copywriters must plan
– Length of the commercial
– Shots in each scene
– Key visual
– Where and how to shoot the commercial
• Scenes
– Segments of action that occur in a single location
• Key frames
– The visual that sticks in one’s mind

21. 13 - 21
Scripts and Storyboards
• Script
– The written version of the commercial’s plan
– Prepared by the copywriter
• Storyboard
– The visual plan or layout of the commercial
– Prepared by the art director

22. 13 - 22
Writing for the Web
• More interactive than any other mass medium
• Copywriter challenged to attract people to the
site and manage a dialogue-based
communication experience
• Banners
– Most common form of online advertising

23. 13 - 23
Writing for the Web
• Web ads
– Create awareness and
interest in a product and
build a brand image
– Focus on maintaining
interest
• Other Web formats
– Games
– Pop-up windows
– Daughter windows
– Side frames

24. 13 - 24
Copywriting in a Global
Environment
• Language affects the creation of the
advertising
• Standardizing copy content by translating the
appeal into the language of the foreign market
is dangerous
• Use bilingual copywriters who can capture the
essence of the message in the second language
– Back translation