A unique or creative idea for an advertisement or campaign that attracts consumers’ attention, gets a reaction, and sets the advertisers product or service apart form the competition.

1. Advertising
The biggest fun you can have with your clothes on !

3. © Copyright @ Author: Prashant Kumar (MBA: Communication Management, Symbiosis
International University; B.A., L.L.B.)
No part of this artwork must be copied, Xeroxed, printed or…… without prior permission
from the author.

4. Advertising
The biggest fun you can have with your clothes on !

5. The Big Idea

6. What is it ?

7. How Big can be its impact?

8. Fire, Wheel, IC Engine, Powered Flight…

9. But in the big bad
world of
advertising
A unique or creative idea for an advertisement or campaign that attracts consumers’
attention, gets a reaction, and sets the advertisers product or service apart form the
competition.

10. Is that all ?

11. What does the Big Idea look like
?

12. It is almost simple
always
Open Happiness, Just Do It, The Word’s Local Bank

15. campaignable
It is - gives
birth to many creative executions

16. It is long lasting – for
generations

17. It is contagious in spirit

18. It springs from a unique consumer insight

19. Born from a unique consumer
insight

20. • Yes, it relates to a common aspiration and un-
expressed desire / irk of the consumer
• The product / brand and its message gives
wings to both
• For example - Neighbor’s Envy. Owner’s Pride
/ Devil
• Another example - Got Milk ; October 1993 ;
California Milk Processor Board

21. The mint with the hole

22. Got Milk ?

28. The Big Idea is not always the
slogan

29. NOTHING
OFFICIAL
ABOUT IT!
YEHI HAI
RIGHT Generation YOUNGISTAN
CHOICE
BABY! Next
YEH DIL
MAANGE
MORE!

33. So, why the Big Idea
• It builds a connect with the consumer and the product
• It can be exploited over a long period of time
• It thus etches itself into the consciousness of the
audience
• It becomes part of folklore and popular culture

34. Which all means...

35. Bigger mindshare
Bigger marketshare

36. The Surprise Me Factor

37. Everybody Loves a Surprise
(even nasty ones)

38. • It creates a positive emotion
• Thus helping connect better with the brand..

39. What are the surprises
employed?

40. The teaser - a way of pre-defining a surprise

43. The Twist in The Tale

44. Understanding the visualization and
copywriting synchronization

45. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’… says the
visualiser. It took you seven words to say that, counters
the copywriter.

46. What speaks?
Copy or
VISUAL

47. Copy?

51. Or Visual?

56. The art of complementing
• The visual will often convey the situation or the players
• The copy will convey the product benefit / offer / promise

57. Why long copy?
• It explains the product / service clearly to the really interested
person
• Creates emotional connect, as words paint a vivid picture
• A picture says only one thing – words help say many things
• If it is well written, the reader will remember it for a long time

59. What does research say?
• The 80-20 rule. 80% of people read only the headline.
• McGraw Hill studied 3597 ads in 26 publications. It showed
that ads with 300 or more words were more powerful in
interesting the consumer inducing action and reinforcing the
decision to buy
• A Merryl Lynch ad in New York Times pulled in over 10,000
responses. It had 6450 words!

60. Some thumb rules
• Never explain the visual ; It insults the reader’s intelligence
• Make the headline about a unique feature or a unique benefit
• Lead in with a line that flows from the headline.
• Surprise the reader with a line that negates the visual
• This is not a Television (showing a television
• But a revolution!

63. The argument for shorter copy
• People don’t have time (unless you say something really really
interesting)
• People don’t have time
• People don’t have time
• The visual says it all

64. The case for the visual
• It conveys everything in one glance
• Many people are illiterate – that’s true!
• A visual can stay etched in the mind
• It is a great way to show people, products and consumption

66. The Press Ad Today

67. Yesterday, once more!

71. Good Old Days

72. • Direct Talk – the benefit is upfront
• Direct Visual – the product being used
• Proper lengthy explanation of the product
• Its benefits are upfront ; idea is to inform

73. The Competitive Today
• Evolved metaphors – attempt to communicate at deeper levels
• Product purposes have evolved – so have ads
• Car ads then - From A to B ; About engineering and sturdiness
• Car ads now – From social grade B to A ; About belonging and
self-expression

74. • Copy has reduced, visuals have taken centre stage
• Typefaces have evolved. So has the way they are treated
• More slice of life imagery, rather than product centric visuals
• Combination and morphing technologies on the rise

75. The TVC Script

76. Television
The intrusion in our lives
The TVC
The intrusion in television viewing

77. The basics of a TV script
• Keep to one single message
• Tell a story in 30 seconds
• Keep it very, very, very interesting
• Make it Zap Proof

78. Writing a TVC
• What’s the objective ?
• Introducing a new car?
• Asking people to buy a new insurance?
• Telling them to use a new contraceptive?

79. What’s the brand’s core message?
• Just Do It
• Open Happiness
• Express Yourself

80. Writing a TVC
• Who’s your audience?
• What do they like to see?
• What are the realities of their lives?
• Can you touch upon their lives in an unforgettable manner?

81. Let’s write one!
• Panadoxil is the new wonder drug.
• It cures early stage Alzheimer’s.
• If you use it in time, you can ward off the ailment.
• Its available over the counter. But quite expensive.
• Create a TVC