This is a very short Advertising plan that I made. It covers the top 3 plans of putting out an advertisement.

Here is the ad I did it for:

This is my Advertisement Plan:

PANTENE PRO-V

1. Situational Analysis:

1. Hair products: shampoo, conditioner, gel, volume essentials, sprays
2. General description of markets served:

Pantene provides hair styling products to women of all ages. Their main competitors are other hair product companies that supply similar items. (Suave, Treseme, John Freda, Aussie)

–       Their methods of distribution are through drugstores, supermarkets, health and beauty sections in Walmart, Target, Costco, and Sam’s Club.

–       Women need hair products, so Pantene supplies it to them in a variety of products.

2. Advertising Objectives:

The Advertising Pyramid:

– Awareness: A women needs shampoo, conditioner, or hair products

– Comprehension: Go to the store and looks at all types of shampoo and conditioner and decides compare.

– Conviction: Pros of Pantene against competitor brands (Aussie, Suave, Treseme)

– Desire: Women want their hair to look like what they’ve seen in advertisements or pictures of women that have used this product before.

– Action: Women will buy Pantene over all brands because of the promise of beautiful, long-lasting hair.

 3. Advertising (Creative) Strategy:

1. The advertisement will present itself to women in the middle age region.
2. Product differentiation: Pantene stands out because it’s affordable, but appealing to all types of women (high & low classes).
3. Product life cycle: Pantene has hair products for all types of ages, so women buy at times when they need hair products or feel like they want to try something different because of age.
4. Classification/Packaging/Branding: classy look, sophisticated with style, appealing to all types of women, not cheaply looking but affordable, stands out over competitors through marketing different products (AgeDefy, Volume Collection, Advanced Keratin Repair, Beautiful Lengths, Curly Hair). World’s #1 Haircare Brand
5. Advertising message, layout, design, celebrity, personality of product vs. who uses product, who does the advertisement appeal to? ­

A creative brief gives detail to every advertisement. These make sure everyone has the same understanding of the task, which is to create a good looking advertisement. The creative brief summarizes objectives and strategies into making an ad. Before an ad is drawn up, the creative brief must be signed off on.

For example, I made us a creative brief for Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes. There is no ad since this is before the creative process because the brief gives detail to what goes in the ad.

CREATIVE BRIEF

 Project: Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes                                             Date: 10.17.2013

Situation Summary

Advertising will convince the viewer that Chuck Taylor Converser Shoes stand out over all other shoes. The advertisement should tell the viewing that Converse is a brand that has been around for decades and has classic roots, quality design, and displays a fun personality.

Supporting Statement

Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes can be made from leather or canvas materials and are visual appealing with design and are long lasting for any kind of activity.

Target Audience

This ad is for people who have an eye for clothing and design mainly located in high-populated areas. The buyer with typically range in age from 15 – 45, have a sense for fashion, a creative personality, and have an eye or eye for art.

Tone Statement

Advertising for Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes should convey art, creativity, quality, and happiness. This ad should have a creative aspect to it that appeals to the target audience and their personalities.

 Call to Action

Purchase Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes at any available retailers. i.e.. Items are sold at these retailers.

This is an Ad I found that would go well with this creative brief after it’s signed off:

There are so many things that define an ad and what makes it unique and what makes it stand out over all the rest. In advertising, we’re taught that there are different things people look at in an ad depending on who that person is and what kind of background that have and what kind of life they live.

So what makes a good ad, you ask? Well, here are some things for you to look at and see for yourself:

First off, lets look at the layout of an ad. What do we observe? Well, there are even basics in even the simplest of ads. For instance, let’s look at this ad Snicker.

We see the entire image that’s a vampire on a tanning bed which grabs the viewers attention and since it’s very Halloween themed, there is a pumpkin down at the bottom and the Headline and body copy (call to action) is located on the bottom.

As most advertisements we see, this ad does not have a “Z” pattern when we read it. Our eyes drift from one image to the other and then to the body copy on the page. It’s a very simplistic layout that gives the viewer a more relaxed way of looking at the ad.

A layout is important in a ad because it’s the overall orderly arrangement of all the elements of an ad. It allows for a better flow. Without a layout, an ad would cease to work. An ad serves 3 basic purposes. They are

1. It helps both the agency and the client develop and evaluate, in advance, how the ad will look and feel.

2. Helps the creative team develop the ad’s psychological elements: the nonverbal and symbolic components.

3. Once the best design is chosen, the layout serves as a blueprint. That’s when the ad is approved or not approved.

So what is all in involved in an ads layout? Here are a few things we’ll look at:

Visuals. This gives the viewer something to relate to or just to simply look at.

Headline. An ad needs its introduction, right?

Subhead(s). This is an additional smaller headline. The subhead is usually best for support in the interest step of an ad. There can be more than one.

Body Copy. This is were the meat is in the ad, although some people don’t read it. Did you know that 74% of readers claim that they completely ignore ads? Sometimes the less body copy you use, the better.

Slogan. Sayings like: “They’re Grrrreat!” “MM MM Good” & “I’m lovin’ it.” & “Have It Your Way” are all slogans companies use to make people remember their product or services. They’re often really catchy too.

Logo/Signature. Companies create logos so people will remember a symbol without thinking about it. It’s amazing what people’s brains can pick up.

Look at the ad above. After knowing the outline of an ad and what is involved in the making of one, what do you see that it has?

 

Advertising has many ways of tellings us what its uses are. There are several times when a simple ad can capture our attention, but how can it do that? Well, there are key items that agencies put into their ads to make people pay attention. Here’s the list:

Branding.  An ad wouldn’t be an ad without a brand or something specific to look at to figure out what it’s for. A brand identifies products and their source. It also differentiates them from others when it comes to comparison.

For example, in the ad below you’ll see the use of branding in an advertisement.

Another item that advertisements like to do is to communicate information about the product, it’s features, and its location of sale.

Many times we see ads that do all of this causing our minds to get overworked and that just means it’s a busy ad to look at, but they are also quite useful because they require less research on the reader or viewers part.

Here is an ad that does just that:

Now, more often times than not, an ad will actually be like this for comparison purposes to let the consumer guess the products features. More advertisements on television will have where the product is sold.

The 3rd thing advertisements do to pull us in are to induce the consumer to try new products and to suggest reuse of the product. Sometimes we see this with ads for deodorant or maybe even shampoo. But what about the Lay’s Potato Chip ad that pulled us all in? You know that one I’m talking about… the one where it asked us all a question.

Here:

What am I telling you so far? Ads are good, right?

Okay getting back on track… there are a few other things that ads do to pull us in. Those things are:

To increase product use. Most of the time we see the same advertisement in the same magazine every month. Well, that ad is placed there just to help the product be used. What kind of products can you think of that don’t have an ad attached to it? … Does that company or brand make money? Advertising is effective if it has the right push.

Next, to stimulate the distribution of a product. This one is pretty self explanatory. Magnum Ice Cream Bars originated over in Europe somewhere. That advertisement carried over so far that that product distributed itself all the way over to the U.S. Well… it didn’t magically do that, but still… advertisement got it there.

They also try to build value to a brand, build brand preference, and try to build consumer loyalty. Have you ever been shopping at the store and just picked up a product without even thinking about it? That’s called brand loyalty. You picked up that product because you trust it. So no matter how much it costs, you’ll keep buying it because you’ve gotten it all the times before and its never let you down.

Lastly, ads try to lower the overall cost of sales. How many times have you seen a coupon with an ad? Well, that brand is trying to build itself by offering lower prices of that item so more people will depend on it and keep buying it. That doesn’t always mean that it’ll be on sale, it just mean that they want people to think of that product every time they would like to buy something similar.

Some people might see advertisements as thing that get in the way, but all they really try to do is spend more money in hopes that we spend it one that specific ad product. There are so many things ads do to pull us in and we really have no idea about that underlining principle.

 

So I’m taking an advertising class this semester. It’s much different from Public Relations, which is what I took last semester from my previous blog posts. From the short time I’ve been taking advertising, I can tell you that the major difference with PR and Advertising is money. Public Relations is meant for a company to look good while Advertisement uses money and promotion to increase a products sales and interest.

One of my first assignments for advertising was determining the difference between Primary & Selective demand in advertisement. Selective demand is branding in a product. Therefore a brand represents everything under that category. Selective advertisement is demand for the entire product class. Primary advertisement is without a brand, much like an advertisement that is for California Cows. When we see an ad for this, it’s telling us to buy dairy products that are made from california cows, so it really doesn’t matter when it comes to branding.

A good example of selective demand is an ad for a particular product. These are often the same ads as a product-focused ad. like this one:

The Snapple ad as it appears above is quite simple. There is only Snapple Green Tea products being displayed. There is branding from the Snapple representation.

Like in the example about Primary demand, here is an example of that:

Notice in the above ad that the only copy we see is “Real California Milk.” This is simply suggesting that we purchase dairy products that come from “Happy Cows.” There is no branding it supports only the milk.

Throughout the semester, I’ve reflected mostly on companies and places that have had trouble in the Public Relations world and given my two cents on the matter; I’ve even tried advice a time or two in hopes the problem will resolve because nobody likes failure… But while I was in class today, I thought it would be appropriate to share what I’ve learned in my Public Relations class since this my last blog post from it.

So what have I learned? That’s a big question! I’ve learned a lot. Considering that when I entered into the class, I wasn’t really sure what Public Relations was and how it was utilized. I’ve always wondered what the PR profession offered and why it was considered to be important. There have always been questions I had about it, but when I asked someone what exactly PR was, they would respond by saying something along the lines of “they make companies look good”. But that wasn’t a solid answer. I needed something more; I needed details.

To be honest, public relations is something I viewed lightly when I entered into the classroom. “Surely it can’t be that important, I never hear about it in the news,” I said. But in reality, I don’t think there could be a bigger aspect of a part of a company than public relations. Even though we never here about public relations, we here about the companies they work for. How would a film come to be on the screen without the people behind the cameras? Public relations are a lot like this. They are the people behind the scenes that take care of even the small matters.

It all starts with communication. This is an important aspect in the public relations world. Without communication, there wouldn’t be any motive. Companies would crumble left, right, and center. Communication persuades, builds mutual understanding, and informs the public. Public relations are all about being honest. There are so many times when that’s the only thing I’ve heard about it… be honest.

Honesty is apart of Ethics, which is another aspect of public relations. There comes a time when people have to ask themselves if they are doing the right thing or not. Ethics defined is: standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues. Ethics guide a person, an organization, and society. We all know the difference between what is right and what is wrong, what is fair and what is unfair, and honesty and dishonesty. Our personal consciences’ make up what all these are. Sometimes, the public decides what is right and what is wrong for us just by a simple reaction. This is all-important in public relations.

But the one thing I think I’ve learned the most in my public relations class is that there will always be someone behind the scenes that guides a company into what to do in difficult situations, times of praise, or in a crisis. Those people are public relations. They know how to make companies look good. There are so many more things about public relations, but I think the most important is that they know how to manage and truly make whomever they work for look good and help them to portray the right image for the public. That’s what public relations have taught me. What’s so good about PR? … Everything.

I read today that the free music streaming station called Pandora is putting a cap on mobile devices making it so that people can only stream from their phones or any other mobile device for only 40 hours per month. There was a cap on streaming music from a desktop or laptop, but that cap was lifted in September of 2011. CEO Joe Kennedy states that his goal is to have the company make more money, but still wants to supply free music to everyone wanting it. A company such as Apple with iTunes can correlate with this well due to the rising cost of just a single song from 99 cents to $1.29 per song. It seems music labels are depending more on how much money they make and how much to charge their customers than pleasing the public’s wallet.

“When you have a per-track royalty structure … there’s an inherent conflict between what radio has always been [namely, free] and what’s pragmatically reasonable,” Kennedy said. “We’re trying to balance the two. We’re certainly not backing down from the vision that we’re the future of radio. As mobile monetization improves over time, we’ll lift this.” So according to Kennedy, it seems like music labels are trying to raise their cost of what Pandora can put on its radio. This reminded me of an article I read about iTunes and why they had to raise their costs per-track because of music labels demands on per-track royalty.

“While some songs will be 30 cents cheaper, popular songs likely will be marked up to $1.29. That price breaks a psychological $1 barrier and prepares consumers for a new strategy by labels to bundle songs, videos and other exclusive content together — all in the hopes of reversing years of falling music sales.” So could this be affecting the way we listen to music?

Pandora capped mobile devices to using only 40 hours per month, but that will only affect 4% of consumers. Meanwhile music labels are raising prices per-track because people are less likely to buy a whole album than to just purchase a single song. I think these two go hand in hand, meaning that since music labels are starting to require more from customers like Pandora and iTunes, the consumer will be forced into paying more money for even just a single song.

Pandora’s customers will likely have no effect from this, since there are options for them once they hit the 40-hour mark. For instance, “You can pay a one-time fee of 99 cents to get unlimited listening for the rest of the month, or you can sign up for a Pandora One subscription, which includes unlimited, advertising-free songs. Or you can decide that you don’t want to pay and just listen on your desktop/laptop computer for the rest of the month. And if you’re thinking about getting around the limit by just creating a second account, Pandora says that won’t work, because it’s applying the cap at both an account and a device level.” But iTunes customers will be hit with multiple difficult decisions as to how to purchase their songs.

There will be much competition with companies such as lala.com, who sale their songs for only 89 and 99 cents, and allowing people to pay 10 cents for a song that can only be played online. It’s a tricky business for iTunes and how they’ll make things work. In my mind, 99 cents was the perfect amount of money to pay for a song, but ever since they jumped up 30 cents, it gets sticky and I find myself being more cautious before I purchase a song.

In a way, Pandora and iTunes have had major battles with music labels about how to price a single song. But it rings true, in the public relations world, there is always going to be something demanding for you to fix. There will always be another company out there that tries to take advantage of you and how you handle you business. But public relations is more than just taking the heat, it’s about standing up for making your company look good, and in a way, iTunes and Pandora both have shown courage in maintaining a good stand-point with the public. Of course their customers are going to be extra careful now since prices on everything seem to be rising, but they do well with a calm composure and public relations has helped them to appeal to the public just as they did before.

HERE is the article for Pandora

HERE is the article for iTunes

There seems to be a growing field in public relations among men and women. Around us there are public relations officials that helps us to understand and comprehend how a company works and what they do to help the public view a company they way they want to be portrayed. Throughout this process, men and women have been involved in this field for decades, but who is the better communicator?

When I looked in “The Practice of Public Relations” by Fraser P. Seitel, I found this: “In public relations, women have steadily climbed into middle- and upper-management positions, both corporations and public relations agencies. Indeed, with women comprising upwards of 80 percent of public relations practitioners, the field is among the strongest for opportunities for women.” This makes me think that perhaps women could be the better communicators.

I often feel like women understand more. They are willing to help and give their vote of empathy toward a company or individual. Women tend to be more of the outgoing type. Woman are chatty in comparison to men, who just want to get things done fast without all the gab and chat getting in the way. A lot of women have made it big in public relations. Perhaps because they are able to multitask and organize information in a more orderly manner, or maybe they just understand the ins and outs of what makes a company look better in the eye of the public?

In an article by Russell Working and interviewee said, “I believe that women are more persuasive then men and can easily approach males and females easier than men can… something about women and their nurturing side makes people trust their judgments more.” This makes me believe that men seem to be standoffish and women are better abled to talk to people. Maybe it’s because men find it difficult to talk to a woman of high rank. But just because women seem better suited for a public relations profession, doesn’t always mean that they’re better than men.

Sometimes, just because you can talk, doesn’t mean that you make a good communicator. Men can also be just as good as women, hence why it’s such a competitive field to be involved in. We all know that non-verbal communication is a very important factor in communication, and although talking is still important, it isn’t as important as the words we don’t say. Emotion tells us information that many people can’t put into words.

Men play an important role in public relations as well. Throughout years of women involved in public relations, men are starting to make a comeback in the field. There is a strong diversity issue, and in some instances, public relations firms and agencies are starting to look for more men in the field. There are just so many women that people need to balance out.

Who do you think is a better public relations candidate, women or men? In a society like the one we live in today, you never know how much better someone is at communicating to someone about public relations. Sure, women are well qualified, but men can be too. It all really depends on who is more willing to talk to diverse audiences and attract the public’s opinion to be better of the company they’re working for

For the last few weeks my blog entries have been about companies or businesses that have been having trouble with their public relations and what they should do in order to help themselves. That’s all fine, but this week I’d really like to talk about a business that seems to have things right. What about it is appealing to me? What have they done to make themselves look good in the public eye?

The company that sparked my attention the most was Chipotle Mexican Grill. My first experience at one of Chipotle’s restaurants was in early 2005 when I first moved to Burnsville, Minnesota with my family. My dad took us for lunch, and I was impressed at a new way to serve fast food. The line moved so fast and there was such a terrific product behind the counter. I was really fascinated on how the system worked.

When I was 19, I moved to Florida. The first place I applied to work was at Chipotle. Long story short, they gave me a job. I started off working on tortilla, then moved up the line to salsa, then cashier, and slowly worked myself up to work on the grill and prep. My general manager loved my work ethic, so after a three-month training process and a very thorough interview, I was hired as a kitchen manager.

From my 2 plus years of workings at Chipotle, I’ve seen the company expand and change. I’ve worked for Chipotle for 3 years now (I transferred to a location in Wisconsin, where I live during the summer) and they are always thinking of new things and dealing with their public relations perfectly.

A perfect example of this is getting the word out about family farming and why it’s so much better for our environment. Chipotle supports local farmers and people that grow things naturally without pesticides. They also purchase their meat from non-harming people that raise their animals in an environment that’s safe and no harm with come to the animals. They raise their animals without hormones or growth supplements, and are fed a vegetarian diet. There aren’t many people that appreciate what farmers do like Chipotle.

Their public relations is doing a terrific job with making them look awesome and giving the company great advice on how to handle some management issues that might arise. They host event parties, visit local farmers markets, and cultivate an atmosphere that makes everybody love them instantly.

Something that has always been a really cool perspective of public relations is helping to get the word out on why a company is so awesome and how it affects the public. It’s always a cool feature to help display your company and make them look like the company that they truly are. If you follow the public relations rules and you have fun, you will succeed in what you do and the company will benefit from you in helping them during tough times and easy times.

Chipotle benefits from their public relations department. Not only have their sales and stock increased, but also their customer base has grown more to support their cause and what they stand for. Public relations helps Chipotle look good, so when an event to help support local farmers or Food & Wine gives them a booth, public relations has done its job in helping people understand what the company stands for and why it’s important for them to succeed.

During my time at working with Chipotle, I know there have been bad times, but it’s when public relations steps in to help guide people to make the right decisions where things can be put together again and everyone can have a successful and fun time where they work. Chipotle’s public relations department rocks, it’s truly a perfect example of a company that loves what they do in every aspect.

HERE is a link to Chipotle.