Art Director/Copy Partner

The most exciting & the most visible part of the advertising business is the creative output. It is also the most criticized part of the business. The creative idea is indeed the result of a carefully controlled process. At best it would be called a stroke of inspiration or a spark of brilliance. Indeed thats true, but not entirely. Here it is essential to know the process followed by the ad agencies to arrive to the Big idea. Every good ad is a result of a good creative brief. A well defined problem is as good as half solved. This saying is most appropriate to the creative process. Every agency has its own format for writing the creative brief. Ideally the client servicing team & along with the clients advertising manager should prepare the brief. There should be consensus about what is expected from the creative department. More time spent on the creative brief means less time spent on reworking.

Creative Brief

The creative strategy & the key execution details are spelled out in a document called a creative brief or creative platform. This document called creative brief is prepared by the account manager or the account planner to summarize the basic marketing & advertising strategy. This brief gives the direction to the creative team as they search for a creative concept. The formats of this vary from agency to agency. But most combine the basic advertising decisions; such as, the problem to be solved, the objective, the target market & the positioning strategy with the critical elements of the message strategy like the selling premise, the creative strategy & details of the ad execution. The briefs typically are in an outline form, to be filled in by account planners & submitted to the creative team. The format basically following nature: Convince to: i.e. The target audience __________________________ Current belief: i.e. Brand/Category ____________________________ Desired belief: i.e. Benefit Because: i.e. Focus of sale or proposition (key drama) _____________ Support: i.e. Reason why _____________________________________ Ad strategy: i.e. What we are saying ____________________________ Tactical strategy: i.e. Where/How are we saying it _________________ Support ___________________________________________________

To convince to the target audience about the brand, category & its benefits for the sake of so & so reason in such & such words & in such an appropriate way.

Another example: Product: __________________________________________________________________ Key issue/Problem: ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ The Promise: ______________________________________________________________ The Support: ______________________________________________________________ Our Competition: ____________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ Target Consumer: ____________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ (who are we talking to...) Desired Behavior: ____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ (what do we expect) Targets net impression: _____________________________________________(response) Tone & Manner: ___________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________

To present the product as a solution or a promise to a problem discussed with a support against the competition to the target consumer in an appropriate manner or tone for a favorable & expected response. More Key fact (the key piece of information that will be used in the campaign i.e. the product point of difference, a consumer need etc. _________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ Consumer problem that the advertising will solve. _________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Advertising objectives. ______________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Creative strategy. __________________________________________________________ Prospect definition. _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ Competition. _____________________________________________________________ Consumer benefit. _________________________________________________________ Reason why. ______________________________________________________________

You can use anyone as the guideline to collect the information required as an input for a creative solution.

Final year campaign:

At the end of the final year (this September/October) every student is supposed to choose a product & create an entire advertising campaign for it. Every student is supposed to work in various media & demonstrate his skills in developing a single advertising idea into press, magazines, posters, hoardings, stickers, direct mailers, banners, web sites, & even TV commercial.

The Responsibilities of an Art Director.

An art director is responsible for the visual presentation of the advertising massage. Be it print, television or web. Art director has the responsibility to give a distinct, clutter breaking look to the communication. Art director is like the orchestra conductor. He doesnt have to play all the instruments himself, but he needs to know what each musician does to the music score, & how best to use him. Art director has to work with people from various sectors which do not work in ad agency.

Art Director with Print media:

Photographer: There are photographers who specialize in different kinds of photography; fashion & people, table-top & product, industrial, food etc. An art director approaches the photographer with references or sketches of what is required & photographer along with shoot coordinator plans & executes the shoot. Shoot coordinator: Often referred to a model coordinator. This person is responsible for short listing the models for the shoot, organizing the props, costumes etc. Coordinator also manages the shoot in terms of timelines, food & transport etc. Set designer: Art director works closely with set designer if an elaborate set is required for the shoot. Even if the shoot is outdoors, art director has to visit the location & carryout the study for lighting conditions etc to bring it close to the image he has visualized. Illustrator: An ad campaign may require the use of illustration. The art director either works with the illustrators from the agency or commissions a freelancer. He has to explain the visual image to the illustrator to get the right output. He has to brief the illustrator about the style, colours & technique required for the job. To make the illustrators job easy & precise, the art director has to visit the illustrator repeatedly. Typographer: Most of the typography required by the art director for a particular campaign is available on any computer equipped with DTP software. But if the campaign requires a special kind of lettering, or creating a new typeface, the service of the typographer is required. For a specific writing or style a calligraphy artist may be needed. DTP operator: Art director makes the layouts for print ads as well as designs for direct mailers, outdoor, posters & other printed media. All these need to be made in the form of an Artwork. An artwork is the perfect layout including the final photograph or the illustration, which can be sent to the processing house. There are various software programs that can create a print ready layout, or an artwork. The PageMaker, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw are currently the most popular softwares available. The people who operate these softwares precisely & efficiently are called DTP operators. An art director works with DTP operators either from the agency or outside.

Art Director with Television

Art director while creating a TV commercial has to deal with completely different set of people. Most of these people are from outside the agency because this field is highly specialized & sophisticated. Art director along with other members of the creative team have a meeting with the producer & director who are about to make the commercial for the agency. Decisions about the sets, costumes, characters, cameraman & technician team, graphics, music are taken in this meeting. Since every TV commercial is a part of the entire campaign, the same look & feel has to be maintained. Art directors inputs are valuable here from a design perspective. Art director will be involved in the shoot & post production (editing graphics etc) to ensure that the look of the communication is maintained across media.

Art Director with Copy Partner

In effective advertising, its not just the words that need to communicate- it is the visuals, too. And they must work together to present the creative concept. Words & pictures accomplish different message effects. To learn how & when to use visuals effectively, an Art Director focuses on five key points related to the effects of visuals in advertising: Visuals generally are better at getting & keeping attention. Pictures communicate faster than the words, as seen in many ads which demonstrate the operation of the product, such as 3 steps noodles or multi-task mixer, etc. Here picture communicates instantly, while consumers have to decipher verbal/written communication word by word. Many people remember messages as visual fragments, as key images that are filed easily in their minds. Seeing- is Believing, so visuals that demonstrate, add credibility to the message. To distinguish undifferentiated products with low inherent interest, it often works to link the product with visual associations representing lifestyles & types of users.

Although advertising is highly visual, there are five types of ads in which words are crucial. If the message is complicated, words can be more specific than visuals & can be read over & over until the message is clear. If the ad is for high involvement product, customer spends a lot of time considering it, then more the information is better which means more words. Information that needs definition & explanation, like how a newly launched product works, is also better delivered through words.

If the message tries to convey abstract qualities, such as justice & quality, words tend to communicate these concepts more easily than pictures. Finally, slogans & jingles help lock in key phrases that cue a brand image or remind consumers of a brand feature.

Words are powerful tools in advertising & the person who understands their beauty & power, as well as how best to use them in situations like these is a copywriter.

The Copywriter

A person who shapes & sculpts the words in an advertisement is called a copywriter. Copy is the text of an ad or the words that people say in commercial. In most agencies, copywriters work in team with art directors who design the way the ad will look. Creative directors manage the creative process & oversee the work of the copywriter/art director team. A successful copywriter is a savvy marketer & literary master, sometimes described as killer-poet. Copywriters love words & they search for a twist, a pun, the powerful description, the punch, the nuance for the words that whip & batter, plead, sob, cajole & impress. These people play skillful word games. They know the meaning & derivations as well as moods & feelings of words & the reverberations & vibrations the words can create in the readers mind. Because of their ear for evocative language, many copywriters have a background in English literature. In addition to having an ear for the right or clever phrase, they listen to how people talk & identify tone of voice that best fits the target audience & advertising need. Versatility is a common trait of copywriters. They can shift their writing style to match the product & the language of their target audience. Therefore copywriters dont have style of their own. The style they use has to match the message & the product.

Writing Effective Copy

Be succinct: Use short, familiar words, short sentences, & short paragraphs. Be Specific: Dont waste time on generalities. The more specific the message, the more attention getting & memorable it is. Get personal: Directly address your audience whenever possible as you & your rather than we. Keep single focus: Deliver a simple message instead of one that makes too many points. Focus on a single idea & support it. Be conversational: Use the language of everyday conversation. The copy should sound like two friends talking to one another. So use incomplete sentences, thought fragments & contractions. Be original: To keep your copy forceful & persuasive, avoid stock-ad phrases, strings of superlatives. Use variety: To add visual appeal in both print ads, avoid long blocks of copy. Instead break the copy into short paragraphs with subheads. In TV commercials, break up TV monologues with visual

changes, such as shots of product, sound effects, & dialogues. The copywriter puts the breaks in & art director designs what they will look like. At entry level, art directors in an agency design the ads & the copywriters write it. As they rise in the ranks of the agency, they move towards a unified goal of making great ads that communicate effectively. Creative Symbiosis: Sometimes the art director can come with suggestion on the tone of voice in the ad & a copywriter can come up with visual ideas. They think alike & create better work than they would have done individually. This is called creative symbiosis. The most successful creative talent in the world is more often a pair of art director & copywriter. It takes great talent to design around the words & equally tough to write for a design. The most effective ad is the result of these two disciples working hand in hand.