Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

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Chapter 8
CREATIVE STRATEGY: PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Chapter Overview
This is the first of two chapters devoted to the area of creative strategy in advertising. This chapter
focuses on the planning and development of the creative strategy. We will examine the concept of
creativity and the process that guides the creation of the advertising campaign as well as various types of
research and information that can provide input and insight into the creative process of advertising. We
discuss the concept of copy platforms that are used to guide the development of advertising campaigns.
Attention is also given to various approaches used for determining major selling ideas that form the basis
of an advertising campaign.

Learning Objectives
1. To discuss what is meant by advertising creativity and examine the role of creative strategy in
advertising.
2. To consider the process that guides the creation of advertising messages and the research inputs
into the stages of the creative process.
3. To examine creative strategy development and the role of various client and agency personnel
involved in it.
4. To examine various approaches used for determining major selling ideas that form the basis of an
advertising campaign.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

Chapter and Lecture Outline

I. INTRODUCTION
One of the most important components of an integrated marketing communications program is the
advertising message. It will be obvious to students that there are a myriad of ways to convey an
advertising message. However, underlying all of these messages is a creative strategy that involves
determining what the advertising message will say or communicate and creative tactics dealing with how
the message strategy will be implemented or executed. The focus of this chapter is on the development of
creative strategy while tactical issues are covered in Chapter 9. Attention is given to the creative strategy
development process and various approaches to developing the big idea that will be used as the central
theme of the advertising campaign and translated into messages. The opening vignette to the chapter
discusses how the Lambesis agency developed the “Iconic Passion” campaign for the Tacori jewlry line
that includes very creative print and television ads as well as a short film called Par Chance. The
campaign has been very successful as it has led to double digit sales increases and has helped make
Tacori one of the hottest brands of fashion jewelry.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING

The creative side of advertising is one of its most interesting aspects. The creative strategy used to
communicate an advertising message is an integral part of the promotional process and is often critical to
the success or failure of the campaign. Numerous examples or cases can be cited of how a good creative
strategy was an important factor in determining the success of a product or service or reversing the
fortunes of a struggling brand. Of course there are also many situations where companies struggle to find
a creative formula that works effectively. These companies change their creative strategy frequently in
hopes of finding a campaign theme or tagline that strikes a responsive chord with consumers. Attention
must also be given to the issue of creative versus effective advertising as many ads may be critically
acclaimed from a creative perspective but fail to help the sales of the brand. Digital and Social Media
Perspective 8-1 discusses how the Wieden & Kennedy agency has developed very creative advertising
campaigns for Old Spice body wash including the popular “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ spot
that won the Grand Prix award as the best commercial in the world at the 2010 Cannes Lions International
Advertising Festival. W+K has used social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to take the
campaign viral and leverage the popularity of the Old Spice commercials and other videos created as part
of it.

III. ADVERTISING CREATIVITY

It is important to examine the concept of creativity, how it applies to advertising, and the challenge
marketers face in developing creative and effective advertising.

A. What Is Creativity?—Creativity is one of the most commonly used terms in advertising as those
who develop advertising messages are often referred to as “creative types” and agencies develop
reputations for their creativity. So much attention is focused on the concept of creativity because
the major challenge given to those who develop advertising messages is to be creative. Creativity
has been defined as “a quality possessed by persons that enables them to generate novel
approaches in situations, generally reflected in new and improved solutions to problems.”

B. Different Perspectives of Advertising Creativity—perspectives of what constitutes creativity in

advertising vary. At one extreme are the “suits” or “rationalists” who argue that advertising is
creative only if it sells the product or service. At the other end of the continuum are the “poets”
who judge creativity in terms of its artistic or aesthetic value and argue that creative advertising
must be novel, original and unique. The answer as to what constitutes creative in advertising is
probably somewhere between these two extreme positions.
We are concerned with advertising creativity, which refers to “the ability to generate fresh,
unique and appropriate ideas that can be used as solutions to communications problems.” This
perspective recognizes that creative advertising ideas are those that are novel, original and
appropriate. To be appropriate a creative idea must be relevant or have some importance to the
target audience. The “Universal Advertising Standards” (Figure 8-1) used by the former D’Arcy
Masius Benton & Bowles agency in assessing the creativity of the advertising created by the
agency should be reviewed as they provide an excellent check list for evaluating creative work.

C. Determinants of Creativity – It is generally agreed upon that there are two central determinants of
creativity which are divergence and relevance. Divergence refers to the extent to which an ad
contains elements that are novel different or unusual. Some of the ways divergence can be
achieved in advertising include the following:

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

1. Originality: Ads that contain elements that are rare, surprising, or move away from the obvious
and commonplace.

2. Flexibility: Ads that contain different ideas or switch from one perspective to another.

3. Elaboration: Ads that contain unexpected details or finish and extend basic ideas so they become
more intricate, complicated or sophisticated.

4. Synthesis: Ads that combine, connect, or blend normally unrelated objects or ideas.

5. Artistic value: Ads that contain artistic verbal impressions or attractive shapes and colors

Relevance reflects the degree to which the various elements or the ad are meaningful, useful, or
valuable to the consumer and can be achieved in two ways. Ad-to-consumer relevance refers to
situations where the ad contains execution elements that are meaningful to consumers. For example,
advertisers may use celebrities which whom consumers identify, music that they like or visual images
and other execution techniques that capture their interest and attention. Brand-to-consumer relevance
refers to situations where the advertised brand of a product or service is of personal interest to
consumers. Relevance or appropriateness can also be viewed in terms of the degree to which an
advertisement provides information or an image that is pertinent to the brand. The ski-mask
commercial for the Volkswagen Beetle convertible which is discussed on p. 270 provides a very good
example of creative advertising that relies on the divergence criterion of originality.

Professor Notes

IV. PLANNING CREATIVE STRATEGY

Those who work on the creative side of advertising often face a major challenge. They must take all the
research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communication objectives and other inputs and transform
them into an advertising message. Their job is to write copy, design layouts and illustrations and produce
commercials that communicate effectively. Marketers usually hire advertising agencies to develop and
implement their advertising campaigns because they are specialists in the creative function of advertising.
However, it is important to point out that the development of creative strategy also involves
representatives from the client side and other people in the agency as well as the creative staff.

A. The Creative Challenge—those who work on the creative side of advertising have the
responsibility of developing an effective way of communicating the marketer’s message to their
customers. The creative person or team is often provided with a great deal of input and
background information on the target audience, such as their demographics, needs and motives,
and communication objectives. However, every marketing situation is different and requires a
unique approach.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

B. Taking Creative Risks—many creative people in agencies argue that they often follow proven
approaches or formulas when creating ads because they are safe and less likely to fail. They note
that their clients are very often risk averse and feel uncomfortable with advertising that is too
different. It is important to note that companies who have very creative advertising are more
willing to assume some risk. However, many managers are more comfortable with advertising
that is straightforward in communicating with customers and gives them a reason to buy.
Examples of agencies known for taking creative risks, such as Wieden+Kennedy,
TBWA/Chiat/Day, and Crispin Porter + Bogusky might be noted. There is a very interesting
discussion of the perpetual debate over creative versus hard-sell advertising on p. 274.

C. Creative Personnel—it is a fairly common perception that those individuals who work on the
creative side of advertising tend to be somewhat unique and different from those working on the
managerial or business side. It is worthwhile to discuss some of the characteristics of creative
personnel in advertising and the need to create an environment that fosters, and is conducive to,
the development of creative advertising.
V. THE CREATIVE PROCESS
A number of advertising people have argued that creativity in advertising is best viewed as a process and
that creative success is most likely when some organized approach is followed. While most advertising
people reject and/or resist attempts to standardize creativity or develop rules or guidelines to follow, most
creative people do follow some type of process when approaching the task of developing an
advertisement. There are several models or approaches to the creative process including those of James
Webb Young, a former creative vice president at the J. Walter Thompson agency, which is similar to the
approach of English sociologist Graham Wallas. Young’s model of the creative process contains five
steps:

1. Immersion
2. Digestion
3. Incubation
4. Illumination
5. Reality or verification
Wallas suggests that creative thought evolves in four stages:

1. Preparation
2. Incubation
3. Illumination
4. Verification
A. Account Planning – To facilitate the creative process, many agencies now use account planning
which is a process that involves conducting research and gathering all relevant information about
a client’s product or service, brand, and consumers in the target audience. Account planning plays
an important role during creative strategy development by driving the process from the
customers’ point of view. Planners work with the client as well as agency personnel, such as the
creative team and media specialists, to discuss how information they have gathered can be used in
the development of the creative strategy as well as other aspects of the advertising campaign.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

B. Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation/Incubation/Illumination—these models of the creative

process offer an organized way of approaching an advertising problem. Both models stress the
need for preparation or gathering of background information that is relevant to the problem as the
first step in the creative process. Various types of research and information can provide input to
the creative process of advertising at each stage. There are numerous ways the creative specialist
can acquire background information that is relevant to the advertising problem. Some of those
discussed in the text include:
1. Background research—informal fact-finding techniques and general preplanning input.
Various ways of gathering background information might be discussed.

2. Product/service specific research—this involves different types of studies such as attitude,

market structure and positioning, perceptual mapping and psychographic studies.

3. Qualitative research input—this type of input includes techniques such as in-depth interviews
focus groups, or ethnographic studies. Qualitative research can provide the creative team with
valuable input, particularly in the early stages of the creative process. As discussed in the
chapter, creative personnel in agencies often feel that their creativity can be stifled by
research techniques such as focus groups and consumer surveys. Many marketers and
agencies prefer to use observational or ethnographic research to gain insight into consumers.

C. Verification/Revision—the purpose of the verification/revision stage of the creative process is to

evaluate ideas that come from the illumination stage, reject any that may be inappropriate, and
refine those that remain and help give them final expression. Some of the techniques used at this
stage include:
 Directed focus groups
 Message communication studies
 Portfolio tests
 Pretesting of ads in storyboard or animatic form
Professor Notes

VI. CREATIVE STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

The creative process of advertising is guided by specific goals and objectives and requires the
development of a creative strategy or plan of action for achieving the goal. Creative strategy development
actually begins with a thorough assessment of the marketing and promotional situation and a
determination of what needs to be communicated to the marketer’s target audience. Creative strategy
should, however, also be based on a number of other factors that are stated in the creative brief or copy
platform.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

A. Advertising Campaigns—Most advertisements are part of a series of messages that make up an

IMC or advertising campaign, which consists of a set of interrelated and coordinated marketing
communication activities that center on a single theme or idea that appears in different media
across a specified time period. The determination of a strong idea for the campaign theme is very
important as it is the central message that will be communicated in all of the advertising and other
promotional activities and thus sets the tone or direction for the development of the individual ads
that make up the campaign. The theme or idea for the campaign is usually expressed through a
slogan or tagline that reduces the key idea into a few words or a brief statement. IMC Perspective
8-1 discusses some of the reasons why many advertising slogans do a poor job of communicating
a distinctive identify for a company or brand and presents some guidelines for developing more
effective taglines.

B. Creative Brief – The creative brief (which some agencies refer to as a creative platform or work
plan or creative contract) is a written document that provides a plan or checklist that is useful in
guiding the development of an advertising message or campaign. This document is prepared by
the agency team or group assigned to the account and may include creative personnel as well as
the account coordinator and representatives from media and research. The advertising manager
and/or the marketing and product manager from the client side will also be involved in the
process and must approve the copy platform. An example of a creative brief and the Tacori ad
that resulted from is are shown in Exhibits 8-14a and b.

C. The Search for the Major Selling Idea—an important part of creative strategy development is
determining the central theme that will become the major selling idea or big idea for the ad
campaign. Big ideas are important in business-to-business advertising as well as advertising
targeting consumers. IMC Perspective 8-2 discusses how Siemens developed very effective B-to-
B advertising with its “Answers” campaign. There are several different approaches that can be
used for developing major selling ideas and as the basis of creative strategy. Some of the best
known and most discussed approaches include:

1. The unique selling proposition—this concept was popularized by the famous copywriter
Rosser Reeve’s in his book Reality in Advertising. It’s three characteristics include:
 each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer
 the proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not offer
 the proposition must be strong enough to pull over new customers to your brand
2. Creating a brand image—some competing brands are so similar it is difficult to find or
create a unique attribute or benefit so the creative strategy is based on the development of a
strong, memorable identity for the brand through image advertising.
3. Finding the inherent drama—the famous ad man Leo Burnett, founder of the Leo Burnett
agency in Chicago, believed that advertising should be based on a foundation of consumer
benefits with an emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing these benefits. This type of
advertising bases the creative strategy on presenting the message in a warm and realistic way.
4. Positioning—the basic idea is that advertising is used to establish or “position” the product
or service in a particular place in the consumer’s mind. Various approaches to positioning a
brand were discussed in Chapter 2 and might be reviewed again here. Many of the top brands
in various product or service categories have retained their leadership position because they
have established and maintained a strong position or identity in the minds of consumers. IMC
Perspective 8-3 discusses changed its positioning and approach to advertising, as well as

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

other parts of its IMC program, to better connect with women through its “What’s
Beautiful?” campaign.

These approaches to determining the major selling ideas discussed above are very popular
and are often used as the basis of the creative strategy for advertising campaigns. These
creative approaches represent specific “creative styles” that have become associated with
some of the most successful advertising creative minds and their agencies. However, it should
be pointed out that many other creative approaches and styles are available and are often used
in advertising. Some of the creative styles associated with more contemporary advertising
visionaries such as Lee Clow of TBWA/Chiat/Day and Rich Silverstein of Goodby
Silverstein & Partners are worth noting. The challenge to the creative team is to find a major
selling idea and use it as a guide to the development of an effective creative strategy.

Teaching Suggestions
For many students the most interesting aspect of advertising and promotion is the creative side. Most
students really do not have an appreciation for what is involved in the development of an advertising
campaign. They may think that the development of a campaign and individual messages involves only the
agency creative department. It is important to stress the fact that the development of a campaign involves
numerous individuals from both the other departments of the agency as well as on the client side. Many
students will not end up being directly involved in the design and creation of advertisements. However,
creative strategy is often critical to the success of the firm’s integrated marketing communications efforts.
Thus, it is important that everyone involved with the marketing and promotional program have some
understanding of the creative process that underlies the development of advertising messages, as well as
the creative options available to the advertiser.

Some interesting discussion can be generated over the issues of what constitutes creative advertising.
Students might be asked to debate the different perspectives of advertising creativity. One side can take
the “its only creative if it sells” position versus the “aesthetic, novelty/uniqueness” perspective. Some
interesting discussions can also be generated over the issue of creative risk taking and just how much
latitude the client should give the agency when it comes to creating the advertising message. For a very
interesting discussion on the debate over different perspectives on creativity we suggest that you read the
article on “Creative Differences” by Anthony Vagnoni which appeared in Advertising Age on November
17, 1997. You may also want to update students on the advertising that wins the Lions awards at the
Cannes International Advertising Film Festival each year. Advertising Age and AdWeek have articles
covering the Lions awards toward the end of June each year. You can also direct your students to the
Festival’s official website at www.canneslions.com. Student might be encouraged to research advertising
that has won creative awards from other organizations. For example, the Association of Magazine Media
honor outstanding magazine advertising each year with the Kelly Awards. Information about these
awards can be found at www.kellyawards.org. Effie Worldwide sponsors the Effie Awards which are
given to marketing communication campaigns based on their proven success for a company or brand.
Information about the Effie Awards can be found at www.effie.org.

It is also important to discuss how research is used as an input to the creative process of advertising.
Some time might be spent discussing the value of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques
and how they can be used to provide the creative department information that gives them more insight
into the consumer. It is also interesting to spend some time discussing advertising campaign themes
currently being used by various advertisers. This discussion can focus on the creative strategy being used
by the advertiser, the image or position they are trying to establish for the company or brand and what
type of analysis or background research might have been used in developing the campaign. It is

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

important to stress that advertising campaigns are often the result of extensive planning and research that
is provided to the creative team by marketing planners and researchers on both the clients and/or agency
side. The text also has a brief discussion of account planning which is becoming an important function in
many advertising agencies. If you would like further information on account planning, we recommend
the book Truth, Lies & Advertising by Jon Steele who was the Vice Chairman and Director of Account
Planning for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. This book provides an excellent discussion
of the account planning and how the Goodby, Silverstein & Partners agency has used the process in the
development of many successful advertising campaigns for clients such as Polaroid, Norwegian Cruise
Lines and the “got milk?” campaign for the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board.

A discussion of a Model of Marketing Information flow developed by John Sutherland, Lisa Duke, and
Avery Abernethy is presented in this chapter and warrants discussion. This model shows the flow of
marketing information regarding customers, the product or service, and the market from clients to agency
creative staff and the major interfaces and decision points where gatekeepers can impede the flow of
information to agency creatives. Their research has found that agency personnel often lack the
information needed to effectively design and execute creative strategies. Some time might be spent
discussing this model and ways of improving the flow of important information to agency creatives.

A new video case on Under Armour has been produced for this edition and includes a discussion of the
company’s branding strategy as well as the creative campaigns that have been used to help them enter the
basketball shoe market and also target the female market. Two Under Armour marketing executives
discuss the challenges of marketing to women and the strategy behind the “What’s Beautiful” campaign
used to connect with women which is discussed in IMC Perspective 8-3.

Answers to Discussion Questions

1. Evaluate the “Iconic Passion” branding platform and IMC campaign that the Lambesis agency created
for Tacori. Why do you think this campaign has been so successful in creating a brand identity for
Tacori and increasing sales of its jewelry products? (L01,03)

When the Lambesis agency began working with Tacori, the brand had very little awareness and, like
many other jewelry lines, did not have a distinct brand image. The development of the “Iconic
Passion” campaign was based on extensive consumer research on how couples become engaged and
the insights were used in developing the creative strategy. Many of the print and TV ads created for
the campaign are designed to capture the exquisite artisanship which includes handcrafted elegance
with a clean and modern style. The ads often juxtapose Tacori jewelry with objects signifying passion
such as Cupid’s arrow which symbolize romance, ornate ebony and bone chess pieces which are a
metaphor for the passion of conquest, apples with a bite out of them to capture the essence of
temptation, and a tilted martini glass (Exhibit 8-14) which serves a toast to glamour and
sophistication. The ads have been very effective in making bold statements that comunicate the
glamour and elegance of the Tacori brand while positioning it as attainable luxury. Lambesis
executes the “Iconic Passion” theme very well through digital media. The Par Chance short film
plays off of the idea that love at first sight can happen at any moment by featuring a light-hearted
story about a chance meeting between two strangers who must reconnect with each other by using a
series of sexy and romantic clues. Many beautiful Tacori jewelry pieces are highlighted during the
three minute webisode. The excellent advertising and IMC work done by Lambesis has increased the
level of brand awareness for Tacori and helped position it as an aspirational, yet attainable brand with
an image of romance and passion.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

2. Digital and Social Media Perspective 8-1 discusses how the Wieden + Kennedy agency has created
an effective advertising campaign for Old Spice Hair and Body Wash with popular ads such as the
“The man your man could smell like” commercial. Analyze this commercial from an advertising
creativity perspective and discuss some of the reasons it has gone viral and generated nearly 45
million views on YouTube. Do you think this campaign is an effective way to sell a product such as
body wash? Why or why not? (L01)

“The man your man could smell like commercial” for Old Spice body wash is an example of an
extremely creative commercial and won the Grand Prix for film award at the Cannes Lions
International Advertising Festival. Old Spice advertising targeted men for several years with
humorous creative built around the “Smell Like a Man, Man” tagline However this commercial was
an ad that men and women can enjoy together. It is a humorous and entertaining spot featuring a very
muscular and handsome young man (former professional football player Isaiah Mustafa) who uses a
variety of unusual situations to demonstrate to women how much better their lives could be with a
man who switches to Old Spice from a “lady-scented” body wash. The commercial has a number of
elements that make it creative such as originality. The ad definitely contains elements that are
surprising and move away from the obvious and commonplace. It shows Mustafa in various scenes
such as stepping out of a shower with a towel around his waist brandishing a bottle of Old Spice body
wash then goes on to show him on a boat wielding an oyster filled with “tickets to that thing you like”
and then changing to a handful of diamonds. The commercial ends with the camera pulling back
revealing the shirtless Mustafa on horseback as he delivers the signature line from the spot: “I’m on a
Horse.” This commercial definitely struck a responsive chord with consumers as it became a viral
sensation and was viewed more than 45 million times on YouTube by the end of 2013. Wieden &
Kennedy developed a clever way to extend the life of this commercial by giving consumers the
opportunity to submit questions to the “Old Spice Guy’ via twitter and Facebook and have him
answer them in short video clips online. They received several thousand questions and comments
from consumers and W&K’s digital marketing team shot nearly 200 clips Within a week, web views
of the new videos eclipsed the original TV commercial and searches for Old Spice on Google soared
by nearly 2,000 percent making it one of the most successful viral video campaigns ever done.

The second part of the question asks whether this commercial is an effective way to sell Old Spice
Body wash. The commercial broke through all previous viral-records and became a part of popular
culture. According to an article published in Advertising Age on July 26, 2010, the commercial
helped increase sales of Old Spice body wash, although it was not clear how much of the jump in
sales occurred because of category growth and sales promotion efforts for the brand such as
couponing. The article concludes that the ad was effective in helping reverse a decline in market
share for the brands in the very competitive body wash market which includes, Gillette, Nivea Men,
Dove Men and Axe. The article can be found at http://adage.com/article?article_id=145096.

3. The chapter discusses how the DDB agency was recently fired by Anheuser-Busch InBev even
though the agency had created a number of award-winning advertisements for brands such as
Budweiser and Bud Light. Evaluate the decision by AB InBevto dismiss DDB and hire a new agency
given the excellent creative work it did for these brands through the years. (L01)

DDB had been the agency for Anheuser Busch’s two major brands, Budweiser and Bud Light for 30
years before AB InBev terminated the relationship in 2011. The decision by AB InBev to switch
agencies came as somewhat of a surprise given the excellent creative work DDB had done for the two
agencies over the past three decades. In 1981 the agency helped launch Bud Light , which is now the
leading brand of beer in the U.S. market, and developed a number of award winning campaigns such
for the brand such as the “Real Men of Genius” radio campaign and ads featuring the Spuds
McKenzie mascot dog. DDB also created the popular “Whassup?” campaign for Budweiser as well

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

as numerous commercials featuring the iconic Clydesdales. Commercials for Budweiser and Bud
Light, developed by DDB were among the most popular on the Super Bowl each year as Anheuser
Busch has been the major advertiser on the big game. One of the reasons AB InBev may have
switched agencies is that while Bud Light and Budweiser are the two leading brands of beer in the
U.S., both brands have struggled to increase their sales during the economic downturn that began in
2009. Thus, AB InBev decided it was time to change its creative direction for both brands. The
company had begun using other agencies for Budweiser in countries such as Brazil even though DDB
was the global agency of record and had an office in the country. AB InBev also began asking other
agencies to submit creative ideas of its U.S. advertising for the brands which was a sign of a strained
relationship with DDB. As discussed in Chapter 3, marketers often will consider changing agencies
when sales are struggling and they feel that a fresh creative approach is needed. AB InBev had
relegated DDB to the sidelines several years ago and decided to use a campaign developed by the
agency Anomaly as its main creative campaign called “Grab Some Buds.” In early 2012 DDB was
replaced by the two agencies on the Bud Light account, McGarry Bowen and the independent agency
Translation. However, McGarry Bowen lasted only eight months before begin terminated with more
of the creative work going to Translation.

4. Advertising creativity is viewed as the ability to generate unique and appropriate solutions to
communication problems. This definition suggests that a creative ad is one that is novel but also
relevant or appropriate. Find an example of an advertisement (either a print ad or TV commercial)
that is novel but not necessarily relevant to the product or services Discuss why the client would have
approved this ad. (L01)

For an ad or campaign to be considered creative it should meet the criteria of being both a unique and
appropriate solution to a communication problem. Creative specialists have the responsibility of
developing advertising messages that capture the attention of, and hopefully, persuade, the target
audience to consider a brand. While many ads are entertaining, they do little to contribute to the
brand. Students should be asked find a print ad or commercial that is novel or unique but does not
contain a relevant message that might encourage consumers to consider purchasing the product or
service. Many of the ads that appear in magazines or TV shows targeting young people fit into this
category as the focus of the advertisement is on being different or unique and breaking through all of
the advertising clutter. However, these ads often communicate very little about the product or service
or give consumers little, if any, reason to purchase the brand. Creative personnel are often able to
convince the client that something novel or unique needs to be done to get the attention of consumers
and break through the clutter. Many marketing mangers defer to the judgment and expertise of
agency creative personnel and allow these ads to be run.
5. Discuss the various factors that account for the way divergence can be achieved in advertising
creativity. Find an example of an advertisement that reflects these various characteristics and explain
how it does so. (L01)

Divergence is viewed as one of the two key determinants of creativity (along with relevance) and
refers to the extent to which an ad contains elements that are novel, different, or unusual. Robert
Smith and Xiaojang Yang have identified five factors that could account for the ways divergence can
be achieved in advertising which they describe as follows. These include:
 Originality: Ads that contain elements that are rare, surprising, or move away from the obvious
and commonplace.
 Flexibility: Ads that contain different ideas or switch from one perspective to another.
 Elaboration: Ads that contain unexpected details or finish and extend basic ideas so they become
more intricate, complicated or sophisticated.
 Synthesis: Ads that combine, connect, or blend normally unrelated objects or ideas.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

 Artistic value: Ads that contain artistic verbal impressions or attractive shapes and colors

Students should be asked to find examples of ads that reflect one of more of these characteristics and
explain how it does so. They should be able to find examples of print ads that are high in artistic
value or TV commercials that reflect characteristics such as originality or flexibility.

6. What is meant by ethnographic research? Discuss how this type of qualitative research might be used
by and advertising agency during the preparation, illumination, and incubation stages of the creative
process. Find an example of an advertising campaign that has used ethnographic research as input to
the creative process. (L02, 03)

Ethnographic research involves studying consumers by observing or interacting with them in their
natural environment such as in their homes, at work, or at play. This type of research can be very
valuable as input to the creative process as it provides insight into the behavior patterns, purchase
motives and idiosyncrasies of consumers that are gained by observing or interacting with them. For
example, researchers at Procter & Gamble used ethnographic research whereby they observed
consumers in their homes during the early morning hours when they were preparing and enjoying a
cup of coffee. Insight was gained into the importance of the ritual of having a cup of coffee by
observing how consumers enjoy the experience. The popular campaign for Folgers coffee that
utilizes the tagline “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup” evolved from ethnographic
research done by P&G researchers. P&G sold Folgers to the J.M. Smucker Co. in 2008, which still
uses the tagline in advertising for the brand. Students should be encouraged to find other examples of
advertising campaigns that have used ethnographic research as input to the creative process. Sources
of information for this assignment might include Advertising Age, AdWeek or the Effie Awards case
studies.

7. Many advertising creative personnel are opposed to focus groups research as they argue that they may
inhibit the creative process. Discuss the problems, as well as the value, of using focus groups to
evaluate advertising creative work. (L02)

Focus groups are a qualitative research method whereby a small group of consumers are led through a
discussing regarding a particular topic or issue. They can be used to gather detailed insight as to why
and how consumers use a product or service, problems they might have and are looking to resolve as
consumers, what is important to them in choosing a particular brand, and what they like or dislike
about various brands. They can also be used to evaluate advertisements as consumers can be shown
examples of current or proposed ads and asked to evaluate them. All of this information can be useful
to those involved in the creative process as input gathered from focus groups provides creative
specialists with a better sense of who the target audience is, what they are like, their purchase
motives, and what they like and dislike about various types of advertising.
Malcolm Gladwell has been critical of focus groups as he argues that there is very little psychological
justification for the notion that you can find out what people think about an in idea, particularly a
revolutionary new idea, by asking them. In his book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,
Gladwell examines the content and origin of instantaneous impressions and argues that decisions
made quickly can be as good as those made after much deliberation. Agency creative personnel have
long been critical of the idea of having their ideas and work critiqued by consumers as they argue that
it limits their ability to develop innovative and breakthrough advertising. Recently focus groups have
been criticized for a number of reasons. Many advertising creative people insist that good ideas don’t
need to be tested and that testing can weaken a creative execution. They note that focus group
participants often have difficulty expressing how they feel about a commercial and often mimic the
responses of a dominant member of the group. It has also been argued that focus groups do not

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

provide enough insight into consumer’s emotional responses to an ad and may encourage consumers
to think too much rather than respond the way they might while watching television. While creatives
may be opposed to the use of focus groups, it is very unlikely that clients will allow them to produce
ads without some early indication of how consumers will respond to them. There are many examples
of situations where the testing of creative concepts and even finished commercials has provided very
valuable input that was used to make modifications to an ad or campaign before it ran. Companies
that are spending millions in production and media costs want to be confident that their ads are going
to effectively communicate with consumers and will want to test them either through focus groups or
some other type of testing method. A very good article on this issue titled “Why the Traditional Focus
Group is Dying” can be found in the October 31, 2005 issue of Adweek, pp. 24-25, 32.
8. Assume that you have been hired as an account planner by an advertising agency and assigned to
work on the development of an advertising campaign for a new brand of bottled water. Describe the
various types of general and product-specific preplanning input you might provide to the creative
team. (L02)
General preplanning input includes overall information on trends, developments and conditions in the
marketplace that would be relevant to the marketing of the product. In the case of a new brand of
bottled water, the advertiser would want to know about a number of trends and developments
affecting the beverage market such as the increasing popularity of new age drinks. Information on the
changing lifestyles of consumers and how this might affect their beverage consumption would also be
relevant as would product specific information on the bottled water segment of the beverage market.
Product-specific preplanning input includes information that is directly relevant to the product or
service. Usage and attitude studies regarding bottled water users and nonusers in particular, could be
performed as well as psychographic studies. Problem detection studies could be performed to
determine what changes or improvements consumers would like to see in bottled water (e.g., taste,
flavors, nutritional supplements). The outcome of a problem detection study may provide input for
product improvements, reformulations, or new brands. It would also be important to have information
on the type of advertising being used by competitors such as Evian, Dasani, Arrowhead, Propel, and
other brands.
9. Discuss the role an advertising slogan plays in the development of an advertising campaign as well as
some of the factors that should be considered in developing an effective tagline. Find an example of a
good tagline as well as one that does not communicate effectively. Discuss the reasons why you view
these as either good or bad examples of advertising slogans. (L03)
An advertising slogan or tagline is used to express the central theme or message that is being
communicated in an advertising campaign. The slogan should serve as a summation line that
succinctly expresses the company or brand’s positioning, as well as the message it is trying to deliver
to the target audience. Marketing experts note that a good tagline must break through the advertising
clutter, differentiate the company or brand and be memorable. As noted in IMC Perspective 8-1, the
tagline is a hardworking collection of words that should give you that ‘aha’ moment every time you
see or hear it.” A slogan or tagline is the brand’s sound bite and is often all you can expect consumers
to remember. Long-time marketing executive Steve Cone argues that creating strong slogans is a
marketer’s most important job but today is a forgotten part of marketing planning. He suggest that
advertising messages should contain “powerlines”, or powerful taglines, which he describes as
“words that are well-chosen and have the power to awe, inspire, motivate, alienate, subjugate, and in
a marketing context, change the buying habits of consumers.” He argues that since we are bombarded
by so many advertising messages, a powerline can do the heavy lifting and break through all of the
sensory overload. Students should be encouraged to fine examples of slogans or taglines that they
think are very good or effective in meeting these criteria as well as those that do a poor job of

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Education.
Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

communicating because they use meaningless phrases that do little, if anything, to differentiate the
brand or company using it from their competitors or providing an identity for the brand.

10. IMC Perspective 8-2 discusses how Siemens developed the “Answers” campaign to increase
awareness of the company and create a stronger brand identity. Evaluate the big idea used for the
“Answers” campaign and discuss what other business-to-business marketers might learn from
analyzing this campaign. (L04)

The Siemens “Answers” campaign is a very good example of how big ideas are important for
business-to-business marketers as well as companies that are marketing their products to the
consumer market. The initial “Answers” campaign used an informative, solutions-focused approach
as the basis for the creative strategy and emotional imagery and copy that related Siemens product
offerings to the everyday lives of people. The second phase of the campaign was called “Somewhere
in America” and was designed to show how Siemens contributes to the local economy such as
through the construction and operation of manufacturing plants in various towns and regions. Many
large business-to-business companies are not very well known or understood by consumers since they
do not directly use their products or services. However, it is important for them to communicate with
consumers, many of whom are business people to whom they might eventually be trying to sell their
products and services. Many other B-to-B marketers such as IBM, Adobe, General Electric and
Xerox have used large scale advertising campaigns to build awareness of their companies and provide
the general public with a better understanding of what they do and how it might relate to their
personal lives, either directly or indirectly. Advertising Age covers B-to-B marketing on its website
and is a very good source for examples of effective campaigns.

11. Discuss the challenges Under Armour faces in the female market for exercise apparel. Evaluate the
strategy behind the “What’s Beautiful” campaign. Do you think this IMC campaign will be an
effective way to position Under Armour as a brand for women? Why or why not? (L04)

Under Armour faces a number of challenges in marketing its exercise apparel products to women.
First, the brand image for Under Armour was built around male-dominated sports such as football and
baseball, particularly the former. The original tagline for Under Armour was “We Must Protect This
House” and the advertising focused heavily on associating the brand with the raw emotion and
excitement of football. Although Under Armour expanded into other sports such as softball, lacrosse,
golf, tennis, basketball and running, the core of its brand identity has been more male-centric. Also, as
note in IMC Perspective 8-3, Under Armour was perceived by many women as a brand for serious
and elite athletes, which potentially alienated the real women who work out at fitness classes or alone
in the gym. Under Armour also faced competition from brands such as Lululemon which has been
focusing on women by creating apparel for specific activities such as yoga and Pilates as well as
Reebok which and been making aerobic shoes and apparel for women for many years.

The “What’s Beautiful” campaign was designed to juxtapose beauty and femininity alongside the
effort that women put forth in fitness classes as well as their own workouts. The campaign
encouraged women to post photos of themselves on social media as well as submit inspirational
stories that could be shared with other women. An important goal of the campaign was to challenge
the perception that Under Armour was only a brand for elite male athletes. The campaign included a
modified version of the iconic “Protect This House. I Will” tagline that was altered to “No Matter
What Sweat Every Day. I Will” and featured women working out intensely in Under Armour gear in
settings that would normally be associated with male athletes.

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Chapter 8 - Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

Under Armour is clearly trying to move beyond its original “shrink it and pink it” strategy whereby it
merely created smaller and more colorful versions of its men’s apparel to fit women’s bodies and
expanded its product line to include shorts, tops and sports bras. The company now recognizes that
the way it must communicate with women is quite different from the approach it has used for the
male market. However, the company faces a delicate balancing act as they must be careful not to
alienate their core male consumer as they market more to women.

12. Find an example of an ad or campaign that you think reflects one of the approaches used to develop a
major selling idea such as unique selling proposition, brand image, inherent drama, or positioning.
Discuss how the major selling idea is used in this ad or campaign. (L04)
Jeweler refers to the major selling idea as “the strongest singular thing you can say about your
product or service. This should be the claim with the broadest and most meaningful appeal to your
target audience.” O’Toole describes the big idea as the insight that synthesizes the product benefit
with consumer needs or desires. Major selling or big ideas should attract the consumers’ attention, get
a reaction, and differentiate the advertiser’s product or service from the competition. There are four
approaches discussed in the text for developing major selling ideas that can serve as the basis of the
creative strategy. These include the unique selling proposition, creation of a brand image, the use of
inherent drama and positioning. Students should bring in examples of ads that they feel are examples
of each approach to developing a major selling idea and describe the logic of their selection.

Additional Discussion Questions (not in text)

13. Explain what is meant by creative strategy and creative tactics in advertising. Find an example of an
advertising campaign and evaluate the creative strategy and tactics used in the ads.
Creative strategy determines what an advertising campaign and messages will say or communicate. It
is best viewed as a process that is designed for determining what the advertising should communicate
about the product or service and the big idea that will be used as the central theme of the advertising
campaign. Creative tactics focus on how the advertising campaign and messages will be
communicated with regard to areas such as various appeals and execution styles as well as the tactical
issues involved in the design and production of advertising. Students should be asked to find an
example of a current advertising campaign and evaluate the creative strategy and tactics used in the
ad. They should analyze the creative strategy in terms of the big idea used as the central theme of the
advertising campaign as well as the type of appeal, execution style and tactical elements used in the
individual ads that are part of the campaign.
14. Television commercials are often developed that rely on unusual creative tactics and have very
little relevance to the product or service being advertised. Creative personnel in agencies defend the
use of the strange messages by noting that they are novel and break through the clutter. Evaluate the
pros and cons of this argument
Creative personnel do face a major challenge as they must develop ads that will break through the
clutter that occurs in various media such as television, radio, online, magazines and newspapers and
grab the attention of the viewer, listener or reader. This can be particularly difficult in the broadcast
media and online as consumers watching TV, listening to radio or surfing the Internet are often trying
to avoid ads rather than pay attention to them. While consumers may be more receptive to
advertising in magazines or newspapers, the vast numbers of ads that appear in most publications
makes it very challenging for any one ad to get notices. Thus, creative personnel argue that they must
use novel tactics such as startling images, sexual or suggestive appeals or very irreverent ads that can
break through the clutter and get noticed by the consumer. It often appears that the goal of these ads is

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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 TOM REYNOLDS AND MORIYAMA.

“Fun,” exclaimed Tom Reynolds, “You couldn’t have more fun than
I had. No boy could stand it.”
This was said to a boy-friend after Tom had come home from
Japan.
And Tom was right. He had had a splendid time.
Tom Reynolds was an American boy, whose father was engaged
in business which made it necessary for him to visit Yokohama in
Japan. It is probable that he would not have thought of taking Tom
with him on this trip if it had not been for Moriyama. This yellow
youth put the idea into Tom’s head, and Tom, who was as good a
talker as he was a walker, which is saying a great deal, managed to
convince his father that nothing would be of as great advantage to
him as a journey to Japan.
School was nothing to a trip like this, Tom argued, and he argued
so much that the end of it was he went to Japan.
Moriyama was a Japanese boy, and a first-rate fellow. He was one
of the many Japanese youths who came to America to be educated,
and he went to Tom’s school.
There these two boys became great friends. Moriyama was a very
quick, bright youth. He could speak English very well, and he was
rather better at English grammar than most of the other fellows in
that school. The other fellows explained this by saying that Moriyama
didn’t know anything about our grammar except what he had learned
from books, and of course the books were right. But they had
learned their grammar from all sorts of people, ever since they were
little bits of chaps. And so they had learned all sorts of grammar, and
had a good deal to unlearn when they came to the school.
But the fact was that Moriyama was as thoroughly in earnest about
his studies as most boys are about base-ball. So it was no wonder
that he succeeded.
He was not a large boy nor was he very young. As Tom put it, he
was a good deal smaller than he was young. There were plenty of
fellows in the school who could have whipped him, if they had
wanted to, but they didn’t want to, for two reasons. He was a quiet,
obliging boy, who seldom offended any one, and if any one had tried
to whip him they would first have had to whip Tom Reynolds, which
was no easy job. Tom had a fist as heavy as one end of a dumb-bell,
and the muscles on his arms swelled up a good deal like the other
end of a dumb-bell.

FUSI-YAMA.
Moriyama’s time at school was up, and he had to go to Japan.
Tom’s time wasn’t up, but he promised to study ever so hard when
he came back—with his mind improved by travel—and so the three
of them, Tom, Tom’s father, and Moriyama, sailed for Yokohama.
This story will not be long enough for me to tell anything about the
journey—how they sailed from New York to Aspinwall, and went
across the Isthmus of Panama by railroad, and then took another
steamship and crossed the Pacific Ocean; and how, at last they
steamed up the bay of Yedo, and saw towering up to the sky, the
great extinct volcano, Fusi-yama, the sacred mountain of Japan.
I cannot even tell about their landing at Yokohama, nor even very
much about Tom’s adventures in Japan, but I can give you some of
his experiences, and if you ever meet him, he can tell you the rest.
And he will be very apt to do it, too, if you are the right kind of a boy
or girl, for Tom is a great talker, and very sociable.
When they arrived at Yokohama Tom’s father took lodgings for
himself and his son at the house of an American merchant in the
town, but Moriyama went into the country where his family lived.
Of course it was very natural that he should want to see his father
and mother, and brothers and sisters, but Tom could not help feeling
sorry about it. It would have been such a capital thing to have had
Moriyama to take him around at the very beginning of his visit, and
tell him about all the curious things he saw.
But Tom had to do his sight-seeing pretty much by himself, at first,
for his father was very busy, and the Americans that he met did not
have much time to go about with a boy.
But Tom was not a bad fellow to take care of himself, and as his
father engaged for him a horse and a betto, as a man who attends
horses in Japan is called, he had every opportunity of going about as
much as he wanted to.
When Tom’s horse was brought out for him the first time there
were two bettos in attendance. One of them had clothes enough on,
but the other one looked as if he were just ready to take a swim.
 JAPANESE BETTOS.
This fellow was the one who accompanied Tom wherever he went.
He was a good-natured man and very ready to talk, and if Tom could
have understood a word he said, he might have been very
interesting.
But they got along capitally together, and Tom rode about
Yokohama all day, and came home at night, and asked questions of
his father. In this way he got some information about the things he
had seen, but in many cases he had to make up theories of his own
about things. And some very curious theories he made.
There was a porter who had a lodge at the door of the house
where they lived, and he used to strike on a gong every time any one
entered. Sometimes he struck once, and sometimes two or three
times, and Tom could not imagine what he did it for. He might have
asked his father about this, but he made up his mind that he would
find it out for himself.
You must not suppose that Tom’s father was not a good-natured
man, or that he objected to giving information to his son. But the
truth was that Mr. Reynolds was not only very busy all day, and very
often at night, with his merchant friends, but he did not know a great
deal about Japanese life himself.
As soon as he had got through with the most pressing part of his
business, he intended to go about and see Japan. He had never
been there before.
At first Tom thought that when he heard one crack on the gong it
meant that that was the first time he had come in. But when he heard
only one stroke the second and the third time, while some other
people got two taps the first time they came, he knew that this must
be a mistake.
Before he found out what these taps really meant Moriyama
returned to town. Tom greeted him heartily enough, and as they went
into the house together that morning the porter struck, first two taps,
then one.
“What is that banging for?” cried Tom. “I’ve been trying to find out
ever so long, but it’s too much for me.”
“Why two taps are for me and one is for you,” said Moriyama.
“How’s that?”
“He taps once for a citizen or a merchant,” said Moriyama, “and
twice for an officer or an interpreter—I didn’t tell you I had been
appointed an interpreter since I returned—and for a governor or a
consul he’d strike three times, and four times for an admiral or higher
officer.”
“Once for me and twice for you,” said Tom. “What a fool the man
must be!”
“He does what he has to do, according to our laws,” said
Moriyama.
“But anybody ought to know better than that,” cried Tom. “Look
here! I’m going to talk to him and then you can interpret what I say,
Mr. Two-taps.”
So Tom stepped up to the porter and remarked:
“I say old shaven head——how many bangs would he give for the
Prince of Wales, Moriyama?”
“Four, I think.”
“Well then, old fellow, princes belong to the set that they take kings
from, and I belong to the set that they take presidents from, and so
we’re even, and I want you to pound four times every time I come in
the house. Do you hear that? Tell him it, upside down, Moriyama.”
Moriyama, who was laughing at this speech, said something to the
porter in Japanese, but I do not think that he translated Tom’s words.
But Tom never got but one bang when he came in, though he used
to shake his fist at the porter every time he heard it.
Moriyama was very anxious that Tom should visit Yedo with him,
and so after a few days spent in further sight-seeing in Yokohama,
the two friends set off for the metropolis of Japan.
 ENTRANCE TO A JAPANESE TAVERN.

They traveled on horseback accompanied by their bettos and

other servants. They rode along the Tokaido, or great highway of
Japan, and they were by no means the only travelers, for the road
was crowded with foot passengers, men on horseback, and people
in palanquins. The whole road was one lively scene, and to Tom it
was a very interesting one. And the best of it was, that there was
nothing, no matter how curious or outlandish, that Moriyama could
not explain to him.
 They stopped on the way at a tavern, which was rather different
from anything of the kind that Tom had ever imagined.
When they reached the door they found a group of three or four
persons examining the goods of a man who seemed to be a peddler.
He was very anxious that his goods—and he did not seem to have
many of them—should be appreciated, and the bystanders were
quietly and earnestly listening to what he had to say.
But no one took notice of the newly arrived party.
After a little while, the landlord made his appearance, and though
he seemed glad to see them, and brought them a few eggs and
some other trifling refreshments, he soon went away again, and they
saw no more of him until several hours later when they took their
leave.
But their own servants cooked them a good dinner of things they
had with them, and seemed to make themselves perfectly at home in
the household of the tavern.
Tom said it was a good deal like working your passage on a ship,
but Moriyama could see no objection to it. He was sure, he said, that
he would rather be waited on by his own servants than by any one
likely to be found at a roadside tavern, and he was sure their own
provisions were better than anything likely to be found there.
This was all true enough, but Tom could not help thinking what a
row would be kicked up in an American tavern, no matter how small
and mean it might be, if the guests brought their own provisions, and
cooked them in the tavern kitchen.
They stopped at other places, at one tea-house in particular,
where there were plenty of waiters, plenty of guests, and a very
great plenty of tea.
They were two days on the road, although the distance was only
about thirty miles.
It is impossible to tell one half that these two boys did and saw in
Yedo.
 They saw all sorts of shops, with curious signs, tea-houses
thronged with customers; people at work at various trades—in
workshops that were entirely exposed to the view of passers-by, and
almost everything arranged in a different way from what Tom thought
was right and proper.

JAPANESE BLACKSMITHS.
Here were a couple of blacksmiths with scarcely a stitch of clothes
on, sitting down to their work, and one of them blowing the bellows
with his heel.
 LITTLE JUGGLERS IN STREETS OF YEDO.
Then they came upon a troupe of boy-jugglers directed by a man
who sang horribly sounding words in a rasping voice, while he
played upon a tambourine with two drum-sticks.
The boys’ heads were stuck into bags surmounted by hideous
masks, and as they twisted themselves into all sorts of distorted
positions, one of them standing on his hands on the stomach of
another, who leaned backwards until his hands touched the ground,
Tom thought they would certainly dislocate their spines.
He had turned many a handspring, and was quite expert on the
horizontal bar at the gymnasium, but he never saw such body-
twisting as this.
He would have watched these boys as long as they chose to
perform, if Moriyama had not forced him away to look at other things.
 They visited the parade ground,
where they saw the soldiers drilling
and practising with swords and
muskets. The Japanese soldiers
now use firearms, but they still carry
one or two of their old-fashioned
swords, and when they are in full
costume they wear paper hats.
Some of the fencing was very
interesting to Tom. He had fenced a
little at home, himself, but this
vigorous work with swords was new
to him.

JAPANESE SOLDIER.
 NOON SCENE ON A JAPANESE CANAL.
The weather was quite warm during Tom’s visit to Yedo, and about
the middle of the day the streets—especially the canals which take
the place of streets, presented a very peculiar scene. Scarcely a soul
was visible. Empty boats were fastened all along the shores, and all
the houses, glistening in the hot sun, seemed as if they had been
deserted. Not a sound was to be heard; and it was but very seldom
that a moving thing was to be seen.
It was very much, as Tom said, like the enchanted city in the
Arabian Nights, where all the inhabitants were changed into stone.
“But if you were to go poking about into some of those houses,”
said Moriyama, “you’d soon find that these people are not changed
into stone.”
Here and there the boys could see, between the screens that
stood at the entrances of the houses, the people inside eating their
dinners. The straw table-cloth—if there can be such a thing where
there is no table—was always spread upon the floor, and the family
sat around it eating rice. Sometimes they had meat or fish and
vegetables, but Moriyama said their principal food was rice. And
from the way they were eating it, they seemed to like it.
One night the boys went out on one of the many bridges in the
city, and saw hundreds of small boats cruising about in all directions,
with different colored lanterns hung about them; and besides these
there were rafts from which fireworks were continually set off. The
scene was charming, and Tom would have enjoyed it thoroughly had
it not been for the music. This was so unearthly and hideous that
poor Tom would have put his fingers in his ears had he not been
afraid of offending the people around him.
But before he left Japan he became used to this music, and
sometimes even fancied that he could make out some kind of a tune
from the curious sounds of the samsins and the gottos, which are
Japanese guitars and harps.
One day the boys saw a very jolly sort of a game which Tom
determined to introduce in his school when he returned to the United
States.
A long cable was stretched over one of the bridges, and two
parties were formed, with about a hundred men in each.
One of these parties went to one end of the bridge and the other to
the opposite end, and then the men seized the rope, and each party
endeavored to pull the other over the bridge.
They pulled and tugged and yelled, until one side, finding that it
was losing ground, suddenly, at a signal, let go the rope and over
backwards went every man on the other side, pell-mell in one great
kicking heap. Sometimes, Moriyama said, the rope broke and then
everybody went over backward.
When the game was finished, they all went off laughing to some of
the nearest tea-houses, and had a jolly time together, friends and
enemies, all in the same crowd.
 Among the most interesting places visited was a Japanese school.
This was the rarest school that Tom ever saw. The little shaven-
headed boys and girls were all seated on the floor, and the master
sat on the floor too. In front of him was an affair like a stunted music-
stand, on which he put his book, and the old tyrant leaned forward
and cracked the bad boys with his fan. Think of an American teacher
whipping his scholars with a fan.
Some of the youngsters were bare-footed, and some wore
stockings made something like mittens, with a separate place for the
big toe. The books were full of such a curious mixture of what
seemed to Tom like black blots and scratches that he thought the
Japanese youngsters must be extraordinarily smart to be able to
make any sense out of them.
When Tom heard that these characters were read from top to
bottom of the page instead of across he expressed the opinion that
the Japanese probably added up their letters as they stood in the
columns so as to find out what the whole thing came to.
The more he learned about the language of Japan, its different
dialects, and its two alphabets, the greater became his respect for
those who obtained a Japanese education.
“It must take you all your lives to learn how to read and write,” said
he to Moriyama.
“We believe,” said the Japanese boy, “that it takes all of a person’s
life to learn anything.”
 A JAPANESE SCHOOL.
That this was a common opinion in Japan Tom soon found out for
himself. Whatever the trade or profession in which a man was
engaged, he seemed to have been at it all his life, and ten to one his
father and his great-grandfather before him had followed the same
business, and each one of the family had given so much time and
attention to his business that he became almost perfect in it—as far
as Japanese perfection went.
 JAPANESE WRESTLERS.
For instance Tom went to a wrestling match, where the wrestlers,
great powerful fellows, all belonged to a tribe or guild that according
to their account, had existed ever since the third year of the first
Mikado, which in our chronology would be the year 658 B.C.
 JAPANESE BALANCING FEATS.

At any rate, they were men whose ancestors for hundreds of years
had been wrestlers, and they themselves gave up all their time and
thought to the attainment of perfection in their art.
 Consequently they were splendid wrestlers.
Other gymnastic performers were equally proficient in different
lines. Some of them had great long noses fitted to their faces, and on
these noses they balanced themselves and each other, and did
many other astonishing feats.
One man laid on his back supporting on one foot a fellow who
stood on his nose, while, on the prostrate man’s nose, another man
stood, balancing on his nose an umbrella, while he kept five or six
balls flying in the air, catching each one as it fell and tossing it up
again, never allowing one of them to drop.
Each of these performers, no matter what else he was doing, held
a fan in one hand, which was kept constantly in motion.
And in all the performances there was never a mishap or a
mistake. Every man was absolutely perfect in his part.
When Tom went back to Yokohama he told his father that he had
made up his mind that he was going to be absolutely perfect in some
one thing. If the Japanese could succeed in this, he was sure he
could.
He had not made up his mind what he would do, but it was to be
something.
His father commended this resolution, and suggested arithmetic.
Tom did not feel altogether certain about arithmetic, but as soon as
he could think of a good thing, he intended to commence the study
of perfection.
When his father laughed a little at his enthusiasm Tom said that
one great difficulty would be that he was afraid he could not find out
what his father and grandfather had been perfect in. If he could do
that, it would help him very much.
But we cannot mention all the curious things that Tom and
Moriyama saw in Japan.
It would require a book to tell about the wonderful processions,
such as that of the white elephant, which, by the way, Tom thought
was a real animal, until he saw that its legs did not move, and that
under each of its feet were two human legs belonging to the men
who carried the huge stuffed creature—and the many other strange
things that they saw in the streets and houses of Japan.

PROCESSION OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT.

Suffice it to say, that since Tom came home—and it has been

some years since his trip to Japan—he has earnestly endeavored to
discover what particular thing it would be best for him to learn
thoroughly and completely.
I am not sure that he has even yet made up his mind upon the
subject, but he is convinced that if his experience among the
Japanese had no better effect than to teach him that to know how to
do something perfectly well, it is greatly to be desired, and well worth
striving for—no matter how much time and toil it may require.
 LUMINOUS INSECTS.

The fire-flies that flit about so merrily on our pleasant summer

evenings, emit little sparkles of light, that seem like tiny stars, shining
among the grass and trees. Sometimes the air is full of these
twinkling lights, which are very pretty, though not sufficiently brilliant
to help us to find our way on a dark night, or to bring into our houses
to save the expense of candles or kerosene.

HUT LIGHTED BY BEETLES.

Occasionally we see, at night, in the grass by the roadside, or in a
field, a very small trail of a bright-green light; and, on stooping down
to examine into this singular appearance, we find on the ground an
insignificant little ugly worm, to which Nature has given the power of