Creating Print Ads

Kruti Shah @ SEMCOM

Aug 2, 2010
 Creating a print ad
• Skills required
– Creative writing, visualisation, designing, etc.
Layout
 Layout
• “The art director’s counterpart of a blueprint or a
map to roughly lay and size various print elements
like headlines, visuals, body copy and brand logo”

• Communication tool for various creative personnel

– Get an idea of the overall design & where their piece will
stand

• Print ads begin by finalizing the layout

 Layout
• Formats are shortcuts to thinking about alternative
arrangements

• All layouts are not appropriate in all situations

• However, not just 1 single best layout

• Arrange your visual, headline and copy – in that

order of importance
Copywriting
 Functions of headlines
• Grab readers’ attention
– ‘What would you like to be when you grow up? “Alive!”
said Bholu’

• Encourage readership of body copy

– “What the opposite sex wants”

• Select the prime prospect

– “Do you own a small business?”
– ‘Single?’
 Functions of headlines
• Offer a benefit
– “Wherever you go, our network follows”
– “mosquito mosquito mosquito mosquito”

• Emotionally connect with the customer

– “We’re #2. We try harder.”
– “Made for each other. Smoking and cancer.”
 Functions of headlines
• Summarize the selling proposition

• Enhance a visual
– Proline, “Are your friends seeing more of you than
ever before?”
Headlines
 Let’s practice!
• Ahmedabad Red Cross is organizing a blood
donation drive on 15th August 2010. Write a
headline for a billboard that will encourage
people to donate blood.
 Body copy
• Text of an ad used to:
– Develop the message presented by the headline
– State arguments to corroborate a claim
– Provide explanation
– Recapitulate the evidence

• Read by < 10% audience, but very imp

 Body copy
• Highest attention to opening & closing paras

• Fns of opening & closing paras

 Copywriting approaches
• The customary approach
– First para links the headline w/ the rest of the
paras
– Entice, emphasize, invite
– Usually in the words of an anonymous source
• The dialogue approach
– More common in broadcast media
– Readers listen in
– Direct speech works better
Headline: "I treat my skin harshly,
Bodycopy: they told me. Nonsense, I
replied. I've been using this soap all my
life. We'll prove it's harsh, they said,
with a smile. I took out my soap. They
took out a pH paper. In front of my eyes,
the pH paper turned blue. I of course
turned red. (You see the pH paper turns
blue only when it touches a harsh
soap.) They then tested Dove. The
colour surprisingly didn't change. Not
one to give up easily, defiantly I told
them, my skin is super smooth. They
just smiled and said, try Dove, you'll
know the difference.”

-Aditi Puri, after taking the Dove

Mildness Test.
 Copywriting approaches
• The story approach
– Stories, narrations and fiction involve readers
– Set a scene and carve characters
– In first or third person voice
– Readers infer the moral of the story

• The poetic approach

– Poem tells it all
 Headline: -
                 
                Subhead: Here is the story of Brain and
Drain, a tale to be told again and again.

Brain is the wise one who saves for

tomorrow,

Drain is a spender headed for sorrow.

Brain knows only a Mutual Fund balances

risks and returns.

Drain dabbles in the stock market and, ouch!

his finger he burns.

Bodycopy: Understanding the complexities of

finance is certainly difficult. One wrong decision
could lead to many problems. Let a mutual fund
manager step in. He can offer various schemes
based on your risk-taking capacity and financial
goals. For instance, you could choose a high-risk
high-gain equity fund. Or opt for the low-gain
low-risk debt fund. To benefit from both, you can
also invest into a balanced fund. For more details,
contact your nearest Mutual Fund office today.

Baseline: Soch hamari. Fayda aapka.

Agency: Bates
Client: SBI Mutual Fund

Source: www.agencyfaqs.com
Daer papa,
 
my taecher says wriet one stori to papa. I remebmer you uesd to say, teling lice no papa, so I wil tel onlee
turth. that day you got mee choclaet no, on that day, I met one unkel. veri nyce unkel. he hav long wihte
hiar. at frist I dint undrestnad whaht he say. he ask mee name. I tel my naem snow white. he tel mee hiss
naem shaykspeer. he tel mee he nose maagic. I laaf. he assk mee waht you waant. I tel icekreem. he gaev
mee one biiiiiiig cone icekreem. I lick it veri mucch. I ask hym whare your hoem. he tel ingland. I ask, how
faar from my skool. he say veri faar. befour saying tata byebye, he aask me waht gift I waant. I tel hym Iyam
veri baad at sepelling. he smyled. toled mee wehn you want to sepell rihgt, juss saay shaykspeer twise. I say
ok. he suddnnly plaay hyde an seek. I search four him. He nott their. I tol teecher about unkel. she laaf at
me. that iss my stori. You bileave me no papa. I no my sepelling stil badd. May b I wil do what unkel said.
Saay shaykspeer. shaykspeer. I have said Shakespeare twice. I don't know whether my spelling has
improved. My teacher wants to read my story papa. So I have to say, THE END, now.

Huggies and kisses,

Snow White
 
Every child has a tale to tell. Time you listened to yours.
Issued for busy papas on Children's Day.
The baseline read: Clothes with a twist
Headline: Bakwaas advertising
First class bread

Bodycopy: Laloo called me. Said "See how I have swung election
Ab ki baari who can stop Rabri ki selection?"

I said "Hold your horses. You have been smug lately

Do not underestimate what can be done by that Jaitley."

With Uma on the scene, things will be hot in Bihar

I believe your candidate list is like roll-call from Tihar

Bihar poll will be dirty sir. It will not be nice

It is not clean and healthy like Harvest Gold di slice

Baseline: Delhi's no.1 Bread

Client: Harvest Gold
 Copywriting approaches
• The bulleted approach

– Create a roster of product advantages or features

– When a lot of points, technical or not, need to be
made without much elaboration
– Drive home the ‘plentiful-ness’ of
benefits/features by listing them all together
Tips for aspiring copywriters
Sometimes, you need space.
Chairs in which you simply want to sit on a decision.
Tables on which the only agenda is a Himalayan apple.
Space. You need yours. Try ours.
… Where the mind is at rest.

Sometimes, you need space.

In which to take your worries for a little walk.
And allow the mind to float. Without getting wet.
Space. You need yours. Try ours.
… Where the mind is at rest.
The Park Hotel
Tips for aspiring copywriters
You’re at heart a simple man.
You love hearing the sound of a pebble breaking the stillness of water.
You like playing ‘catch me’ with the tide, and losing.
 
To you, a child licking the cream off a biscuit is a trip down memory lane.
Happiness to you is surprising your wife with a paan after dinner,
or spending time with your kids on a Sunday afternoon.
 
Your motto has always been simpler the better.
There’s no reason why you shouldn’t stay that way.
 
The simplest car to drive. Santro zipPlus Automatic.
Tips for aspiring copywriters
Tips for aspiring copywriters
 Tips for aspiring copywriters
• Think visually
– The layout, the space allocated, the composite
picture…
• Love your product
– David Ogilvy, “There are no dull products, only dull
writers.”
• Be specific
– “India’s best cuisine available at our fine restaurant.”
– “Perfect for any occasion.”
Tips for aspiring copywriters
Bodycopy: Jungle safari. A round
of golf. Now enjoy both on the
same holiday.
Bodycopy: Unbelievable
stiffening power.

Baseline: Super Kadak.

 Let’s practice!
• Think of an appealing visual that could go with
this ad:
– Organization: WWF
– Headline: Fashion claims more victims than you
think.
– Baseline: Save the animals