Creative Advertising Thesis Title

Creative advertising thesis
Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration
Aleksey Narko
The High School of Business – National Louis University
Poland, Nowy Sącz, 2012

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Thanks to everyone who helped me in creating this “piece of art”. In particular my parents who
urged me all the time and helped me fight with my laziness, my promoter professor Widlak for
his valuable advices and good cooperation and French writer Frederic Beigbeder, who inspired
me to write this thesis by his book 99 Francs.
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Abstract
The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the role of creativity in advertising, how it works and
what is its effect on the general public. Theoretical part of the thesis explains what creativity is,
presents creative advertising as one of the essential parts of modern marketing and describes the
usage of creative techniques in promotion by Benetton brand of clothing. Empirical part
investigates opinions of the respondents on the topic of the costs, effectiveness and influence of
advertisements, in particular creative ones with the example of Benetton. The research shows
that advertising is a powerful method to influence consumers’ buying decision and there is a
moderate relationship between quality of advertising and quality of the product. Moreover the
results show that word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective and one of the cheapest ways
to advertise the product or service, while billboards and internet webpages ads seem to be the
most visible to the public. More than 45% of the consumers see the substantial relationship
between the money spent on advertising and product sales. 40% of the respondents have never
heard or don’t know much about creative advertising, 70% of them agree that creative ads are
more effective than traditional ones and almost the same number of the respondents knows
Benetton brand of clothing. Only 20% of the respondents that know Benetton brand admit that
their ads are neither interesting nor special.

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction..................................................................................................................5
1.1 Topic .......................................................................................................................................5
1.2 Problem ...................................................................................................................................6
1.3 Assumptions ............................................................................................................................6
1.4 Objectives ................................................................................................................................7
Chapeter 2 What is Creativity ........................................................................................................8
2.1 Theory and Stages of Creativity ...............................................................................................8
2.2 How is creativity born? ...........................................................................................................10
2.3 Divergent and Convergent thinking ........................................................................................13
2.3.1 Divergent thinking ...............................................................................................................14
Chapter 3 Advertising....................................................................................................................15
3.1 Creative advertising ................................................................................................................19
3.2 Guerilla Marketing ..................................................................................................................23
Chapter 4 Examples of Creative Advertising …………………………………………………...26
4.1 The Crazy Ones ......................................................................................................................26
4.2 Anti-Slavery ............................................................................................................................27
4.3 Harley Davidson. Stop Dreaming ...........................................................................................29
4.4 Mountain Degustation in the city ............................................................................................30
4.5 Narcotics-piss on them! ……………………………………………………………………..31
4.6 Before you turn away put yourself in my place ……………………………………………..32
4.7 Smart Eball ………………………………………………………………………………….34
Chapter 5 Case study of Benetton advertising campaigns ………………………………………35
Chapter 6 Research. Recognition of traditional and creative marketing techniques among the
consumers ……………………………………………………………………………………….41
6.1 The goal and methods of the research ………………………………………………………41
6.2 Sample ………………………………………………………………………………………41
6.3 Data Analysis ………………………………………………………………………………..44
Chapter 7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................57
7.1 Work Conclusion ....................................................................................................................57
Literature .......................................................................................................................................59

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List of tables and figures ………………………………………………………………………...64
Annex 1: Questionnaire designed for the study………………………………………………….65

1. Introduction

1.1. Topic

Every day, whether we want it or not, we are exposed to a huge variety of advertisements. TV,
radio, billboards, magazines and newspapers, and these are not the only places that modern ads
have occupied. However not all of them get to be processed by our brain, only very little
percentage of them are indeed successful and effective.1 Therefore those advertisements that are
made to catch people’s attention have something unforgettable inside. They should make the
observer extremely interested, surprised and even sometimes confused.

The majority of copywriters agree that creativity is extremely important in advertising and it
usually works more effectively in catching the interests of the customers than all the other
techniques, put together. 2

The originality of the ad makes it more recognizable, better able to beat the competition and
more successful on the market.3 Creative ads typically win most of the awards, and are usually
seen as the most effective ones.
It is quite interesting that more and more companies are specializing in creating original ads
nowadays as they see that the more time and money they invest in this technique the more
curiosity and intrigue they invoke among their customers, which, later on converts into greater
sales.

Creative ads are remembered after their first public appearance.1

1
INMA. 2005.How Well do We Remember the Advertisements We See? Brussels: INMA Advertising Effectiveness and Research Seminar.
Available from: http://www.inma.org/modules/article/index.cfm?action=articleView&articleId=36228&isSearch=false&criteria [Accessed 10
May 2012]

2
Pollitt, L., 2007. Copywriting and the Role of Creativity 1. Learning Curve. Available from: http://ezinearticles.com/?Copywriting-and-the-
Role-of-Creativity-1&id=626951 [Accessed 15 May 2012]

3
Mutua, A., 2008. Advertising and the importance of originality. Helium. Available from: http://www.helium.com/items/1135697-originality-in-
advertising?page=2 [Accessed 7 May 2012]

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The topic of creativity in advertisement is very interesting, but from my point of view, not
enough research has been done in this area. In my work I want to concentrate on creativity in
advertisement, its importance in the ad industry, the process involved in producing such
commercials and the benefits of using this technique.

1.2. Problem

How to define creativity? It is not something tangible that we can see, feel, or hear. It is not
something obvious that is easy to understand and explain. Is it our feeling when we want to
create something unique and original or it is just the way of making things unforgettable? There
are many ways in which human beings can be creative, but is it really the same when we are
dealing with advertising? How can we differentiate a creative person from a normal one? Can we
learn how to be creative or does it come naturally over time? Is there a noncreative way to the
creative idea?

How to define effective advertising? Is it all the information about the product that is occupying
customers’ minds or it is just the ads in the newspaper, radio, television? Is it possible to create
an original, creative advertisement that everybody will like?

How to define the role of creativity in advertisement? Is it present ,to some degree, in all
advertisements, or only in the most famous ones? Does creativity exist only in some parts of the
ad or can it be present throughout the ad?

1.3. Hypothesis

The main goal of any advertisement is to boost the sales, raise the share, improve the results,
position, importance and brand name of the sponsor in the market. If we take into account that
creativity is one of the most valuable, effective and unique techniques that makes advertisement
really bring the money to the sponsor, it becomes really crucial in ad production. Therefore
advertising agencies do their best to find really creative people to work for them and later on

1
Thomas, J., 2008. Advertising Effectiveness. Decision Analyst. Available from: http://www.decisionanalyst.com/publ_art/adeffectiveness.dai
[Accessed 15 May 2012]

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cherish them a lot as they are the most important workforce in the company. Their creative ideas
doesn’t come out easily thus they are worth the weight of gold. Researchers have estimated that
a winning creative idea can generate a sales increase of up to five times, controlling for the same
budget, product, distribution, and other marketing effords.1

H1:Non-creative ads are not so successful as their creative opponents.

Creative and original ideas play important role in producing successful and popular
advertisements as well as improving the brand image of advertising agencies in the market. That
is why the amount of money and effort invested into creative ideas corresponds a lot with the
recognition of the product or service we promote and therefore the profit gained from its sales.

H2: Creativity is the most important feature of advertisement.

The process of creation and fulfillment of an advertising is “homogenous”. Either the
copyrighters start from original, unusual idea and create the creative concept from the scratch till
the very end of it or make their usual work of making a standard product that won’t differentiate
too much from hundreds of thousand ads created all over the world every year.

H3: Creativity can be found during all the stages of advertising process.

1.4. Objectives

The main goal of this diploma thesis is to find out what is the dependence between the success of
advertising project and its level of creativity. The other aim is to find which creative advertising
techniques are the most effective in putting our ad into the “hall of fame”. The techniques and
processes involved in creative advertising will also be presented in my work. I will try to prove
that the effect of advertising creativity is enormous and brings amazing results. I will show that
the original projects are more noticeable and find a better place in human minds and target
groups than the standard ones therefore improving the results of advertising campaigns.

1
West, Douglas C., “360 of Creative Risk”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 39, nº 1, January/February 1999, p. 39.

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2. What is Creativity?
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks,
breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou Cook
2.1. Theory and stages of creativity.

Creativity is in the air, everywhere I look around …My interpretation of John Paul Young’s song
is also some kind of creativity, which is, generally-speaking, the ability to come up with
improved or completely unexpected and new ideas. These ideas come from untraditional way of
thinking which is also a unique way of solving most of the problems that occur in our day-to-day
basis.

According to the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study, which surveyed 1,500 Chief Executive Officers
from 60 countries and 33 industries worldwide, CEOs believe that, “more than rigor,
management discipline, integrity or even vision – successfully navigating an increasing complex
world will require creativity.1”That is why it is extremely important in our daily life.
Albert Rothenberg and Carl Hausman view creativity as follows “Creativity consists of the
capacity for, or state of, bringing something into being, and bringing something into being
involves at least three separable components: an agent, a process, and a product” 2

Bohm (1968), on the other hand, sees creativity as something impossible to define in words.3
But, nevertheless, this, something that we can describe, see or feel is present in all kind of
different fields like science, writing, music etc. “The artist, the musical composer, the architect,
the scientist, etc., all feel a fundamental need to discover and create something new” (Bohm
1968)

1
IBM 2010 Global CEO Study., 2010. Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success. IBM. Available from:
http://www.ibm.com/news/ca/en/2010/05/20/v384864m81427w34.html [Accessed 15 May 2012]

2
Albert Rothenberg & Carl Hausman (1976) The Creativity Question, Durham N.C. Duke University Press.

3
Bohm.D., 1968. On Creativity. Leonardo, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Apr., 1968), pp. 137-149.

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Leo Burnett an established advertising copywriter defines creativity as: “the art of establishing
new and meaningful relationships between previously unrelated things in a manner that is
relevant, believable and in good taste”1 David Ogilvy, British advertising executive, also called
as “the father of advertising” defined creativity as “Seeing something new when you look at
something old; it is all heart of civilization and is the driving force of revolution.”2 It is a unique
and very practical combination of concepts that previously seemed to be unrelated.
From the standpoint of psychology creativity is a special artistic ability, which is in all its
manifestations based on a cognitive process such as imagination. Abraham Maslow, famous
psychologist, who examined human’s creativity a lot, divided it into two stages: primary and
secondary creativeness.3 Primary creativeness appears from unconscious and is the source of
new discovery. This is a divergence component of creativity. Secondary creativeness is mainly
based on common sense, logic and reasoning and is built upon previous knowledge. This is a
relevance component.

Imagination - is the mental process of creating images of objects or actions by recombination
into new mixture of existing human knowledge and experience.4 Based on this determination,
creativity - is the creation of unexpected but appropriate image.

Ideas appearing in the process of imagination are not created out of nothing, but from the
experience and knowledge possessed by people. They come with time and life experience.
Therefore the search for ideas usually starts with the preparation phase, which is, collecting the
maximum amount of information about the problem to be solved and the existing situation. The
man is working hard, analyzing the problem, looking for similar examples, trying to solve it.
If a fully satisfying solution is found quickly, then comes the stage of frustration. At this
moment the process is stumbling on something like a dead end: it went through all the options,

1
Blasko, Vincent J. and Michael P. Mokwa (1986), "Creativity in Advertising: A Janusian Perspective," Journal of Advertising, 15 (4),
43-50, 72.
2
A2zmba., 2010. Advertising Project report MBA. Available from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21006568/Creativity-in-Advertising-project-
report [Accessed 16 May 2012]

3
Bergquist, C., 2007. A comparative view of Creativity theories: psychoanalytic, behavioristic, and humanistic. Vantage Quest. Available from:
http://www.vantagequest.org/trees/comparative.htm#.T9NFJ83QRWF [Accessed 16 May 2012]

4
Mendizza, M., 1992. Discovering Imagination. Part III. Once upon a time. Touch the future. Available from:
http://ttfuture.org/files/2/pdf/mm_imagination03.pdf [Accessed 16 May 2012]

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but none of them is the right one. This is a natural stage of work, as a good solution almost never
comes up at once. Often it is accompanied by a decrease in mood and fatigue. In addition, it
serves as a signal that there are internal barriers to the creative process, inhibiting it. It may be
conscious and unconscious stereotypes and "taboos", personal complexes or irrational beliefs.
The next stage is incubation.1 It starts when the man stops the conscious work on the problem,
and this possibility is given to the subconscious part. Accordingly, the task of "transferred" from
the left hemisphere to the right. If the motivation to find a solution persists, then in the right
hemisphere continues the process of active search for information and combining the total
volume of knowledge and experience gathered during the life of man. Therefore it is extremely
important for the creative process that both hemispheres have been sufficiently developed: the
one, that is responsible for logic (left) and the other one that is responsible for intuition (right).

When the unconscious work of brain comes to the end the insight or inspiration appears. This is
a short-term, but most emotionally charged stage of the creative process, when the right solution
or idea “suddenly” comes in the field of consciousness. Insight is often accompanied by strong
positive emotions, the revival and strengthening of the motivation to work on the task.
Development - the final stage of the creative process. It is a process of testing, developing and
expanding the boundaries of the solution found.

2.2. How creativity is born?
Creativity is something unpredictable, extremely rare, but can be found in any of us. It is our
way that would never become a technology. This way is different for everyone. For example for
most of us the best time to forget about anything and concentrate is while taking a shower,
especially in the morning or right after work, when we are free and our head is not clogged with
lots of unnecessary information. It seems to be funny, but according to Nina Disesa, chairman of
McCann Erickson such little things as water consumption can also drive us to meditate and have
a good idea:” Because when you drink a lot of water, you go to the bathroom, and when you
come back you say to your partner, ”Hey, I just got an idea.” Some ideas come to you when you
least expect them, but on others you should work a lot.2

1
Dana W. Moore, Rafeeque A. Bhadelia, Rebecca L. Billings, Carl E. Fulwiler, Kenneth M. Heilman, Kenneth M. J. Rood, and David A.
Gansler. "Hemispheric connectivity and the visual-spatial divergent-thinking component of creativity" Brain and cognition 70.3 (2009).

2
William M. O'Barr., 2007. Creativity in Advertising. The Advertising Educational Foundation. Available from:
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/asr/v008/8.4unit15.html [Accessed 16 May 2012]

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Forming creative ideas is the process of obtaining an original one. William Miller, president of
Global Creativity, shared all the creative people working in advertising, in four groups, each of
which uses one of four innovation styles:

- The style of the imagination: people think about the end result and work towards what they
want to create;
- Modifying the style: people prefer to go step by step, based on previously acquired knowledge;
- The style of the experiment: people are experimenting, testing, answering questions about a
product or target market;
- A style of research: people go on risk, therefore ready for radical change1

However in real life creativity professional use not only one, but a combination of the methods
mentioned above in order to get better results.

According to James Young, author of "Technology of production of ideas, "ability to produce
new combinations is increasing the ability to see relationships.” 2Idea - a thought which is
obtained by combining the concepts that were not previously associated with each other. This
connection creates a new vision of things. There is a sort of "shift in consciousness," in which
opinion is born from a different angle; there is another point of view on an already existing
object. For example, you may receive the name of the juice, which emphasizes the positive
character traits of the consumer that will emerge after drinking a glass of juice ("Good").
It is known that there are so-called barriers to creative thinking, but there are techniques
designed to help create ideas. Search for a brilliant creative solution by trial and error - a waste
of time and money.

Often most of these methods are ineffective in a professional environment. Therefore, each
specialist in advertising generates its own effective search procedures to generate inspiration and
brilliant ideas. For example, the following scheme is well-proved: 1) brainstorming session to
determine the overall strategic direction of the advertising campaign, 2) relaxation, and 3) the

1
William, M., 1989. Validation of the Innovations Styles profile. Available from: http://innovationstyles.com/isinc/files/74/download.aspx
2
Young, W. James., Ideas are new combinations. Available from: http://tech.moosaico.com/docs/getting-ideas/ideas-are-new-combinations.html

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results of brainstorming "recycled" through individual construction associations, 4) a discussion
of ideas ready-made by the creative team.1 Choosing the way to generate the creative idea
depends a lot on the person, but still the most important part of generating creative ideas is based
on the knowledge. Most of the creative professionals are checking their competitors. They are
getting inspired by their successes and desire to create something better, more famous and
effective. They are motivated by reading interesting books, watching movies, going to the
museums. Sometimes it is a fascinating talk with close friends, or somebody’s stupid joke,
boring theatrical performance or new love.

According to the research made by Jonah Lehrer imagination and good ideas come to people
more often either when they haven’t slept enough or a bit drunk.2 The brain damage increases the
ability to solve complex creative tasks. The creative potential of the damaged brain reveals
something important about the mind: a man, who cannot focus, draws attention to the seemingly
useless information and listens to all the abstract and distant associations within. It turns out to
be much easier for a person to find a solution when he has no control over his thoughts. Inability
to concentrate helps the imagination. Confusion caused by alcohol or lack of sleep, does not
allow us to ignore various unexpected thoughts and long-term associations, which are essential
components of creative thinking.

With the original idea you never know when to expect it. Sometimes the thought comes to mind
zigzag: passing over the heads of all the brainstorm participants. Sometimes it is drawn in pencil
on a leaf, and being glued on the keyboard. Sometimes it comes with dreams. Sometimes it
pierces the head pin - so that you can’t work on anything else except it. Sometimes runs away to
the other side of the road in order to disappear in the air later on for months or years..
Every small detail can cause creative ideas to appear in our mind.

1
Bradley, S., 2010, How To Gather Inspiration and Generate Ideas. Available from: http://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/inspiration-
ideas/ [Accessed 17 May 2012]
2
Lehrer, J., 2012. How to Be Creative. The Wall Street Journal. Available from:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577265632205015846.html [Accessed 17 May 2012]

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2.3. Divergent and Convergent thinking

According to the Psychologist J. Guilford, individuals routinely use two different types of
thinking, which he defines as convergent and divergent.1 We are talking about the different
nature of human’s mental activity: narrowing the range of thinking with access to the solution of
the problem, or extension of the field of mental operations. Creativity involves two types of
mental activity. In order to produce a creative ad we need to think in two directions widely and
narrowly at the same time. First it is necessary to have lots of ideas, but then to find out only one
solution out of many.

The most typical kind of convergent thinking is analytic reasoning, and probabilistic thinking,
suggesting the presence of a well-defined logical problem. However as convergent thinking may
also be classified as any systematic and thorough method of analysis.

For example, evaluation of the merits of the arguments presented in the communication
materials, requires convergent thinking. Evaluation can be done very carefully and
systematically. Is the logical and internally consistent given the arguments? Is the empirical
evidence that supported the argument? Can I take these arguments as a truly representative?
Another way to assess the quality of the argument is contained in the proposed consumer
information is to use the so-called heuristics. Heuristics - it is plain the formation of judgments
without thinking. For example, the seller offers you a whole set of arguments in favor of
purchasing the product and only one of them convinced to try the product in action. Whether the
buyer is immersed in a thorough and serious analysis or heuristic approach is satisfied in any
case we are talking about convergent thinking.

However, the overabundance of convergent thinking has its drawbacks. Goethe's Faust, a
textbook example of a disillusioned intellectual who lives in an ivory tower, and deprived of real
life experience, his whole being seeks to gain experience. Convergent, analytical thinking can so
embellish the real experience. On the other hand, people who are asked to explain clearly. But to
explain why they are so fond of pizza, as a result of losing her former interest.

1
Guilford, J.P. 1950. Creativity. American Psychologist, 5, 444-454.

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2.3.1 Divergent thinking
For its part, associative, divergent thinking is more inner freedom, and often brings more
pleasant fruits. It is characterized by the fact that psychologists call perceptual fluency (ie, the
ability to generate some ideas), flexibility (ie ability to move to a different point of view) and
originality (that is, the ability to produce non-trivial ideas).Divergent thinking is based on
imagination. It assumes that one question can have multiple answers. This is the condition of
generating new, original ideas as well as the expression of personality.

According to J. Guilford, divergent thinking is characterized by four basic qualities: fluency,
flexibility, originality, elaboration.

1. fluency (the ability to produce a great number of ideas or problem solutions in a short
period of time);
2. flexibility (the ability to simultaneously propose a variety of approaches to a specific
problem);
3. originality (the ability to produce new, original ideas);
4. elaboration (the ability to systematize and organize the details of an idea in a head
and carry it out).1

Divergent thinking is evident in the course of brainstorming sessions, participants are urged to
think freely and to refrain from any | were estimates. The same type of thinking is characteristic
of I for the periods of sleep, when our analytical "I" rests.

In the campaign launched «Apple Computer» in 1984, special attention is paid to people of
divergent thinking through the use of disturbing images of outstanding, revolutionary era
personalities, memories of which were invisible to translate thoughts on originality and
revolutionary products of the company.2

When inept handling divergent thinking, as well as convergent, can have quite the impact,
which was calculated. Divergent thinking does not occur in a vacuum, but relies on existing

1
Guilford, J. P. 1967. The nature of human intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill.

2
Robert E. Smith, Xiaojing Y., Toward a General Theory of Creativity in Advertising: Examining the Role of Divergence. Marketing Theory
2004; 4; 31

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knowledge. Therefore, marketers should not show excessive erudition (or simply refer to
divergent thinking), if consumers do not have a sufficient amount of knowledge in this field.
Moreover, it should consider the nature of already existing knowledge. Thus, to understand the
value of a digital camera innovation, knowledge of traditional photographic technique may not
be an advantage, but a hindrance.

Knowledge of the same computer, by contrast, will simplify the matter, because the more
correct will be a digital camera as a scanner, not the camera. Thus, the treatment only works for
prepared mind.

And one more caution with regard to divergent thinking: do not expect that your highly original
advertising or subtle humor marketing campaigns will be successful in the information market.
Consumers in other countries often do not have the same level of knowledge about the products.
They will appreciate your appeal to their divergent thinking only after sufficiently acquainted
with new products.

3. Advertising
“Nobody counts the number of ads you run; they just remember the impression
you make.”
– Bill Bernbach

The term “advertising” is defined as “a paid non-personal communication from identified
sponsor using mass-media to persuade or influence an audience” 1.Marketing professor at
Northwestern University U.S. Kotler writes: "... advertising is a non-personal forms of
communication, carried out by means of information dissemination paid from clearly specified
source of funding”.

1
Wells W, Moriarty S and Burnett J. Advertising principles and practice. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2003, p.10

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According to the Quick Stat 500 billion dollars have been spent on advertising in 20111, which is
the almost the same amount as the GDP of Switzerland, one of the most developed country in
Europe, in 20102. Why are we spending so much money on it? ) Advertising is something that
makes us buy. By the time a person in the United States is 65 years old, he would have seen an
estimated two million television commercials.3 The average child in America watches over
40,000 television commercials in a year, or over 100 a day4. It means that it has taken one of the
major places in the life of each and every person in the world.

Most of the companies nowadays can’t imagine selling their products or services without any
kind of advertising. It seems to be impossible, but still many of the firms will argue that they can
sell their products or services without external help.

However product or service selling well until the level of competition in the area reaches a
critical level. And when that level is reached, the only companies that will survive are those that
have managed to "burn" their name in the minds of consumers. The main function that the
advertising executes is creating the desired image of the product, which will be close and
understandable to the consumer, will encourage him to purchase, which will even “speak his
inner language”

What is advertisement made for? Its main goal is to inform.
Imagine an ordinary citizen of the country, for example, Germany. Coming home after a hard
day, he sits on a sofa, takes his morning newspaper, which he did not have time to read over
breakfast, and skipped some recent, important news happening in the world. His reading is
sometimes interrupted by the ads placed in the newspaper, from this we can conclude that the
advertising for him is the same source, as the news stories are. With the help of these
promotional materials he learns about the new helpful medicine, as well as various kinds of

1
Grabstats.com, 2008. Internet Advertising/Online Advertising Revenue 2000-2008. Grabstats.com. [Accessed: May 17, 2012.]

2
IndexMundi, 2010. Switzerland GDP (official exchange rate). Available from:
http://www.indexmundi.com/switzerland/gdp_(official_exchange_rate).html [Accessed: May 17,2010]

3
Laura,K., 2006. Advertising. New York, NY: Greenhaven Press.

4
Children as Consumers. Global Issues. November 21, 2010.

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devices that are used to cure different diseases. A person receives the information that is unlikely
to be learned from the news stories themselves, and if he likes the goods, he can call and order
them. This is how he has just got the information he needed about a product, and already has the
ability to buy it. For example, a person has problems with flatfoot, and then the ad of new
orthopedic insoles is hurrying up for help. From this example we can see that advertising is a
very powerful source of information, the information that people can use to meet their needs and
requirements. It is also a powerful tool for influencing the subconscious mind of man. For
example the man that has always been wearing normal shoes, after seeing the advertising of the
sports ones will probably realize their convenience, all sorts of positive aspects, will become
interested in buying them.

The only fact about the function of carrying information by the advertisement is that there is not
only one company that carries their information about the product, but there are hundreds of
thousands of different companies, businesses, and even individuals. As a result it turns out that
the advertisement must fulfill at least another couple of functions such as distinguishing our ad
from the general flow of information and improvement of its memorability. There are certain
tools to enhance the production and properties of the data used in advertising that can be divided
into two parts:

Technical Assistance:
Text (information, fonts, text color, etc.);
Caption text, slogan (font, highlight, etc., as in simple texts);
Image (color, brightness, sharpness, etc.);
Sound (volume, clarity, sharpness, etc.);
Smell (in shops, tasting);
Form (size, angularity, volume, etc.);
And many others

Emotional and sensual:
Fun, humor (they are used in many commercials);
Fear (it is used in the public service, such as road safety advertising antismoking ads);
Empathy (advertising charity);
Shame (dandruff, bad breath, acne - all ashamed);
Conscience (for example public service for the elderly or children's homes);
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Eroticism (lust)
Emotional and sensual side of advertising is quite important. In competitive markets,
advertising, which does not cause any emotional feelings for the target audience, is a failure.
And this kind of advertising will attract only the group of people who are currently looking for
the product / service.1
Of course not every ad meets the entire set of these characteristics. But each and every
advertising must have at least a couple of them. Every advertising medium can combine these or
other properties from the inscription on the fence, where the most basic set is used up to the
presentation-tasting of products, where a maximum range of up to the smell, taste and eroticism
can be used.
It is also very important for advertisers to understand that in addition to the technical unit, there
is an emotional one, which is not just possible, but necessary to use and understand. It is
essential to understand what emotion can cause your advertising and which emotion is the best to
implement.

Moreover, advertising must meet several principles of rationality, namely:
1) it must be timely, that is to appear when it can be seen or heard (it is not necessary to
advertise washing machines at 3am - it's unlikely anyone will be interested even from those who
are watching TV at that time);
2) it must be placed in the right place, so that the location of the advertisement and those for
whom it is aimed match;
3) it must be clear: readable, legible, written in plain language, and marked with clear picture.
If those techniques and methods are not taken under consideration of the company advertising
becomes a simple waste of time and money.2

Looking at life without advertising, man realizes that he will be disconnected from information
and a commodity sector, which might help him, and make life easier.

1
Jay,C., Emotions & Advertising. Buzzle.com. Available from: http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/3-3-2004-51208.asp [Accessed 20 May 2012]

2
Helgesen, Thorolf, 1992, “The Rationality of Advertising Decisions: Conceptual Issues and Some Empirical Findings from a Norwegian Study,”
Journal of Advertising Research, 32 (November/December), p. 22-30.

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3.1 Creative advertisement
“Creative without strategy is called ‘art.’ Creative with strategy is called ‘advertising’.”
– Jef I. Richards

A long time ago, even before the printing press was invented, advertising was a simple process.
There was a sign, painted on the door and a town crier paid to direct people’s attention to it.
Then the 17th century came together with newspapers and magazines. Producers became more
media-conscious and aware of the huge opportunities of the printed media. Later on came the
shows, exhibitions and even international expositions. Advertising became too tricky,
nevertheless the 20th century came with the broadcasting media such as radio and television and
then internet.1The times have changed but the main idea of advertisement to make the customer
buy the product or service stays the same.

We are affected by thousands of advertisements every day. If we take into account that we have
24 hours a day and 8 of them we spend sleeping we are exposed to 250 ads per hour.2 But this
does not mean that we perceive and remember all of them. Much of the information passes by
the eye and our consciousness. It is not perceived at all.

According to David Ogilvy, who is said to be “the most sought-after wizard in the advertising
business” by Time (1962) the advertisement can be called great if it works without major
changes for 20 years or longer. 3These pieces of art are extremely rare nowadays and usually
belong to this niche because of something unique inside of each and every of them.

Says John Caples, the doyen of direct response copywriters:
“I have seen one advertisement actually sell not twice as much not three times as much, but 19, 5
times as much as another. Both advertisements occupied the same space. Both were run in the

1
Kent, S., 2010. The History of Advertising. Suite101. Available from: http://suite101.com/article/the-history-of-advertising-a250584 [Accessed
20 May 2012]

2
Freeby50, 2011. How Many Ads Are We Exposed to Daily?? Available from: http://www.freeby50.com/2011/06/how-many-ads-are-we-
exposed-to-daily.html [Accessed 20 May 2012]

3
Demmer, G., 2001. Do long copy ads work? Reality Marketing Associates. Available from:
http://www.realityassociates.com/Articles/Art-LongCopy.htm [Accessed 20 May 2012]

19

same publication. Both had photographic illustrations. Both had carefully written copy. The
difference was that one used the right appeal and another used the wrong appeal” 1

It has been estimated that about half of all advertising campaigns do not lead to an explicit
(measurable) increase in sales. Moreover, 3 out of 10 campaigns in the long run cause a drop in
sales of brand.2 It is happening so, because most of the advertisements nowadays are still being
created according to the traditional techniques that have been developed for ages and hasn’t
changed a lot. Traditional advertising nowadays is not giving the same effect as it has been
giving three, four, five years ago.

Consumers have become more legible. Therefore in today's ocean of advertising traditional
messages most of the companies send just merge with the information and advertising noise that
falls every day on the potential consumers. Information boards, big-boards, advertising in the
media, commercials on TV, radio, flyers on the subway, mailboxes ... Add to all this random
distribution, promoters near many stores, advertising at every turn ...

And it often happens that among the "quilt" of everyday advertising we focus on a few bright
posters or unusual actions, controversial commercials on TV and radio. These are all
outstanding, creative advertisements. It stands out from the whole long line of advertisements by
being attractive. But how to produce such an advertisement that will work like a hook to the
customer?

The first known example of using creative advertisement dates back to 1900s (according to the
magazines that existed at that time). It was an innovation, which has never been used before, that
is why it was standing out of the crowd. It was invention of one of the theaters. Its director
decided to send the invitations and theatrical posters to the wealthy public by post. The
interesting fact was that he added a check for 4 cents (about 30 cents at today’s exchange rate) to
it.3

1
Ogilvy, D., 1985. Ogilvy on Advertising. First Vintage books edition, p.9

2
Ong, B., 2005.Increase in advertising spent does not lead to increase in sales. .A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal. Available from:
http://marketingjournal.blogspot.com/2005/07/increase-in-advertising-spent-does-not.html [Accessed 21 May 2012]

3
Sivulka,J., Soap, Sex, and Cigarettes: A Cultural History of American Advertising. Wadsworth. 1998. p. 245-285

20

He put the information sheet in the letter which was as follows: “Dear Madam and Gentlemen, I
know that you are provided people, but still I am willing to pay you for the time spent on reading
this letter the average income of the people of your position. Take just two minutes to read about
some original scenes from our new comedy. Its premiere will be held next Monday for the first
time.” This was a really effective campaign-the hall of the theatre was full. This calculation was
based on the originality of the message, plus there were only few people that went to the bank to
get their 4 cents. Why did this, from one sight simple “pay for time” strategy work so well?
Because it attracted consumers by its image. They didn’t accept this letter as advertising itself,
that is why the credibility of such information increased.

So what is creative advertising?
Creative advertising is only ideally something extraordinary knocked out of the general rules and
is amazing. Advertising that contains the idea, which is capable of independently (without
investing unnecessary resources in place) to solve the problem of marketing promotion of a
product can be considered creative. This is good idea that in most of the cases differentiates the
advertised product, raising it to at least one step above the rest.
Probably, creative advertising is the ideal solution. Something that does not include ideas and
without creativity, cannot be called advertising. The most proper word for this seems to be
“mediation”.

What are the characteristics of the proper creative idea?
 The novelty of the idea-suggestion of the new methods, conceptions, materials and
processes
 The ability of the idea to encourage finding of the new solutions
 The originality of the idea: from the practical point of view, this idea should be unknown
by the people, working in the industry
 Another valuable characteristic is the flexibility of the idea, that helps it to give a new
view on a problem, new way of solving it as well as change and modify itself all the time
 The efficient is the idea, with the help of which all the aspects of the problem can be
observed
 Moreover the idea should be adequate, which means that it should match the degree of
difficulty and specifications of the problem

21

 The idea should be easy to use while getting to the assigned task
 The idea should be attractive which means being fascinating in order to inspire positive
emotions.
 At the end creative idea shouldn’t be very difficult in realization1

What are the methods used by the producers of creative advertising? A good creative advertising
is an incendiary "Molotov cocktail" of the following ingredients:
• Good, "delicious" sense of humor, the one that is being liked and remembered by the great
number of people.
• Vigorous power of sensuality. But, unfortunately, very few people have learned to use it for
peaceful purposes nowadays (as opposed to the previous one, virtually trouble-free method).
• More severe, a double-edged tool-shock, with its stringent naturalistic scenes and completely
negative characters. This is advertising, which is on the brink of a foul.2

Thanks to the creative methods the client receives treatment, the appeal, which "catches" the
consumer for a living, standing out from the total sulfur mass. In addition to high efficiency of
the contact (material gain), a creative advertising gives a strategic advantage. Each message
carries positive information about the brand and the company, improves understanding of the
manufacturer. Therefore, creative advertising has extra value, and often works to make a
decision at the level of first recognition.

1
Guilford, J.P., “Traits of creativity”. H.H. Anderson (ed.), Creativity and its Cultivation, Harper, 1959, pp 142-61, reprinted in P.E. Vernon
(ed.), Creativity, Penguin Books, 1970, pp 167-88.

2
Marketing Made Simple, How to design effective advert. Available from: http://www.marketing-made-simple.com/articles/advert-
design.htm#.T9NeyM3QRWF [Accessed 23 May 2012]

22

3.2 Guerrilla Marketing

"The soul and essence of guerrilla marketing remain as always - achieving conventional goals,
such as profits and joy, with unconventional methods, such as investing energy instead of
money.”

Jay Conrad Levinson

Guerrilla marketing is the method, which main essence lies in the non-advertising promotion in
social media.1 In this case, information about a particular brand or product is presented to users
in a veiled form. Guerilla activities go beyond conventional methods and means of marketing
communications and product promotion.

There are many methods of guerrilla marketing. All of them can be divided into two groups.
However, some of them can achieve maximum impact, utilizing a minimum of means. These
guerrilla marketing methods operate on the general user. Their goal is to increase general
awareness of the brand or product.

According to the “discoverer” of this advertising method Jay Conrad Levinson2 the main
difference between guerilla and traditional advertising techniques is the use of creative thinking
capabilities, coupled with some very simple methods of promotion of goods or services instead
of spending a lot of money on advertising.

Guerrilla Marketing - means originality, unconventional, non-elementary truths, and greater
flexibility, good results with limited opportunities.

Moreover Guerilla Marketing means using precious strikes and sabotage against a powerful
enemy. This way is relatively inexpensive, but extremely effective. It is guerilla marketing where
you need to use most of your brain and least of the money invested.

1
Lautenslager, A., 2006. What Is Guerrilla Marketing Anyway? Available from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/193490

2
Aeispeakers. Jay Conrad Levinson. Available from: http://www.aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=616 [Accessed 23 May 2012]

23

What are the other differences of Guerilla from traditional marketing?

1. Speed. Guerilla marketing methods give visible results either immediately or after a very
short period of time. It is extremely important for small businesses that don’t have cash
reserves and can’t wait for months until the advertisement starts working. This creative
marketing tool allows you to gain new customers the very next day after the campaign
has started.

2. Invisibility for the competitor. The guerilla methods are often invisible to the competitor,
and therefore they cannot be copied. In the case of traditional marketing the firm’s
activity is visible not only to potential customers but also to competitors. However
"guerrilla" advertising methods are hidden from prying eyes – these ads will be seen only
by potential buyers, and no one else.

3. No “arms race”. Unlike in traditional advertising guerilla competitors are not trying to
crush the advertising budget, posting more ads all the time, exposing more boards and
running more commercials on the radio. “Guerillas” are trying to win the customer by
increasing the effectiveness of advertising using more sophisticated marketing
approaches.

4. Quality, not quantity. In comparison with the usual classical advertising that appeals to
all, guerrilla marketing works directly with a particular audience.

5. Measuring effectiveness. The other difference of Guerilla advertisement lies in the fact
that here preference is given to the ways of advertising, for which the return on
investment can be precisely calculated. The money is directed in the campaigns from
which the maximum profits can be gained.

6. Partnership. Finally, another feature of guerrilla marketing lies in the fact that partnership
is preferred instead of competition. Instead of wasting energy on the struggle with
competitors, "guerilla" would prefer to establish a mutually beneficial partnership with
them. 1

1
Meyersen, M., Levinson, J.K., What is the difference between Guerrilla Marketing and Traditional Marketing? Available from:
http://martymarsh.com/what-is-the-difference-between-guerrilla-marketing-and-traditional-marketing/ [Accessed 24 May 2012]

24

The methods, used in guerilla marketing are as follows:

 Flash mob - instant crowd

 Auto performance - a performance car in the city

 Striking - half-dressed people at public events

 Street action - street performance

 UCO - Unidentified object of the urban

 Viral Video - Viral Videos on the Internet

 People Ad - Placement of the advertising message on the bodies of people

 Guerilla Projection – projection of guerilla videos

 Viral Game - Viral Flash Game

 WOM - advertising by word of mouth1

In addition, there are also guerilla marketing tools for the local impact. They have a target
audience and help to raise the brand awareness already in the target groups. This includes a
medium-term increase in sales.

Examples of such guerrilla marketing tools are as follows:

Ambient Media - non-standard placement of advertising in retail outlets

Mystery shoppers – secret shoppers

Provocative - a provocative marketing

PZ Sampling - a non-standard sampling

Graffiti - Graffiti Stencil

Illusion - a visual illusion

1
Levinson, J.K., 200 Marketing Weapons. Available from: http://www.gmarketing.com/articles/5-200-marketing-weapons

25

Brand space - a unique place of brand communication with consumers

Wild Posting - Sticker campaign

Airfield Ad - advertising on the fields near the airport and many others.1

Guerrilla Marketing is characterized by high efficiency, which is achieved through the deep trust
of the audience to the information received by it, because in this case, a source of advertising are
the consumers themselves, rather than advertisers. And it is worth it.

4. Examples of Creative Advertising.

Here are some examples that perfectly show what creative advertising really is and what is its
differences from the traditional one.

4.1 Crazy ones (1997)

In 1990s up to 1997 Apple company was in great crisis. It couldn’t exist well because of the
many problems connected with misunderstandings, bad management, and pure marketing
campaigns as well. The company was in the brink of death and won’t probably exist nowadays
without the coming back of Steve Jobs. After he came the company started to change
dramatically. The “Think different” era started. It has been decided that the new campaign
should be started with the huge number of prints and commercials, where the images of
revolutionary thinkers have been used. Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon and Yoko
Ono, Martin Luther King, Maria Callas, Richard Branson, Bob Dylan, Thomas Edison, Pablo
Picasso, Mahatma Gandhi, Alfred Hitchcock, Amelia Earhart - all of them were "involved" in
the TV spot, which became the legend of advertising.

The emotional message of the one minute video commercial was as follows:”Here’s to the crazy
ones…The misfits; The rebels… The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The
ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the
status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. But the only thing
you can’t do, is ignore them; because they change things. They push the human race forward.

1
Levinson,C.,Levinson,J.,2011. Guerilla Marketing Remix. The best of Guerilla Marketing. Entrepreneur Media

26

And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see-genius because people who are crazy
enough to change the world are the ones who do.”1

Picture 4.1 The shortcuts from the Apple advertisement “Think Different” produced in 1997

The main statement of the campaign was all of us should be different, creative, standing out from
the crowd like Apple company and success will be awaiting of us.

The ad campaign affected the company a lot. It helped the company to get back the positions lost
during the crisis. Steve jobs told: “It only took 15 . . . 30 . . . maybe 60 seconds" to reestablish
Apple's counter-culture image that it had lost during the 90s”2

4.2 Anti-Slavery (1995)

How to raise the attention of the public to the social problem? Traditional ads in this case are
extremely ineffective. The money is going on the ad, but it is not bringing any visible results as it
is not catching the eye of the general public a lot. People, even if they see traditional social ad,
read it, but in a minute forget about what have been seen, and it usually doesn’t matter how big
the problem is – our brain just throws boring stuff away. Saatchi & Saatchi decided to use the

1
Apple- Think Different. 1997. Video. Available from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlgv4JeXCvs&list=FLU8McGIbc8Ua6sOoXoAtRrA&index=2&feature=plpp_video [Accessed 25 May
2012]

2
Hormby,T., 2007. 'Think Different': The Ad Campaign that Restored Apple's Reputation. Available from:
http://lowendmac.com/orchard/07/apple-think-different.html [Accessed 25 May 2012]

27

shocking power to bring the attention of the potential viewers of their ad created for Anti-slavery
International organization.

Picture 4.2 Reade this you peace of shit. Source:”Creative Advertising” Mario Pricken

The role of this advert is to offend the reader. Make him read the details to get the view on the
problem. And the problem is really huge because according to Anti-slavery research:” There are
at least 12.3 million people, both children and adults, working in forced labor, a modern form of
slavery.”1 After reading the first paragraphs the reader is informed that the human rights is the
main issue and now he understands the suitability of the headline. This advertisement works as
the offender; it grabs the attention, makes its viewer read and feels the problem on his own skin.
"If you're offended by this advert, you should be. Nobody should be treated like this. Yet
unfortunately, there are millions of people around the world who are."

1
Antislavery International. What is forced labor? Available from:
http://www.antislavery.org/english/slavery_today/forced_labour.aspx [Accessed 25 May 2012]

28

4.3 Stop Dreaming

We all are children inside. Even 60-70 year old men with good job position, children and
grandchildren and a cozy house in the countryside are not the exception. As it is sung in the song
of Alphaville “life is a short trip” and we want to feel “forever young”. People want to get
everything out of this boring life and enjoy every minute of their existence.

Picture 4.3. Harley Davidson. Stop Dreaming. Source: adsoftheworld.com

Harley Davidson decided to use this “love to live” and feel young in their commercial. The ad
shows men who behave like boys. They use different things, such as pram and wheelchair, to
feel themselves like they are riding a Harley Davidson motorbike. The main slogan is “Stop
dreaming”, alluding to the fact that those, who constantly imagine themselves on a motorcycle,
just need to go out and fulfill their dream by buying it. And it doesn’t matter if you are young, or
old, but with a youth spirit inside, your profession or position all your dreams can come true if
you really want it.

29

4.4 Mountain Degustation in the City

People have different feelings, they can see, listen, and feel. Some of the ads you can see, this
can be posters for example. Others, such as radio advertisements, you can hear. But some
commercials combine the feelings. For example you can see and listen to the video commercials
on TV or somewhere in the internet, or feel and see other kinds of promotion in the streets.
These can be flowerbeds, special posters where you can paint or even the posters, covered with
sealed air bubbles which you can feel with your fingers. The last type of advertisement was used
by the Braunwald Tourism Company. They put their unusual posters in the major cities of the
German-speaking Switzerland inviting “polution plagued pedestrians to soak up the fine
mountain air in the car-free mountain resort Braunwald “ Here the combination of all the human
feeling was used: seeing the poster, feeling the bubbles with the air inside and later on listening
to their blast. This advertisement is very powerful because it is interacting with the public. It uses
the touch, the most active and experimenting human sense. People come to the ad to try
something new. Moreover blasting bubbles is one of the most funny and fascinating activities
that appeals to the people of all ages.

Picture 4.4 Braunwald Tourism: Mountain degustation in the city Source: adsoftheworld.com

30

Bubbles are representing the fresh air. But it comes in small amounts. The main idea is to attract
people to come to the resort and enjoy more of the freshness in the car-free zone in the
mountains full of snow and other natural attractions.

4.5 Narcotics-piss on them!

Another interesting advertising campaign which is extremely creative was held in Warsaw. It
was an anti-drug campaign which was mainly oriented for young people. When you are young
you tend to try lots of things: alcohol, promiscuous sex relations, drugs, etc. Although it is
interesting for the youth how it feels like, they can easily lead later on to the problems with
health and police.

Picture 4.5 Narcotics-piss on them! Source: Creative advertising by Mario Pricken

The Warsaw office of anti-drug programs decided to use the power of the place and the slogan in
their campaign against drugs. They have put the stickers on pissoirs in the public places usually
visited by young people such as nightclubs and youth centers.

31

The advertisements in the public toilets have their own powerful points:

 Such ad can hardly be avoided

 The other promotional noises are omitted, because in this moment it is the only source of
media

 This choice of location is even more accurate in reaching specific target group, because
each of the premises visited is related to the lifestyle of a group. (clubs and young people
in this example)

 It seems to be the only medium that allows precise selection of men or women.

The inscription on the stickers was as follows: “Drugs-Piss on them”. The main goal of the ad is
too stop the usage of drugs among the young people. Toilets are among the most popular places
to use drugs in the clubs. Therefore the message was powerful and extremely attention-grabbing.

4.6 Before you turn away put yourself in my place.

How to raise the problem of the homeless in the 4 million people. According to the Weingart
Homeless Center there are approximately 70000 homeless people living in Los Angeles. This is
a problem that can be ignored or given a try to be solved later on. The Weingart Homeless center
decided to give a try and raise the awareness of the problem among the Los Angeles citizens.
They made photos of a dozen of people without the roof over their head holding the placards
saying:”Before you turn away put yourself in my place”1. Later on they put the original size
photorealistic carton cut-outs with the removed faces near big malls and shopping centers, places
highly-visited by different groups of people.

1
Osocio. 2009. Weingart Homeless Center: Before you turn away put yourself in my place. Available from:
http://osocio.org/message/weingart_homeless_center_before_you_turn_away_put_yourself_in_my_place/ [Accessed 25 May 2012]

32

Picture 4.6. Before you turn away put yourself in my place. Source: osocio.org

What was the effect? People started to put themselves in the place of homeless. The public
awareness rose, which is shown by the increased website traffic. Moreover the sufficient funds
have been raised.

33

4.7 Smart Eball

How to attract 520000 spectators and make approximately 6000 of them test and have fun form
your car? The Daimler Company decided to use the Ambient form of media in the promotion of
their new version Smart Fortwo electrocar concept.

Without good promotion the concept of electric car won’t impress many people. Moreover it
won’t stay in the mind of potential customers for long, even if it is presented on the biggest car
exhibition in Frankfurt, because most of the people are still very skeptic about owning a car that
you won’t “feed” with fuel. Daimler Company decided to introduce their new concept and make
it as fun and interactive with the public as it is possible. How? By inventing a car game which
would be interesting for the exhibition visitors. They decided to use Pong, the game similar to
tennis with one ball and two players kicking it. However the human-players where changed for
the Smart Fortwo cars with the drivers inside. Cars were placed near each other, divided by the
line and “transformed” into game controllers. Since the game was moving only up and down it
was nothing more required from the cars than moving back and forth.1

Picture 4.7 Smart Eball. Source: theinspirationroom.com

1
Dunkan, 2012. Smart eBall. Available from: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2012/smart-eball/ [Accessed 26 May 2012]

34

The interactive event was designed to demonstrate the joy of driving a highly responsive car. It
was testing of the new car, breaking of the stereotypes and having fun at the same time. The
promotion also included print, outdoor and guerilla materials on a European tour 2012. The
campaign was so successful that it won a Gold Cube for Interactive (Physical Innovation) at the
91st ADC Awards.1

5. Case Study of Benetton advertising campaigns.

Everybody in advertising is blonde, beautiful, families are happy, care are never in traffic,
everything is shiny, food looks like it’s incredibly tasteful. I ask myself, “How stupid are we?”
Oliveiro Toscani, Benetton Art Director and Photographer

World of advertising is a great illusion. It is perfect, consisting of beautiful boys and girls in
casual cloth, powerful, stylish cars, fresh and healthy products, useful services, etc. It is normal,
because advertising becomes an extremely powerful force nowadays. The advertising agencies
somehow create and form our attitudes in a way to fit our needs. We are made to see, smack our
lips, buy and consume later on. We are not inspired to think, however our brain function, in most
of the cases, automatically turns off and only our body operates.
Benetton, a family-owned company from Italy, seems to be one of the rare examples when
people are inspired to think while looking at the ads. The company’s ads almost never deal with
their products, but show the images of social, environmental and political issues. They are quite
made to be unusual, controversial and stand out from the crowd. This is what makes the creative
and therefore extremely memorable.
It was until 1980s when Benetton Company, still quite young at the market, used the traditional
advertising techniques, largely focused on their products and logo. However in 1982 Luciano
Benetton hired Oliviero Toscani and it was decided to end with boring, traditional practices and
stop promoting Benetton as a clothing brand, but change the image for a “life style accessory”.

1
Thisisnotadvertising. 2012. Smart – eBall Interactive Game. Available from: http://thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/smart-
eball-interactive-game/ [Accessed 26May 2012]

35

As Luciano Bentton said: “The company has opted for a communication strategy in which issues
and not clothes play the lead part. The company has decided to devote some of its advertising
budget to communicate on themes relevant to young and old people worldwide.”
Main idea was based on unconventional advertising. Focusing on the topics that other companies
omit in their promotional campaigns such as race, sex, environmental and political issues. First
ad of this type was featuring happy teenagers and kids from different parts of the world. They
were engaged in a variety of playful acts. The ad was showing the diversity of their customers,
races and nationalities, as at this time the company was present in approximately 100 countries
of the world. It was telling the viewer that our differences play a minor role in our relations; we
are still people and have something in common.1
Later on Benetton continued working with colors it was very unusual advertising technique at
that time. One of the famous notions of color and politics was used in 1985-1986 campaigns. In
1985 during the Cold War between USSR and USA two black boys appear at the promotional
materials kissing each other. On their heads there were flags of the conflicting countries.
The similar images were created to promote peace in the conflicts between England and
Argentina, Iran and Iraq, Germany and Israel.

Picture 5.1“United Colors of Benetton” 1985-1986 campaigns. Source: Benetton

Another poster was showing two black children united by a globe and a chain as a peace symbol.
The ads were telling people that citizens shouldn’t be influenced by the politics of their
governments and still maintain peace in the world.

The originality of the company is based on breaking the rules, being a discoverer and fighter at
the same time that change the world. The company began talking about the existing conflicts
based on social stereotypes and taboos, the differences that divide in real life, rather than unite.

1
Ganesan, S., 2002. Benetton group: unconventional advertising. Global CEO. November 2002. P.53-59

36

One of the most famous company’s ads of the 80s was the poster featuring black and white hand
in the handcuffs. Its manifest was in the fact that all people are connected to each other, there is
no sense in fighting with it, but we should deal somehow with this issue.

Picture 5.2. Contrast in Black and White. Source: Benetton

One of the most criticized and most honored ad of all the Benetton’s history was the print of the
black woman, feeding a white child.1 Many people thought that Benetton was reminding
blacks of the days of slavery when black women breast-fed white babies. However all that
Benetton wanted to show by this ad was the universal brotherhood. Other advertisements of
Benetton with a similar message of that time included a black child sleeping among a pile of
white teddy-bears, two children of different color sitting on their potties in front of each other,
white wolf and black sheep nose to nose, a big white and little black hand.
The purpose of those Benetton campaigns was to unite the opposition under its brand. The
product as it is – sweaters, shirts and turtlenecks – has disappeared from the advertising at all.
There was only a small green panel with the inscription “United Colors Of Benetton”
symbolizing the brand since 1989.

1
More controversy, please, we’re Italian, The Economist, 1st February 1992.

37

In 1991 the Benetton introduced another sensational print showing a baby with an umbilical
cord. It inspired a great variety of feelings among the critics. Many countries banned the
advertisement because of its shocking power. On the other hand the company explained the idea
of their ad as showing the power of love and the beauty of new life. The baby in the ad was
simply symbolizing the most permanent form of love. It was one of the most prohibited prints in
the history of advertising and has entered the Guinness World Records as “the most controversial
ad campaign.”

Picture 5.3 Baby with an umbilical cord. Source: Benetton

In spite of all the problems connected with addressing problems in the Benetton ads bad PR is
still a PR. It doesn’t matter if the company is highly criticized or not, people still spread the word
about it. As Luciano Benetton said: “If everyone likes a campaign, no one will talk about it.”1
Oliviero Toscani, photographer and art director of Benetton explains the situation: “There are
people who, when they look at a picture, they get angry at it. But they should get angry at
themselves for not having the courage to look into the problem.” “There isn't such a thing as a

1
Rees, J.,2003. Luciano the Magnificent. The Telegraph. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3604959/Luciano-the-
Magnificent.html [Accessed 1 June 2012]

38

shocking picture,” he continues, “there is shocking reality that is being reproduced through
photography to the people who aren't there.”1

The company continued to maintain its image of a brand showing real life problems later on with
their campaigns displaying AIDS crisis, environmental disasters, wars, exiles, death
punishments, etc. The company is not afraid of the attacks from all the sides as they bring lots of
publicity. One of the recent campaigns called “Unhate” shows the politicians and well-known
religious people kissing each other. Among them are such heroes as President Obama kissing
Chinese leader Hu Jianto, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-il kissing President of South
Korea Lee Myung-bak, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, Israel’s Netanyahu kissing
Palistinian President Abbas, German Chancellor Merkel kissing French President Sarkozy, and
Pope Benedict XVI kissing Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed el-Tayeb.2

Picture 5.4 “Unhate” campaign. Source: Benetton

The campaign calls to overcome hate, political problems as well as stereotypes for the victory of
good. The campaign has naturally become subject of attacks claiming that it is purely shock
value and increased sales that the brand is interested in.

1
Tomkins, R., 2010. Oliviero Toscani: 'There are no shocking pictures, only shocking reality'. CNN. Available from:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/08/13/oliviero.toscani/index.html [Accessed 27 May 2012]

2
Turner, C., 2011. Benetton's controversial 'Unhate' ad campaign features world leaders kissing. Available from:
http://www.fashionist.ca/2011/11/benettons-controversial-unhate-ad-campaign-features-world-leaders-kissing.html [Accessed 27 May 2012]

39

Benetton has chosen their unique way of being visible at the market and stand out of the
competitors’ crowd. By usage of this technique the company innovated a lot in the
communication with the potential customer. The brand is easily identified by the general public
because Benetton’s ads make them think and then use word of mouth techniques to advertise the
company among their friends and speak up about the existing world problems. Therefore the
image of the company stays in mind for longer time taking the form of associations with
particular pictures.

By using the images of the global issues in their ads and not showing products or big logos the
company was appealing to a wider range of people. There is no difference if you are black, white
or yellow, you live in Australia, Panama or Great Britain, such problems as Aids, racism,
stereotypes and misunderstandings are the same everywhere, without any regard of race or place
of birth. Therefore the company was also cutting costs by producing the same ad for different
countries. Benetton is not using any provocative techniques in their advertisements, but they
increase public awareness of the global issues, concerning, millions and sometimes billions of
people all around the world. By being creative as well as controversial and making people think,
not just consume, Benetton’s advertisements are winning awards and exposure in many galleries
all over the world.

All the Benetton ads, unlike the ones of the competitors are meaningful, sometimes they are clear
and loud and sometimes they are just built on attractive, controversial image. But the most
important thing in their premises is that they all have an important, colorful message inside.

40

6. Research. Recognition of traditional and creative marketing
techniques among the consumers.

6.1 The goal and methods of the research.

In the previous subsections of my work I have presented information about advertising as a
whole and it’s creative “daughter” in comparison, the difference between them and how they
work. I have presented some examples of what I think creative advertising is. The main goal of
this research is to find out what people think about advertising in general and find out their
opinion about creative ways of advertising the product or service. Which one is more effective
traditional way, or creative one and why? Moreover I decided to analyze the advertising by
Benetton from the general public point of view.

Data collection method used is an Internet-based survey. All the information was collected with
the help of the survey portal kwiksurveys.com. The questionnaire consists of 21 closed and
open-ended questions. The techniques that I am mostly using are the scaled-response format
from 1 to 5 and likert scaling method (for example from strongly disagree to strongly agree) The
questionnaire is planned to get step by step response, from introduction about general
advertising to the base and conclusion about creative advertising and Benetton example.

The presentation of the results is done with the help of the tables with the statistical answers in
percentages.

6.2 Sample

The survey was taken by 85 people, representatives of different countries of the world. For the
question “In which country you have spent most of your life?” I have decided to chose this
question, but not the one about the place of birth, because in today’s world people travel a lot
and boundaries seem to disappear. For that reason they are mostly influenced by the ads of the
country they are spending most of the time in. 45 respondents, or more than half of the sample
answered that they have spent most of their lives in Poland. 9 people or 11% of the respondents
answered Belarus. The same number of respondents are the representatives of Ukraine. Other
people are the representatives of Azerbaijan, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA.

41

Picture 6.1 Number of respondents out of the total per each country

Most of the people that have answered the questions of the survey are women (more than 58%).
This fact is quite important and interesting at the same time, because women influence 95% of
buying decisions and purchase over 85% of all products, which indirectly means that they are
affected by advertising much more than men.

42

Table 6.1 Gender of the respondents

The respondents that have taken part in the survey are of different age, born from 1945 till 1993.
As it can be seen from the Picture 6.2 the biggest number of people questioned was born at the
period from 1987 till 1992, which means that these are the young people, usually students, who
are affected by all kinds of advertising from TV and Radio, to billboards and flyers.

Picture 6.2 Age to the number of respondents

These three basic features such as country, gender and year of birth make my sample random and
representative at the same, which makes it interesting to study and research.

43

6.3 Data analysis

Question 1: How important is advertising in your life?

Table 6.2 Importance of advertising for respondents.

The research is showing that for the most questioners advertising either doesn’t play any major
role in lives or is quite important, which is proved by the answers to the question 2:” How often
is your decision to buy a product or service influenced by advertising?” Most of the respondents
have answered that their buying decisions are sometimes influenced by the advertising they have
seen or heard.

Question 2: How often is your decision to buy a product or service influenced by advertising?

For the great majority of people (almost 80%) their decision to buy a product is influenced by
advertisements, but it happens either sometimes or rarely. This means that ads actually doesn’t
always make people buy the product or service immediately, however they can help to
emphasize the values that the brand has and influence people’s buying decisions later on. At the
same time almost 15% of the respondents state that their buying behavior is influenced by the
ads most of the time.

44

Table 6.3. The influence of advertising on the buying decision.

Question 3:” How strong you think is the relationship between the quality of advertising and the
quality of the product or service being advertised?” The greatest part of the respondents (35, 7%)
thinks that there is a moderate connection between the advertising and the quality of the product
being advertised. Every 5th respondent thinks that there is a weak relationship between the
advertising and quality, however the same amount of people think that both qualities are quite
well correlated between each other.

Table 6.4 Relationship between quality of advertising and quality of products.

45

Question 4: “How familiar are you with each of these kinds of advertising? ( Please use this five-
star scale: 1- never experienced it, 2 - experienced it a few times, 3 – experience it at least once
per month, 4 – experience it at least once per week, 5 – experience it every day)”

The research shows that people more often encounter Billboard and Internet web pages
advertising. The great majority of people (more than 60%) say that they experience these kinds
of advertisings every day. It is not a big surprise, because as long as you search the internet or
take a walk to your office you are simply being “bombarded” by them. The interesting fact is
that Television ads, that seem to be the most expensive according to the respondents opinion
(picture 6.9), doesn’t seem to be very often experienced. It is on the third place in the table of
respondent’s answers, according to the statistics. The methods rarely experienced by the
respondents include advertisings, sent by mail (19%) and E-mail spam (almost 17%).

Table 6.5 The level of advertising experience in percentage.

Question 5:”How effective is each of these kinds of advertising in selling products and services
to you? (Please use this five-star scale: 1-not effective at all, 2 – slightly effective, 3- moderately
effective, 4 – very effective, 5-extremely effective)”

In this case word-of-mouth advertising seems to be at the leading position. This data also proved
by some studies compiled by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. For example 76 percent
of United Kingdom consumers in 2004 said that a recommendation from a friend made them feel

46

most comfortable about a product and service vs. 15 percent who said that they were affected by
other ways of advertising.

In my survey television ads and presentation/special events methods of advertising take the 2nd
and the 3rd place respectively by being effective in selling the product or service to the customer.

The methods which seem to be the least successful in influencing the customer to buy something
are E-mail spam (more than 70%), advertisements, sent by post (44, 05 %) and advertisings in
public transportation together with printed flyers (around 30% each)

Table 6.6 Effectiveness of advertising methods in selling products/services to the consumer.

Question 6: “What is your estimate of the cost of each of these kinds of advertising? (Please use
this five-star scale: 1 – very inexpensive, 2 – relatively inexpensive, 3 – moderately expensive, 4
– fairly expensive, 5 – very expensive)”

According to the answers of the people who took part in the survey Television Ads are the most
expensive method of advertising (opinions of 76, 19% of respondents). It seems to be so,
because of the great potential audience of those ads. For example the 30 second spot during the
super bowl competition that was oriented towards 111 million-plus fans cost the companies
3,5million dollars average. The least expensive according to the respondents are the e-mail and
word-of-mouth ads (71,43 and almost 69% respectively).
47

Table 6.7 The cost of advertising methods.

Question 7: “How strong do you think is the relationship between the amount of money spent on
advertising and its effectiveness in selling the product or service being advertised? “

Almost half of the respondents think that there is a substantial relationship between the amount
of money spent on advertising and its effect on the product or service sales. However in this case
they are contradicting themselves in a way that for previous questions they have taken word-of-
mouth advertising as the most effective and one of the cheapest. A bit more than 2% of the
people asked to fill in the survey think that there is no relationship at all between money invested
in advertising and the amount of sales.

Table 6.8 The dependence between money spent on advertising and product/service sales.

48

Question 8: “How much influence does each of these advertising elements have on your decision
to buy a product or service? (Please use this five-star scale: 1-no influence, 2 – slight influence,
3- moderate influence, 4 – substantial influence, 5- very strong influence)”

When it comes to methods to attract customer’s attention the most effective one seems to be
humor (28,57% of the respondents think so) Technical details (25%) also play an important role.
When advertising the product or service the company should also take into consideration Internet
Forums and opinions of the experts (17, 86% each)

It seems to be interesting that public figure (famous actor or singer) on which companies spend
sometimes millions of dollars (Chanel paid Nicole Kidman $3 million to act in one of its ads).

Table 6.9 Influence of the different ad elements on buying decision.

Question 9:” Please write a description of an unusual way of advertising a product or service that
you have experienced.”

The answers for this question among the respondents were not surprising. Most of the people
provided the links to the videos or descriptions of the ambient media or guerilla advertising
techniques. One of the unusual advertising examples provided was the campaign by TNT cable
TV provider in Belgium. The red button was put in the main square of one city with a poster
saying “Add some drama”. When somebody was pushing the button the action started: the
emergency car with a fake patient, police and mafia shutting each other, rugby players fighting,
etc. Another one was the example of Axe girls working near the showers to help the men get
clean during the Hip-Hop Kemp Festival. The other case that was given by a French person was
the case of Parisian metro, which made the campaign about rude behavior in the public transport,
showing people with animal heads (chicken, bull, dog, donkey). The message was quite simple:
People, please don’t behave like animals. The interesting example that was provided by the
49

polish person is the advertising campaign of a Polish condom producer saying “Zalóż software
na swój hardware” which literally means “Put software on your hardware”. Another respondent
liked the ads by Bud Light beer and was describing them as very funny and effective. Other
companies, that are using unusual ways of advertising their products or services according to the
respondents included Polish companies such as Play Mobile, Heyah, Netia, Orange and such
world companies and brands as M&M, Budweiser, Heineken, P&G, Unilever, Skyn and others.

Question 10:” How familiar are you with the concept of “creative advertising”?”

Most of the people that filled in the survey admit that they have heard, but don’t know much
about creative advertising (27, 36). At the same time this concept seems to be absolutely new to
more than 13% of the respondents. The same amount of people told that they know a lot about it.

Table 6.10 Statistics for the creative advertising concept knowledge among the respondents.

Question 11:” What do you think makes advertising creative?”

The answers for this questions were different, but mainly focused on innovation, simplicity,
witty slogan, great ideas and humor. Some people think that the answer to the question is great
professionals, who know how to attract people using psychology and playing on human’s
feelings. Others suppose that creativity is based on something unusual, that helps the ad stand out
of the crowd, sometimes weird and absurd which helps to be kept in memory for a long time.
According to the respondents’ view creative advertisements should be simple and have a clear
vision inside, moreover it shouldn’t force the product to the customer, shouldn’t annoy or bother
him as most of the traditional ads do, but should suggest the product or service to the audience.
However one of the most “creative” answers to this question was that creative advertising is the
one that has an “idea, which should allow customer to "taste" a feeling of a product.”
50

Question 12:Indicate how much you agree with this statement: “Creative advertising is more
effective than traditional advertising.”

The great majority of people (more than 70%) think that creative advertising has a major power
when effecting people compared to the traditional one. Only 5 people out of 84 think that
traditional techniques are more productive than creative.

Table 6.11 Effectiveness of creative methods compared to traditional.

Question 13: How much does each of these factors help you to remember an advertisement?
(Please use this five-star scale: 1- Does not help at all, 2- Helps a little bit, 3 – Helps somewhat,
4- Helps a lot, 5 – Helps powerfully)

The answers to this question show that creativity is really connected with the way how we
remember ads. In particular almost half of the respondents (48,78%) admitted that creative and
original techniques help them remember the advertisement . This factor is almost 15% more
effective than a beautiful song or memorable sounds used in the advertisement. The “weakest”
factor that doesn’t help consumers much in keeping the ad of the product in their head is the
celebrity presenting the product or service.

51

Table 6.12 Advertising factors and their effect on remembering the advertisiment.

1 2 3 4 5 Responses Total
A famous celebrity
presenting a
product/service 23,17% 19,51% 24,39% 26,83% 6,10% 84 224
A colorful / bright
advertisement that
catches the eye 3,66% 17,07% 40,24% 26,83% 12,20% 84 268
A song or
memorable sounds 3,66% 7,32% 19,51% 35,37% 34,15% 84 319
Original/ Creative
techniques (e.g.,
using a tunnel in
the mountain to
portray someone's
mouth) 2,44% 2,44% 12,20% 34,15% 48,78% 84 348

Question 14: World-wide, companies typically spend from just under 1% to as much as 15% or
more of their annual sales revenue on advertising, with the average at about 5%. How much
money do you think a new company in Poland would be expected to spend on advertising in
order to be effective (at least generating more revenue through sales than the advertising
expenses)? Consider using TV, radio and Internet as the advertising media.

This question was asked in order to find out what people think about the cost of advertising for a
company. Every third respondent thinks that the company needs to spend between 5 to 6, 9% of
the sales revenue on advertising. At the same time more than 20% of people think that the
company should spend around 10-15% out of the revenue. Those numbers are huge, as they
include spending money on the traditional methods of advertising using TV, radio and Internet,
which don’t always show rapid positive results, while Creative advertising cost usually several
times less showing visible results quicker.

52

Table 6.13 Advertising spending in percentage out of the revenue.

Question 15: Please write a description of your favorite advertisement.

Different people have different tastes in music, food, movies, etc. Advertisements are not in the
field of exceptions at that point. I would just state some of the respondents’ favorite examples
that I think are the most unusual and creative. The favorite ad of one of the respondents, which I
think is very creative, is “Never say no to Panda” The commercial is advertising cheese with an
animal representative-panda. The animal is “controlling” cheese consumption and when
somebody says that he or she doesn’t want to eat Panda cheese the creature breaks everything.

The other interesting example of a favorite ad is a Mercedes “Sorry” commercial, where the
driver appears to be together with the death in one car and the accident is supposed to happen,
but the new brake assistant in the vehicle helps to avoid it.

Another case of the favorite ad is the commercial of the German company producing sounds for
other ads- A.R.T. Studios. There are two guys in the studio recording the sound, one is lying on
the floor and the other one jumping on him and then there is the other ad showing the breaking
chocolate with the same sound.

The favorite example from one of the Polish respondents included the advertisement of
Volkswagen passat B5. It shows the car coming to the petrol station. It stops there and there
driver falls from it and than crawls to the bucket with the cleaning liquid and drinks everything.
At the end comes the slogan-“New VW passat-up to 1370 kilometers without refueling”

53

Further cases include commercials of such companies and brands as M&M, Sony Bravia,
Jakobs, Johniee Walker, etc.

It doesn’t matter which company has produced these ads, the ones that the respondents like the
most, nearly all of them include a creative and unique part inside that makes them so
unforgettable.

Question 16: How familiar are you with the Benetton brand of clothing?

I have chosen the Benetton Brand of clothing as my main example because this brand, from my
point of view, is one of the best well-known examples of creative advertising in the world. The
fame of the brand was generated particularly by Oliviero Toscany, former Benetton Art Director
and “manufacturer” of all the most famous advertising campaigns of the company.

The statistics, gathered from the questionnaire have proven my choice as being the right one. A
bit more than 15% of people out of a hundred have never heard about the brand and almost the
same number of respondents says that they know it, but haven’t heard a lot. Around 40% of the
people questioned say that the know the company either fairly or very well, which is a good
result.

Table 6.14. Knowledge of Benetton Brand.

Question 17: If you remember Benetton advertisements, what do you think about them?

When it comes to knowledge of the actual advertisements of the company, almost 20% of the
respondents either didn’t like them or think that they don’t have anything special in their
contents, which can differentiate them form the “gray mass” of traditional ads. From my point of
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