My theme for the seminar paper is Advertising. I think this theme is very interesting because the advertisement plays a very important role in a business. But what is an advertising? What is a good advertisement? How can I persuade the people to buy my product? What are the main problems? In the next pages I will try to give an answer to all of this questions.

What is Advertising?
As everybody well know from watching television and reading magazines, there is a lot of ineffective advertising. For example by the next commercial break you can't remember the sponzor of some TV show.

There are some old definitions:
Albert D. Lasker: "I can tell you the secret of advertising - it is news. But the full secret is that advertising is salesmanship in print".
Fairfax M. Cone: Good advertising is simply an effective sales presentation. That was some years ago. The only thing that has changed is that the available media have broadened into radio, film, television, CD ROM and the Internet. But almost a century later there are still people who apparently don't know what advertising is. People who don't realize that advertising is salesmanship in print, pictures and sound allways think that it's communications or entertainment. But there are also some new definition about what an advertisement is:
· advertising is the business, or the art, if you please, of telling someone something that should be important to him. It is a substitute for talking to someone.
· advertising should be clear and also important. The proposition must have value.
· the proposition (the promise) that is both clear and important must also have a personal appeal. It should be beamed at its logical prospects, no one else matters.
· the distinction in good advertising is that it expresses the personality of the advertiser; for a promise is only as good as its maker. (And that's the company - not the account executive, copywriter, or the sales manager).
· a good advertisement demands action. It asks for an order, or it exacts a mental pledge.

A good advertisement:
· will be reasonable, but never dull
· it will be original, but never self-conscious
· it will be imaginative, but never misleading

And because of what it is and what it is not, a properly prepared advertisement will always be convincing and it will make people act.
It is simple to make an good advertisement. You should first put yourself in the position of your prospect.

You judge whether the proposition is direct, clear and important to you, the prospect. Then, reverting to your regular role you determine whether the proposition is presented as your company wants to be presented. Plus whether the advertisement asks for the order. Copy research can help if you're in any doubt about how the prospect will respond. It doesn't have to be extensive. As Lasker said: "You don't need a sample of 1,000 to prove that donkeys have two ears. A sample of six will do."
"If you spend your advertising budget entertaining the consumer you're a bloody fool", David Ogilvy told the Association of National Advertisers. "Housewives don't buy a new detergent because a manufacturer told a joke on television last night. They buy the new detergent because it promises a benefit".

Effective Advertising Is:
Clear as to exactly what the selling proposition is.
Important to its prospects.
Personal in its appeal to its logical prospects.
Commanding of attention.
Demanding of action by its prospects.

What Is the Ad Trying to Do?
Usually the ad is trying to sell a product, but this is only an initial response to the question. What does the ad want the reader to do? Ultimately, of course, commercial advertising aims to win sales, but some advertisements seek first to gain the reader’s attention or stimulate interest in hopes that purchases will follow. On the other hand, repetitive ads for familiar products often aim to short-circuit the conscious consideration of purchase decisions. They try to stimulate the consumer to pick up the soft drink or the toothpaste or the detergent as she moves down the shopping aisles.

What Else Do You Need to Know to Analyze an Ad?
As we see the ads, we may also be able to “see through” them to broader social and cultural realities. We can note three contexts for these documents. First of all, they are selling tools and reflect the business needs of the corporations that pay for them.Posing the questions about purposes and methods will give us insights into the role ofadvertising in business. Second, advertisements are cultural indicators. Finally, bear in mind that ads emerge from a professional culture of industry and suggest the aspirations and anxieties of the men and women who create them. To see through ads, we should also look at these creators.

For about a century, major national advertisers of brand-named goods and services have employed advertising agencies to plan out their campaigns, write and design the ads, and follow a media strategy to reach targeted buyers with their sales messages. Viewing consumers as irrational, ill-informed, and uncultured, advertising agencies often created ads that reflected their own surroundings rather than those of the buyers they wanted to attract. The subculture of the advertising industry is an intense one. How to judge good advertising from bad?
Some 90% of advertisements are underachievers, according to the United States Institute of Marketing. In fact, "less than 10% of all the advertisements appearing in the media are producing close to 40% of the accountable responses" according to Robert C. Steckel, President of the Institute.The reason according to Whit Hobbes, is that "Too often, there isn't a point. There isn't a direction. Too often advertising … is a habit. Too often the advertisements are there merely to take up space" … or time. No advertisement should run, unless it has something to say … which means that half the … advertising that runs, shouldn't run".

The name David Ogilvy is a legend in advertising. He is the one of the most revered marketing minds in the world. He helped to establish modern advertising with his big ideas and he produced many of the world's most famous and sophisticated ad campaigns. His style, wit and convictions helped mold an industry. But most importantly, he knew how to sell. His copy followed the basic rules of advertising: research and position the product, develop a brand image, build culture, and have a big idea. Here are some of his great tips.

4 Ps of Advertising
The 4-Ps of marketing are the core of textbook literature. Ogilvy also has his 4-Ps of advertising. Positioning is the first key factor. Consider how you want to "position" your product. This means what the product does or who it is for. The second "P" is personality in the brand image. Personality does not necessarily mean a person but the ability to evoke an image.There are two points to ponder: First, customers buy the "image." Second, customers, as people, identify with other people-from the ads.
The third "P" - persistence of memory of the ad. Ogilvy did not believe that a new ad was necessary every season to maintain customer interest in the product. He preferred innovative extensions of the core ad and believed that customers would not become bored by repetition, and cease to identify with it. Ogilvy's last "P" is pursuit of the positive.

Ogilvy believed in "pleasing the customer," by providing useful information and he had no qualms about parity since it does not insult consumers' intelligence. Standard textbooks emphasize the need to convince consumers of the superiority of the product against competitors. But Ogilvy was sure that all competitors in a particular market make excellent products. His creed was – „Do not imply that your product is better. Just say what is good about your product-and do a clearer, more honest, more informative job of saying it..." .

David Ogilvy did not believe that advertising should be totally guesswork. His firm, Ogilvy and Mather, conducted extensive research on what really works, and then shared their findings with the world. It is amazing how the advertising industry has ignored this information. Ogilvy also believed that people who are interested in advertising as a career should become students of advertising. Advertising executives who refuse to study the principles of the profession are foolish. On the other hand, he found the quality of coursework and textbooks on advertising at universities to be poor. He believed people who enter the advertising profession should work in direct response advertising for at least a year to learn techniques that really work. Direct response advertising is the only type that produces measurable results.
Consumers in developing countries benefit from print ads, since they can reflect on the information (assuming it is accurate). They are likely to fall for a false sense of urgency that a TV commercial generates. Print ad illustrations (really good ones) reinforce "persistence of memory" that could generate loyal, long-term buyers. The best print ads brilliantly execute illustration and text. Here are a few of the principles for print ads that Ogilvy shares in his book:

1. Layout. A reader’s eye tends to look first at an illustration, second at the headline, third at a caption under the illustration, fourth to the copy. Therefore, the layout should be illustration first, every illustration should have a caption, headline second, copy third. 2. Typestyle. Serif typestyles are the easiest to read (they are typically used in books for this reason.) Use serif typestyles for your ads. Words with all capital letters are also hard to read. The eye tends to read "all caps" one letter at a time. Use upper and lower case. 3. Reverse. White letters on a black or dark background is almost impossible to read. Use it sparingly. If a newspaper or magazine requires you to "flag" an advertisement, write "advertisement" at the top in reverse, using italics.

It is impossible to read and therefore practically invisible. 4. Subheads. A subhead between the headline and body copy builds readership. For long copy, additional subheads throughout the copy helps retain interest. 5. Number points. "If you have a lot of unrelated facts to recite, don’t use cumbersome connectives. Simply number them."
6. Space between paragraphs. Using a space between paragraphs increases readership by an average of 12 percent.
7. Sex in advertising. "Some copywriters, assuming that the reader will find the product as boring as they do, try to inveigle him into their ads with pictures of babies, beagles and bosoms. This is a mistake. A buyer of flexible pipe for offshore oil rigs is more interested in pipe than anything else in the world. So play it straight." The test for sex is relevance. "[T]here is a functional reason to show nudes in advertisements for beauty products."

Here are some interesting points for television ads:

1. Slice of life. Copywriters hate them. Consumers love them. Consumers should win!
2. Characters. A "character" used to sell your product over a number of years becomes the living symbol of the product. 3. News. Commercials which contain news have above average response. "Products, like human beings, attract most attention when they are first born. For an old product, you can create news by advertising a new way to use it."
4. Testimonials by celebrities. "These are below average in their ability to change brand preference. Viewers guess the celebrity has been bought, and they are right. … Viewers have a way of remembering the celebrity while forgetting the product."
5. Budget. "I have no research to prove it, but I suspect that there is a negative correlation between the money spent on producing commercials and their power to sell products. My partner Al Eicoff was asked by a client to remake a $15,000 commercial for $100,000. Sales went down."

When I was collecting the information to write my seminar paper, I found a really interesting statements which Ogilvy made during his great career as a advertisement creator. Here is a list of his Advertising Rules:

“I hate rules.”
- David Ogilvy

· Choose a short name like 'TIDE', and not a long one like 'Screaming Yellow Zonkers'. · Concentrate your time, your brains, and your advertising money on your successes. Back your winners, and abandon your losers.

· Regard advertising as part of the product, to be treated as production cost, not a selling cost. · Keep your eye to the heavy users. Advertising is the cheapest form of selling. · It pays to make your poster a 'visual scandal'. · It is a mistake to put a period at the end of headlines. · Commercials with a large content of nostalgia, charm and even sentimentality can be enormously effective. · Cartoons can sell things to children, but they are below average in selling to grown-ups. · Use the brand name within the first ten seconds. · Show the package. · In commercials for food, the more appetizing you make it look, the more you sell. It has been found that food in motion looks particularly appetizing. · It is a good thing to use close-ups when your product is the hero of your commercial. The closer you get on the product, the more you make people's mouths water. · Grab the viewer's attention in the first frame with a visual surprise. · When you have nothing to say, sing it. · While music does not add to the selling power of commercial, sound effects can make a positive difference. · Avoid visual banality. If you want the viewer to pay attention to your commercial, show her something she has never seen before. · Show the product in use. It pays to show he product being used, and if possible, the end-result of using it. · Everything is possible on TV. · Mis-comprehension. If you want to avoid your television commercial being misunderstood, you had better make hem crystal clear. · The consumer isn't a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.

· I abhor advertising that is blatant, dull, or dishonest. Agencies which transgress this principle are not widely respected. Never write an advertisement which you wouldn't want your own family to read. You wouldn't tell lies to your own wife. Don't tell them to mine.

· Hiring Practices: If you always hire people who are smaller than you are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. If, on the other hand, you always hire people who are bigger than you are, we shall become a company of giants. If you ever find a man who is better than you are - hire him. If necessary, pay him more than you pay yourself.

· Layouts: It has been found that the less an advertisement looks like an advertisement, and the more it looks like an editorial, the more readers stop, look and read. Therefore, study the graphics used by editors and imitate them.

Study the graphics used in advertisements,and avoid them.

VOCABULARY:

salesmanship – the art of persuading people to buy something
proposition – suggestion
distinction – diference
pledge – promise
dull – not wise
selfconscious – shy
convince – persuade
to revert – to come back
detergent – substance used for cleaning
aspiration – ambition
to rever – to respect
sophisticated – having a great deal of experience
to mold – to become a shape
to poder – to consider carefully
have qualms – not to be sure
caption – title
sparingly – wise
to inveigle – to attract
bosom – breast
testimonial – statement
period – punctuation mark
moron – uneducated human, dull person
mere – common
vapid – weak
blatant – shameless
transgress - present.

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