 |
 |
 |
           |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
What Is Most Important - Copy Or Pic?
When, some little time ago now, I first descended upon the advertising scene, we were a good deal more concerned than most people seem to be today about the nature of the business we found ourselves in. We were always holding debates - in the saloon bar of the Coach & Horses in New Bond Street, to be tiresomely precise - about the meaning of advertising, the significance of advertising, and the past, present and future of advertising. And an unconscionably serious lot we no doubt were. Not to mention drunk. Among the hardy perennials of our debates was the relevance of sex in advertising, and also the question of whether the copy element in ads was more important than the visual or vice versa. Of course, these were the days when it was possible for agency personnel to slope off round the pub during working hours and nobody on the management side of things turned so much as a hair at our absence. Just so long as the work got done on time, nobody gave so much as a tinker's cuss whether you were doing it in the office or down at the dog track. These days, agencies are a little more sanguine in their approach to creative people; and I recently heard of a designer being sacked on the spot for turning up at a client meeting wearing jeans - and I kid you not. But back to our hardy perennials. The 'sex in advertising' question was a hotly debated topic, mainly because the copywriters and designers in my milieu were always anxious to attend the relevant photo-shoots, and not because sex was liable to help sell anything. Thus, we were constantly coming up with speculative ad campaigns that featured semi-clad females so that we might catch a glimpse of a naked thigh or better. Few of these concepts saw the light of day, but it was always worth a try. As to the copy versus pic argument, this has still not been resolved to this day. Then, as now, I was on the side of the angels, holding that around 80 per cent of ads could, at a pinch, do without illustrations, whereas only about 2 per cent could do without words. (In regard to the other 18 per cent, you can make your own arrangements.) Such an argument, as you'd expect, was met with widespread alarm by the designers, who saw that I was presaging their redundancy. Then as now, they would do everything they could to give their illustrations the prominence they thought they deserved. This usually resulted in a design in which the pic took up four-fifths of the ad, while the copy was relegated to eight-point solid and rendered practically illegible. My attitude, obviously, was simply a debating stance - true though it undoubtedly is. I am not suggesting for a moment that 8 out of 10 ads should be wholly typographical. But if you take a dispassionate look around you, you might agree with me that a whole lot of ads (and brochures and websites, too, come to that) carry pictures for pictures' sake; and that in quite a few cases the pictures, far from helping the transmission of a message, actually hinder it. The biggest offenders in this respect are what might be describes as semi-industrial ads. Just leaf through a trade mag (or brochure or website) and you'll see irrelevance in illustration well carried out. You'll see, for instance, pictures of the factory or, as they call it these days, the production operation. You'll see pics of two obvious male models in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen or a blueprint. And you'll see pics of two obvious male models, plus a female model, in white coats staring idiotically at a computer screen. The female is included in the latter pic because the designer had originally planned for her to be shot with her clothes off. Here's what I think. With today's wonderful digital photography opportunities, with an instant replay of whatever has been shot, one might hope that illustrations in ads, brochures and websites might be made more relevant. They might actually show the product in action - demonstration is, after all, the soul of advertising. But, no, we still get pics which have nothing whatsoever to do with the product or its benefits. I don't mind admitting that there can be few people in the whole wide world who know less about photography than I do. What I do know, however, is that promotional material is far better off without an illustration if that illustration does not augment the sales message. So, in this respect, copy is more important than illustration. Mind you, there is a lot of copy around that doesn't augment the sales message either. But that's another story. About The Author Patrick Quinn is an award winning copywriter with 40 years' experience of the advertising business in London, Miami, Dublin and Edinburgh. He publishes a FREE online monthly newsletter, AdBriefing, designed for those who have a very real interest in producing good advertising. Subscriptions are available at: http://www.adbriefing.com j.p@markethillpublishing.co.uk
MORE RESOURCES:
Advertising - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
8 Low Cost Ways To Advertise, Promote and Market Your Business We all are looking for ways to market our businesses cost effectively. I have come up with 8 ways to do just that all low cost to free. Dont Put All Your Eggs in The Same Basket Solution: You can protect yourself by partnering with other lead sources because it is unlikely that they will all have a problem or technical issue at the same time.Other alternative: It doesn't hurt either to use a few marketing tools to generate leads for your business. Advertising, Public Relations, Newsletters, and Newsletters for Your Small Business If you own a small business you should consider ways to promote yourself through public relations to compliment you advertising regiment and keeping your name out in the public and in front of your best customers. There are many ways to keep yourself visible on top of your typical advertising choices. How Do People Know Youre in Business? One of the most important things to do now that you've started a business is to TELL THE WORLD! But HOW? It can be very expensive and time consuming if not done properly. Here's some inexpensive publicity and marketing ideas to help you get recognition for your new venture. Is Your Yellow Pages Ad Putting Cash in Your Pocket... or Sucking Cash Out? Any idea? It's a question that more than a few Yellow Page advertisers ponder. If you are currently spending money every month to run an ad in your local directory, you don't want to wrestle with that question. Tips for Using Paid Advertising Quite a few business out there can't survive without some type of advertising and/or brand recognition, so advertising your business is one of the most important aspects in running certain types of business. It's also one of the most frequently asked questions for "how to". Create Your Dynamic Elevator Speech So, what's an elevator speech, and how do you get one?What Is It?An elevator speech is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness. How To Create A Better Brochure Having a quality brochure makes a positive impression on a potential customer. It gives the appearance that you're serious about your business. 10 Ways to Advertise Your Business For Free! At some point many small business owners are left with no or a small amount of capital to promote their business. But many entrepreneurs utilize these free or low budget yet effective tactics to promote their business online and offline. Print Advertising: Knowing What To Put In Your Ads So you've decided to run a print ad in your local newspaper. The paper may have even told you they could produce the artwork for you if you just tell them what should be in the ad. Choosing a Print Mail Dealer "Print & Mail is a type of service that is popular among small mail order operators. It is an inexpensive way to get your ad material printed and mailed to people. Your Eye Catching Publicity Flyer Your website is done, your business cards have been delivered, and your brochure has received accolades. In the promoting department you have everything you need, right? Well, there is one item you lack and by having this item in your arsenal it can be a dealmaker for you. Do Your Adverts Get You More Sales? Philadelphia retailer and US Postmaster General, John Wanamaker, once said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half."If you're spending $10,000 a month on advertising $5,000 is going straight down the tubes. Books, Bibles and Fast-Talkers Every community has 'em. Fast talkers who roll into town with a clever idea to sell to people in business. 6 Ways To Get More Sales From Your Advertisement To bring great sales success, a great advertising technique is not the only parameter. You must know what it is that your customers are actually buying. How to Create Ads that Sell with Little Effort One of the main problems people find with marketing, is the actual selling. How can you create ads which sell?Well there are tons of articles, and pay for e-books to help you create ad copy, but there is a free and easy way to create your own ads which sell, sell sell. The Seven Second Race: How to Draw Attention Your Ad You've decided to launch your advertising campaign but you have no idea what would inspire others to buy from you. Or maybe you've already run some ads to no avail. 100 Excellent Words and 70 Action Getting Phrases for Ad Writing 100 Excellent Words Absolutely. Amazing. Information To Include On Your Business Card The logo and graphic elements that you include on your business card are quite important, but having the right text and contact information on the card is equally important. Here are our tips about the elements to include:Your name - Consider whether you want to include your middle name or initial, degrees or professional credentials that are unique to your field. Effective Promotions Through Local Classified Sites Today's online marketplace is extremely competitive. People want to market their products and services with the most cost effective manner possible.
|
 |