What I have learnt in Advertising

I'm on the threshold to join Advertising. Here are my learnings from observations in life & teachings. These are not laws but my beliefs, many of which waiting to be busted..

• Advertising is the second oldest profession in the world. We all know what’s the oldest one. (Maybe advtg got triggered by the increasing competition in the oldest one..!)
• There are no rules in Advertising; only trends. Trends, waiting to be reversed.
• Advertising in one word: PERSUATION
• God lies in detail. Even a lame idea can go places if executed well. Execution plays the most important role after the idea.
  
• Women have been used to sell anything & everything under the sun.
• Audience’s state of mind: Yaa that people are leading busy lives n nobody cares for the odd 3000-5000 advtg messages he’s daily exposed to. But hold, its also true that gradually people have developed a taste for ads. Good (read ‘creative’) ones are noticed and discussed like fire. Interestingly, when we are sifting through the pages of a magazine or newspaper, we’re as well seeking ads that stimulate & thus entertain us. There are websites that cater to this particular need gap.
  
• Collection of experiences: Advertising is all about exaggeration. And its not amplification to say that all ads are based on real life people & experiences. (Ya dont believe..?) Thus what one needs is to keep the observant eye open & analyze it with a few ‘ifs’ thrown in.
• Ads that don’t seem like ads: Determined to get consumers' attention, advertising has taken its creativity outside the box and into new dimensions. No-Copy Advertisements offer a solution in the form of messages without the messages. They employ an indirect approach by placing visuals that represent single strong proposition, and cutting out unnecessary copy. This does breaks clutter by being unconventional, and is currently the flavor of the season.
• Involve the audience for gaining retention (visual vs copy): Advantage with No Copy ads is that they are indirect ads led by visual information posing a puzzle to the audience. Now the audience gets involved in trying to find out the intended message and finally when he cracks the ad, the process and the brand gets registered in the memory. While, traditional approach simply lays down the verbal claims and hopes for the brand to reach the consideration set of the audience.
  

Posting more soon...