Over the years Dr Edward de Bono has shared great insights through his messages. This series of blogs revisits some of those highlights. In advertising there may be a number of different concepts.

Attention

There is the ‘attention concept’.  This is particularly relevant when the consumer is not looking directly at the advertisement. So it applies particularly to press advertising, where at no point is the reader obliged to look at the advertising, (unlike radio or television, where the advertisement takes over the whole medium for a brief period).  There is evidence that only one in twenty people actually look at newspaper advertisements (or so they say).

Interest

Then there is the ‘interest’ concept.  Why should the consumer read or look further?  Many advertisements are quite high on this concept.

Value

Fundamentally there needs to be a ‘value’ concept. What is the value being offered to the consumer?  There are times when the intention is simply to have the brand foremost in the consumers’ mind, without offering any advantage over other brands.  This could be the case with photographic films, or even beer or petrol.  It is enough that the consumer looking for films, beer or petrol thinks first of the advertised brand. In most other cases there is a need to suggest some value.  There is a growing feeling that to place an advertisement in a negative medium may be worse than a waste of money.  Through the ‘halo’ effect, the negativity spreads to matters other than the editorial content.  If this can be proved to be true, then advertisers may be cautious about placing advertisements in publications that are often negative.  This applies in particular to certain newspapers.

Retention

Then there is the ‘retention’ concept. Will the consumer remember the advertisement? And, even more important, will the consumer remember the name of the supplier? There have been many famous advertising campaigns (such as the ‘listening bank’), where the retention is high but no one can remember the relevant bank. It is not easy to juggle with all these concepts, especially when excellence in one concept may suppress the others.  For example, a high ‘interest’ concept may depress ‘retention’ and ‘value’ concepts. Succeeding in this task is all part of the creativity and professionalism of advertising.   About the author: Dr Edward de Bono is a world leading authority on thinking skills.  Creator of the famous Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking and many other workshops he has authored 62 books published in 32 languages. Holst is Dr Edward de Bono’s partner in Europe. Click here for more information about Dr de Bono and his tools. https://weareholst.com//edward_de_bono_training/ Would you like to change how people think? Consider adding Dr Edward de Bono’s tools to your portfolio and become an accredited de Bono trainer (trainer accreditation information)]]>