Advertising Writing

 

 

 

Advertising Writing

Spring 1999

Thomas Gould tgould@ksu.edu
208B Kedzie Office Hours: M/W 10:30 - 12:30,
532-3967 Tuesday 1-3 p.m. or by appointment

What You Will Learn
Materials to Help You Learn
How You Will Demonstrate What You Have Learned
Class Participation and Attendance
Grades
Policies
Class Schedule

What you will learn

Blurred images don't inspire much loyalty among consumers. You all know about the lack of brand loyalty in the detergent field. It was found here in Chicago that less than two percent of housewives stick to the same brand of detergent for as long as one year. By coincidence, the researchers tell us that there is only one brand of detergent which has any well-defined image in the consumer mind. All the others are wishy-washy neuters.

David Ogilvy, 1955


This course is a survey of the field of advertising writing. It is the first ad writing course in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication's advertising sequence and the prerequisite for the advertising campaigns course. The course prerequisites include Principle of Advertising.

In the course, you will learn that ad writing starts with knowing the audience, knowing the product and knowing the brand. At its best, ad writing explains product attributes and motivates positioned buyers. At its worse, ad writing is predictable, stale or disconnected to the product . . . the most offensive of these being the last.

We will do a lot of writing in this class, covering a spectrum of advertising media, from traditional print ads, to direct mail, to television. You will work in teams of two (so be careful who you team up with!) and produce several ads for several different types of products. The work requires that you apply yourself.

It also will be fun.

 

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Materials to help you learn

The Copy Workshop Workbook by Bruce Bendinger. Chicago: The Copy Workshop (1993).

Assigned readings from various sources. These will be on file in the school library and available online (perhaps) through the class schedule.

This course will include several online assignments, including web site readings. Again, refer to the schedule for daily assignments.

Contrary to popular belief -- at times subscribed to by me -- merely owning a book is not sufficient. Your text books will be an invaluable guide in this course only if you actually read it. This text has been used by classes before you and has been found very useful. Of some note, you will find that your ability to participate in class and fully appreciate the daily discussions will be greatly enhanced if you read the text.

To this end, it is essential that you read the assigned material before class. It is important that you read everything in the assigned pages, including the examples provided and case studies. Past students have found it useful to do the exercises in the chapters, whether assigned or not.

Instead of lecturing, I may at times ask you questions about the assigned material, and I will not always rely on volunteers who raise their hand to answer. I will call on you whether you volunteer to answer or not.

Second, you should bring your book to class every day because we will frequently discuss cases and other material from the chapters.

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How you will demonstrate what you learn

You will have different ways to demonstrate what you learn in this course. One, I expect you to do the assigned reading in advance of the specified date. I expect students to take active participation in class discussions, and I will call on individual students to answer questions and discuss material from assigned readings. Make sure you can participate fully in such discussions and demonstrate what you have learned from the reading. I also urge you to come to class with questions and opinions about advertising you see, or are curious about. Consequently, you should pay increased attention to advertising and relate it to what we are talking about in class.

Two, you will be able to demonstrate your ability to apply the principles you learn in this course to an advertising problem by working in a cooperative learning experience to develop ads for a product or service. You will present your ads to the rest of the class. This is designed to help you to learn by doing from example. Early in the course, you will organize yourselves into teams (2 students each . . . let's talk about this) and will begin to work on advertising for a product or service. Near the end of the course, we'll take a look at what you've done . . . yes, this is a little vague, but let's talk about this before we nail things down. Some class time will be set aside for group work, and I will monitor the progress of group work. It is absolutely essential that all students be present on the days set aside for group work in class. Students who do not attend those class sessions or who otherwise do not carry their share of the load on the group project could very well be penalized when grades are determined.

Three, you will do exercises almost every day for class. These will be collected at the end of each class. These are IMPORTANT, since they are the best way for you to get the practice you need. As such they will count 30% of your final grade. In the first half of the course, you will receive one of four grades on these -- zero, minus, check and plus. Failure to turn in assignments when they are due nets a zero (see the medical absence policy). Otherwise, the marks are intended to give you some idea how you are doing, but not discourage you or adversely affect your grades.

After the mid-term, if you have turned in all of your assignments, you will have a grade equivalent to a "A" on your exercises. All exercises after the mid-term will be graded in the traditional fashion (A, B, C, etc.).

Four, you will have a mid-term and a final exam over materials from class discussion and the textbook. The mid-term will be short-answer in format and will count for 20% of your final grade. The final will not be comprehensive, similar in format to the mid-term and will count also for 20% of your final grade. The final may be optional, depending on how the class is doing (the better we perform, the more likely the final will be optional). Please bring a blue book to class for both tests.

 

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Class attendance and participation

I believe learning is enhanced by active involvement in class discussion and activities. That's why I will ask questions to elicit your opinions and knowledge of the reading material. It is impossible to participate in class without attending class (as proved by Einstein). I would add only that attendance and grades on exams have been found to be highly correlated.

I ask for your cooperation in being seated when class begins.

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Determinants of your course grade

Mid-term exam: 20 percent

Final exam: 20 percent

Team projects: 30 percent

Exercises: 30 percent

Here is the kind of calculation I do to determine your course grade. You can use the table to do your own calculation:

Convert letter grades to numerical equivalents using this scale: A=10, A-=9, B+=8, B=7, B-=6, C+=5, C=4, C-=3, D=2, F=1. (For the mid term, use the numeric grade.) Multiply the numerical equivalent by the weight to get the weighted value. Add the weighted values and use the conversion scale to convert the total back to a letter grade. I generally round up all grades of .5 and higher, but I reserve the right to round off in other ways in response to a chronic pattern of absences or tardiness.

Letter grade Numerical Equivalent x Weight = Weighted Value
Mid-term exam _____ x .20 = _____
Projects _____ _____ x .30 = _____
Exercises _____ _____ x .30 = _____
Final exam _____ _____ x .20 = _____

Graduate students taking this course for credit must submit (for a grade) a research paper on a current issue in advertising (maximum length:20 pages). See me about selecting an approved topic at your earliest convenience. This research paper will be counted as the final exam grade (graduate students are not required to take the final).

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Some important policies

If you cannot take the mid-term at the scheduled time on the scheduled date, you must talk to me in advance. If you have a legitimate (medical) excuse, and if you talk to me (or e-mail me) in advance, I will allow you to take the exam on another date. You have one week to make up the mid-term. It is your responsibility to arrange the make up exam.

 


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