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Advertising Writing
Spring 1999
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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).