[MUSIC] In this lecture, we will talk about the potential message strategies that we might decide to use in our communications campaign. Message strategy is the primary approach to deliver the key ideas in an advertisement. It can be divided into three main categories that correspond with the three consumer responses that we have discussed before. Cognitive, affective, and conative. A cognitive message strategy presents rational arguments to consumers. These message strategies are designed to influence the cognitive component of the attitude, which deals with the beliefs and knowledge. When a cognitive message strategy is used, advertisement's key message is about the product's attributes and benefits. Cognitive message strategies can be divided into five different types, generic, preemptive, unique selling proposition, hyperbole, and comparative. A generic cognitive message strategy directly communicates a brand's attributes or benefits without any claim of superiority to other brands. This strategy works better when the firm is the market leader. For example, in this advertisement, Gillette Mach 3 just shares one new product attribute with consumers. Lubricating strips with aloe cause less irritation on the skin. A preemptive cognitive message has a strong claim based on a product's specific attribute or benefit. The idea is to prevent the competition from making similar statements. For example, Crest toothpaste is well known as the cavity fighter, and prevents other brands from making similar claims, even though other toothpastes also fight cavities. The key to effectively using a preemptive strategy is to be the first brand to state the product attribute. Other brands that use the same claim might be viewed as me too brands or copycats, and hence preempted. Another good example for a preemptive message is Visine's get the red out claim. All eye drops are designed to relieve eyes and prevent redness, but Visine was the first to state it, and used it repetitively, so consumers associated this claim with Visine. So, no other company could make the same claim. A unique selling proposition message strategy, focuses on a testable claim of uniqueness or superiority, on a meaningful, and distinctive customer benefit. This message strategy might be considered as the optimum one because it provides consumers a clearly differentiated reason to select the brand over competitors. If the brand possess a long-lasting competitive advantage, then the ad should exploit it. For example, unique selling proposition of Dyson vacuum cleaners, is that it does not clog or lose suction. In this advertisement, Dyson vacuum cleaners is promoted as the only brand not to clog and lose suction, emphasizing this competitive advantage. A hyperbole, cognitive message strategy, uses an untestable claim. It doesn't require substantiation, which makes it a popular approach. Just take a look at these ads. Guinness for strength. Folgers for the best part of waking up. These are clearly opinions, not facts. For example, having a cup of Folgers coffee may not be the best part of waking up for everyone in every single morning. Still, many people who like the brand or enjoy this ad will admit that it is an enjoyable way to wake up. A comparative message strategy focuses on a comparison with a competing brand. The major advantage of comparative ads is that they often capture consumers' attention. When comparisons are made, both brand awareness and message awareness increase. However, we should be careful while using comparative ads, because it has some negative aspects. For example, many consumers find comparative ads less believable. They view the information about the advertising brand as exaggerated. Consumers may even conclude that the information about the comparison brand is misstated to make the advertising brand appear superior. Another danger of comparative ads is that consumers may develop negative attitudes toward the advertisement. This will most likely occur when a negative comparison approach is used in the ad, downgrading the comparison brand. If consumers do not believe the ad, then spontaneous trait transference may occur. In psychology, this concept suggests that when someone calls another person dishonest, other people tend to remember the caller as also being less honest. Likewise, when a comparative ads criticizes a competitor, based on a particular attribute, viewers of the ad may attribute the same deficiency to the advertising brand as well. This effect occurs especially if the viewer is actually a consumer of the comparison brand. I would like to show you a famous series of comparative advertisements from the automotive industry. The first one is from BMW, saying "congratulations to Audi for winning South African car of the year 2006." BMW signs the ad as "from the winner of the world car of the year 2006." Comparative ads usually lead to response by the comparison brand. Here we see the response of Audi. "Congratulations to BMW for winning world car of the year 2006." "From the winner of six consecutive Le Mans 24 hour races from 2000 to 2006." Finally we see Subaru getting involved. "Well done to Audi and BMW for winning the beauty contest." "From the winner of the 2006 international engine of the year." In this lecture, we have covered different types of cognitive message strategies. In the next lecture, we will talk about the other two types, affective and conative message strategies. [MUSIC]
