1. Allison Albee
11-17-11
Mrs. Corbett/ AP Lit
7th Period
The Importance of Choosing a Proper Advertising Technique
What convinces buyers to purchase milk when they stop by the grocery store? Is it the
taste or the health benefits? Or is it the way that milk is portrayed to the buyers? In today's
competitive market, it is the responsibility of an advertising team to identify a target audience in
which a specific product will show the most success and present the product in a way that highly
appeals to the chosen audience. A television commercial typically runs for thirty seconds and
will contain sixty-five words or less, limiting a creative team's time to sell an audience, and thus
challenging their creative wits and forcing them to dig deeper into the numerous advertising
techniques (Admongo.gov). But, these techniques can only prove successful when presented
properly. If a creative team were to set teenagers as the primary audience, then a reasonable form
of advertising to consider would be testimonials or endorsements in which advertisers could
present the product alongside celebrities that the audience looks up to, thus giving the product a
positive edge. Should the target audience be middle-aged adults, then a celebrity may not
convince them to buy a product. Instead, a simple display of benefits and sense appeal may prove
the product to be worth while to a more skeptical crowd. Therefore, in order to successfully
advertise a product or service, it is necessary properly determine the advertising technique in
correspondence with the target audience.

2. Repetition is one of the most simple yet effective techniques used in advertising. The
basic idea of an advertisement is to introduce a product to an audience, and with the use of
repetition, an advertiser increases the odds that the viewers will be able to recall the information
given to them. Advertisers may choose a phrase, word, or simply the products' name to present
periodically throughout the commercial (Admongo.gov). This technique is utilized most
prominently when advertising children's products; although children may not be able to recall all
information presented to them, they are able to clearly identify the product because of the ad's
consistent use of the product's name.
Association is a common method of advertisement chosen because it effectively links a
product with the desire of its audience, whether it's fame, wealth, sex, health, or a number of
other features typically desired by viewers (Admongo.gov). Advertisers use association in the
hopes of transferring positivity toward their product to potential buyers (Foster, 1). In the time
after the 9/11 attacks on America, advertisers were in a frenzy to associate their products with
the American flag, bald eagle, or any other patriotic symbol due to the trend of intense patriotism
that resulted. As Americans came together in their patriotism, advertisers jumped at the chance to
advertise to America as a united audience with a common love and respect.
Another parallel of association are testimonials and celebrity endorsements. In 1994, milk
sales were had been in a steady decline for more than twenty-five years and advertisers were
desperate to find a way to convince people to drink more milk products (Gourley, 1). In the
primary stages of designing an advertising campaign, advertisers will typically research their
target audience's knowledge of the product and work around the facts. In this instance, the
creative team found that teens and young adults saw milk as dull and outdated, thus defining
their mission as a way to make milk "cool" once more. Once the team defined their target

3. audience as mostly young viewers, it was determined that the best way to update a campaign for
such an audience would be to bring in recent celebrities that the viewers would quickly identify
with. The campaign displayed photographs of celebrities wearing painted milk mustaches, giving
off the immediate response that if a celebrity associates with the product, it must be worthwhile
(Gourely, 1). The strength of a testimonial campaign is that it is not the advertisers that convince
the audience to jump on the bandwagon, but public figures that the audience looks up to and
trusts, such as celebrities, doctors, or sport stars. The power of persuasion all depends on the
advertisers' choice of endorsers.
Depending on the target audience chosen for the product, advertisers can choose to play
on the fears that their audience may have (Admongo.gov). Advertisers are responsible for
considering every angle from which they can approach the product, and when using the fear
tactic, advertisers typically will not discuss what the product could do for them, but what might
happen if they did not have said product. When trying to sell a product to an audience of
unwilling buyers, advertisers will ditch their attempts to persuade the intended audience that they
want it, but instead that they need it. In the 1930's and '40's, make-up companies gained
momentum by examining the variety of fears an insecurities that women showed in regards to
their appearances and illustrate the immediate need of such products to avoid imperfections such
as wrinkles (xroads.virginia.edu). Advertisements would refer to common fears such as weight,
blemishes or age, and in turn connect their product in a manner to give the illusion that make-up
was an instantaneous fix for insecurities. An old witch would be presented, but with the use of
this cream or that, a beautiful woman would appear. By playing off of the fears and insecurities
of women and adding a sense of urgency in the need of such products, advertisers were able to
quickly put their products at the top of a woman's consumption needs (xroads.virginia.edu).

4. In today's economy, it is necessary for advertisers to consider every aspect of a campaign
in order to determine how it can show the most success on the market. The first and foremost job
of a creative team is to identify a target audience that will be most interested in the product
introduced to them. Should an advertising team place a product amongst the wrong age group or
interest group, the company in charge of the product could lose money due to a lack of interest
among the chosen audience. If the campaign is directed at viewers that relate to the product and
typically show interest towards products of its kind, then the campaign can show immediate
success. But, choosing the right audience is not the only key to success. Once the target audience
is chosen, advertisers need to be able to properly choose a technique that corresponds with the
age or interests of the viewers. Because middle-aged viewers tend to be more skeptical towards
advertisements, a campaign may need to center around the facts of the product, whereas simple
repetition can engrain a product's name into a young audience's minds. Only once an advertiser
can properly determine a target audience and corresponding advertising technique can a
campaign and it's product truly show success on the market.