57609 Creative Appeals in Advertising

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

Subject level:

Postgraduate

Description

In this subject students explore the appeals used in developing advertising messaging that is impactful and persuasive. They gain skills in identifying key attributes and articulating them through persuasive appeals, ensuring their message is both relevant to the target audience and creatively expressed. Learning involves hands-on practice in message development, fostering a blend of analytical and creative thinking to enhance their marketing proficiency.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject engages with the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs), which are tailored to the Graduate Attributes set for all graduates of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:

• Apply a specialised body of theoretical and practice-oriented knowledge and skills to develop, implement and evaluate innovative and integrated solutions to real-world communication challenges (1.1)
• Critically, creatively and/or collaboratively analyse, debate and reflect on strategic communication models, practices and solutions by planning and executing a body of research to solve complex problems (2.1)
• Counsel decision-makers about challenges and solutions in diverse contexts on issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, social justice and sustainability (5.1)
• Persuade and engage diverse audiences through both written and oral communication strategies, across a range of media formats, with consideration of others' needs and views. (6.1)

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject introduces students to theories and practical frameworks that help practitioners to characterise the needs, wants and desires of a target audience as part of identifying the creative appeals to be used. This involves reviewing advertising campaign case studies, theoretical frameworks, and industry best practice reviews provided as pre-class activities, and using their interpretation of this content to inform discussion in class about the nuances of the appeals being used and the likely responses they will stimulate in the target audience. Discussion of the developing analysis for A1 will occur during the weekly seminars in the weeks before this assessment is due. This formative feedback will help students to focus and refine their analysis as they develop the report. Students also participate in creative workshops where they work collaboratively and apply appeals to a creative task to see the impact on the final ‘stimulus’ created.

Content (topics)

Students are introduced to practical frameworks for understanding people’s decision-making about transactions and everyday behaviour (their needs, wants, and desires). Students learn about positive and negative, rational, emotional, and motivational appeals, and how they are used in propositions as part of creative advertising development processes. This includes exploring the differences between, and significance of, the ‘stimulus’ and the ‘response’ to advertising strategy development. This builds understanding of the socio-cultural impact of the appeals used in advertising, on popular culture, identity and our society more broadly.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Messaging Appeals Case Study

Assessment task 2: Creative Inspiration Report

Assessment task 3: Applied creative appeals

Minimum requirements

Attendance at classes is essential in this subject. Classes are based on a collaborative approach that involve essential workshopping and interchange of ideas with other students and the tutor to build capacities towards meeting the subject learning objectives. A roll will be taken at each class (whether on campus or online). Students who have more than two absences from class will be refused marking of their final assessment (see Rule 3.8).

References

There are no required texts for this subject. Recommended readings will be available via UTS Library and through the subject site.

Cochrane, L., & Quester, P. (2005), Fear in Advertising, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 17(2-3), p.7-32,

Eisend, M. (2009), A meta-analysis of humor in advertising, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37, p.191–203

Marsden, P. (2013), The social commerce handbook: 20 secrets for turning social media into social sales, McGraw Hill. NY.

Phillips, B.J. & McQuarrie, E.F. (2004). Beyond Visual Metaphor: A New Typology of Visual Rhetoric in Advertising. Marketing Theory, 4, p.113

Duckworth, G. (1999). Creative Briefing. In L. Butterfield (Ed.), Execellence in advertising: the IPA guide to best practice (pp. 135-157). Butterworth-Heienemann.

Haygood, D. M. (2016). Hard Sell or Soft Sell? The Advertising Philosophies and Professional Relationship of Rosser Reeves and David Ogilvy. American Journalism, 33(2), 169-188.

Ruiter, R.A.C., Kessels, L.T.E., Peters, G-J., Y., & Kok, G. (2014), Sixty years of fear appeal research: Current state of the evidence, International Journal of Psychology, 49(2), p.63-70.

Ryan, D. (2011) The best digital marketing campaigns in the world: mastering the art of customer engagement, Kogan Page, London.

Siegel, A., & Etzkorn, I. (2013) Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity, RH Business Books. Chicago.

Sharma, C., Herzog J., & Melfi, V. (2008) Mobile Advertising: Supercharge Your Brand in the Exploding Wireless Market, John Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

Sinclair, J. (2016) Advertising & Media in the Age of Algorithm. International Journal of Communication, 10, p. 3522–3535

Springer, P. (2012) Pioneers of digital: Success stories from leaders in advertising, marketing, search, and social media, Kogan Page, London.

Springer, P. (2009), Ads to Icons: How Advertising Succeeds in a Multimedia Age, Kogan Page, London.

Strick, M., Holland, R.W., van Baaren, R.B., van Knippenberg, A. & Dijksterhuis, A. (2013) Humour in advertising: An associative processing model, European Review of Social Psychology, 24(1), p. 32-69.

Tellis, G. (2003) Effective Advertising: Understanding When, How and Why Advertising Works (Marketing for a new century), Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California.