The Five Pillars Of Great Advertising

Introduction

In recent times the value of advertising as a traditionally accepted promotional

platform has started to be questioned based on results suggesting that the levels of

trust for advertising are at an all time low at around ten percent or putting it another 

way, one in ten people believe what they see in advertising.So then why do so many 

companies continue to invest so heavily in advertising?

The A.I.D.A Model

We know from copious amounts of behavioural data that behavioural change happens gradually in steps

and these steps as set out by the AIDA model areas follows:

1. Attention

2. Interest

3. Desire

4. Action

This model has been universally accepted as showing the stages of acceptance and 

correctly identifies attention as the first vital step, which of course is what advertising 

always was and continues to be so good at today.

Once this is done your market literally know you exist you can then proceed to tick 

the other three boxes either with advertising or any compilation of promotional tools based on the 

demographics and usage patterns of the target audience.

The Five Pillars

To  become great advertising it needs to tick all five boxes pillars to a high level and certainly in

the minds of the target market. These five pillars are:

 
•The Challenge: What the advertising aims to achieve.  Does it aim to:

•Inform

•Persuade

•Remind



•The Copy:  What will be said in this advertising which constitutes your core message. For this consider the target
market and the products and services that make up your total value proposition



•The Channel:  Where will the message be placed and why. What evidence exists that this channel will work well.



•The Cost:  Looks at the budget that will be incurred to deliver this core message to the audience  whilst fulfilling the required reach and frequency requirements.



•Control Function: How you measure and monitor your performance against projected performance.  Changes in front line metrics such as incremental sales and  key indicators such as intention to  trial and intention to buy are typical examples of the control function in use.

Overall

The role for advertising is still clear and when used in the right way and to the right extent,
advertising can still be an extremely efficient and cost effective way to launch a campaign at a low cost
per contact and then dove tail in with other recognised approaches that will further drive the core
message.