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Your job is to carry a message to the Attention of your audience, stimulate Interest, solicit Desire, Convince the audience that it's worth listening to you, then encourage Action - that's AIDCA.

The first thing that a person sees when looking at your creative advertisement is its shape. Your message has to compete against the many other messages that the consumer will see during the course of an average day. These messages are not just those on posters and TV, in the mail, on the Web or in the press. There are also messages on pieces of sales promotion like drinks coasters in pubs and on T-shirts. Messages are heard on the radio, seen on hot-air balloons and hidden within public relations announcements passed on by word of mouth.

So think of an original way to present your piece of communication visually. Often this is the job of an art director.

An art director is responsible for the visual appearance and concept of a piece of advertising. As a copywriter you will be working either independently or as part of a copywriter/art director team. Whether that team is a permanent feature or you drift in and out of working with various art directors, it is important to bear certain musts in mind when considering the look of a piece of communication

People look at pictures before they read words.
As children we grow up to recognize pictures before words. Pictures are worth a thousand words but the 1001st word -your final word - completes the story.

Never clutter the look - or layout - of your piece of communication.
However trendy you wish to make it look, always make it flow logically.

Don't use two pictures when one will do.

Don't use one general picture when one relevant detailed picture is available.

The logo is sacred.
Never mess with it and always include it in the piece of communication. It acts as corporate seal of approval.

Develop a distinctive 'look' for all your pieces of communication.
This too acts as a subtle corporate seal of approval. Each time your creative work is seen, even if people don't read it, they know from its style that you are active in the marketplace. A 'look' includes consistent use of typeface, consistent use of borders and, wherever possible, consistent shape of layout.

Balance your copy with pictures.
Depending on the power of the image, adjust your copy to complement rather than undermine the image. Conversely, never allow the image to undermine your copy.

Make room for impact.

Include a sensible amount of 'white' or empty space that tones down the overtly hard sell in the layout.

Make a citizen's arrest in three-quarters of a second.
It is thought that on average a person spends about one-and-a-half seconds looking at a printed advert. Your piece has only half of that time to make an impact.

Making the headlines

If your prospective buyer reads only one part, it's going to be your headline - the key proposition. So it's not surprising that copywriters devote so much time getting it right. If your headline is dull, your bodycopy will never attract anyone's attention.

There are two kinds of proposition:

based on experience
based on logic

Of these, the easiest to feature is (1) the experience of your audience looking for (2) the logic of your solution. It is important to balance your copy with your visual elements. Curiously, you may be able to write an advert without the support of a graphic such as a photograph. However, you will rarely create an advert without a headline. (The exception would be if you were trying to 'tease' your audience.)

That is not to suggest that all pictures need a headline to explain their relevance. In fact, none does. Headlines and pictures are equal partners in the communication business. One (either one) brings one of the following elements to the venture and the other brings the other!

Intrigue - Impact

Headline propositions are just the beginning of your copy story. It is vital that every consequential part of the communication follows on.


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