This is a record of the ups and the downs; the struggles and the achievements; the laughter and the frustration and what it takes to break into The Industry...the radio industry that is.
Day Twenty Three - Functional Appeals
The day after grad is always super productive right? Well for me I was just sleepy and hungry, so I guess not much changed haha. Like I said in yesterdays post, I officially graduated from BCIT, meaning I actually walked across the stage, so PD’s, CD’s, GM’s and all other abbreviations, you can hire me now, I can show you the piece of paper, and I have very nice interview clothes waiting (they are actually crying out in the night to be worn… don’t torture them!). Besides this, today we are getting back to the tips and tricks of the radio business… today, we are talking more creative, this time, functional appeals!
“Mitch, you lost me…” Ok stay with me let me try and explain.
“An appeal is a technique that allows a consumer to justify a purchase of a product on the basis of a factor that makes “good” buying sense. Functional appeals are those that relate to six key areas:
- Safety
- Indulgence
- Maintenance
- Performance
- Looks
- Economy
- Kat Stewart
Or as I like to call them: S.I.M.P.L.E. Now again every commercial will use one of these appeals to try and get a consumer to buy into the product. In order for a consumer to actually purchase the widget or service you’re talking about, you as the writer must speak in the terms of needs and wants (psychographics). You need to know what your audience is wanting to buy. If they are in their late 20’s, maybe they are looking at buying their first car.
Being in tune with appeals will come in handy when your client is confronted with advertising of their competitors. For example: If your clients biggest competitor is trying to sell their product based on the appeal of safety in order for you to stand out more you would want to try and sell your clients widget using a different device like looks. Another way to help your commercial break through the clutter. It is possible to have a couple different appeals in one script, but as I have said before, by doing this you may run the risk of confusing your audience and mixing up the message. SO BE CAREFUL!
Your appeal will vary depending on your stations demographic (age/gender) and psychographics (needs/wants). I’ve sort of covered this already, but basically if you are trying to sell a car to a 45 year old woman with two kids you would probably go for the safety appeal. However, if you are trying to sell to a 20 year old guy, single, who works at the local department store, you might want to go the direction of looks. Always make sure that before you start writing your ad, the appeal matches with your audience or else it won’t do jack-squat!
“Mitch, seriously… speak in english!” Well, how about I give a brief definition of each appeal so you understand what each one would sound like. How does that sound? Good, I’m glad!
1. Safety. This appeal is pretty self explanatory. It deals with the concerns a potential consumer might have. Is the product safe? Will it harm or prevent harm to my family? Although some products might not seem to need a safety appeal, it might give you that way of letting your product stand out.
2. Indulgence. This method is based on two things: comfort and convenience. The idea for using this appeal is to sell the product on the basis of making the consumers life easier rectifying that whole “life is busy” mentality that people have. This might come in handy if the product saves time, but is a little more expensive then its competitor.
3. Maintenance. DURABILITY! Every time I think of this appeal, I think of pick up trucks. I mean seriously, what pick up truck ad to you hear/see that doesn’t play on the whole “with a billion pound towing capacity, your truck will never die!” thing. This again comes in handy with an expensive purchase. If it costs $40,000 but will last 15 years then it doesn’t seem like such a big deal.
4. Performance. Plain and simply: It’s going to do what it claims to do, when its supposed to do it. Consumers want to feel confident that their recent purchase will meet their standards. This appeal is usually found combined with “economy”.
5. Looks. Very vain. Haha. This appeal is all about using the idea of “pleasing to the eye”. This obviously is very important in TV ads. I think of high end cars, perfume/cologne ads and stuff like that. They tend to have few words, and let the stunning pictures do the legwork. In radio this might take the form of a straight sell, loaded with imagery.
6. Economy. (Cues “Celebrity Apprentice theme song”) MONEY, MONEY, MONEY! MOOOONNNNNEEEEEYYYYY! This all comes down to the price tag. Will it be worth the consumers dineros?
These are just six of the appeals that I was taught back at BCIT. There are another 8, emotional appeals that I will touch on tomorrow… for that you can think of P.L.E.A.S.U.R.E. WOOOO! HAHA! So keep your eyes open for that.
That’s it for today. OH! I wanted to show you the best picture ever!
Just to prove that yes, I did not make it up, I actually did graduate… or at least made a lot of effort to steal a gown and make a diploma… but I can almost guarantee that I actually did graduate haha.
Before I end this post I want to make sure that these tips are actually helpful. Are you learning stuff? Do you want me to focus on anything in particular? Let me know in the comments below!
Going to bed now, cause I sleepy!
- Mitch
