Reading Reflection: Chapter 5 HERZOG

Chapter 5

Chapter Five revolves around the steps necessary to form the “Big Idea.” The process starts after product research; by asking who/what/when/where/why/how, you can develop a consumer insight about your client’s product or service. It is also helpful to develop a brand/group insight, which can be reached by examining facts vs. opinions, persuasion mapping, and by taking benefits of the product/service and transforming them into insights. The rest of the chapter speaks to the process of idea conceptualization, during which you turn the big idea and resulting insights into physical ads; some ways the chapter suggests making this easier include word association, “no copy,” idea/image connection, merging, synthesis, juxtaposition, literary and rhetorical devices, and visual analogy and metaphor. The “Mincer,” “Film,” and “Typewriter” ads for La Cucina Italiana (p. 75) utilize the merging method to conceptualize their idea: the book states that the ads “[merge] office and film supplies with kitchen appliances” to “[distinguish the] magazine’s content” (p. 75). The magazine no doubt felt a need to increase awareness about its message and therefore create a brand image and personality. Through the visuals in its ads, La Cucina Italiana clearly represents itself as an Italian food magazine that is also intelligent and provides more than simply recipes and pictures. I found a similar technique from a fellow student in my advertising portfolio class. The student chose to make an ad for Secret deodorant’s “Asian Pear” fragrance. When she presented the ad, she spoke to how the big idea and consumer/brand insights led her to feel the need to stress the deodorant’s fresh, long-lasting smell. She, like the agency behind the La Cucina Italiana ads, chose to conceptualize these ideas using the “merging” method and created something like this visual (I reproduced it, since I didn’t have her actual copy). The pear emerging from the deodorant bottle clearly suggests that the deodorant is actually fresh and smells like what it promises.