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Creativity in Advertising: When It Works and When It Doesn’t

• Werner J. Reinartz
• Peter Saffert

Ask a professional in the business what the key to success is in advertising, and you’ll most likely get an answer that echoes the mantra of Stephan Vogel, Ogilvy & Mather Germany’s chief creative officer: “Nothing is more efficient than creative advertising. Creative advertising is more memorable, longer lasting, works with less media spending, and […]

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Do highly creative ads really inspire people to buy products? Studies have found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the products, but there’s little evidence linking those messages to purchase behavior. To address this gap, Reinartz and Saffert developed a consumer survey approach that measures perceived creativity along five dimensions—originality, flexibility, elaboration, synthesis, and artistic value—and applied the approach in a study of 437 TV ad campaigns for 90 fast-moving consumer goods brands in Germany. The study then linked the assessments to sales figures for the products.

The findings confirm that creative campaigns are, in general, more effective than other types of ads. The research also shows that the various creativity dimensions deliver different results. Elaboration, for instance, had a far more powerful effect on sales than did originality, a more commonly used dimension. Indeed, many companies focus on the wrong dimensions in their campaigns. This article reveals which product categories are best suited to creative advertising and which dimensions of creativity have the most influence on sales.

Ask a professional in the business what the key to success is in advertising, and you’ll most likely get an answer that echoes the mantra of Stephan Vogel, Ogilvy & Mather Germany’s chief creative officer: “Nothing is more efficient than creative advertising. Creative advertising is more memorable, longer lasting, works with less media spending, and builds a fan community…faster.”

• WR Werner J. Reinartz , director of the Center for Research in Retailing (IFH) and professor of marketing at the University of Cologne, researches firms’ customer strategies and is a coauthor of Customer Relationship Management: Concept, Strategy, and Tools (Springer Books, 2018).
• Peter Saffert is a research associate at the University of Cologne in Germany.

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Critical Thinking in Marketing: Elevate Your Strategy

To succeed in the ever-changing world of marketing, small business owners and marketers need to possess critical thinking skills that enable them to make informed decisions to drive growth.  

Think of it like a dating…you know, that thing that’s supposed to end in a happily ever after but far too often ends in tears and heartbreak? Yeah, digital marketing is just like that. You need trust, communication, and the ability to make quick decisions that will help your brand survive in this cutthroat world. 

No pressure or anything.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the art of critical thinking in marketing. 

We’ll cover everything from analyzing data to enhancing problem-solving skills and adopting habits to cultivate a critical mindset. By understanding these concepts and putting them into practice, you can avoid costly mistakes and identify existing problems before they become bigger issues. 

… Like our client who’s previous ad manager wasted $25k in ad spend over a single week. But that’s a story for another day.

So, let’s dive in! We’ll explore the five elements of critical thinking and how they play a crucial role in making well-informed marketing decisions. You’ll learn how to hone your analytical abilities through practice and active discussion with your favorite communities.

Get ready to take your marketing game to the next level! Because let’s be real, your current level is about as impressive as a one-hit-wonder’s comeback tour (….MMM’bop anyone?).

With these insights and tips, you’ll be equipped to make informed decisions that drive growth and help your brand stand out from the competition.

Defining Critical Thinking in Marketing

In the wild world of marketing, critical thinking means taking a good hard look at situations and problems to make decisions based on cold hard evidence and logic. 

It’s all about using your experience to spot potential pitfalls and sharpening your problem-solving skills to make better decisions that ultimately lead to more success in your industry.

Because let’s face it, success in marketing won’t come from simply picking the right filter for your Instagram post. It’s about diving deep into the data to uncover insights that will set you apart from the competition. 

So let’s take a closer look at how to analyze data for effective decision-making.

Analyzing Data for Effective Decision-Making

In today’s data-driven world, being able to analyze information effectively is a critical component of successful marketing. As a marketer, you need to be able to comb through multiple sources of data – from customer feedback to market research reports – and turn them into actionable insights that drive growth. 

By harnessing the power of digital analytics and staying up-to-date on industry trends, you can make informed decisions that help your brand stand out from the competition. 

After all, data isn’t just a buzzword – it’s the key to unlocking your marketing potential.

Enhancing Problem-Solving Skills Through Experience

Marketing professionals who possess critical thinking skills can quickly identify underlying issues and develop innovative solutions that drive success. They gain this ability through experience working with diverse clients and navigating different business landscapes. By studying past campaigns’ successes or failures through case studies marketers can refine their approach over time and create effective strategies tailored for each unique situation. Critical thinking is an essential skill that helps marketers stay ahead of the curve and achieve business growth.

Critical thinking in marketing is like a secret weapon – it can help business owners make better decisions, spot hidden opportunities, and avoid costly mistakes. With enough practice, you might even become a marketing superhero. So, let’s dive into the five elements of critical thinking and uncover how to wield this powerful tool for success.

The Five Elements of Critical Thinking

In the world of marketing, honing critical thinking abilities is essential for success. There are five key elements of critical thinking that can be honed through application and experience but need to be expressed effectively in writing to establish authority. 

Asking Good Questions for Better Understanding

One crucial aspect of critical thinking is the ability to ask relevant and thought-provoking questions. This skill helps marketers delve deeper into problems and uncover hidden insights that may otherwise go unnoticed. Asking pertinent queries can assist in gaining a better understanding of your target market’s requirements and inclinations, allowing for the formation of more effective promotional tactics. 

And let’s be honest, who doesn’t love answering a bunch of questions? Especially when they’re relevant and thought-provoking. 

It’s like a game of 20 questions, but instead of guessing if your friend is thinking of a banana, you’re figuring out how to market said banana. So go ahead, ask away and see what hidden insights you can uncover. Your target audience will thank you for it.

Actively Listening for Enhanced Communication with Clients

Ah, yes, Active listening , the often-overlooked skill in a world where everyone is too busy talking. 

But in all seriousness, active listening is a crucial component of critical thinking in marketing. By paying attention to both verbal and non-verbal cues, you can build trust and establish open lines of communication with clients and stakeholders. 

This not only leads to better collaboration but also allows for valuable feedback from your clients and team throughout various stages of a campaign.

So, put down your phone, turn off your email notifications, and let your clients do the talking. With active listening, you can hear what they’re saying, what they’re not saying, and what they really mean. Trust us, your marketing campaigns will thank you for it.

Clearly Defining Goals for Focused Strategies

A clear understanding of objectives is crucial for any business to succeed.

I mean, even Deadpool knows what he wants, and he’s not exactly the poster boy for strategic planning. But seriously, having a clear plan of action tailored towards achieving your desired results is essential in the world of marketing. Whether you’re trying to increase brand awareness or generate leads and conversions, having a focused plan will help you get there faster than Deadpool can regenerate his limbs.

To ensure clarity, goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound). Because let’s be real, setting vague goals is for those who want to leave success to chance.

In marketing, clear and specific objectives are crucial to creating focused strategies and achieving desired outcomes.

Considering Multiple Perspectives When Making Decisions

Decision-making in marketing involves a delightful mix of diverse opinions, varying objectives, and multiple stakeholders. 

But fear not, critical thinkers thrive in this environment by carefully considering every perspective and weighing the pros and cons of each before making a final decision. And not only does this approach lead to better outcomes, but it also encourages teamwork and collaboration, ensuring that everyone feels heard and valued.

Evaluating Outcomes Objectively

Last but not least, critical thinking requires marketers to evaluate the success or failure of campaigns objectively using data-driven insights rather than relying solely on personal biases and assumptions. 

By analyzing marketing analytics data, you can identify which strategies and tactics worked well and those that didn’t perform as expected, allowing you to make informed adjustments for future efforts to improve ROI and ultimately drive growth for your business. Because let’s face it, gut feelings aren’t always reliable.

Overall, the five elements of critical thinking provide a comprehensive framework for making informed decisions in marketing. By recognizing and understanding the importance of critical thinking in marketing, businesses can better identify existing problems and reduce costly mistakes with effective analysis.

And who doesn’t want to save some money?

Critical thinking – the not-so-secret weapon of successful marketers. Asking thought-provoking questions, listening actively, and considering multiple perspectives are all part of the grand plan to become a marketing genius. And let’s not forget defining goals clearly and evaluating outcomes objectively with data-driven insights. It’s like a recipe for success – just add a pinch of critical thinking and voila! You’ll be uncovering hidden insights left and right and developing marketing strategies that will blow your competition out of the water.

Importance of Critical Thinking in Marketing

Critical thinking is a vital component of marketing that can lead to better decision-making, reduced errors, and improved overall performance.

Here are some key reasons why critical thinking is so important in marketing:

Reducing Costly Mistakes with Effective Analysis

By thoroughly analyzing data and considering multiple perspectives before making decisions, marketers can avoid costly mistakes. Critical thinking enables marketers to identify potential pitfalls in advertising campaigns, messaging, and target audience selection. Such errors could have severe financial implications, making critical thinking an essential tool for minimizing risks. 

Remember that client who basically burned $25k? 

We don’t want that to happen to you – ok?

Identifying Existing Problems Swiftly

Critical thinking allows marketers to identify existing problems in their organization or industry quickly. This skill helps them proactively address potential issues and implement solutions efficiently.

 A McKinsey report highlights how quick problem identification leads to faster decision-making processes – which ultimately translates into better results for businesses.

• Fostering collaboration:  A culture that encourages open communication and teamwork helps develop a shared understanding of the challenges faced by the organization. Creative problem-solving approaches often arise when team members come together to share ideas, perspectives, and insights. Critical thinking is essential in fostering collaboration as it allows team members to identify potential areas of conflict or disagreement and work towards a mutually beneficial solution.
• Promoting continuous learning: Marketing is an ever-evolving field that requires constant learning and adaptation. Providing opportunities for employees to develop their critical thinking skills through training, workshops, or other learning initiatives can help them stay ahead of industry trends and make better-informed decisions. By promoting continuous learning, organizations can remain competitive and adapt to changing market conditions.
• Creating a culture of accountability: Holding team members accountable for their actions encourages them to think critically about the consequences of their decisions. This approach fosters an environment where mistakes are seen as opportunities for growth rather than failures. Critical thinking is essential in creating a culture of accountability, as it enables team members to assess the potential risks and benefits of their decisions more effectively.

Incorporating these practices into your organization’s daily operations will not only improve overall performance but also create a more innovative and agile workforce capable of adapting to changing market conditions. Small business owners can achieve greater success in the current competitive climate by emphasizing the value of analytical thought within their marketing strategies.

Critical thinking is essential in marketing as it allows business owners to make informed decisions and reduce costly mistakes. Developing critical thinking skills through application and experience can help marketers hone their analytical abilities, broaden perspectives, and ultimately increase success.

So, remember, critical thinking isn’t just for rocket scientists and philosophers. It’s also for marketers who want to avoid crashing and burning their campaigns.

If you want to avoid costly blunders in marketing, critical thinking is a must-have skill. By fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and accountability, entrepreneurs can encourage their team (and clients) to think critically and identify problems with lightning speed. With a creative and adaptive skills at your disposal, you’ll be ready to tackle any market condition that comes your way – as long as it’s not a zombie apocalypse.

Developing Critical Thinking Skills Through Application & Experience

Small business owners and marketers must actively engage in activities that challenge their analytical abilities to develop critical thinking skills. 

Think of it as a mental gym for your brain. 

Engaging in activities that test your analytical aptitude can help you to sharpen your problem-solving abilities and make more informed choices for marketing tactics.

Practicing Analytical Abilities Through Smaller Challenges

To begin honing your critical thinking skills, start with small tasks that require analysis and decision-making. This could include analyzing customer feedback data or evaluating the effectiveness of a recent social media campaign. 

As you work through these smaller challenges, take note of any patterns or trends that emerge – this will help build your intuition as a marketer. 

Remember, critical thinking is a process that requires continuous effort and practice. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right the first time. With persistence and dedication, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a critical thinking ninja.

• Analyze customer feedback:  Review comments left by customers on social media platforms or online review sites to identify areas where improvements can be made. Who knew angry rants on Twitter could be so helpful?
• Evaluate marketing campaigns: Assess the performance of past marketing efforts using metrics such as conversion rates, click-through rates (CTR), and return on investment (ROI) to determine what worked well and what needs improvement. It’s like a game of marketing detective – just without the trench coat and magnifying glass.

Engaging in Active Discussions for Broader Perspective

Engaging in active discussions with colleagues or industry peers is another effective way to develop critical thinking skills. These conversations allow you to explore different perspectives within the field while also broadening your knowledge base about various aspects of marketing strategy.

• Join local meetups:  Attend events organized by professional groups focused on digital marketing topics like SEO optimization techniques or content creation best practices. You might even make some new marketing friends – who will be just as nerdy about marketing as you are. Yeah, we totally called you nerdy – it’s a compliment.
• Participate in LinkedIn groups: Connect with other marketing professionals by joining relevant LinkedIn groups and engaging in discussions about industry trends, challenges, and solutions. You might even come across a new strategy to test with a client.
• Attend conferences or workshops: Participate in industry events to learn from experts and gain insights into the latest marketing strategies being employed by successful businesses. Plus, you’ll finally get to use that travel line item on your tax returns.

As a savvy small business owner or marketer, you know that the key to success is staying ahead of the game. By actively seeking opportunities to develop your intellectual abilities through utilization and practice, you’ll equip yourself with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions and create successful marketing strategies.

The application and experience of critical thinking skills is crucial for small business owners to make smarter decisions that lead to winning marketing campaigns. By exploring real-life examples of critical thinking in marketing, you’ll further develop your analytical abilities and create even more effective campaigns that leave your competition in the dust.

If you want to be a critical thinker in marketing, you could start by analyzing customer feedback data or evaluating past social media campaigns. And for those who want to take it to the next level, engaging in discussions with peers and attending industry events could also help broaden your horizons and push limits.

And who knows, with enough practice, you might even become the Chuck Norris of marketing decision-making.

Examples of Critical Thinking in Marketing Decisions

In the world of marketing, critical thinking plays a significant role in making informed decisions that can positively impact your business. Let’s explore some examples where applying critical thinking skills has led to better marketing outcomes.

Evaluating the Credibility of Sources

When it comes to choosing the theories that will shape your marketing strategies, it’s critical to be discerning about what you accept as fact. 

Don’t just take an article’s claims at face value – dig deeper to evaluate the author’s credentials and knowledge of the field. Do they have relevant experience or expertise? Are their claims supported by other reputable sources? 

Only by doing your due diligence can you confidently make informed decisions about which theories to apply to your marketing efforts.

Utilizing Behavioral Science-Backed Insights for Targeted Campaigns

If you want to actually create effective branding campaigns that speak to specific demographics, stop guessing and start using insights based on real science. You know, that thing that’s been around for centuries and involves things like data and testing. Shocking, right?

• Analyze data like it’s your job: Use tools like Google Analytics to track user behavior on your website and identify patterns indicating what works well with different customer segments. Don’t rely on your gut feeling or your cousin’s opinion, unless they happen to be a qualified data analyst.
• Run A/B tests like you’re a mad scientist: Test multiple variations of your marketing materials (e.g., email subject lines, landing pages) to determine which ones resonate best with your target audience. Because nothing says “effective marketing” like blindly sending the same message to everyone.
• Ask for customer feedback like you’re not afraid of criticism: Actively seek input from customers through surveys or social media interactions to gain insights into their preferences and pain points. And don’t worry, your fragile ego will survive a few negative comments.

Let’s face it, in the world of marketing, everyone thinks they have the answers. But relying on just any old source for decision-making can lead to disaster. Instead, marketers need to constantly assess the credibility of sources and use data-driven intelligence to make informed choices that lead to success.

Analytical reasoning isn’t just a buzzword – it’s crucial to making smart marketing decisions. By forming habits that stimulate critical thinking and avoiding information overload, businesses can better equip themselves with the skills needed for effective campaigns. So let’s embrace everyday learning opportunities and practice due diligence, because in the world of marketing, ignorance is definitely not bliss.

Thinking analytically is not just for math geeks and data scientists. In marketing, it can mean the difference between a successful campaign and a cringe-worthy flop. But don’t worry, you don’t need a Ph.D. in statistics to make informed decisions. By evaluating the credibility of sources and tapping into behavioral science-backed insights, marketers can create targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience. And if that fails, there’s always A/B testing and begging for customer feedback.

Adopting Habits to Foster Critical Thinking

Let’s face it: we live in an age of information overload. But amidst all the noise, there’s one skill that can help small business owners and marketers rise above the fray: critical thinking. 

By cultivating a mindset that values learning and questioning the status quo, we can make more informed decisions and craft marketing plans that truly resonate with our audience. 

So don’t be afraid to challenge assumptions, dig deeper into data, and stay curious – the rewards of a more thoughtful approach to marketing are well worth the effort.

Embracing Learning Opportunities from Everyday Situations

The secret to improving your critical thinking skills? Treat every situation like it’s a learning opportunity – as Simon Kuper suggested. Be receptive, inquire, ponder encounters, and look for criticism from others.

Yep, even that embarrassing moment when you spilled your coffee all over yourself. Embrace the awkwardness, ask questions, and be receptive to feedback. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Challenge Everything: Don’t be afraid to challenge assumptions and seek clarification. Your curiosity could lead to some brilliant ideas.
• Reflect and Learn: Analyze past successes and failures to identify patterns that could inform future decisions. Trust us, analyzing your mistakes is just as important as celebrating your wins.
• Feedback is Key: Seek input from colleagues and clients about how well certain marketing tactics worked or areas where improvements can be made. Don’t be a one-hit-wonder! Looking at you, Hansen Brothers.

Practicing Due Diligence in an Era of Information Overload

Information overload can make it tough to tell the truth from the trash online. 

That’s why practicing due diligence when consuming online content is essential for forming informed opinions. And that, dear reader, is how you become a marketing mastermind. (are you catching the Bridgerton vibes?!)

Here are some tips for practicing due diligence:

• Verify sources: Don’t believe everything you read, even if it’s written by your bestie. Check the credibility of authors and publications before relying on their information. Look for industry experts, reputable organizations, or peer-reviewed studies as reliable sources.
• Cross-reference data: Make sure the data lines up. Compare information from multiple sources to ensure consistency and accuracy.
• Evaluate relevance: Make sure the info you’re getting is fresh and relevant to your specific marketing goals or target audience. It’s like milk – you don’t want it to be past its expiration date.
• Avoid confirmation bias: We all have biases, but don’t let them blind you. Be aware of your own biases when evaluating information, and actively seek out opposing viewpoints to gain a more balanced understanding of any given topic.

If you want to be the Belle of the marketing ball, make these habits part of your daily routine. Embrace learning opportunities in everyday situations, and practice due diligence amidst the sea of online content. 

With these skills in your arsenal, you’ll make better-informed decisions and see improved results in your respective industries. So, let’s get critical and start thinking!

To truly excel in the competitive world of marketing, small business owners and marketers must make a habit of thinking critically. This means asking tough questions, analyzing feedback, and seeking out new perspectives. Of course, with so much information at our fingertips these days, it can be challenging to sort through the noise and verify the accuracy of sources. But hey, at least practicing due diligence gives us an excuse to spend more time on Google.

Frequently Asked Questions about Critical Thinking in Marketing

Let’s face it, marketing is all about staying ahead of the game. And to do that, you need to be able to analyze market trends, consumer behavior, and keep an eye on your competitors – all while juggling a million other tasks. By applying critical thinking skills, marketers can identify their target audience, create unique solutions to problems, and evaluate the effectiveness of their strategies.

When it comes to critical thinking, there are five concepts to keep in mind: clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, and depth. Basically, you need to be crystal clear on what you’re trying to achieve, fact-check like a pro, get specific, focus on what’s important, and dive deep into the nitty-gritty. By mastering these concepts, you’ll be able to make quicker decisions and develop razor-sharp thinking skills.

In marketing, critical thinking is like a three-legged stool: it requires three key elements to stand on its own. First, you need to identify any hidden assumptions or biases lurking beneath the surface. Second, you need to evaluate the evidence and determine what’s reliable and what’s not. And finally, you need to synthesize all of the information and put together a coherent solution. It’s like solving a puzzle, but instead of a picture of a cute puppy, you get more sales and happy clients.

Design and critical thinking go together like peanut butter and jelly, except instead of being delicious, they lead to innovative, user-centered products. Designers create products that are both visually pleasing and functional, while critical thinkers analyze customer feedback, industry trends, and competition data to inform product improvements. By combining these approaches, businesses can create products that not only meet customer needs but also exceed their expectations.

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end! If you’re still reading, then it’s safe to assume that you’re serious about improving your critical thinking skills. And why not? After all, who doesn’t want to be a marketing genius? By mastering the art of critical thinking, you’ll be able to analyze market trends like nobody’s business, identify your target audience’s needs faster than you can say “conversion rate,” and come up with solutions that are so innovative, your competitors will be left scratching their heads.

But let’s not kid ourselves – improving your critical thinking skills isn’t a walk in the park. It takes time and effort. You might even have to sacrifice some of your precious Netflix binge-watching time (gasp!). But trust us, it’ll be worth it. When you’re able to make better-informed decisions in your marketing efforts, you’ll feel like a superhero – minus the spandex suit (unless that’s your thing). So, keep practicing, keep analyzing, and keep honing your critical thinking skills. You got this!

If you’re looking for more resources on how to use data-driven insights in your marketing strategy or need help with implementing these concepts into practice, check out our mega-mind community – Rebellion .

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Critical thinking for the modern marketer

Five approaches to develop your problem-solving and decision-making skills

As marketers, we’re confronted with different types of questions, data, and challenges regularly. Whether it’s reacting to a negative PR story, reviewing the performance of a digital marketing campaign, or weighing up different creative options, we need to make decisions that could impact our organization in both the short and long-term.  

Although marketers need to develop a strong set of technical skills , there is an equally important need for a rounded set of softer skills. One of the most crucial skills needed for effective decision-making is critical thinking .   

At its core, critical thinking is about making clear, reasoned judgments. Whilst this in itself sounds straightforward, like many things it’s easier said than  done  as we’re all susceptible to a wide range of personal assumptions and cognitive biases. When we read, hear or see something, there’s a risk we’ll form a snap judgment based on what fits our existing world-view and act without questioning further.  

One of the keys to effective decision-making is the ability to take a step back and objectively evaluate all the available options. To do this, we need to have the capability to think critically.  

Recognizing the importance of critical thinking

To develop our critical thinking skills, we need to think of this as a mind-set. By doing so, we bake critical thinking into our daily lives and not something exclusive to business or work. Some useful examples of critical thinking include:  

• A triage nurse will analyze incoming cases to decide the order in which patients should be treated.
• A mechanic will evaluate the different parts best suited to a particular job.  
• A marketing manager will need to analyze and evaluate web analytics and use this information to formulate an optimization plan.  

But what are the different steps and techniques we can use to refine our critical thinking skills? Here are five approaches:  

Challenge assumptions and received wisdom

Every company, group, or team will have their ways of working, some of which will be made up of assumptions and received wisdom. Whilst certain processes and ways of working will be based on empirical evidence, some will include assumptions that have built up over time without ever being questioned.  

When I was new to one of my previous roles as a digital marketing manager, I discovered that the company was measuring its digital sales performance based on last-click attribution. Although last-click measurement has its merits, for this company it didn’t accurately show where sales were being derived. By asking tough but respectful questions, the business reviewed its measurement principles and started to use a combination of methodologies, including incremental measurement .  

Ask the right questions

Building on from the previous approach, asking good, incisive questions will enable marketers to more thoroughly interrogate existing processes and ways of working. However, critical thinking isn’t about challenging everything. On the contrary, marketers with sound critical thinking capabilities will tend to take a questioning approach when the stakes are high.   

Helen Lee Bouygues  in the Harvard Business Review  gives an example:  

“If you are in a discussion about long-term company strategy upon which years of effort and expense will be based, be sure to ask basic questions about your beliefs: How do you know that business will increase? What does the research say about your expectations about the future of the market? Have you taken time to step into the figurative shoes of your customers as a “secret shopper”?”

Get outside your bubble

I’ve written before about  the importance of cognitive diversity within teams  but the same is true for individuals. If you only ever read the same things, listen to the same podcasts and converse with like-minded people, there’s a disproportionately high chance that you will have a narrower worldview that will prevent you from questioning the status quo and spotting new opportunities.  

It can be uncomfortable confronting different opinions or ideas that go against your personal way of thinking. The  political battle lines in the UK and many other countries are a testament to that! But if we only ever operate in our personal bubbles we’ll lack crucial critical thinking skills. Simon  Kuper  in the Financial Times recently  listed the eight habits of people with ‘beautiful minds’ :  

• They treat every situation as a learning opportunity.
• They can clear their mind to see the other person.  
• They often suffer anguished boredom in ordinary social life.  
• They are specialists, yet are always trying to master other fields  
• They gather insights from many different realms.  
• They do the work they want to do, not the work the world seeks to impose on them, even if there’s a cost to their career or income.  
• They have the imagination to come up with ideas, but also the humility and technique to test against data.  
• People with beautiful minds say what they think is true.

Reason through logic

Wherever you work, pay close attention to the ‘chain of logic’ that has been used to construct different arguments for why things are the way they are. Critical thinkers should take a data-centric view and ask themselves: “ is the argument supported at every point by evidence”?  And:  “do all the pieces of evidence build on each other to produce a sound conclusion”?  

Helen Lee Bouygues explains that by being aware of common fallacies will enable us to think more logically. For instance, people often engage in what’s known as  “post hoc” thinking . In this fallacy, people believe that “because event Y followed event X, event Y must have been caused by event X.”  

For instance, a marketing manager may believe that sales of hot soup go up in the winter because of the cold weather, but until this assumption is tested it’s not possible to know if this belief is correct.  

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Engage in active discussion

As  alluded to in the third point above, critical thinkers look beyond their own personal bubbles. But in addition to this, they are also looking for ways to improve their own knowledge and understanding of the world when speaking to people by engaging in active discussion.  

Instead of trying to ‘win’ an encounter with clever jargon, titles, or name-dropping, critical thinkers will look to absorb what anyone is saying, regardless of their status. For example, a senior marketing director can learn as much from a Gen Z intern (trends, interests, technology) as anyone operating at their  own level.  

Critical thinking is a crucial mindset to adopt as a marketer if you’re looking to make a real difference within your organization. The ability to think outside of your own echo chamber, evaluate situations with genuine objectivity, and ask challenging but respectful questions will improve your problem-solving skills and enable you to make good decisions.   

By Gavin Llewellyn

Gavin Llewellyn (LinkedIn) is an independent consultant. He is a Chartered Marketer who specialises in digital marketing, specifically in social media, SEO and online strategy. Gavin blogs at One Too Many Mornings where he offers advice, guidance and ideas on how individuals and companies can use digital marketing effectively to get found online, build engagement and generate conversion. You can Follow Gavin on Twitter .

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Rethinking Marketing

• First Online: 19 July 2022

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Rethinking marketing approaches is the need of the hour. Capturing customer value, expectation, and co-creation options from collective information leads business model sophistication to explore in refining the pool of resources toward contributing to the business performance. This chapter discusses the shifts in marketing practices due to behavioral swings, availability and utilization of resources, upstream evolution of social and customer values, technology, innovation, and transformation in business practices. These attributes are discussed as market-evolution grid in the chapter. Marketing managers are routinely challenged to rationalize their resources, improve the effectiveness of their marketing activities, and strengthen the firms’ competitive positions. One of the fundamental challenges faced by the marketers is how to divide their resources between aggressive and defensive marketing activities. This chapter categorically addresses the contemporary marketing challenges at both ends of the marketing pipeline by examining the aggressive and defensive marketing practices. The role of critical thinking and collective intelligence in developing cognitive skills has been discussed comprehensively in this chapter. In addition, the discussions focus on the transgenerational evolution of markets and increasing complexities in marketing operations causing aggressive marketing practices. The recent developments on crowd-based business modeling have also been discussed in this chapter.

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Rajagopal (2022). Rethinking Marketing. In: Agile Marketing Strategies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04212-6_6

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• Articles / Close reading

Close Reading of Advertising Promotes Critical Thinking

by MiddleWeb · Published 07/22/2014 · Updated 06/08/2020

This is the third article in a four-part series by expert Frank Baker, drawing connections between the Common Core’s emphasis on “close reading” and media literacy. Also see Part 1 (media text) and Part 2 (photography).

Advertising: it’s everywhere. As media literacy educators work to engage students in conversations and study about commercial marketing, we have to encompass more advertising in more mediums (radio, TV, film, internet, newspapers, magazines, social media) than ever before.

In the pre-Common Core era, we were teaching students “techniques of persuasion.” Now the terminology has shifted to “argument.” The study of advertising fits nicely in many CC standards, including these two:

▶  Speaking & Listening Standards ( Grade 8 )

Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation. ▶  College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading ( Integration ) Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Deconstructing ads through the school year

As a media education consultant, I have used a number of print and non-print ads in my teacher and student workshops. As a result, I created these advertising resource web pages to assist teachers who may want to engage students in advertising analysis, deconstruction and production.

For example, during the holiday time of year (November-December), upper elementary teachers might want to take advantage of the resources on toy ads .  The start of the New Year is good time for secondary teachers to consider engaging their students in examining all the hoopla around Super Bowl ads — or the marketing messages that Hollywood producers use to promote Oscar-worthy films.

During Drug-Free Schools week, educators might want to have students analyze smoking imagery and tobacco advertising .

Some teaching strategies

I recommend that teachers start first with print ads, taken from magazines or newspapers.  (After students excel at these, you can move on to non-print ads.) I teach that ads are “informational texts” and there are many ways to approach learning about them. The media literacy approach recommends that we challenge our students to think about:

• how an ad was constructed; • for what audience(s); • using which techniques; and • who benefits from the message and its placement.

An art approach might involve studying layout, design, color, font and image composition.

For ELA and social studies teachers: Think about the words “purpose” and “motive” in the CC 8th grade standard. Ask students “what is the purpose of advertising?” and most will probably say to sell something. But I would argue that advertising is much more than simply selling.

More than anything, it’s about persuasion. Challenge students to create a log of all the ads they come into contact with during a typical day. Where did they see the ads? What do they recall? Are they influenced by ads? (Just ask them to explain the logos on their clothes.)

Deconstructing a pizza ad

Here is an advertisement for pizza, taken from a magazine aimed at the tween audience.

I introduce this ad by recommending that my audience:

• read every word on the page (even words in small font) • make a list of all of the images • consider the layout, color, design, and font

I advise students to raise their hands if they come across any unfamiliar words.

Speaking of words, did you notice those words in small font running along the left margin of the ad? That might be something important, and I like to get my audience to rotate the ad horizontally in order to read those small words.

So how else might we use this ad? We might ask students to identify the slogan; tell the story; notice the colors and other attention-getters; identify the point-of-view; who has the power; how does your eye move as you read the ad?

We can take the ad deconstruction even further by challenging students to consider these questions:

– who created this ad (the answer is not on the ad) – what is the purpose of the ad? – who is the audience for the ad: what are the clues; – what magazine would you expect to publish an ad like this? – what is omitted and why? and where can students find the answers to what’s missing?

(Here is a lesson plan I did for a South Carolina project, using this pizza ad. You can find all the background information about the ad you need. There’s also an 8.5 x 11 download – large enough to read all the small print.)

After your students have gained experience at analyzing ads, you should consider giving them opportunities to create ads. (Creation sits atop the list of higher order thinking skills in this proposed Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy .)

Using VoiceThread

Several years ago, I discovered a middle grades teacher who was using Voicethread to engage her students in ad analysis and deconstruction. Take a look and listen to how her students responded to the NIKE ad and the questions she posed:

Source: http://ed.voicethread.com/share/663006

(If you don’t see the Voicethread window above, you’re likely using an Apple iOS device and need to install the Voicethread app .)

Deconstructing commercials

Where print ads rely on words and pictures, television commercials rely on words, sounds and moving images. Commercials are more complex because there are so many elements to study and analyze.

Most of us have never been inside an advertising agency (no, “Mad Men” on AMC does not count). But it is inside ad agencies that ads are born. I wish more educators embraced the work product of ad companies as they engage students in the study and investigation of the persuasion business. (Books by and about David Ogilvy , one inspiration for Mad Men, can be illuminating.)

Despite the fact that, thanks to technology, we now have more opportunities to skip ads on television and streaming media, commercials remain an inevitable part of our lives. In fact, ask students what is the purpose of TV and they’re not likely to know that it is, with few exceptions, to deliver an audience….us…to advertisers through the “allure” of programming.

Writing ad scripts

Before showing students commercials, you might begin by having them write their own commercials or PSA (Public Service Announcements). A simple two-column script has AUDIO and VIDEO. If students try their hand at writing a commercial, since they’re not shooting the video they should concentrate on AUDIO (what is being said and heard). Audio includes not only the narration (on camera or voice-over), but also the music and sound effects.

Scriptwriting alone is a valuable CC-related activity, and it can be made more valuable by also having your students “storyboard” (draw) the action that the script describes. ( I spotted several introductory storyboard videos on TeacherTube .)

Should you decide to let students work on video, remember, it is both the script and the storyboard that must precede production. So before your students turn on those cameras, make sure they’ve completed the first two steps.

Studying commercials

Choose a commercial spot that you think will resonate with your students. For younger students, I recommend a toy commercial; for older students it might be one for fast food, diet products, or a candidate running for office. Plan to show the spot more than once: that way, students will pick up elements they may have missed on first viewing.

One element that teachers can call student attention to is production techniques. How might understanding camerawork, lighting, sound, editing, etc. help students understand how these elements imply meaning?

My lesson plan “Deconstructing Television Commercials” has a link to a 60-second commercial (above) as well as questions and additional resources to simulate discussion. It’s a cellphone ad from earlier days, when everyone didn’t routinely have such a device in their pocket or purse. Students can think of what that might have been like, and how the atmosphere created in this commercial, complete with howling wolves and a dark stranger, might have boosted sales.

In the fourth and final article in this series. Frank Baker will explore the connection between close reading and the language of moving images.

Part 1: Close Reading and What It Means for Media Literacy

Part 2: Close Reading: Visual Literacy through Photography

Part 4: How to Close-Read the Language of Film

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Tags: advertising audio commercials critical thinking Frank Baker Frank W. Baker political advertisements print video

MiddleWeb is all about the middle grades, with great 4-8 resources, book reviews, and guest posts by educators who support the success of young adolescents. And be sure to subscribe to MiddleWeb SmartBrief for the latest middle grades news & commentary from around the USA.

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Critical Thinking: A Crucial Role in Achieving Marketing Excellence Today

The ability to think critically is one of the most important skills marketers need to develop in today’s digital world. Consequently, marketers can make smart decisions backed by facts and logical arguments, leading to better company performance and success. Additionally, professional marketers must be capable of making and implementing decisions quickly. Learning to distinguish intelligence from critical thinking is vital to your marketing team’s success.

Moreover, critical thinking can take many forms in marketing, such as decision-making, content and brand auditing, prioritization, troubleshooting, case analysis, correlation, and data interpretation. Marketers employ critical thinking strategically in several ways, like:

• Creative strategies: Critical thinkers can use creative strategies to look for creative messages that they want people to see.
• Problem-solving and decision-making: Critical thinking helps marketers develop their problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Customer engagement: Critical thinkers are sure about the reasoning behind their decisions, allowing them to communicate with employees clearly. This level of communication enhances employee engagement.
• Dealing with difficult customers: Critical thinking skills are essential for dealing with difficult customers because they help your team make informed decisions while managing stressful situations.

Would you consider critical thinking to be one of your strengths? Why do you need it? Do you enjoy analyzing situations, thinking outside the box from different perspectives, and making informed decisions through thoughtful consideration?

Furthermore, the ability to evaluate the credibility and accuracy of information, ask good questions about it, and act based on its importance to success is essential in critical thinking. An interesting article in HBR about how to develop critical thinking mentioned three elements. It requires the ability to recognize weakness in other arguments, a love for good evidence, and a willingness to reflect on your own perspectives, beliefs, and values.

Developing critical thinking takes practice, openness, and a willingness to challenge your assumptions. Incorporating these strategies into your daily routine will contribute to the development of robust critical thinking skills over time.

Examples of Critical Thinking

Certainly, the ability to critically analyze marketing campaigns is crucial to developing successful campaigns that resonate with your target audience and stand out from the competition. Further, marketers can drive business success by analyzing data, identifying market gaps, and generating creative ideas.  To illustrate, here are some examples:

• The “Share a Coke” campaign by Coca-Cola is a great example of successful marketing through critical thinking— analyzing customer data to personalize products with popular names, fostering social media sharing, and a powerful call to action to engage customers and create a sense of community around the brand and achieving a 2.5% sales increase in the US, and winning prestigious awards, demonstrating how critical thinking can drive innovative and effective marketing strategies that resonate with customers and drive sales.
• Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign showcases critical thinking in challenging beauty norms . Featuring diverse women, the campaign recognized shifting beauty perceptions, prioritizing authenticity, and relatability . Dove’s marketing team decided to break away from the industry norm of using airbrushed models, Dove celebrated natural beauty, resonating widely, fostering brand loyalty, and setting a new standard for inclusive marketing. Dove challenged beauty norms, resonating with consumers, fostering loyalty, and redefining inclusive marketing, setting a new industry standard.

Effective Critical Thinking

Moreover, many articles suggest different habits to help improve your critical thinking—tailor them to your style and practice consistently.  Cultivate keen observation, probing questions, deep reflection and analysis, creative synthesis, and decisive judgment for optimal results.

“In the words of Zig Ziglar, ‘It’s Attitude, Not Aptitude, Which Determines Altitude.’ This powerful statement highlights the importance of mindset over natural abilities.  This quote encourages critical thinking, prompting reflection on attitudes, and mindsets and emphasizing their impact on success and growth.

To sum up, being good at critical thinking is like a superpower for achieving success. It helps make smart decisions, boost company performance, and handle the challenges of the digital age. Whether it’s creative ideas, problem-solving, talking with customers, or dealing with tough situations, critical thinking is the key to clarity, good communication, and engaged employees. Succeed in marketing by practicing, embracing new ideas, and questioning the status quo—it’s the key to success in this dynamic field. Therefore, it is not just a valuable skill; it’s a cornerstone for success in today’s digital age. Marketers can enhance decision-making, customer engagement, and problem-solving in the dynamic and competitive field of marketing.

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10 Visual Arguments, Media and Advertising

Andrew Gurevich

Visual Arguments

In this chapter, we will be exploring the use of visuals (images, charts, graphs, etc.) in the presentation of arguments. Like any other piece of support, images and other visuals are compelling when used correctly. They also can be used in ways that contribute to all of the flaws, fallacies, and faulty reasoning we have been exploring all along. Images can support written or spoken arguments or become the arguments themselves . They hold great power in advertising, journalism, politics, academia, and many other areas of our media-managed perceptions of the world around us. As such they deserve our attention here as we continue our discussion of the analysis and construction of valid arguments.

When we say “argument,” we usually think of either spoken or written arguments. However, arguments can be made in all forms, including visual arguments. Visual arguments rely on images to persuade a viewer to believe or do something. Advertisements in magazines are often types of visual arguments. But there are many other examples to consider, each with their own particular set of parameters to evaluate in pursuit of analyzing and constructing valid arguments.

Basically, a visual argument is a supporting (or rebuttal) statement. It utilizes various images to intensify the effect on the audience. It is undoubtedly true that pictures or other visual art pieces help engage a wider range of people. In addition, images sometimes may reflect the values and beliefs of the culture. Thus, visuals arguments are more appealing to the public than verbal ones.

Exploring the usage of the images as a way of conveying the message requires substantial research. That is why visual rhetoric should be examined. The desire to watch a movie, streaming series, or a cartoon is probably familiar to everyone. Though, not everyone notices when it happens after seeing a poster. Most of us are unaware of how bombarded we are with visual rhetoric and the extent to which it actually does influence our thoughts and behaviors. But it’s not all nefarious. A bright advertising picture can lead to taking part in a charity event, as well, or lead people to donate money or blood to victims of a natural disaster or war. Such experiences may be deeply personal and at the same time shared by the majority of people within a society, culture, or subculture. These are just a few examples of the vast impact of visual rhetoric on the public mind. By employing visual rhetoric, the author can lead the reader/viewer to different outcomes. For instance, they can induce compassion, anger, fear, curiosity, etc.

Marketing companies often use visual rhetoric to the advantages. It can become an effective way for a successful product or a service promotion. Visual argument advertisements are often the most effective in persuading consumers to make a purchase, because they can communicate a lot of information, and more importantly emotional impact, very quickly. The “father” of this science, first called “public relations,” was a man by the name of Edward Bernays, who was none other than the nephew of the famous Swiss psychologist Sigmund Freud. In fact, Bernays used many of his uncle’s theories about the human mind to craft the basic models of the advertising industry that are still very much employed today. We will watch a film about the history of the advertising industry, and Ed Bernays in particular, below. But for now, it is important to understand how visual argument works and what the best practices are for using it effectively, ethically, and creatively to support the arguments you make in academic contexts.

Say you are at the doctor’s office in the waiting room, and you see an advertisement that has a beautiful model sitting in a Lexus driving down a long, open road. The image may evoke some feelings of inadequacy (“I’ll never be as pretty as her”), freedom (the long, winding road), and envy. All of these work together as an “argument” to convince you that a Lexus will change your life, and you will be as beautiful and as free as the model if you only had one. On a rational level, we know none of this is true. But the ad does not speak to our rational minds. It speaks to a more irrational place, the subconscious, where our desires and thoughts often mix with memories, projections, fears, and other phobias to encourage an irrational response to the stimulus. As we can already see, like with other forms of arguments, visual arguments may contain logical fallacies or use (and misuse) rhetorical appeals to persuade the viewer. Our job is to learn to spot the misuse of them, and to also use them ethically, accurately, and responsibly in our own argumentative contexts.

Learning to decode visual arguments can be challenging. We are bombarded with images every day and are often unaware of how they affect us. For instance, did you know that red, yellow, orange, and green make us hungry? Think about fast food chains. How many of them use one, or more, of those colors in their logo or design? In movies, we associate black with bad and white with good. In Star Wars , Darth Vader wears a black cloak, while Luke Skywalker often has light clothing. If a political cartoon showed a politician speaking in Times New Roman font and another politician speaking in Comic Sans, then it could be implying that one politician is serious while the other is childish. We tend to think of “visual” to mean only pictures, but learning to recognize how not just images, but color, layout, perspective, and even font choices, can affect people and influence their thoughts and choices  can help you to hone your visual literacy and learn how to identify and evaluate visual arguments.

Adding visual elements to a persuasive argument can often strengthen its persuasive effect. There are two main types of visual elements: quantitative visuals and qualitative visuals .

Quantitative visuals present data graphically. They allow the audience to see statistics spatially. The purpose of using quantitative visuals is to make logical appeals to the audience. For example, sometimes it is easier to understand the disparity in certain statistics if you can see how the disparity looks graphically. Bar graphs, pie charts, Venn diagrams, histograms, and line graphs are all ways of presenting quantitative data in spatial dimensions.

Qualitative visuals present images that appeal to the audience’s emotions. Photographs and pictorial images are examples of qualitative visuals. Such images often try to convey a story, and seeing an actual example can carry more power than hearing or reading about the example. For example, one image of a child suffering from malnutrition will likely have more of an emotional impact than pages dedicated to describing that same condition in writing.

The Venn diagram above is a great example of how an image can be used effectively to communicate a complicated idea rather quickly and efficiently. Here, we can see that “sustainability” is defined as the intersection of environmental, economic, and social concerns, for instance. Proper use of visuals can help us connect with an audience’s emotions and values, build credibility, and share data and logical information in memorable and engaging ways.

• Review  the handout: Ideographs
• Review the document: Conducting Visual Arguments

Visual Argument Example: Gatorade Ad

Among the diversity of visual arguments,  advertisers provide some of the most powerful examples. Let’s examine a visual argument for Gatorade—a drink for sportspeople. It illustrates the supposed superiority of the Gatorade drink, among other beverages. A bright picture of the bottle and a memorable slogan are a marketing specialist’s craft. It combines three main aspects of a successful visual ad: use of colors, “supernatural” power, and shock appeal.

The developers of the given visual ad reached a perfect mix of colors. The dominating ones of the poster are blue and green, which are generally considered to be “natural” ones. Nothing can be more powerful than “nature.” These are also the colors of “sport”. The colors of the grass and the sky. This idea serves as the hidden message of this color combination. As a result of this color mixing technique, the ad creator reaches its primary goal—the assurance of success in the race!

In addition to an effective color combination, the advertisement reflects a concept in advertising often referred to as “supernatural power.” The image illustrates the bright container with the Gatorade drink pulling away from the others and dramatically winning the race. Moreover, it seems that the bottle with the advertised drink is “reaching for the sky.” This detail makes the ad even more eye-appealing and further suggests the one who has the drink will have the same power.

The rhetorical analysis helps to understand that the trick of placing the bottle ahead of other beverages is exceptionally effective. It persuades the audience to believe that Gatorade provides the drink takers with supernatural power. Hence, it motivates the target audience to purchase the beverage. The advertisement compares the athletes to the Gatorade. Thus, it convinces them that they will show excellent performance in the competition, as Gatorade does in the visual ad.

Apart from the use of colors and supernatural power, the given visual argument image implements other methods. For example, it uses a shock appeal technique. The ad demonstrates a real-life race, but with a metaphorical contestant—the Gatorade bottle. Consider the effect of “reaching the sky” by the container. It creates a vision of an incredibly strong nature of this beverage. As a result, the audience is “shocked” by Gatorade’s supernatural power and encouraged to buy it. Consequently, a shock appeal makes the visual argument images more effective. We will return to the ways advertisers and politicians use visuals to persuade us later, but for now let us look at the academic ways to both analyze and use visuals in argument.

• View the vidcast: Purdue OWL – Visual Rhetoric
• View the video: Visual Arguments Essay
• View  the video:  Visual Arguments

Visuals in Advertising and Social Media

The following video content explores how visual stimuli impacts the ways we think, believe, and behave in the world. We begin by returning to the beginning of the discussion about Edward Bernays, the “father” of modern advertising and the nephew of Sigmund Freud. After that, we look at the more modern impacts of visuals on social media in young people with an informative Frontline episode with the media analyst Douglas Rushkoff:

• View the film: The Century of the Self – Happiness Machines
• View  the film:  Generation Like

Critical Thinking, Second Edition Copyright © 2023 by Andrew Gurevich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Blueprint for Strategic Advertising ’s step-by-step approach takes a comprehensive and exclusive look into the strategic use of visual, verbal, social media, integrated, and global of advertising communication. Its deconstructive process analyzes one aspect at a time, creating an invaluable research tool that students, professors, small business owners and entrepreneurs will refer to, time and again. This useful guide will concentrate on how strategy is integrated into visual and verbal ideation. Berman’s compact, content-rich guide offers chapters detailing social media, user-centered interactive advertising, and presentation strategy, closing with the creation of a "blueprint" to strategizing globally. Features include a handy reference guide to powerful strategizing, an exploration of strategies for myriad media and messaging vehicles, and an examination of the strategic implementation of the visual and verbal union. This guide will be useful to students in advertising, marketing, and business courses as well as advertising professionals and entrepreneurs, outside the classroom.

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Margo Berman is Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at Florida International University, USA

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Margo Berman’s fourteenth book about advertising is some of her best work yet! The real-life examples she uses to explain different strategic approaches to solving a business challenge help the reader clearly understand the role that advertising has in the process. Her use of modern day campaigns that don’t necessarily rely on the traditional forms of advertising highlight the use of digital, experiential, and social media to create awareness of brand and communicate a message with a unique approach. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the world of advertising. Joe Zubizarreta, COO, Zubi Advertising Berman shares the recipe behind the secret sauce of advertising. She not only identifies the ingredients of a winning campaign, but she also provides strategic guidance on how, when, and where to combine those elements into advertising that engages with today’s consumer. Karie Hollerbach , Southeast Missouri State University Margo Berman has written an excellent, step-by-step, how-to book for serious advertising/marketing students, as well as industry professionals. This book concentrates on the strategic thinking behind the messaging that leads to integrated, on-target, and on-strategy solutions. Berman uses both her twenty years of university teaching and her creative career to produce this easy-to-understand, yet comprehensive explanation of strategic conceptualization via audience analysis, communication messaging, media selection, and global application. A must-read for campaign strategists. Pippa Seichrist , Miami Ad School Berman provides the perfect formula for developing advertising strategies that work. Her step-by-step approach makes strategic and creative thinking one seamless effort. Each advertising strategy presented is supported with real world campaign examples and easy-to-follow how to’s. Berman’s entertaining writing style and clarity of purpose make this book the perfect choice for academics and professionals alike. Patricia Mark, University of South Alabama Margo Berman’s twelve conceptual strategy techniques can help anyone wanting to develop ideas.　 Whether it’s the student taking their first advertising course or the award-winning creative director polishing ideas, knowing Berman’s comprehensive conceptual strategy techniques are critical. Craig Davis, Ohio University In The Blueprint for Strategic Advertising , Margo continues to provide her trademark accessible tools that are not only relevant for those already in the communications business, but those working to break into it, as well. This latest book shares the best examples of exceptional, real-world communications to illuminate her plain-spoken, approachable analysis of advertising strategy. Tom Denari , Young & Laramore

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