Advertising Agency and Process Structure!! 5Sociographics
Sociographicsis the study of a consumer’s social status, such as consumers
who can afford to purchase a new S-Class Mercedes-Benz, which has a
minimum price of almost $90,000.
Research Affects Music
The results from demographic, psychographic, and sociographic research
affect the style of music composed for commercials. In the case of a demo-
graphic, if the research shows that the average consumers are 20- to 30-
year-old females, agencies would most likely suggest music that appeals
to that age-group.
With psychographic and sociographic research, the music must not
‘‘offend’’ any of the many groups that might purchase a product. There-
fore, the agency would probably request music that is not intrusive or
identifiable with a specific group. This is a generalization; creatives might
experiment with numerous musical approaches and select a musical direc-
tion opposite the genre that would be most acceptable by traditional stan-
dards. For instance, there are styles of contemporary music that appeal to
a diverse demographic. It is advisable for composers to make creative sug-
gestions.
Developing Advertising
After analyzing the results of the research, the creative department intro-
duces numerous ideas for advertising campaigns or individual commer-
cials. The creative director generally selects several compelling ideas for
further development and eventual presentation to the client.
After a client has selected the campaign or individual commercials that
will best portray the client’s message, the agency will generally test the
ideas and/or commercials with focus groups. Focus groups are made up
of average people considered to be members of a selected demographic
and who are paid to view a presentation of a commercial(s), provide feed-
back, and are willing to be interviewed.
Most creative ideas for television commercials are presented to clients
and focus groups (following the initial focus group sessions, which con-
centrate on exploratory questions) either in storyboard form or through
the use of animatics or steal-o-matics.
Astoryboardconsists of a group of photographs or cartoon-type draw-
ings with dialogue and/or voice-over copy written under each frame;
visual instructions, such as camera angles, lighting, and any other essen-