What? When? Why?

So, what is an advertisement technique? An ad technique is a thing we don’t recognize while watching an advertisement, but they influence what we buy easily. Even though ad techniques have been a recent talking point among people, they were firstly used in 1920s by Edward Bernays founder of modern "Madison Avenue" advertising. But why do companies use them? Because advertisement techniques touch our psychology and are more effective than just saying “buy our product, it is good”.

Color Psychology

The first technique we are going to look at is color psychology. This was the most recognized technique when we looked at various advertisements in our lesson with Ayşe teacher.  Color is the most used technique in ads. But why? Isn’t it just a reflection of light rays projected on objects. It is. But in psychology every color is associated with an emotion. For example, warm colors (red, orange, and yellow) are generally thought to evoke feelings of happiness, optimism, energy, and passion. They can also be associated with excitement, danger, and anger. Cool colors (blue, green, and purple) are often described as calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference. And most companies use it to associate their products with certain emotions they want us to feel when we see their brand. Simple choices like using a bold color for a call-to-action button can greatly increase the click-through rate. In addition, sometimes one color in a brand is so important that it becomes its own entity, like Coca-Cola Red or Tiffany Blue. 

Rule of Thirds and The Golden Mean

Rule of Thirds and The Golden Mean are techniques that are used by designers to place elements on the canvas. The rule of thirds separates the canvas into six equal rectangles – two rows and three columns. By placing important elements at the crosspoints of the rectangles, they’re given visual importance while maintaining a visual balance. And golden mean uses golden ratio to create a sense of harmony on the canvas.

Repetition

Repetition is a technique has a hate and love relationship with the audience. Repetition is when an exact same ad is used multiple times. It aims to continuously remind to the audience about the product. It can be accomplished by having a catchy jingle or a distinct design style. And it works most for a new product or a brand new “sale”. And a recurring product that became a staple for a company at this point. For example, McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” is still remembered by multiple generations.

Direct and Three-Quarter Gaze

One of the main ways to convince the public to buy your product is using the body language of model that play in ads. Direct gaze is when the model looks directly at the audience without looking away. This technique was first introduced in hypnosis and called gaze induction technique. It’s a common a technique for wristwatch and perfume companies. And it is meant to make people feel things when directly stared at. Our second body language technique is the Three-Quarter Gaze. This technique is very common in video advertisements. The three-quarter gaze is commonly used with a static image that wants to transmit a sense of wonder and a mystery.

What We Learned

In this blog we learned that we shouldn’t buy a product by using our instincts and thoroughly examine it. Thank you for reading this blog and I await your opinions on the comments section. I hope it was an informative one to read. I also want to thank Ayşe teacher. Her lecture with us inspired me to write this blog which was really entertaining and informative to research for.