Developing advertising messages: examples from the Swedish print media

Abstract: The importance of creating attention in print advertising is becoming a more essential ingredient in today's society. Print advertising is still one of the most commonly used medium to bring out the message to the consumer, although the vast innovation of technology and the Internet. The messages within advertising have to be taken into careful consideration and be formed in the right way to be competitive and attract the audience. Moreover, the use of non-verbal essence has a greater meaning that indirect creates interest in consumers' minds. In order for companies to survive, the message has to be adapted to current trends and interests to attract and be as compelling as possible. This is especially noticeable in today's fashion industry, which is an increasing sector. Beauty and welfare belong to the two most common elements and are reflecting the print media to a great extent, in particular among female lifestyle/fashion magazines. The purpose of this thesis is to gain a better understanding of the elements used in print advertising messages within the Swedish print media. Our research explores, describes and tries to explain how print advertising use the elements: color, text and appeal in advertisements. We have conducted a case study on the two lifestyle/fashion magazines Elle and Cosmopolitan, by thoroughly observing fragrance advertisements. Our main findings concerning color, text and appeal are that: color is associated with feelings and evokes emotions that affect and form the message, the headline is most often the brand name or the name of the fragrance, and the use of emotional appeals is the most common in fragrance advertisements. However, our core finding is that all these three elements, color, text and appeal, tend to relate to each other and together be a powerful strength. Finally, implications for managers, theory, and future research are provided.