Table 3

Strategies for Effective Six-Second Advertisements

Production StageStrategiesTactics
PlanningMatch objectives to the six-second format

  • Temper objectives for six-second advertisements

  • Aim for goals early/late in consumer decision journey

Use of episodic storytelling

  • Break more complex messages into simpler components communicable in six-second pieces that can:

    • Together offer related “windows” into a larger campaign world

    • Be sequentially shown to convey a larger narrative

WritingUse of simplified narratives

  • Use tight, simplistic storylines

  • If possible, write specifically with six-second advertisements in mind

Use of nonclassical narratives

  • Consider using nonclassical narratives approaches such as:

    • “Fractured” narratives where part of the classical beginning, middle, and end narrative structure is omitted

    • Open narratives where narrative structure is constructed by the viewer

Draw on brand history and campaigns

  • Draw on consumer preexisting knowledge through:

    • Use of known characters

    • Allusion to brand knowledge

    • Reference to current or past campaigns

Harness the sociocultural context

  • Invoke the more complex meaning instantiated in symbols through use of:

    • Props

    • Costuming

    • Stereotypes

    • Celebrities

ProductionStencil directing

  • Produce advertisements with knowledge that viewers fill in “stenciled” parts. Leverage this by:

    • Omitting unnecessary shots

    • Referencing and alluding to out-of-frame events using gestures, sound effects, or line of vision

Stylistic congruity

  • Limiting geographical locations and sets

  • Maintaining thematic similarity within both an advertisement and a larger campaign by leveraging:

    • Branding

    • Colors

    • Set design

    • Costume

    • Characters

    • Lighting

Intensified screen exposition

  • Restrict to one or two camera angles

  • Editing rather than panning or tracking shots

  • Utilizing all areas of the frame through close shots or deep-focus lenses

PlacementUse of precise targeting

  • Use precise targeting rather than general media placement

  • Target advertisements on the basis of the specific knowledge of particular audience groups

Use of cascaded targeting

  • Target advertisements to viewers on the basis of exposure to a campaign

  • “Stack” content to create funnels/arcs of advertisements viewed in a particular sequence