BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 514

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IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 514 – PASSAGE – 2

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 514

READING PASSAGE – 2

Principles of Persuasion

Successful advertising has to keep up with the times

A. By the early twentieth century, key consumer markets for products such as confectionery, soap and tobacco had already become saturated. Though advertisers had developed strategies such as expanding consumer spending through increasing credit, they also turned to advertising messages to help increase sales. As early as 1908, when The Psychology of Advertising by Professor Walter Dill Scott was published, advertisers began to formulate theories of human behaviour and motivation which could unlock the consumer’s mind through persuasive treatments (Leiss et al. 1990). New approaches to persuasiveness were grouped and systematised in the 1920s into ‘reason-why’ and ‘atmosphere’ advertising techniques.

B. ‘Reason-why’ was designed to stimulate demand by constructing a reason for purchase, such as helping to save time, being modern, or being socially acceptable. Reason-why ads were used to differentiate the product from others on the market, as in an example from the 1960s: ‘Make sure it’s Cadbury’s. Because no other chocolate can possibly give you the proper, creamy, Cadbury taste.’ The premise was that consumers were essentially rational and made consuming decisions based upon reason.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

In an expanding market, there is no reason to try to make appeals other than ‘reason-why, because consumers continue to buy, but once competition rises and the market flattens, advertisers need to find new appeals. ‘Atmosphere’ advertising, on the other hand, was meant to evoke non-rational responses such as sexual desire and patriotism from consumers and was useful when the market became saturated and advertisers needed a competitive advantage.

C. These approaches tried to get to the essence of what advertising is all about and consequently solve all of the problems of advertising. In reality, advertisers used a combination of the two. New products, for example, at the turn of the century had to be explained, and the reason for using them developed, in the advertising. However, new inventions could not rely just on ‘reason-why’ ads, they also used suggestion and atmosphere. One technique was to associate the new brand with traditional and cosy settings such as nature and the family.

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D. A later version of the ‘reason-why’ advertisement of the 1920s was the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) developed by US agency boss Rosser Reeves in the 1950s. This too was based on ‘rational’ consumer decisions, but more explicitly tried to find an essence to advertising. Rosser Reeves specified that ‘Each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer.

Each advertisement must say to each reader, “Buy this product, and you will get this specific benefit… one that the competition either cannot or does not offer.” It must be unique either a uniqueness of the brand or a claim not otherwise made in that particular field of advertising. The proposition must be so strong that it can move the mass millions, i.e. pull over the new customers to your product’ (Reeves 1961).

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E. A USP could be achieved through the packaging, such as a unique bottle shape or a boiled sweet ‘double-wrapped to keep in the freshness’. These differences in the product (the look, shape, size, colour and market position; the biggest/best/leading) are less to do with the advertising and more to do with the manufacturer. The manufacturer may decide to design the product in a certain way to provide the USP, such as an unusual pack design.

Whether the consumers were interested enough in the USPS to make them want to buy the product was of little relevance. This imperative for differentiation came from the companies and the competitive market, not from any predilection towards the consumer. The greatest strength of the approach was that it re-emphasised the basic communications principle that to be effective advertising must emphasise difference; it did not matter for what rational or irrational reason the product was differentiated, just that it was differentiated.

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F. Reason-why and USP are still used today in different settings, especially for new products. However, the speed with which goods lose their difference means that the straightforward explanation of the goods’ use, and the appeal of product difference, is lost and other ways are needed to differentiate the product, such as the emotional sell and the advertising ‘brand image’.

G. David Ogilvy was one of the biggest exponents of the power of the brand to influence consumer-buying decisions, though the term ‘brand image’ had been used for decades before. Building a brand is as much about establishing familiarity as it is about establishing difference. Even if you are not a Coke addict, you may turn to Coke in a store because you are so familiar with its design and its name and packaging.

Any new brands that come on the market have the weight of this to fight against. The new brand has to differentiate through a separate product feature or benefit, or, more usually (if there is no difference), to develop a separate personality so that the brand is remembered as quite distinct.

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Questions 14-18

Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-G.

14. a reference to customers owing money for their purchases

15. an expert’s explanation of a particular advertising method

16. an example of how advertising makes a link between the product and familiar situations

17. why current advertising can’t rely only on traditional techniques

18. when investigations began into how advertising could appeal to consumer logic

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Questions 19-22

Classify the following features as being true of

A. ‘reason why’ advertising

B. ‘USP’ advertising

C. ‘atmosphere’ advertising

Write the correct letter A-C.

19. It was created by the manager of an advertising company.

20. Its main approach was to suggest a motive for purchasing the product.

21. It was a useful technique if the customer base was no longer growing.

22. It moved the focus from advertising to what the product looked like.

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Questions 23-26

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.

Brand Advertising

The need for brand advertising was created because of the (23)……………… with which products today begin to look alike. David Ogilvy is considered a pioneer in this area, although people were using the expression (24)……………… many years earlier.

In addition to focusing on difference, branding highlights customers’ (25)……………… with a product. A good example of this is (26)…………, which is instantly recognisable in the shops. Manufacturers of new products have to find a way of matching this.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

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