Advertising: An NLP Perspective
At a certain point, I became interested in structuring how advertising works from the perspective of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming). This is specifically a psychologist’s (more precisely, an NLP practitioner’s) view on how advertising operates. Let’s break it down.
Advertising: Three Stages of Access
The goal of any advertisement is to get a person to take specific actions: buy something, vote, donate money, etc. Or, conversely, to avoid certain actions, like quitting smoking, drinking, or using drugs, or not voting for a particular candidate.
The process of “getting advertising inside” can be divided into three stages:
- Attracting Attention
The ad must reach the person in some form—TV, radio, newspapers, flyers, etc. But that’s not enough. The person must actually notice the information, read the text, and focus on it. The ad needs to enter their focus of attention. - Filtering
Just because someone sees an ad doesn’t mean they’ll notice or react to it. The ad must pass through their perception filters and get inside. This is the level of rapport.- The ad should create at least some trust (primarily unconscious).
- It should fit into the person’s “map” (aligning with their values, beliefs, meta-programs).
- It should be described in language the client understands (predicates, sorting gates).
- Influence
Once the ad is inside, it needs to work and prompt the person to take the desired action. There are many techniques for this, and new ones are constantly emerging.
Stage 1: Attracting Attention
The delivery level is crucial—if a person doesn’t notice, read, or pay attention, all other tricks are useless. The ad must not only physically reach the client, but also capture their attention and be viewed, listened to, or read to the end (or at least the most important part). Otherwise, nothing will work.
To attract attention, advertisers use beautiful or unusual ads, attractive women (often scantily clad), and anything shiny or bright. This is called “stopping power”—various tricks to grab attention, such as:
- Bright, contrasting colors
- A moving object on a static background
- Fast movement in the frame
- High image brightness
- Loud sounds
- Sudden changes in sound
It’s known that ads with moving elements attract about 1.5 times more attention than static ones. “Size matters” too—one of the world’s largest billboards is from Adidas.
The problem is that people eventually stop reacting to the same stimulus, so advertisers must constantly invent new ones. For example, the once-popular red-on-yellow “Stop!” sign eventually lost its effectiveness and even caused issues for safety professionals who used it for non-advertising purposes.
However, grabbing attention can sometimes backfire at the rapport stage—someone may notice the ad but then immediately turn away.
Stage 2: Perception Filters
The main goal here is to create a high level of trust with the client. If trust is high, the information is processed and considered. If trust is low, it’s filtered out.
The most important perception filters in advertising (though this varies by situation) include:
- Map: A person’s set of beliefs about the world. If your message aligns with their map, they trust you. If not, trust decreases. Usually, this means matching the “target audience’s” map.
- Beliefs: Perhaps the most important filter: “Is this appropriate?”, “Is this ad worth watching?”, “Are they lying?”, etc. This also includes cultural norms.
- Values: Linked to beliefs, values determine how we interact with concepts like love, honor, thrift, reliability, security, etc.
- Criteria: How values are measured. Ads often work with criteria, linking them to the product. People also have criteria for which ads are worth their attention.
- Advertising Language: Special language is used to fit the client’s map, including generalized speech and meta-programs (main perception filters).
- Perception Channels: How a person prefers to receive information: visually, auditorily, or kinesthetically.
- Sorting Gates: What a person pays attention to: people, things/actions, values, process, time, place. This determines how information is presented and structured.
- Reference: How a person makes decisions: internally (based on their own values/criteria) or externally (based on others’ opinions). This affects how to motivate them—by providing information or referencing others’ recommendations.
- Comparison Focus: Some people focus on differences, others on similarities. If the ad compares products, the focus will determine whether they notice differences or similarities more.
- Time: Some people focus on the future, others on the present or past.
Stage 3: Influence
Advertising creates motivation—nothing more. Motivation can be:
- “Away from” motivation: showing how bad things will be if you don’t act.
- “Toward” motivation: showing how good things will be if you do act.
- Reducing barriers: showing that it’s not so hard or scary.
- A combination of the above.
Which is more effective depends on the situation and the target group. For example, when buying medicine, people are more motivated by “away from” (avoiding illness), while buying accessories is more “toward” (gaining pleasure).
Sometimes, instead of increasing motivation, ads reduce barriers. For example, shopping mall ads often emphasize convenience and proximity, assuming people already like shopping but need reassurance that it’s easy and pleasant at their location.
Examples of Motivation in Advertising
“Toward” motivation creates a vision of a wonderful future as a result of the action:
- “Kaiff vacuum cleaner will make your life happy!”
- “Want beautiful, healthy hair? Buy Milo shampoo!”
- “If you deposit money in OUR BANK, you’ll earn 110% profit every month!”
“Away from” motivation paints a frightening picture to be avoided:
- “Without the Kaiff vacuum cleaner, your life will be a nightmare!”
- “Is your hair brittle and breaking? Want to get rid of dandruff? Buy Milo shampoo!”
- “If you don’t deposit money in OUR BANK, you won’t earn 110% profit every month!”
People usually use both types of motivation. Some first mention what they’re avoiding, then what they’re striving for. In Russian culture, “away from” motivation is especially common—scaring the potential buyer often works best.
Anchors in Advertising
An anchor is a stimulus that precedes a conditioned response. Under certain conditions, you can create a strong link: stimulus—state (e.g., a label triggers the desire to buy). Anchors are a primary tool, but the challenge is not just setting the anchor, but also evoking the right state. Not every pleasant state motivates a purchase (negative anchors are usually set for competitors’ products or for not buying/acting).
Types of Anchors
- Just Beautiful…
Creating a mood (visuals, music, etc.): a beautiful woman running on the beach, riding a horse, a white stork flying, a cat sneaking. Children and animals reliably evoke pleasant feelings, but there are legal restrictions unless the product is for children. In posters, the product is simply present in the image, often just the label in the corner.
Pros: Predictable emotional response, known state, relatively low cost, positive viewer perception, can be used in static ads.
Cons: Hard to evoke a strong or desire-driven state, requires many impressions, the ad must be long enough to reliably trigger the state. - Insight
The ad reveals a truth or draws attention to something: “Exactly! I never thought of that.” This includes original or humorous ads.
Pros: Intense emotional response, can be used in static ads.
Cons: Short-lived effectiveness (until everyone gets the insight), requires a truly fresh idea, hard to target the exact state. - Pattern Break
A series of images or sounds creates an association, then suddenly the association is broken (e.g., what looked like oil is actually motor oil, a waterfall is just a roadside stream). This puts the viewer in a trance-like state, making them more receptive and less critical—an ideal moment to insert a command.
Pros: Predictable and intense response.
Cons: Very short-lived (you can only break a pattern once), requires a fresh idea, hard to do in static ads. - Using Existing Anchors
You can use existing anchors: famous athletes, celebrities, politicians, popular music. Just combine the product and the person (or melody) in the ad. The celebrity can talk about the product, use it, or be part of a fun story. In posters, just show them together.
Well-known people evoke trust and desire to emulate them, and all the associations that come with them. Their words are trusted, people want to look at them, etc. But they’re expensive for advertisers.
Pros: Predictable response, known state (interest, admiration, trust), “I want to be like them,” high trust, shorter ads possible, fewer impressions needed.
Cons: High cost, the product becomes closely associated with the person—if they do something wrong, it reflects on the product (e.g., Michael Jackson and Pepsi). - Women in Advertising
Women are used in ads for almost any product—air conditioners, cameras, cars, razors, toothpaste, juice, etc. Both men and women like looking at women, but for different reasons. Men see “I want her,” women see “I want to be like her.” This is a strong difference. A dominant woman appeals more to women but may repel men, while a submissive beauty appeals to men but may not to women.
Embedding Commands
Anchors are great, but they only link an object to a state. To influence behavior more directly (“go there, do this”), you need to embed commands at the unconscious level, where they’re received as “programs to execute.” This requires several conditions, the most important being a high level of trust in the source. While anchors don’t depend much on trust, all verbal techniques require rapport—without it, they simply don’t work.