Tennessee Valley Advertising Federation

Need an answer to creative block? Want to talk to someone in person... not just through email or in a chat room?

Then get involved with your ad fed! The Tennessee Valley Advertising Federation (TVAF) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting our diverse advertising community through award-winning programs and events.

We offer you the chance to get out from behind the computer and connect with other creative people. Join us and give your "Creative Moves" a boost!

Welcome to Tennessee Valley Advertising Federation at tvaf.org

Advertising

There are many myths and half truth surrounding the industry of advertising and its ability to do what it is there to do, namely to sell things to people. If there is one thing that is more important to know and to understand about the process of selling anything to anybody, it is that as long as sufficient desire is created, then any product or service can be sold to anybody.

This is borne out by simply looking at the most successful advertising campaigns and understanding what makes them so powerful. All ad campaigns are different and will need to be tailored to the product or service being promoted as well as to the perceived potential customer base. It doesn't matter if it's a brand of washing powder or the latest health product (ref: hhtb.org), they all work.

That's why there are so many varied TV ads selling just about everything imaginable and some more besides.

Commercial Need

city advertisements There are various levels of commercial need, which is reflected in the style and aggressiveness of the production. While a big lavish production may be needed to create the most powerful and intense desire for a particular brand of automobile, a far more modest, yet equally compelling production may be more than sufficient to create the same desire for a brand of lawn mower.

We are surrounded by a multitude of display ads of all types everywhere we go. It doesn't matter whether we're in the center of a big city, on the outskirts of a small town, wandering through a large, diverse mall or traveling along the highway in the middle of the desert in our automobile--there are billboards jumping out at us even in the most unexpected places!

We turn on the radio and listen to some nice music which is great, then the song ends and we might get some inane chatter from the presenter followed by several sponsored commercials for local services and the like, plus one or more nation brands reminding us that we should remember their name and what it is that they can do for us to make our lives better.

la billboard That really is the underlying hook of the commercial world. Everything we are presented with is done in an attempt to make us believe we need it, want it and it will in some way improve our mundane lives, even if it is just a little bit! That's not necessarily a bad thing, as long as we all realize that's all it is.

Tune In or Zone Out

As a consumer that is at the sharp end of all kinds of media promotional material, there are times when too much advertising becomes overwhelming. In some cases, it can actually be counterproductive as the audience becomes "ad blind" through excessive overexposure.

For the consumer wanting a return to normality even for a short while, there is an abundance of material available to help to train the mind to zone out of the advertising bombardment that is happening from all sides. Sites like https://disciplinedthinking.com teach how to discipline the mind for clarity and a reduction in stress while liberating the mental faculties to bring about a better way of life.

This can be useful in our world too. As advertisers we need to be aware of what our audience is doing and when enough is enough. We don't want them to become completely immune to the media machine's promotional tactics, so some measure of moderation is needed to keep the consumer consuming and the audience on our side.

Business Advertising

As part of the on-going expansion of this website, we look at what makes advertising work for businesses (ref: www.usiba.org). We also look at some of the tricks and techniques of the trade that make it possible to part even the most hard nosed individual from their money to pay for a product or service they didn't even know they wanted!

We do this in a series of original, expert articles that are freely available to read right here on this website with links to each in the list below.