Basic Needs: Activity


People need to be active. Basic to life is that our senses need to be stimulated, our muscles need to be used.

We associate activity with youth and health (in ads, kids at the beach having fun). Activity in ads also appeals to our fantasy dreams, even if we are armchair adventurers and couch potatoes.

Nonverbals and images commonly used in ads stress movement, motion, repetition, intensity, variety in music and visual images: e.g. hard-driving rock music, stirring military music, staccato sounds, flashing lights, bright colors, computer graphics, quick cuts or jump cuts in editing.

MTV music videos led the way in such fast-paced activity, quick-cuts, and sensory overloading. Ads quickly followed.


Audience-centered ads try to associate the product with pleasant emotional feelings of "good things" already liked by the intended audience. Such feel- good ads are often not logical or true, but can be very effective.

Key Words:


action
active
adventure
agile
alert
alive
animated
buoyant
brisk
busy
dynamic
energy
enthusasm
excite, exciting
lively
nimble
perky
quick
radiant
robust
sparkling
sprightly
spry
thrilling
vibrant
vigor
vim
vital
vitality
vivacious
young
youth, youthful
zest, zesty

On the other hand, when the product or service offers a benefit of rest or relaxation (such as a spa, a cruise, a resort), then the opposite words are used: calm, calming
gentle
mild
peace, peaceful
quiet
refresh, refreshing
relax, relaxing
rest, restful
serene, serenity
sooth, soothing
tranquil, tranquility.


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