Digital marketing sites tend to be overlooked at IA conferences. Given that their sole purpose is promotion, it's easy to see why many people might not consider them a suitable object of interest for serious IAs. I disagree. In this talk I am going to look at what makes digital marketing sites different from other sites, why they’re interesting, and how IAs can help. I believe that we have as much to contribute to these as to more traditional sites, although the rules are different - and we might have to extend our concept of what an IA does.

1. IA
Tim Ostler
Drawing on
DM Digital Marketing

2. IA “
DM
quot;Advertising isn't a science, it's persuasion.
Text
Text
And persuasion is an art.quot; Text
- Bill Bernbach
Digital marketing sites tend to be overlooked at IA conferences. Given that their sole purpose is
promotion, it's easy to see why many people might not consider them a suitable object of interest
for serious IAs.
I disagree. In this talk I am going to look at what makes digital marketing sites different from other
sites, why theyʼre interesting, and how IAs can help.
I believe that we have as much to contribute to these as to more traditional sites, although the rules
are different - and we might have to extend our concept of what an IA does.

3. IA
DM Site Map
IA Hear(t)s DM Introduction
What is Digital Marketing?
Text
What’s different about DM?
Text
Text
What can IA do for DM?
A more strategic view
Conclusion
This talk is called IA Hearts DM in homage to Milton Glaserʼs celebrated campaign for New York,
commonly pronounced I Heart NY.
Glaserʼs work demonstrated how marketing can be high art, and can be memorable. But as Heart is
not an English verb it was understandably misinterpreted by the organizers as IA Hears DM, and
this is not totally inappropriate, as may become clear later on.

4. 1 /7
IA Introduction
DM

5. IA
DM An IA? In an ad agency?
Promotional image Text
Text
Text
Lorem
Instructional Instructional Instructional
text A text B text C
logo
But first, something about myself.
I work as a Senior IA for Tribal DDB London. Although our identity as a company is very separate,
we are part of DDB, one of the largest advertising networks in the world. Our major clients in the UK
include Philips, VW and the Guardian. Most of our work can be described as digital marketing.
I still sometimes find it hard to believe I work there, because my life leading up to this point has
been explicitly hostile to advertising. My browser is packed with the best adblocking technology in
the business. I have trained my children to skip through commercial breaks.
When I was originally choosing a career I had a sneaking fascination for advertising but it clashed
with my hippy values. I dismissed it as being solely to do with selling things to people that they
didn't need and getting very rich in the process.
So I switched to architecture -- doing it, writing about and teaching about it.

6. IA
DM Think Bernbach
Text
Text
Text
But now Iʼm an IA. Iʼve always identified myself as a specialist in functional, style-free IA but in 2005
I inadvertently took a contract at a digital marketing agency and was amazed to find that I
immediately felt at home. The people were friendly, creative and intellectually curious.
I discovered that Tribalʼs parent DDB is the advertising agency for those who hate advertising
agencies. Thanks to its founder Bill Bernbach it made its name on Madison Avenue in the late 50s/
early 60s, with the quot;Think Smallquot; campaign for the VW Beetle. This was a new kind of advertising -
it was dubbed “The Creative Revolution” - that was radical because it aimed for elegance and
restraint and did not insult its audience's intelligence.
The revolution had its roots back in 1949 when Bernbach wrote a manifesto arguing that “good
taste, good art, good writing can be good selling.”
The VW campaign was later described as “the day when the new advertising agency was really
born.” AdAge placed it No. 1 in their list of the most outstanding advertising campaigns of the
century.

7. IA
DM VW1959
Text
Text
Text
In retrospect it was actually the kind of ads that DDB originated for VW - single object in a
minimalist white space combined with snappy copy - that created my fascination with advertising in
the first place.
And 45 years later, DDB and Tribal are still working for Volkswagen, and the brand values are still
the same.

8. IA
DM VW1959 VW 2009
Text
Text
Text
In retrospect it was actually the kind of ads that DDB originated for VW - single object in a
minimalist white space combined with snappy copy - that created my fascination with advertising in
the first place.
And 45 years later, DDB and Tribal are still working for Volkswagen, and the brand values are still
the same.

9. IA
DM Doing the IA
Bx Rx
Banners Rich media URL
0.1
Hello
0.2.1 0.2 0.2.2
Confirm view/ Turn on
Yes No Take name
take name webcam
0.2.3 0.2.4
Search Search
Facebook Facebook
Photos found No photos
0.3
Choose from 0.3.1
photos Upload image? Text
0.4 0.3.2 0.3.3
Existing shaving Text
Upload dialog Yes No I can help you
régime?
Text
0.4.3.1
a child? Go to disney
0.4.1 0.4.2 0.4.3 1.1.1
Analyse skin None? Are a female?
Analyse skin Video
you...
Just don't shave?
0.4.1.1 0.4.2.1 0.4.3.2
0.4.3.3 Buy for a
Assesses Assesses
Find out more friend
against wet against dry
Upgrade now
1.0
The Shaver
1.1
NIVEA Skin
Register Tell a friend
Care
Buy now
Club
1.3 Product
1.1.1 The NIVEA Philips
Choose 1.5 1.4.1 1.4.2
shaving Not a CP Register
vendor About Robot About Shaver
experience member product into
CP member
1.1.2 1.3.1 1.5.1 1.5.2
All you need to Choose
know Join
product Enter details
Club Philips
philips.com
account page
I later started working on a series of microsites for another big client, Philips.
I found that project and account managers working for different clients had varying ideas about
what an IA was and what part he/she played in a project. For Philips my job was “doing the IA” for
a series of microsites. Each consisted of more or less the same components, only in different
arrangements for no apparent reason.
It struck me that a proper IA approach would be to focus not on the microsites themselves, but the
regularities I observed across them all and propose a global approach that attempted to
systematize decision-making about what would go in to a particular site and why.
I proposed a matrix of site components, but the exercise was almost too successful -- since Philips
have taken a more systematic approach to their microsites I hardly see the Philip PMs any more!
Not so much “Doing the IA”, as “Doing without the IA”...!
I began to think seriously about how what I was doing differed from what would normally be asked
of an IA, and whether IA really had a role in digital marketing.

10. 2 /7
IA What is digital
DM marketing?
Wikipedia defines digital marketing as quot;the practice of promoting products and services using digital
distribution channels.quot;
The classic digital marketing artefact is a microsite, a site consisting of a small cluster of pages with
a custom domain name or simple URL that operates in conjunction with a banner, rich media or
offline campaign - and more often than not these days, a Facebook application and a Google Maps
mashup. For the purposes of this talk I will however concentrate on the issues raised by microsites.
Microsites gained a lot of momentum from their perceived usefulness as a SEO tactic. They were
also seen as the main destination point of a digital campaign, where the creative idea represented
in the banners and rich media linking to it could be co-ordinated and translated into a specific
marketing message or experience, often with a direct route to Buy Now.

11. IA
DM Small but perfectly formed
Text
Text
Text
Tribal DDB
Like other forms of advertising, digital marketing lives or dies on its ability to distract its audience for
a short time from whatever else that theyʼre doing, and in the world of microsites itʼs an article of
faith that rich media interfaces will prove engaging and encourage users to linger and discover
more about a product. Equally, the sites will probably have only a brief lifecycle.
As a result IAs and designers enjoy considerable freedom in the range of structures and
experiences they can create. The best microsites have a unity to them that a full website can never
achieve.
CLICK TO VISIT MICROSITE <http://www.night-driving.com/>
The site combined elegant use of bookmarked Flash video, a Google maps mashup to which 1788
people contributed their own favourite drives and a JumpCut feature inviting people to remix their
own nightdriving movies.

12. IA
DM Section analysis
Visitors to:
Homepage 221,158 100%
Philosophy 17,692 8%
Great Night Drives (maps) Text
48,654 22%
Text
Valley section Text 90,674 41%
Bridge section 170,291 77%
Edit films – Jumpcut 17,940 8%
Watch TV Ad 50,866 23%
More on Golf 28,750 13%
Skipped the intro 17,084 9%
But these days microsites are falling out of favour. On the one hand they are seen as watering
down a company's brand; on the other they derive no benefit from the credibility that a brand may
have been laboriously establishing over several years. Others argue that there a creation of internal
company politics, and that nobody actually visits them.
This argument is contradicted by the experience of the Night Driving site, which received more than
106,000 unique visitors (60,000 of which arrived via online ads) in its first 12 weeks. It also won a
Best in Show for Night Driving in the Video or Motion Graphics category and a Gold in the
Automotive category at the 2007 W3 Awards. More importantly for the client, it attracted 413 test
drive requests and contributed to the Golfʼs best sales year ever, even though it was a 3-year-old
model. Itʼs also interesting to see that only 9% skipped the intro...
There are other issues - how long should the site stay up? If youʼve managed to get a group of
users to register for an activity, what do you do with that community when the site goes down?
For this and other reasons, VW's new UK site, launched in February, will in future incorporate the
microsite function to specific model areas within the main site, each with its own creative idea and
interactive animation. Philips too have brought their range of microsites more closely within the fold
of the corporate site.

13. IA
DM Section analysis
Visitors to:
Homepage 221,158 100%
Philosophy 17,692 8%
Great Night Drives (maps) Text
48,654 22%
Text
Valley section Text 90,674 41%
Bridge section 170,291 77%
Edit films – Jumpcut 17,940 8%
Watch TV Ad 50,866 23%
More on Golf 28,750 13%
Skipped the intro 17,084 9%
But these days microsites are falling out of favour. On the one hand they are seen as watering
down a company's brand; on the other they derive no benefit from the credibility that a brand may
have been laboriously establishing over several years. Others argue that there a creation of internal
company politics, and that nobody actually visits them.
This argument is contradicted by the experience of the Night Driving site, which received more than
106,000 unique visitors (60,000 of which arrived via online ads) in its first 12 weeks. It also won a
Best in Show for Night Driving in the Video or Motion Graphics category and a Gold in the
Automotive category at the 2007 W3 Awards. More importantly for the client, it attracted 413 test
drive requests and contributed to the Golfʼs best sales year ever, even though it was a 3-year-old
model. Itʼs also interesting to see that only 9% skipped the intro...
There are other issues - how long should the site stay up? If youʼve managed to get a group of
users to register for an activity, what do you do with that community when the site goes down?
For this and other reasons, VW's new UK site, launched in February, will in future incorporate the
microsite function to specific model areas within the main site, each with its own creative idea and
interactive animation. Philips too have brought their range of microsites more closely within the fold
of the corporate site.

14. IA
DM Why microsites will survive
Text
Text
Text
Source: NetImperative.com
Microsites are not however going to go away any time soon. They are still universally used as a
focus for specific marketing campaigns where product identity is seen as more important than the
parent brand, notably in media products such as films, albums or video games.
In an uncertain world there it clearly makes sense to pay attention to digital marketing. Although I
canʼt offer stats on the balance of IA work accounted for by digital marketing versus more
conventional sites, digital is booming compared with other advertising channels.
This survey by the Internet Advertising Bureau and PwC found that the main digital ad formats
grew by 45% in a single year, accelerating nine times faster than the advertising sector as a whole.
These banners, skyscrapers and embedded rich media need somewhere to link to, and much of
the time this will be a microsite, or the equivalent within a larger corporate site.
So we can expect microsites and their counterparts to provide a source of work for IA for a while
yet. But whatʼs so different?

15. Oppositions
3 /7
IA What’s different about
DM DM sites?
So whatʼs different about digital marketing sites?
The key difference is navigation.

16. IA
DM Experience not orientation
Text
Text
Text
To gain a foothold in a user's consciousness, we need to create an experience that has emotional
resonance, where the user is not a dispassionate observer but is in the centre of the action. Digital
marketing IA is to traditional IA as Google Earth is to Google Maps.

17. IA
DM Journey not destination
Text
Text
Text
Redurban
Tribal DDB
Traditional IA values near-instantaneous navigation to your goal; digital marketing is all about
creating a journey.
SHOW BLUE MOTION SITE <http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/bluemotion/>
And if the user is not himself passing figuratively along a journey, animated page elements move
smoothly from one point to another.
SHOW GUINNESS.COM <http://www2.guinness.com/en-row/Pages/Home.aspx>
The result is slick and seductive, but animation also makes sense in cognitive terms as it allows
the user to maintain orientation.

18. IA
DM States not pages
Text
Text
Text
R/GA
Tribal DDB
Maintaining seamless focus on a single product or experience with the assistance of rich media
technologies such as Flash and Flex encourages a state-based rather than page-based
organization. This allows the product or main content to remain the centre of attention within a
three-dimensional space while its environment changes around it.
SHOW VW EXPLORE <http://tinyurl.com/4gfewx>
Alternatively the metaphor may be two-dimensional, as in a stage where animated activity takes
place within a proscenium surround that itself remain persistent.
SHOW NIKE <http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?locale=en_gb>

19. PATHOS
IA
DM Dynamic not static
Text
Text
Text
KMF
TM
Advertising
The flip side of a site being state-based is that it is also dynamic rather than static. Wherever
possible transitions between one state and another are animated.
SHOW C@N DO <http://cando.live.kmf-port.de/cando/>
This animation can itself be used to reinforce the product's identity, creating a kind of leitmotif or
theme tune announcing the product's arrival. Bill Bernbach was referring to something similar when
he said, quot;Execution can become content. It can be just as important as what you say.quot;
Sometimes however it can be all that you say.
SHOW AMERICAN AIRLINES <http://www.theflagshipexperience.com/default_UK.html>

20. IA
DM Seduction not usability
Text
Text
Text
agency.com
Seduction here refers not to seducing the user into believing something, but into engaging with the
site to the fullest possible extent, via the use of rich media technologies such as Flex or
Papervision.
SHOW IKEA KITCHENS <http://demo.fb.se/e/ikea/dreamkitchen/site/default.html>
There is no reason that a seductive interface canʼt be usable. The point is that it is seduction that
drives the creative direction, not usability. Weʼve all had sites sent round as virals that work on our
friendsʼ computer but crash our browser. So this is a high risk issue.

21. IA
DM Wizards and user journeys
Text
Text
Text
Probably the most important distinction between digital marketing and other sites is the fact that
navigation is not objective, but directional - quot;navigation with attitude.quot;
It matters to us where the user chooses to go. So navigation is less about providing straightforward
menus than about orchestrating a series of calls to action.
Ultimately navigation in digital marketing tends to the status of a wizard.

22. IA
DM Guidance not navigation
Splash page Interactive Landing page/hub Buy
experience now
Text
Text
Text
For a microsite it typically takes the form of Banner/Rich Media - Splash page - Interactive
experience - Landing page/hub - Buy now. Hereʼs an example from a site by SimpleScott with a
very important product to sell. <http://www.barackobama.com/>

23. IA
DM Active navigation
Text
Text
Text
For Obamaʼs site although the emphasis is on the essential need to register, there is a pile of other
secondary routes. But every one of them is presented as not just a navigational choice, but a call
to action. I counted 16 of them.

24. 4 /7
IA What can IA do
DM for DM?
So what can IAs do for digital marketing?
The simple answer is to do what we do for conventional sites. Normal IA deliverables map perfectly
well on to digital marketing.

25. IA
DM IA role perceptions
Text
Text
Text
User
journeys Site
maps Scoping
advice Present
to clients Wireframes
Essential Monitoring
Important usability Interaction
Not important concept Site
Not relevant strategy
Documentation
As part of my research while doing the IA for Philips I did a survey of perceptions different people in
the team had about what an IA actually does. Gratifyingly I found that all of the possible roles I
picked out were viewed as being either “essential” or “important”! All of the activities considered
essential are perfectly relevant in the digital marketing domain, if likely to be limited in scope.

26. IA
DM User journeys No webcam No results
Intro Ask for webcam Ask for name Scan social networks Upload image?
0.1 0.2 0.2.2 0.2.4 0.3.1
No OK
I can't see you. Profile not found.
Intro/connect What is your name? Search social networks
Please turn on your webcam. Do you want to upload?
OK No OK
Online banner
Online Intro: robot engages with A broken image of the robot You indicate that you do not You discover she is not just She draws a blank and asks
banner
you appears. She asks you to have or want to use a asking to be polite. She is you if you want to upload a
turn on your webcam so she webcam. looking for you on the social picture. You say yes.
Visitor selects link on online
banner can see you. web.
She fades into view and
Text asks you for your name (this
should be phrased to
ENTER SITE
Text prompt your full name --
perhaps if you enter only
Text one word she says quot;I need
Explore SR Watch your full namequot;)
the site 1 the tv ad
Visitor is invited to choose
between viewing TV ad and
exploring site
Get Select Select
Closer Object Perform- Back
ance
Vendor
Arcitec Arcitec Obj Obj Obj Design Performance Obj Arcitec Obj Obj Obj
Object Object Vendor
Vendor
Feature nav emerges on load, Examples of performance/design Visitor selects one object, which Screen transitions to show Visitor selects Close panel to Buy now screen is displayed.
floating alongside shaver. hover in background until rolled prompts zoom in to Design view performance implications of return to product page.
Footer menu slides up to over, when full colour image and with copy describing object design characteristics Visitor makes selection and
highlight menu calls to action preview description appears design features. clicks through to vendor
Visitor selects Get Closer button
Select feature Visitor selects Get Closer button to show close-up of Perform-
to show close-up of Design view ance view
Visitor selects Performance link Visitor selects Design link to
to show Performance view return to Design view
Selecting a feature causes
feature carousel to appear
Visitor can select any of the
features from this screen by Footer menu rolls up to
At any time visitor can roll over tab to
using the rotating carousel highlight menu calls to action
display footer menu with Buy Now option
including Buy Now
Visitor can return to Product
Visitor selects Buy Now in
Page using a close link
footer menu.
We can draw up user journeys to document the userʼs path from first encounter to Buy Now.

27. IA
DM Flowcharts
Satinelle website
Links to Hero webisode (TBD) 0.0 SR1 Site
Type
Home page Menu accessible from all pages
URL
Footer utilities menu 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
On-site videos
5.0 0.5 0.6 FAQs Buy now I want it! Register
Video landing FAQs Register
Vignettes
0.6.2 0.6.3
R1 1.0
Rich media: Webisode: Product Join Club Philips 1.1
Beauty Beauty Watch TV Ad
Type URL 2.1
1.0 2.0 SRI
R2 2.0
philips.comText Loading
transition
Product page
Get
closer
A
Design
B
Performance
Viral: what
is it?
Rich media: Webisode:
Grooming Grooming
Text
Banners
Videos 2.2
1.2 Racing car
Text
A B
R3 Note: 0.0 Product page is linked to from all other pages Lift & Cut
Rich media: 3.0 Webisode: System Design Performance
(link points to 0.2 Buy now on 0.0 Product Page itself)
Gentleness Gentleness 1.3
Flex and Pivot
0.1D Action 2.3
Feature display D
0.1C 1.4
Track bike
Feature display C A B
B2.x 4.0 0.1B Tube Trimmer Design Performance
Feature display B
Character-based 0.1A
TV ad interstitial Feature display A 1.5
banners 0.1 The Complete 2.4
Shaving System
Hubble telescope
1.6 A B
B1.x 0.2 0.2.1 Triple Track Design Performance
Buy now: Buy now: Shaving Heads
Product-based
Product showroom
banners select vendor select product 1.7
Power Pod
0.4
Local promo:
moneyback
Off-site videos guarantee
W1 0.3 0.3.1
Webisode:
Beauty Beauty tips Demo video
W2
Webisode:
Grooming
W3
Webisode:
Gentleness
We can develop logical user flows documenting the same process at a higher level.
Even where the site organization is very simple it is striking how much just putting the structure
down is valued by account and project managers as a way to crystallize what previously may have
been felt to be a vague creative idea into something solid.

28. IA
DM Blueprints
Online ads FFP page inks Offline ads Airline channels
1.0 Landing page 2.0 Golf course information
English | English | Back Logo Star Alliance site
Logo Star Alliance site
Note: Preselected language depends upon Country Choose...
link from ads, otherwise defaults to English
Image State Choose...
Golf course
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
Links to 18 carrier homes Carrier sites Name
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
View golf courses Description
Welcome Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Image
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Stats
Intro
Intro Select carrier Carrier FFP Golf course selectable list
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Golf course site
Join FFP Course website
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
Registration requirements Ticket sales Carrier Ticket sales
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet Text
Sign up now
Text
Text
Ts & Cs Disclaimer Contact Q&A Help Ts & Cs Disclaimer Contact Q&A Help
0.1 Ts & Cs
Logo Star Alliance site Star Alliance site Star Alliance site Star Alliance site
Ts & Cs
Back
3.0 Data capture page 3.1 Review data capture page 4.0 Thank you
0.2 Legal disclaimer English | English | Logo
Logo Logo Thank you/next steps
Logo Star Alliance site
Register another fl
flight
Disclaimer Instructional text Please review your details
Back Close
Buy another flight
Personal details
0.3 Contact details
Logo Star Alliance site Carrier Ticket sales Star Alliance site
Specify FFP Personal details
Intro
Back
Flight details
5.0 Registration confirmation email
0.4 Q&A
Logo Star Alliance site
Accept Ts & Cs FFP Intro Logo
FAQ
Back
What happens next
Flight details
0.5 Help Image
Logo Star Alliance site Submit Confirm
Cancel Back Cancel
Help text
Back
Wireframes are a bit more of an issue. Because of the pivotal importance of design in developing
the creative direction, and the reduced level of practical functionality, conventional wireframes can
kind of miss the point. The designer may feel their style is being cramped if we go too far in
specifying the positioning or nature of page elements.
At Tribal weʼve developed a technique called Blueprints which are best explained as an
intermediate point between wireframes and site maps. They are in effect very low resolution
wireframes that map out the basic functionality of a page, and specify which other pages are linked
to by specific elements on the page. They become a reference point for discussion that does not
dictate the interface design in detail.

29. 5 /7
IA A more strategic view
DM
All of these forms of documentation are a rational response to the requirements presented by
building any website. Theyʼre what we might propose if we were mainly interested in the IAʼs
function as a wireframe and site map monkey. BUT what they donʼt address is the point that
primarily distinguishes digital marketing from a conceptual point of view.
Digital marketingʼs range extends from marketing-centred areas of otherwise conventional sites, to
integrated off and online campaigns that blur the boundaries between consumersʼ online and offline
existence. The ideal digital marketing campaign is one that temporarily becomes part of the
infrastructure of peopleʼs social lives.
The microsites that support these campaigns are not therefore neutral artifacts that merely make
information findable for strongly motivated users. A good digital marketing campaign creates
motivation where it previously did not exist.
In other words, digital marketing is a branch of rhetoric.

30. 5 /7
IA Digital marketing is
DM digital rhetoric
All of these forms of documentation are a rational response to the requirements presented by
building any website. Theyʼre what we might propose if we were mainly interested in the IAʼs
function as a wireframe and site map monkey. BUT what they donʼt address is the point that
primarily distinguishes digital marketing from a conceptual point of view.
Digital marketingʼs range extends from marketing-centred areas of otherwise conventional sites, to
integrated off and online campaigns that blur the boundaries between consumersʼ online and offline
existence. The ideal digital marketing campaign is one that temporarily becomes part of the
infrastructure of peopleʼs social lives.
The microsites that support these campaigns are not therefore neutral artifacts that merely make
information findable for strongly motivated users. A good digital marketing campaign creates
motivation where it previously did not exist.
In other words, digital marketing is a branch of rhetoric.

31. IA
DM The IA Brand
Text
Text
Text
This is where IAs have an opportunity to extend their role in digital marketing to a more strategic
one than just doing the deliverables.
As a profession, we possess one brand value above all that can help any digital marketing project:
we are analytical about bodies of information and know how to organize them into coherent
structures. This equips us to advise not just on ways of organizing information but also how to
communicate it.
NEXT
Itʼs also something we've been doing for the last 2350 years..

32. IA
DM The IA Brand
2,350 years
in the making
Text
Text
Text
This is where IAs have an opportunity to extend their role in digital marketing to a more strategic
one than just doing the deliverables.
As a profession, we possess one brand value above all that can help any digital marketing project:
we are analytical about bodies of information and know how to organize them into coherent
structures. This equips us to advise not just on ways of organizing information but also how to
communicate it.
NEXT
Itʼs also something we've been doing for the last 2350 years..

33. IA
Classical rhetoric
DM Classical rhetoric
ETHOS
- the character of the speaker
Text
Text
Text
PATHOS
- the listener’s emotional state
Aristotle
LOGOS (384-322 BC)
- the argument itself
Hereʼs why. Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through the use of oral, written, or visual language - a
definition that could also be applied to advertising. For the Romans it was one of three essential
liberal arts - alongside logic and grammar.
These days, we tend to associate it with slippery politicians, where it is closely associated with the
concept of “spin”. In fact it has been controversial right from its beginnings. Plato condemned it as
immoral, dangerous, and unworthy of serious study.
However he later became convinced of its value in the hands of a true philosopher for quot;winning the
soul through discourse.quot; This spurred his pupil Aristotle to treat it as an art worthy of systematic,
scientific study, forming insights that underpin the subject even today. Far from being a means to
obscure the truth, it became seen as essential to its discovery, as it provided the means to order
and clarify an argument.

34. IA
Classical rhetoric
DM Aristotle
“Aristotle’s map of learning
is the ultimate ancestor of Text
library catalogues and the
Text
Text
organization of the modern
university in departments
of arts and sciences”
- G.A. Kennedy
Aristotle was the first person to draw up a map of learning and define the relationship between the
various disciplines of the arts and sciences.
In his writings on rhetoric he introduced the idea of topics - a term he invented to refer to a
heuristic tool for categorizing, retaining and applying frequently used types of argument.
These days we would call them patterns. In effect, it was Aristotle who invented information
architecture.
NEXT
Topics are basic categories of relationships among ideas, each of which can serve as a template or
heuristic for discovering things to say about a subject. Topics derive from topos, the Greek word for
place, literally, quot;places to find things.quot; Taken together they provide a primer for those learning how
to argue convincingly in public.
If Aristotle were designing a site map about rhetoric, one silo would be allocated to common topics,
which are used with any form of knowledge, and another to special topics, which refer to branches
of rhetoric more closely associated with government.

35. IA
Classical rhetoric
DM Aristotle the IA
CT00
Common
Topics
Text
Text
Circumstance Possibility Comparison Text
CT01 CT02 CT03 CT04
Possible/
Past Fact Future fact Greater/Lesser
Impossible
Aristotle was the first person to draw up a map of learning and define the relationship between the
various disciplines of the arts and sciences.
In his writings on rhetoric he introduced the idea of topics - a term he invented to refer to a
heuristic tool for categorizing, retaining and applying frequently used types of argument.
These days we would call them patterns. In effect, it was Aristotle who invented information
architecture.
NEXT
Topics are basic categories of relationships among ideas, each of which can serve as a template or
heuristic for discovering things to say about a subject. Topics derive from topos, the Greek word for
place, literally, quot;places to find things.quot; Taken together they provide a primer for those learning how
to argue convincingly in public.
If Aristotle were designing a site map about rhetoric, one silo would be allocated to common topics,
which are used with any form of knowledge, and another to special topics, which refer to branches
of rhetoric more closely associated with government.

36. IA
DM Digital rhetoric 101
Text
Text
Text
For us latter-day IAs, I suggest that the task is to become rhetorically literate. That means
becoming aware of the rhetorical structures that underpin digital marketing campaigns.
I donʼt profess to be an expert on rhetoric, but my exploration of the subject suggest four strands to
explore: two associated with classical rhetoric, two corresponding with the application of rhetoric to
visual media.
The first comprises Aristotleʼs Persuasive Appeals referred to above -- Ethos, Pathos and Logos;
NEXT
The Common Topics
NEXT
Rhetorical figures, the kind of devices that can be used to enhance and sustain an audienceʼs
interest in a message
NEXT
and Visual grammar, an attempt to distinguish the rhetorical functions of imagery

37. IA
DM Digital rhetoric 101
Classical rhetoric
Persuasive appeals
Text
Text
Text
For us latter-day IAs, I suggest that the task is to become rhetorically literate. That means
becoming aware of the rhetorical structures that underpin digital marketing campaigns.
I donʼt profess to be an expert on rhetoric, but my exploration of the subject suggest four strands to
explore: two associated with classical rhetoric, two corresponding with the application of rhetoric to
visual media.
The first comprises Aristotleʼs Persuasive Appeals referred to above -- Ethos, Pathos and Logos;
NEXT
The Common Topics
NEXT
Rhetorical figures, the kind of devices that can be used to enhance and sustain an audienceʼs
interest in a message
NEXT
and Visual grammar, an attempt to distinguish the rhetorical functions of imagery

38. IA
DM Digital rhetoric 101
Classical rhetoric
Persuasive appeals
Text
Text
Common topics
Text
For us latter-day IAs, I suggest that the task is to become rhetorically literate. That means
becoming aware of the rhetorical structures that underpin digital marketing campaigns.
I donʼt profess to be an expert on rhetoric, but my exploration of the subject suggest four strands to
explore: two associated with classical rhetoric, two corresponding with the application of rhetoric to
visual media.
The first comprises Aristotleʼs Persuasive Appeals referred to above -- Ethos, Pathos and Logos;
NEXT
The Common Topics
NEXT
Rhetorical figures, the kind of devices that can be used to enhance and sustain an audienceʼs
interest in a message
NEXT
and Visual grammar, an attempt to distinguish the rhetorical functions of imagery

39. IA
DM Digital rhetoric 101
Classical rhetoric
Persuasive appeals
Text
Text
Common topics
Text
Visual rhetoric
Rhetorical figures
For us latter-day IAs, I suggest that the task is to become rhetorically literate. That means
becoming aware of the rhetorical structures that underpin digital marketing campaigns.
I donʼt profess to be an expert on rhetoric, but my exploration of the subject suggest four strands to
explore: two associated with classical rhetoric, two corresponding with the application of rhetoric to
visual media.
The first comprises Aristotleʼs Persuasive Appeals referred to above -- Ethos, Pathos and Logos;
NEXT
The Common Topics
NEXT
Rhetorical figures, the kind of devices that can be used to enhance and sustain an audienceʼs
interest in a message
NEXT
and Visual grammar, an attempt to distinguish the rhetorical functions of imagery

40. IA
DM Digital rhetoric 101
Classical rhetoric
Persuasive appeals
Text
Text
Common topics
Text
Visual rhetoric
Rhetorical figures
Visual grammar
For us latter-day IAs, I suggest that the task is to become rhetorically literate. That means
becoming aware of the rhetorical structures that underpin digital marketing campaigns.
I donʼt profess to be an expert on rhetoric, but my exploration of the subject suggest four strands to
explore: two associated with classical rhetoric, two corresponding with the application of rhetoric to
visual media.
The first comprises Aristotleʼs Persuasive Appeals referred to above -- Ethos, Pathos and Logos;
NEXT
The Common Topics
NEXT
Rhetorical figures, the kind of devices that can be used to enhance and sustain an audienceʼs
interest in a message
NEXT
and Visual grammar, an attempt to distinguish the rhetorical functions of imagery

41. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Ethos
Text
Text
Text
Ethos is all about whether you feel the person whoʼs trying to persuade you is someone you can
believe -- at least for the purposes of the subject at hand. Your decision will be largely determined
by previous experience of the individual, and your estimation of how likely the person is to have an
ulterior motive for making you believe something.
It works for people and brands. For each of those represented on the screen I expect you will have
a pretty good idea whether it is worth listening to anything they have to say.
NEXT
And it can work for websites too, according to B J Fogg, whose book quot;Persuasive Technologyquot;
explained why it's important, and how to convey it.

42. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Ethos
Text
Text
Text
Ethos is all about whether you feel the person whoʼs trying to persuade you is someone you can
believe -- at least for the purposes of the subject at hand. Your decision will be largely determined
by previous experience of the individual, and your estimation of how likely the person is to have an
ulterior motive for making you believe something.
It works for people and brands. For each of those represented on the screen I expect you will have
a pretty good idea whether it is worth listening to anything they have to say.
NEXT
And it can work for websites too, according to B J Fogg, whose book quot;Persuasive Technologyquot;
explained why it's important, and how to convey it.

43. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Ethos
Text
Text
Text
credibility.stanford.edu
Ethos is all about whether you feel the person whoʼs trying to persuade you is someone you can
believe -- at least for the purposes of the subject at hand. Your decision will be largely determined
by previous experience of the individual, and your estimation of how likely the person is to have an
ulterior motive for making you believe something.
It works for people and brands. For each of those represented on the screen I expect you will have
a pretty good idea whether it is worth listening to anything they have to say.
NEXT
And it can work for websites too, according to B J Fogg, whose book quot;Persuasive Technologyquot;
explained why it's important, and how to convey it.

44. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Pathos
WAR CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED
Text
Text
Text
Pathos is about the effect you can have on peopleʼs emotions, the effect that can have on what they
believe, and their openness to becoming emotionally involved
Example: consider this statement. It seems reasonable enough, although we may all be able to
think of wars that are an exception to the rule.
NEXT (Image loads behind statement)
Now reconsider. Your feelings on the statement may have shifted.
NEXT (Barnerʼs Adagio fades in)
Now consider again. How could you disagree with this statement?

45. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Pathos
WAR CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED
Text
Text
Text
Pathos is about the effect you can have on peopleʼs emotions, the effect that can have on what they
believe, and their openness to becoming emotionally involved
Example: consider this statement. It seems reasonable enough, although we may all be able to
think of wars that are an exception to the rule.
NEXT (Image loads behind statement)
Now reconsider. Your feelings on the statement may have shifted.
NEXT (Barnerʼs Adagio fades in)
Now consider again. How could you disagree with this statement?

46. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Pathos
WAR CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED
Text
Text
Text
Pathos is about the effect you can have on peopleʼs emotions, the effect that can have on what they
believe, and their openness to becoming emotionally involved
Example: consider this statement. It seems reasonable enough, although we may all be able to
think of wars that are an exception to the rule.
NEXT (Image loads behind statement)
Now reconsider. Your feelings on the statement may have shifted.
NEXT (Barnerʼs Adagio fades in)
Now consider again. How could you disagree with this statement?

47. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Pathos
WAR CAN NEVER BE JUSTIFIED
Text
Text
Text
Pathos is about the effect you can have on peopleʼs emotions, the effect that can have on what they
believe, and their openness to becoming emotionally involved
Example: consider this statement. It seems reasonable enough, although we may all be able to
think of wars that are an exception to the rule.
NEXT (Image loads behind statement)
Now reconsider. Your feelings on the statement may have shifted.
NEXT (Barnerʼs Adagio fades in)
Now consider again. How could you disagree with this statement?

48. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Pathos
Text
Text
Text
This, believe it or not, is also pathos. In the world of digital marketing it is pathos -- a.k.a passion,
or emotional involvement -- that everyone is trying to achieve.
The reason is that while we like to think we are most likely to choose a product or a service on the
basis of a rational argument, the only way we are going to overcome our indifference and buy or
sign up to something is if we want to.
Involvement is one of DDBʼs brand values. The idea is that being involved is more than being
engaged as it includes people actually doing and feeling something.
One way to generate involvement is to encourage people to take a stake in a competition or a
social activity, as in Tribalʼs campaign for Monopoly Live in 2005. Although the home page was
perhaps not a landmark in simplicity or elegance, we used GPS-enabled cabs to create a real
world version of the board game using the actual streets of London. Users went online to play the
game in real time with real cabs, feeding back their location and routes via GPS, earning or losing
players money.
This campaign ran for 28 days in the summer of 2005. During that time over a million people
visited the site, and 189,000 of them played almost half a million games. The Monopoly ʻHere and
Nowʼ Limited Edition board game became one of the best selling games of 2005.

49. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Logos
Structure/Message
The US government should guarantee health insurance to every American
Claim Text
Text
Text
Current provisions are inadequate and unaffordable
Evidence
46 million Americans — including over 8 million children — lack health
insurance
Logos is about the argument itself.
It comprises the facts, or in political terms “the issues” that your opponent refuses to discuss,
choosing instead to focus on “character” and “values”
Shown here is a simple verbal political argument (although notice that little bit of pathos there in the
statistic about 8 million children)
However in digital marketing terms we could also describe a tool such as VWʼs Product selection
page as a form of visual or functional logos
NEXT
As I have explained, however, logos is ineffective on its own, as much of the audience will not be
motivated to change their position by the argument alone. It does however play an important role in
helping people to feel more comfortable by allowing them to justify a decision they have already
made on emotional grounds. This is illustrated by the common practice of people poring over the
brochure for a car after they have already put in their order.

50. IA
DM 1: Persuasive appeals: Logos
Text
Text
Text
Logos is about the argument itself.
It comprises the facts, or in political terms “the issues” that your opponent refuses to discuss,
choosing instead to focus on “character” and “values”
Shown here is a simple verbal political argument (although notice that little bit of pathos there in the
statistic about 8 million children)
However in digital marketing terms we could also describe a tool such as VWʼs Product selection
page as a form of visual or functional logos
NEXT
As I have explained, however, logos is ineffective on its own, as much of the audience will not be
motivated to change their position by the argument alone. It does however play an important role in
helping people to feel more comfortable by allowing them to justify a decision they have already
made on emotional grounds. This is illustrated by the common practice of people poring over the
brochure for a car after they have already put in their order.

51. IA
DM 2: Common topics
15. From hypocritical
1. From opposites 8. From varied meanings 22. From contradictions
deception
16. From consequences by 23. From the cause of a false
2. From grammatical form 9. From division
analogy impression
3. From correlatives 10. From induction 17. From results to causes
Text 24. From cause and effect
Text
Text
4. From the more and the
11. From authority 18. From contrasted choices 25. From a better plan
less
19. From identifying purpose 26. From comparison of
5. Time-related 12. From subordinate parts
with cause contraries
6. From turning argument 20. From reasons for and 27. From what would have
13. From the consequence
on the opponent against been a mistake
14. From contrasting 28. From the meaning of a
7. From definition 21. From the implausible
opposites name
Logos itself can be broken down into component parts.
Aristotle proposed 28 valid topics, which at first sight seem a little arcane, but for several of them it
is easy to think of examples from marketing.

52. IA
DM 2: Common topics
8. From varied meanings
Text
Text
Text
11. From authority
7. From definition
Logos itself can be broken down into component parts.
Aristotle proposed 28 valid topics, which at first sight seem a little arcane, but for several of them it
is easy to think of examples from marketing.

53. IA
DM 2: Common topics: Examples
8. From varied meanings
Things go better
with Coke
As seen on
Text
television
Text
Text
11. From authority
Lincoln -
What a luxury car
should be
7. From definition
Examples include
7. From definition: “Lincoln - What a luxury car should be”
8. From varied meanings of a word in different contexts: “Things Go Better With Coke””
11. From authority: citing experts or authorities to bring credibility to your argument

54. IA
2: Common topics: Invalid
Classical rhetoric
DM
8. From omission of when
1. From verbal style
and how
2. From combination or 9. From confusing the
division particular with the general
3. From exaggeration Text
Text
Text
4. From a non-necessary
sign
5. From an accidental result
6. From affirming the
consequent
7. From post hoc, ergo propter
hoc
Aristotle also proposed 9 invalid topics, or fallacies. Itʼs the common use of invalid
topics under the guise of plausible argument that we have to thank for rhetoricʼs
poor reputation.

55. IA
DM 3: Visual grammar
“What in language is Conceptual: Narrative:
realized by words of static, timeless essence a component of action
the category ‘action
verbs’ is visually
realized by elements Text
Text
that can be formally Text
defined as vectors”.
- Kress and van Leeuwen,
Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design
Much of the emotional impact of digital marketing comes from imagery and this can also be
described in rhetorical terms.
In their book Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, Gunther Kress and Theo van
Leeuwen suggest that all images fall into one of two categories: narrative and conceptual: those
images that have a component of action and those that possess a static, timeless essence.
In digital marketing terms we can identify the conceptual images as product shots, often with
rollovers or pointers picking out the key functions, and the narrative images as pictures of the
product in action. For a marketing site conceptual images will be insufficient on their own to engage
the user.

56. IA
DM 4: Rhetorical figures
“If consumers do not
have to read an ad, (artful deviations)
then one had best
motivate that reading.
Text
“...Rhetoric integrates Text
and explains stylistic Text
devices that may be
used to accomplish
these and related
goals.”
- McQuarrie and Mick, Figures of
Rhetoric in Advertising Language
Lastly because consumers are under no compulsion to visit a digital marketing site or finish viewing
it, or continue on to buy the product, one of the most important functions of the site is to motivate
the potential visitor. Like the facade of the Tuschinski, the first requirement is to make passers-by
into customers.
This will typically be archived by prompting their curiosity through some kind of incongruous
statement or imagery. McQuarrie and Mick refer to this as an artful deviation.
Artful deviations can occur in any sensory or textual form. They can range from a simple pun to an
extremely incongruous juxtaposition.
NEXT
The original Think Small campaign included this ad which in its context was extremely incongruous.
No other car manufacturer would have dared to suggest that any of their cars might be less than
perfect (this one was apparently due to a blemish on the glove box trim) while the clean clear
design would itself have stood out amongst the fussy style of other print ads at the time.
EF McQuarrie, DG Mick - quot;Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Languagequot; Chicago: Journal of
Consumer Research, 1996

57. IA
DM 4: Rhetorical figures
“If consumers do not
have to read an ad, (artful deviations)
then one had best
motivate that reading.
Text
“...Rhetoric integrates Text
and explains stylistic Text
devices that may be
used to accomplish
these and related
goals.”
- McQuarrie and Mick, Figures of
Rhetoric in Advertising Language
Lastly because consumers are under no compulsion to visit a digital marketing site or finish viewing
it, or continue on to buy the product, one of the most important functions of the site is to motivate
the potential visitor. Like the facade of the Tuschinski, the first requirement is to make passers-by
into customers.
This will typically be archived by prompting their curiosity through some kind of incongruous
statement or imagery. McQuarrie and Mick refer to this as an artful deviation.
Artful deviations can occur in any sensory or textual form. They can range from a simple pun to an
extremely incongruous juxtaposition.
NEXT
The original Think Small campaign included this ad which in its context was extremely incongruous.
No other car manufacturer would have dared to suggest that any of their cars might be less than
perfect (this one was apparently due to a blemish on the glove box trim) while the clean clear
design would itself have stood out amongst the fussy style of other print ads at the time.
EF McQuarrie, DG Mick - quot;Figures of Rhetoric in Advertising Languagequot; Chicago: Journal of
Consumer Research, 1996