Advertisements are the most powerful means for communicating the marketing message to the target audience. The presence of likeable attributes in ads has profound effect on the mindset of the audience and results in creating a positive image about the ads and consequently, the brands. This article focuses on understanding and using likeability in television commercials.

Switch on the television set and you are presented with advertisements that make one wonder about the great brains behind them. You have just seen a great advertising idea in a commercial break, a jingle that catches on, that just refuses to go out of your mind! These brilliant guys, how do they put in so much in so little time! What do you do now? Do they expect that you will rush to the nearest store and actually buy the product? That will be too much. Why then do the ad agencies spend a lifetime creating attractive ads? They believe that attractive advertisements move the audience a step closer to buying the product. Research also shows that people were persuaded by a commercial if they liked it a lot, compared to people who simply felt neutral to ads. Ad agencies work on the secret mantra—"attributes that people like to watch" in commercials, and add it to every commercial to make it ring the bells. This article lists the attributes that people tend to like and that which increases the likeability of ads.

A likeable ad is one which attracts an audience and impresses it enough to watch the advertisement. This is not to be confused with an ad that makes the audience buy the product. Likeability is the `idea' that makes the audience `watch' the advertisement at least once, conveys the most important `marketing message' and in the process tempts the audience to `try' the product. It is the preparation towards the desired end of buying the product. It is a kind of conditioning the audience by creating a positive image of the brand, and kindles his desire to buy the product. This is achieved through the judicious use of ingredients like music, visuals and the like, limited only by the ad agencies' creative ability. The `attention' component of the AIDA model is achieved through likeable presentation of messages. Without grabbing attention, the other three steps remain unexplored. The other stages require the support of product-specific factors like fair pricing and quality, which can be `sold' through the attention stage, by using them as likeable attributes.

Advertising Express Magazine, Likeability, Advertisements, Mass Media, Likeable Attributes, Brand Management, Advertising Strategies, Segmentation, Niche Advertising, Marketing Strategy, Decision Making Process.