(Incredibly interesting title of your persuasion paper, centered)
Your name
Class Title
(date)
NOTE: EVERYTHING HIGHLIGHTED IS THE ASSIGNMENT LANGUAGE/GUIDELINE and should be deleted in your final submission.
Summary: Heres where you put your papers abstract, the main point that you are trying to argue in your essay. Whats the main point of your paper? (This skill is valuable because youll need to be able to summarize your strat comm ideas as if its an elevator pitch.) Abstracts are about 100 words single-spaced. AS ALWAYS, PROOFREAD SO NOT TO CHALLENGE YOUR READER.
GENERAL formatting notes: Youll remove ALL directions/assignment instructions in your paper, plus follow this format of Times New Roman 12, APA formatting, page numbers bottom right, etc.
BACKGROUND
Your first section has context for your reader (no findings or concluding opinions!) ONE or TWO paragraphs should be something like this:
FINDINGS
(Polish your writing prompts and put them under each topic)
Case Study: Reciprocity
Case Study: Consistency
Case Study: Liking
Case Study: Authority
Case Study: Scarcity
Case Study: Consensus
CONCLUSION
The only place for your opinion/editorializing and first person! Everything in this section goes back to your background and the importance of these principles in persuasion. Here is the place for your recommendations! So, in brief but specific detail, please interpret the significance of this case study in the field of strategic communication You can draw from other examples to answer this question. By the way, this is also the section where you suggest other topics that need to be followed up by others, the infamous: Future scholars might want to look at .
REFERENCES
Alphabetical list of all references (this isnt a bibliography) with everything in APA format. This includes the initial video and all ads anything thats cited in your study, plus any extra resources!
That is the template, here are the drections. It’s for intro to advertising and public relations class
11m
Strategic communication is all about persuasion. Between weeks 3- 11, you’ll work independently on a paper about Cialdinis six principles of persuasion.
No weekly uploads. Instead, youll work at your own pace and submit a paper by 11.1 that brings together all the writing responses. My weekly updates will always include this assignment, just to remind you of the work ahead and that Im here if you need help. Here are the overview and directions:
DIRECTIONS are below, and also here as a Word doc: Fall 2021 Cialdini template -1.docx
Below youll see the overview of Cialdinis framework, plus his own summaries about each of the six principles. There are also examples of each principal. You have a writing prompt for each of the six principles.If you follow this schedule, you’ll have time to pull together and polish your paper before turning it in on 11.1! (And you can always complete and upload it here before then.)
If you follow this schedule, you’ll have time to pull together and polish your paper before turning it in on 11.1! (And you can always complete it before.)
REQUIRED BACKGROUND: Click and view this 11-minute videoThe Science of Persuasion (Links to an external site.) by Cialdini and Steve Martin (not the actor/comic). You’ll need this info for an intro to your paper and you’ll also refer to it in your writing prompts.WRITING PROMPT DIRECTIONS: Each response should be two paragraphs; first, explain the principle in your own words, and in another paragraph apply it to the campaign.
Week 3 (Feb. 1) Principle: RECIPROCITY. We pay back what weve received
Cialdini: Its the principle that suggests that people give back to you the kind of treatment that theyve received from you. If you do something first, by giving them an item of value, a piece of information, or a positive attitude, it will all come back to you. The key is to go first.
If you smile at a stranger, you get a smile back. If you dont, you dont get a smile back. Thats essentially the rule. Whatever it is that you would like to get from a situation, you can increase the likelihood that it will be forthcoming if you provide it first. Examples: Engaging an audience with fun, free, special offers that make them feel special.
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the principle of reciprocity in Heinekens #BackTheBars campaign. (Links to an external site.)
Week 5 (Feb. 8) Principle: CONSISTENCY (and commitment). Once we choose something, we stick with it.
Cialdini: People will feel a desire to comply with a request if they see that its consistent with what theyve publicly committed themselves to in your presence. The implication there is to ask people to state their priorities, their commitments, the features of the situation that they think are most important, and then align your requests or proposals with those things. The rule for consistency will cause them to want to say yes to what theyve already told you what they will do or what they value.
Theres a great study that I like to cite having to do with one restaurant owner in Chicago who was able to reduce the number of no-shows at his restaurant by just having his receptionist change two words that she used when she took a booking. Previously she said, Thank you for calling Gordons Restaurant. If you have to change or cancel your reservation, please call. That was the standard approach and it was producing about 30 percent no-shows.
Instead of saying, Please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation, what if she said, Will you please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation? and waited for people to say yes, as they all did. Then no-shows dropped to 10 percent because people were going to be consistent with what they had said publicly they would do.
Examples: The foot-in-the-door technique, when you ask your audience to do a small action that leads to bigger. (Public commitments from Week 2)
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the principle of consistency in in the Burger Kings Stay Home of the Whopper campaign. (Links to an external site.)
Week 6 (Feb. 15) Principle: LIKING (Social Proof) The effect of endorsements by people we trust.
Cialdini: People will be likely to say yes to your request if you give them evidence that people just like them have been saying yes to it, too. For example, I saw a recent study that came from Beijing. If a manager put on the menu of the restaurant, These are our most popular dishes, each one immediately became 13 to 20 percent more popular. What I like about that is, not only did a very small change produce a big effect, it was entirely costless and entirely ethical. It was only the case that these popular items were identified as popular items. That was enough to cause people to want to go along with what they saw as the wisdom of the crowd.
Examples: Endorsements by experts, satisfied users, and influencers, including peers.
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the social endorsement principle: What are the three factors that determine whether we like another? Discuss the principle of liking in The New York Times The Truth Is Essential campaign. (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
Week 7 (Feb. 22) Principle: AUTHORITY. We trust experts.
Cialdini: Authority refers to the tendency of people to be persuaded in your direction when they see you as having knowledge and credibility on the topic. Whats interesting is how many people fail to properly inform their audience of their genuine credentials before launching into an influence attempt. Its a big mistake.
A crucial point here with regard to authority is Im not talking about being in authority and using that lever to move people in your direction. There are all kinds of problems associated with that, including resentment and resistance. Im talking about being an authority: Someone who is perceived as a credible source of information that people can use to make good choices.
Examples: Powerful titles, strong first impressions, and other cues that trigger credibility.
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the principle of authority in NASAs Earth Day posters and wallpaper 2020 (Links to an external site.)also the videos message.
Week 8 (March 1) Principle: SCARCITY. We think things are better if theyre hard to come by.
Cialdini: People will try to seize those opportunities that you offer them that are rare or scarce, dwindling in availability. Thats an important reminder that we need to differentiate what we have to offer that is different from our rivals or competitors. That way we can tell people honestly, You can only get this aspect, or this feature, or this combination of advantages by moving in the direction that Im recommending.
Examples: Exclusive offers and limited-time/number circumstances.
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the principle of consistency in in the Volkswagen Sweden Passat campaign. (Links to an external site.)
Week 9 (March 8) Principle: CONSENSUS. We like to do what others are doing.
Cialdini: Especially when they are uncertain, people will look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own. Persuasion science tells us that rather than rely on our own ability to persuade others, we can point to what many others are already doing, especially many similar others.
For instance, you may have noticed that hotels often place a small card in bathrooms that attempt to persuade guests to reuse their towels and linen. Most do this by drawing the guests attention to the benefits that reuse can have on environmental protection. It turns out that this is a pretty effective strategy leading to around 35% compliance. But there is another, more efficient way to persuade? About 75% of people who check into a hotel for four nights or longer will reuse their towels at some point during their stay. Using the strategy of consensus, including that information on the cards saying that 75% of our guests reuse their towels at some time during their stay, so please do so as well increases the level of towel reuse by 26%. Another messaging strategy: Seventy-five percent of people who have stayed in this room have reused their towel.
WRITING PROMPT: First paragraph is a summary of the principle; second is a an application of the principle of consensus in in the Dove’s #ShowUs campaign. (Links to an external site.)
——————————————————————————————–
If you followed the above schedule, you’ll have time to pull together and polish your paper! All your prompts would be drafted you’d have an extra week to pull them together into one paper with a brief introductory paragraph about the value of persuasion in advertising, and a brief concluding paragraph that summarizes your findings. See template above. And here is the grading rubric.
GRADING RUBRIC: MCJ 40, CIALDINIS SIX PRINCIPLES OF PERSUASION
Points possible
FORMATTING: 12 font (either Times New Roman or Arial), Full sentences, all assignment language deleted, polished writing (read it aloud, definitely spell/grammar check), and NO first-person references. Must do all these requests for these three points. (This should be a college-level paper thats proofread and professional.) Sections should be: INTRODUCTION, FINDINGS, and CONCLUSION–(See formatting template attached.) See below for content.
3
CONTENT: Everything for this paper is done with your writing prompts — all you need is a brief intro/conclusion paragraph and APA references. Findings were your writing prompts after first watching The Science of Persuasion video and interview excerpts, etc., as outlined above.
12
(two for each of the six responses)
TOTAL
15
