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Lesson planC160 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
What Sells Is the Story: what-clefts
Students learn what-clefts to give emphasis when talking about advertising and campaigns, then write a paragraph about an advert they remember well.
What cleft · Advertising · Marketing
Or download everything as a ZIP (4 PDFs)This lesson plan and its PDFs are free.
Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use What-cleft for emphasis accurately
- Learn and use 16 words and phrases in 2 sets: Advertising basics, Winning over consumers
- Read for detail: behind a campaign
- Writing task: an opinion paragraph
Stages · 60 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about advertising and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 2
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 3
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 4
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
What + clause + be + the focus
- A what-cleft moves the important information to the end, where it carries the most weight: The music annoyed me. → What annoyed me was the music.
- The what-clause is singular, so the verb is usually is or was: What customers want is honesty.
Focusing on an action
- To focus on an action, use What … do/did + be + infinitive (with or without to): What the company did was (to) change the logo.
- All can replace What when you mean 'the only thing': All I need is five minutes. (not All what I need…)
Watch out
- Don't add an extra subject: What I need is time (not What I need it is time).
- After the what-clause, use normal word order: What I don't understand is why people believe it (not why do people believe it).
Study tips
- When you give an opinion, try starting with What I find… / What really bothers me is… to sound more emphatic.
- Notice what-clefts in speeches and adverts: they save the key point for the end.
Glossary
- Advertising basics8 items
- Winning over consumers8 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
The language of advertising
Match each word or phrase with its meaning. There is one extra meaning.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Key word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word in capitals and between two and five words, including the word given.
- a
I need a break from all this advertising.
WHAT
a break from all this advertising.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
The slogan annoyed me most.
WHAT
the slogan.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
The company changed the logo and nothing else.
ALL
was change the logo.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
Consumers want honesty from a brand.
WANT
What honesty from a brand.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
The brand needs a better idea, not a bigger budget.
NEEDS
What the brand a better idea, not a bigger budget.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- f
I don't understand why people trust celebrity endorsements.
WHAT
is why people trust celebrity endorsements.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
3
Word formation
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
The campaign was aimed at young who shop mainly online.
CONSUME - b
Most viewers found the actor's sudden enthusiasm for frozen peas completely .
CONVINCE - c
The regulator ruled that the advert's claims about weight loss were .
MISLEAD - d
The jingle was so that the whole office was humming it by lunchtime.
CATCH - e
Good advertising relies on gentle rather than pressure.
PERSUADE - f
The brand's rose sharply after the campaign went viral.
POPULAR
4
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
What I need it is more time to think about the offer.
- b
What the company did was to changed the packaging.
- c
What I like about the advert is the song what plays at the end.
- d
All what the customers want is a fair price.
- e
What makes a slogan memorable are its simplicity.
- f
What I don't understand is why do people believe these claims.
5
One word
Write one word in each gap.
- a
What the advert does make you feel nostalgic for your childhood.
- b
All the company did was lower the price slightly and call it a sale.
- c
What surprised me how quickly the campaign spread online.
- d
What we need to do listen to our customers more carefully.
- e
It's not the logo matters; it's the story behind it.
- f
What I like this campaign is its gentle sense of humour.
6
Read: behind a campaign
Read the article. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
When the small Yorkshire dairy Morning Field asked the agency Larkspur & Rowe to help launch its new oat drink, the brief was short: make people notice us without shouting. What the agency came back with surprised everyone, including the client. There was no celebrity endorsement, no free gift and no catchy jingle. Instead, the campaign followed a single farmer, Ruth Ansell, through one ordinary week. Viewers watched her fix a broken gate, argue with a neighbour about a hedge and fall asleep in front of the television. The drink itself appeared for only a few seconds in each film. "What we wanted to avoid was another gimmick," explained creative director Sam Okoro. "Consumers have seen every trick there is. What they rarely see is a brand that trusts them to work things out for themselves." The approach was risky. Several people at Morning Field worried that the films were too slow and that nobody would remember the product. What changed their minds was the response online. Within a month, the first film had been shared tens of thousands of times, and viewers had started inventing their own stories about Ruth's neighbour. Sales figures were less dramatic but still impressive: the drink sold out in two regional supermarket chains during the first fortnight. What pleased the agency most, however, was a letter from a retired farmer who wrote that it was the first advert he had ever watched to the end. Not everyone was convinced. One marketing columnist argued that the campaign appealed to people who already liked the idea of country life, and that it would struggle to reach a wider audience. Okoro's reply was simple: "All we set out to do was start a conversation. That's what we did."
- a
Morning Field wanted an advertising campaign that was loud and attention-grabbing.
- b
The campaign films did not include a famous person recommending the drink.
- c
Ruth Ansell had worked as an actor before the campaign.
- d
Some people at the dairy doubted that the films would make the product memorable.
- e
The drink sold out across the whole country in its first two weeks.
- f
A marketing columnist believed the campaign might not appeal to everyone.
7
Write: an opinion paragraph
Write about an advert you remember.
Write a paragraph (150–180 words) about an advert or campaign you remember well, either because it worked brilliantly or because it annoyed you. What was it selling? Who was it trying to appeal to? Was it clever, or just a gimmick? Use at least three what-clefts (What I remember most is… / What made it work was… / All they did was…). Word box: slogan · consumer · brand · campaign · appeal to · endorsement · catchy · gimmick Example: What I remember most about the campaign is its slogan, which was so catchy that…
Suggested minimum: 150 words
0 words · aim for at least 150
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 16 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in 2 sets.
Advertising basics
- advert
- a picture, short film or text that tries to make people buy something
- advertising
- the business of making and showing adverts
- marketing
- the work of deciding how to sell a product and making people want it
- campaign
- a planned series of activities, such as adverts, with one aim
- slogan
- a short, memorable phrase used in advertising
- logo
- a design or symbol that a company uses on its products
- brand
- the name and image a company uses for its products
- launch
- to make a new product available to the public for the first time
Winning over consumers
- consumer
- a person who buys goods or services
- product
- something that is made to be sold
- appeal to
- to attract or interest a particular group of people
- persuade
- to make someone decide to do or believe something
- catchy
- easy to remember and pleasant to hear
- gimmick
- a trick or feature used to attract attention, with little real value
- celebrity
- a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport
- endorsement
- public support for a product or idea, especially from a well-known person
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