Special study in

MARKETING

TYBMS
SEMESTER V
 Definition of Advertising:

The American Marketing Association defines advertising as “Advertising is

defined as any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization,
product, service, or idea by an identified sponsor.”

Functions of Advertising
As a form of mass communication, advertising delivers relevant messages to
target audiences and by changing mental states, it can perform a number of
functions. Advertising moves consumers from being unaware of a product or service
to finally purchasing it. An ad is considered effective if it propels the consumer a step
further in this process. This is how the function of advertising is viewed.

The different functions of advertising are viewed as follows:

1. STIMULATES DEMAND – By informing consumers about the availability of a

product in the market, advertising stimulates latent needs, and reinforces the
aroused needs. There is a general agreement that advertising has some effect on
aggregate consumption.

2. STRENGTHENS OTHER PROMOTION MIX ELEMENTS – Advertising does the

pre selling of the product and makes the job of the sales people easier. Advertising
reaches a relatively large audience and makes them favourably predisposed. Ads
carry the sales, promotional messages and often produce quick sales response.

3. DEVELOPS BRAND PREFERENCE – Consistent and persuasive advertising

often induces brand trial or purchase. When the product delivers the promised
quality, service and value, it creates satisfied customers who become instrumental in
spreading a favourable word-of-mouth. Satisfied customers also develop brand
preference which gets reinforced by repeated ads. Products with strong brand
franchise offer some protection against the competition. Retailers develop
confidence and do not hesitate in stocking strong brands. Brand loyal customers are
 an important asset for the company and are less likely to be influenced by
competitive moves.

4. CUTS COSTS – Advertising may be instrumental in cutting down production and

selling costs. Increasing unit sales decrease unit costs. Selling costs also may
decrease because there could be fewer wasted calls and less strain on sales
people.

5. LOWERS PRICES – In any market based and competitive economy, when unit
cost of a product goes down, there are external and internal pressures which compel
companies to lower prices to the advantage of consumers. This often leads to
deeper market penetration

6. COMPETITIVE WEAPON – Advertising by itself and coupled with other

promotion mix elements, may prove to be an extremely potent weapon to counter
competitive moves. Advertising has an established role in creating brand personality
and image. It helps differentiate a company’s offer in a manner that the product may
be considered as something with unique value having a definite identity of its own

ADVERTISING AGENCY
An advertising agency is an independent organization that provides one or more
specialized advertising and promotion related services to assist companies in
developing, preparing and executing their advertising and other promotional
programmes.

Types of advertising agencies:

There are basically four types of ad agencies. They are
1. In-house agencies
2. Creative boutiques
3. Media buying agencies
4. Full service agencies
1. In- house agencies: Some companies, in an effort to reduce
costs and maintain greater control over agency activities, have set up their own
advertising agencies internally. An in-house agency is an ad agency set up, owned
and operated by the advertiser. Many companies use in-house agencies exclusively;
others combine in-house efforts with those of outside agencies.
A major reason for using in-house agency is to reduce advertising and
promotional costs. Companies with very large advertising budgets pay a substantial
amount to outside agencies in the form of media commissions. With an internal
structure, these commissions go to the in-house ad agency. An in-house ad agency
can also provide related work such as sales presentations and sales force material,
package design, and public relations at a lower cost than the outside agencies.
Saving money is not the only reason companies use in-house ad agencies.
Time savings, bad experience with outside agencies, and the increased knowledge
and understanding of the market that come from working advertising and promotion
for the product or service day by day are also reasons. Companies can also
maintain a tighter control over the process and more easily coordinate promotions
with the firm’s overall marketing programmes.
Opponents of the in-house agencies say that they can give the advertiser
neither the experience nor the objectivity of the outside agency and nor the range of
services. They argue that the outside agencies have a more specialized staff and
attract the best creative staff. Also flexibility is higher since if the company is not
satisfied with the agency it can be dismissed, whereas changes in an in-house
agency could be slower and more disruptive.
Thus we can summarize by saying that
Ad agency Advantages Disadvantages
In house  Cost saving  Less experience
agency  More control  Less objectivity
 Increased coordination  Less flexibility

Examples of in-house agencies in India are:

1. Levers - Lintas (previously)
 2. Videocon – Confidence
3. Reliance - Mudra

2. Creative boutiques: Creative boutique is an agency that

provides only creative services. These specialized companies have developed in
response to some client’s desires to use only the creative talent of an outside
provider while maintaining the other functions internally.
The client may seek outside creative talent for two reasons:
a. Because he wants an extra creative effort
b. May be because its own employees of the in-house agency or the agency
that he has appointed do not have sufficient skills in this regard.
The full-service agencies also sub-contract work creative boutiques when they
are very busy or want to avoid adding full time employees to their pay roll. Creative
boutiques are usually found by members of the creative departments of full service
agencies who leave the firm and take with them clients who want to retain their
creative talents. These boutiques generally perform creative function on a fee basis.

Examples of creative boutiques are:

1. RMG David
2. Vyas Gianetti Creatives
3. Chlorophyll

3. Media buying agencies: Media buying agencies are independent companies that
specialize in the buying of media, particularly radio and television. The task of
purchasing advertising media has grown more complex as specialized media
proliferate, so media buying services have found a niche by specializing in the
analysis and purchase of the advertising time and space. Agencies and clients
generally develop their own media plans and then hire the buying services to
execute them.
Some media buying agencies do help advertisers plan their media strategies.
Because media buying agencies purchase such large amounts of time and space,
 they receive large discounts and can save the small ageny’s or client’s money on
media buying. Media buying agencies are paid a fee or commission for their work.

Examples of media buying agencies are:

1. Mindshare
2. Initiative Media (LOWE)
3. Zenith Media (Bates, Saatchi & Saatchi)
4. Optimedia (Publicis)
5. Starcom (Leo Burnett)
6. Fulcrum (HTA)

4. Full – service agency: The function of an advertising agency is to see to it that

its client’s advertising leads to greater profits in the long run than could be achieved
without the ad agency. Most such agencies are large in size and offer their clients a
full range of services in the area of marketing, communications and promotions.
These include planning, creating and producing the advertisement, media selection
and research. Other services offered include strategic marketing planning, sales
training, package design, sales promotion, event management, trade shows,
publicity and public relations.
The full service agency is composed of various departments; each is responsible to
provide required inputs to perform various functions to serve the client. The various
departments can be seen in the following diagram:

Structure of an ad agency
 Finance&
Account Account
Media Creative Production Accounting
Service Planning

Planning Copy

Buying Arts

 Account service department: The account service, or the account

management department, is the link between the ad agency and its clients.
Depending upon the size of the account and its advertising budget one or two
account executives serve as liason to the client. The account executive’s job
requires high degree of diplomacy and tact as misunderstanding may lead to loss of
an account. The account executive is mainly responsible to gain knowledge about
the client’s business, profit goals, marketing problems and advertising objectives.
The account executive is responsible for getting approved the media
schedules, budgets and rough ads or story boards from the client. The next task is to
make sure that the agency personnel produce the advertising to the client’s
satisfaction. The biggest role of the account executive is keeping the agency ahead
of the client through follow-up and communications.

 Media department: The responsibility of the agency’s media

department is to develop a media plan to reach the target audience effectively in a
cost effective manner. The staff analyses, selects and contracts for media time or
space that will be used to deliver the ad message. This is one of the most important
decisions since a significantly large part of the client’s money is spent on the media
 time and/or space. The media department has acquired increasing importance in an
agency’s business as large advertisers seem to be more inclined to consolidate
media buying with one or few agencies thereby saving money and improving media
efficiency.

 Creative department: To a large extent, the success of an ad

agency depends upon the creative department responsible for the creation and
execution of the advertisements. The creative specialists are known as copywriters.
They are the ones who conceive ideas for the ads and write the headlines,
subheads and the body copy. They are also involved in deciding the basic theme of
the advertising campaign, and often they do prepare the rough layout of the print ad
or the commercial story board. Creation of an ad is the responsibility of the
copywriters and the art department decides how the ad should look.

 Production department: After the completion and approval of the

copy and the illustrations the ad is sent to the production department. Generally
agencies do not actually produce the finished ads; instead they hire printers,
photographers, engravers, typographers and others to complete the finished ad. For
the production of the approved TV commercial, the production department may
supervise the casting of actors to appear in the ad, the setting for scenes and
selecting an independent production studio. The production department sometimes
hires an outside director to transform the creative concept to a commercial.

 Finance and accounting department: An advertising agency is in

the business of providing services and must be managed that way. Thus, it has to
perform various functions such as accounting, finance, human resources etc. it must
also attempt to generate new business. Also this department is important since bulk
of the agency’s income approx. 65% goes as salary and benefits to the employees.

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES
“With realistic goals for advertising, you can satisfy both those who are investing in the
advertising and those who are creating it.”

Almost every person involved with advertising wants to measure their advertising’s
results. Those who pay the bills want to know the return on their investment, and those
creating the advertising want to demonstrate that their work is effective. Research
efforts on the part of advertisers, ad agencies, and the media have helped quantify the
results of advertising. But most continue to face basic questions such as: Does your
Advertising work? How hard does it work? What specifically does it do for your
business? Should I increase, maintain, or decrease spending? What’s the best
message I can put in my advertising?

There are no easy answers to these questions. Solutions are a mixture of science and
art.

Marketing versus Advertising

Failure sometimes occurs even before the process starts because companies are
confused by the apparent similarity between the purpose of advertising and marketing.
Both are meant to encourage consumers to purchase products and services, however,
there is a fundamental difference between the two. Advertising is only one part of the
marketing process, and its job is to deliver messages that have a psychological effect
on the consumer. While marketing, which also includes functions such as public
relations, promotion, sales, packaging, and pricing, has the more inclusive job of moving
products and services from the seller to the buyer.

Companies when asked about advertising objectives almost always reply with
marketing objectives. If they have a formal marketing plan, the advertising objectives
are typically statements like: to increase sales, or to expand market share. These are
too broad and general, making it almost impossible to measure success. More specific
objectives such as increase sales by 15%, or expand market share by 5% aren’t much
better because they are marketing goals, not advertising goals. Advertising cannot
achieve marketing goals all by itself. If a company wants to measure the results of its
advertising, it has to be more specific in the definition of what it expects to accomplish
through the use of advertising.

The Job of Advertising

What part of the total marketing goal can we expect advertising to achieve? Since
advertising is a communications tool, we must assign it a communications task. Its job is
to deliver a message that is designed to stimulate specific consumer behavior. The
message you want advertising to deliver must be specific. Keep in mind that at this
stage you are defining what needs to be said, not how to say it—you’re not trying to
write a headline. With a specific communications task that can be performed by
advertising, independent of other marketing efforts, you can measure your advertising’s
success.

SETTING THE ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES:

The advertising objectives must flow from prior decisions on target market,
market positioning, and marketing mix.

The advertising objectives can be classified according to whether their aim is to

 Informative advertising: it is heavily used in the pioneering stage of a product

category, where the aim is to build primary demand.
For example: Ujala, where the ad talks about how different it is from the age old
“neel” by talking about its solution contents and showing how different your clothes
look when washed with Ujala.

 Persuasive advertising: it is generally used when the product is in the

competitive stage, where the company’s objective is to build selective demand for a
particular brand.
 For example: Whirlpool ice magic positions itself as being a quick ice maker and
was the first one of its kind to use this as a marketing platform.

 Reminder advertising: it is very important to use these when the product is in

the maturity stage. They are intended to remind people to purchase your brand.
For example: Thums up, Coke, Pepsi ads all these ads no more are shown to
create awareness or persuasion because people are already aware of their
presence and already have chosen the brand of their choice. These are just
Market Consumer Competitive Bran Organizational
reminder ads to keep the brand or the company fresh in the
d minds of the consumers
Analysis Analysis Analysis Realities
or have the brand top of mind.

 Reinforcement advertising: It seeks to ensure the buyers that they have made
the right choice by purchasing your brand.
Advertising in the
For Example: Hamara Bajaj advertisements make the owner of the two wheelers of
Marketing Plan:
TheBajaj proud of their possession by giving it a patriotic positioning.
Company’s
overall marketing Marketing Plan
plan determines
promotional Marketing Objectives
objectives and from Sales Objectives
these objectives,
Where does advertising objectives fall in the marketing plan
advertising
objectives are
derived. Promotion
objectives specify Advertising
what is to be Objectives
accomplished and
where advertising
fits in. The next step
is to set specific ad
Advertising Strategy
objectives and goals.

Advertising
Tactics
Promotions

Creative
Media Strategy
Strategy
 NEED FOR ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES
One of the reasons many companies fail to set specific objectives for their
advertising and promotional programs are that they fail to recognize the value of doing
so. There are several important reasons for setting advertising and promotional
objectives:

Direction: Advertisement objectives are essential because it helps the marketer

to know in advance what they want to achieve and to ensure that they are proceeding in
the right direction. Pin pointing the ad objectives also helps in making one’s goals real
and not imaginary, so that effective ad programmes can be developed for meeting the
objectives .it also guides and controls decision-making in each area and at each stage

Communication: Objectives provide a communication platform for the client, the

advertising agency account executive help coordinate the creative team members and
the efforts of copywriters, media specialists, media buyers and professionals involved
advertising research. The advertising programme must also be coordinated with other
promotion mix elements within the company. In fact many problems may be avoided if
all the concerned parties have written objectives to guide their actions and serve as a
common base for discussing related issues

Planning and Decision Making—Specific objectives can be useful as a guide or

criterion for decision-making. Advertising and promotion planners are often faced with a
number of strategic and tactical options in areas such as creative, media, budgeting and
sales promotion. Choices among these options should be made on the basis of how
well a strategy or tactic matches the promotional objective.

Measurement and Evaluation of Results—A very important reason for setting

specific objectives is that they provide a benchmark or standard against which success
or failure of the campaign can be measured. When specific objectives are set it
becomes easier for management to measure what has been accomplished by the
campaign

Two Distinct Schools Of Thought

What should be or what could be the objectives for advertising? A controversy
around this question is still running hot in the ad world. One school holds that ad has to
necessarily bring in more sales and therefore ad objectives should certainly include
sales growth.

The second and diametrically opposite view is that ad is essentially a

communication task and it should have only communication goals, or goals intended
to shape the awareness and attitudes of consumers

Advertising
Objectives

Sales Communicatio
Oriented n Oriented
Objectives Objectives

Each of these objectives is explained in detail in the subsequent chapters.

SALES AS AN ADVERTISING OBJECTIVE

Many marketing managers view their advertising and promotional programs from
a sales perspective and argue that sales or some related measure such as market
share is the only meaningful goal for advertising and thus should be the basis for setting
objectives. They take the position that the basic reason a firm spends money on
advertising and promotion is to sell its products or services. Thus they argue that any
money spent on advertising should produce measurable sales results.
 Example:
There are many companies of low involvement products like confectionery
and sweets whose advertising objective would be solely of sales. However over
the time even these companies have realized that sales cannot be the sole
objective of advertising, ad building a brand and establishing a favourable
attitude towards the brand is also important.

Drawback of using sales as the only objective of advertising

Sales are a convenient and really attractive advertising objective for many
managers, but except for Direct Action Advertising, they are usually unsuitable for most
advertising. In today’s increasingly competitive market conditions, marketing and brand
managers are often under pressure to show sales results and their perspective is short
term in evaluating advertising. They look for quick fix solutions for declining sales,
ignoring the dangers of linking advertising directly with sales

Incase of sales as the advertising objective, it would be quite simple to evaluate

the results of the ad campaign. Sales objective however may not be operational in
certain cases because advertising is just one factor among many others that influence
sales, to identify the contribution of advertising alone may really be difficult. Other
factors that may have significant effect on sales are product features, price, distribution,
personal selling, publicity, packaging, competitor’s moves, and changing buyer needs.

Example
APPLE computers advertised their iMAC in some selected print media
vehicles in India; the ads were very successful and did in fact draw many
potential buyers to dealerships. However in good number of cases the matter
ended there. The problem was not with the ads, the campaign was very
successful attracting and creating product liking but the price and non-
availability of peripherals discouraged them. It would be unfair to measure the
success of ads themselves by the number of Apple computers sold to home
users.

The time lag between audience exposure to an ad and when that ad may lead to
an actual sale could be quite long because majority of the ads usually produce sales
effect after a long period of time.

Sales as an advertising objective, offer little guidance to creative and media

people working on the account. They need some direction regarding what kind of ad
message the company hopes to communicate, who will be the target audience and
what specific response from the audience is desired.

Thus advertising objectives that emphasize sales are usually not very operational
because they provide little practical guidance for decision makers. No one argues the
desirability of a sales increase, but which campaign will generate such an increase? If
an objective does not contribute useful criteria on which to base subsequent decision, it
cannot fulfill its basic functions.

Again ‘increased sales’ is not a specific goal – it is only a wish for the future.
What percentage increase is the company looking at? By which date? Where are these
increased sales going to come from? How are they going to be achieved? The lucidity
of these answers will influence the effectiveness of the company’s advertising
objectives.

Where Sales Objectives for advertising can be applied

In spite of problems that sales objectives pose, there are certain situations when
sales objectives can be appropriate.

Direct Action Advertising: Some direct action advertising attempts to induce

quick response from the members of the target audience, such as ads offering some
kind of incentive, or ads announcing contests, or encouraging prospects to place orders
on phone or through internet. In such cases evaluation is based on sales results.

Sales Promotion Programs: Many sales promotion programs have sales

objectives since their goal is often to generate trial or short-term sales increases

Example
Many companies have the “Scratch and Win” offers, which are usually
advertised on television. One such company was VIM bar, which had a scratch
and Win offer for about two months.

Incase of companies where advertising plays a dominant role in the marketing

programme and other elements are relatively stable, sales oriented objectives are used.
There are again many sales oriented objectives, which a particular
company can have. They are given in the following table.
Types of Sales Oriented Objectives

Type of Sale Media Creative Content

Increase Policy Example

Existing Products
Existing Maintain Suggest new uses for DETTOL Antiseptic
Product to insertions in your product, or reasons advertised on the different
Existing users current for more frequent use, usage of the product, like
media building on existing for washing baby’s
contacts and goodwill clothes, for shaving, etc.
Existing Consider Explain the basic PHILIPS, ONIDA
Product to New new media benefits of your product, launched their colour
users and your company television sets in rural
record, to people markets and had related
unaware of them. advertisements for it.
Existing Consider Comparison campaigns FAIREVER advertised to
Product to competitors pointing out the switch the Fair & Lovely
users of rival media advantages of the users to its product.
products – patterns product over rival brands
Brand and of changing
switching established buying
habits

New Products
New Products Maintain Explain basic benefits, LAKME introducing new
to Existing insertions in building on existing products like Sunscreen
Customers current contacts and goodwill lotion, Moisturizer with
media Peach Flavour, Winter
Cream Lotion with
Strawberry ingredients,
etc.
New Products Consider Explain the basic FA and NIVEA introducing
to New Users new media benefits of your product, products for men.
and your company
record in other fields
New Products Consider Explain basic benefits PEPSI AHA aimed at
to Competitors competitors and overcome advertising itself in bars in
Customers media established goodwill. order to switch the alcohol
patterns drinkers to use Pepsi Aha
instead of Thumbs Up as
their mixer in the drink.
COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES
Often when we think of advertising, we just think of great ads that make us laugh or
engage us in some manner. We tend to judge ads by these simple criteria. However, a
far more powerful way to look at advertising is by understanding that advertising is a
communication task, with specific communication objectives, and therefore we need to
understand how communication works.

The starting point is an audit of all the potential interactions target customers may have
with the product and the company. For example, someone interested in purchasing a
new computer would talk to others, see television ads, read articles, look for information
on the intranet, and observe computers in a store. The marketer needs to assess which
experiences and impressions will have the most influence at each stage of the buying
process. This understanding will help marketers allocate their communication budget
more efficiently. To communicate effectively, marketers need to understand the
fundamental elements underlying effective communication.

On the basis of the communication importance, there were eminent personalities who
made the communication models, which help a marketer to understand, how he
should go about communicating his product to the target audience.
All these communication models are centered on the three stages of the buying
behaviour of consumers.

The three stages are:

Cognitive Stage
The cognitive component deals with cognition, or knowledge; it is the power of knowing,
perceiving or conceiving ideas about the product. It is dealing with the basic information
that a consumer needs to know. A customer needs to be exposed to the product and
understand its usage before he actually purchases it.

The Three Stages

Cognitive

Affective

Behaviour
Affective Stage
The effective component deals with the affections/emotions. For example, feelings of
likes or dislike towards objects are dealt on the effective plane. It is at this stage that the
consumer will either have preference or liking towards the product or he will develop a
dislike. This stage shows his attitude towards the product, whether he is for or against
the product.

Behaviour Stage
This is the stage when the consumer, after having the knowledge and developing the
liking or disliking towards the product, will ultimately lead into a purchase of the product
or rejection of the product. He would first try the product and develop loyalty towards it
or he is completely convinced that the product is good and would purchase the product.

Hence there are many models, which are based on these three stages, which is
explained in the next chapter.
MODELS BASED ON THE THREE STAGES OF BUYING
BEHAVIOUR

AIDA Hierarchy of Innovation – Communications

Stages Model effects Model Adoption Model Model

Cognitive Exposure
Stage Awareness

Reception
Attention Awareness

Knowledge Cognitive
response
Affective Liking
Stage Interest Attitude
Interest
Preference

Desire
Conviction Evaluation Intention
Behaviour
stage
Trial
Action
Behaviour
Purchase

Adoption

AIDA MODEL

The AIDA model was presented by Elmo Lewis to explain

how personal selling works. It shows a set of stair-step
stages, which describe the process leading a potential
customer to purchase. The stages, Attention, Interest,
Desire, and Action, form a linear hierarchy. It demonstrates that consumers must be
aware of a product’s existence, be interested enough to pay attention to the product’s
features/benefits, and have a desire to benefit from the product’s offerings. Action, the
fourth stage, would come as a natural result of movement through the first three stages.
Although this idea was rudimentary, it led to the later emerging field of consumer
behavior research.

DAGMAR
In 1961, Russel H. Colley wrote a book under the sponsorship of the Association of
National Advertisers called Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising
Results. The book introduced what has become known as the DAGMAR approach to
advertising planning and included a precise method for selecting and quantifying goals
and for using those goals to measure performance.
DAGMAR approach can be summarized as ‘Defining Advertising Goals’. An advertising
goal is a specific communication task to be accomplished among a defined audience in
a given period of time.
In DAGMAR the communication task is based on the model of communication
process

DAGMAR has changed the way advertising objectives were created and the way that
advertising results were measured. It introduced the concept of communication
objectives like awareness, comprehension, image, and attitude. The point was made
that such goals are more appropriate for advertising than in some measure like sales,
which can have multiple causes.

DAGMAR also focused attention upon measurement, encouraging people to create

objectives so specific and operational that they can be measured.
 Unawareness/Awareness

Comprehension

Conviction

Action

Characteristics of Objectives: a major contribution of DAGMAR was Colley’s

specification of what constitutes a good objective. Four requirements or characteristics
of good objectives were noted

Concrete and measurable—the communications task or objective should be a precise

statement of what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target
audience. Furthermore the specification should include a description of the
measurement procedure
Target audience –a key tenet to DAGMAR is that the target audience be well defined.
For example –if the goal was to increase awareness, it is essential to know the target
audience precisely. The benchmark measure cannot be developed without a
specification of the target segment

Benchmark and degree of change sought—another important part of setting objectives

is having benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the
beginning of the campaign with respect to various communication response variables
such as awareness, knowledge, attitudes, image, etc. The objectives should also
specify how much change or movement is being sought such as increase in awareness
levels, creation of favorable attitudes or number of consumers intending to purchase the
brand, etc. a benchmark is also a prerequisite to the ultimate measurement of results,
an essential part of any planning program and DAGMAR in particular.
Specified time period—a final characteristic of good objectives is the specification of the
time period during which the objective is to be accomplished, e.g. 6months, 1 year etc.
The time period should be appropriate for the communication objective as simple tasks
such as increasing awareness levels can be accomplished much faster than a complex
goal such as repositioning a brand. All parties involved will understand that the results
will be available for evaluating the campaign, which could lead to a contraction,
expansion or change in the current effort. With a time period specified a survey to
generate a set if measures can be planned and anticipated.

Written Goal - finally goals should be committed to paper. When the goals are clearly
written, basic shortcomings and misunderstandings become exposed and it becomes
easy to determine whether the goal contains the crucial aspects of the DAGMAR
approach.

Limitations of DAGMAR—There are certain problems and limitations to DAGMAR,

which should be discussed. These include:
Measurement problems: With the adoption of DAGMAR model, the measurement
becomes a problem. The marketers question that what should they actually measure?
Is it attitude, awareness or brand comprehension?
Example: The VIP Feelings advertisements for ladies undergarments could be
successful changing the attitude towards the brand VIP that was associated to be
a man’s wear, or it could be successful in creating awareness that VIP has
started a new line of product for ladies too. Evaluating and measuring this form
one single advertisement is difficult.

Noise in the system: DAGMAR assumes that the awareness and liking of the brand can
be achieved through advertising alone. But the underlying fact is that there are many
other variables such as competitive promotion, unplanned publicity, word of mouth,
simple discussion with peers, new paper articles etc all create awareness of the brand.
Thus there are many other elements other than advertising in the hierarchy chain that
create awareness. Example: Tupperware is famous in Indian cities. It has
happened only through personal selling and networking. Advertising has had no
role in it.

Inhibiting great idea: The more defined and concrete objective of the client brief, the
less creative the advertisement will be, as a result, the effectiveness of the
advertisement is reduced. Example: A campaign with all music and warm human
visuals is be loved by everybody but it would fail to meet the company’s
standard. Thus a wonderful campaign would be evaluated on wrong criteria.

Hierarchy of Effects Model

DAGMAR attacks the basic hierarchy model, which postulates a set of steps of
awareness, comprehension, and attitude leading to action. The counterargument is that
it is possible that action may precede awareness. Example: The foreign chocolates,
which are bought by people from the departmental stores, are not advertised, but
still people buy them. It is later that the advertising for the product is done, or
sometimes it is not done at all. Another example would be that action is preceded
the attitude formation and comprehension with the impulse purchase of a low
involvement product.

Example:
Sundrop
Background Scenario:
Mid 1980’s, ITC decided to diversify, chose edible oil business.
Market was rapidly growing; demand was much greater than supply.
ITC had the requisite skills and relationship with farmers through Leaf Tobacco Division.

Market consisted of:

Filtered Oils
Refined Oils (urban areas primarily)
Hydrogenated fats (Vanaspati)

Changes in the market:

Shift from unrefined to refined oils due to:
Increasing affluence
Purity of oil
Awareness of health
Shift from traditional oils (mustard, groundnut, coconut) to ‘newer’ oils (safflower,
Sunflower, Soya)

Marketing Objectives:
Leadership in the edible refined oil segment, through proving the consumer a superior
quality product at competitive prices in different pack sizes.
Accordingly production and distribution network was carefully planned.
Competition:
Saffola (Safflower oil) also used the health platform but was associated with heart
patients and less taste
Flora and Sunola (Sunflower oils)

Naming the brand:

‘Sundrop’ cued the product category, suggested ‘Purity’

Market Research:
Revealed low brand loyalty, except for ‘Postman’
Key attributes: taste, quality (purity, colour, odour), health and value for money.

Target Consumer Defined:

Modern, Aware, educated housewife, age 21 – 44 years, using refined branded oils,
primarily groundnut oil, who was concerned about the well-being and health of her
family.

Positioning the brand:

Taste, Price or Health?

Health was chosen as the platform, along with a supporting claim for taste. People who
were healthy and energetic were concerned about the long-term prospects of their
health. Thus ‘Health’
Was related to maintenance of good health
Was applicable to all members of the family
Was characterized by lively energetic people
Thus the positioning: ‘The Healthy Oil for Healthy People’

Advertising Goals:
Communication task:
Position Sundrop as the healthy oil for healthy people
Ensure that this did not erode the delivery of the taste benefit.

Positioning had to be perceptually as far away from Saffola.

Young, modern and premium feel
Execution had to be distinct and original to stand out from the clutter

Execution:
Did not use the clichéd family at dinner table scene with pack shot at the end.
Instead featured a lively and energetic kid, a symbol of good health.
Use of yellow colour throughout to reinforce associations with the brand.
Pouring oil becomes Sundrop logo

Results:

Within 6 months, Sundrop became the largest selling refined sunflower oil.
Redefined the category and expanded the Sunflower oil segment from 2.71% to 23% in
6 months, and 42% in 1997
Still the largest selling sunflower oil brand holds 15% of branded oil market.
The ad was shown for over 10 years as the main theme film.

LIST OF COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES

Thus the different types of communication objectives that a company can have
are listed below.
Introduction of new products: For the new products or services, reminder advertising
is clearly inapplicable. Here the task is one of basic education – informing potential
customers of the benefits they will reap by purchasing the new product.

Example
Livon Silky Potion, when introduced, the ads differentiated the product from the
shampoos and conditioners by explaining usage the product, positioning it to be better
than the conditioners and how hair become very manageable and silky after using it.

Overcoming Resistance/Changing Attitude: Many companies seem to assume that

the public is merely waiting for a suitable advertising message to stimulate them into
buying the product. But the people are wary of buying unfamiliar products and the
retailers are equally shy of stocking the lines unknown to their customers. More than
often, people are hostile.

Example
As in the case of KAMASUTRA condoms – people were against the use and had a
negative impression of using condoms. Their approach was that of being high
resistance. This was because they saw condoms as a means of protection. Hence
KAMASUTRA had a task of selling not only the product, but also the desire of
‘The pleasure of making love’. Hence in all their advertisements they have
brought the factor.

Reminding customers: A company has to constantly remind users of their wares. The
human memory is very short and frequent reminders are necessary. Moreover, there
are innumerable distracting factors, which soon make memory fade. There is also
competition for attention faced from the makers of totally different products. Taking a
still wider view of the many selling influences at work to make people forget your
product – the latest news at home or abroad, the activities of family and friends, new
events at work and the latest films and television programmes- all make the consumers
mind divert and forget your product. The manufacturer who wants his product ad name
to be remembered amid the host of competing products and brand names will go for
high public attention.

Further more, constant reminders through advertisements can enhance the company’s
reputation and standing and play their part in cementing customer loyalty.
Example
SANTOOR constantly touched the consumer with its theme of ‘mistaken identity’.
It raised the aspirations of a woman of looking younger.

Reinforcement advertising: Related to reminder advertising is reinforcement

advertising, which seeks to assure current purchasers that they have made the right
choice. Automobile Ads often depict satisfied customers enjoying special features of
their new car.

Example: Hyundai Santro had some ads quoting how customers were satisfied
with the ‘Mobile’ service that helped them in a difficult situation. This is a classic
example of reinforcement advertising.

New customers from other brands: One must try to find out which existing users of
the competing brand are the most dissatisfied with it and target these switchable
consumers. Alternatively one should try to acquire those customers of the competing
brand who are the most likely to grow their sales volume in the years to come. And/or
are the most profitable. For many product categories about 20% of the customers
(heavy users) are likely to account for 50% of the sales volume and profits and are
clearly worth focusing on as new brand users.

Example
ARIEL v/s SURF: When Ariel was launched, it showed comparisons between itself
and a known detergent (Surf packet without its name). Through its ads, it showed
how it was better than Surf and thus wanting to shift the Surf users to Ariel.

New customers from other categories: Another approach is to attract people from
those not now using the product class. The firm in the industry that has the highest
market share, the largest distribution, the biggest sales force and the highest awareness
is the one most likely to get the sale from a customer just entering the product category.
Example
PEPSI might conclude that it is easier to get young coffee drinkers to switch from
coffee to PEPSI, than it is to switch COKE drinkers to PEPSI
UJALA, when it entered the market, proved itself better than Neel (blue) and made
the users shift to it.

On the other hand such a strategy makes much less sense for a smaller firm that runs
the risk that the segment member who is induced to try the product class may buy from
a larger competitor.

Example
A small cellular phone manufacturer might waste its money if it ran ads telling
people why cellular phones in general were useful for personal or business
reasons. A consumer seeing those ads might decide that, yes they need a cellular
phone, but might then end up buying the better-known MOTOROLA or NOKIA.

Brand Image / Company Image: The company needs to have a favourable image of it
brand in the eyes of the customers. For this reason, the company undertakes various
campaigns to build the brand and the company. This will enhance the preference of the
customers to use the particular brand in the market of numerous brands. There are
various factors that contribute to the favourable brand image. They are:

Unique Selling Proposition

Example: SAFFOLA previously advertised the feature of its oil, which said that its
consumption would not lead to any heart problems.

Brand Personality
Example: MCDONALDS - Family oriented, Genuine, wholesome, cheerful, fun
Performance
Example: MRF Tyres run huge ads in print media on the onset of monsoon, telling
users to trust MRF for monsoon. Also, in all its ads it talks about the awards it
has won over the years, as ‘the best tyres for Indian roads’.

Creating awareness of new products/brands and new developments in the

company:
Present customers may know the products of a company, but they may not know the
improvements made or the new lines added to their range. Firms devote a great deal of
time, money and effort in improving their products, but this is of little purpose if the
customers are left in the dark about them. Potential customers will not become
purchasers unless they know of the new developments and advertising helps to keep
them informed. Furthermore, changes in you product line may open up new market
segments for whom the earlier products were not of interest.

Example
PERK introduced the “PERK XL and PERK XXL” at the competitive price. They
have used ‘Preeti Zinta’ in their advertisements.
Ponds have a range of product, which was introduced consecutively, and it is
constantly advertised on television and other mediums.

Supporting other sales promotion activities: Many times the company introduces
sales promotion activities for its consumers. For this, they advertise on different
mediums to support the sales promotion program in meeting its objectives.

Example
FILMFARE uses hoardings at the latter part of the month to advertise about the
freebie attached with the next month’s issue.
Increasing usage: It is possible to increase the usage of existing customers in the
product class. In essence the goal would be to increase the amount consumed
per usage occasion.

Example
CLINIC PLUS – recommended through its advertisement, that its shampoo must be
used three times in a week – “Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday.”

The other way could be to suggest new usage occasions and opportunities.

Example
ZANDU BALM – the advertisement depicted the various pains that could be relived
through Zandu Balm, without even visiting the doctor.

CADBURY’S DAIRY MILK – which showed the marriage scenario and how people
consumed Dairy Milk instead of the usual Mithais.

Increasing brand loyalty: The company is not the only one in the market who
advertises its product. The competitors are perpetually trying to steal their customers
away or trying to increase their own share of requirements. It is very important therefore
to recognize the effect that advertising has on reinforcing the present customers,
existing preference for the company’s brand. (Though actual experience with the
product is probably the bigger determinant of brand satisfaction and loyalty)

Example
INDIAN EXPRESS ad ‘Hammer home the truth, we do it everyday’ was meant
primarily for the existing readers of Indian Express, to promote brand loyalty. The
ad conveyed the ‘true journalism’ aspect of the Indian Express.
Umbrella campaigns: Many organizations are found active in many activities and have
multiple brands for different categories, with separate divisions marketing separate
products to separate markets via separate advertising and selling campaigns. Many
such organizations realize that linking their self-contained business operations would
benefit all component companies.
Hence through one advertising campaign, all the products of the company are exposed
to the audience. This also builds up the image of the company and all its brands.

Example
AMUL - REAL TASTE OF INDIA campaign that was quite successful.
Other umbrella campaigns are that of CAMLIN, WIPRO, ADITYA BIRLA GROUP,
PARLE ‘world of happiness’, etc.

Campaign to push declining sales: In this the purpose of the campaign may not be to
increase or stabilize sales, but to hold off a decline. This overall category masks various
types of decline for which different advertising approaches are necessary. One
advertising campaign may have as its purpose countering the natural decline in the
market. Another purpose might be to sustain an existing brand against competition.
Other purposes might be to slow down a permanent trend or to reverse a temporary
decline.

Where the market for the company’s product is steadily diminishing, it is unwise to
expect advertising to work miracles and reverse the permanent trend: it may however
be able to make some contribution by slowing the rate of decline, thus giving the
company time to seek new opportunities in other directions. Whereas advertising can
make a far more positive contribution is in countering temporary falls in sales. Positive
advertising, emphasizing value for money, can help people adjust more swiftly to the
new conditions.

Example
RASNA was a declining product even after being in the market for 4 years and even
though it was an entirely new concept of a branded soft drink concentrate. In 1982 non-
aerated soft drink market was estimated at around Rs 13 crores. Squashes and syrups
were the leading product categories, accounting for 84% of the market. Soft drink
concentrates had a share of 7% only. It was recognized that there existed a good
potential market for Rasna, if advertised properly.

Advertising objectives:
To persuade consumers to try RASNA by creating / reawakening their interest in the
brand

Target audience:
Housewives in the age group of 20+and with household income of Rs 750+ p.m

Influencer:
This was perhaps for the first time in the history of Indian advertising that the child was
recognized as the major influencer in the purchase of a household product

Campaign evaluation:
The consumers off take shot upto Rs 1.44crores. Market share increased from 6%in
1982 to 9%in 1983. Share of syrups declined by 4%

Campaign to counter natural decline of the market: Reminder advertisements can

be effective in maintaining sales, but the company must face up to the fact that the
existing customers, through no fault of yours, are steadily decreasing in number. The
manufacturer who claims there is no need to advertise because he has all the business
he needs ignore the fact that people leave the area of the country, or the people have
sophisticated themselves and use better products. The quality of the product may
remain as high as ever, but the sales will steadily decline through the natural diminution
of the existing market.
Example
Print media advertising that “nothing can replace print”

Social objective: There are many companies or institutions, which have social
advertisements. These advertisements focus mainly on some social issue like–Aids,
Cancer, Anti–Tobacco, Safe Driving, etc.

The companies mainly advertise on these grounds because each company needs to
fulfill some social responsibilities, and also these kinds of advertisements, might
enhance their company image and value.

Example
LOWE Advertising Agency, has a hoarding on the Pedder Road, Mumbai which
emphasizes on different social messages such as AIDS etc.

FCB ULKA Advertising Agency has a hoarding on the busy road near Pedder
Road, Mumbai that said “Drive Safely”

Generating trial purchases and store visits

Many companies and stores insert coupons in print media to come to the store and
exchange them for trials. Also, sometimes they have advertisements for more footfalls
in the store.

Example
When KWALITY WALL’S opened its outlets, it had coupons in newspapers, giving free
ice cream in exchange of those coupons on the first day of the outlets.

Recent campaign by MCDONALD’S talking about the ‘Aao Match Karein’, where
consumers come to the store and match different words on the packages of its products
Motivating the channel to stock the product: Many a time the advertisements are
directed not towards the consumers, but the retail shops/channels, in order to motivate
them to stock their brands.

Example
This was an advertisement directed to the video library owners to stock videocassettes
made by the STAR VIDEO PVT Ltd. This ad was released in 1987 in the press medium.

Another example would be of the Life insurance agents’ ads, which attract and induce
young professional to join the insurance company as life insurance agent.

Product positioning and brand building: When the products are launched, they are
usually positioned at a platform enabling the consumers to relate to the product. This is
called the positioning of the brand. Companies position their brand to make it stand out
from the other brands in the market. Positioning is to appeal to a specific target
audience and induce them to buy the product. Once the product is positioned at a
particular platform, the companies need to constantly remind the consumers and build
brand. This also involves many stages and the marketer needs to communicate to the
audience at each stage. This thus becomes one more advertising objective for the
company.

Example
SAINT GOBAIN is a classic example for this point. It positioned itself as ‘So Clear, So
Real, Glass from Saint Gobain’ Their ads are also focused on how the SAINT GOBAIN
glass can be mistaken for no glass at all – it feels so real’.

Countering competition: The market today is no longer a one–man show. There are
innumerable companies, all of them having their own products to offer. In such a
situation, a company needs to constantly advertise to remain in the minds of the
consumers. With the MNCs entering India, a lot of Indian companies have been facing
tough competition. Most companies position their products so as to differentiate their
brands from the competition.

Example
MOOV used its competitor IODEX’s negative point in its advertisements. It showed how
the usage of IODEX (name not revealed in the ad) left stains in the clothes making other
people know about it. The tagline said “Kissi Se Kuch na Batai”

Responding to a campaign, IODEX launched a big campaign where it had a character

entering a shop and refusing to take MOOV, which was offered by the shopkeeper and
said ‘No, Move, Move’.

Repositioning the brand: Sometimes, the company’s product is not accepted in the
market with its original features. Thus in order to change the image and become
favourable in the eyes of the consumers, they need to reposition their brand.

Example
MARUTI OMNI had to reposition itself clearly different from the Maruti car in the
potential buyer’s minds. They also had to enhance the image and personal values of the
brand. It also had to generate at least short-term growth in sales to match current
production potential.
Their ads had a vivid demonstration of the spacious car, positioning, and each
presenting the van’s spaciousness from a new unexpected viewpoint.

STRENGTHENING ATTITUDE AS AN
ADVERTISING OBJECTIVE
The Three Stages
Cognitive
Attitude is the central theme in advertising management Realm of thoughts.
Ads provide information and facts.

What is attitude? Affective

Realm of emotions.
Ads change attitudes and feelings

Behaviour
Realm of motives.
Ads stimulate or direct desires.
Attitudes are usually defined as a disposition or tendency to respond positively or
negatively towards a certain thing (idea, object, person, and situation). They
encompass, or are closely related to, our opinions and beliefs and are based upon our
experiences. Since attitudes often relate in some way to interaction with others, they
represent an important link between cognitive and social psychology.

The traditionally accepted view of attitude is that it is made up of three into related
components-cognitive, affective and behaviour/conative.

The cognitive component deals with cognition, or knowledge; it is the faculty of knowing
or perceiving are conceiving ideas; it is this year dealing with knowledge.
The effective component deals with the affections/emotions. For example, feelings of
lights or dislike towards objects are dealt on the effective plane.
And the conative/behaviour component deals with the behaviour or action.

The three components together shape what is known as ‘attitude’.

Attitude changed, main concern of communicators

Attitude changed on the part of the target audience is the main concern of marketing
communicators. People normally resist change and dislike someone trying to influence
the attitudes, especially when those attitudes are strongly held and cherished by them.
Still, attitude changes do take place perennially, because attitudes are not static. The
advertising communicators know that attitudes are permeable and maneuverable
through appropriate means. He does not venture to bluntly attack the strong held
attitudes of its target audience. Instead his attempts are a persuasive process of
communication, the process sometimes lasting for years, spread probably over several
campaigns. But the fact remains that his job is audience persuasion, i.e. shaping the
attitude of the audience in his favour. And the advertising message is his tool.

How is attitude linked to advertising?

Attitude is a very personal issue. Each individual’s attitude is different from others.
When a product is introduced, the company needs to understand its target audience.
The company needs to understand the attitude of the target audience towards its brand.
If this attitude is negative, the company first needs to build a positive attitude towards its
brand. Once the attitude is favourable toward the product, the company needs to
strengthen it and make its audience brand loyal. But this is not that easy as it sounds.

I have a new product, a soft drink - Cola, and I want to get it out on the market. I must
convince people that they want and need my product. They have been drinking Coke or
Pepsi for the past 20 years, and they like it. If I want to have a shot in the cola industry, I
need to change some attitude, and advertising is the way to do it.

When changing attitudes through advertising, there are many factors to consider. One
must choose:
A source that is attractive to the target audience,
A message that will break through the clutter, and
A channel that will maximize comprehension.

Television gives us more information than any other medium. It is where we go when
we want information on breaking news, and it gets more credibility ratings than
newspaper.

The Message and the Source

People pay more attention to messages and sources that are unusual, prestigious, loud,
and exotic. They also prefer messages that are controversial, interesting, and
surprising.

Attention- Selective Exposure

We cannot absorb all information, so we select information that will be useful to us. We
seek information that:
Increases our understanding
Does not attack our self esteem
Helps us adjust in the world
Lets us express our attitudes

Comprehension
To get maximum comprehension from a message:
Choose a source the audience knows
This is why celebrity endorsements are so prevalent today. People connect better with
sources they know and trust.
Word the message so it connects with a specific audience
This is easier than ever with the segmentation of audience due to cable television.
Some companies give a message in several ways to several audiences.
Pick a channel that allows the message to be fully understood
Understand the defensiveness of the audience

Retention
Powerful sources that are ever-present are more likely to increase retention. We
remember sources that are attractive to us. Also, repetition increases retention. Radio
and television can increase repetition more than personal selling or face-to-face can.

Brand Attitude
A focus on brand attitude is another type of advertising objective. This objective is
more appropriate to the stage of growth and maturity in the product life cycle. The brand
attitude objective could be either one among enhancing or maintaining the current brand
attitude, changing the current brand attitude, or creating the new brand attitude. Of
these options, the most difficult task is to change the current brand attitude because
consumers already typically have certain types of attitudes toward established products.
 5 Ms OF ADVERTISING Message

Message
generation
Message
evaluation
& selection
Message
Money execution
Social
Mission responsibili
Factors to ty review Measurement
consider:
Stage in PLC
Sales Market share
goals Communica
and
Advertisi Media tion impact
consumer
ng Sales
base
objective impact
Competition
s and clutter Reach,
Advertising frequency,
frequency impact
Product Major
substitutabilit media
y types
Specific
media
vehicles
Media
timing
Geographic
al media
allocation
While making an Advertising program five Ms should be taken into consideration, they
are:

MISSION: What are the Advertising objectives?

MONEY: How much can be spent? (Advertising budget)
MESSAGE: What message should be sent?
MEDIA: What media should be used?
MEASUREMENT: How should the results be evaluated?

After the Target Market, market positioning and marketing mix decisions have been
taken the First step n developing an Advertising Program is

1. MISSION OR SETTING THE ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

Advertising Objectives can be classified as to whether their aim is:

To inform: This aim of Advertising is generally true during the pioneering stage of a
product category, where the objective is building a primary demand.
This may include:
Telling the market about a new product
Suggesting new uses for a product
Informing the market of a price change
Informing how the product works
Describing available services
Correcting false impressions
Reducing buyers’ fears
Building a company image

To persuade: Most advertisements are made with the aim of persuasion. Such
advertisements aim at building selective brand.
To remind: Such advertisements are highly effective in the maturity stage of the
product. The aim is to keep the consumer thinking about the product.

2. MONEY
This M deals with deciding on the Advertising Budget
The advertising budget can be allocated based on:
Departments or product groups
The calendar
Media used
Specific geographic market areas

There are five specific factors to be considered when setting the Advertising budget.

Stage in PLC: New products typically receive large advertising budgets to build
awareness and to gain consumer trial. Established brands are usually supported with
lower advertising budgets as a ratio to sales.
Market Share and Consumer base: high-market-share brands usually require less
advertising expenditure as a percentage of sales to maintain their share. To build share
by increasing market size requires larger advertising expenditures. Additionally, on a
cost-per-impressions basis, it is less expensive to reach consumers of a widely used
brand them to reach consumers of low-share brands.
Competition and clutter: In a market with a large number of competitors and high
advertising spending, a brand must advertise more heavily to be heard above the noise
in the market. Even simple clutter from advertisements not directly competitive to the
brand creates the need for heavier advertising.
Advertising frequency: the number of repetitions needed to put across the brands
message to consumers has an important impact on the advertising budget.
Product substitutability: brands in the commodity class (example cigarettes, beer, soft
drinks) require heavy advertising to establish a different image. Advertising is also
important when a brand can offer unique physical benefits or features.
3. MESSAGE GENERATION
Message generation can be done in the following ways:

Inductive: By talking to consumers, dealers, experts and competitors. Consumers are

the major source of good ideas. Their feeling about the product, its strengths, and
weaknesses gives enough information that could aid the Message generation process.
Deductive: John C. Meloney proposed a framework for generating Advertising
Messages.
According to him, a buyer expects four types of rewards from a product:
Rational
Sensory
Social
Ego Satisfaction.

Buyers might visualize these rewards from:

Results-of-use Experience
Product-in-use Experience
Incidental-to-use Experience

The Matrix formed by the intersection of these four types of rewards and the three types
of experiences is given below.

POTENTIAL TYPE OF REWARD (Sample Messages)

Rational Sensory Social Ego Satisfaction
Result-of- 1. Gets 2. Settles 3. When you care 4. For the skin you
Use Clothes Stomach upset enough to serve deserve to have
Experience Cleaner completely the best
Product-in- 5. The flour 6. Real gusto in 7. A deodorant to 8. The store for
Use that needs no a great light guarantee social young executive
Experience sifting beer acceptance
Incidental-to- 9. The plastic 10. The portable 11. The furniture 12. Stereo for the
Use pack keeps the television that’s that identifies the man with
Experience cigarette fresh lighter in weight, home of modern discriminating taste
easier to lift people

Message evaluation and selection

The advertiser needs to evaluate the alternative messages. A good ad normally
focuses on one core selling proposition.
Messages can be rated on desirability, exclusiveness and believability. The message
must first say something desirable or interesting about the product.
The message must also say something exclusive or distinct that does not apply to
every brand in the product category. Above all, the message must be believable or
provable.

Message execution.
The message’s impact depends not only upon what is said but also on how it is said.
Some ads aim for rational positioning and others for emotional positioning.

While executing a message the style, tone, words, and format for executing the
message should be kept in mind.
STYLE. Any message can be presented in any of the following different execution styles,
or a combination of them:

Slice of life: Shows one or more persons using the product in a normal setting.
Example: Coke 1litre ad, showed a family enjoying Coke, with a game of
antakshari when there is a power failure.

Lifestyle: Emphasizes how a product fits in with a lifestyle.

Example: Collection, Asmi and Platinum ads, that focus on lifestyle of persons
using their products.

Fantasy: Creates a fantasy around the product or its use.

Example: VIP Frenchie ads, showing a woman thinking of the Frenchie man
saving her from a villain.

Mood or image: Evokes a mood or image around the product, such as beauty, love,
or serenity. No claim is made about the product except through suggestion.
Example: Kingfisher Beer ads, saying the King of Good Times.

Musical: Uses background music or shows one or more persons or cartoon characters
singing a song involving the product.
Example: Ads of Old Spice After Shave Lotion

Personality symbol: Creates a character that personifies the product. The character
might be animated
Example: Ronald McDonald for McDonald’s

Technical expertise: Shows the company’s expertise, experience, and pride in

making the product.
Example: GE and Skoda ads

Scientific evidence: Presents survey or scientific evidence that the brand is

preferred over or outperforms other brands. This style is common in the over-the-
counter drug category.
Example: DuraCell Ads, claiming the battery lasts 6 times longer than ordinary
batteries

Testimonial evidence: This features a highly credible, likable, or expert source

endorsing the product. It could be a celebrity or ordinary people saying how much
they like the product.
Example: In ads for Sunsilk, they had hair expert Coleen, endorsing the product.

TONE :
The communicator must also choose an appropriate tone for the ad.
Example: Procter & Gamble is consistently positive in its tone—its ads say
something superlatively positive about the product, and humor is almost
always avoided so as not to take mention away from the message. Other
companies use emotions to set the ton e—particularly film, telephone, and
insurance companies, which stress human connections and milestones.

Words: Memorable and attention-getting words must be found. The following

themes listed on the left would have had much less impact without the creative
phrasing on the right:

Theme Creative Copy

You won’t have to stay at home because Get Out, Get Going
of bad hair

FORMAT:
Format elements such as ad size, color, and illustration will make a difference in an
ad’s impact as well as its cost. A minor rearrangement of mechanical elements within
the ad can improve its attention-getting power. Larger-size ads gain more attention,
though not necessarily by as much as their difference in cost. Four-colour
illustrations instead of black and white increase ad effectiveness and ad cost. By
planning the relative dominance of different elements of the ad, optimal delivery can
be achieved.

4. MEDIA
The next ‘M’ to be considered while making an Advertisement Program is the Media
through which to communicate the Message generated during the previous stage. The
steps to be considered are:

Deciding on
Geographic media
allocation

Step V Deciding on
media timing
Selecting
Step IV specific media
vehicles
Choosing
Step III among major
media types
Deciding reach,
Step II frequency and
impact

Step I

5. MEASUREMENT
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Advertisement Program is very important as it helps
prevent further wastage of money and helps make corrections that are important for
further advertisement campaigns. Researching the effectiveness of the advertisement is
the most used method of evaluating the effectiveness of the Advertisement Program.
Research can be in the form of:
1. Communication-Effect Research
2. Sales-Effect Research
There are two ways of measuring advertising effectives. They are:

1. Pre-testing
2. Post-testing

1Pre-testing: This is the test of the copy before it is given to the media.
 2Post-testing:

3This is the testing, which is done after the ad copy has come out in the media and the
audience has seen the advertisement.

4Post-testing typically involves interviewing readers to determine how many remember seeing a
particular ad, if they read it, and what they remember about it.

Example:

Sundrop
Mission:
Sales goals: Leadership in the edible refined oil segment

Advertising Goals:
Communication task
Position Sundrop as the healthy oil for healthy people
Ensure that this did not erode the delivery of the taste benefit.

Positioning had to be perceptually as far away from Saffola.

Young, modern and premium feel
Execution had to be distinct and original to stand out from the clutter

Money:
Stage in PLC: Introductory, therefore relatively large expenditure
Market share: new product
Competitors:
Saffola (Safflower oil) also used the health platform but was associated with heart
patients and less taste
Flora and Sunola (Sunflower oils)

Message:
Health was chosen as the platform, along with a supporting claim for taste. People who
were healthy and energetic were concerned about the long-term prospects of their
health. Thus ‘Health’
Was related to maintenance of good health
Was applicable to all members of the family
Was characterized by lively energetic people
Thus the message and (positioning): ‘The Healthy Oil for Healthy People’

Media:
Primary media: Television ad 30 seconds.
Print ad

Measurement:
Within 6 months, Sundrop became the largest selling refined sunflower oil.
Redefined the category and expanded the Sunflower oil segment from 2.71% to 23% in
6 months, and 42% in 1997
Still the largest selling sunflower oil brand holds 15% of branded oil market.
The ad was shown for over 10 years as the main theme film.
 DECIDING ON THE ADVERTISING BUDGET
Budget is the financial statement of income and expenditure for a given period of time.
Therefore, advertising budget is also a statement of expenditure on various advertising
activities and of the income generated from advertising in the same period.

Advertising has a carryover effect that lasts beyond the current period. Although
advertising is treated as a current expense, part of it is really an investment that builds
up an intangible asset called brand equity.

This treatment of advertising reduces the company’s reported profit and therefore limits
the number of new product launches a company can undertake in any one year.

The following are the factors that are considered while setting the advertising
budget:
1. Organizational objectives: Advertising budget depends on the objectives, which the
firm desires to achieve. There are various objectives behind advertising campaign.
Some of the objectives are noted below:

a) To introduce new products through advertising campaign.

b) To develop consumer loyalty and create market reputation.
c) To fight market competition effectively
d) To promote sales and earn more profit
e) To create brand awareness
f) To encourage dealers to stock the product.

2. Type of product to be marketed: Advertising budget will be more for consumer

items like textiles, cosmetics, soaps etc. due to severe market competition and wider
area coverage. In class of industrial products, the budgeted amount will be less due to
limited competition.
3. Stage in the product life cycle: new products typically receive large advertising
budgets to build awareness and to gain consumers trial.
4. Market share and consumer base: the brands having a high market share usually
require less advertising expenditure whereas for products whose brand needs to be
built, requires larger advertising expenditure.

5. Competition and clutter: In today’s competitive market, where there are a large
number of competitors, a brand must advertise heavily to be heard.

6. Advertising frequency: the number of repetitions that need to be made to put

across the brand message to consumers has an important impact on the advertising
budget.

7. Product substitutability: brands in the commodity class require heavy advertising to

establish a different image. For example, cigarettes, beer, soft drinks. Also advertising is
important when the brand can offer unique physical benefits or features.
8. Expenditure of the previous year
9. Media used
10. Availability of finance
11.. Size of the market
12. Quality of the advertising campaign

Methods of estimating budget:

Traditional Method of setting budget:
1. Affordable Method:
It is also referred as ‘all-you-can-afford’method.The firm determines the amount to be
spend in various areas such as production% operations. Then it allocates what’s left to
advertising& promotion, considering this to be the amount it can afford. The logic for this
approach stands from ‘we can’t hurt this method’.
2) Arbitrary Allocation:
Is a method for establishing a budget in which virtually no theoretical basis is
considered & the budgetary amount is often is often decided by the strategic
managers,i.e the budget is determined by the mgt solely on the basis of what is felt to
be necessary.
3) i) Percentage of sales method:
Perhaps the most commonly used method for budget setting particularly in large firms is
the % of sales method in which advtg & promotional budget is based on sales of the
product. Management determines the amount by either 1) taking the % of a sales
routine. Assigning a fixed amount of the unit product cost to promotion & multiplying this
amt by the nos of unit sold.
Percentage of sales method:
ii) A variation of % of sales method is % of projected future sales as a base.
This method also use4s either a straight % of projected sales or a unit cost projection.
One advantage of using future sales as a base is that the budget is not based on last
year’s sales.
As the market changes,mgt must consider the effect of this changes on sales into next
year’s forecast rather than relying on past data.
The resulting budget is more likely to reflect current conditions & be more appropriate.
Advantages of % of sales method:
1) It is financially safe & expanding within reasonable limits as it basis spending on the
past year sales.
2. It is simple, straight forward & easy to implement
3. It is generally stable
Disadvantages of % of sales:
1. It treats advertising as an expense associated with making a sale rather than an
investment
2. It does not allow for changes in strategy either internally or from competitors. An
aggressive company may wish to allocate more budgets to advertising & promotions, a
strategy that is not possible with % of sales method.
3. May lead to severe misappropriation of funds.Succesful products may have excess
budgets.
4. Competitive Parity:
In this method, managers establish budget amount by matching the competitions % of
sales expenditure.
The argument is that setting budgets in this fashion takes advantage of collective
wisdom of the industry.
It also takes competition into consideration which leads to stability in the market place
by minimizing marketing warfare. If companies know that competitors are unlikely to
match theirs increases in promotional spending, they are less likely to take an
aggressive posture to attempt to gain market share.
This minimizes unusual or unrealistic advertising expenditure.

Disadvantages Competitive Parity

1. It ignores the fact that advertising and promotions are designed to accomplish
specific objective by addressing certain problems& objectives.
2. It assumes that because firms have similar expenditure that program will be equally
effective.
3. There is no guarantee that competitors will continue to be passive about their existing
strategies
4. Finally competitive parity may not avoid promotional wars.
5. Return on Investment:
In this method, advertising & promotions are considered investments like plant &
equipments.
Thus, the budgetary appropriation leads to certain returns.
While this method looks good on paper, the reality is that it is rarely possible to access
the returns provided by the promotional efforts at least as long as sales continues to be
the basis for evaluation. It remains a difficult method to employ.
6. Object & Task Method:
It uses the build-up approaches consisting of 3 –steps:
Defining the communication objectives to be accomplished.
Determining the specific strategies & tasks needed to attain them
Estimating the cost associated with performance of these strategies & cost. The total
budget is based on the accumulation of this cost.
This process involves several steps:
Isolate objective: When promotional planning model is presented, a company have
two sets of objectives to be accomplished. (a) Marketing objective for the product.
(b) Communication objectives. After the former are established, the tasks involve
determining what specific communication objectives will be designed to accomplish this
goal. Communication objective must be specific, attainable & measurable as well as
time limit.

1. Determine tasks required

2. Estimate required expenditure
3. Monitor
4. Revaluate objectives

7. Quantitative Models:
This method employs computers stimulation models involving statistical techniques,
such as multiple-regression analysis to determine the relative contribution of the
advertising budget to sales.
8. Marginal Analysis:
As advtg/ promotional expenditure increases, sales & gross margin also increase to a
point, then they level off.
Using this theory to establish its budget, a firm would continue to spend
advertising/promotional budget as long as the marginal revenues created by these
expenditures exceed the incremental advertising /promotional costs.

If the sum of advertising/promotional budget exceeded the revenues they generated,

one will conclude the appropriations were too high and scale down the budget.
 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDE

Attitudes help us define how we perceive and think about others, as well as how we
behave toward them.

An attitude is made up of:

What you think. (Cognition)
What you feel. (Affect)
What you do. (Behaviour)

Component Characteristics Example(s)

Affect Emotional reactions "I like ..."; -or- ".... makes
me angry"
Cognition Internalized mental representations, "My co-workers
beliefs, thoughts should ..."; -or- "If .... then
...."
Behavior The tendency to respond or overtly act in
a particular way toward the attitude
object

Example: An environmentalist's attitude toward the use of cars

Affective component = "I hate the use of cars."
Cognitive component = "Car emissions contribute to air pollution."
Behavioral component = "I ride my bike everywhere."

Cognitive Component
The knowledge and perceptions we have about the object. Based on personal
experience with the object and information from various sources (e.g., opinions of
others, ads, articles, etc.). This knowledge and perceptions commonly take the form of
 beliefs i.e., the consumer believes that the object possesses attributes and that specific
behavior will lead to specific outcomes.

Affective Component
A consumer’s emotions or feelings about a particular product or brand. Generally a
reaction to the cognitive aspect of the attitude. Our emotional state may amplify positive
or negative experiences, which then have an affect on our attitude.

Behavioral Component
Is concerned with the likelihood or tendency that a consumer will undertake a specific
action or behave in a particular way regarding the attitude object. Frequently treated as
a consumer’s intention to buy. Research shows that consumers who respond positively
to an intention to buy question (e.g., “yes, I plan to buy it”) are more likely to buy the
product than consumers who are not asked to respond to an intention question.

Implications for Marketing Strategy

The following table shows how the components of attitude are focused on by marketers
using various models to bring about a favourable change in customer attitude towards a
brand/product.

MODELS
AIDA MODEL HIERARCHY INNOVATION PERSUAION
STAGES
OF EFFECTS ADOPTION MATRIX
MODEL
PRESENTATION
AWARENESS AWARENESS
COGNITIVE ATTENTION ATTENTION
KNOWLEDGE INTEREST
COMPREHENSION
LIKING YIELDING
INTEREST
AFFECTIVE PREFERENCE EVALUATION RETENTION
DESIRE
CONVICTION
TRIAL
BEHAVIORAL ACTION PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
ADOPTION
When marketers use the traditional models to create or change attitudes, they use the
various components as follows:

At the cognitive level with information.

Most medicine ads (over the counter) are directed towards the cognitive components.
Ads for hi-tech products also affect the cognitive component.

At the affective level with emotionally toned messages

Ex. The popular ad “Hamara Bajaj” has an emotional appeal which has proved
to be positive for the brand – ‘Bajaj’.

At the behavioral level with incentives (samples, coupons, rebates)

Ex. The Bajaj ad where in they have created awareness about the installment scheme
which requires the buyer to take home a scooter at an affordable amount of Rs.999/-
entices its target audience effectively.

McGUIRES’ PERSUASION MATRIX

Advertising is persuasive communication designed to create behavioral or attitudinal
changes, usually culminating in the form of a purchase. When changing attitudes
through advertising, there are many factors to consider. One must choose a source
that is attractive to the target audience, a message that will break through the
clutter, and a channel that will maximize comprehension.
Advertisers keep the persuasion matrix in mind to persuade the customers to purchase
products they advertise. This matrix brings together multiple elements to be considered
in the construction and evaluation of persuasive messages. McGuire has provided a
complete how-to guide for the creation of persuasive messages aimed at inducing an
attitude change and/or a purchase action. In this time of measuring advertising not just
by sales but through brand preference and loyalty, a method of connecting with
customers on many levels, such as this, is crucial.
The matrix consists of dependent and independent variables. The dependent variables
are the elements that finally lead to persuasion. These elements are addressed using
the independent variables (communication components) as shown in the figure above.
The five classes include source; message; channel (medium); receiver (audience); and
destination (response target). Destination has to do with the type of target behavior
desired. What is extent of the behavior desired? What is it that we really want people to
do? How can we get them to do it? What messages (verbal and visual) will resonate
with the intended audience and help them to
perform the desired behavior?
The dependent variables can be explained as:

Message presentation
This includes deciding what information to give the audience, how to give it and through
what medium.
Attention
Even with exposure to message, attention is not guaranteed. In this world of sensory
overload, it is necessary for the human mind to accept only a small portion of the deluge
of information it receives. Selective perception helps the mind bring information into
manageable portions. This involves attracting the attention of the target audience i.e.
the source and message elements come into play.

Comprehension
The step in the attitude change process requires the receiver to grasp the full meaning
and implications of the message. It must not only be heard, but also understood and
contemplated.

Agreement/ yielding
After comprehension, an opinion must arise about the believability and validity of the
persuasive message. Agreement with the message can be influenced by a number of
factors, both internal (such as previously held beliefs) and external (the perception of
the source as being credible or the type of appeal used, for examples). McGuire also
refers to this step as yielding.

Retention
Remembering the accepted information is the fifth step in the process. A substantial
amount of time may pass between the conveyance of the message and the actual
moment a purchase decision is made, as in the grocery or department store. The
placement of this information into memory does not mean that it is not susceptible to
decay. Delayed processing also affects the storage and reprocessing of information.

Behaviour
This step is especially important to those measuring advertising's effectiveness through
increased sales. Behaviour here means the actual process of purchase. Despite the
fact that an individual alone can experience the entire process as he or she goes
through it, research has shown that actions do not necessarily follow attitudes. In other
words, people often don't know why they do the things they do That is why further
investigation into attitude change is necessary.

MEDIA

THE CONCEPT OF ADVERTISING MEDIA

The range of advertising media is so wide that it is not possible to attempt a definition
other than in the broadest terms. An advertising medium is any means by which an
advertiser may decide to spend the money he has allocated to advertising.

IMPORTANCE OF MEDIA IN ADVERTISING

Effective advertising refers to informing the public about the right product at the right
time through the right medium. Conveying a right message through a wrong medium at
the wrong time would definitely a waste of resources. For e.g. cigarette advertising. The
target market for this is man in the age group of 25-60 years. The advertiser would
consider placing ads in magazine having a predominantly male readership. Advertising
in magazines having a predominantly female readership would be mostly wasteful for
this product. It may be true that rarely does any magazine have a 100 % male
readership. Therefore, the right media selection is the crux of the success of the entire
advertising campaign.

The effectiveness of a well-designed advertising message depends upon “when” &

”where” it is realised. There are “time” &”place” decisions. In short we may say that the
success of advertising depends upon the right selection of media, the timely release of
the advertisement message, it’s frequency and continuity, and the place of its release.
To get the most out of the advertising rupees sent, the primary concern of the advertiser
is media selection. The cost of buying space or time is weighed against the number of
audience secured by such advertising. Media ability covers such qualitative values as
audience characteristics, editorial personality, and contribution to advertising
effectiveness; above all it refers to “media image” capable of enhancing the perception
and communication value of a given message. For e.g. channel A and channel B deliver
the same message and the same extension of advertising exposure to the same
audience; but if say, channel A has a better reputation for honesty and good editorials,
the advertisement in this may receive a higher perception and communication among its
audience than if it is inserted in channel B.

The specific positioning of the ad in the newspaper improves demographic selectivity.

For women products, the fashion page or the food page may be more desirable,
whereas for men’s products, many advertisers specify the sports page. Many
newspaper offer split run facilities. The split run is a process by which alternate copies
of the same newspaper are printed with different ads for the same product. Normally,
the location of ads in both the editions is the same. The newspapers do charge extra for
this split-run service.

Media Terminology
 Media Planning - the process of deciding how to most effectively get your
marketing communications seen by your target audience.
 Media Planner - the person at the advertising agency who develops and
executes your media plan.
 Media Plan - the document or flowchart which details the tactics used to
accomplish your media objectives.
 Broadcast Media - Either radio or television network or local station broadcasts.
 Print Media - Publications such as newspapers and magazines.
 Media Vehicle - The specific message carrier, such as the Washington Post or
60 Minutes.
  Coverage - The potential audience that might receive the message through the
vehicle.
 Reach - The actual number of individual audience members reached at least
once by the vehicle in a given period of time.
 Frequency - The number of times the receiver is exposed to vehicle in a specific
time period.

What must media planners considered before they begin

Criteria Considered in the Development of Media Plans

1. The media mix
A combination of media types is known as the media mix. No advertiser can rely only on
one medium to reach his audience. Even a small advertiser having a small media
budget has thousands of media from which to choose. A typical media mix for consumer
products, such as a soft drink, will include television, outdoor, POP and even the print
media. this combination plays a crucial role in reaching the maximum number of
consumers at the minimum cost.

2. Target market coverage

The media mix has to reach the target consumer. It the advertiser wants to reach men
between 25 and 55 who are professional, the Economic Times will be obviously a more
appropriate choice than Femina. But sometimes matching consumer profiles with media
characteristics becomes a lot more difficult. For example : Media planners will find it
difficult to decide which kind of households can be reached by the Hindi feature film TV
slot v/s the 9 O’clock serial slot. A thorough analysis of the target market will help in
making this match and will reduce wastage of media expenditure.

Geographic coverage:
The coverage of every medium is limited by area. Coverage may be limited, as with a
national newspaper to a national basis. Within this lies another limitation, as in a
national paper may also have a strong degree of coverage in some areas and lighter
degree in others. Coverage may also be limited as with a television or radio station to a
specified “region. Within this it is further influenced by fluctuating factors like signal
strength, booster transmitters or pattern of relay services. This factor is important not
only to small regional advertisers but also to national advertisers whose sales patterns
and resistance varies from region to region.

Scheduling
A decision must be made about how long an advertisement campaign should be run on
one media. There is a cumulative advantage from continuity, as a greater audience will
be reached in Terms of both frequency and coverage by advertisements continually
placed in one medium. The same medium will have some new audience

Reach versus frequency

Frequency refers to the number of times the advertiser reaches the same person, while
reach refers to the total number of people covered. The greater the frequency with
which you reach the same person through media selection, smaller the reach will be
and vice –versa (assuming a limitation in the size of the budget). An advertiser will need
to know the quantitative data about media audience in order to make more accurate
frequency and reach decisions.

Creative aspects and mood

Creative considerations such as the quality of reproduction, the colour effect, special effects,
have to be considered. The medium must be appropriate for the ad message. For example: The
ads for ice cream would be reproduced better in colour and therefore black and white newsprint
is not appropriate. Media decisions have to be made in consultation with the creative team that
has actually produced the ad. Within the medium selected, decisions related to unit buying, is
also influenced by the creative team.

Flexibility
The ability of the media to adapt to changing and specific needs of advertisers is flexibility.
Certain media allows such flexibility with respect to the advertised message, the geographical
coverage and the ad budget For

8. Budget considerations
A choice of media will depend to a large extent upon the size of the advertising budget.
Certain media types may be too expensive for the funds available. For example: the
cost of national transmission over Doordarshan may be too high for an advertiser. The
cost of maintaining a neon sign cannot be afforded by small budget advertisers.

ELEMENTS OF MEDIA
Evaluation of a particular medium for inclusion in a campaign rests upon what it
contributes to the cumulative effect.
Any medium comprises of 4 elements.
1) Character
2) Atmosphere
3) Reach and frequency
4) Cost

In addition to this, we should also realize that the “ value” contributed by the medium
also depends upon the – size of the advertisement or length of the commercial and the
position of the advertisement.

By the word “character”, we mean the objective characteristics of the medium; type of
coverage, seasonal implications etc. By “atmosphere” we mean the effect on the mind
or emotions of the mood and circumstances in which the advertisement in the medium
is perceived by the audience. We shall now see these two elements in detail.

The Media Planning Steps?

There are 5 steps in the Media planning process:
1) Market analysis
2) Media objectives
3) Media strategies
4) Media Mix
5) Budget and Media Buying

Step one: Market analysis

Activities involved in developing the Market analysis:
a) Situation analysis
b) Marketing strategy analysis
c) Creative strategy analysis

Step 2: Setting media objectives:

Purpose: To translate marketing objectives and strategies into goals that media can
accomplish.

Setting media objective is the second step in media planning. Media objectives are in
harmony with the advertising and the marketing plans. Thus while launching a new
product or repositioning an existing product, there are specific objectives which will
guide our media decisions. These objectives must be measurable. It facilitates
Co-ordination and evaluation once the campaign is over.

Specifying Media Objectives

 What proportion of the population should be reached with advertising message
during specified period (reach).
 How frequently should audience be exposed to message during this period
(frequency)
 How much total advertising is needed to accomplish reach and frequency
objectives (weight)
  How should the advertising budget be allocated over time (continuity)
 How close to the time of purchase should the target audience be exposed to the
advertising message (recency)
 What is the most economically justifiable way to accomplish objectives (cost)

Step 3: Media Strategy

Media strategy is the way we seek to realize our media objectives. When formulated
correctly, it enables an advertiser to rise above the clutter of ads, and stand out in the
competition.

Media strategy expects media planners to be creative in using the media. The use of
the media should complement and supplement each other. The ad should be consistent
with the editorial environment of the media. The placement should be strategic. The
media’s creative potential is fully used.

The ad should provoke readers to look at it more than once. It should be engaging
enough, say incorporation of a crossword puzzle in the copy of the ad. We can use non-
traditional media like a Tamasha show or a magic-show. Media can be used to build
credibility.
Factors Influencing Media Strategy
a) Target Market Profile
b) Nature of the Message
c) Geographic Market Priorities
d) Timing of Advertising
e) Reach/Frequency/Continuity

Step four: Selecting Media Mix

Media mix means the advertising strategy encompasses the use of more than one type
of advertising media to get its message across the target audience.
A combination of media types is known as the media mix. No advertiser can rely only on
one medium to reach his audience.
Step five: Budget Allocation and Media Buying
Budget Allocations: classifies spending my medium, region, and time of year

Media Buying
Occurs once plan is approved
Buyers work with media representatives to negotiate final prices for the various activities

Factors considered while selecting a media mix

The media plan which is derived from the marketing and advertising plan has set a
broad framework for media decisions. The execution of this plan depends upon the
following considerations:

1. Budget: A choice of media will depend to a large extent upon the size of the
advertising budget. Certain media types may be too expensive for the funds available.
For example: the cost of national transmission over Doordarshan may be too high for an
advertiser. The cost of maintaining a neon sign cannot be afforded by small budget
advertisers.

2. Competitor’s Strategy: Media decisions of one advertiser are influenced by the

competitor’s strategy. Some years ago only large advertisers used television in India.
But with the runaway success of Nirma detergent, manufacturers large or small used
television to gain maximum exposure, with the hope of creating another success story.
An advertiser tries to reach the same audience as its competitors. He may also attempt
to find specific target groups not reached by his competitors. In both these cases he
considers his competitor’s strategy before deciding his media mix.

3. Frequency v/s Reach. As explained in the earlier section, frequency and reach are
important considerations in the media plan. Frequency refers to the number of times the
advertiser reaches the same person, while reach refers to the total number of people
covered. The greater the frequency with which you reach the same person through
media selection, smaller the reach will be and vice –versa (assuming a limitation in the
size of the budget). An advertiser will need to know the quantitative data about media
audience in order to make more accurate frequency and reach decisions.

For example: If an advertiser uses radio, he may be able to afford to broadcast the
advertising jingle every 30 minutes, and this increases the frequency of the radio
listeners exposure to the advertised message. But the reach of this message is limited
and will not cover those who are not listening to the radio. With the same budget, the
advertiser can buy less radio time, place a few insertions in the print media and buy
some television time. This combination will reduce the frequency at which an individual
consumer is exposed to the advertised message but will increase its reach. Thus, there
is always a trade-off between these two considerations.

4. Increasing distributors’ support: Although consumer media are selected primarily

to affect the consumer, the impact of media upon distribution channels, that is the
middlemen, is also important. Effective use of advertising media lends support to the
middlemen’s selling efforts. Middlemen are more likely to support a brand that has
greater exposure in the local media. Retailer sometimes run their own tie-in advertising
along with the producer’s advertisement, in the same media. For example: The ads of
Vimal showrooms may appear along with the ads of Reliance Industries promoting
Vimal fabrics, in the same newspaper. Promotional efforts such as POP, display
material, hoardings and posters are also welcomed by retailers.

5. Continuity: A decision must be made about how long an advertisement campaign

should be run on one media. There is a cumulative advantage from continuity, as a
greater audience will be reached in Terms of both frequency and coverage by
advertisements continually placed in one medium. The same medium will have some
new audience. For products such as toothpaste, soaps, that are frequently re-
purchased, continuity is a more important consideration. But products that are
purchased infrequently may find it more suitable to use a variety of media in order to
reach varied audience. For example: the ads of Sintex water tanks.

6. Flexibility: The ability of the media to adapt to changing and specific needs of
advertisers is flexibility. Certain media allows such flexibility with respect to the
advertised message, the geographical coverage and the ad budget For example: the
times of India group of publication may offer advertisers the flexibility of placing ads in
different editions of the paper. So if, for instance, Parle’s find that competitive activity
has increased in Delhi, it may use the Delhi edition of Times of India to combat
competitor’s activity. Doordarshan offers very little flexibility, as there is a lengthy
procedure of getting the storyboard for the TV commercial approved by Doordarshan.

7. Franchise Position: Advertisers using a particular medium over a period of time may
enjoy special franchise positions. Special page positions in magazines and newspapers
may be reserved for them. For example: The back page of Business India may be
booked by Bajaj Auto while the inside back cover of India Today may be booked on a
long term basis by Wills Filter Cigarettes.
8. Standard of Acceptance and Codes of Ethics: Most media vehicles have codes of
ethics that set the standards of acceptance. For example: advertising of cigarettes in
banned on Doordarshan and radio while liquor advertising is banned altogether in India.
Though the print media in permitted to use cigarette advertising, certain magazines do
not accept ads of harmful products. Femina has not accepted the ads of Ms- the
cigarette brand targeted at women but Savvy has published these ads.

9. Cost Per Thousand: This is the most important consideration while making media
decisions. Although the cost is considered while fixing the budget, the concept of cost
per thousand is the accepted norm for measuring the media effectiveness. The formula
for computing cost per thousand is equal to Price of the medium to the
advertiser/Delivered audience (in thousands).
This formula has certain limitations. The delivered audience may not be the same as the
prospective customers. Adjustments to arrive at the prospective customers are possible
but this is not always easy to compute. Secondly, there is no data available to find out
whether the delivered audience has actually seen or heard the advertised message.

10. Creative considerations: Creative considerations such as the quality of

reproduction, the colour effect, special effects, have to be considered. The medium
must be appropriate for the ad message. For example: The ads for ice cream would be
reproduced better in colour and therefore black and white newsprint is not appropriate.
Media decisions have to be made in consultation with the creative team that has
actually produced the ad. Within the medium selected, decisions related to unit buying,
is also influenced by the creative team. There is a constant tug-of-war between the
creative team and the media team . the creative team wants larger space, more TV and
radio time and superior quality of POP material, while the media team along with the
finance department of the client looks for economy and maximizing the effect of every
rupee spent on the media.

11. The medium and Target Consumer Match: The media mix has to reach the target
consumer. It the advertiser wants to reach men between 25 and 55 who are
professional, the Economic Times will be obviously a more appropriate choice than
Femina. But sometimes matching consumer profiles with media characteristics
becomes a lot more difficult. For example: Media planners will find it difficult to decide
which kind of households can be reached by the Hindi feature film TV slot v/s the 9
O’clock serial slot. A thorough analysis of the target market will help in making this
match and will reduce wastage of media expenditure.

12. Language: In India this is an important consideration and depending upon which a
particular ethic group has to be reached a particular language newspaper, or television
and radio programme must be used.

13. Prestige of media: It is said that the prestige of the advertising medium is
transferred to the advertised product. When an ad appears in times of India, the image
of the newspaper is transferred to the product and this helps in building the brand
image. Sponsorship of prestigious programme such as the Oscar awards, Grammy
awards, World Cup matches, are also considered prestigious advertising opportunities.

14. The Editorial Environmental: Since the broadcast media , that is the radio and TV
media, are government controlled, they are not perceived to have independent editorial
policies. But the print media enjoys the freedom of press and each publication has its
individual editorial philosophy. The editorial environment in turn influences reader
profile. Advertisers would like to place their ads in publication having an appropriate
editorial environment. For instance, the ads of political parties have appeared in various
newspapers while the ads promoting brand name of liquor tend to use men’s magazines
as their vehicles.

15. Nature of the product or services and nature of the market to be covered:
Some products have niche markets and a special direct advertising medium will be
suitable for them. For example: Detergents for washing machines can be used only by
people having washing machines, but daily consumer products have a wider market
and hence may use mass media.
The geographical extent of the market has also to be considered. Is the market local,
national or international for example: The ads of Air India will appear both in national
media as well as international magazines and other media. But the ads of Indian
Airlines will probably use only national media.

16. Availability of Media Time and Space: Media time and space have to be booked
in advance. When an announcement is to be made immediately, the advertiser has little
choice but use the available media time and space. Most popular media slots have to
be booked months in advance. Media buying has become an important component of
media planning due to the cost constraints and increase in competitive activity.

DECIDING ON THE MEDIA

After choosing the message, the advertisers’ next task is to choose media to carry it.
Media selection involves finding the most effective media to deliver the desired number
of exposures to the target audience.
Rate: the number of different persons or households exposed to a particular media
schedule at least once during a specified time period.
Frequency: the number of times within the specified time period that an average
person or household is exposed to the message.
Impact: the qualitative value, of an exposure through a given medium.
The media planner has to figure out, within the given budget, the most effective
combination of reach, frequency, and impact. Reach is most important when launching
new products, extensions of well known brands, or infrequently purchased brands, or
going after an undefined target market. Frequency is most important where there are
strong competitors, a complex story to tell, higher consumer resistance, or a frequent –
purchase cycle.

Choosing among major media types

The media planner has to know the capacity of the various media types to deliver reach,
frequency, and impact. He should also evaluate the major advertising media along with
their cost, advantages, and limitations.
The media planners make choice among media categories by considering the variables
such as which the target audience is and what are their media habits, the product to be
advertised, the message to be conveyed, and the cost involved in all this.

Selecting specific vehicles:

Deciding on media timing: in choosing the media, the advertiser faces macro
scheduling problem and a micro scheduling problem. The macro scheduling problem
involves scheduling the advertising in relation to seasons and their business cycle. The
micro scheduling problem calls for allocating advertising expenditures within a short
period to obtain maximum impact. The most effective pattern depends upon the
communication objectives, in relation to the nature of the product, target customers,
distribution channels, and other marketing factors.
The timing pattern should consider three factors:
Buyer turnover: it expresses the rate at which new buyers enter the market, the higher
this rate the more continuous the advertising should be
Purchase frequency: it is the number of times during the period the average buyer
buys the product; the higher the purchase frequency, the more continuous the
advertising should be
Forgetting rate: it is the rate at which the buyer forgets the brand; the higher this rate,
the more continuous the advertising should be.

Deciding on the geographical location: a company has to decide how to allocate its
advertising budget over space as well as over time.

National buys: when it places ads on national TV networks or in nationality circulated

magazines.
Spot buys: when it buys TV time in just a few markets or in regional editions of
magazines.
Local buys: when it advertises in the local newspapers, radio, or outdoor sites.

TYPES OF MEDIA

The media are classified into two categories:

Above-the-line media: press, TV, outdoor, posters, cinema and radio. The recognized
agencies get commission from these media.

Below the line media: those who do not give commission to the ad agency. Examples
are direct mail, exhibitions and sales literature.

MEDIA CLASSES/VEHICLES
 Print media

Newspapers:
a) daily
b) Sunday
c) weekend supplement

Magazines:
(a) Consumer magazines: general interest or special interest.
(b) Business publications: trade publications, institutional publications, etc.

Electronic media

Radio: RADIO MIRCHI, RADIO CITY, ETC.

TELEVISION: channels like ZEE, AAJ TAK, STAR NEWS, etc.
Narrow cast media: video and cable TV, cinema, ad films.

Outdoor media:
Transit advertising media

Other media:
Specialty media: t-shirts, caps,etc.
Direct marketing.
Direct advertising: direct mail.

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF EACH MEDIA VEHICLE

PRINT MEDIA
Advertising in the print media is the oldest and largest in terms of advertising billing.
More than 50% of the space is devoted to the print ads. The print media has two
sources of income:
a) Circulation and subscription and
b) Advertising revenue.

Newspapers
There are several type of newspapers:
a) Daily
b) Weekly
c) Special interest
d) Evening, etc.

Newspapers can also be classified as regional, local, national, etc.

Each newspaper has its target audience. For example ECONOMIC TIMES targets
businessmen and the student community, INDIAN EXPRESS targets people who want
quality news, MID-DAY targets people with funky attitude, etc.

The marketers need to identify various target audiences and then use it as a medium of
communication.

Advantages Of Newspaper Advertising:

Local advertising possible: Newspapers have a lot of ads which are local and help the
companies to communicate with the local people. Only a few ads are national. E.g. in
the Mumbai edition of TOINS there are a lot of local ads like MARS RESTAURANT,
IMS CLASSES, etc.

Inexpensive medium when used selectively.

Wider reach in the future: due to the increasing literacy levels in INDIA, people have
started reading newspapers. This is a good sign and the marketers would find it easy to
reach wider audience. For instance TOINS has become the largest circulating English
newspaper in the world. This would lead to a larger audience.

System of tabloid inserts are gaining popularity. A multi page tabloid is inserted in
the newspapers and then is distributed by the news agencies along with the dailies.
Although the newspapers charge a fee, the fee is very nominal.

Reinforcement medium: the ads that appear in television hardly lasts for about 45
seconds. The brand features can be reinforced on the minds of the people through print
ads. This is because when the people read newspapers they tend to look at the
advertise very keenly. Thus they start building opinions about the brand. For instance,
the LG microwave ads were first shown on the television which was then followed in the
media.

Disadvantages Of Newspaper Advertising

Short life span: it only when the reader is reading the newspaper does he have a look
at the advertisement carefully. But after the newspaper is read then the person tends to
remember very little about the ad.

Quality of paper used: if the quality of the paper used is of bad quality then the print ad
appears in bad shape. This would downgrade the quality of the ad. Using better quality
paper can solve this. But the cost might increase. Some of the local language dailies
use very bad quality of paper.

Strategically awkward positions: sometimes the ad is not positioned in an area which

is highly visible. Such ads go unnoticed. If you try to put it is a strategic position then
your costs may increase.
ROP BASIS : sometimes the advertisement is placed on run-of-paper basis, which
means that the newspaper has the right to place the ad according to its own discretion.

Informal reading: newspapers are generally read casually. They are read in a hurry.
People might skip over an advertisement.

Clutter problem: sometimes the newspaper is so full of ads that the notice ability is
very low. In such a case the ad losses its value.

Magazines
Most magazines are weekly or fortnightly or monthly. They are in many ways different
from newspapers. The major difference being the class of people catered to. While
newspapers cater to the mass, magazines have a niche audience. For example TOINS
is circulated to 10 lakh people daily , while a magazine like BUSINESS WORLD has an
audience that has interest in knowing about the current business happenings. A
newspaper is read daily or on the day it appears while the magazine is read over a long
period of time.

Classes of magazines:
One classification is on the basis of size. Magazine may be of pocket size, standard
size, etc.
Another basis of classification is the type of readership. i.e. biz magazines, sports
magazines, etc.
Then comes the classification on the basis of frequency of publication. They are weekly,
fortnightly, monthly, etc.
Magazines could be information providers like INDIA TODAY, CSR, etc. or it could be
leisure type like SPORTSTAR, FILMFARE, etc.

Advantages of magazine advertising:

Attention of the readers: as the magazine is read over a period of week, fortnight, etc.
they tend to attract the attention of the readers. They are read not at one sitting but at
various time intervals. Therefore the reader tends to look at the ad frequently.

Quality of paper: the quality of paper that is used in magazines is very good and the ad
looks very attracting. The colour and art is clearly reproduced.

Good supplement to TV: magazines reach special target groups which is not possible
only through TV ads. It provides more information to the interested audience.

High growth rate of special interest magazines have led to a spurt in the ads appearing
in the magazines.

Disadvantages of magazine advertising

Time limitation: for the ad to appear in the magazine the ad has to be planned in
advance which is very time consuming. Also high costs are involved for creating a
creative print ad.

Not suitable for small scale sector: the businessmen who don’t have large
businesses and those who concentrate on local markets find the magazine as an
unprofitable medium to advertise. It is only suitable for those businesses that have a
nationwide network and reach.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA

Television:
Television was introduced in India on September 15,1959. Previously only Delhi had TV
transmission center but later the centers spread across India. Now a days more and
more companies prefer to advertise on television because it creates a visual appeal and
also television enables demonstrative effect. It is because of television that the MNCs
have been successful. After LPG the reach of television has increased tremendously. It
has changed the way the rural people perceive things. The rural people have also
started using the new tech products and this has really led to the growth in the GDP.

Characteristics of commercial TV:

a) TV is a home and a family medium.
b) Viewing TV is effortless.
c) National channels like DD enable to reach national audiences while international
channels like STAR enable to reach global audiences.
d) The viewers can closely associate with the product.

Advantages Of Television Advertising:

TV has immense effect: no other medium can compete with TV when it comes to
effective presentation. It attracts the attention of the viewers very easily. It also arouses
interest. Audio as well as visual appeal.

Role model advantage: here the advertisers have celebrities as endorsers. These
celebs are role models of the youth and the youth always ape to be like them. To
associate them with the brand means that the youth will be tempted to buy that brand.
E.g. in case of FIAT PALIO it has become a hit car because of SACHIN’S image.

Reaches vast audience: the LPG era has led to a boom in television sales resulting
into high penetration levels. Even the smallest retailer watches TV and he may be lured
to stock a particular product.

Creation of AIDA: advertising in TV attracts Attention that creates an Interest and

Desire that can lead to Action in the form of final purchase.

Demonstration effect: advertising helps companies to show the demo effect so that
people know the uses of the product. This is useful to companies who are into white
goods business. E.g. the washing machine ads generally demonstrate as to how to use
the machine.

Creative use of environment: sometimes the sponsored program can be

effectively used to produce a commercial. E.g: KSBKBT. In KSBKBT the company
KOPRAN PHARMACEUTICALS advertised the brand SMYLE by having SMRITI
MALHOTRA (TULSI) as brand endorser.

Demerits of TV advertising :

Time consuming to produce an ad: it is very time consuming to produce a TV ad. The
company has to hire a production company. After this is done there is a long procedure
of selecting the models, the location of shoot, etc. Therefore if not rightly produced the
ad looks crude.

TV ads alone do not suffice: in order to make the campaign successful TV ads have
to be supported with other media like print or radio.

TV ads should have high frequency: this is because by the time an ad for other
product appears the viewer forgets the ad for a particular brand. So it is necessary to
penetrate the minds of the viewer and create brand awareness.

Immobile medium: radio and other print media is portable and can be carried
anywhere. TV is fixed and impossible to carry places. It can penetrate only those places
where there is a TV.

Difficult to gain inquiries: the problem is that the television ads last only for a few
seconds. So it is difficult for the viewer to know about the product in that moment of
time. It is difficult for him to note the inquiry number in a spate of a second. For eg: very
few people remember the ASIAN PAINTS help line number.
Costly affair: it is very costly for producing a TV ad. Professionals have to be hired and
they charge high fees. The COLA giants pay more than a 10 million rupees to its
celebrities.

Statutory controls: the TV ads have to adhere to the I&B rules. Surrogate
advertisements have been banned. The ads of liquor companies have been banned.
Also some ads like the CLOSE-UP ad having MARC ROBINSON created furore.

Radio

Till recently, the importance of radio was not realized in a country like India. In fact
Radio as a medium has far greater importance than TV. It is the “real” mass medium.
Radio is very easy to use and does not require technical abilities. It is the least cost
form of communication. Radio was the medium that helped in spreading the messages
of various freedom fighters during independence. 90% of the rural India has access to
Radio.

Advantages of radio advertising:

Largest reach: 90% of India has access to Radio which is unmatched by any other
media. Radio is not only the medium of hearing news but also is a source of
entertainment and advertising for the rural masses.

Low cost medium of communication: radio is the least cost medium and it helps to
reach mass audience with various backgrounds. Also radio ads can be produced
quickly.

Low literacy rates mean that the people hardly read newspapers and radio is the only
medium that they can understand. They can’t afford a TV set. Therefore radio is the
most popular.
Disadvantages of radio advertising:

Misunderstanding: sometimes there might be a misconception regarding the radio ad

as it is only heard. In television the chances of such misconception is less as it is audio
as well as visual.

RJ needs training: it is very important that the Radio Jockey is trained enough to
deliver the ad. Sometimes the voice really matters. If the voice is irritating then there is a
chance that the campaign may flop.

No proper research available: no proper research has been available on the area of
radio listening. So there could be a problem for the marketers in the sense that they
might advertise on wrong channel at a wrong time.

OUTDOOR AND TRANSIT MEDIA

Outdoor advertising is the oldest form of advertising. The modern outdoor media include
outdoor advertising in several form such as posters, billboards, hoarding, roadside
signs, highway advertising; and transit advertising placed on vehicles and rail, bus and
air terminals.

Advantages of outdoor media:

1) The outdoor offers long life.
2) It offers geographic selectivity. The marketer can vary the ad message
according to the particular segment of the market. The ads can be local, regional,
national and even international.
3) The advertiser can incorporate the names and addresses of his local dealers
or agents at the bottom of the poster. These dealer imprint strips are called
snipes.
4) The outdoor ads offer impact. Shoppers are exposed to last minute reminder
by the stores when they drive down the lane where the store is located. Since the
 display is huge it creates an impact on the prospective consumer. SHOPPERS
STOP generally follows this type of advertising.
5) Outdoor ad allows displaying the slogan, product name and logo properly
which are an integral part of the product.

Disadvantages of outdoor media:

1. Outdoor advertising when employed on a national basis proves to be
expensive.
2. Outdoor advertising is not selective in the sense that once the outdoor ad
is put it is seen even by people who are not the target audience.
3. Blind spot is the most dangerous thing marketers fear. The term is used to
refer to a campaign that is sustained for a long time. The audience gets
bored seeing at the same hoardings. As in the case of FROOTI the
DIGEN VERMA campaign bored the people. AMUL is one of the
companies that constantly innovates.

Advantages of transit advertising:

1. Low cost medium.
2. It offers a sure exposure and repetitiveness
3. Reaches a large population
4. One of the recent examples of transit advertising is the PRIYA GOLD biscuit ads
behind the BEST bus tickets.

Disadvantages:
1. Cannot reach the rich urbanites that move about in their own automobiles.
2. Direct marketing, cinema and miscellaneous media
3. Direct marketing is defined as any activity whereby you reach your prospect or
customer directly as an individual – or they respond to you directly.
4. Advertising can initiate a sale but it is only through DM that the sale is finally
made. DM also helps in maintaining customer relationships.
 5. One time communication does not built a relationship. We have to get married to
our customers. This is possible largely due to DM. DM is affordable only when
the margins in the business can afford the cost of sustained contact. DM helps in
long term.
6. There is a huge opportunity for DM in India. DM may exploit new technologies
like E-mail, TV, etc. For DM to be successful the customer database has to be
really good. The pharmaceutical industry is most acquainted with this type of
marketing.

Cinema advertising is when the ads are shown in the movie theatres before the start of
the movie, interval and at the end.

The following are the merits of cinema advertising:

Cinema ensures captive audience: the people coming into cinema halls come with their
own wish and their enthusiasm to see a movie is very high. they are very engrossed into
the screen as soon as they arrive.
Cinema is ideal media for niche marketing: the advertiser an reach the audience of his
choice.
Economical: the cost is very negligible.
INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS:

For many years, the promotional function in most companies was dominated by mass
media advertising. Companies relied primarily on their ad agencies for guidance in
nearly all areas of marketing communications. Most marketers did use additional
promotional and marketing communication tool, but sales promotion and direct
marketing agencies as well as package design firms were generally viewed as auxiliary
services and generally used on a per project basis. PR agencies were used to manage
the organizations publicity, image and affairs with relevant publics on an ongoing basis
but were not viewed as integral participants in the marketing communication process.
Many marketers built strong barriers around the various marketing and promotional
functions and planned and managed them as separate practices, with different budgets,
different views of the market, and different goals and objectives. These companies
failed to recognize that the wide range of marketing and promotional tools must be
coordinated to communicate effectively and present a consistent image to target
markets.

EVOLUTION OF IMC
During the 1980s, many companies came to see the need for more of a strategic
integration of their promotional tools. These firms began moving towards the process of
integrated marketing communication (IMC), which involves coordinating the various
promotional elements and other marketing activities that communicate with the firm’s
customer. As marketers embraced the concept of IMC, THEY BEGAN ASKING THEIR
AD AGENCIES to coordinate the use of a variety of promotional tools rather than relying
primarily on media advertising. A number of companies also began to look beyond
traditional advertising agencies and use other type of promotional specialists to develop
and implement various components of their promotional plans.

Many agencies respond to the call for synergy among the various promotional tools by
acquiring PR, Sales Promotion, and direct marketing companies and touting themselves
as IMC agencies that offer one stop shopping for all of their clients’ promotional needs.
THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING AN INTEGRATED MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

REVIEW OF THE MARKETING PLAN

Examine the overall marketing plan and objectives
Role of Advertising and Promotions
Competitive analysis
Assess environmental influences

ANALYSIS OF PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM SITUATION

A. Internal analysis
Promotional department organization
Firm’s ability to implement a promotional program.
Agency evaluation and selection
Review of previous program results

B. External analysis
Consumer behaviour analysis
Market segmentation and target marketing
Market positioning

ANALYSIS OF THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Analyze receiver’s response processes.
Analyze source, message, channel factors.
Establish communication goals and objectives.

BUDGET DETERMINATION
Set tentative marketing communication budgets.
Allocate tentative budget.
DEVELOP INTEGRATED MARKETIN COMMUNICATOIN PROGRAM
Advertising
Set advertising objectives
Determine advertising budget
Develop advertising message
Develop advertising media strategy

Direct marketing
Set direct marketing objectives
Determine direct marketing budget
Develop direct marketing message
Develop direct marketing strategy

Interactive/Internet marketing
Set Interactive/Internet marketing objectives
Determine Interactive/Internet marketing budget
Develop Interactive/Internet marketing message
Develop Interactive/Internet marketing media strategy

Sales Promotion
Set Sales Promotion objectives
Determine Sales Promotion budget
Develop Sales Promotion message
Develop Sales Promotion media strategy

Public Relations/Publicity
Set Public Relations/Publicity objectives
Determine Public Relations/Publicity budget
Develop Public Relations/Publicity message
Develop Public Relations/Publicity media strategy
Personal Selling/Sales
Set Personal Selling/Sales objectives
Determine Personal Selling/Sales budget
Develop Sales message.
Develop selling roles and responsibilities

INTEGRATE AND IMPLEMENT MARKETING COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES.

Integrate promotional mix strategies
Create and produce ads
Purchase media time, space, etc.
Design and implement direct marketing programs.
Design and distribute sales promotion materials.
Design and implement public relations/publicity programs
Design and implement interactive/internet marketing programs.

MONITOR, EVALUATE, AND CONTROL IMC PROGRAM

Evaluate promotional program results/effectiveness

Take measures to control and adjust promotional strategies

PROS AND CONS OF THE IMC

It has been argued that the concept of integrated marketing is nothing new, particularly
in smaller companies and communication agencies that have been coordinating a
variety of promotional tools for years.
And larger advertising agencies have been trying to gain more of their client’s
promotional business for over 20 years. However in the past, various services were run
as separate profit centers. Each was motivated to push its own expertise and pursue its
goals rather than develop truly integrated marketing programs. Moreover, the creative
specialists in many agencies resisted becoming involved in sales promotion or direct
marketing. They preferred to concentrate on developing magazine ads or television
commercials rather than designing coupons or direct mail pieces.
Proponents of the integrating marketing services agency (the one –stop shop) contend
that the past problems are being solved and the various individuals in the agencies and
subsidiaries are learning to work together to deliver a consistent message to the client’s
customers. They argue that maintaining control of the entire promotional process
achieves better synergy among each of the communications program elements. They
also note that it is more convenient for the clients to coordinate all of its marketing
efforts.-media advertising, direct mail, special events, sales promotions and public
relations- through one agency. An agency with integrated marketing capabilities can
create a single image for the product or service and address everyone from wholesalers
to consumers, with one voice.
But not everyone wants to turn the entire IMC program over to one agency. Opponents
say the providers become involved in political wrangling over budgets, do not
communicate with each other as well and as they should, and do not achieve synergy.
they also claim that the agency’s efforts to control all the aspects of the promotional
program are nothing more than an attempt to hold on to the business that might
otherwise be lost to independent providers. They note that synergy and economies of
scale, while nice in theory, have been difficult to achieve, and competition and conflict
among agency subsidiaries have been a major problem.
Many companies use a variety of vendors for communication functions, choosing the
specialist they believe is best suited for each promotional task, be it advertising, sales
promotions or public relations. Many marketers are of this view that, “why should the
organization confine itself to one resource when there is a tremendous pool of fresh
ideas available?”
 EVALUATING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS

Good planning and control of advertising depends on measures of advertising

effectiveness. Most of the money is spent by agencies on pre-testing ads, and much
less is spent on evaluating their effectiveness. Most advertisers try to measure the
communication effect of an ad – that is, its potential effect on awareness, knowledge, or
preference. They would also like to measure the ad’s sales effect.
There are two ways of measuring advertising effectives. They are:

1. Pre-testing
2. Post-testing

5Pre-testing: This is the test of the copy before it is given to the media.
The purpose of pre-testing is as follows:
1. To spot errors in the copy
2. To make communication more effective
3. To design the ad better
4. To reduce wastage in advertising
5. To ensure that the money is spent prudently.

How you Pre-test the ad copy.

Following are the different methods for firstly, pre-testing of print a Following are the
different methods for firstly, pre-testing of print ads:
1. Checklist method:
Within this we have certain issues like readability or audibility. It is a simple and a
speedy process. You could ask questions like:
• Is the copy based on the briefing?
• Is it interesting?
• Is it interactive?
• Is the story line complete and fluid in its completion?
• Are there pauses and breaks while reading?
• Does it end interestingly?
• Was it able to hold the attention?
There are quite a number of other questions that you could possibly have. The method
is however suitable only for the body text and not for any other element.

2. Consumer jury test:

Here the ranking of the advertisements are done by a group of people called the jurors.
a) The order of merit:
The point system is given to an average of 4-5 copies that they are given to rank. The
order of merit is the one, which determine which is the best advertisement by the jurors
and which has been rated as the worst. The points given by the jurors are then added
together to determine which is the ad, which has got the maximum points. This is the
one that is the chosen one.

b) Paired comparison.
In a Paired Comparison at a time two ad copies are compared. It is one-to-one
comparison amongst test ads. More than six ad copies can also be compared by this
method.
Every single ad is compared with all others, but only two (a pair) is considered at one
period of time. Sources are recorded on cards. They are summed up. The winner gets
the highest score.

The other ads are rated according to their scores after summation. It is easier
technique than order of merits. Till ten copies, there is good accuracy; which later
decreases. The number of comparisons one is required to make with the help of the
following formula:

3. Portfolio test:
Here some dummy ads are mixed with regular ads. They are then put in a portfolio. The
consumer samples each advertisements and judges, which is the best one. In case the
selected ad is the dummy one, then the regular ad is changed or modified in the manner
of the dummy ad.

4. Mock magazine test:

This is very similar to the portfolio test, however the ads are put in an actual magazine
and is exposed to the consumer. The recall test is then taken to adjudge which is the
best ad.

5. Perceptual Meaning Studies (PMS):

It is a method that is uses time exposure to test the ads. Tachistoscope is an instrument
that may be used in this test. The respondent sees the ad for a pre-determined time,
and then is subjected to a recall test-product, brand illustration and the main copy.

Where the pre-testing for the broadcasting ads are concerned,

we have the following types:
1. Trailer tests:
A real life like shopping environment is created to measure consumer behavior. One
group is given coupons to purchase selective brands, and the other group is not given
the coupons. The redemption rate of the coupons may give an idea about the
effectiveness of the test ads.

2. Theatre test:
A set of captive audience is sent a questionnaire. Later they are sent free ads to view
the test ads in a theatre and then again are administered a questionnaire. It assesses
product, brand and the ad theme. The greatest advantage of theater tests is the control
over the context in which the ad appears.
Because of this, it is possible to attribute the recall to the test ad rather than
uncontrolled variation that plague the traditional tests. The downside with theater tests
is that it is a forced exposure method, which tends to make the processing of the ad
more artificial.

3. Live telecast tests:

Here the inaccuracies of artificial testing environment are not encountered. Ads are put
on air either by narrow casting or live telecasting. These ads are test ads, and not the
regular ads. Later, viewers are interviewed to know their reactions.

4. In-home projection tests: A movie projector screens the ads in the setting of the
consumer’s home. He is then questioned before and after the exposure. We can then
assess the strong and the weak points of the ads.

5. Clutter test
Commercials are shown with non competing control ads to determine attitude shifts and
detect weaknesses. In this Method of pretesting commercials are grouped with
noncompetitive control commercials and shown to prospective customers to measure
their effectiveness in gaining attention, increasing brand awareness and
comprehension, and causing attitude shifts

7Post-testing:

8This is the testing, which is done after the ad copy has come out in the media and the
audience has seen the advertisement.

9Post-testing typically involves interviewing readers to determine how many remember seeing a
particular ad, if they read it, and what they remember about it.
10 Post-testing measures the following factors:
 Has the advertisement campaign result in sales?
 Has it created memorability for the brand name?
  Has it created positive image and a favorable attitude towards the company and the
brand?
 How much advertising is necessary on a continued basis, to sustain the same level of
consumers’ interest in the brand?
 Are the consumers convinced that the brand is superior of competitors

Few of the methods of this type of tests are:

Recall tests: In this type of tests the individuals are asked to answer about the ads
entirely on the basis of their memory. It could be aided recall, where they are given few
cues to help them recall and unaided recall, which of course is based on memory alone.
Recognition test: These are also known as readership tests, whereby it is seen
whether they buy the product upon seeing the ads. Importantly, the individual has to
qualify as the reader of that particular issue.
Triple association test: Here the respondent is given certain cues wherein he can
relate to a certain brand. For example – “Thanda Matlab”, if the answer is coca cola,
then it is correct. And if the respondent is able to connect the product with the company
then it is a triple association.
Sales effect tests: They measure the various stages of buyer awareness, preference,
buying intention and actual purchase in relation to actual advertising effort.
Sales results tests: The additional sales generated by the ads are recorded. It is
difficult however to correlate an increase in sales to advertising alone.
Enquires test: These are couponed ads of consumer durables. They invite consumers
to send back the coupon to seek a demo or more details. The number of enquires
determine the effectiveness of the ads.
Attitude test: Attitudes show our predisposition towards objects, ideas, people and
places. They indicate overall feelings. The change in attitude as a result of advertising is
assessed. The assumption is that a favorable attitude towards a product will lead to a
purchase. Most ads are designed either to reinforce or change the existing attitudes.
 Branding

What is Brand Equity?

Brand equity is a set of assets linked to a brand’s name and symbol that adds to the
value provided by a product or service to a firm. Brand equity is a set of assets and the
brand manger’s job is to create and enhance these assets.

The major asset categories are:

Brand awareness is the strength of a brand’s presence in the consumer’s mind.

Brand Loyalty refers to the commitment of consumers towards the brand.

Perceived quality reflects the quantum of goodness felt by the consumer on buying it.
Associations that consumers make with the brand support brand equity. These
associations may be product attributes, a particular symbol, or even a celebrity
spokesperson.

There are many different definitions of Brand Equity, but they do have several
factors in common:

Monetary Value: The amount of additional income expected from a branded product
over and above what might be expected from an identical, but unbranded product. For
example, grocery stores frequently sell unbranded versions of name brand products.
The same companies produce the branded and unbranded products, but they carry a
generic brand or store brand label like Hawkins. Store brands sell for significantly less
than their name brand counterparts, even when the contents are identical. This price
differential is the monetary value of the brand name.
Intangible: The intangible value associated with a product that cannot be accounted for
by price or features. Pepsi and Coke have created many intangible benefits for its
products by associating them with film stars. Children and adults want to consume their
products to feel some association with these stars. It is not the ingredients or the
features that drive demand for their products, but the marketing image that has been
created. Buyers are willing to pay extremely high price premiums over lesser-known
brands, which may offer the same, or better, product quality and features.
Perceived Quality: The overall perceptions of quality and image attributed to a product,
independent of its physical features. Mercedes and BMW have established their brand
names as synonymous with high-quality, luxurious automobiles. Years of marketing,
image building, brand nurturing and quality manufacturing has lead consumers to
assume a high level of quality in everything they produce. Consumers are likely to
perceive Mercedes and BMW as providing superior quality to other brand name
automobiles, even when such a perception is unwarranted.

In short, Brand Equity is a set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and
symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by the product or service to a
firm and/or to that of firm’s customers. So overall we can say Brand Equity incorporates
the ability to provide added value to your company’s products and services.

This added value can be used to your company’s advantage to charge price premiums,
lower marketing costs and offer greater opportunities for customer purchase. A badly
mismanaged brand can actually have negative Brand Equity, meaning that potential
customers have such low perceptions of the brand that they prescribe less value to the
product than they would if they objectively assessed all its attributes/features.

One of the best examples of Brand Equity is in the soft drink industry. Without a brand
name and all of the marketing money that has gone into, Coca-Cola would be nothing
more than flavored water. Due to the company’s long-term marketing efforts and
protection, enhancement and nurturing of their brand name, Coke is one of the most
recognizable brands in the world and Pepsi in India.

How Do I Use Brand Equity to My Advantage?

a) Brand Equity can provide strategic advantages to your company in many ways:
 b) Allow you to charge a price premium compared to competitors with less brand
equity. Strong brand names simplify the decision process for low-cost and non-
essential products.
c) Brand name can give comfort to buyers unsure of their decision by reducing their
perceived risk.
d) Maintain higher awareness of your products.
e) Use as leverage when introducing new products. Often interpreted as an
indicator of quality.
f) High Brand Equity makes sure your products are included in most consumers’
consideration set.
g) Your brand can be linked to a quality image that buyers want to be associated
with. Can lead to greater loyalty from customers. Offer a strong defense against
new products and new competitors.
h) Can lead to higher rates of product trial and repeat purchasing due to buyers’
awareness of your brand, approval of its image/reputation and trust in its quality.

Brand fatigue:
“Brand fatigue” hits most companies when they become complacent, arrogant and start
milking their brands for all they are worth. Do not do it beyond a certain limit.

All greatest and best recognized brands tend to be long-lived. The best brands would
fall off their perches if they weren’t nurtured. The ‘Brands-anti-wrinkle formula’ is the
understanding of the changing consumer mind and reformulating brand strategies from
time to time while retaining the age-old ethical values.

The biggest challenge to a brand is to help it remain as relevant to its customers as it

was yesterday.

The five most classic traps that brands conscious companies should avoid, are:
 a) A brand can’t be much too late,
b) has to liberate itself enough not to miss an opportunity,
c) learn how to deal with consumer disconnect,
d) ensure that brand consistency is across all multiple touch points and
e) Move ahead from the fear of big bets.”
While the oldest and most trusted of brands need to continually evolve themselves as a
mechanism of process-building, they need to pull up their socks to the changing
lifestyles and definitions of consumer mindset.

Brand Personality
Based on the premise that brands can have personalities in much the same way as
humans, Brand Personality describes brands in terms of human characteristics. Brand
personality is seen as a valuable factor in increasing brand engagement and brand
attachment, in much the same way as people relate and bind to other people. Much of
the work in the area of brand personality is based on translated theories of human
personality and using similar measures of personality attributes and factors

Many of the world’s most powerful brands spend a great deal of time putting personality
into their brands. It is the personality of a brand that can appeal to the four functions of a
Person’s mind. For example, people make judgments about products and companies in
personality terms. They might say, “I don’t think that company is very friendly,” “I feel
uneasy when I go into that branch,” “I just know that salesmen is not telling the truth
about that product,” or “That offer doesn’t smell right to me”.

Their minds work in a personality driven way. Given that this is true, then how can a
company create a personality for its product or for itself? The answer lies in the choice
and application of personality values and characteristics.

Values and Characteristics of Brand Personality

People’s personalities are determined largely through the values and beliefs they have,
and other personality characteristics they develop. An example of a value or belief is
honesty. Many people believe in being honest in everything they do and say. An
example of a characteristic is confidence. This is not a belief, but more of a behavior.
There are, of course, many values/beliefs and characteristics that a person may have,
but there are some that are particularly likeable. It is to these likeable values and
characteristics that people are inevitably attracted. Examples of these include
dependability, trustworthiness, honesty, reliability, friendliness, caring, and fun-loving.

Some of the examples of brand personality might be as follows:

1. Down-to-earth, family oriented, genuine, old-fashioned (Sincerity). This might
describe brands like Hallmark, Kodak, and even Coke. The relationship might be
similar to one that exists with a well-liked and respected member of the family.

2. Spirited, young, up-to-date, outgoing (Excitement). In the soft drink category, Pepsi
fits this mold more than Coke. Especially on a weekend evening, it might be enjoyable
to have a friend who has these personality characteristics.

3. Accomplished, influential, competent (Competence). Perhaps Hewlett-Packard and

the Wall Street Journal might fit this profile. Think of a relationship with a person whom
you respect for their accomplishments, such as a teacher, minister or business leader;
perhaps that is what a relationship between a business computer and its customer
should be like.

4. Pretentious, wealthy, condescending (Sophistication). For some, this would be

BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus (with gold trim) as opposed to the Mazda Miata or the VW
Golf.
The relationship could be similar to one with a powerful boss or a rich relative.
5. Athletic and outdoorsy (Ruggedness). Nike (versus LA Gear), Marlboro (versus
Virginia Slims), and ICICI (versus State Bank of India) are examples. When planning an
outing, a friend with outdoorsy interests would be welcome.

Two elements thus affect an individual’s relationship with a brand. First, there is the
relationship between the brand-as person and the customer, which is analogous to the
relationship between two people. Second, there is the brand personality-that is, the type
of person the brand represents. The brand personality provides depth, feelings and
liking to the relationship. Of course, a brand-customer relationship can also be based on
a functional benefit, just as two people can have a strictly business relationship.

Brand Image
The perception of your product or your brand by the consumer. Variety may be the
spice of life, but not when it comes to marketing your business-especially when you’re
creating a brand image to set you apart from the competition.

The image basically expresses a way of a consumer thinks about the brand and the
feelings the brand arouses when the consumer thinks about it. On the basis of these
characteristics, which the consumer associates with the brand, the company can build a
competitive advantage for its brand.

What sort of image should our brand have?

Before answering this question it is important to take into account several factors and
market circumstances: company goals, consumer wishes and expectations, trade
groups and several other groups. A company builds its brand image through trade
communication with its consumers. That is how a company informs the consumer of
what the brand represents what its values are, what the company is offering or
guaranteeing the consumer, what its advantages are, its qualities etc. The consumers
interpret all obtained information and form a subjective perception of the brand or its
image
Why research the brand image?
Understanding a brand image is of key importance to long-term management of a
brand. It is also important how the consumers formed the brand and what kind of
relationship was formed with the brand - what the brand means to them and how they
have accepted it. Understanding the relationship between consumers and brands can
help a company control its successful brand positioning and the efficiency of
advertising.

How do we research the image?

The brand image is formed in the long-term and represents a non-conscious and
“untouchable” area, which needs to be researched using projective researching
methods that help the consumer to overcome certain obstacles and limitations as well
helping him to be inspired in the world of brand names. The consumer does therefore
not only focus on the brand, but mainly on his experience with it and on its usual users.
He focuses on the opportunities, which are most suitable for the specific brand and what
sort of image the brand presents etc.

We are able to research and describe the brand from various perspectives. We obtain
many different associations, ideas, benefits and people whom the consumer in some
way connects to brands, which need to be suitably and correctly interpreted. It is
important to define the key characteristics and values, which are connected to a specific
brand by the consumer. Relevant findings show results of long-term management of a
brand and represent key dimensions on which the competitive advantage of a brand is
based
 Role of Public relation in developing corporate Image
Corporate image:
The image which is conjured up by mention of a company's name. This can be positive
or negative, weak or strong, and it is argued by some that it is the sole purpose of any
public relations campaign.

A corporate image refers to how a corporation is perceived. It is a generally accepted

image of what a company "stands for". The creation of a corporate image is an exercise
in perception management. It is created primarily by marketing experts who use public
relations and other forms of promotion to suggest a mental picture to the public.
Typically, a corporate image is designed to be appealing to the public, so that the
company can spark an interest among consumers, create share of mind, generate
brand equity, and thus facilitate product sales.

A corporation's image is not solely created by the company: Other contributors to a

company's image could include news media, journalists, labour unions, environmental
organizations, and other NGOs.

Corporations are not the only form of organization that create these types of images.
Governments, charitable organizations, criminal organizations, religious organizations,
political organizations, and educational organizations all tend to have a unique image,
an image that is partially deliberate and partially accidental, partially self-created and
partially exogenous.

Corporate image and product positioning

A corporate image should be consistent with the positioning of the company's product,
product line, or brand. Any incongruency between the overall corporate image and the
positions of individual product offerings will be confusing to potential customers and will
tend to reduce sales revenue. For example, an oil company that has the image of being
environmentally unfriendly will not be successful selling products that they try to position
as "green". A company in such a situation should either: withdraw from the "green
market", invest in promotional activities that will recast their corporate image in a
greener hue, and/or follow a more environmentally friendly path. A good overall
corporate image can be seen as the sum of all the images associated with the firm's
individual product positions.

The corporate name and logo must also be consistent with the overall corporate image.
If you wish to craft a scientific/technical/innovative corporate image you would not call
your company Mystic Sunchild, nor would you use a logo like the NBC peacock.

Likewise with advertising themes and distribution partners; they must also be consistent
with your overall corporate image. If, for example, you wish to create a luxury/high-end
corporate image, you should not distribute yourde products through Walmart nor use
slapstick advertising themes.

A successful corporate image must also be believable. That is, the image must be
relatively close to your actual behaviours to be credible.

Basic principles of corporate PR

Corporate public relations seek to project the image and identity of the organization.
Based on the facts and figures as well as on the subjective impressions and feelings
,image itself is a product of public mind .in order to project the identity of the
organization , the PR needs to know both – facts that people know as well as the
impressions that they carry about the organization . Therefore corporate PR manages
the reputation of the organization.

Corporate image and identity needs constant bolstering as the process is dynamic. In its
efforts to gain commitment the PR makes commitment the PR makes a comprehensive
communication plan and gets into the act of managing the strategic asset
Today business and industry have new bottom-line – public acceptance, therefore PR
has to respond with a communication policy whose bottom line is credibility. In this
connection the corporate PR practices must meet the generally accepted standards of
public approval.

The following are a few essential guidelines of corporate public relations.

1. Corporate public relations are a share responsibility and therefore must be
truthful and believable.
2. As a ‘caring entity ‘ and a ‘ good citizen ‘ ,PR believes that corporate public
relations programmes is an investment in the image building of the organization.
3. PR is never open to and responsive to public concern
4. PR recognizes that ones own views is subjective and never influence the
organization to take corporate convictions for reality.
5. In terms of corporate communication PR thinks of sharing with the community the
values which it uploads and for which it wants to be known.
6. corporate communication is a faith and a commitment which under no
circumstances can be compromised
7. corporate PR always believes and therefore never subscribes to any crash
communication plan
8. Finally PR maintains excellent communication relationships both at the corporate
and at the unit levels with the internal as well as the external publics.

Image and Identity:

As organization transmits messages to the publics on a sustained basis. It is the

reception of the message which goes to create the intended image. Corporate
communication is the process that translates an identity into an image.

In brief corporate image refers to the image that a company has acquired with the public
whereas corporate identity refers to the image a company strives to achieve, in order to
build a reputation with its public.
In this context every company needs a mission. This mission should be the framework
for business and all its activities. The mission is the glue that holds the company
together. Here, the PR and its communication strategies come into focus. If the
objectives and mission of the organization have to be accomplished, the corporate body
must communicate short-term goals, long range objectives and even the total mission of
the organization.

Inadequate communications results in an ambiguous corporate image .it may lead to a

breakdown in co-ordination and elements in an organization.

PR role in image and identity

PR attempts to create the desired image by its involvements in all the factors of
corporate identification programmes .

The following is the check list for image communication factors for the corporate
PR .
1. Name of the organizations – divisions and subsidiaries.
2. The logo factor – symbols in use.
3. Advertising and promotion.
4. company publications –including annual reports and house journals
5. company assets –well maintained office production units
6. company packaging – labels and tags
7. company signs – at public places offices and production units
8. Company stationery –forms letterheads, cards etc.
Sales promotion
Sales promotion has been defined as:
a “direct inducement “ that offers distribution or the ultimate consumers with the primary
objective of creating an immediate sale.
Marketing communication activities, other than advertising, personal selling, and public
relations, in which a short-term incentive motivates a purchase.
“Sales Promotion is a Marketing Discipline that Utilizes a Variety of Incentive
Techniques to Structure Sales-Related Programs Targeted to Consumers, Trade,
and/or Sales Levels that Generate a Specific, Measurable Action or Response for a
Product or Service.”

Important aspects of Sales promotion

1. Extra incentives is the key element in sales promotion
2. Sales promotion is essentially an acceleration tool designed to speed up the setting
process & maximize sales volume.
3. It can be targeted to different parties in the marketing channel

Objectives of Sales Promotion

1. Obtaining Trial & repurchase
One of the most important uses of SP is to encourage consumers to try a new product
or service tools have become an important part of new brand introduction strategy. The
labels of initial price can be increased through sampling, coupons & refund orders. The
success of a new brand depends not only on getting initial trial but also on inducing a
reasonable percentage of people who try the brand to repurchase it & establish on-
going purchase pattern.

2. Increasing consumption of an established brand:

SP can generate some new interest in an established brand to help increase sales or
defend market share against competitors. One way to increase product consumption Is
by identifying new users for the brand. Another strategy for increasing sales of an
established brand is to use promotion that attracts new users of the product category or
users of a competitive brand. Eg. VIM Bar challenge.

3. Defending current customers:

A company can use SP techniques in several ways to retain its customer base. One
way to load them with the product, taking them out of the market for some time. Special
price promotions, coupons or bonus packs can encourage consumers to stock up on
the brand.

4. Targeting specific market segment:

Many marketers are finding that SP tools such as contests& sweepstakes, events,
coupons & sampling are very effective ways to reach specific geographic, demographic,
psychographic& ethnic markets. SP programs can also be targeted through specific
users-status groups such as non-users or light users v/s heavy users.

5. Enhancing Integrating Marketing communication & building Brand Equity:

Final objective is to enhance or support the integrated marketing communication efforts
for a brand or a company. Building brand equity & image has traditionally done by
advertising.
However, SP techniques such as contest & sweep-stakes or premium offers are often
used to draw attention to an advertising and increased involvement with the message &
product or service & help build relationship with consumers. Eg. Dunkin donuts

Reasons for the increase in sales promotion

1. The growing power of retailers:
The power shift in market place from manufacturing to retailers.
Advent of optical checkout scanners
Consolidation of grocery store industry
Evolution of private labels.

2. Declining Brand Loyalty:

3. Increased promotional sensitivity: Marketers are making greater use of sales

promotion into marketing programs because consumers respond favorably to the
incentive. (a) An obvious reason for consumers increased sensitivity to Sales promotion
offers is that they SAVE MONEY .(b) Another reason is that many purchase decisions
are made at the POP by consumers who are increasingly becoming price sensitive and
facing too many choices.

4. Brand Proliferation: A major aspect of many firms marketing strategies over the
past decade has been the development of new products.

5. Fragmentation of the Consumer markets: As the consumer becomes more

fragmented & Traditional mass media- based advertising becoming less effective,
marketers are turning to more segmented & highly targeted approaches.
Many companies are tailoring their promotional efforts to specific regional markets:
Eg.Bajaj Alliance offer to WIAA.
Whirlpool concentrating on women

6. Short-term Focus: Brand managers use S P routinely, not only to introduce new
products or defend against competition but also to meet quarterly or yearly sales &
market share goals.

7. Increased Accountability: Results from SP programs are generally easier to

measure than those from advertising. Many companies are demanding measurable,
accountable ways to relate promotional expenditures to sales & profitability.
8. Gaining a competitive advantage: Many companies are turning to sales promotion
to gain or maintain a competitive advantage. A major development in recent years is the
use of account-specific marketing (also referred to as comarketing) whereby a marketer
collaborates with customizes promotions for individual retailers.

9. Clutter: The increasing problem of advertising clutter has lead to the need to use
consumer promotions as a way of attracting attention and interest to advertising. Sales
promotion offers such as coupons, contests and sweepstakes are often used to attract
attention to ads and increase consumers’ involvement with a marketer’s IMC program.

Consumer Franchise-building versus Non franchise-Building Promotion:

1. Consumer Franchise building-

SP activities that communicate distinctive brand attributes & contribute to the
development & reinforcement of the brand identity are consumer franchise building
promotion.Eg: Kashmir Tourism Corporation.

Companies can use SP techniques in a number of ways to continue to franchise

building. Rather than using a one time offer, many companies are developing frequency
programs that encourage repeat purchase & long-term patronage. Companies can also
use SP to contribute to franchise building by developing & offer consistent with the
image of the brand

In-school promotions have evolved from just dumping products on kids to promotions
that are relevant to them. Today, they are educational and entertainment events
designed to make children more informed about brands and choices.
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Event
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Marketing 3 - 51
Consumer oriented sales promotion

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Advantages of Sweepstakes and Contests Contests

Contests
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promotion product relevant
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Effective way of dealing with specific marketing problems

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the consumer and provide extra values as well as more product for the money. It can
also be defensive maneuver against a competitor’s promotion or introduction of new
brand.

6. Price-off
Price-off deals are offered right on the packaged through specially marked price packs.
Typically price-offs range from 10 to 25 percent off the regular price with the reduction
coming from manufacturer margin not retailers. It ensure that discount reaches
consumers.

7. Frequency Programs
Companies introduced continuity programs that offer consumers, the opportunity to
accumulate points for continuing to purchase their brands or service; the points can be
redeemed for gifts and prizes.

8. Event marketing
Event marketing is a type of promotion where a company or brand is linked to an event
or where a themed activity is developed for the purpose of creating experiences for
consumers and promoting a product or service. Marketers often do event marketing by
associating their product with some popular activity such as a sporting event, concert,
fair, or festivals. However marketers create their own event, to use for promotional
purposes.