INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISEMENT

PAGE 1Dr.B.Arun

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISEMENT

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITION:

Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of marketing-related information to a target audience, usually paid for by the advertiser, and delivered through mass media in order to reach the specific objectives of the sponsor. The American Marketing Association, Chicago, defines advertising as any paid form of non personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.

So a form could be a presentation. It may be sign, a symbol, an illustration, an ad message in a magazine or newspaper, a commercial on the radio or on television, a circular dispatched through the mail or a pamphlet handed out at a street corner; a sketch or message on a billboard or a poster or a banner on the Net.

Non-personal would mean that it is not on a person-to-person basis.

Goods, Services, Ideas for action would mean making a consumers work easy in knowing about the product of the firm. It could be a television, or a banking service or filing your tax returns, which the firm or the marketer wants the consumer to know about. An idea could also be political parties letting the people know about their party and why they should vote for their party. Adult education, beware of AIDS, donate your eyes are but a few examples of ideas.

Paid by an identified sponsor would imply that the sponsor has control over the form, content and scheduling of the advertisements. The sponsor could be identified by the company name or the brand of the particular product.Matrimonial advertisements, recruitment advertisements, tenders, classified advertisements, notice, public announcements are also examples of advertisements.Importance of Advertising:Advertising broadens the knowledge of the consumer. With the aid of advertising, consumers find and buy necessary products without waste of time.

This speeds up the sales of commodities; the efficiency of labor in distribution increases; and the costs of selling reduces. It is an accepted fact that without market stimulus of heavy advertising, consumers might have waited another sixty years for the product evolution that took place in less than ten years-it took; after all, over sixty years from the invention of the safety razor before the first acceptable stainless steel blade appeared in the market. These words are more than enough to testify the potentialities of advertising in the field of modern marketing. The benefits of advertising; may be narrated as follows:

Benefits to Manufacturers:

1. It increases sales volume; on the one hand, it reduces the cost of Production and, on the other, increases profit.

2. It helps easy introduction of products into the markets.

3. It helps to create an image and reputations not only of the product but also have the advertiser.

4. Retail price maintenance is possible.

5. It helps to establish a direct contact between manufacturers and consumers.

Benefits to Wholesalers and Retailers

1. Easy sale of the products is possible since consumers are aware of the product and its quality.

2. It increases the rate of the turnover of stock.

3. It supplements the selling activities.

4. The reputation created is shared by the wholesalers and retailers alike,

5. It enables them to have product information.

6. It ensures more economical selling.

Benefits to Consumers

1. Advertising stresses quality and very often prices. This forms an indirect guarantee to the consumers. Furthermore, large-scale production assured by advertising enables the seller to sell the product at a lower cost.

2. It helps them to know, where and when the products are available. This reduces their shopping time.

3. It provides an opportunity to the customers to compare the merits and demerits of various substitute products.

4. This is perhaps the only medium through which consumers could know the varied and new uses of a product.

5. Modern advertisements are highly informative.

Benefits to Salesmen:

Salesmanship is incomplete without advertising. Advertising serves as the forerunner of a salesman in the distribution of goods.

1. Introducing the product is made easy.

2. Advertising prepares necessary ground for a salesman to begin his work. Hence sales efforts are reduced.

3. The contact established with the customer by a salesman is made permanent through advertising.

4. The salesman can weigh the effectiveness of advertising when he makes a direct contact with the customer.

Benefits to the Community:

1. Advertising, in general, is educative in nature.

In the words of the late President Roosevelt of the USA, "Advertising brings to the greatest number of people actual knowledge concerning useful things; it is essentially a form of education-and the progress of civilization depends on education."

2. Advertising leads to large-scale production creating more employment opportunities.

3. It initiates a process of creating more wants and their satisfaction resulting in a higher standard of living.

For example, advertising has made more popular and universal the uses of such inventions as the automobiles, radios and various household appliances.

To quote Sir Winston Churchill, "Advertising nourishes the consuming power of man. It creates wants for a better standard of living.

It encourages individual effort and greater production."

4. Newspapers would not have become so popular and so cheap if there had been no advertisements. The cheap production of newspapers is possible only through the publication of Advertisements. In other words, it is the advertising revenue that makes the newspapers live.

5. It assures employment opportunities for the professional artists.

COMMUNICATION MODELS IN ADVERTISINGAIDA MODEL:

At the time of purchase by two-way communication between the intending buyer and the sales staff.

Let us examine the attention, interest, desire and action components in more detail.

Attention:

The layout is the most important factor that directs attention to an advertisement. Typography and colors used in the layout can rivet us. The size of the advertisement also compels us to get attracted to it. Contrast by white space is a good attention-getter. Movement is a vital element for getting attention. Movement can be physical or emotional. The position of the advertisement also adds to its attention value. Celebrities in the advertisement, dramatization; model selection, illustration all this contribute to attention.

Interest:

Ad seen does not mean ad read. Mostly people see the illustrations and do not read the copy. Here illustrations have to work hard. They should, together with headlines must provoke further reading. The selection of the illustrations and its integration to life are thus very important. Even copy format is important for interest creation. A humorous copy works some people on by a scientific copy, and some. Here there is a dilemma for a copywriter. He has to satisfy maximum number of people so he has to search for a common denominator of interest.

Desire:

The basic purpose of advertising is to create a desire for the product or service being advertised. It is a function of appeals used for the motivation of people. Vivid description or copy always helps. Buying motives, physiological as well as psychological, make people purchase products. The copy of the advertisement must kindle these motives. There are certain barriers here - certain reservations in the mind of customers. We have to overcome them. We have to convince by giving evidence, testimonials, endorsements, and facts and figures. On arousal, people become prone to buy the product.

Action:

The logical end of the desire aroused is to buy the product.

1. Products are associated with company.

2. The message is repeated.

3. Certain immediate action appeals are used.

HIERARCHY OF EFFECT (HOE) MODEL

AWARENESS: -

If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator's task is to build awareness, perhaps just name recognition.

This can be accomplished with simple messages repeating the name.

Even then, building awareness takes time.

KNOWLEDGE:

The target audience might have company or product awareness but not know much more.

P&G may want its target audience to know that it is a private 24-year company with excellent programs in Engineering and the Tech.

P&G Company thus needs to learn how many people in the target audience have little, some, or much knowledge about P&G.

The Company may then decide to select product knowledge as its first communication objective.

LIKING:

If target members know the product, how do they feel about it?

If the audience looks unfavorably on P&G Company, the communicator has to find out why and then develop a communication campaign to make favorable feelings.

If the unfavorable view is based on real problems of the company, then a communication campaign alone cannot do the job.

P&G will have to fix its problems and then communicate its renewed quality.

Good public relations call for "good performance followed by good words

PREFERENCE:

In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference.

The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others.

The communicator will promote the product's quality, value, performance, and other features.

PURCHASE:

Finally, some members of the target audience might have conviction but not quite get around to making the purchase.

They may wait for more information or plan to act later.

The communicator must lead these consumers to take the final step.

Actions might include offering the product at a low price, offering a premium, or letting consumers try it on a limited basis.

Thus P&G might invite selected audience/customers to visit the shop and attend some products. Or it might offer something to the customers.. The communicator can check on the campaign's success by measuring audience preferences again after the campaign.

CONVICTION (Belief):

A target audience might prefer a particular product but not develop a confidence about buying it.

Thus some high school seniors may prefer P&G but may not be sure they want to go to company.

The communicator's job is to build confidence that going to company is the right thing to do.

DAGMAR Approach:Dagmar Approach is the task of measuring ad effectiveness will not be daunting if we clearly spell out the advertising goals. Russel H. Colley (1961) pioneered an approach known by the acronym DAGMAR Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results, where to establish an explicit link between ad goals and ad results, Colley distinguished 52 advertising goals that might be used with respect to a single advertisement, a years campaign for a product or a companys entire advertising philosophy. These goals may pertain to sales, image, attitude, and awareness. Some of the goals are:

Persuade a prospect to visit a show room and ask for a demonstration.

Build up the morale of the companys sales force.

Facilitate sales by correcting false impression, misinformation and other obstacles.

Announce a special reason for buying nows (price, discount, premium and so on).

Make the brand identity known and easily recognizable.

Provide information or implant attitude regarding benefits and superior features of brand. According to DAGMAR approach, the communication task of the brand is to gain (a) awareness, (b) comprehension, (c) Conviction, (d) image and (e) action.

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ADVERTISING

Effects of AdvertisingA. Production Costs

Advertising makes the firm to work at higher activity levels by creating demand for the products.

The implications are:

1. It reduces cost of production

2. The overall production costs go on falling with increase in the output.

3. The consumer need not worry so long as he gets the product at lower prices provided the quality standards are maintained by the producer.

B. Effects on Distribution Costs

The distribution costs are selling and distribution costs. It is argued that by avoiding these advertising costs, it is possible to reduce the consumer prices. The implications are:

1. Advertising costs represent only an element of distribution costs like transport, warehousing, finance and market research, and are justified because of its economic and constructive role.

2. Because of increased efficiency of advertising industry, the unit cost is brought down though these costs are ever on the line of increase.

3. Economy in advertising costs has been possible because it creates both primary and secondary demand for the products.

4. It has cascading effects in the sense that the middlemen need not spend once the producer spends on this item.

C. Effects on consumer Prices There is definite relationship between the advertising expenditure and consumer prices.

The implications are:

1. Rise is advertising expenditure rises the price of the consumer

2. In the short-run prices will rise, but in the long-run, these prices will come down caused by better utilization capacity by the firm.

3. The amount of advertising expenditure goes on increasing with the growing intensity of competition pushing the prices up.

4. Advertising is capable of creating product and company image through brands and this may result in creating monopoly conditions.

2. Competitive advertising expenditure: Advertising costs are ever on the line of increase over the years. That is why consumers feel that there should every effort to cut these expenses to benefit the consumers in the form of reduced consumer prices. There are three fundamental reasons responsible for rise in the advertising expenditure.

1. Introduction of entirely new product in the market dominated by established units.

2. Introduction of an established product in a new market to develop its share.

3. Sharp competition for the product range. The expenditure on the first two categories is unavoidable and productive involving creative activity.

3. Advertising create monopoly

Advertising attempts to create maintain and extend demand for the goods through brand image. After creating such an image, it establishes an exclusive identity for that brand and consumers accept the brand as a separate product. The consumers develop brand loyalty. The monopoly conditions so created are invisible and not even within the government regulations.

Advertising creates brand and corporate image for the product. This only gives them legal protection for their brands. Their monopoly is to the extent of brands only. It is wrong to say that the brand owners have unlimited power to charge any price they like. Higher prices stimulate others to enter the line with Close substitutes or competitive products. On the contrary, it encourages keen competition among the producers to make available cheaper and better products.

4. Advertising expand Consumer Market

There is said to be expansion of consumer market when:

1. More and more people go in for a commodity than before.

2. The existing class of consumers increase their individual purchases.

3. The manufacturers discover new markets for their products.

ADVERTISING AS A SOCIAL PROCESS1. Advertising a Useful Activity?

Advertising is useful activity because it creates utilities. It creates form, place and time utilities.

In addition it creates perception utility.

It is useful to the producers because it increases, stabilizes and diversifies sale turnover

It farms and maintains markets.

It is useful to the middlemen because, it guarantees quick sales

It acts as salesman- it maintains retail prices. It is useful to the salesmen because, it reduces his job burdenbuilds his confidence. It is useful to the consumers because, it helps in decision-makingensures better quality goods at reasonable pricessaves good deal of time.

It is useful to the government because, it is a source of revenueit reduces the tax liability on general public. The society, in general stands to benefit as:

It generates gainful employment opportunities

uplifts the standard of living

provides new horizons of knowledge

it upholds the culture of the nation.

Thus, it is a useful activity as it is known for its ability to create utilities.

2. Advertising Influence the Consumer Prices

Advertising has definite influence on consumer prices. The actual effects are:

(1) In the short-run advertising increases the consumer prices but, in the long-run prices are reduced because of saving in the cost.

(2) Advertising costs cross two limits namely, creative and competitive. So long it remains creative; one need not worry, however, if turns competitive, neither the producers nor the consumers are well off.

(3) The brand image created makes the consumers to pay higher prices because of price rigidity and exploitation becomes common

(4) Whenever, advertising is effective, it has salutary effects on consumer prices.

3. Advertising having any Bearing on Consumer Choice?Advertising has favorable effect on consumer choice. It helps him in preserving and promoting his independence by informing him,

by explaining him,

by educating him,

by guiding him of the products and services.

In short, the consumer gets the best for the money he spends.

4. Advertising too Much Persuasive? Persuading is the power of advertising.

It is not so because, whatever an advertisement says is not binding on the consumer.

Again, there is a time lag between an advertisement being issued and the goods or services being bought.

Consumer who is to decide and act. Persuasion being the heart of advertising, it compel him but does not force him to buy. It convinces but not forces any one to go in for a particular product or service. It is the best guide for wise decision-making

5. Advertising Influence the Consumer Welfare and Protection?

Consumer Welfare and Advertising:

Every consumer is worried about the quantity, quality, time and price of the goods and services. The question is what goods and services are needed and what are not needed by the society.

Unfortunately, what is good for one is bad for another. That is why governments tried to decide this through Acts and Laws. It decided the good and the bad for the society.

There is nothing like advertising in winning the hearts of people. Advertising can do this effectively becauseit informs, educates, and improves his knowledge about the products and services.

6. Consumer Protection and Advertising: Consumer protection is a form of social action which is designed to attain the well-being of society namely consumers.

There are two possible ways to protect the consumer (1) Governmental regulating, and (2) Self-regulation

Governments are playing their role by passing and enforcing number of Acts in favour of consumers. Government efforts are a must, but not all. It is so because; law breakers are wiser than the law-makers.

Self regulation, therefore, has wider scope and effect; in this regard it means two things, namely consumer associations on one hand and associations of the participants in advertising industry. Consumer associations can help in hooking and booking the culprits and handing over them to government for punishment. The associations of advertisers, advertising agencies, media-owners, or combinations of these can welcome the pitfall on their part from their so called opposite party namely consumers. In the final analysis, it is the co-ordination of these opposing units that counts.

Ethics and Truth in Advertising:Ethics and truth are closely interlinked concepts.

Ethics and Advertising: Ethics is branch of social science that deals with what is good and bad and hence moral values and responsibilities of an individual and a society.

Morality is comprehensive than that of ethics. Morality speaks of what is right or wrong.

Speaking from this angle, advertiser has moral responsibility that it is good.

Good advertisement does not mean effective but one which is right.

Right advertisement is one which is just and true, proper and appropriate.

Truth and Advertising:

Though truth is vital to the sound economic health of the country, it is very difficult to define truth. For a common man, truth implies factsthe events that have taken place over a period of time. It is same as judicial truth. This judicial truth is not applicable to the world of advertising. That is why no advertisement gives the total picture of the product or service. It presents only the brighter side concealing the defects. It is commercial honesty that prevails than the absolute honesty.

The different forms of this commercial honesty are:

(1) Facts exaggerated,

(2) Facts perverted, and

(3) Total lies.

Since the advertiser has the moral and social responsibility, he cannot afford to be dishonest.

The main reasons for this are:

(1) That his reputation is at stake

(2) That he cannot take undue advantage of the trust and faith put in him by the society,

(3) He has legal responsibility which is another side of the coin of morality, (4) that the consumers are getting organized,

5) That truth never fails, but it prevails.

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES1. Informative advertising.

2. Persuasive advertising.

3. Reminder advertising.

RIP = Remind - Inform - Persuade

1. Informative advertising:

To create awareness of the organization.

To explain the characteristics of the organization

To correct false impressions about the organization

To reduce peoples worry or fears about visiting the organization.

To build or enhance the organizations image or position.

2. Persuasive advertising:

To increase customer preference for the organizations services.

To increase customer loyalty to the organization.

To encourage customers to switch from using a competitive organization.

To convince customers to book at the organization now or in the future.

To change customers perceptions.

3. Reminder advertising:

To remind customers about where they can book the organizations services.

To remind customers about facilities or services those are unique to the sponsoring organization.

To remind customers about when they should book or reserve the organizations services.

To remind customers of the existence of the organization.

Moreover, the purpose of advertising are as follows:

1. Launch of a new product

2. Modification in products

3. Change in price

4. New packing

5. Promotional plans, e.g. buy one get one free

6. Distributors and retailers address

7. Educating the customers for proper use of the product

8. To retrieve lost sales, e.g. due to strike in the factory

9. Reminder ads and for maintaining sales

10. To recruit staff

11. To appoint distributors and dealers

12. To invite technical staff of industrial customer to ask for literature, come to visit

13. Competitive comparative advertising

14. To assist retail sales

15. To help salesperson get a foot in the door of industrial customers

16. To attract investors through special ad campaigns

17. To export/go international (separate chapter is provided for this topic)

18. To announce financial results of the firm

19. To sell direct e.g. Readers Digest

Setting advertisement objectivesThe advertisement objectives can be grouped in to the following

Building awareness (informing): The first task of any advertising is to make the audience appreciate that the product or service exists and to explain exactly what it is. Creating favorable attitudes (persuasion). The next stage and the one that preoccupies most advertisers, is to crate the favorable attitude to the brand which will eventually lead the consumers to switch their purchasing pattern

Maintenance of loyalty (reinforcement) One of the tasks which is often forgotten is that of maintaining loyalty of existing customers who will almost always represent the main source of future sales .There are general objectives of advertising that covers goals like encouraging increased consumption of a product by current users, generating more sales leads, increasing brand awareness, increasing repeat purchases and supporting the personal selling efforts.Some of the broad advertising goals are explained as per the following:

1. Launch of New Products and Services:

In a saturated market, the introduction of new products and brands can give the seller a tremendous opportunity for increasing his sales. In the case of innovative products (totally new to the market) such as Laptop Computers, a great deal of advertising has to be done over an extended period of time to make people aware of What the product is and What it does and How the customers would find it useful. In addition, the advertisement also carries information about the availability of the product and facilities for demonstration/trial etc. Similarly new brands of existing product categories are also promoted quite aggressively. Two recent examples are the launching of Pepsi Blue soft drinks during the world cup and launch of Mountain Dew in subsequent period.

2. Expansion of the Market to Include the New Users:

Advertising can be used to tap a new segment of the market, hitherto left unexplored. For example TV and Video Camera manufacturers who have been concentrating on domestic users and professionals can direct their advertising to the government institutions and large organization for closed circuit TV networks, security systems and educational purposes. Another way of expanding the consumer base is to promote new uses of the product. For example, Johnsons baby oil and baby cream were originally targeted to mothers. The same products have now been directed towards the adult market for their personal use. Similarly, Milkmaid was originally promoted as a substitute for milk. It is now being advertised as an ingredient for making sweet dishes and also as a sandwich spread for children.

3. Announcement of a Product Modification:

For such advertising, generally, the terms new, improved, Excel etc. is used as prefixes to the brand name. For example, Surf Excel gives the impression of an advanced detergent powder, although there may be no tangible difference between the earlier brand and the new one. Sometimes the customer as a modified product e.g. a new refill pack for might perceive a minor packaging change Nescafe

4. Announcement of a Special Offer:

Because of competition, slack season, declining sales, etc, advertising is used to make a special offer. For example, Colgate Dental Cream campaign about 20% extra was to increase volumes through a sales promotion campaign. Hotels offer special rates during off- season. Similarly many products like room heaters, fans, air-conditioners, etc, offer off-seasons discounts to promote sales.

5. To Announce Location of Stockiest and Dealers: To support dealers, to encourage selling of stocks and to urge action on the part of readers, space may be taken to list the names and addresses of stockiest and dealers.

6. To Educate Customers: Advertisement of this type is informative rather than persuasive. This technique can be used to show new users for a well-established product. It can also be used to educate the people about an improved product e.g. Pearl Pad odor free jars and bottles. Sometimes societal advertising is used to educate people on the usefulness or harmful effects of certain products. For example, Campaigns against unsafe sex and AIDs are sponsored by government and voluntary agencies. Similarly, advertisements discourage the consumption of liquor and drugs.

7. Reminder Campaigns: This type of advertising is useful for products, which have a high rate of repeat purchase, or those products, which are bought frequently e.g. blades, cigarettes, soft drinks, etc. The advertisement is aimed at remaining the customer to ask for the same brand again. The campaign of Dil Maange More during television breaks of cricket matches is to have a top of mind recall.

8. To Sought Dealer Cooperation and Motivation: A successful retail trader depends upon quick turnover so that his capital can be reused as many times as possible. Dealer support is critical, particularly for those who have limited shelf space for a wide variety of products. Advertisers send display material to dealers for their shops, apart from helping the retailer with local advertising.

9. To Create Brand Preference: This type of advertising does two things: (i) it creates a brand image or personality (ii) It tells the target audience why Brand X is better than Brand Y. In this type of advertisement, the product or brand acquires a personality associated with the user, which gives the brand a distinctive image. The second type of advertising also known as comparative advertising takes the form of comparison between two brands and proves why one brand is superior.

10. Few other objectives: Advertising also helps to boost the morale of sales people in the company. It pleases sales people to see large advertisements of their company and its products, and they often boast about it. Other uses of advertising could include recruiting staff and attracting investors through Public Issue advertisements announcing the allotment of shares etc.Factors should be considered in setting objectives:

Market segmentation

Buyers Behaviour

Product personality and perceptions

Situational factors

Benchmarks & norms for Measurement

Apart from the above, the company has to considera. The Product and its virtues.

b. The Competition.

c. The segment of the Market aimed at all of which should be set down in the marketing objective.

Step I: Define the audience.

Issues like Social class, Income, Occupation, Values and ambitions, Attitudes to Product. Step

II: Define the Stage of the Communication task.

What is the Specific Communication task? Communication is a process of acting on the mind of your audience. We must create a state of mind conducive to purchase".

Step III: Define Consumer Preference or Resistance.

What do consumers like about Brand? What do they dislike? This is where you need research into consumer attitudes:

Step IV: Define the product promise or claim. 1. It must be meaningful and of value to consumer

2. It must be a distinctive unique claim.

3. It must concentrate on this unique claim or the Unique Selling Proposition (USP). "Advertising is the art of getting a Unique Selling Proposition into the heads of the most people at the lowest cost"

Step V: Define the Brand Image:

What will be the brand's 'Personality?' i.e. what character or association does it evoke?ADVERTISING AGENCY

Meaning:

Advertising agency is an independent organization which renders specialized services in advertising In particular and in marketing in general. In legal term, they are not agents but independent firms having their own organization.The major operational responsibilities may be as creative services, account management, research and promotional services.

ADVERTISING AGENCYMEANING AND ORGANISATION

What is an advertising agency?

How does the advertising agency work?

There are three main components of the advertising industry

(1) Sponsor or advertiser,

(2) Media, and

(3) The advertising agency.

An organization that decides to advertise its products is the sponsor or advertiser. The sponsors advertising manager often relies on some outside experts to perform many of the tasks involved in launching an advertising programme. These outside experts business houses may be called advertising agency.

These advertising agency (if appointed by an advertiser to campaign the advertising programme or the advertiser contact the various media such as newspaper, radio, television, film or outdoor posters etc. for campaigning

Functional Departments of an Advertising Agency:

The organization of an advertising agency may be divided in various departments entrusted with a specialised function to be performed under the inchargeship of a Director or Vice president or manager.

The main departments in an agency are

1. Contact Department:

Creation, sustaining and extension are the three basic tenets of the department. It gets new business and on the other band tries to maintain the existing business. The Account Executive is the key man of the department who acts a bias on between the agency and the clients. As far as the maintaining of existing accounts is concerned, the good services of the agency towards clients count much. It helps in getting new business from them in acquiring new business from new accounts through them.

2. Media Department:

This department is entrusted with the work of selection of media for the advertiser according to clients direction or to the budget allocated for this purpose by the client or to the purpose; it serves best to clients product. In these circumstances it selects the best possible medium.

It chooses the channels of communication through which the message is to be carried out to the masses or target consumers. The media analyst and estimator decide to approximate kind and number of potential customers and then to choose the media that ge the message to them.

3. Copy Department:

The copy director, preferably and art minded individual is the head of this department. The advertisement copy is the heart of advertising programme as it contains the message. The department coordinates the work of copy-writing with the assistance of copy chief and copywriters. Copy-writing requires imagination, flair and fluency in the language and a method of representation. The department works closely with the accounts executive and research department.

4. Art and Visualization Department:

The Head of this department is Art Director. The director should be copy minded for the same reason as copy-director should be art-minded. The art director is assisted by artists layout men and visualizes. It is the duty of the department to get the visuals and layouts prepared for press advertisements; posters, calendars, painted bulletins, car cards and other outdoor pieces. Some agencies get this work done by the -outside artists. There should be a close association between the departments of Art and copy.

5. Production Department

When a copy is ready the agency proceeds to its mechanical production through its mechanical production department headed by a director. Agencies generally use outside units for these production services. The production manager has to more to typographers or type setters to have a copy set in type, later to the photographer of the illustrations. Finally he is to move to the electrotyper for electrotypes; other duplicate material in such qualities as needed.

6. Finance Department

This department is responsible for maintaining accounts, billing and collecting the dues from its clients, verifying the appearance of advertisements in different media in individual cases, checking media invoices against orders, paying the bills to the media owners and looking after all the routine matters relating to accounting, recording etc.

7. Research Department

This department of advertising agency is engaged in the study of the effects of sales activities at the last point of distribution of a particular product. The research director takes assistance of analysts, investigators, marketing assistants, statistical clerks and librarians. All these persons help in research work. Research may enable the agency to get more business by making stronger presentation to more desirable clients. It helps better advertising for clients. The contact department makes extensive use of such research outcome while contacting his clients and convinces them.

8. Public Relation Department

The growth and survival of an advertising agency depends very much upon the public opinions, Supports and feelings. The department establishes and maintains mutual understanding between the organization and the public. It is public Opinion that decides the destiny of the agency. It raises morale of the agency personal and goodwill for the company, the department is headed by Public Relations Director who is to struggle hard to maintain always high opinion about the firm. Thus it performs a liaison work between the clients and the various sections of the Public-customers employees, middleman, and shareholders.

An agency maintains the above departments but the nomenclature and the number of departments may vary from agency to agency depending upon thu size of the business. The agency may take help from outsiders or specialists instead of establishing a full fledged department or the activities of two or more departments may be carried out only by one department.

SERVICES RENDERED BY ADVERTISING AGENCY

What are the main services rendered by an advertising agency?

1. Timely and Satisfactory Work

Agency is highly specialized in the field of publicity; it has wider contacts with or employs the experts in the various activities of the publicity business. It also has wider links with media owners that facilities the agency to enter into Contract for time and space. Its highly specialized and experienced personnel like photographers, lithographers, singer, announcer, copy-writers printers, artists, painters, actors etc. are always in the best service of the client and the duty of the agency director is to top the skill of these personnel fully in the interest of the business.

With thee ready-made facilities, the quality of advertisement improves to a greater extent and guarantees timely presentation of advertisements to the satisfaction of advertiser.

Satisfaction of advertiser is a must otherwise agency may lose the client.

2. Boon to Small and Medium Sized Units

Advertising agency is a boon specially to small and medium sized business units because such units are not financially so sound that they can establish an advertising department in the organization and bear the expenses of such establishment, nor can they undertake the ticklish and bothersome work of contacting the media owners and employ other specialists.

The agency undertakes the responsibility of designing advertising programme on behalf of the advertiser, at economical terms with all the benefits of care freeness to the advertiser. Even large sized units that are not bothered about establishing the advertising department also take help of such agencies and enjoy more time for the advertisement of their business. Thus advertising agency is a boon to small and medium sized as well as large sized units.

2. Sound Appropriation of Funds

The agency assists the advertiser in appropriating the advertising funds economically because it knows the cost of advertising with each media and therefore, its experts staff can better advise the advertiser in the allocation and best utilization of available funds. In absence of such expert advices, the common adviser may misapply the funds to his disadvantage due to the lack of through knowledge of advertising activities and their costs. Thus, the advertiser can utilize his available advertising funds in the best interest of the business.

4. Conducting Market Research

The advertising agencies periodically conduct the market researches with their full time seasoned staff. They maintain a research department in their organization to collect, analyze and interpret the market data in relation to various market segments, product (not relating to any particular brand), and other marketing activities.

Research dilemma is the greatest when the agency first takes a new case of advertising where it is urgent to get fully acquainted with the clients past history, present needs and future potential. The outcome. of the research can very easily be applied by the agency in carrying out the work more efficiently and for the benefit of clients such as better designing of advertising progamnme with a timely message can be presented that will result in better business to the client and to the agency.

5. Non Advertising Activities

Recently, agencies provide a wide range of non-advertising and marketing activities. They provide help inselecting target consumers; determining prices and discounts; designing products and packages; and developing channel of distribution strategies. Such agencies which have moved into these activities, in essence, become marketing specialists or consultants. In fact, some organizations virtually term the planning and directing of the marketing programme over to agencies. The non-advertising marketing services are performed either by the agency itself or it arranges the specialists for such services:

(a) Its competitive environment is rapidly changing (as contrasted with a stable environment);

(b) The agency has much knowledge above the products and the industry; and

(c) The cost of agency services are lower than the costs of alternative sources.

Thus, advertising agencies provide a wide range of advertising and non-advertising services to their clients and thus they share the burden of their accounts. They take up the responsibility of carrying out the full advertising campaign. In recent years, limited service agencies have sprung up that provide faster service at lower cost.

FUNCTIONS OF AN ADVERTISING AGENGY

What are the major functions of an advertising agency?

An advertising agency is an independent company providing a series of services to its clients. It helps advertisers create advertisements and place them with the appropriate media. An agency is purely a service business, manufacturing nothing but selling its services. It produces ideas for what will make good advertising, its assets are creativity and expertise. It has nothing tangible except its office furniture.

Advertising agencies are an important, sometimes, and indispensable, aid in devising and implementing advertising strategy.

Consumer goods manufacturers heavily depend upon advertising agencies during the advertising decision process, perhaps, because of the acknowledged difficulty of developing advertising rather than being ignored. Advertising agencies have specialized in the service of creating and preparing advertising. They do this for their clients at economic rates.

Media planning

One of the more important services provided by an advertising agency in media planning. They employ media specialists for their clients in determining media mixes and schedules. Much of the significant developments in the field of media planning have been the result of work of, and financial support by, these agencies. These agencies also provide some other non advertising services such as marketing research, public relations tasks, helping the clients make decisions on price fixation, package and product designing, distribution, and presentation of advertising strategy to client personnel.

Among other services, agencies study the products, markets competitors and the promotional problems of their clients whom they usually call their accounts. They work for them and attempt to build attractive and favourable image for their accounts brands. Agencys accounts executive or accounts representative is the liaison person who manages an account.

An advertising agency usually performs the under mentioned major functions:

(I) SELECTION OF PROSPECTS

Obtaining new clients in every business is the most important function and so is the main task of advertising agency. The preference in choosing out the clients is given to those firms which have sound values, able management, efficient operations products and services. The advertising agency should consider certain points into mind while selecting the prospects

(a) The advertisers financial position is the prime most consideration because the agencys credit relationship with a client is that o. creditor and debtor. If the financial position of the client is Sound the agency will not find any difficulty in realizing its bills.

(b) The new clients should be growth companies and located nearby because if an advertisers sales have been falling or if his advertising has been getting low ratings, may be, he will be more receptive to the idea of changing agencies.

(c) The agency should not go after prospects that are directly competing with the present clients. An agency handling DCM RATH Account would hardly try for Hindustan Livers DALDA Account for the reason that the agency client relationship is very intimate and confidential.

An agency may drop a small account to get a big one (if both are competitors).

How to Select New Clients:

In getting new clients, the following techniques are generally applied

(i) An advertiser approaches a number of advertising agencies by posting an exploratory screening questionnaire. The advertiser will then select an agency out of those which responded after going through their terms and conditions. The account executive may contact the adviser and convince him of their services and get the account.

(ii) An agency may be recommended to an advertiser who likes a change because the other agency could not satisfy him. Tips may come from the media or media representative or trade journal.

(iii) Another technique to get new accounts is for: the advertising agency to advertise. The direct mail to some selective accounts may be the most suitable, confidential and economical method. It gives the agency an opportunity to demonstrate its capabilities. The agency may advertise in trade journals, although less used, to get new clients.

(iv) The major technique, generally followed by the agencies to get new prospects is personal contact and solicitation. It is the business of account-executive to contact new and new accounts.

(2) ADVERTISING PLANNING

The next function of the full service advertising agency is the advertising planning for its clients, in big concern, the responsibility of the ad planning is with the advertising department headed by advertising manager. In effect a portion of that responsibility may be delegated to the agency if it is used.

The agency, in. addition to assisting in the development of advertising plan itself, the agency must do considerable planning in carrying out its own functions of creating and placing advertising. For this purpose, the agency requires a thorough knowledge of the firms products, its advertising history, market conditions, firms distribution method, competitors productstheir pluses and minuses, as compared to the clients products, if the agency is to do an effective job. It will give an idea how the advertiser wishes to position the product in the consumers mind.

For this purpose, the agency conducts extensive market research for the clients product in order to ascertain the extent of the market for the product and to decide who buys it, when. Where, how, and why.

The correct timing and direction of the advertising campaigns can be added by such information. Competitors activities are also to be watched.

In planning the advertising for the particular product. The agency must analyze marketing methods and distribution channels used in the past for the product in order to obtain specific information about the business environment in which the advertising message is to operate. The advertising message must be relevant to the present and to such a nature that it is aesthetically acceptable to the consumer and to the trade.

Next planning job is to decide or think about the advertising medium in which the ad is to appear.. The agency knows better about the character of each medium in addition to audience figures and comparative costs. The advertising message must be adapted to the medium in which it is to appear. The message in different medium will be different and the input of different media will be varying on different market segments for specific products.

As the agency has background of product, market, distribution and media knowledge, it can recommend advertising strategies for presenting the product to the prospective buyers. These ideas are submitted to client for approval. On approval, the agency will carry them out.

(3) MEDIA SELECTION

Media choices are made before the ads are credited; Media selection is the highly specialized function of the agency. The goal of media selection is to choose the advertising medium or a media mix that will do the best in the present circumstances and will appeal to the clients prospects. Securing, the right audience is the most important factor in the media choices, but cost factor is not the least important. So, in making a media-choice several factors such as media-cost, circulations, population to which it serves, audiences, incomes and other relevant information must be asserted.

(4) CREATIVE FUNCTION:

After media choices are made, the ads are created. Specific advertisements are created. Copy is written layouts are done; illustrations are drawn or photographed; advertising messages are prepared in correct mechanical form for running in the selected media and commercials are produced.

These functions are performed by a varied group of creative people including writers, artists, designers, producers, and graphic art specialists. Creative function may be under one department or various separate departments for copy, art, broadcast and production may be established depending upon the nature and size of the business.

Creativity involves a novel or infrequent expression, response or concept. Creativity in advertising must be oriented to and correlated with the marketing situation and serve as a communication problem solver. It may be described as presenting a product in a way that tempts people to buy it. The personnel of selling agency generate new ideas in the interest of advertiser.

(5) RESEARCH

Research is a major function of ad agencies to support the decisions taken in the creative and media areas. The agencies gathers and analyze actual information about the product, market, competitors and buyers habits that may help the creative personnel to make better advertisement copy or message for client. Such research may convince the clients.

(6) MARKETING FUNCTIONS

Advertising agency also carry non- advertising marketing functions such as selecting target consumers determining prices and discount ; designing products and packages Developing channels of distribution strategy etc. and are called marketing specialist or consultants.

(7) COORDINATION

Coordination with clients sales force and distribution network to ensure the long run success of the advertising programme is one of the important functions of the adverting agency, Maximum sales from the combined efforts of salesmen, distributors and retailersall assisted by advertising are the goal of the activities of the agency.

Thus, an agency performs many important functions that relieve the advertiser a lot if he decides to advertise.

METHODS OF REMUNERATION

Compensation For Agency Services:

The main motive of all business is to earn profits and the business of advertising is not an exception to it. There are two popular methods for compensating advertising agencies for their services

(i) Commission Method, and

(ii) Fee method or system.

(1) Commission Method of Compensation

Under this system, the agency receives an amount equal to 15 percent of the cost charged for media space or time as the commission from media owners. The rate of commission varies from media to media and from country to country but 15 per cent rate is almost universal. The media bills the agency for the state rate (as agreed) less 15 percent.

The agency, in turn, bills the advertiser for the full rate charged by the media before deducting the commission. The difference of the bill paid by the agency to the media owner and charged by the the agency from the client is the agencys income for the services rendered by it to the client.

An example will illustrate how the commission system works. Suppose an agency prepares and places an advertisement in a magazine at an agreed charge for Rs. 20,000. The magazine will bill the agency for Rs. 17000 (Rs. 20,000 as agreed price less 15 percent). The agency, in turn, will bill th advertiser for Rs, 20,000 (cost of advertisement charged by the media). The difference of Rs. 3,000 is the income of the agency which may be regarded as the remuneration for its services.

Generally, a cash discount is also offered by the media at the rate of 2 percent for prompt payment within a stated period and this discount is passed on to the advertiser on similar terms.

Advantages and disadvantages of the system:

The commission system has the sanction of long usage and is widely used because of its simplicity. This system simplifies the task of media greatly as the agency is directly concerned for the payment of media charges. The system also stimulates the productivity of agencies due to keen competition for accounts.

But for many years, there has been considerable dissatisfaction over this straight commission system. Due to more and more competition, the agencies have to offer more services to their clients without charging any extra amount as compensation which results in declining trend of profits of the agencies. On the other hand, large advertisers who bought -much media time and space felt that they were paying too much. The agencies received the same commission whether they placed the same advertisement in 10 different media or produced and created 10 different ads by incurring extra costs.

It also alleged that the agencies recommend an advertisement programme that calls for extensive use of expensive media or of media that require little in the way of agency services. This argument has minimal validity over a period of time, for loading a client with unneeded or in appropriate media not only would be unethical on the part of the agency but would cause client dissatisfaction, It would certainly lose the client and the agency will be loser.

(2) Fee System

Agency executives sometimes feel that 15 percent commission received from the media owners yields an insufficient income it, the light of its many services to the client. This assertion may be the case where the agency is working with small accounts. On the other hand, advertisers argue that the 15 percent commission to the agency from the media owners is too high.

Heavy users of Television are likely to take this position, for once a television commercial is produced and created, it may be used for long with thou sands of rupees to the media billings upon which the agency continues to receive 15 percent commission. When the priceva1ue ratio seems unfair, the agency may ask clients to substitute the fee system for the commission system or on the reverse, when the client feel abused, he may also ask for a change to the fee system.

Under fee system, the agency payment would consist exclusively of services fees which were to be computed on the basis of cost plus system. Under the system a certain fixed percentage on cost may be charged as fee to be paid to the agency along with the bill.

Advantages:

There are certainly a few advantages of fee sys

(i) The fee enables the agency to make fair profits on services rendered by it and, in turn, the advertiser pay for what he getsnothing more and nothing less.

ii) Most of clients paying under-fee system, feel that agency is more objective in its recommendations.

(iii) The agency is induced to provide a number of services, not tenable under commission system, if asked by the client because, it will get more fees.

(iv) The agencys income is stabilized. Unforeseen cuts in advertising expenditure by the advertiser do not affect the agencys profits because it will get a fixed fee for the services whether media owners charge more or less.

Thus, this system is felt well but switch over rate from

Commission to fee system is slow.

Charges for Spec1al Services

Advertising agencies do not rely on fee or commission, they charge from clients. The client, when asks for special services for the creation of advertisement such as art work, photography, photo engravings, the production of commercials and other services, the agency charge for such special SERVICCS as service charges in addition to the actual cost of these services.

The rate is 17.65 percent more for the work than the agency pays. It comes to 15 percent of the billing price (i.e. cost plus service charges). Service fees also are charged for certain work on which commissions are not available. Retail advertising, for example, is not granted a commission by some media. Moreover, catalogue, point of purchase, materials, sales materials, and direct mail pieces usually do not involve agency discounts.

Extra charges for services are also recovered when the media budget is so low that commissions do not pay for the work. An additional special fee is charged for the clients developmental work on the new product or any other unusual project.

SELECTING AN ADVERTISING AGENCY:

What factors would you bear in mind while

(i) Selecting an agency, and

(ii) Getting the best out of an agency.

The advertising agency plays a very important role in

Advertising. While selecting an advertising agency the importance of compatibility should be borne in mind. The agency takes a very long time in understanding the problems and accumulating the facts that are necessary for the smooth functioning of an account. Though this period, may be called investment period, is long, it pays a good dividend.

Therefore, an agency should not be changed frequently, for that result in repeated wastage of investment period. It will lower the effectiveness of advertising.

The following points should an advertiser bear in mind while (i) choosing an advertising agency and (ii) getting the best out of an agency.

(A) Choosing an Advertising Agency

While choosing an agency for the first time, the advertiser must consider the working and organizational abilities of the agency. He must well consider that

(1) The agency should possess a good experience in creating ideas and selling them. It should be able to create convincing, interesting and rest oriented sales messages.

(2) The agency should be able to think independently on various problems faced by the advertiser taking in views the special marketing situations, and not emphasise to solve them by pre-conceived notions which it is unwilling to change.

(3) The size of the agency should not be taken seriously. A big agency is not necessarily better than a small agency. On the contrary, a small agency may serve better.

(4) The agency should follow the advertiser in every case. If it feels that advertiser is not correct it should not hesitate in correcting the advertiser.

(5) The agency should be able to undertake the market research and use the results of research and brains to solve various problems.

(6) The advertiser should think that the agency makes a profit en the account, rather than it works on no profit, no-loss basis. The agency, otherwise, will not work satisfactorily.

(7) The agency should be financially sound and have good contacts with media owners. It should also be able to cover local, regional and national advertising campaigns.

(2) How to get best out of an Agency

The next problem, after selection of an agency, is how to use it to the best of its ability. For this purpose, the advertiser should cooperate with the agency. He should take the following steps in this connection

(i) The advertiser should provide all possible information necessary for the advertising if good services are expected from it.

(ii) The agency should be challenged to produce results. It should be very clear from the very beginning that the account will withdraw, if it does not serve to the satisfaction of the advertiser.

(iii) The advertiser should go as for as possible to keep the agency on its toes.

(iv) The advertiser should not allow the agency personnel to contact the junior staff of the company. He should appoint a special person for liaison work between his company and the agency instead.

(v) The advertiser should not interfere In the working of the agency. He should allow the agency to work independently and to break away from conventions, where necessary, in. its presentation.

(vi) The agency should be paid extra for extra work.

(vii) The advertiser should examine the work; his agency does for other parties to get new ideas.

TYPES OF AGENCY

(A) Special Service Groups

(B) In-house Agency

(A) Special-Service Groups

In our discussions in this chapter, the reference of agency is for a traditional full-service agency. Such full fledged agencies perform a wide range of advertising activities necessary in the areas of planning, production and creation of ads, media selection, and execution of an advertising programme. Such agendas maintain a big organization providing separate department for each function.

But, in recent years, a series of limited service specialist firms have come up. These newer institutions provide special services to advertisers, advertising agencies and media owners, in contrast to the traditional full-service agencies. Such firms providing specialized services collectively have been termed as Special Service Groups and they are by far the least known component of the advertising industry.

Printers, photoengravers, and typographers are some of the service groups involved in print media advertisement. Likely broadcast advertising may involve commercial production studios, musicians, actors, recordings tapes, transcriptions and packaged television shows from outside organizations.

Free lance artists, photographers and copywriters are some of the groups that sell the creativity for use in advertising. Models, package designers, public relations councilor, and independent market research firm are additional examples of the extensive list of special service activities that are available to serve the needs of advertisers.

Now, a very perplexing managerial question arises who will bear the responsibility for handling the many highly specialized creative processes and mechanical details that precede the appearance of an advertisement. This burden can be taken either of three authoritiesthe advertiser himself, advertising agency and the advertising media. The advertiser can perform this highly technical task internally, large retailers do it easily but typical manufacturing concerns advertising department find it difficult to carry out the creative aspect of the advertising programme. It is more concerned with the planning and coordinating phases.

The advertiser may shift these responsibilities to an advertising agency that is recognized as specialists in that field. Generally, the advertising personnel perform these functions very satisfactorily sometimes; they may borrow the services of such special service groups which provide specific services to the agency.

Some media owners also perform these services to their advertisers. Many radio and T.V. commercials are taped and produced in Radio and TV stations for their advertisers. Newspapers personnel also write copy and do art work for their advertisers.

All these three organizations use the services of these special service groups in one way or the other. If the particular need is occasional, the advertiser, the agency or the media involved will tape the services of these specialists. However, when the need is permanent and continuous, the decision should be based on where the best jobs can be done economically.

B) In House Agency

An in-House agency, as the name implies, is a full service agency owned by and operated under the direct supervision and control, of the advertiser. It performs all the creative and media functions provided by the full service agency. This performs advertising functions mainly for its master. It may take responsibility to work for other accounts but only if the advertiser likes. So, it is not completely free to serve other accounts.

The main objective in adopting the approach is to reduce the total cost of advertising, as the agency receives the media commission. This commission earned by the agency becomes the part of the profits of the concern.

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

Managing an advertising campaign is the process of preparing and integrating a specific advertising program in combination with the overall Integrated Marketing Communication message (IMC). An effective program consists of five steps. The steps of advertising campaign management are:

1. Review the communication market analysis.

2. Establish communication objectives consistent with those developed in a promotion opportunity analysis program.

3. Review the communications budget.

4. Select the media in conjunction with the advertising agency.

5. Review the information with the advertising creative in the creative brief.

The advertising program should be consistent with previous activities performed as part of the IMC program. This helps to make sure the firm presents a clear message to key target markets, and advertising efforts can then be refined to gain the maximum benefit from the promotional dollars being spent. A review of the steps involved is next.

COMMUNICATION MARKET ANALYSIS:

In the first phase of planning, the account executive studies what the companys communication market analysis reveals? The competitive analysis identifies the firms major competitors. The opportunities analysis reveals where the firm can best focus its advertising and promotional efforts by discovering company-strengths along with opportunities present in the marketplace.

The target market analysis identifies key target markets. The customer analysis suggests how the firms previous marketing communications efforts have been received by the public as well as by other businesses and potential customers. A positioning analysis explains how the firm and its products are perceived relative to the competition.

The value of reviewing the communication market analysis is in focusing the account executive, the creative, and the company itself on key markets and customers while helping them understand how the firm currently competes in the marketplace. Then the team is better able to establish and pursue specific advertising objectives.

For the purposes of advertising, two important items are outlined as part of the communication market analysis:

1. The media usage habits of the target market

2. The media utilized by the competition

When analyzing customers, knowing which media they use is vitally important.

For example, teenagers watch television and listen to the radio for many hours. Only a small percentage reads newspapers and news magazines.

Various market segments have differences in when and how they view various media.

For example, older African Americans watch television programs in patterns quite different from older Caucasians.

Males watch more sports programs than females and so forth.

In the business-to-business market, Knowing which trade journals or business publications the various members of the buying center most likely read is essential for the development of a print advertising campaign. Engineers, who tend to be the influencers, have different media viewing habits than do vice presidents, who may be the deciders.

Discovering which media reach a target market (and which do not) is a key component in a communication market analysis and an advertising program.

Further, studying the competition reveals how other firms attempt to reach customers. Knowing how other firms contact consumers is as important as knowing what they say. An effective communication market analysis reveals this information, so that more effective messages and advertising campaigns can be designed.

COMMUNICATION AND ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

The second step of advertising planning is to establish and clarify advertising and communication objectives. Several advertising goals are central to the IMC process. Some of these goals are listed;

Building Brand Image

One of the most important advertising goals is to build a global brand and corporate image. These, in turn, generate brand equity.

To build brand image

To inform

To persuade

To support other marketing efforts

To encourage action

Advertising is a critical component in the effort to build brand equity. Successful brands have two characteristics: being

(1) Top of mind and

(2) The consumers top choice.

When consumers are asked to identify brands that quickly come to mind from a product category, one particular brand is nearly always mentioned. That name has the property of being a top of mind brand.

For example, when asked to identify fast-food restaurants, McDonalds almost always heads the list. The same is true for Kodak film.

Brand awareness means the consumers recognize and remember a particular brand or company name when they consider purchasing options. Brand awareness, brand image, and brand equity are vital for success.

In business-to-business marketing, brand awareness is often essential to being considered by members of the buying center. It is important for business customers to recognize the brand name(s) of the various goods or services a company sells.

Brand awareness is especially important in modified rebuy situations, when a firm looks to change to a new vendor or evaluates a product or service that has not been purchased recently.

In new buy situations, firms spend more time seeking prospective vendors than they do in modified rebuys. Consequently, brand equity is a major advantage for the firm with such recognition. Further, many firms have increased their importing and exporting activities. As a result, developing recognized and accepted global brands has become an increasingly important part of many marketing programs.

Providing Information:

Besides building brand recognition and equity, advertising serves other goals.

For example, advertising often is used to provide information to both consumers and business buyers. Typical information for consumers includes a retailers store hours, business location, or sometimes more detailed product specifications. Information can make the purchasing process appear to be convenient and relatively simple, which can entice customers to finalize the purchasing decision and travel to the store.

This type of information is the most useful when members of the buying center are in the information search stage of the purchasing process.

For high-involvement types of purchases wherein members of the buying center have strong vested interests in the success of the choice, informative advertisements are the most beneficial

Persuasion

One of the most common goals of advertising programs is persuasion. Advertisements can convince consumers that a particular brand is superior to other brands. They can show consumers the negative consequences of failing to use a particular brand. Changing consumer attitudes and persuading them to consider a new purchasing choice is a challenging task.

As described later advertisers can utilize several methods of persuasion. Persuasive advertising is used more in consumer marketing than in businesstobusiness situations. Persuasion techniques are used more frequent in broadcast media such as television and radio than in print advertising.

Supporting Marketing Efforts

Another goal of advertising is to support other marketing functions. For example Manufacturers use advertising to support trade and consumer promotions, such as theme packaging or combine on offers. Contests, such as the McDonalds Monopoly promotion require extensive advertising to be effective. Retailers also use advertising to support their marketing programs. Any type of special sale white sale, buysonegetsone free,

PreChristmas sale) needs vigorous advertising to attract customers to the store.

Both manufacturers and retail outlets use advertising in conjunction with coupons or other special offers. When ads are combined with other marketing efforts into a larger more integrated effort resolving around a theme the program is called a promotional campaign.

Encouraging Action

Many times firms set motivational types of goals for their advertising programs. For example; Television commercials that encourage viewers to take action by dialing a tollfree number to make a quick purchases. Everything from Veg to CDs and cassettes are sold using action tactics. Mans business advertisements provide a Web address or telephone numbers that buyers can use to request more information or move toward a purchase more easily.

The five advertising goals of building image, providing information, being persuasive, supporting other marketing efforts, and encouraging action are not separate ideas. They work together in key ways. Irnage and information are part of persuasion. The goal of encouraging action is often part of supporting other marketing tactics. The Key advertising management objective is to emphasize one goal without forgetting the others.

THE COMMUNICATIONS BUDGET

Once the company, account manager and creative agree upon the major goals of the advertising campaign. a review of the communications budget is in order.

Also, however, the manner of distribution must be arranged. Three basic tactics include:

Advertising the most when sales are at peak seasons

Advertising the most during low sales seasons

Level amounts

Firms that advertise during peak seasons such as Christmas are emphasizing sending out the message when customers are most inclined to buy. Because consumers are on the hot spot, this approach makes sense for some products.

For example, Weight Watchers.

Diet Centers and others advertise heavily during the first two weeks of January. Many New Years resolutions include going on a diet.

Advertising during peak seasons can be accomplished in two ways.

The first is an exciting schedule of advertising. This schedule involves continuous advertising with explode of higher intensity (more ads in more media) during the course of the year, most notably during peak seasons. Companies can also utilize what is called a flighting approach or schedule, where ads are presented only during peak times, and not at all during off seasons.

The firms that decide to advertise the most during slow sales seasons are essentially oriented toward drumming up business when people do not regularly buy. In retail sales, slow seasons occur during January and February. Some companies advertise more during those periods to sell off merchandise left over from the Christmas season.

Many marketing experts believe it is best to advertise in level amounts, particularly when a product purchase is essentially a random event. This approach is a continuous campaign schedule.

For example, many durable goods such as washing machines and refrigerators are purchased on an as needed basis. A family ordinarily buys a new washing machine only when the old one breaks down.

Consequently, level advertising increases the odds that the buyer will remember a given name (Whirlpool, General Electric). Also, there is a better chance that consumers will be exposed to ads close to the time they are ready to make purchases.

In any case, the objective should be to match the pacing of advertisements with the message, media, and the nature of the product or service. Some media make it easier to advertise for longer periods of time.

For instance, billboards are normally posted for a month or a year. They can be rotated throughout a town or city to present a continuing message about the company or its products. Budgetary constraints must also be incorporated into the strategies and tactics used in the advertising program.

MEDIA SELECTION

The next step of advertising management is to develop strategies and tactics associated with media selection, refining intent of the message, and development of the actual campaign with specific ads. It is crucial to develop consistent messages that match with various media.

Media buys are guided by the advertising agency or media agency, the company, and the creative. Also, the expanding number of usable media is described. They should complement the IMC program. When media selection is performed carefully, and messages are designed to fit with those choices, the chances for success greatly increase.

Advertising management is part of the overall IMC scheme. When effectively coordinated, a company develops a major advantage in the competitive arena. These coordination efforts are largely guided by a creative brief, which is the final step of the campaign program to accompany producing the actual advertisements.

The objective

The target audience

The message theme

The support

The constraints

THE CREATIVE BRIEF:

In preparing advertisements, creative work with a document called a creative strategy or creative brief. Using this instrument, the creative takes the information provided by the account executive and is expected to produce an advertisement that conveys the desired message in a manner that will positively impact potential customers. Details about each element of the creative brief are provided next.

The Objective

The first step in preparing the creative strategy is to identify the objective of the advertisement. Possible objectives include:

Increase brand awareness

Build brand image

Increase customer traffic

Increase retailer or wholesaler orders

Increase inquiries from end users and channel members

Provide information

The creative must understand the main objective before designing an advertisement, because the primary objectives guide the design of the advertisement and the choice of an executional theme. An ad to increase brand awareness prominently displays the name of the product. An ad to build brand image can display the actual product more prominently as in the Soft Scrub advertisement shown in this section.The Target Audience:A creative should know the target audience. An advertisement designed to persuade a business to inquire about new computer software will be different than a consumer advertisement from the same company. A business advertisement focuses on the type of industry and the project member of the buying center who will see it. The more detail that is known about the target audience, the easier it is for a creative to design an effective advertisement.

Target market profiles that are too general are not very helpful. Rather than specifying males, ages 20 to 35, more cific information is needed (e.g., males, 20 to 35, college educated, professionals). Other information such as hobbies, interests, opinions, and lifestyles makes targeting an advertisement even more precise.

The Message Theme:

The message theme is an outline of key idea(s) that the advertising program is supposed to convey. The message theme is the benefit or promise the advertiser wants to use to reach consumers or businesses. The promise or unique selling point should describe the major benefit the good or service offers customers.

For example, the message theme for an automobile could be oriented toward luxury, safety, fun, fuel efficiency, or driving excitement. The message theme for a hotel could focus on luxury, price, or unusual features, such as a hotel in Delhi, India noting the ease of access to all of the nearby tourist attractions. The message theme should match the medium selected, the target market, and the primary IMC message to be effective.

Notice the advertisement by the milk industry featuring avin. The theme of milk providing the calcium needed for strong bones is consistently used in a number of milk advertisements, as is the visual display of the white mustache. Although the model and context change, the theme is consistent.

The Support

The fourth component of the creative strategy is the support. Support takes the form of the facts that substantiate the message theme. A pain reliever advertising claim of being effective for arthritis may support this point by noting independent medical findings or testimonials from patients with arthritis.

The Constraints

The final step in the development of a creative strategy is identification of any constraints. These are the legal and mandatory restrictions placed on advertisements. They include legal protection for trademarks, logos, and copy registrations. They also include disclaimers about warranties, offers, and claims. For warranties, a disclaimer specifies the conditions under which they will be honored.

For example, tire warranties often state they apply under normal driving conditions with routine maintenance, so that a person cannot ignore tire balancing and rotation and expect to get free new tires-when the old ones wear out quickly. Disclaimer warranties notify consumers of potential hazards associated with products. For instance, tobacco advertisements must contain a statement from the Surgeon General about the dangers of smoking and chewing tobacco. Disclaimers about offers spell out the terms of financing agreements, as well as when bonuses or discounts apply. Claims identify the exact nature of the statement made in the advertisement.

For example, nutritional claims must contain a statement about the size of serving or other information that makes it clear how many nutrients are actually in the product.

After these steps have been reviewed, the creative brief is complete. From this point forward, the message and the media match, and actual advertisements can be produced. Effective creative briefs focus everyone involved on both the IMC message and the current intent of an advertising campaign. This, in turn, gives companies better chances of reaching customers with messages that return measurable results and help guarantee the success of both the company and the advertising agency.

When the creative brief has been completed, design of the campaign should move forward at a solid pace. The goal is to move forward without rushing. PAGE 1PSNACET

MBA