(BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)

(PGDM DUAL)

Question-1(a) Advertising is considered as the backbone of the business, define

advertising and explain how the process functions?
Answer
Now a days, Advertising has assumed important role in this very fast developing and
competitive world. In order to understand it first we have to know what it means or in
other words to know its definition. But before we define we must know i.e. six segments
of the definition of advertising:

Six Segments:

1. It is paid form of communication.

2. The Sponsor is identified.
3. Most advertising tries to persuade or influence consumer to do. Something though in
some cases it is merely to make consumers aware of product or company.
4. Message is conveyed through different types of media.
5. Advertising makes message reach large audience of potential consumers.
6. Advertising is a form of mass communication therefore it is non- personal.
Based on the above the most accepted standard definition universally accepted is as
described by Bovee in 1992. It said: "Advertising is the non – personal
communication of information usually persuasive in nature about products, services or
ideas by identified sponsors through the various media"
Let’s try to DISECT & EXPLAIN key terms PERSONAL and NON – PERSONAL used
in the definition of advertising.
There are two basic ways to sell

Personally & Non-Personal

1. Personal selling – Where seller & buyer has to be together.

2. Non – Personal - Seller is approached through a medium i.e. advertising.

ADVERTISING
One definition of advertising is: "Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of
information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services
or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media so much for academic
doubletalk. Now let's take this statement apart and see what it means.

NONPERSONAL
1
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
First, what is "nonpersonal"? There are two basic ways to sell anything: personally and
nonpersonally. Personal selling requires the seller and the buyer to get together. There
are advantages and disadvantages to this. The first advantage is time: the seller has
time to discuss in detail everything about the product. The buyer has time to ask
questions, get answers, and examine evidence for or against purchase.
A second advantage of personal selling is that the seller can see you. Now see how
the sales message is getting across. If you yawn or your eyes shift away, you're
obviously bored, and the seller can change approach. He can also see if you're hooked,
see what features or benefits have your attention, and emphasize them to close the
sale.
Finally, the seller can easily locate potential buyers. If you enter a store, you probably
have an interest in something that store sells. Street vendors and door-to-door sellers
can simply shout at possibilities, like the Hyde Park (London) vendors who call out, "I
say there, Guv'nor, can you use a set of these dishes?", or knock at the door and start
their spiel with an attention grabber. From there on they fit their message to the
individual customer, taking all the time a customer is willing to give them.
Disadvantages do exist. Personal selling is, naturally enough, expensive, since it is
labor-intensive and deals with only one buyer at a time. Just imagine trying to sell
chewing gum or guitar picks one-on-one; it would cost a dollar a stick or pick.
In addition, its advantage of time is also a disadvantage. Personal selling is time-
consuming. Selling a stereo or a car can take days, and major computer and airplane
sales can take years.
Nonetheless, although personal selling results in more rejections than sales, and can
be nerve-racking, frustrating and ego destroying for the salesperson, when the
salesperson is good it is more directed and successful than advertising.
From the above, it appears that personal selling is much better than advertising, which
is nonpersonal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling:
there is very little time in which to present the sales message, there is no way to know
just who the customer is or how rhe is responding to the message, the message cannot
be changed in mid-course to suit the customer's reactions.
Then why bother with advertising? Because its advantages exactly replace the
disadvantages of personal selling, and can emulate some of the advantages. First let's
look at the latter.
Advantages
1. Advertising has, comparatively speaking, all the time in the world. Unlike
personal selling, the sales message and its presentation does not have to be
created on the spot with the customer watching. It can be created in as many
ways as the writer can conceive, be rewritten, tested, modified, injected with

every trick and appeal known to affect consumers.

2. Although advertisers may not see the individual customer, nor be able to modify
the sales message according to that individual's reactions at the time, it does
have research about customers. The research can identify potential customers,
find what message elements might influence them, and figure out how best to
get that message to them. Although the research is meaningless when applied

2
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
to any particular individual, it is effective when applied to large groups of
customers.
3. Perhaps of most importance, advertising can be far cheaper per potential
customer than personal selling. Personal selling is extremely labor-intensive,
dealing with one customer at a time. Advertising deals with hundreds,
thousands, or millions of customers at a time, reducing the cost per customer to
mere pennies. In fact, advertising costs are determined in part using a formula to
determine, not cost per potential customer, but cost per thousand potential
customers.
Thus, it appears that advertising is a good idea as a sales tool. For small ticket items,
such as chewing gum and guitar picks, advertising is cost effective to do the entire
selling job. For large ticket items, such as cars and computers, advertising can do a
large part of the selling job, and personal selling is used to complete and close the sale.
Advertising is nonpersonal, but effective.
FACTS OF ADVERTISING:
COMMUNICATION
Communication means not only speech or pictures, but any way one person can pass
information, ideas or feelings to another. Thus communication uses all of the senses:
smell, touch, taste, sound and sight. Of the five, only two are really useful in advertising
sound and sight.
Smell-Smell is an extremely strong form of communication. However, when it comes to
advertising, it is not very useful. A smell can immediately evoke memories. Remember
times when you've smelled something and what memories came to your mind. The
smell could be a perfume or aftershave that reminds you of Sheila or George. It could
be popcorn, newly mown grass, char-broiling steak, or roses. Any smell can conjure up
a memory for you.
However, that is smell's greatest problem for advertising. Although a smell can evoke a
memory, everyone's memories are different. For example, the smell of hay in a cow
barn always reminds me of my grandfather's farm in Indiana and the fun I had there as
a child. To others, however, that same smell makes them think a cow had an accident
in the living room, not at all the same response as mine. If an advertiser wanted to
make me nostalgic about farms and grandparents, the smell would be perfect. To
others the smell might evoke ideas of cow accidents or the pain of having to buck bales
on a hot summer day, neither image of much use in making a product appealing.
The point is, the effect of using smell in advertising cannot be controlled by the
advertiser. Although many people smell the same things, what they associate with
those

smells varies with each person. Without some control, smell is a very weak form of
communication for advertising.
Touch
Touch has a limitation that makes it of little use to advertising -- the customer has to
come in actual contact with the item to be touched. Thus the item must actually exist
and be put in a medium that can carry it. This puts touch more in the realm of personal
selling than advertising.

3
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
It is possible to use touch for a limited number of products. For example, samples of
cloth or paper can be bound into magazines. The potential customer can thus feel
percale or the texture of corduroy, tell through touch the difference between slick
magazine stock, embossing, Classic Laid or 100% rag paper. However, for the majority
of products touch is useless for advertising.

Taste
Taste is probably the least useful communication channel available to advertising. Like
touch, taste requires the potential customer to come in actual physical contact with the
product. However, taste is even more limited than touch. There are few products other
than food for which taste is a major selling point, and there is virtually no medium in
which an ad can be placed that people are likely to lick; I'm sure few people are going
to lick a magazine page or the TV screen, nor get much sense of what the product
tastes like from them. It is possible to use direct mail, sending samples to homes, but
that is an expensive way to advertise.
Thus, taste is much more effective in personal selling, such as sampling foods in
supermarkets or in door-to-door sales.
The remaining two senses, sound and sight are the most effective and easily used
channels of communication available to advertising. For these reasons virtually all
advertising relies on them.
Sound
Sound is extremely useful for advertising. It can be used in a variety of media, from
radio and television to the new technology of binding micro-sound chips in magazines
to present 20-second sales messages. It is also capable of presenting words and
"theatre of the mind."
Words, the method by which humans communicate their ideas and feelings, are
presented by sound, by speaking aloud. Through the use of words it is possible to
deliver logical arguments, discuss pros and cons, and evoke emotions.
More, through the use of sound it is possible to create what is called "the theatre of the
mind." What this means is that sound can conjure in the listener's mind images and
actions that don't necessarily exist. For example, if you want to create before the mind's
eye the image of a party, you need merely use the sound effects of people talking and

laughing, the tinkle of glasses and ice, perhaps music in the background. Even easier,
tape record a party and play it back. To evoke images of a soft spring day the sounds
of a breeze rustling leaves, the chirrup of insects, the soft call of birds is sufficient. The
listener's mind will take those sounds, combine them, make sense of them, and create
an image suited to their individual taste. For example, a beer commercial may play the
sounds of a bar in the background, and the listener may imagine themselves in their
own favorite bar, and perhaps ordering that brand of beer.
Thus sound, in the forms of words and effects, are quite useful to the advertiser in
affecting a listener.
Sight
Sight is arguably the most useful of the communication channels available to the
advertiser. Through sight it is possible to use both words and images effectively.

4
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Words do not have to be spoken to be understood. They can be printed, as well.
Although it is difficult to put in written words the emotional impact possible in spoken
words, with their inflections and subtle sound cues, nevertheless written words are
unsurpassed for getting across and explaining complex ideas or arguments.
There is an additional factor in sight that makes it excellent for advertising. The old
cliche, "A picture is worth a thousand words," is correct. Think how long it takes to
describe something as opposed to showing a picture of it. No matter how many words
you use, some details will be left out that are visible at a glance. Thus sight can quickly
and concisely show a customer what the advertiser wants him/her to see, be it a
product or how buying the product can benefit him/her.
In addition, the mind does not have to consciously recognize what the eye sees for it to
have an effect on the subconscious. An advertiser can put many inconspicuous details
into a picture that will affect a customer on the subconscious level. For example, a drop
of water on a rose petal may not consciously register ("I see there's a drop of water on
this rose"), but will unconsciously leave an impression of freshness and delicacy. A
small child looking upward into the camera, unsmiling and eyes wide, gives an
impression of sadness and vulnerability, not shortness.
The five forms of human communication can be used to send any message to potential
customers. However, not all five are equal. Smell, touch and taste are of little use, but
sound and sight are of great value and effectiveness.

ADVERTISING PROCESS:
It is difficult to show exactly what the complete advertising process looks like as there is
no typical ‘process’ adhered to by agencies. The route from brief to campaign execution
will differ massively by agency and client and will depend on the particular agency
being referred to as well as the relationship they have with the client. Below are some
guidelines which although quite simplistic, should provide you with an idea of the
advertising process that takes place as a whole.

The Process:

5
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
From Brief to Research:
Once the brief has been received from the client, research will take place. This will
include looking at some of the following - the advertisers’ service or product will be
compared with the competition, their ranking in the market-place will be looked at, as
will consumers’ perceptions of their brand in comparison to their competitors’. The
advertising and media agencies will also analyse the competitors’ advertising as part of
this research.
The agencies will then look at a wide range of factors. For example, who can use the
product, their demographics (age, sex, size of family, education and income levels),
where they live etc. Amongst other factors, they will also take into account geographical
and seasonal factors which could affect the service or product.

From Research to Plan

Using the research, the media agency will identify who the target audience is and the
media that should be used to reach that target audience in the most cost effective way.

Together, the agencies will, together, make recommendations on:

• The markets to be reached
• Potential changes to the distribution of the product
• Pricing to the consumer, retailer and wholesaler
• Media channels to be used to deliver the message to the consumer, retailer and
wholesaler
• Copy and creative content to be used in each medium
• The amount of money to be spent in each media channel.

From Plan to Execution

The agency’s creative people will have the job of converting the advertising
communication into words and pictures. The copywriter will, as the name suggests,
write the copy, whilst the art director will visually implement the copywriter’s message.
Whilst the Advertising agency will be involved at every stage of the production of the

commercials, they won’t actually do the filming or taping — that will be done by outside
production companies. The traffic department within the advertising agency will ensure
that the commercials are ready on time and that the client and legal approvals have
been granted.

From Execution to Analyzing Campaign Effectiveness

Once the advertisement or commercial has run, the media agency will verify this and
check its performance; for instance, if a magazine advertisement doesn’t run or is not
placed in an agreed position and this was part of the negotiation, then the media
agency will request a re-run or compensation.

6
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 1(b) Appeal plays an important role in the field of advertisement, be it in any
type of media, bring out importance and effects of appeal in advertising; support your
answer whit example.

Answer

APPEAL
Advertising intends to promote the sales of a product or service and also to inform the
masses about the highlights of the product or the service features. It is an efficient
means of communicating to the world, the value of the product or the service.
7
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Advertising utilizes different media to reach out to the masses and uses different types
of appeals to connect to the customers across the globe. The various types of
advertising appeals harness different means of highlighting the features of a product
and drawing the attention of the masses towards it. Here is an overview of the different
types of advertising appeals.

Importance of appeals:
In the following essay, Jib Fowles looks at how advertisements work by examining the
emotional, subrational appeals that they employ. We are confronted daily by hundreds
of fads, only a few of which actually attract our attention. These few do so, according to
Fowles, through "something primary and prim itive, an emotional appeal, that in effect is
the thin edge of the wedge, trying to find its way into a mind." Drawing on research
done by the psychologist Henry A. Murray, Fowles describes fifteen emotional appeals
or wedges that advertisements exploit.
Underlying Fowles's psychological analysis of advertising is the assumption that
advertisers try to circumvent the logical, cautious, skeptical powers we develop as
consumers, to reach, instead, the "unfulfilled urges and motives swirling in the bottom
half of [our] minds." In Fowles's view, consumers are well advised to pay attention to
these underlying appeals in order to avoid responding unthinkingly.

Emotional Appeals
The nature of effective advertisements was recognized full well by the late media
Philosopher Marshall McLuhan. In his Understanding Media, the first Sentence of the
section on advertising reads, "The continuous pressure is to create ads more and more
in the image of audience motives and desires."
By giving form to people's deep-lying desires and picturing states of being that
individuals privately yearns for, advertisers have the best chance of arresting attention
and affecting communication. And that is the immediate goal of advertising: to tug at
our psychological shirts sleeves and slow us down long enough for a word or two about
whatever is being sold. We glance at a picture of a solitary rancher at work, and
"Marlboro" slips into our minds. Advertisers (I'm using the term as shorthand for both
the product's manufacturers, who bring the ambition and money to the process, and the
advertising agencies, who supply the know-how) are ever more compelled to invoke
consumers' drives and longings; this is the "continuous pressure" McLuhan refers to.

Over the past century, the American marketplace has grown increasingly congested as
more and more products have entered into the frenzied competition after the public's
dollars. The economies of other nations are quieter than ours since the volume of
goods being hawked does not so greatly exceed demand. In some economies,
consumer wares are scarce enough that no advertising at all is necessary. But in the
United States we go to the extreme. In order to stay in business, an advertiser must
strive to cut through the considerable commercial by any means available--including
the emotional appeals that some observers have held to be abhorrent and
underhanded.
Fowles Advertising's Fifteen Basic Appeals

8
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
The use of subconscious appeals is a comment not only on conditions among sellers.
As time has gone by, buyers have become stoutly resistant to advertisements. We live
in a blizzard of these messages and have learned to turn up our collars and ward off
most of them. A study done a few years ago at Harvard University's Graduate School of
Business Administration ventured that the average American is exposed to some 500
ads daily from television, newspapers, magazines, radio, billboards, direct mail, and so
on. If for no other reason than to preserve one's sanity, a filter must be developed in
every mind to lower the number of ads a person is actually aware of-a number this
particular study estimate at about seventy-five ads per day. (Of these, only twelve
typically produced a reaction-nine positive and three negative, on the average.) To be
among the few messages that do manage to gain access to minds, advertisers must be
strategic, perhaps even a little underhanded at times.
There are assumptions about personality underlying advertisers' efforts to communicate
via emotional appeals, and while these assumptions have stood the test of time, they
still deserve to be aired. Human beings, it is presumed, walk around with a variety of
unfulfilled urges and motives swirling in the bottom half of their minds. Lusts, ambitions,
tendernesses, vulnerabilities-they are constantly bubbling up, seeking resolution. These
mental forces energize people, but they are too crude and irregular to be given
excessive play in the real world. They must be capped with the competent, sensible
behavior that permits individuals to get along well in society. However, this upper layer
of mental activity, shot through with caution and rationality, is not receptive to
advertising's pitches.
Advertisers want to circumvent this shell of consciousness if they can, and latch on to
one of the lurching, subconscious drives.In effect, advertisers over the years have
blindly felt their way around the underside of the American psyche, and by trial and
error have discovered the softest points of entree, the places where their messages
have the greatest likelihood of getting by consumers' defenses. As McLuhan says
elsewhere, "Gouging away at the surface of public sales resistance, the ad men are
constantly breaking through into the Alice in Wonderland territory behind the looking
glass, which is the world of sub-rational impulses and appefltes."
An advertisement communicates by making use of a specially selected image (of a
Supine female, say, or a curly-haired child, or a celebrity) which is designed to
stimulate "subrational impulses and desires" even when they are at ebb, even if they
are unacknowledged by their possessor. Some few ads have their emotional appeal in
the text but for the greater number by far the appeal is contained in the artwork. This
makes sense, since visual communication better suits more primal levels of the brain.

If the viewer of an advertisement actually has the importuned motive, and if the appeal
is sufficiently well-fashioned to call it up, then the person can be hooked. The product in
the ad may then appeal to take on the semblance of gratification for the summoned
motive. Many ads seem to be Saying, "If you have this need, then this product will help
satisfy it." It is a primitive equation, but not an ineffective one for selling.
Thus, most advertisements appearing in national media can be understood as having
two orders of content. The first is the appeal to deep-running drives in the minds of
consumers. The second is information regarding the goods or service being sold: its
name, its manufacturer its picture, its packaging, its objective attributes, its functions.
For example, the reader of a brassiere advertisement sees a partially undraped but
blandly unperturbed woman standing in an otherwise commonplace public setting, and
may experience certain Sensations; the reader also sees the name "Maidenform," a
9
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
particular brassiere style, and, in tiny print words about the material, colors, price. Or,
the viewer of a television commercial sees a demonstration with four small boxes
labeled 650, 650, 650, and 800; something in the viewer's mind catchers hold of this, as
trivial as thoughtful consideration might reveal it to be. The viewer is also exposed to
the name "Anacin," its bottle, and its purpose.
Sometimes there is an apparently logical llnk between an ad's emotional appeal and its
product information. It does not violate common sense that Cadillac automobiles be
photographed at country clubs, or that Japan Air Lines be associated with Orientalia.
But there is no real need for the linkage to have a bit of reason behind it. Is there
anything inherent to the connection between Salem cigarettes and mountains, Coke
and a smile, Miller Beer and comradeship? The link being forged in minds between
product and appeal is a pre-logical one.
People involved in the advertising industry do not necessarily talk in the terms being
used here. They are stationed at the sending end of this communications channel, and
may think they are up to any number of things-Unique Selling Propositions, explosive
copywriting, the optimal use of demographics or psychographics, ideal media buys,
high recall ratings, or whatever But when attention shifts to the receiving end of the
channel, and focuses on the instant of reception, then commentary becomes much
more elemental: an advertising message contains something primary and primitive, an
emotional appeal, that in effect is the thin end of the wedge, trying to find its way into a
mind. Should this occur, the product information comes along behind.When enough
advertisements are examined in this light, it becomes clear that the emotional appeals
fall into several distinguishable categories, and that every ad is a variation on one of a
limited number of basic appeals. While there may be several ways of classifying these
appeals, one particular list of fifteen has proven to be especially valuable.
Fifteen Appeals

1. Need for sex. Let's start with Sex, because this is the appeal which seems to pop up
first whenever the topic of advertising is raised. Whole books have been written about
this one alone, to find a large audience of mildly titillated readers. Lately, due to
campaigns to sell blue jeans, concern with sex in ads has redoubled.

The fascinating thing is not how much sex there is in advertising, but how little.
Contrary to impressions, unambiguous sex is rare in these messages. Some of this
surprising observation may be a matter of definition: the Jordache ads with the lithe,
blouse-less female astride a similarly clad male is clearly an appeal to the audience's
sexual drives, but the same cannot be said about Brooke Shields in the Calvin Klein
commercials. Directed at young women and their credit-card carrying mothers, the
image of Miss Shields instead invokes the need to be looked at. Buy Calvins and you'll
be the center of much attention, just as Brooke is, the ads imply; they do not primarily
inveigle their target audience's need for sexual intercourse.
In the content analysis reported in Mass Advertising as Social Forecast, only two
percent of ads were found to pander to this motive. Even Playboy ads shy away from
sexual appeals: a recent issue contained eighty-three full-page ads, and just four of
them (or less than five percent) could be said to have sex on their minds. The reason
this appeal is so little used is that it is too blaring and tends to obliterate the product

10
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
information. Nudity in advertising has the effect of reducing brand recall. The people
who do remember the product may do so because they have been made indignant by
the ad; this is not the response most advertisers seek.
To the extent that sexual imagery is used, it conventionally works better on men than
women; typically a female figure is offered up to the male reader. A Black Velvet liquor
advertisement displays an attractive woman wearing a tight black outfit, recumbent
under the legend, "Feel the Velvet." The figure does not have to be horizontal, however,
for the appeal to be present, as National Airlines revealed in its "Fly me" campaign.
Indeed, there does not even have to be a female in the ad; "Flick my Bic" was sufficient
to convey the idea to many. As a rule, though, advertisers have found sex to be a tricky
appeal, to be used sparingly. Less controversial and equally fetching are the appeals to
our need for affectionate human contact.
2. Need for affiliation. American mythology upholds autonomous individuals, and
social statistics suggest that people are ever more going it alone in their lives, yet the
high frequency of affiliative appeals in ads belies this. Or maybe it does not: maybe all
the images of companionship are compensation for what Americans privately lack. In
any case, the need to associate with others is widely invoked in advertising and is
probably the most prevalent appeal. All sorts of goods and services are sold by linking
them to our unfulfilled desires to be in good company. According to Henry Murray, the
need for affiliation consists of 24 desires "to draw near and enjoyably cooperate or
reciprocate with another; to please and win affection of another; to adhere and remain
loyal to a friend." The manifestations of this motive can be segmented into several
different types of affiliation, beginning with romance.
Courtship may be swifter nowadays, but the desire for pair-bonding is far from satiated.
Ads reaching for this need commonly depict a youngish male and female engrossed in
each other The head of the male is usually higher than the female's, even at this late
date; she may be sitting or leaning while he is standing. They are not touching in the
Smirnoff vodka ads, but obviously there is an intimacy, sometimes frolicsome, between
them. The couple does touch for Cognac when "The moment was Martell." For Wind
Song perfume they have touched, and "Your Wind Song stays on his mind."Depending
on the audience, the pair does not absolutely have to be young-just together. He gives
her a DeBeers diamond, and there is a tear in her laugh lines. She takes Geritol and
preserves herself for him. And numbers of consumers, wanting affection too, follow suit.

Warm family feelings are fanned in ads when another generation is added to the pair.
Hallmark Cards brings grandparents into the picture, and Johnson and Johnson Baby
Powder has Dad, Mom, and baby, all fresh from the bath, encircled in arms and
emblazoned with "Share the Feeling." A talc has been fused to familial love. Friendship
is yet another form of affiliation pursued by advertisers. Two women confide and drink
Maxwell House coffee together; two men walk through the woods smoking Salem
cigarettes. Miller Beer promises that afternoon "Miller Time" will be staffed with three or
four good buddies. Drink Dr Pepper, as Mickey Rooney is coaxed to do, and join in with
all the other Peppers. Coca-Cola does not even need to portray the friendliness; it has
reduced this appeal to "a Coke and a smile."The warmth can be toned down and
disguised, but it is the same affiliative need that is being fished for. The blonde has a
direct gaze and her friends are firm businessmen in appearance, but with a glass of Old
Bushmill you can sit down and fit right in. Or, for something more upbeat, sing along
with the Pontiac choirboys. As well as presenting positive images, advertisers can play
to the need for affiliation in negative ways, by invoking the fear of rejection. If we don't
11
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
use Scope, we'll have the "Ugh! Morning Breath" that causes the male and female
models to avert their faces. Unless we apply Ultra Brite or Close-Up to our teeth, it's
good-bye romance. Our family will be cursed with "House-a-tosis" if we don't take care.
Without Dr. Scholl's antiperspirant foot spray, the bowling team will keel over. There go
all the guests when the supply of Dorito's nacho cheese chips is exhausted. Still more
rejection if our shirts have ring-around-the-collar, if our car needs to be Midasized. But
make a few purchases, and we are back in the bosom of human contact. As self-
directed as Americans pretend to be, in the last analysis we remain social animals,
hungering for the positive, endorsing feelings that only those around us can supply.
Advertisers respond, urging us to "Reach out and touch someone," in the hopes our
monthly bills will rise.
3. Need to nurture. Akin to affiliative needs is the need to take care of small,
defenseless creatures, children and pets, largely. Reciprocity is of less consequence
here, though; it is the giving that counts. Murray uses synonyms like "to feed, help,
support, console, protect, comfort, nurse, heal." A strong need it is, woven deep into
our genetic fabric, for if it did not exist we could not successfully raise up our
replacements. When advertisers put forth the image of something diminutive and furry,
something that elicits the word "cute" or precious," then they, are trying to trigger this
motive. We listen to the childish voice singing the Oscar Mayer weiner song, and our
next hot-dog purchase is prescribed. Aren't those darling kittens something, and how
did this Meow Mix get into our shopping cart? This pitch is often directed at women, as
Mother Nature's chief nurturers. "Make me some Kraft macaroni and cheese, please,"
says the elfin preschooler just in from the snowstorm, and mothers' hearts go out, and
Kraft's sales go up. "We're cold, wet, and hungry," whine the husband and kids, and the
little woman gets the Manwiches ready.A facsimile of this need can be hit without
children or pets: the husband is ill and sleepless in the television commercial, and the
wife grudgingly fetches the NyQuil. But it is not women alone who can be touched by
this appeal. The father nurses his son Eddie through adolescence while the John Deere
lawn tractor survives the years. Another father counts pennies with his young son as
the subject of New York Life Insurance comes up. And all over America are
businessmen who don't know why they dial Qantas Airlines when they have to take a
trans-Pacific trip; the koala bear knows.

4. Need for guidance. The opposite of the need to nurture is the need to be
nurtured: to be protected, shielded, guided. We may be loath to admit it, but the
child lingers on inside every adult-and a good thing it does, or we would not be
instructable in our advancing years. Who wants a nation of nothing but flinty
personalities? Parent like figures can successfully call up this need. Robert
Young recommends Sanka coffee, and since we have experienced him for
twenty-five years as television father and doctor, we take his word for it. Florence
Henderson as the expert mom knows a lot about the advantages of Wesson oil.

The parentliness of the Spokespersons need not be so salient; sometimes pure

authoritativeness is better. When Orson Welles scowls and intones, "Paul
Masson will sell no wine before its time," we may not know exactly what he
means, but we still take direction from him. There is little maternal about Brenda
Vaccaro when she speaks up for Tampax, but there is a certainty to her that
many accept. A celebrity is not a necessity in making a pitch to the need for

12
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
guidance, since a fantasy figure can serve just as well. People accede to the
Green Giant, or Betty Crocker, or Mr. Goodwrench. Some advertisers can get by
with no figure at all: "When E.F Hutton talks, people listen."Often it is tradition or
custom that advertisers point to and consumers take guidance from. Bits and
pieces of American history are used to sell whiskeys like Old Crow, Southern
Comfort, Jack Daniel's. We conform to traditional male/female roles and age-old
social norms when we purchase Barclay cigarettes, which inform us "The
pleasure is back." The product itself, if it has been around for a long time, can
constitute a tradition. All those old labels in the ad for Morton salt convince us
that we should continue to buy it. KooI-Aid says "You loved it as a kid. You trust
it as a mother" hoping to get yet more consumers to go along. Even when the
product has no history at all, our needs to conform to tradition and to be guided
are strong enough that they can be invoked through bogus nostalgia and older
actors. Country-Time lemonade sells because consumers’ want to believe it has
a past they can defer to. So far the needs and the ways they can be invoked
which have been looked at are largely warm and affiliative; they stand in contrast
to the next set of needs, which are much more egoistic and assertive.
5. Need to aggress. The pressures of the real world create strong retaliatory feelings
in every functioning human being. Since these impulses can come forth as bursts of
anger and violence, their display is normally tabooed. Existing as harbored energy,
aggressive drives present a large, tempting target for advertisers. It is not a target to be
aimed at thoughtlessly, though, for few manufacturers want their products associated
with destructive motives. There is always the danger that as in the case of sex, if the
appeal is too blatant public opinion will turn against what is being sold.Jack-in-the-Box
sought to abruptly alter its marketing by going after older customers and forgetting the
younger ones. Their television commercials had a seventyish lady command, "Waste
him," and the Jack- In-the-Box clown exploded before our eyes. So did public reaction
until the commercials were toned down. Print ads for Club cocktails carried the faces of
Octogenarians under the headline, "Hit me with a Club'; response was contrary enough
to bring the campaign to a stop.

Better disguised aggressive appeals are less likely to backfire: Tnumph cigarette has
models making a lewd gesture with their uplifted cigarettes, but the individuals are often
laughing and usually in close company of others. When Exxon said, "There's a Tiger in
your tank," the implausibility of it concealed the invocation of aggressive feelings.
Depicted arguments are a common way for advertisers to tap the audience's needs to
aggress. Don Rickles and Lynda Carter trade gibes, and consumers take sides as the
name of Seven-Up is stitched on minds. The Parkay tub has a difference of opinion
with the user; who can forget it, or who (or what) got the last word in?
6. Need to achieve. This is the drive that energizes people, causing them to strive in
their lives and careers. According to Murray, the need for achievement is signaled by
the desires "to accomplish something difficult. To overcome obstacles and attain a high
standard. To excel one's self. To rival and surpass others." A prominent American trait,
it is one that advertisers like to hook on to because it identifies their product with
winning and success.

13
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
The Cutty Sark ad does not disclose that Ted Turner failed at his latest attempt at
yachting's America Cup; here he is represented as a champion on the water as well as
off in his television enterprises. If we drink this whiskey, we will be victorious alongside
Turner. We can also succeed with O.J. Simpson by renting Hertz cars, or with Reggie
Jackson by bringing home some Panasonic equipment. Cathy Rigby and Stayfree
Maxipads will put people out front. Sports heroes are the most convenient means to
snare consumers' needs to achieve, but they are not the only one. Role models can be
established, ones which invite emulation, as with the profiles put forth by Dewar scotch.
Successful, tweedy individuals relate they have "graduated to the flavor of Myer's rum."
Or the advertiser can establish a prize: two neighbors play one-on-one basketball for a
Michelob beer in a television commercial, while in a print ad a bottle of Johnie Walker
Black Label has been gilded like a trophy. Any product that advertises itself in
superlatives-the best the first the finest-is trying to make contact with our needs to
succeed. For many consumers, sales and bargains belong in this category of appeals,
too; the person who manages to buy something at fifty percent off is seizing an
opportunity and coming out ahead of others.
7. Need to dominate. This fundamental need is the craving to be powerful-perhaps
omnipotent, as in the Xerox ad where Brother Dominic exhibits heavenly powers and
creates miraculous copies. Most of us will settle for being just a regular potentate,
though. We drink Budweiser because it is the King of Beers, and here comes the
powerful Clydesdales to prove it. A taste of Wolfschmidt vodka and "The spirit of the
Czar lives on."The need to dominate and control one's environment is often thought of
as being masculine, but as close students of human nature advertisers know, it is not
so circumscribed. Women's aspirations for control are suggested in the campaign
theme, "I like my men in English Leather or nothing all." The females in the Chanel
No.19 ads are “outspoken" and wrestle their men around. Male and female, what we
long for is clout; what we get in its place is a MasterCard.
8. Need for prominence. Here comes the need to be admired and respected, to enjoy
prestige and high social status. These times, it appears, are not so egalitarian after all.
Many ads picture the trappings of high position; the Oldsmobile stands before a
manorial doorway, the Volvo is parked beside a steeplechase. A book-lined study is the
setting for Dewar's 12, and Lenox China is displayed in a dining room chock full of
antiques. Beefeater gin represents itself as "The Crown Jewel of England" and uses no

illustrations of jewels or things British, for the words are sufficient indicators of
distinction. Buy that gin and you will rise up the prestige hierarchy or achieve the same
effect on yourself with Seagram's 7 Crown, which ambiguously describes itself as
"classy." Being respected does not have to entail the usual accoutrements of wealth:
"Do you know who I am?" the commercials ask, and we learn that the prominent person
is not so prominent without his American Express card.
9. Need for attention. The previous need involved being looked up to, while this is the
need to be looked at. The desire to exhibit ourselves in such a way as to make others
look at us is a primitive, insuppressible instinct. The clothing and cosmetic industries
exist just to serve this need, and this is the way they pitch their wares. Some of this
effort is aimed at males, as the ads for Hathaway shirts and Jockey underclothes. But
the greater bulk of such appeals is targeted single-mindedly at women. To come back
to Brooke Shields: this is where she fits into American marketing. If I buy Calvin Klein
jeans, consumers infer, I'll be the object of fascination. The desire for exhibition has
been most strikingly played to in a print campaign of many years' duration, that of
14
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Maiden form lingerie. The woman exposes herself, and sales surge. "Gentlemen prefer
Hanes" the ads dissemble, and women who want eyes upon them know what they
should do. Peggy Fleming flutters her legs for Leggs, encouraging females who want to
be the star in their own lives to purchase this product.
The same appeal works for cosmetics and lotions. For years, the little girl with the
exposed backside sold gobs of Coppertone but now the company has picked up the
pace a little: as a female, you are supposed to "Flash 'em a Coppertone tan." Food can
be sold the same way especially to the diet-conscious; Angie Dickinson poses for
California avocados and says, "Would this body lie to you?" Our eyes are too fixed on
her for us to think to ask if she got that way by eating mounds of guacamole.
1O. Need for autonomy. There are several ways to sell credit card services, as has
been noted: Mastercard appeals to the need to dominate, and American Express to the
need for prominence. When Visa claims, "You can have it the way you want it," yet
another primary motive is being beckoned forward-the need to endorse the self. The
focus here is upon the independence and integrity of the individual; this need is the
antithesis of the need for guidance and is unlike any of the social needs. "If running with
the herd isn't your style, try ours," says Rotan-Mosel, and many Americans feel they
have finally found the right brokerage firm. The photo is of a red-coated Mountie on his
horse, posed on a snow- covered ledge; the copy reads, "Windsor-One Canadian
stands alone." This epitome of the solitary and proud individual may work best with
male customers, as may Winston's man in the red cap. But one-figure advertisements
also strike the strong need for autonomy among American women. As Shelly Hack
strides for Charlie perfume, females respond to her obvious pride and flair; she is her
own person. The Virginia Slims tale is of people who have come a long way from
subservience to independence. Cachet perfume feels it does not need a solo figure to
work this appeal, and uses three different faces in its ads; it insists, though, "It's
different on every woman who wears it." Like many psychological needs, this one can
also be appealed to in a negative fashion, by invoking the loss of independence or self-
regard. Guilt and regrets can be stimulated: "Gee, I could have had a V-8." Next time,
get one and be good to yourself.

11. Need to escape. An appeal to the need for autonomy often co-occurs with one for
the need to escape, since the desire to duck out of our social obligations, to seek rest
or adventure, frequently takes the form of one-person flight. The dashing image of a
pilot, in fact, is a standard way of quickening this need to get away from it all. Freedom
is the pitch here, the freedom that every individual yearns for whenever life becomes
too oppressive. Many advertisers like appealing to the need for escape because the
sensation of pleasure often accompanies escape, and what nicer emotional nimbus
could there be for a product? "You deserve a break today," says McDonald's, and
Stouffer's frozen foods chime in, "Set yourself free."For decades men have
imaginatively bonded themselves to the Marlboro cowboy who dwells untarnished and
unencumbered in Marlboro Country some distance from modern life; ads, part of the
same campaign, contain two strolling figures. In smokers' aching needs for autonomy
and escape are personified by that cowpoke. Many women can identify with the lady
ambling through the woods behind the words, "Benson and Hedges and mornings and
me."But escape does not have to be solitary. Other Benson and Hedges Salem
cigarette advertisements, it can be several people who escape together into the
mountaintops. A commercial for Levi's pictured a cloudbank above a city through which
15
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
ran a whole chain of young people. There are varieties of escape, some wistful like the
Boeing "Someday" campaign of dream vacations, some kinetic like the play and parties
in soft drink ads. But in every instance, the consumer exposed to the advertisement is
invited to momentarily depart his everyday life for a more carefree experience,
preferably with the product in hand.
12. Need to feel safe. Nobody in their right mind wants to be intimidated, menaced,
battered, and poisoned. We naturally want to do whatever it takes to stave off threats to
our well-being, and to our families'. It is the instinct of self-preservation that makes us
responsive to the ad of the St. Bernard with the keg of Chivas Regal. We pay attention
to the stern talk of Karl MaIden and the plight of the vacationing couples who have lost
all their funds in the American Express traveler’s cheques commercials. We want the
omnipresent stag from Hartford Insurance to watch over us too. In the interest of
keeping failure and calamity from our lives, we like to see the durability of products
demonstrated. Can we ever forget that Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking?
When the American Tourister suitcase bounce all over the highway and the egg inside
doesn’t break, the need to feel safe has been adroitly pluck. We take precautions to
diminish future threats. We buy Volkswagen Rabbits for the extraordinary mileage, and
MONY insurance policies to avoid the tragedies depicted in their black-and-white ads of
widows and orphans. We are careful about our health. We consume Mazola margarine
because it has "corn goodness" backed by the natural food traditions of the American
Indians. In the medicine cabinet is Alka-Seltzer, the "home remedy"; having it we are
snug in our little cottage. We want to be safe and secure; buy these products,
advertisers are saying, and you'll be safer than you are without them.
13. Need for aesthetic sensations. There is an undeniable aesthetic component to
virtually every ad run in the national media: the photography or filming or drawing is
near-perfect, the type style is well chosen, layout could scarcely be improved upon.
Advertisers know there is little chance of good communication occurring if an ad is not
visually pleasing. Consumers may not be aware of the extent of their own sensitivity to
artwork, but it is undeniably large. Sometimes the aesthetic element is expanded and
made into an ad's primary appeal. Charles Jordan shoes may or may not appear in the
accompanying advent-grade photographs; Kohler plumbing fixtures catch attention
through the high style of their desert settings. Beneath the slightly out of focus

Photograph, languid and sensuous in tone, General Electric feels called upon to
explain, "This is an ad for the hair dryer." This appeal is not limited to female
consumers: J&B scotch says "It whispers" and shows a bucolic scene of lake and
castle.
14. Need to satisfy curiosity. It may seem odd to list a need for information among
basic motives, but this need can be as primal and compelling as any of the others.
Human beings are curious by nature, interested in the world around them, and intrigued
by tidbits of knowledge and new developments. Trivia, percentages, observations
counter to conventional wisdom-these items all help sell products. Any advertisement in
a question-and-answer format is strumming this need. A dog groomer has a question
about long distance rates, and Bell Telephone has a chart with all the figures. An ad for
Porsche is replete with diagrams and schematics, numbers and arrows. Lo and behold,
Anacin pills have 150 more milligrams than its competitors; should we wonder if this is
better or worse for us?
15. Physiological needs. To the extent that sex is solely a biological need, we are now
coming around full circle, back toward the start of the list. In this final category are
16
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
clustered appeals to sleeping, eating, drinking. The art of photographing food and drink
is so advanced, sometimes these temptations are wondrously caught in the camera's
lens: the crab meat in the Red Lobster restaurant ads can start us salivating, the
Quarter pounder can almost be smelled, the liquor in the glass glows invitingly imbibe,
these ads scream.
Styles
Some common ingredients of advertisements were not singled out for separate mention
in the list of fifteen because they are not appeals in and of themselves. They are
stylistic features, influencing the way a basic appeal is presented. The use of humor is
one, and the use of celebrities is another A third is time imagery, past and future, which
goes to several purposes. For all of its employment in advertising, humor can be
treacherous, because it can get out of hand and smother the product information.
Supposedly, this is what Alka-Seltzer discovered with its comic commercials of the late
sixties; "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," the sad-faced husband lamented, and the
audience cackled so much it forgot the antacid. Or, did not take it seriously. But used
carefully, humor can punctuate some of the softer appeals and soften some of the
harsher ones. When Emma says to the Fruit-of-the-Loom fruits, "Hi, cuties. Whatcha
doing in my laundry basket?" we smile as our curiosity is assuaged along with hers. Bill
Cosby gets consumers tickled about the children in his Jell-O commercials, and strokes
the need to nurture. An insurance company wants to invoke the need to feel safe, but
does not want to leave readers with an unpleasant aftertaste; cartoonist Rowland
Wilson creates an avalanche about to crush a gentleman who is saying to another, "My
insurance company? New England Life, of course why?" The same tactic of humor
undercutting threat is used in the cartoon commercials for Safeco when the Pink
Panther wanders from one disaster to another Often humor masks aggression:
comedian Bob Hope in the outfit of a boxer promises to knock out the knock-knocks
with Texaco; Rodney Dangerfield, who "can't get no respect," invites aggression as the
comic relief in Miller Lite commercials. Roughly fifteen percent of all advertisements
incorporate a celebrity, almost always from the fields of entertainment or sports. The
approach can also prove troublesome for advertisers, for celebrities are human beings
too, and fully capable of

the most remarkable behavior if anything distasteful about them emerges, it is likely to
reflect on the product. The advertisers making use of Anita Bryant and Billy Jean
suffered several anxious moments. An untimely death can also react poorly on a
product. But advertisers are willing to take risks because celebrities can be such a good
link between producers and performing the social role of introducer. There are several
psychological needs these middlemen can play upon. Let’s take the product class of
cameras and see how different celebrities can hit different needs. The need for
guidance can be invoked by Michael Landon, who plays such a wonderful dad on "Little
House on the Prairie"; when he says to buy Kodak equipment, many people listen.
James Garner for Polaroid cameras is put in a similar authoritative role, so defined by a
mocking spouse. The need to achieve is summoned up by Tracy Austin and other
tennis stars for Canon AE-l; the advertiser first makes sure we set these athletes
playing to win. When Cheryl Tiegs speaks up for Olympus cameras, it is the need for
attention that is being targeted.

Analyzing Advertisements

17
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
When analyzing ads yourself for their emotional appeals, it takes a bit of practice to
learn to ignore the product information (as well as one's own experience and feelings
about the product). But that skill comes soon enough, as does the ability to quickly sort
out from all the non-product aspects of an ad the chief element which is the most
striking, the most likely to snag attention first and penetrate brains farthest. The key to
the appeal, this element usually presents itself centrally and forwardly to the reader or
viewer.
Another clue: the viewing angle which the audience has on the ad's subjects is
informative. If the subjects are photographed or filmed from below and thus are looking
down at you much as the Green Giant does, then the need to be guided is a good
candidate for the ad's emotional appeal If, on the other hand, the subjects are shot from
above and appear deferential, as is often the case with children or female models, then
other needs are being appealed to. To figure out an ad's emotional appeal, it is wise to
know (or have a good hunch about) who the targeted consumers are; this can often be
inferred from the magazine or television show it appears in. This piece of information is
a great help in determining the appeal and in deciding between two different
interpretations. For example, if an ad features a partially undressed female, this would
typically signal one appeal for readers of Penthouse (need for sex) and another for
readers of Cosmopolitan (need for attention).It would be convenient if every ad made
just one appeal were aimed at just one need. Unfortunately, things are often not that
simple. A cigarette ad with a couple at the edge of a polo field is trying to hit both the
need for affiliation and the need for prominence; depending on the attitude of the male,
dominance could also be an ingredient in this. An ad for Chimer perfume incorporates
two photos: in the top one the lady is being commanding at a business luncheon (need
to dominate), but in the lower one she is being bused (need for affiliation). Better ads,
however, seem to avoid being too diffused; in the study of post-World War II advertising
described earlier, appeals grew more focused as the decades passed. As a rule of
thumb, about sixty percent have two conspicuous appeals; the last twenty percent have
three or more. Rather than looking for the greatest number of appeals, decoding ads is
most productive when the loudest one or two appeals are discerned, since those are
the appeals with the best chance of grabbing people's attention.

Do They or Don't They?

Do the emotional appeals made in advertisements add up to the sinister manipulation
of consumers? It is clear that these ads work. Attention is caught, communication
occurs between producers and consumers, and sales result. It turns out to be difficult to
detail the exact relationship between a specific ad and a specific purchase, or even
between a campaign and subsequent sales figures, because advertising is only one of
a host of influences upon consumption. Yet no one is fooled by this lack of perfect
proof; everyone knows that advertising sells. If this were not the case, then tight-fisted
American businesses would not spend a total of fifty billion dollars annually on these
messages.
But before anyone despairs that advertisers have our number to the extent that they
can marshal us at will and march us like automatons to the check-out counters, we
should recall the resiliency and obduracy of the American consumer. Advertisers may
have uncovered the softest spots in minds, but that does not mean they have found
truly gaping apertures. There is no evidence that advertising can get people to do
things contrary to their self-interests. Despite all the finesse of advertisements, and all
18
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
the subtle emotional tugs, the public resists the vast majority of the petitions. According
to the marketing division of the A.C. Nielsen Company, a whopping seventy-five
percent of all new products die within a year in the marketplace, the victims of
consumer disinterest which no amount of advertising could overcome. The appeals in
advertising may be the most captivating there are to be had, but they are not enough to
entrap the wiley consumer. The key to understanding the discrepancy between, on the
one hand, the fact that advertising truly works, and, on the other, the fact that it hardly
works, is to take into account the enormous numbers of people exposed to an ad
Modern-day communications permit an ad to be displayed to millions upon millions of
individuals; if the smallest fraction of that audience can be moved to buy the product
then the ad has been successful. When one percent of the people exposed to a
television advertising campaign reach for their wallets, that could be one million sales,
which may be enough to keep the product in production and the advertisements
coming.
It is good to keep in mind that many of the purchases which might be credited to these
ads are experienced as genuinely gratifying to the consumer We sincerely like the
goods or service we have bought and we may even like some of the emotional drapery
that an ad suggests comes with it. It has sometimes been noted that the most avid
students of advertisements are the people who have just bought the product; they want
to steep themselves in the associated imagery This may be the reason that Americans,
when polled, are not negative about advertising and do not disclose any sense of being
miss-used. The volume of advertising may be an irritant, but the product information as
well as the imaginative material in ads are partial compensation.
A productive understanding is that advertising messages involve costs and benefits at
both ends of the communications channel. For those few ads which do make contact,
the consumer surrenders a moment of time, has the lower brain curried, and receives
notice of a product; the advertiser has given up money and has increased the chance
of sales. In this sort of communications activity, neither party can be said to be the
loser.

Question 2(a) Enumerate the basic principles and factors for effective and good
advertising?

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ADVERTISING

1. The existence of a particular message
Ads would not exist without the existence of the message. Without the message, the ad
will not be tangible. The message conveyed by an ad, can form a combination of verbal
messages and non-verbal messages.
Verbal message is the message conveyed either orally or in writing. In the verbal
message, the ad is a series of words composed of vowels and consonants that make
up a particular meaning. Oral form of verbal messages can be delivered through audio
or audio visual. While writing the verbal message can be conveyed through print and

19
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
audio visual. All messages that are not verbal messages are non-verbal messages.
Throughout these forms of non-verbal means, so he can be called as a communication
message. Non-verbal messages can be visually non-verbal, non verbal and non
verbal audit if non-visual. Visual non-verbal messages are messages that can be
received through the senses, especially eyes. Visual non-verbal messages in general
there are three types, namely the shape kinestik, proksemik and artifaktual. Non-verbal
messages kinestik tangible visual gestures / body. It can be movement of some or all of
the body.
2. Conducted by the communicator (sponsor)
Advertising messages there because it is made by the communicator. Conversely, if
there is no communicator, there will be no advertising messages. Thus, the
characteristics of an ad are that the message is created and delivered by a
communicator or a particular sponsor clearly. Communicators in the ad may come from
individuals, community groups, institutions or organizations and even countries.
3. Conducted with non-personal way.
Of understanding which provided advertising, almost all agreed that the ad is delivering
a message that is in non-personal. Non-personal means not in the form of face to face.
Delivery of messages can be called the ads when done through the media.
4. Delivered to a specific audience.
In the world of advertising, target audience tends to be specific. The message is not
intended to be given to all people, but the specific target audience groups. Selected
target audiences are based on the belief that basically every special group memilkii
audience preferences, needs, desires, characteristics and particular beliefs. Thus, the
message given to a specially designed in accordance with the target audience.
5. In delivering the message, carried out by way of pay.
Delivery of messages is done by not paying by the advertiser, is not
considered advertising. Communication message conveyed in a way not to pay will be
included in the category of other communications activities. In advertising, this term

should be paid now widely interpreted. Because, said the pay is not only done with a
medium of exchange of money, but by way of barter in the form of space, and
opportunity.

6. Delivery of the message expects a certain impact.

In a visual ad, the entire message in the ad should be the message effectively. This
means that the message can move their audience to follow the advertising message.
All ads created by advertisers can be assured to have a specific purpose, namely, a
certain impact on the audience.

Principles of Effective Advertising

20
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Design is what powers advertising and it is becoming more and more crucial for a
company to have an effective advertising campaign. The purpose of an ad campaign is
to bring in new clients, buyers, users, and customers. That can be hard, especially
today when people are going to be more careful with what they are buying. That is why
it is important for an ad to be effective. Here are 10 principles of what an effective ad
consists of. Keep in mind that there are many different types of advertisements, and not
all of these tips apply to every ad
1. Grab People
A good advertisement must grab people almost immediately. It is very important that
your ad can be able to grab someone who glances for just a second. Force people to
take a second glance instead of simply moving on.

2. Be Clever and Creative

I know you probably hear this everywhere, but it is very true. It is very important to be
clever in an ad campaign. It attracts people and represents the brand in a positive way.
Think about it. If you see an extremely smart ad, you probably want to learn more. A
clever ad represents a clever company.

3. Speak Loudly
The louder you talk, the more people hear you, right? Well, the same concept applies to
advertising. You want your ad to say something, and you want it to be heard. A “loud”
advertisement isn’t just a big one, though. It can be achieved in many ways.

4. Don’t Make Them Think (Too Much)

One of the common guidelines, especially in web design, is not to make people think.
You need to get the message across in a clever way, but it shouldn’t make people think
too much. A person should know what the ad is saying as soon as they look at it.
5. Colors That Pop But Make Sense
Depending on the ad, you usually want your colors to pop. Color choice is a very
important aspect of advertisements. You also want your colors to work with the feeling
of the brand. Your colors need to work with the environment in which the ad is being

placed. Appeal to the targeted people through color, but don’t make the colors
distracting. As for exactly which colors to use, well that depends on the type of ad If you
are making an illustration for a “fun” brand, use a collaboration of bright colors. If the ad
is more serious, possibly use a more simple color scheme. Apart from that, the colors
depend entirely on the company and type of ad

21
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
6. Be Informative
Every advertisement must convey a message. Ads visually represent a message.
7. Stand Out and Be Memorable

Being unique and memorable are two essential components of a good ad Your ad
should be unique and completely different than anyone else. Be original.

8. Give off a Feeling

Every company and brand has its own mood or tone. You need to show that in the
advertisement. Someone should be able to tell the company’s tone by looking at an ad

9. Show Not Tell

A good advertisement is one which shows instead of telling. How can this be done? Try
using a more visual way of representing a concept instead of text.
10. Use Humor: Use a Metaphor
Humor is a useful technique for attracting people to an ad Metaphors can be a great
way to add humor. Humor is not always appropriate, and sometimes it just doesn’t work
for the brand or company, but when it does, use it.

Factors of good advertising

The goal of advertising is to cost-effectively reach a large audience and attract
customers. If done correctly, advertising can enhance the success of your business.
Here are 10 advertising tips to pay attention to:

1.Go after your target audience. An advertising campaign should be geared to your
niche market. It is a common mistake to create generic ads that do not speak the
language or grab the attention of your potential customers.
2. Highlight your competitive advantage. One of the keys to all advertising is to
accentuate the pros of your company, those factors that give you your competitive
edge. Too many ads are clever but fail to sell the benefits of the product or service.

3.Establish an image. You can recognize the McDonald's arches while whizzing
by on the highway. Likewise, there are plenty of products that you recognize by
their packaging or logo. Image counts when it comes to advertising and
promoting your business. Too many advertisers do not work to build a consistent
image.

22
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
4. You have to spend money to make money. There are ways to save
money, but typically advertising is not the place to cut corners. It will affect sales,
and that affects the bottom line. Successful advertising may cost some money,
but that is because it works
5. Advertise in the right places. Your favorite magazine, radio station, or
even television program might not be a favorite of your audience. Know what they
read, watch, and listen to, and advertise in media that reaches your target
market.
6. Don't allow your budget to run your advertising campaign. If you
budget $5,000 per month for advertising, you've made it very easy from a
bookkeeping perspective. However, if like most businesses you have seasonal
highs and lows, you are spending too much money advertising during down times
and not enough when you want to attract customers. Too many entrepreneurs do
not budget according to their seasonal advertising needs.
7. Diversify. It is all too common for business owners to choose the best
place to advertise based on price and potential rate of returns and then stop. As
is the case with investing, you do not want to put all of your eggs in one basket.
Spread your advertising dollars around.
8.Don't try to be everything to everyone. No product or service will appeal
to everyone. Many business owners, including corporate executives, try to come
up with ways to reach every market. Typically, this does not work. It can spell
disaster for small businesses, who cannot afford to spread themselves too thin.
Therefore, find your market and be everything you can be to that audience.
9.Test your ads in advance. If you have the time or money to invest in focus
groups, you should test your ads on other people. Do they understand and
accept the message that you are trying to convey? There are other less-
expensive ways to test your ads as well: questionnaires, for example.
10.Monitor your ads. It is very easy to ask new customers or clients where they
heard about you. As simple as this is, many entrepreneurs do not bother to do so.
It is advantageous to know which ads generate business.

7 Factors of an Effective Advertising

Campaign
You've probably heard the old saying - I know that half of my advertising dollars
are wasted, if I only knew which half! Although it's not possible to know all the
factors that go into effective advertising, there are a few elements that are crucial
to an ad campaign that is profitable. If you strive to achieve as many of the

following 7 factors as possible, you can be confident that you'll have a winning
campaign.

23
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
1. Choose an appropriate medium to convey your message. This is so obvious, but
you'd be amazed at how many people don't use common sense when buying media. If
you're trying to reach a 14 year old, don't buy an ad in the daily paper - buy the radio
station that plays hip hop music! Try to target your advertising as much as possible.
Think about the person you're trying to reach with your message. The more you know
about that person, the easier this will be.If you're selling clothing to working women,
buying TV is probably not a good idea. They're probably so busy doing household
chores and taking kids to various activities, they probably don't have time to watch
much TV. But billboards and radio are great because she's probably on the road a lot
and those media fit for that audience.

2. Don't believe that everyone uses media the way you or your spouse does. Just
because you don't like a certain program on TV doesn't mean that your potential
customer doesn't like it - they may be big fans and never miss an episode.Don't
assume that everyone reads the newspaper because everyone you know does. Ask for
information about the medium's audience - let your rep show you exactly who is
watching/reading/listening/driving by/surfing their medium.

3. Don't judge the price of the ad by the dollar amount alone. Just because an ad is
expensive doesn't mean it isn't a good buy - and the opposite is true also. If an ad is
cheap, but no one reads or sees it, it's worthless to you. If an ad is reaching tens of
thousands of people for $1,000, it might be a good buy if those are the people who are
in the market for your product.Try to gauge the real value of an ad by the cost per
thousand or cost per rating point (for TV, radio & cable). If you're not familiar with those
terms, ask your ad rep - they will be happy to fill you in. (And if they aren't, find a new
rep.)

4. Develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. This is another thing that
should be obvious, but very few companies actually do this. Proctor and Gamble has
found that this is what makes them money. And it makes sense. If people trust your
brand and feel that they know your company, they're far more likely to buy your
products. This is actually easier to do as a smaller business than a large one - and
many local businesses have done this for years.It may be schmaltzy, but when the local
furniture store owner is on camera for all his TV commercials, people develop a
relationship of sorts with him or her. They feel like they know that business. Anytime
you can link a personality - even if it's not a celebrity - to a business, that makes that
business stand out. This is an important element that there's not nearly enough room to
cover - so think this one through for your business and come up with ways (and they
can be very simple) to develop a relationship with your customers and prospects. An
email newsletter is a simple, cheap and very effective way to do this, by the way.

5. Have a hook. Give people something that makes them remember you. Big
companies spend millions on this - and for a good reason - it sells stuff. Whatever you
do, don't say "for the best in service and quality" - no one will believe you! If you want to
convey that message, have one of your customers give a testimonial on camera - have
them describe how you provided them with great service and quality. Give details.

24
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
A hook needs to be simple, memorable and if possible, fun or heartwarming. The Taco
Bell Chihuahua is a good example - the Pillsbury Doughboy is another one. Do
something different and let people know about it? Give them a reason to choose your
company over your competitors.

6. Be relevant. Talk to your prospects in your advertising - let them know that you feel
their pain and are going to help them make it go away. If you're talking about something
they can't relate to, they'll ignore you. There are way too many advertising messages in
the world today - and people have learned to tune them out unless they click with
something that is important to them. You know how this works - you do the same
thing.If you're sick of how your car is nickel & dimming you lately, you suddenly are
much more aware of ads for cars. Find out why people buy your product and talk about
how you will give that to them. It's really pretty simple - but an overwhelming majority of
businesses totally miss this.

7. Make sure you know what you're trying to get your prospect to do. Do you want them
to come to your store and buy a specific product? Or do you want them to call your
business to get an estimate on a project so your sales person can close the sale in
person? The more specific you are in your call to action (please make sure to include
one!), the more likely your audience will do what you want them to do.All of the
elements that go into your advertising - the media, the creative, the copywriting, the call
to action - create a synergistic result. The more focused you are with any of those
elements, the better your results will be.It's always crucial to measure your ad results.
Determine what you want to achieve and include devices that will allow you to
determine whether or not you achieved your goal. Then you can tweak results from
there.

25
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 2(b) Before a businessman proceeds for advertising his products, market
research is considered essential. Explain as to why research is required and how a
judgment on it will be based?

Answer

Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or
customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. The term is
commonly interchanged with marketing research; however, expert practitioners may
wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing research is concerned specifically about
marketing processes, while market research is concerned specifically with markets.
Market Research is the key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research
provides important information to identify and analyze the market need, market size
and competition. Market research, as defined by the ICC/ESOMAR International Code
on Market and Social Research, includes social and opinion research, [and] is the
systematic gathering and interpretation of information about individuals or organizations
using statistical and analytical methods and techniques of the applied social sciences to
gain insight or support decision making.

History
Market research began to be conceptualized and put into formal practice during the
1920s, as an offshoot of the advertising boom of the Golden Age of radio in the United

States. Advertisers began to realize the significance of demographics revealed by

sponsorship of different radio programs.

Market research for business/planning

Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe. It can also
involve discovering how they act. Once that research is completed, it can be used to
determine how to market your product.
Questionnaires and focus group discussion surveys are some of the instruments for
market research.

For starting up a business, there are some important things:

Market information
Through Market information one can know the prices of the different commodities in the
market, as well as the supply and demand situation. Information about the markets can
be obtained from different sources, varieties and formats, as well as the sources and
varieties that have to be obtained to make the business work.

26
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Market segmentation
Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into subgroups with
similar motivations. It is widely used for segmenting on geographic differences,

Personality differences, demographic differences, techno graphic differences, use of

product differences, psychographic differences and gender differences.

Market trends are the upward or downward movement of a market, during a period of
time. The market size is more difficult to estimate if one is starting with something
completely new. In this case, you will have to derive the figures from the number of
potential customers, or customer segments.

Besides information about the target market, one also needs information about one's
competitors, customers, products, etc. Lastly, you need to measure marketing
effectiveness. A few techniques are:

 Customer analysis
 Choice Modeling
 Competitor analysis
 Risk analysis
 Product research
 Advertising the research
 Marketing mix modeling

Market Research Required

Market research is something which many of us still don’t utilize to full extent when
looking to start a new business or venture. This is something lacking in Asian sub-
continent businesses and need to understand how market research companies can
help you minimize the business risks. There are many market research companies with
team of experts has been doing the same for companies of all sizes to understand the
new market they are entering and how well they can do in near future.

If we look around us or ask yourself a question, when did you analyse the market or
risk potential when you started a business or ventured with any company. Not more
than 10% of current businesses or companies still do market research or online market
survey and been doing this on their own perception. Resulting, many of these
companies have shut down or suffered loss in economic crisis. The same result has
been better for companies who used services of market research companies to conduct
timely online market surveys to understand their present and potential clients. These
companies also do market research to analyses their market segment to have a better
future.

27
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
It’ s obvious that market research is not a lay man’s job and you need to hire an expert
to do this and no better than market research companies will understand your
requirements. They have team of market research analysts and field executives who
have years of work experience and understand what clients expect from them. There
are companies who print market research reports but opting for new updated reports is
much beneficial to understand the market conditions in better way.

If you look the history of companies who have run successfully for years have the
history of conducting market research and online market survey to run their business
successfully. It’s not that handful of capital is enough to run a business, but running it
statistically is most important. This is possible only with help of market stats and
competitive analysis which can be availed from market research companies. Secondly,
conducting market survey plays a major role in understanding the consumer behavior.
What your client wants and what they are expecting in future is the major concern that
can be solved by reaching them with best tool called market survey.

Market survey is best way to know what your potential client expects which helps in
starting up the company with limited resources. There are people who believe in
starting a company in much expanded form but to start with caution is what you need in
this competitive environment. Let’s think sensibly and do market research before you
put all your life’s strength in starting a new company.

Definition of Market Research

Market Research is a systematic, objective collection and analysis of data about a
particular target market, competition, and/or environment. It always incorporates some
form of data collection whether it be secondary research (often referred to as desk
research) or primary research which is collected direct from a respondent.

The purpose of any market research project is to achieve an increased understanding

of the subject matter. With markets throughout the world becoming increasingly more
competitive, market research is now on the agenda of many organizations, whether
they be large or small.

The Market Research Process

To conduct market research, organizations may decide to undertake the project
themselves (some through a marketing research department) or they might choose to
commission it via a market research agency or consultancy. Whichever, before
undertaking any research project, it is crucial to define the research objectives i.e. what
are you trying to achieve from the research? And what do you need to know?

After considering the objectives, Market Researchers can utilize many types of
research techniques and methodologies to capture the data that they require. All of the
available methodologies either collect quantitative or qualitative information. The use of
each very much depends on the research objectives but many believe that results are
most useful when the two methods are combined.
28
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is numerically oriented, requires significant attention to the
measurement of market phenomena and often involves statistical analysis. For
example, a bank might ask its customers to rate its overall service as excellent, good,
poor or very poor. This will provide quantitative information that can be analyzed
statistically. The main rule with quantitative research is that every respondent is asked
the same series of questions.

The approach is very structured and normally involves large numbers of

interviews/questionnaires.
Perhaps the most common quantitative technique is the ‘market research survey’.
These are basically projects that involve the collection of data from multiple cases –
such as consumers or a set of products. Quantitative surveys can be conducted by
using post (self-completion), face-to-face (in-street or in-home), telephone, email or
web techniques. The questionnaire is one of the more common tools for collecting data
from a survey, but it is only one of a wide ranging set of data collection aids.

Qualitative Research
Qualitative research provides an understanding of how or why things are as they are.
For example, a Market Researcher may stop a consumer who has purchased a
particular type of bread and ask him or her why that type of bread was chosen. Unlike
quantitative research there are no fixed set of questions but, instead, a topic guide (or
discussion guide) is used to explore various issues in-depth. The discussion between
the interviewer (or moderator) and the respondent is largely determined by the
respondents' own thoughts and feelings.
As with quantitative techniques, there are also various types of qualitative
methodologies. Research of this sort is mostly done face-to-face. One of the best-
known techniques is market research group discussions (or focus groups). These are
usually made up of 6 to 8 targeted respondents, a research moderator whose role is to
ask the required questions, draw out answers, and encourage discussion, and an
observation area usually behind one way mirrors, and video and/or audio taping
facilities.
In addition, qualitative research can also be conducted on a ‘one on one’ basis i.e. an
in-depth interview with a trained executive interviewer and one respondent, a paired
depth (two respondents), a triad (three respondents) and a mini group discussion (4-5
respondents).

Using Market Research Data

After compiling the data, Market Researchers evaluate it and make conclusions and
recommendations to their client or employer based upon their findings. They provide an
organization’s management with information needed to make decisions on the

29
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
promotion, distribution, design, and pricing of products or services – information that
meets the initial research objectives.

Advantages of market research:

1. It indicates opportunities for products and market development, a company can then
decide on the production, sales and production plans after identifying the opportunities.
2· It provides a basis for sound, market led decision making by providing information to
reduce uncertainty.

3· Marketing research enables an organist ion to match their products or services to the
requirements of the consumers or market.
4· Research enables advertising to be tested during a campaigns development or prior
to launch to ensure its effectiveness, and after launch to measure the success of the
media used.
5· It also enables product ideas to be tested without expenses of lunching to the
market; this can be a change in service, product or design.
6· It also provides objective explanation for success and failure in the market.
7· Marketing research also helps to evaluate the strength and weakness of rivals plus
the threats they may cause to the company.
Problems associated with market research
Though marketing research is a good practice for all firms to embark on and indeed
many put in a lot of effort, many times things go wrong in the process. Below are some
of the reasons why marketing research can fail.
Lack of cash
Financial constraints may limit the amount of research activity, leading to erroneous
conclusion. Sometimes research activities are put on hold before they are completed
due to lack of funds.
Haste
Many companies and firms attempt to do too much in such a little time, they end up
taking shortcuts and sometimes use out of date secondary data which produces wrong
results.
Inappropriate methodology
Research methods can be distorted by errors in project design, sampling techniques,
lack of understanding by subject and interview bias.
Inexperience in data analysis
Some mangers that are not experienced in analyzing and interpreting research data
may only look for the information they want to see from the research data and hence
neglect a whole lot of important data.
Wrong information
Some times, some people due to different reasons can give wrong information to the
interviewer which will produce wrong results.
Seasonality
There are some products which are only consumed by seasons, making a research
about such products in a different season will produce wrong results.

30
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Aspects of market research:

Why launch an advertisement campaign? To start off, when your company is just
becoming established in the British market, consumers will have no knowledge of your
product; we must encourage or persuade the consumer to buy your product. To make
customers aware of the product we must advertise. Large scale advertising mainly
consists of advertising on TV, Radio, newspapers and other large scale media. This
ensures that advertising reaches the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of
time. It is likely that the consumer will be more interested in the product if they hear of
on a national level such as TV or Radio. We must watch out for other companies in
Britain that sell a similar product or overseas companies that sell in Britain so
Pakanawa can analyze the British marketing strategy and improve upon it. Market
Segmentation is also another factor to take notice of. Market segmentation helps to
differentiate products for different age groups. For most product, there are segments of
the market that you need to specifically advertise to. For example, different methods of
advertising would be needed if you were to advertise to parents than to the children.
For a lot of products there are a lot of age groups that you need to advertise for and
these must be taken into consideration. We must analyze the different market
segments that are applicable to Pakanawa and investigate how we can exploit these
different market segments. An ad campaign is a very sensible idea because no-one will
know about our products without the use of advertising. This means that we must
concentrate on a good ad campaign so people will know about our products.
Approximate prices are shown below for large scale advertising: TV advertising is very
expensive when done on a large scale so to justify any form of large scale advertising it
must be proven to be effective. At Pakanawa? We must consider all angles of the
media and come to a conclusion about advertising. What sort of advertising should you
use? By far the most far reaching of these strategies is Television advertising. A large
amount of people watch TV and this type of advertising will reach many social groups.
Although this type of advertising is very expensive and even more so during peak
times, TV advertising should be seen by the masses and encouraging a lot of new
customers, so in time, TV advertising will pay for itself. This will prove to be a very
effective form of advertising media and should be adopted in the Pakanawa situation.
To boost sales even more, and to prolong the life of the Pakanawa product line,
another form of advertising should be taken aboard. Newspaper advertising would also
be a good idea. Newspaper advertising would reach another section of the consumer
market and would also be very effective in the right context. A full page newspaper
advert is a lot of money but would bring in a lot more customers and make many more
people aware of the product. It is important to make people aware of the product so
they will buy it, there are many advantages of the Television over the newspaper, such
as the fact that TV is a captive market and if you can vary the showing times of the
advertisement then you can vary the consumer group that will be receiving them. A bad
point, however, as is with most forms of advertising, is the delay between seeing the
advertisement and buying the product. There is also a delay similar to this with
newspaper advertisements but the delay is not usually as long as is the one with TV
advertising. Below the line promotion below the line promotion refers to advertising that
does not rely on large scale media such as TV or Radio. Forms of this are direct
mailing, exhibitions and trade fairs, sales promotions and product placing. In the case
31
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
of Pakanawa it would be sensible to follow some of these ideas but not all of them. For
example, it would not really be a good idea to exhibit the product at a trade fair without
first having a sales promotion or product placing. The only form

mentioned that would not be suitable would be direct mailing, to which the general
public refer to a junk mail. The question arises whether you would mail the children that
are likely to want the product or whether to mail the parents that would buy the product
for their children. If you were to mail the children then the parents could get very
annoyed at the fact that you went directly to the children instead of through their
guardians. Although if you were to mail the parents there would not be a very large
chance that it would also reach the children, who would be the driving force of the sale
of the product. Sales promotion or endorsements would be a good idea as this would
ensure that more people heard about the product and it would be more appealing if a
well known children's presenter was to endorse the product. Branding multiple product
branding would be the best idea for Pakanawa as with multiple branding the firm is not
always known as the same one and with Pakanawa's toys, the different products under
different brands could inhibit the sale of the other brands. With multiple products
branding the company would be recognized as selling all these products and with a well
established market this would benefit the company although multiple branding has one
advantage over this, if the company has had bad publicity, with the other brands, a
knock on effect of the other products is limited. Therefore, I think that the best form of
branding for Pakanawa's toys would be multiple product branding. Product
Development We must also consider product development to extend the product life
cycle and retain interest in the series of products produced by Pakanawa. To fully
conduct a product development scheme we must conduct some market research into
the attitudes of the customers and what they think can be done to improve the products
provided by Pakanawa. We must come up with new ideas fairly frequently and
brainstorming should be encouraged. Safety must always be improved on in Pakanawa
products and a team of designers must be considering product development all of the
time. Merchandising and packaging Merchandising is an attempt to influence
customers at the point of sale. The point of sale is anywhere that a customer buys a
product. Customers are intended to buy based on what they see rather from a sales
assistant. Therefore at Pakanawa a vital factor in influencing customers is the way in
which the items are displayed. To sell the products effectively we must take into
consideration the effect that the packaging should have on the customers and the way
in which displays of this particular product are arranged. A good idea would be to have
a 'space ship' or something similar to encourage people to look and to buy the product.
To influence customers at the point of sale, a number of tactics must be employed as
we must first draw the customers attention to the display and to the product, and finally,
to the price of the product. Why a sales team? The job of a sales team is to create
interest in the product with the public and retailers. The overall aim of a sales team is to
create the highest level of distribution of the product and to promote the product so
representatives of a firm are interested in purchasing this product to sell it in their
shops. They should initially aim to start small and encourage interest in the media, the
public and shareholders. The whole image of the company rests on the sales team as it
is their job to promote the product and the company and to stop any bad press about
the company. They should try and convince buyers with market research that there
product will sell and that buying this product is a good investment. They could offer
commission or discounts to firms for bulk buying and high sales. A sales team should
32
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
also be allowed full control over the bartering of the goods and should set there own
guidelines within a broad range of company guidelines. Legal and Public problems A
few problems may be made of the fact that the product is cuddly yet violent in its own
kind of way, with the image being of a scary bear. Some extremists may consider this to
be unacceptable and may want the bear banned from sale or put out a campaign
against the product. This should easily be solved with a well briefed PR team that has a
capacity to lie. All

doubts should be dispelled and children illustrated playing happily with the bear and
there should be no other legal or PR problems, but it helps to have a well briefed PR
team.

Judgement in market research

The following question about every advertising will provide a useful cross-cheek of its
effectiveness:

• Does it promise a basic consumer benefit?

A product must fulfill a real or imaginary need of consumers and hence its
advertising must be presented in terms of the consumer’s interests.

• Does it offer a convincing reason why?

Good advertising must persuade consumer that the brand will fulfill the basic
promise by offering a convincing reason why with supporting evidence.

• Is it unique?

Good advertising must convince the consumer that your brand and you are
alone.

33
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

QUESTION 3(A) Sir William Crawford emphasized basically on Three-word concept for
advertising, what are these, explain?

Answer

THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES IN CAMPAIGN PLANNING

The late Sir William Crawford propounded the most concise yet complete recipe for
good advertising in a three word precept: Concentration - Domination - Repetition. It
applies over the whole field of marketing and advertising, in the design of advertising
layout and certainly not least in the media plan for an advertising campaign. In
longhand it may be translated into the three fundamental rules of an advertising plan:

1. Do not disperse your emphasis or your appropriation or your advertising design;

2. Be sure of being the biggest factor in your market at some point; be dominant with
one appeal out of the many which your product and its competitors can advance; be
dominant in some form of media if you cannot be dominant in all; be sure that some
one factor emerges vigorously from your advertisement design.

3. Since advertisements have to create continuing habits if they are to reward the
advertiser who invests in them, it is not enough to stop after a single impact or jump
about from one advertising objective to another or from one product appeal to another
or from one set of media to another.

The precept sounds so simple, as well as so sensible, that it is surprising how often it is
not observed or has to give way to some conflict of intentions on some over-ambitious
desire to attract everybody all the time.

The consideration of this context is limited to the media plan within the campaign plan,
but there is no better way to outline the principles of media planning than to examine
Sir William Crawford’s three factors.

34
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Concentration
The first of his three elements is probably the most important. The greatest (and most
frequently encountered) mistake in advertising is excessive dispersal of resources. A
product may have several good selling points but it is wise nevertheless to concentrate
its advertising campaign on making a thorough conquest of the market with one only:
the one that is chosen for its maximum effectiveness in the particular marketing and

competitive circumstances of the time. The public does not readily understand two
equally good points put to it simultaneously, though it can focus on, and accept, two
points successively. If you throw two balls to a person he probably will not catch either
of them, when he would easily have caught one. It is too much to expect the public to
make the mental effort of concentration for you; you must do it for yourself. It is the
advertiser’s job to make it easy for the public (who, after all, have plenty to think about
apart from his particular arguments for his toothpaste or his soap or his store) to
understand the one point which makes his product specially good for a type of
customer or a type of purpose. The trouble is that advertisers tend to be too greedy in
their objectives. An emollient may be particularly good for the hands, but the advertiser
cannot also resist saying that it is good for the complexion, and for sunburn, and for a
hundred and one other uses, for which it is also quite properly to be recommended.

A hot drink may have its best market in the evening, but the advertiser finds it extremely
difficult to refrain also from recommending it at aliveness, for nursing mothers, on
picnics, and for invalids, having had some direct evidence of its success on all these
occasions. In selling a toothpaste it may be much more valuable to concentrate on
persuading young people of the late teenage, who are just forming their adult habits for
life, and particularly the young women who are more conscious of these matters; but
the advertiser cannot resist also the temptation to try the much more difficult job of
changing the settled habits of older people, or to tackle the quite different and far more
short-term custom of children.

Here are some examples of the risks of dispersal of aim. The positive side of the case
is the advantage of building up a product to have in the mind and memory of a large
public, the complete answer to one uncomplicated need, and of concentrating on filling
this requirement and on nothing else.

In the field of media selection the principle of concentration equally applies, partly in
carrying out the concentration of the marketing and presentation policy and partly in the
quest for outspending competitors and making a strong impression on the public in a
given medium.
35
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Taking first the former of these two contexts, clearly if the marketing and advertising
objective is defined as being a certain type of customer, then the media planning will
concentrate on reaching this section of the public. In the sphere of mass advertising,
this is a question of focusing, as well as the case permits, on a general area selected
from the whole public rather than picking out a very precisely defined section. The
mass media themselves are largely not capable of very sharp definition; but there is
considerable value in narrowing both the target and the aim as far as possible, so as to
ensure a better and more economical use of resources. Where the marketing target
takes the form of a specialist or geographical group, it may prove much easier to select
media so as to achieve a parallel concentration.

The second, however, of the two contexts stated above – the concentrating media so
as to ensure creating a strong impression on at least one particular section of the public
– is an application of the principle of concentration, which applies primarily to media
selection. It is of very great importance. Each medium represents a section of the public
either numerically or in terms of atmosphere, mood, or circumstances. The mass
national morning papers, for example, have their own particular mood and
circumstances, and within this group each one of them selects its own section of the
total public. Even the least of these sections represents a market of considerable size.
To select this one section of media, or any one of its component newspapers, and to
dominate it thoroughly, may well represent for a given advertiser a fully sufficient scope
for his marketing ambitions.

In a rather different mood and circumstance the same people travel by transport to their
jobs and thus the transport media may create their own separate world of advertising,
because of the way in which they are seen, the colour employed, the shape and
positioning of them, and so on. The magazines, again, create a rather different
advertising mood and circumstance from the daily press, even among the people, men
or women, who read both. The hoardings, the radio, the shop display, the cinema, and
every other medium create its own particular effects. It is possible, therefore, for an
advertiser who is outspent by some competitor in say the daily papers, to turn to
another advertising field and be the most dominant advertiser in his class, within the
type and mood and quality of coverage offered by the field. This second field may not
offer the type and mood and quality of coverage the advertiser would have chosen first;
but he may well do better to make his mark effectively in this more limited field than to
be an also-ran in the best field.

The only reservation is that the more limited field of advertising thus selected should be
large enough to provide, when properly exploited, a return which justifies the
expenditure on a normal ratio of advertising the same time a more universal coverage
would spread the advertising impact too thin, then the whole basis of the advertising
costing needs re-examining and possibly a radically different solution will have to be
36
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
sought.

The issue, which arises at all stages in media planning can be settled only by a careful
balance of pros and cons. In a simple case an advertiser may have the choice of ten
insertions of given size in one newspaper; or five in each of two; or ten in each of two
but only half the size. The balance of the decision will lie in whether five is adequate
frequency, or whether the half-size will enable him to do the job the campaign requires;
or whether he will do better to limit himself to the one newspaper and achieve a full
success among the more limited public so covered. More complicated examples of the
same issue arise when a larger budget offers scope for a variety of media of different
types.

The rule must be that it is far better to do a given job – in terms of size and frequency
– in a limited type of media, than to risk doing an inadequate job in all types cut of a
desire to expand the total coverage. It is a decision, which is often hard to reach
because of the anxiety to widen the coverage which always arises. The temptation to
make the resources cover just one more set of possible customers is difficult to
resist; but it must be resisted. Moreover, there are often conflicting counsels and
desires to be reconciled, and it sometimes seems easier to affect the reconciliation
by giving everyone a little of what they want rather than go through the labour and
trouble of deciding priorities. This is once again an example of the danger of
dispersal of advertising effort.

The issue particularly calls for god judgment because if the principle is applied too
far, there is a complementary risk of wasting resources. In another context reference
has already been made to the diminishing return that sets in at a certain point of
advertising expenditure on a given medium. Too great a size of space, too much
frequency of insertion, too much money spent in a single medium, can be a waste of
resources, just as too little can be. At a certain point of spending in, let us say, one
newspaper, it becomes better to add a second newspaper and thus broaden the field
of total coverage.

The right course is therefore to start by defining clearly what size and frequency of
space the tactical situation requires and ensure that no medium is included which
cannot be afforded an adequate strength of campaign.

There are various methods of concentrating an advertising budget, and where

concentration is necessary (as it usually is because virtually no budget is sufficient
for everything) the following possibilities may be reviewed:

a. Numerical concentration; i.e., choosing only a few (naturally the most

economic) media of a certain type.

37
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

b. By choice and continuity of position within a type of media, pre-selecting an

even more limited section of the whole audience, which has particular interest in the
product.

c. Seasonal concentration; i.e. limiting the advertising to a part (probably the

peak period) of the selling season.

d. Geographical concentration; i.e., proceeding by intensive coverage of a

selected area or sequence of areas.

e. Economic class; i.e., not attempting to cover all classes equally. Such a
form of media concentration must be linked with parallel concentration of marketing
and creative effort.

f. Age; i.e., limiting the advertising objective to a special age group with all the
consequent narrowing of the media field.

g. Interest groups; i.e., choosing, within the general scope of the product appeal,
some more limited group of interests, e.g., social religious, sporting, etc., which can
then be reached with a more restricted list of media. The creative appeal would be
limited in parallel.
The scope for deliberate concentration of objective is almost endless, because of
the vast variety of media available. These suggestions are only examples of how a
general principle can be worked out.

In summary, therefore, the need for concentration in media planning lies in:

a. the need to focus the media as far as possible on the section of the public
prescribed by the marketing and advertising objective; and

b. the need to concentrate on the best media for the purpose until a pre-
defined strength has been achieved in each, and not proceed to widen the media
list until it has.

Domination
The advertising complex may be envisaged as a market place in which a large number
of salesmen are crying their wares. The resultant hubbub is continuous and the public
gets accustomed to it, to the stage where it discounts it. Moreover, the public is going

38
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
about its own affairs, which lie to a large extent outside the field of buying. It has
interests, anxieties, and preoccupations with earning its livelihood, recreations, family
affairs, and other influences far removed from what the salesman is trying to sell.

To catch the attention of the public in these circumstances requires a very skillful
technique. There may be a factor of unusual novelty, or a vast appropriation, or a
product of close relevance to the moment’s interests of the public, or some other
element in the situation, which gives an advertiser an advantage. To suggest that such
a factor can be invented if it is not present is to underrate the extent to which the public
can subconsciously distinguish between the real and the false novelty or interest.

There may be some appropriations, which are so great that they can by very volume
make themselves heard across the whole market place. But the average case is one in
which the resources available permit of only a normal volume of salesmanship. In these

circumstances the salesman must as it were pitch his booth in that section of the
market place where from previous knowledge his likeliest customers will circulate in
greatest numbers, and at least ensure that within this limited area his resources permit
his voice to be heard above the general din.

This is the principle of concentration, already described; its purpose is to dominate. So,
too, in the choice of media the advertiser must dominate at least for some of the time
and in relation to some of the public.

Domination may be achieved by scores of different methods of media planning. The

most obvious way is to use large spaces; and even if this cannot be afforded
throughout the whole campaign, it will probably be possible for a short period – enough
to make its mark on the relevant public for a time. It is often imagined by the
inexperienced that novelty and ingenuity are what make advertising successful; and for
a short time and in certain circumstances this may be true. But in the long run it is
weight of money, which generally controls the situation. Therefore to outspend
competitors is the surest way to dominate, and once again the argument reverts to the
need to concentrate resources in order to do this.

On the other hand, merely to do something different from competitors in the sphere of
media may go some way to achieve the object; for example, suing a medium that is
new for the product or an unusual shape of space; or choosing poster sites of
noticeable size or quality; or using color pages where competitors have hitherto used
only black and white; or skillfully finding means of getting news printed in the editorial
columns; or turning up with a sample offer through the unexpected medium of the
consumer’s own letterbox.
In a competitive market, domination is particularly necessary, and few markets
nowadays are not competitive. But what makes the problem more difficult (and tends to
39
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
stress the factor of sheer spending power rather than new ideas or ingenuities of
presentation) is that an advertiser has to compete not only with others making similar
products, but also with manufacturers in other fields who are bidding for the same
money with different kinds of interests. Chocolates do not compete only with other
chocolates or with other sweets, but also with tobacco, and nylons, and cinemas, and
biscuits and football pools, and all other forms of recreational spending. Television sets
do not compete only with other television sets but with washing machines, and
household cleaners, and family holidays, and new clothes. To some extent indeed
competitive products in the same field assist each other because their combined
spending tends to outbid competing interests from other fields.

Bigness, as we have already remarked elsewhere, is an important quality in

advertising; therefore, to be bigger and more noticeable than competitors is to
dominate. But the idea of domination is not only in relation to being better and bigger
than other advertisers, but also to taking control of the potential customer’s mind and
interest for

the necessary space of time, and to continuing to control it partly by the quality of the
goods sold and partly by repeated domination of his or her subconscious inclinations.

Repetition
This brings the argument to repetition. The average advertiser is not aiming to make a
single sale; he wants the customer to come back again and again for his product. The
investment in advertising cannot otherwise be repaid. All the time other interests are
crowding in upon his customer with new ideas and products, and with alternative
means of enjoying the pennies or shillings he wants spent on his own product. He must
dominate the market and take control of the customer’s interests at least once in order
to get his own idea or product noticed and tried; but thereafter, he must keep the
impression so created alive forever afterwards. This process requires neither the
bigness nor the dominance, but it entails spending advertising resources continuously
over a period, and allowance for this continued outlay must be made in deciding what
media the budget can afford to use.

The proper frequency and size of this element of repetition are matters, which need a
chapter to themselves. They depend on a wide variety of factors such as the seasonal
peaks of the purchase of the product, the frequency of consumer purchase, the amount
the buyer is prepared to spend at a single purchase, and similar factors.

The most important point to grasp in this context is the basic factor that, because the
only kind of buying that can reward the average advertiser for his outlay involves
40
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
repetition, therefore repetition is necessary to the selling process which advertising
represents. If one may use the alternative description (which the writer prefers) in which
advertising is defined as adding a subjective something to the very product itself, then
repetition of advertising appeal is clearly as much a necessity to the continuing process
of production as is repetition of the labeling process or that of putting into cartons. It is
the process of continuing to hallmark the product in which the public places its
confidence.

There are many media especially suitable for repetition and generally it is possible (as
well as necessary in view of the need to make resources go round) to make do with
less expensive forms and sizes of space. This is because:

a. The stage of breaking through the barrier of public ignorance of the product is over,
at least for the time being; and

b. It is usually unnecessary, at the repetition stage, to state the selling points in as

much detail as when they are first being put across; and a reminder type of advertising
can be adopted.

The process of repetition cannot go on indefinitely. After a stage, which must be judged
from the tactical circumstances, it will be necessary to create new impact – a new effort
of domination – before the repetitive process can be resumed. Repetition is by its very
description the repeating of something, and each repeat gets a little fainter. The fresh
impact may take the shape of a new presentation of the marketing and advertising
message, or it may be judged sufficient to use the existing message over again in
larger and more dominant spaces.

In the same way too much exact similarity in the medium of repetition may cause the
value of it to diminish quicker than would otherwise be the case. It is for this reason that
posters, which are seen by their public so frequently in the course of a week’s normal
journeys, are thought b many experts to lose their repetitive value rather quickly. The
same poster, or the same hoarding, passed at the same stage of the daily or twice daily
journey becomes a mere part of the scenery. Changes of poster design can help to
overcome this disadvantage, but it is a factor to consider in relation to what otherwise is
the most convincing medium of repetition.

Some variation in the shape, size, and even the actual media of repetition can be very
helpful. The same message striking at the viewer from a different angle, in a different
context, or catching him in a different mood and circumstance, can almost convey a
little of the feeling of a new impact. Repetition must not be allowed to result in a blind
spot in the vision of the public.

41
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
In newspaper and magazines the risk of this is not so great because the surrounding
material – news, features, pictures, and other factors that go to create the context – are
constantly changing. An exception may be the earspaces alongside the newspaper
titles, which are a favorite repetition medium but which , like the poster sites, can wear
a blind-spot with the regular reader of the publication. There is no doubt that where
repletion is spread over a variety of media each with its different context, it sustains the
freshness of the first impact over a longer period.

Concluding this it will be useful to restate the four basic principles of media planning.

Definition – Getting the campaign objective into clear focus

Concentration – Avoiding dispersal of resources over too many different objectives or

media.

Domination – Ensuring that at some part of the market the campaign dominates its
competitors, and takes control of the mind and interests of the potential customers.

Repetition – Providing for the continuation of the message in reminder form regularly
over a period.

Definition – Concentration – Domination – Repetition. It may be useful thus to expand

Sir William Crawford’s original precept for sound campaign planning in the field of
advertising media.

42
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 3(b) For a good advertising campaign, there are some important
methods which make the register ring “Eleven” Commandments, explain the methods
of successful campaign for any advertisement agency?

Answer

David Ogilvy’s writes in his book, Confessions of an Advertising Man (the inspiration
behind this blog), talks about the discipline needed to create truly successful
campaigns. He believed that good advertising “sells the product without drawing
attention to itself. It should rivet the reader’s attention on the product”. It should never
say “what a clever advertisement”.

How does this apply to today’s world of digital media? Many “viral” campaigns are all
about being clever while the product is almost invisible. Ogilvy was all about results and
was obsessed with the performance-driven disciplines of mail-order, retail and
consumer research. He talked about data years before it became part of the fabric of
everyday life.

Ogilvy wrote his recipe for advertising campaigns that made “the cash register ring”.
Let’s see how his “eleven commandments” work today:

43
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
1 – What you say is more important than how you say it.
“The content of the advertising, not its form” makes someone buy your product
according to Ogilvy. In the world of print or TV advertising this may be truer than in the
area of digital where brand experience is becoming more important. Form and content
become blurred.

A great example is the Doritos Hotel 626 where the product makes way for an
entertaining, branded experience that probably does more for the product than a site
telling you about the way it’s made.

2 – Unless your campaign is built around a great idea, it will flop.

The face of advertising may be changing with new agencies springing up that offer new
models and ways of thinking… but there is one thing that will never change. The power
of the idea. Technology can support a great idea but not replace it. Campaigns built on
a gimmick won’t have the legs to last very long. Build your campaign around a bad idea
(hello Windows 7 party) and you might end up with the wrong kind of publicity.

3 – Give the facts.

Here digital comes into its own. Where space was limited in print ads or 30 seconds on
TV could only contain so much information, the internet allows people to dig as deep as
they choose. Check out the Dove US website. With different levels of information and

opportunities to engage, it really allows you to experience the brand philosophy and
products in a tangible way.

4 – You cannot bore people into buying.

Ogilvy wrote that “the average family is now exposed to more than 1500
advertisements a day”. Imagine what that figure must be like today? It’s harder than
ever to cut through the clutter and get the attention of your potential customer. Some of
the best digital campaigns of the past year are definitely not boring. They even merit
their own “making of”.

5 – Be well mannered, but don’t clown.

David’s comments are a definite throwback to the Madmen era of good manners and
etiquette. Today “clowning” around online seems to be a required feature of most
campaigns. What would Mr. Ogilvy think of it all? Even footballers are happy to be silly
in this new campaign for the Fifa 10 game.

6 – Make your advertisements contemporary.

44
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
This is surely not what Ogilvy had in mind but being contemporary online means
tapping into all the current digital trends. From crowd sourcing to social networking –
the Public Polo campaign by Acting captures the spirit of now.

7 – Committees can criticize advertisement, but they cannot write them.

A single-minded vision cannot be delivered by a group of people making decisions. The
best online campaigns have clearly had a very brave client that is confident in a great
idea. Someone at McCann Erickson Israel came up with this original idea and the client
went with it. Maybe because it also cost so little.

8 – If you are lucky enough to write a good advertisement, repeat it until it stops
pulling.
In advertising history there have been many campaigns that have continued for years,
constantly being updated but with one strong concept. The Louis Vuitton
Journeys campaign is a great example of a good idea that travels far – and works
equally well on and offline.

9 – Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own family to
read.
The Burger King Subservient Chicken was a great idea that didn’t offend anyone. But
have they gone too far with the Shower Cam? Trust the British to risk offending

consumers with a site where each morning a shower babe “shakes her bits to the hits
at 9:30 a.m. every morning”. All to promote the BK breakfast.

10 – The image and the brand.

The internet throws up a big problem. How do you control all that is being said about
your brand? Even if you have a consistent advertising and marketing message with a
strong, identifiable style… someone somewhere online will upset the apple cart by
trashing your carefully constructed image. This might be through an angry blog
complaining about customer service or via someone mashing up your ads on YouTube.

11 – Don’t be a copycat.
Rudyard Kipling wrote a long poem about a self-made shipping tycoon called Sir
Anthony Golster. On his deathbed the old man reviews the course of his life for the
benefit of his son, and refers contemptuously to his competitors:

45
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
They copied all they could follow, but they
Couldn’t copy my mind,
And I left em sweating ad Stealing, a
Year and a half behind.
If you ever have the good fortune to create a great advertising campaign you will soon
see another, agency steal it. This is irritating, but don’t let it worry you ; nobody has
ever built a brand by imitating somebody else’s advertising.
Imitation may be the “sincerest form of plagiarism” but it is also the mark of an inferior
person.
These, then, are the general principles I inclucate in our new recruits. When I
recently invited a group of them who had completed their first year with us to compare
Ogilvy, Benson & Mather with their previous agencies, I always agreeably surprised by
the number who fastened on the fact that we have a more clearly defined dogma. Here
is what one of them wrote:
Ogilvy, Benson & Mather has a consistent point of view, a corporate opinion of
what constitutes good advertising, my previous agency has none and consequently is
rudderless.

Methods of a successful advertising campaign

1. Aim for your target customer. An advertising campaign must be geared towards
your niche market. It is a general error to produce nonspecific advertisements that do
not speak the language or seize the interest of your prospective customers.
2. Emphasize on your competitive advantage. One of the keys to the entire
advertising is to highlight the plus points of your business, those issues that offer you

your competitive edge. A lot of ads are clever; however they won't be able to sell the
advantages of the product or service.
3. Set up an image. There are many products that you identify by their packaging
or symbol. Image is of great importance when talking about advertising and endorsing
your business. Several advertisers do not effort to put up a reliable image.
4. You are required to spend money in order to make money. There are methods to
save money, although usually advertising is not the place to cut back. It will influence
sales, and that influences the end result. Effective advertising may cost you a few extra
bucks, but that is because it works.
5. Advertise on the correct places. Your preferred publication, radio station, or even
television program may not be a preferred by your potential customers. Identify what
they read, watch, and take note of, and publicize in media that catch interest of target
market.
6. Don't let your finances to handle your advertising campaign. If you plan $4,000
per month for advertising, you might have it very simple from a bookkeeping point of
view. But, if like the majority companies you have seasonal highs and lows, then in that
case you are expenditure is surplus for advertising in down times and inadequate once
you would like to draw customers.
46
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
7. Diversify. It is very regular for company owners to select the most excellent place
to advertise based on cost and prospective rate of returns and discontinue after that.
The same as in the case of investing, you must not put all of your eggs in one basket.
Spread your advertising funds.
8. Don't struggle to be everything to everybody. No product or service will attract
every person. Several business owners, together with corporate managers, make an
effort to think of techniques to target every market. Usually, this does not work and can
bring failure for small businesses.
9. Check your advertisements beforehand. If you have the time or funds to put into
focus groups, you must analyze your advertisements on other people.
10. Observe your advertisements. It is convenient to inquire fresh customers or
clients from where they heard about you. Although, majority of entrepreneurs do not
found it necessary; it is valuable to identify which ads bring revenue.

SUCCESSFUL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Successful advertising campaigns leave a legacy and establish an image of a product
in the eyes of consumers. Behind every legendary brand, lies the secret of successful
advertising campaigns.

Advertising has evolved to be the most important marketing tool for organizations to
launch their products in the market. With the print and electronic media becoming an
integral part of a layman’s life, advertising has assumed a crucial role in the success of
new products. There is fierce competition to gain a lion’s share in the market, so better
the advertising strategies, higher the chances of success.
Successful advertising campaigns have been a testimony to the fact that customers are
kings, and once they love a product, it’s sure to become a brand. Starting from soft
drinks, to shampoos or luxury cars, advertising can create a world of difference in the
future prospects of a product and the company.
The magic of successful advertising campaigns is such that products just don’t
remain things, they move on to become brands or entities in the eyes of consumers.
The jingles become popular among the masses and you can hear people humming the
jingles or reciting the punch lines of successful advertising campaigns. Let us take a
look at some of the deeper aspects of advertising campaigns.
Elements of a Successful Advertising Campaign
The importance of marketing in today’s business environment is undoubtedly immense.
No firm can sit back and watch their competitors take over the market. The right time to
launch a product is an essential factor to decide the fate of a new launch.

47
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Marketing strategies govern the success of products and advertising forms the subset
of a marketing plan. Some basic parameters of successful marketing to help you know
the answer to the question, ‘how to develop a successful advertising campaign’ have
been mentioned below.
Importance of Market Research
In the quest to maximize profits and ensure that the advertisements are able to garner
huge profits, the marketing teams and ad agencies focus on market research.
The importance of marketing research is such that no one can ignore it.
Knowing about the target audience and understanding their needs help the marketing
teams to set their sales goal in a more organized manner. Market research also helps
in the launch of a product as per the requirements of the market. To thrive in a
competitive market by surpassing the competitors, effective market research is
required. So by analyzing various parameters, firms can come up with better decisions
and options. You may read more on types of market research.

Marketing Mix Strategy

A vital part of an effective advertising campaign is to adopt the method of marketing mix
strategy during the planning phase, and implementing at the right time in an ordered
manner. Marketing mix involves considering various elements of marketing like product,
price, promotion and place.
While product, price and promotion are easier to understand, place refers to the
logistics and transportation costs of goods. The marketing teams and advertising
agencies make use of the variables of marketing mix, for the success of a product. You
may read more on successful marketing strategies.
Tips for Successful Advertising
Some tips for successful advertising campaigns are mentioned below:
• Focus on the human behavior and things that drive consumers to purchase a
particular kind of product.
• Work as a team, because being a creative field, the entire team needs to work on the
ideas and innovations.
• Don’t give wrong information to customers about the products. Be true to your
customers!
• Study about the popular advertisements and research on the methods they have
adopted to establish the product in the market. Take ideas, and as far as possible
come up with your own creative method of advertising!
48
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
• Adopt various types of advertising techniques and keep an eye on the one which
works best.
• Make the headlines and catchy phrases smart enough to grab attention.
Remember AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)!
• Since advertising is expensive, focus on your USP (Unique Selling Proposition), and
aim to hit the bull’s eyes.
• Chalk out the marketing promotion methods that include various types of advertising.

Question 4(a) Media Planning is an important aspect of advertising, what are their
problems and also mention the changing role of a media planner?

Answer

Media Planning
Definition: The process of establishing the exact media vehicles to be used for
advertising
Choosing which media or type of advertising to use is sometimes tricky for small firms
with limited budgets and know-how. Large-market television and newspapers are often
too expensive for a company that services only a small area (although local
newspapers can be used). Magazines, unless local, usually cover too much territory to
be cost-efficient for a small firm, although some national publications offer regional or
city editions. Metropolitan radiostations present the same problems as TV and metro
newspapers; however, in smaller markets, the local radio station and newspaper may
sufficiently cover a small firm's audience. Media Planning is a very important
component of the Marketing Strategy of an organization. Media Planning is defined as
"Process of designing a scheduling plan that shows how advertising time and space in
selected media and vehicles contribute to the achievement of marketing objectives in
an advertising campaign".

Media planning, in general terms, is a tool that allows the advertiser to select the most
appropriate media to communicate the message in sufficient frequency towards the
maximum number of potential customers at the lowest cost.

49
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
The two most basic words in Media Planning are:

Medium: A medium is a carrier and deliverer of Advertisements. It is a broad general

category of carries such as Newspapers, Television, Radio, Internet, Outdoor, Direct
Mail, etc.

Vehicle: It is a specific carrier within a Media category. So a Zee TV would be the

vehicle in the category of TV. Many a time a specific programs or sections within a
medium may be termed as a vehicle. For example, a "Kyunki saas bhi…" on Star Plus
would be the vehicle in the Television category.

The three components of a media plan are as follows:

1. Defining the marketing problem. Do you know where your business is coming from
and where the potential for increased business lies? Do you know which markets offer
the greatest opportunity? Do you need to reach everybody or only a select group of
consumers? How often is the product used? How much product loyalty exists?
2. Translating the marketing requirements into attainable media objectives. Do
you want to reach lots of people in a wide area (to get the most out of your advertising
dollar)? Then mass media, like newspaper and radio, might work for you. If your target
market is a select group in a defined geographic area, then direct mail could be your
best bet.

3. Defining a media solution by formulating media strategies. Certain schedules

work best with different media. For example, the rule of thumb is that a print ad must
run three times before it gets noticed. Radio advertising is most effective when run at
certain times of the day or around certain programs, depending on what market you're
trying to reach.
Advertising media generally include:
• Television

• Radio

• Newspapers

• Magazines (consumer and trade)

• Outdoor billboards

• Public transportation

• Yellow Pages

• Direct mail
50
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
• Specialty advertising (on items such as matchbooks, pencils, calendars, telephone
pads, shopping bags and so on)

• Other media (catalogs, samples, handouts, brochures, newsletters and so on)

Media Planning Procedure

As mentioned earlier, Media planning is a component of the Marketing strategy of

the organization. Therefore, marketing considerations must precede Media Planning.
Media planning on the whole answers a lot of questions like "How many prospects
do I need to Reach?” "In which medium should I place the Ads?” etc.

In the media strategy the target audience must be defined more clearly and
thoroughly.

1. Target audience and advertisement must fit each other.

a. Kind of argumentation, esthetics, used language etc.

b. Appropriate prominent endorsers (e.g., Shah Rukh Khan for Pepsi)

2. Advertising might communicate to different target audiences with different

objectives, e.g., Increase product sales in group 14-29, Increase brand awareness
and image in group 30+

3. Reaching target audiences by mass media advertising means: matching...

a. Target audience of advertisement and

b. (Factual) audience of vehicle

When comparing the cost and effectiveness of various advertising media, consider
the following factors:

• Reach. Expressed as a percentage, reach is the number of individuals (or homes)

you want to expose your product to through specific media scheduled over a given
period of time.

• Frequency. Using specific media, how many times, on average, should the
individuals in your target audience be exposed to your advertising message? It takes
an average of three or more exposures to an advertising message before consumers
take action.

• Cost per thousand. How much will it cost to reach a thousand of your prospective
customers (a method used in comparing print media)? To determine a publication's
cost per thousand, also known as CPM, divide the cost of the advertising by the
publication's circulation in thousands.

51
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
• Cost per point. How much will it cost to buy one rating point for your target
audience, a method used in comparing broadcast media. One rating point equals 1
percent of your target audience. Divide the cost of the schedule being considered by
the number of rating points it delivers.

• Impact. Does the medium in question offer full opportunities for appealing to the
appropriate senses, such as sight and hearing, in its graphic designand production
quality?
• Selectivity. To what degree can the message be restricted to those people who are
known to be the most logical prospects?

Reach and frequency are important aspects of an advertising plan and are used to
analyze alternative advertising schedules to determine which produce the best results
relative to the media plan's objectives.
Calculate reach and frequency and then compare the two on the basis of how many
people you'll reach with each schedule and the number of times you'll connect with the
average person. Let's say you aired one commercial in each of four television programs
(A, B, C, D), and each program has a 20 rating, resulting in a total of 80 gross rating
points. It's possible that some viewers will see more than one announcement--some
viewers of program A might also see program B, C, or D, or any combination of them.
For example, in a population of 100 TV homes, a total of 40 are exposed to one or
more TV programs. The reach of the four programs combined is therefore 40 percent
(40 homes reached divided by the 100 TV-home populations).
Many researchers have charted the reach achieved with different media schedules.
These tabulations are put into formulas from which you can estimate the level of
delivery (reach) for any given schedule. A reach curve is the technical term describing
how reach changes with increasing use of a medium. The media salespeople you work
with or your advertising agency can supply you with these reach curves and numbers.
Now let's use the same schedule of one commercial in each of four TV programs (A, B,
C, D) to determine reach versus frequency. In our example, 17 homes viewed only one

program, 11 homes viewed two programs, seven viewed three programs, and five
homes viewed all four programs. If we add the number of programs each home viewed,
the 40 homes in total viewed the equivalent of 80 programs and therefore were
exposed

to the equivalent of 80 commercials. By dividing 80 by 40, we establish that any one

home was exposed to an average of two commercials.
To increase reach, you'd include additional media in your plan or expand the timing of
your message. For example, if you're only buying "drive time" on the radio, you might
also include some daytime and evening spots to increase your audience. To increase
frequency, you'd add spots or insertions to your existing schedule. For example, if you
were running three insertions in a local magazine, you'd increase that to six insertions
so that your audience would be exposed to your ad more often.

52
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Gross rating points (GRPs) are used to estimate broadcast reach and frequency from
tabulations and formulas. Once your schedule delivery has been determined from your
reach curves, you can obtain your average frequency by dividing the GRPs by the
reach. For example, 200 GRPs divided by an 80 percent reach equals a 2.5 average
frequency.
Frequency is important because it takes a while to build up awareness and break
through the consumer's selection process. People are always screening out messages
they're not interested in, picking up only on those things that are important to them.
Repetition is the key word here. For frequency, it's much better to advertise regularly in
small spaces than it is to have a one-time expensive advertising extravaganza.

Complexity of the Problem

The problem is complex because the number of alternative media plans available to a
media planner is very large. Secondly, there are many problems in the measurement of
results that will be obtained from the choice of a particular media plan thus making the
comparison of two media plans difficult. In this session, we shall not go into the problem
of measurements of results. Our focus will be on devising a method to assist the media
planner in selection of a plan in light of the presently used method of measuring results
and applying currently used criteria. In other words, we would attempt to develop a
procedure for selecting plan that has the lowest cost amongst all the alternatives that
meet the requirement of ‘reach’ and ‘frequency’.

THE CHANGING ROLE OF A MEDIA PLANNER

Situation has become complex in the both the market and media. Knowledge about
media like the reach, the various options, the research available, competition in the
market, etc.
What led to the change of role?
Media has come very close to the market objective- how it can help achieve the
marketing goals.
There are more research techniques available to measure the media reach.
More data of media and markets are available.
Increase in media costs and expenditure as a result of which every client wants his
rupee to be stretched as much as possible.
Complexity in media, a plethora of options available hence splintered audiences.
Media environment has changed because of-

1. Creation of new media like cable channels, specialized publications, video

cassettes.

2. New audience measurement techniques- from Diary to people meter.

As defined by the American Marketing Association (cited in Belch & Belch, 2007),
marketing represents "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing,
promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that
satisfy individual and organizational objectives." Thus, marketing can essentially be
understood through the four P's of the marketing mix, namely Product, Price, Place and
53
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Promotion, which in turn clearly explains the relation of inclusion, and not equality, as it
is often confused, that exists between promotion and marketing.

Belch & Belch (2007) identify promotion as "the coordination of all seller-initiated efforts
to set up channels of information and persuasion in order to sell goods and services or
promote an idea” and describe the promotional mix as consisting of various tools used
to accomplish communication objectives (advertising, direct marketing, interactive
marketing, sales promotion, PR and personal selling).
Similarly, the promotional strategy planning process (or the "Integrated Marketing
Communications Planning Model" as conceived by Belch & Belch can be separated
into five strategic steps

Percy & Elliott (2005) sustain that this planning model is what "a manager should take
in developing a strategic plan for a brand's marketing communications" and that
consistency between marketing objectives and communication objectives
is impervious for the effectiveness of a campaign. As it can be noticed, Percy & Elliott,
together with most theoreticians, propose the model in which media strategy (or media
planning) comes at the end of the promotional plan, as a step which is influenced and
conditioned by all previous steps, arguably an end product of the promotional strategy.

Media planning is generally accepted as "determining which communication channels

will be used to deliver the advertising message to the target audience" (Belch & Belch,);
however, since the 1990's, the position and importance of the media plan in the context
of the promotional strategy have been highly debated subjects in the advertising
industry.

By simply analyzing Percy & Elliott's (2005) Communication Response Sequence, it is

only logical to understand why setting the media strategy should be the last step in the
promotion plan; it is first necessary for the target audience to be exposed to the
advertisement, so that the message can subsequently be processed and the desired
communication effects created, which can then be translated into action. Therefore, an
advertiser should first establish who is the target audience, what action is desired from
them, and finally how to convince them and through which media.

Unfortunately, things do not always happen as they are planned, especially in a field
where negotiation, people's vanity and large sums of money are involved. This study is
therefore important not because it discovers important facts, but because of its two
aims:

--to bring into the light some 'realities' of the advertising industry, in contrast with
the theoretical assumptions discussed by specialty writers;

--to view things from a new perspective, which is actually the basis of the 21st century
new mentality--could it be that instead of an argument 'planning/ modeling vs. practice',
there could actually be a collaboration, depending on the circumstances, which leads to
best results?

In order to reach the above-mentioned objectives, the paper has primarily employed
secondary data, in order to compare and contrast the existing literature with
54
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
researches, studies, specialty publications and real-life examples, as discussed below.

The fragmentation and segmentation of media, brands and audiences after the 1980s
have created fundamental changes in the advertising industry--the media planning and
buying process is increasingly complicated, options are various and constantly
changing, and the role of media planners is differently perceived. The media selection
procedure is now suddenly more complex than 20-30 years ago; "in the UK in 1982
there was one commercial TV station; in 1999 there were more than 100" (Percy &
Elliott, 2005) not to mention that this multiplication process, apart from occurring
vertically (more vehicles for each media type, segmented according to interests and
cultures), also occurred laterally, with the advent of new media (internet, ambient
media and new opportunities to take advantage of existing platforms).

Consequently, "some of Europe's largest advertisers, including Procter & Gamble, BT

and Unilever, have put media planning at the heart of their communication strategy. For
example, 'communication channel planning' has been made mandatory across all
Unilever's worldwide business, where after setting brand priorities and objectives,
media channel recommendations are agreed before a communication plan and
subsequent creative briefs" (Percy & Elliott).

Furthermore, from simple departments of full-service agencies in the 1960s, 90% of

media planning and buying were handled by a separate agency in the 1990s. The
media independents' business share saw an increase of 184% between 1986 and
1991, which led full-service agencies to respond by "hiving-off their media departments
into completely separate agencies" (as Saatchi and Saatchi did in the late 1980s,
creating Zenith media agency).

However, this industry restructuring also affected the advertising agencies internally, by
changing the way media planners were perceived in relation to their colleagues,
especially their creative counterparts. Several economic recessions in the 1970s and
1980s led to a decrease in the creative's hegemony, because clients were concerned
that attractive advertising was not always similar to effective advertising, and became
increasingly reliant on media planners who could provide research and figures instead
of merely ideas.

Suddenly, media planners had access to a wealth of information and knowledge about
the market and the client, which was used not only for optimizing media solutions, but
also to gain monopoly over the advertising industry (controlling information which other
agencies could not access).

Consequently, media planners have come to "play a key role in the advertising industry
as the gatekeepers of market knowledge" --"we're getting to the point where the media
plan is done first, and the creative is done behind it (...) We used to be the dorks. Now
we're driving the whole advertising process".

Because of the complexity of selecting the optimum media mix to deliver the brand's
message, it is now more difficult to assume that the creative team will deliver a project
which then media planners and buyers will fit in corresponding media, as it is also
difficult to generalize that "creative people (...) are (...) for filling the time and space that
media buyers have bought". Although the media plan can theoretically work, an overly
55
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
creative 6-minute advert like the one H&M released in 2005 for the new "&denim"
collection could ruin all efforts of the promotional campaign. The commercial "was
shown online (H&M website) and during the trailers of certain theatrical films, but due to
complaints that the commercial glamorized gang violence and was H&M's attempt to
use gun culture to sell their jeans to teenagers, H&M subsequently withdrew the ad
from Canadian and U.S. markets and issued an apology" (Chidsta, 2006). Alternatively,
Coca-Cola's well-executed campaigns could actually fail if placed in conjunction with
unpleasant TV news (this is why the company specifically asks its agency to avoid slots
during news bulletins) (Belch & Belch, 2007).

In reality, this 'conflict' seems to be heading more towards an integration, where

perhaps the appropriate term should be the "creative media"; "in the early 1980s,
successful marketing was all about great creative, because you dealt with a very static
media environment, and the only way to really break through and build a brand was to
have a great message ... today, the media environment has so changed that you can't
have a great brand unless you have great creative and great media'' (Neff, 1999).
Briefly (2005) also states that "the process will include the agreement of the media and
the communication strategy first because of the costs involved. If a client's budget is
below 3 million pounds, a national television strategy is not an option. It also depends
on which consumers they want to try and hit (...) at this stage the main decision
concerns the most appropriate media to use (...) and the campaign's weight, duration
and relationship to other promotions that the client is involved in, as well as its
relationships to competitor activity (...) the account planner will provide a creative brief
to the creative team".

The new problem is how to creatively use different types of media in order to obtain the
desired results. This synergy between the creative and the media planning departments
could lead to positive or even spectacular results--TBWA created a special, well-
targeted advert for Absolute Vodka in the LA magazine, showing a picture with a
swimming pool in the shape of a vodka bottle, with the logo "Absolute vodka, Absolute
LA" , while Crispin Porter + Bogusly are becoming increasingly notorious for their
inventive usage of alternative media in an effective and even cost-efficient manner (the
Mini Cooper small budget re-launch using PR stunts and guerrilla marketing to break
the clutter).

Briefly (2005) further demonstrates that a continuous collaboration between media and
creative is required in order to meet the demands of the contemporary fluent
environment--"once the media strategy has been decided, the media buying schedule
can change substantially from the original (...) agencies like to have people who can

plan and buy campaigns as they are negotiating because the media advertising market
is changing so quickly.

A new media launch, a sharp decline in readership or circulation or a new package deal
by a media owner can change the plan substantially. Most media plans are made with
contingency money in reserve in case a new opportunity arises or
something newsworthy happens that the brand may want to associate with".
56
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Maintaining openness to new possibilities is what led to American Express's Seinfeld

and Superman campaign; the first two mini Internet movies (episodes) with Seinfeld
saving the day helped by American Express card membership where Superman was
powerless were so successful that other movies appeared, and a TV version was also
launched. Moreover, the success paved the way for a new product launch--Blue--for a
more technology-savvy target audience. The campaign used the Internet, 'The AmEx
brings you Central Park in Blue' concert, lifestyle-driven events in the LA House of
Blues jazz club, sponsorships and exhibits.

Because media planning is dependent on various parameters (technology, budget,

costs, reach, frequency, availability, impact and recall) that are either difficult to quantify
or lack available and comparable data, and because the inter-relationships between
variables are nonlinear and often irregular, media planners have difficulty making good
decisions consistently. Although in theory problems are easily solved through models
and eliminations, in real-life multiple situations can appear and should be taken into
account if the campaign is to be effective.

Probably one of the most powerful influencers in the past decade for media plans has
been the new media impact. With a growth of over 300% yearly (InternetWorldStats,
2009), the Internet is becoming the strongest and fastest-growing medium ever.
According to ZenithOptimedia, "the recession might be here, with all the belt-tightening
that entails, but digital is one of the few media forecast to grow, with UK internet ad
revenues poised to reach 3.64bn [pounds sterling] in 2009" (Bold, 2008).

Agencies are using (and are forced to use) digital channels in their communications
campaigns as this is the media the new active consumer is primarily accessing (the
paradigms are shifting, consumers are becoming "empowered media users" that
"control and shape the content", enjoy multi-platform communications and are not so
sensitive to traditional media anymore (Media Week, 2008)), it is cost effective and a
quantifiable source of revenue, and ultimately it is viewed as the "best placed media
sector to weather the economic storm" (in a poll conducted by Media Week, 2008).

Despite obvious benefits such as effective targeting for specific segments (business-to-
business advertising) and tailoring, it must be remembered that the web is also
uncontrollable and that the 'word of mouse' should not be ignored as it can 'make or
break' a campaign. For example, not many people can actually remember iPod adverts,
however, they can certainly remember friends or bloggers talking about it, or virals
presenting the iPods as better than any other media player on the market. Alternatively,
despite a strong TV campaign and PR exercise from Steve Jobs, many people are
reticent to the iPhone--it seems 'cool', but the 'word' about its disappointing reliability
exceeds the desire to purchase it. Consequently, "the interactive and uncontrollable
nature of the Internet raises serious issues for media strategy, and suggests that in the
future we will have to engage consumers in dialogue rather than monologue format and

attempt to invite customers to participate in 'conversations' rather than being passive

targets for messages".

Alternative media usage, therefore, lies in a strong mindshare--knowledge about a

brand's customers, and using their media preferences for media selection, instead of
demographic matching, as it is usually preferred, due to data availability and optimizing
57
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
systems (Percy & Elliott, 2005). This is what Jain (2007) describes in the media
revolution chapter of the "Advertising Works 15" as "breathing the air of the consumer" ,
or actively drawing the consumer into the brand's proposition, through mixing available
media in innovative ways--for example, the DDB and OMD campaign for re-launching
Monopoly was translated into the highly-successful Monopoly Live event, which took
advantage of the passionate interest Londoners have for London and their desire to
connect and play online (Green, 2007).

New media should not only be understood as the Internet--in fact, the Internet is
becoming more of a traditional platform, but with endless possibilities of re-inventing
itself. As an example, the Citroen C5 "Unmistakably German" campaign, which initially
aired on TV, was also supported by mobile and Internet advertising; ads were
specifically served to men between 30 and 54 (core target audience) on their mobile
phones and a micro-site was accessible through banner click-through, comprising a
mixture of entertainment, customization and direct sales, which led to "an enormous
success with its target audience, with almost one in 10 people who viewed the ad
clicking through (...) purchase intent rose by 9% among those who saw the campaign,
while 18% said that they viewed the Citroen brand more favorably after they had seen it
(...) there was also a strong indication that it enhanced the offline campaign, with a 44%
increase in message association"

When thinking about cinema as an advertising medium, the first and probably only
opportunity coming to mind could be that advertising slot before movies. However,
there are numerous alternatives to take advantage of a 'traditional' platform such as
cinema; for example, there are the 6-sheets posters, washroom posters, Bluetooth
offers, sampling, standees, popcorn boxes, foyer TV, ticket backs, floor media, counter
cards, quad posters, and, alongside the advertising slot before the movies, there are
also product placements and sponsorships in the movies (Chevrolet in "Transformers")
(Digital Cinema Media, 2009).

The cinema case is only a slight proof that media planners are facing an increasingly
complex decision when setting the media strategy and that creativity integrated with
media planning can open even more possibilities (such as the increasingly used
guerrilla tactics like the "live Honda TV skydivers ad" (Independent, 2008)).

There are a number of parameters that are often ignored in theory but become vital in
real situations and can deter an entire campaign from being released--they were
presented by Rossiter and Percy as the Media Planning Balloon and arguably explain
why media planning and buying are playing a key part in the promotional strategy
process.

"At the heart of media strategy is the fact that there is never enough money to achieve
very high reach and very high frequency for a very long period of time" Although
advertisers would like their work to be present in every media, as many times as
possible, at the best timings and for a long period to prevent decay, this situation is

virtually impossible since the costs are enormous and the budget is always limited.
Perhaps the truly creative flair comes when with a miniature budget, often established
top-down, with no actual connection to the marketing and communication objectives to
be achieved, the most effective and innovative campaign can be achieved.
58
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

This happened with CP+B's successful Mini Cooper's re-launch, when with a small
advertising budget but a wise use of media--magazine, billboards and PR stunts--the
agency managed to generate buzz and re-invent the brand; or with Carl's Jr. fast-food
hamburger chain, which used Paris Hilton, the 'it girl' of that moment, in its
Spicy BBQ Six Dollar Burger ads to generate publicity for the restaurant and positive
action (Belch & Belch, 2007)). Unfortunately, this is also when important money could
be wasted on more economic ideas and inefficient media, which later have
disappointing results.

The Advertising Research Foundation showed that "nearly half of advertisers and
agencies altered their 2005 media buying plans based on some form of return on
investment analysis" thus essentially demonstrating that even if advertising is being
done, people do not really believe or understand its actual importance, which relates
more to qualitative than to quantitative factors; therefore, promotional budgets which
"ideally (...) should be determined by what must be done to accomplish its
communication objectives (...) are often determined using a more simplistic approach,
such as how much money is available or a percentage of a company's or brand's sales
revenue “and advertising is the first expenditure to be cut down in a period of recession
(Lupu, 2008), although research consistently demonstrates that companies which
sustain their advertising even during crisis periods gain more, during and after the
recession (reinforcing confidence in the brand and relationship with the customers).

However, advertising agencies (and especially media planners) can also influence the
budget they receive through demonstrating actual results--digital media is the most
efficient in this respective, as data and direct response are readily available online.
Moreover, more methods of measuring key performance indicators are appearing, even
for traditional media (Jaguar was using call-locator systems to detect where the callers
to dealerships were located, and thus monitor the response of different areas to their
advertising message (Belch & Belch, 2007)) and media planners also employ buying
effectiveness measures (TV ratings) in order to keep their accounts. Ultimately, the
media planner's job is not only to conceive the media strategy and buy advertising
space and time, but also to convince the client of the worthiness of his decision.

As Brierley (2002) also admits, "money is the ultimate limiting factor for advertising (...)
since it determines media availability and sets limits to (...) coverage and frequency"
\and further limits production through costs (and availability of technology). Reach,
frequency and the number of advertising cycles, as described in the Media Planning
Balloon (figure 3), represent the most important constraining variables in a media plan,
since their value and mixture is directly influenced by budget availability and specifically
influence the campaign's effects. Although "some media auditing studies have shown a
variation in the effect of advertising on sales due solely to creative execution of 10 to
1"usually mediocre creative works can also achieve the desired effects through an
optimum mix of reach and frequency, according to objectives (more frequency for
creating brand attitude, more reach for brand awareness).

59
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Media coverage and popularity are also media selection criteria, since "talked about
television" or any medium is more effective than its competitors but can also command
premium rates, which again rises the budget constraints; for example, a weekday full-
page mono display in the Financial Times costs 40,400 pounds (Financial Times, 2009)
while one in The Sun costs 40,159 pounds (New Media Age, 2009), demonstrating that
media popularity could dictate prices more than readership quality. Moreover,
availability is considered as "the most important consideration for media planners"
(p.89) because, for example, the tobacco industry cannot use advertising in the UK.
Time and space bought for a particular advert is also important; when commercials are
linked to a show or placed during a programme, they are directly influenced by the
programmes' contents--although "advertisers have access to broadcasting schedules
(...) in advance so that ads can be, and often are, booked and prepared to appear in
specific programmes" Briefly (2002, p.120) discusses the case when Zenith bought
time for British Airways during an aero plane disaster movie on Carlton TV.

When converting a plan into reality, parameters often change and can subsequently
alter the initial plans. If, in theory, media costs are established on the rate card basis,
the media buyer actually receives discounts or encounters unexpected premium rates
due to negotiating deals or exceptional state of situation. Generally, TV buying for
example has been a volume-led market, by offering satisfying deals for both clients and
media buyers; nonetheless, this situation could strategically be dangerous since media
planners not always recommend media on the basis of effectiveness, but on the basis
of "the volumes of money being spent which could turn into wastage if improperly
managed.

Furthermore, media buyers were (and probably still are) sometimes placing ads in
certain media (more expensive/ better commission offered to agencies/ better
negotiating relationships) despite effectiveness considerations, or were/are placing ads
in expensive media and do not push for discounted rates, in order to receive higher
commission returns.

Nowadays, however, it appears that although companies have different advertising

agencies handling their brand portfolios, they usually tend to have one media planning
and buying agency (an integrated media buying strategy such as Carat for
Cadbury)--"they would be able to get more media coverage for their money. If they did
a deal for the whole year, a confectionery manufacturer could use summer slots for
chocolate ice-cream, winter slots for chocolate bars and chocolate drinks, and Easter
and Christmas spots at discounted rates for special brands. Nearly 80 of the top
advertisers in Britain, including Cadbury, Heinz, RHM Foods and Premier Brands,
had centralized their media buying in this way by 1993".

Nevertheless, centralized media buying also entails increased power to the top
advertisers, who can impose their own buying terms and discounts--"Kellogg's were
known to be demanding discounts from ITV companies of up to 75% in 1992 for
children's TV, largely because of the erosion of the audience for children's TV from
satellite, videos and computer games, but also because of the recession and the
company's buying clout". This situation occurs especially during recession periods--in
Romania, for example, the top three TV advertisers (Procter & Gamble, Unilever and
L'Oreal) have drastically reduced their

60
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
.
advertising budget for December (up to 70% for Unilever), suggesting that this decision
could be prolonged in 2009 as well, unless media owners offer significant discounts
and deals, and also implying that several media vehicles could be "dropped altogether
from the schedule if bigger discounts are not offered" .

Sometimes, media buyers would also use broking (which is not admitted to anymore
nowadays) --block-booking space and time at a special discount (and with the receiving
of a brokerage fee) which would then be filled with various clients. Clients therefore
would be unable to choose advert placing according to their communication objectives,
and would have to agree to a 'squeeze' in the already-booked scheme (media buyers
usually acquire packages which are more profitable than individual purchases, but
contain a mixture of high-rating and low-rating spots). Media plans could also be
influenced by clients who can change their compensation schemes to incentivise their
agencies to work more with other media, apart from TV and magazines (Belch & Belch
(2007) give the examples of Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Ford and Nissan) or by media
associations (Brierley (2002) presents the case when the Newspaper Publishers'
Association spent 10 million pounds to try to convince advertisers that TV was not
essential and that press advertising was also effective).

Sometimes, even the organizational context and a company's relationship with its
media planning agency can affect the media strategy, usually in a negative way through
unrealistic client demands, conflicts of interest (two competitors handled by the same
agency), changing compensation policies, or new management teams (in 2006 Ads
was set to "review 40 million pounds media planning and buying out of Carat" after
rumors questioning the strength of their relationship following the departure of Aegis's
chief executive, known to be close to the business, to MPG, a rival of Carat in the
predicted pitch (Lester, 2006)).

Ultimately, the lack of sufficient information, inconsistent terminologies, time pressure

and difficulty in measuring effectiveness of media strategies represent additional
limiting factors that impede the straightforwardness of a media plan execution.

Conclusion
The results derived from this paper conclude that, since real-life situations impose so
many variables on media planning, it is never easy to suggest how things should work
for best results, as each case is unique and suited for different strategies. Of course,
there are useful frameworks which can act as starting points, but, in the end, estimating
correctly and juggling with each circumstance is the way to achieve results. This has
led advertisers to agree that in media planning all "depends upon the particular
circumstances; there is no single solution" ,but if "you can learn to estimate correctly,
you are bound to achieve your goal" This research is, however, limited by a number of
factors, as discussed at the beginning of the paper, therefore it may be that the next
step of this work would be a series of empirical studies which can provide a more
complete and accurate picture of the situations analyzed. This would most likely lead to
similar results, but it could also identify and synthesize patterns of right decisions for
various situations, which could possibly ease the future work of media planners and
buyers.

61
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 4(b) Define Market; bring out the factors to be considered while defining the
market.

Answer

Market Definition
In marketing, the term market refers to the group of consumers or organizations that is
interested in the product, has the resources to purchase the product, and is permitted
by law and other regulations to acquire the product. The market definition begins with
the total population and progressively narrows as shown in the following diagram.
Market Definition
Conceptual Diagram

62
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Beginning with the total population, various terms are used to describe the market
based on the level of narrowing:
• Total population
• Potential market - those in the total population who have interest in acquiring
the product.
• Available market - those in the potential market who have enough money to
buy the product.
• Qualified available market - those in the available market who legally are
permitted to buy the product.
• Target market - the segment of the qualified available market that the firm has
decided to serve (the served market).
• Penetrated market - those in the target market who have purchased the
product.
In the above listing, "product" refers to both physical products and services.
The size of the market is not necessarily fixed. For example, the size of the available
market for a product can be increased by decreasing the product's price, and the size
of the qualified available market can be increased through changes in legislation that
result in fewer restrictions on who can buy the product.
Defining the market is the first step in analyzing it. Since the market is likely to be
composed of consumers whose needs differ, market segmentation is useful in order to
better understand those needs and to select the groups within the market that the firm
will serve.

The sub-markets of the electricity sector

The power market can be divided into a physical market and a financial market. These
two markets can be divided further into several sub-markets. We will describe briefly
the various markets. Note, however, that these sub-markets do not necessarily
constitute relevant markets as defined by competition authorities.

It is common to divide the power market into three different vertical levels. One level is
transmission and distribution of power through the grid. A second level is the wholesale
market where producers, suppliers, large industrial enterprises and other large units
buy and sell electricity, and a third level is the retail market where power is sold from
retail power companies to end users such as households and firms.

The transmission and distribution of electric power is usually regarded as a natural

monopoly and therefore regulated in all the Nordic countries. There is no competition
on this level of the power market. Since this report is aimed at preserving and
developing competition in the market for electricity in the Nordic region, we will not
focus on the transmission and distribution of power.

63
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

The division between the wholesale market and the end users market is sketched in the
figure below.

Electricity is sold to most end users through power suppliers (i.e. retail power
companies). Some of these companies also produce power, while others buy all the
needed power on the wholesale market. In the retail markets there are barriers
restricting purchase of power cross borders. The main reasons are differences in each
countries regulatory regime, taxes and prices, which make cross border trade difficult.
64
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
As a result, retail power companies are established in the country where they sell
power. The retail markets do therefore also fall outside the scope of this report, since
they contain few competitive issues relevant for the Nordic electricity market.

Based on the aforesaid we will limit our focus in this report to the wholesale market.

Definition of the relevant market

In competition analysis the aim is usually to determine whether one or more companies
have or can acquire market power. To do this, competition authorities usually define the
relevant market where the potential market power is or could be abused. The market

definition is a tool used to identify and define the boundaries of competition between
firms. In the U.S. horizontal merger guidelines the relevant market is defined as follows:

A market is defined as a product or group of products and a geographic area in which it

is produced or sold such that a hypothetical profit-maximizing firm, not subject to price
regulation, that was the only present and future producer or seller of those products in
that area likely would impose at least a "small but significant and no transitory" increase

in price, assuming the terms of sale of all other products are held constant. A relevant
market is a group of products and a geographic area that is no bigger than necessary
to satisfy this test.
This test is also called the "SSNIP test" (Small but Significant and No transitory
Increase in Price). The SSNIP test defines a relevant market as the narrowest
collection of products over which a hypothetical monopolist would find it profitable to
make a small but significant and non-transitory increase in price (SSNIP).
The U.S. market definition focuses solely on demand substitution factors--i.e., possible
consumer responses. Supply substitution factors – i.e. possible production responses –
are considered elsewhere in the Guidelines in the identification of firms that participate
in the relevant market and the analysis of entry.

The European Commission's definition of a relevant market separates between the

relevant product market and the relevant geographic market:

A relevant product market comprises all those products and/or services which are
regarded as interchangeable or substitutable by the consumer, by reason of the
products' characteristics, their prices and their intended use.
The relevant geographic market comprises the area in which the undertakings
concerned are involved in the supply and demand of products or services, in which the
conditions of competition are sufficiently homogeneous and which can be distinguished
from neighboring areas because the conditions of competition are appreciably different
in those areas.

At the outset the two definitions differ somewhat. The EU definition of a relevant
product market seems to include all substitutable products. Seemingly, this definition
will include more products than what is necessary for the SSNIP test to be satisfied (it
will be economically profitable to increase price even if some substitution to other
products will take place, i.e. all substitutable products need not be included in the
65
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
relevant market). Furthermore, the EU definition of a geographic market focuses on
other aspects than whether demand substitution (or other restraints on market power)
will hinder the SSNIP test from being satisfied.
However, in the Commission Notice on the definition of the relevant market (which
reflects the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance) the
Commission interprets the definitions. The clarification makes clear that the SSNIP is
applied both to the product and to the geographic market definition.

The Notice points out that firms are subject to three main sources of competitive
constraints: demand substitutability, supply substitutability and potential competition.
From an economic point of view, for the definition of the relevant market, demand
substitution constitutes the most immediate and effective disciplinary force on the
suppliers of a given product, in particular in relation to their pricing decisions. The
competitive constraints arising from supply side substitutability and potential
competition are in general less immediate.

According to the Notice, supply-side substitutability may also be taken into account
when defining markets in those situations in which its effects are equivalent to those of
demand substitution in terms of effectiveness and immediacy. This requires that
suppliers are able to switch production to the relevant products and market them in the
short term without incurring significant additional costs or risks in response to small and
permanent changes in relative prices. The same reasoning applies to geographic
areas.

Thus, unlike the U.S. Guidelines the EU Commission Notice may take supply
substitution into account when delineating markets. However, the U.S. Guidelines
makes clear that supply substitution may be considered when identifying firms that
participate in the relevant market. Firms that would quickly and easily substitute supply
in response to an attempted exercise of market power are considered to be competitors
in the same market and are assigned market shares even though they do not currently
sell. In practice it seems likely that both the EU and the U.S. approach is capable of
identifying supply substitution competition in a meaningful way, which will produce
similar conclusions.

The hypothetical price increase is usually assumed to be 5% or 10%. The principal

procedure to delineate relevant markets is to ask whether a hypothetical monopolist is
able to profitably make such a price increase. If not, the market should be expanded by
including the best substitute outside its borders, either in the product space or in the
geographic space. By expanding the market in this way until the price increase
becomes profitable, the relevant market will be delineated as the smallest group of
products and the smallest geographic area in which the SSNIP test is satisfied.

It is not clear what shall be meant by "non-transitory". This is of some importance since
demand is likely to be more elastic in the long than in the short run. The U.S.
Guidelines considers supply substitution within the framework of one year.
Copenhagen Economics (2002) considers the SSNIP test within a time period not
shorter than twelve months.

66
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
The SSNIP test is particularly applicable to markets where the issue is whether a
concentration will increase the price level in the market. It is less applicable as a tool to
analyze whether a firm already possesses market power. More on this subject can be
found, for instance, in a paper from the Office of Fair Trading (2001).

The relevant product market

The European Commission has traditionally defined the product market as the sale of
electricity delivered through high-voltage network.

There are no close substitutes for electricity. In the short run (on an hourly basis)
demand is very inelastic at current prices. The price sensitivity of demand is low also in
the longer run - during a season or some months. This means that it will be possible for

a hypothetical monopolist to impose a small but significant and non-transitory increase

in price. We therefore ascertain that wholesale of electricity is a separate product
market.

However, we have to investigate whether there are smaller relevant markets within the
wholesale market (confer that the relevant market is the smallest market in which it is
possible to exert market power). In particular we are interested in knowing if electricity
sold through bilateral contracts belong to the same relevant product market as the sale
of electricity at the Nord Pool elspot market. Examining this problem using the SSNIP
test, we ask if a hypothetical monopolist in the bilateral market (or the spot market)
would be able impose a small but significant and non-transitory increase in the
electricity price without losing profit due to loss of sales on the spot market (or the
bilateral market).

Due to the range of different bilateral contracts it is hard to be completely affirmative,

but the most probable answer to the above-mentioned question would be that the
hypothetical monopolist would not have the incentive to increase the price on bilateral
contracts. This is due to two constraining effects of such a price increase. Firstly,
buyers that have entered into bilateral contracts will to some extent switch to the spot
market as a response to a hypothetical price increase. And buyers operating on the
spot market will be able to switch to bilateral contracts.

In the cases concerning Stat raft’s acquisition of Agder Energies and Trondheim
Energiverk the Norwegian Competition Authority concluded that the bilateral market
and the elspot market are close substitutes, both for suppliers and customers, and
therefore part of the same relevant product market. An important argument was the fact
that many bilateral contracts contain some reference to the system price. The decisions
were appealed to the Norwegian Ministry of Labor and Government Administration who
handled the cases in the second instance. The Ministry supported these findings.

The Danish competition authority confirmed this reasoning in a recent case concerning
abuse of dominant position by two Danish market participants. The Danish competition
authority argued that a bilateral contract in essence comprises a spot market element
and a financial element. The Nord Pool spot market governs pricing of the spot element
whereas the financial element belongs to at completely different market – the market
67
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
for risk. At this market the "good" traded is risk and not electricity. (Risk is also traded in
different forms at the Nord Pool financial market).

A report written by Copenhagen Economics (2002) on the relevant power markets in

the Nordic area reached the conclusion that the bilateral market, the spot market, the
Elbas market and the regulating power market all belong to the same relevant product
market. Copenhagen Economics put much emphasis on the fact that supply
substitution is feasible and likely to be swift, such that prices on one of the markets
cannot rise significantly without generators quickly moving capacity from the other three
markets to the market with the higher price. The generator does not need to make any
significant technological adjustment but only needs to adjust the bid schedules on the
spot market and on the regulating power market. These conclusions were backed by
analysis of price correlation between all the wholesale sub-markets except for the
market for bilateral contracts.

In this report we will base our analysis on a relevant product market that include all the
wholesale sub markets.

The relevant geographic market

The European Commission has traditionally defined the geographic wholesale market
for electricity as national. The argument is that the lack of international transmission
capacity and the lack of formalized tools for international exchange of electricity
effectively prevent demand and supply substitution outside the range of the national
transmission networks.

An important characteristic of the power market is the lack of opportunity to store the
product. Electricity must be consumed in the same instant it is produced. The
substitutability between different time periods is also restricted. The lack of possibilities
for consumers to store electricity and the limited substitution between time periods
implies that the market must be distinguished by the time at which the electricity is
delivered.

In some instances where the time dimension matters it is natural to include it as a

characteristic of the product (for instance new-grown potatoes). In the electricity market
the time dimension is important because it influences the width of the geographical
market. During different time periods there will be capacity constraints in the
transmission network. Such capacity constraints limit the range of suppliers that can
offer electricity in a particular region.

This concept of a relevant geographic market varying over time is a special feature of
the electricity market. In competition cases concerning abusive behavior in other
markets the relevant market needs to be stable over a period of time in order for the
competition authority to establish dominant position. This is not possible in the
electricity market. What is crucial in establishing a dominant position on a given market
is the ability to affect prices. If the prices can be affected from hour to hour then this
period of time is long enough to establish dominance. In the electricity market, prices
can be affected by the strategic behavior of a generator from one hour to the next.
68
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Congestions in the inter-Nordic transmission network divide the market geographically.
Because of capacity constraints in the network grids (so-called bottlenecks), the
structure of the power market can vary from one hour to the next.

In periods where there are no binding bottlenecks the relevant geographic market is
delineated to the Nordic region (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark). Even if the
Nordic power market is also connected to other geographic regions like Poland and
Germany, there are no indications that the relevant geographic market is ever bigger
than the Nordic region. Copenhagen Economics has, in the above-mentioned report,
analyzed partial price correlations between areas, which clearly reject a hypothesis that
the Nordic area is part of the same market as Germany.

When bottlenecks bind in the Nordic transmission grids the spot market is divided into
two or more areas with different prices (so-called price areas). In these periods it is
quite obvious that a hypothetical monopolist operating in an area into which imports are

restricted, will be able to increase price without losing demand to suppliers located in
other areas. Thus, the SSNIP test will be satisfied for such a price area.

It is important to note that a hypothetical monopolist will be able to exercise market

power also in an area with surplus supply, i.e. an area from which electricity is exported

to surrounding areas. Market power may be utilized by preventing the price from falling
to a lower level.

This means that whenever the wholesale market is divided into different price areas,
each area represents a separate geographic market. Furthermore, a hypothetical
monopolist in an area with surplus supply may raise the price to the level of the
surrounding areas, and thereby level out price differences between price areas. This
means that a price area may be a relevant geographic market even in periods where
the capacity in the transmission grids is not fully utilized.

It should also be emphasized that there might be relevant geographic markets within
each price area. Capacity constraints within price areas are handled by means of
counter-purchase. Power companies operating in these markets may be able to exert
market power towards the system operator.

How important are the transmission constraints that divide the Nordic region into
smaller relevant geographic markets? The table below shows export and import
openness in the Nordic countries.

Trade openness

Denmark Finland Norway Sweden

69
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Export openness 0.29 0.11 0.21 0.28
Import openness 0.29 0.13 0.19 0.29
Source: Copenhagen Economics (2002)

The data indicates that all Nordic countries are well connected to each other, especially
Denmark and Sweden where the import/export capacity is well above 20 per cent of the
internal generating capacity. In Norway the same indicators is approximately 20 per
cent and in Finland slightly above 10 per cent.

However, not all of the capacity of the transmission lines is fully utilized. For instance,
the average degree of utilization of the transmission line from Sweden to Denmark
West was just below 50 per cent in 2001. This indicates that there must be scope for
increasing the effective transmission capacity by other means than increasing the
physical capacity.

In those hours where no congestion constraints occur, wholesale prices are identical in
all Nordic countries and the Nordic area is an integrated relevant market.

When congestion does occur, the relevant geographic market is separated into several
geographic markets depending on the exact location of the congestion constraints.
Some of these geographic markets are directly observable on the spot market because
the congestion constraint is handled by means of Elspot price areas (see 2.2 and
1.2.4), giving rise to different prices in different price areas. Other geographic markets
are only visible at the regulating power market, because the congestion constraint is
handled by counter trade, giving rise to identical prices on the spot market, but different
prices on the regulating power market.

The distribution of price areas within the Nordic area and the frequency with which they
occur varies from year to year primarily due to variations in weather conditions. In wet
years there will be congestion constraints in the transmission grids from Norway to
Denmark and Sweden. For instance, in wet years (as the years 2000 and 2001) the two
Danish price areas – dominated by expensive thermal generation – were isolated in
more than 30 per cent of the time. In "normal" years the figure drops to approx. 5 per
cent. Export from Denmark may be constrained when wind production is high or there
are large imports from Denmark.

Copenhagen Economics (2002) has listed all combinations of price areas on the Nordic
spot market. From this list we have calculated the frequency of different constellations
of Elspot price areas. We have only counted the number of constellations involving
three price areas or less.

The table below shows the most encountered constellations of price areas in 2001 and
the percentage of time in which they occur. The figures vary between different years.

The Nordic region 51.8%

70
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Denmark West 19.1%
Norway Middle/Norway North 18.5%
Norway South 8.9%
Norway Middle 8.2%
Denmark West/Norway South 6.3%
Denmark East 5.4%
Norway North 5.3%
Finland, Denmark East, Sweden 5.3%

The integrated Nordic region is the most frequent price area. It occurred in 52% of the
time in 2001. Note however, that in 2002 the percentage was 35% hour. Half of the
time or more the relevant geographic market has been smaller than the Nordic region.

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHILE DEFINING THE MARKET

1. The clients brief.

2. Distribution patterns- where is the product available.

3. Marketing objectives- High growth will mean diverse or more markets.

4. Competitive activity- special promotions by the competition. Where do they

have higher market share.

5. Market potential.

6. Media related markets-like strong press or TV markets.

7. Sales pattern- where sales are good- it is good defensive strategy to protect.
Also need to check whether the markets have been fully exploited. This task
would be easier. This minimizes the risks and maximizes the potential.

8. Offensive strategy- where sales are low requires heavier advertising

expenditure. But the risks have to weighted-How is competition faring-is it.

9. Doing well. Why is our product a failure? Poor distribution, insufficient

advertising, others-can the situation be corrected? If a brand is doing well-it is
a difficult to convert people to switch.

10. Virgin markets-must analyze why competition has not gone into these
markets.

11. Importance can be given to specific markets on the basis of the client’s sales
data, their distribution patterns and brand ownership/ user ship data.

71
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 6(b)
Communication Spectrum
Introduction
In terms of the general perception of all of the marketing mix elements that a firm may
employ, it is perhaps ‘promotion’ that is the most prominent ‘P’ in the ‘4 P’s’. In fact to
many people promotion is marketing. Promotion is a part of a firm’s overall effort to
communicate with consumers and others about its product or service ‘offering’. Both
the company and the consumer have needs which they aim to fulfill; the profits making
company wishes to improve or maintain profits and market share, and gain a better
reputation than its competitors, and the consumer aims to reach his or her personal
goals. The total product offering allows each party to move towards these goals,
offering a ‘bundle of satisfactions’ which fulfill needs in an instrumental and a
psychological sense. The phrase ‘Marketing Communications’ is generally preferred to
the term ‘promotion’, this term being reserved for a branch of communications called
‘below-the-line sales promotion’.
Promotion or Marketing Communication?
In a sense all marketing communication activity is a form of promotion, that is in one
way or another is attempting to promote the interest of the brand, product range and/or
company. What differentiates ‘above the line’ activity from ‘below the line activity’ is a
somewhat arbitrary division. There is no universally accepted definition of either. Below
the line activity is loosely classed as non-media advertising. Basically if an
advertisement is submitted to a publication and a commission is paid to the advertising
agency to feature the piece then this is deemed to be ‘above the line’ communication. If
no commission has been paid, for example in the case of a public relations press
release, a trade exhibition or a sponsored sports event, this is referred to as ‘below the
line’ activity. This distinction is accepted by most and is the distinction adopted here.
Real and implied product attributes

72
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
The role of marketing communications is to communicate the benefits of the product,
service or firm to potential consumers and indeed the same process is undertaken in
‘not for profit situations’ like political parties. The benefits marketing communicators try
to convey can be ‘real’ although many of attributes are implied through association or
suggestion. This has been described as a ‘total bundle of attributes’ that the consumer
perceives in a holistic manner. In other words, consumers see the product or service
offering as a unified whole, rather than a bundle of separate component parts such as
it’s price, packaging, shape and so on. In this way, marketing communications conveys
the meaning of the company’s total product offering, helping consumers attain their
goals and moving the company closer to its own goals. Many products, particularly in
the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) category, are very similar to other products in
their class. For example margarines are basically similar no matter what brand is
selected, and the same goes for many fmcg products. In times of shortage, such as
during the war years, goods were treated as homogenous commodities, and basically
soap was soap! In less developed countries the same is true today.

From the study of buyer behavior it was noted that Maslow described the different
needs of human beings as being hierarchical in nature. At the bottom of the pyramid
physiological needs such as hunger and thirst are of primary concern to the individual,
almost to the exclusion in fact of anything else. Marketers can make use of this
phenomenon and this can be witnessed in advertising soft drinks such as Coca Cola or
fast food such as Burger King, McDonalds or KFC. Only when these basic, but
important, physiological needs are satisfied will the individual turn his or her attention to
the next category of need in the hierarchy. Their next need is safety and that of their
family. In modern society these needs are reflected in goods and services such as
burglar alarms, car locks and alarms, double glazing, external lighting, insurance,
saving schemes etc. Marketers use the motive of fear in order to market such products.
Thereafter loftier concerns assume more importance. People need to feel part of a
group, appreciated by others and have the opportunity to both give and receive love.
Fashion items like perfume, supporting the same ‘pop’ group or sports team are all
examples of how marketing uses social needs to sell products and services. Esteem
needs can be translated into products and services through high status marquee cars,
designer clothes or expensive holidays. Finally we reach the higher order need of self-
actualization. Only in very wealthy countries is it possible to have large sections in this
category. The best example here is probably in California, especially in cities such as
San Francisco where people can indulge in a variety of alternative life styles. Books by
‘self help’ gurus, health supplements exercise videos are examples of products aimed
at this motive.
The marketing communications mix
Promotion describes the communications activities of advertising, personal selling,
sales promotion and publicity/public relations.
Advertising is a non-personal form of mass communication, paid for by an identified
sponsor. Personal selling involves a seller attempting to persuade a potential buyer to
make a purchase. Sales promotion encompasses short-term activities such as giving
coupons, free samples, etc. that encourage quick action by buyers. The company has
control over these three variables, but has little control over the fourth variable,
publicity/public relations. This is another non-personal communication method that
reaches a large number of people, but it is not paid for by the company and is usually in
the form of news or editorial comment regarding a company’s product or service.
73
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Companies can gain some control over the publicity it receives by the release of news
items.
Put together, these promotional activities make up the promotional or communications
mix with varying emphasis on each element according to the type of product or service,
characteristics of consumers and company resources. Company size, competitive
strengths and weaknesses and style of management all influence the promotional mix.
Other communications elements with which promotion must be coordinated are the
product itself, price and distribution channels used. Product communication, including
brand name, design of packaging and trade-marks are all product cues which convey a
message about the total product offering. Price can communicate different things under
varying circumstances, for instance conveying ‘prestige appeal’ for those buyers who
perceive that a high price is equal to quality and prestige. The place in which the
products are to be found also has notable communications value. Retail stores have

‘personalities’ that consumers associate with the products they sell. Products receive a
‘halo effect’ from the outlets in which they can be found and two stores selling similar
products can project entirely different product images. For example, a perfume sold
through an up market store will have a much higher quality image than one sold
through supermarkets
The Marketing Communications Process
Effective communication means effective marketing. Buyers’ perceptions of market
offerings are influenced by the amount and type of information they receive as well as
their reaction to that information. There must be a good flow of information between
seller and buyer to assist decision-making that precedes a purchase. An effective
marketing communications system also allows feedback from the consumer to the
seller.
Some people have a psychological predisposition to buy products and services that are
‘new’ to the market. This predisposition can be modeled with the use of a normal
distribution. Certain people derive a great deal of pleasure from acquiring new products
and being first in the market. Such people have a low level of perceived risk and in fact
they positively like the risk and excitement associated with the purchase of new,
innovative products. These people are referred to as ‘innovators’ and, according to
Everett Rogers account for about 2.5 % of the population. The next group of people
displaying a tendency to buy new products are known as ‘early adopters’ and account
for approximately 13.5 % of the market. These are still highly adventurous purchasers
and the possession of innovative new products gives them a high present value. They
still have a low level of perceived risk but are slightly more risk adverse than the
‘innovator’ category. The next two groups, ‘Early Majority’ and ‘Late Majority’ account
for the bulk of the potential market, 64% in all. Most people fall in to one of these
categories. Finally the ‘Laggards’ are people who are not really infested in new product
development and tend to purchase products only when their old product is worn out
and stops working. This theme is returned to later under product issues.
A key question for the marketing communicator is: Are the innovators and early
adopters also opinion leaders? The majority of potential customers are too risk adverse
or too disinterested to be ‘first in the market’ for an innovation. They are largely
unaffected by the media communication about the innovation. Instead, they are
influenced by people that they know who they regard as opinion leaders. Although
some individuals my be innovators for many products and services, it is more likely that
74
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
they will be classified as such for a limited range of products. For example a computer
enthusiast may be regarded as a ‘innovator’ for new computer products’. Similarly,
someone who is interested in photography may be regarded as opinion leaders in
relation to this product but not others.
A new brand of toothpaste containing baking soda is not really that new to people; after
all, it is still just toothpaste. A vacuum cleaner for your garden is on the other hand quite
a radical innovation. These products have recently come on to the market although
most people, even keen gardeners seem a little unsure as to whether they should buy
one or not. If these products are good, then the message will soon circulate by word of
mouth and soon most households will own one, just as most own a lawn mower or a
lawn edger and indeed these latter products were considered to be a radical innovation
only a few years ago.

Marketing communications can be defined as the process of:

1. presenting an integrated set of stimuli to a market target with the aim of raising a
desired set of responses within that market target;
2. setting up channels to receive, interpret and act on messages from the market to
modify present company messages and identify new communications
opportunities.
As both a sender and a receiver of market-related messages, a company can influence
customers to buy its brands in order to make profit. At the same time it can stay in
touch with its market so that it can adjust to changing market conditions and take
advantage of new communications opportunities.

75
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 6(c)
Creativity Needs Direction

It is obvious that by 'creative' we general mean the words and pictures, the sound and
the music, the models that are projected and maybe, even associations with such
sports, films and other personalities who typify such role models. This is
understandable. After all, these are the most visible elements of advertising. These are
what influence us as customers.
Creativity, as generally understood, is only one, even if a very important component of
advertising. What is more, at the very beginning i must point out that all the talent that
creative young aspirants for jobs in advertising talk of are not sufficient for an entry into
this highly demanding profession. On the other hand the opportunities that the
profession offers are more varied and creativity more challenging in a wider sense of
the term. In this context, it is necessary to be clear about what creativity really means.
'To create' according to the Oxford dictionary means "Bring into existence, give rise to;
originate."The word creation means" All created things products of human intelligence,
especially of imaginative thought;" 'creative' means: "Creating; able to create; inventive;
imaginative; showing imagination as well as routine skill" Of course, even the dictionary
definition refers to an actor creating a part or a product created by a designer. The
essential elements of creativity are really imagination and inventiveness disciplined by
routine skills.
In advertising on has a diverse range of jobs to choose from, to suit one's inclination,
talent and personality. The choice of working in an organization that manufactures
certain goods or provides certain services, to look after the advertising of these goods
or services would demand a particular kind of skill and interests. One can choose to
work in a organization that creates advertising and distributes advertisements through
different media. In such an organization there is a wide variety of jobs calling for
different types of skills and creativity.
To make the matters easier, one has to start with simple definitions. The manufacturer
or provider of goods and services would be refereed to at this stage as advertiser or,
may be, the marketing organization. The organization providing advertising services is
the advertising agency. And advertising is itself communication link between the
product or service and the consumer; hence, between the producer and the consumer.
The media of course would include newspapers and magazines, radio, television,
posters and everything that can be used to inform the customer about the product or
service. Another expression that we shall be using at that stage is the market. After all,
all goods and services are bought and sold in the market-not necessarily only a bazaar
76
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
or a village fair, but also shops or retail outlets as they are called. In advertising we talk
of the markets to mean really the consumers. The producer of goods or services
markets its products and hence is referred to as a marketing organization. There are
job opportunities in these areas in the field of advertising and advertising related
services. There is more. Today one can setup one's own shop specializing in one
particular area of advertising or advertising related activity. This would call for a
combination of many talents and different types.

Creativity is arguably the most important element in advertising success. This article
reviews the trends in creativity research and asks

(1) what do we know about advertising creativity,

(2) how can we measure it, and
(3) how can we enhance and encourage it? After tracking its importance, this article
examines how it is defined, the nature of the theories underpinning it, and the various
typologies suggested by researchers. The impact of issues such as the environment,
management practice, and myths on enhancing and encouraging advertising creativity
are assessed. It is argued that, to encourage and enhance creativity, managers should
address the effects of self-doubt, fear of risk taking, and fear of opposition and criticism.

CREATIVITY IS at once the least scientific aspect of advertising and the most important
(Reid, King, and DeLorme, 1998). As with other forms of creativity, advertising creativity
embraces both "originality" and "innovation" (Fletcher, 1990). To be successful, it must
have impact, quality, style, and relevance. Ideas must be new, unique, and relevant to
the product and to the target audience in order to be useful as solutions to marketing
communications problems. The resultant advertising should pass such tests as the
Universal Advertising Standards established by D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (Belch
and Belch, 1998). This is because a "winning creative idea," one that stands out from
the crowd and is memorable, can have enormous impact on sales, may influence the
hiring and firing of advertising agencies, and affect their remuneration (see, for example,
Blair, 1988; Buzzell, 1964; Michell and Cataquet, 1992; Rossiter and Percy, 1997;
Wackman, Salmon, and Salmon, 1986/1987). However, despite the most systematic
and scientific approaches toward developing winning creative ideas, the evidence
suggests it is a random process. This is because there is a high degree of chance in
coming up with a winning creative idea, and random creativity is therefore pivotal
(Gross, 1972; O'Connor, Willemain, and MacLachlan, 1996). Renowned academic
researchers (e.g., Amabile, 1982; Runco and Sakamoto, 1999) have found creativity to
be among the most complex of human behaviors to describe. It has even been
suggested that creativity cannot be defined or measured (Callahan, 1991; Khatena,
1982). Overall, it is timely to review the trends in creative research and ask (1) what do
we know about advertising creativity, (2) how can we measure it, and, (3) how can we
enhance and encourage it?

Before beginning the review, a brief outline of terms is required. "Advertising creativity"

77
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
is used for the process of producing and developing advertising ideas. It is
acknowledged that treatments and executions require creativity, indeed even the choice
and use of media can be highly creative, but for the purposes of this article the
emphasis is on the central creative idea.

The importance of creativity is acknowledged by the scale and scope of the research
activity that has been conducted both to understand it and to examine its application in
diverse fields. These include, for example, art (e.g., Brower, 2000; Kris, 1952), music
(e.g., Hickey, 2001), science (e.g., Innamorato, 1998), education (e.g., Freeman, 1983;
Naglieri, 2001), management (e.g., De Bono, 1971; King and Anderson, 1990; Sethi,
Smith, and Park, 2001), and advertising (e.g., Gross, 1967, 1972; Hirschman, 1989;
Kendrick, Slayden, and Broyles, 1996; Kover, Goldberg, and James, 1995; Moriarty,
1991; Moriarty and Van den Bergh, 1984). Some observers have noted a decline in the

level of interest shown in advertising creativity research (e.g., Zinkhan, 1993). Others
maintain that the topic continues to receive a great deal of attention (e.g., Plucker and
Runco, 1998). To throw some light on the issue, a search of the ABI/INFORM Global
database on Proquest[R] was carried out for articles featuring either "creativity" or
"creative" in the title, in an attempt to reconcile these contradictory views. The number
of such articles rose steadily between 1985-1995. In 1985, there were only 18 titles, but
by the end of 1995 this had risen to 85 per year--close to a fourfold increase. For
comparison, there were 174 articles with the word "marketing" in the title in 1985, and
399 in 1995: an increase of only 129 percent, though admittedly from a higher base
(see Figure 1). Having made these points, the numbers should be viewed cautiously
and interpreted for what they are--based on a simple search for terms in publications
available since 1985. It is not known how those terms were used by authors. Nor is it
clear what the role of the growth of publications covered by Proquest[R] has been, as
the expansion of the number of journals indexed is likely to have played a role. Taking
these caveats into account, the results still point to a significant expansion in the early
1990s and then a fall back in the late 1990s. Unfortunately, owing to changes in the
presentation of the data by Proquest[R], it was not possible to continue the analysis
beyond 2001. However, there are signs of renewed interest: recent papers include, for
example, White and Smith (2001), Andriopoulos (2001), and Koslow, Sasser, and
Riordan (2003).

Definitions

Creativity is often described in such terms as "creative thinking" or "ability," "problem

solving," "imagination," or "innovation." Many definitions involve an aspect of problem
solving, where the solution to the problem requires insight (e.g., Simonton, 1999;
Sternberg and Davidson, 1995). Most involve an aspect of "newness" or "originality," for
example, "Creativity is the ability to produce work that is novel (i.e., original,
unexpected)" (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999). Originality is a required but insufficient
condition for creativity: the work must also be of value; that is, it should be "appropriate
(i.e., useful, adaptive concerning task constraints)" (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999, p. 3).
This combination of "novelty" and "appropriateness" or "usefulness" has met with
widespread acceptance (e.g., Amabile, 1983; Gruber and Wallace, 1999; Lumsden,
1999; Martindale, 1999; Mumford and Gustafson, 1988; Unsworth, 2001).

There are differences of opinion about the role and importance of creativity in
78
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
advertising and marketing. Managers tend to value "effectiveness," usually measured
by changes in awareness levels or in market sales, whereas creative people generally
have a low regard for these kinds of measures (Kover, Goldberg, and James, 1995).
"Effective" advertising and "creative" advertising are the two concepts that most
frequently emerge in the practitioner literature (see, for example, the writings of Ogilvy,
1964, 1983). Hirschman (1989) also showed that opinions tend to vary with the role of
the participant. Product managers and account executives view advertising as a means
to achieve a specific objective, such as to create awareness, desire, interest, and/or
action. This objective follows from the client brief, itself a result of the marketing plan,
and is guided by research (Bell, 1992). Creative teams or individuals, on the other hand,
tended to see the advertisement as an opportunity to demonstrate their own skills and
aesthetic values and thereby to promote their careers (Hirschman, 1989). Perhaps it is
the friction between these conflicting interests that results in great advertising, but it has
been found that creativity is necessary for effectiveness and that it is this that "pushes
the message into viewers' minds" (Kover, Goldberg, and James, 1995, p. 29).

Some writers maintain that it is not creative unless it is useful (e.g., Amabile, 1983;
Mumford and Gustafson, 1988), others view creativity as an associative process (e.g.,
Mednick, 1962; Mendelsohn, 1976), with some contending that creativity is not a unitary
concept at all. It has been argued that there are different types of creativity: responsive,
expected, contributory, and proactive (Unsworth, 2001), or that it consists of a number
of elements, each of which must be present for creativity to take place (e.g.,
Csikszentmihalyi, 1988; Rhodes, 1961). Creativity in advertising differs from creativity in
the arts mainly in its purpose. Advertising creativity must achieve objectives set by
others--this is not usually the case in the arts. Success in the arts is achieved when the
creative products are deemed "pleasing" in some way whereas in advertising it is not
sufficient to "please" or always necessary to do so. To be successful, creative
advertising must first be noticed and then have a specified effect on the viewer. If it is
not noticed, or if this effect is not achieved, the creative endeavor is considered to have
failed.

Creativity involves newness but this need not be "new to the world." Leo Burnett, for
example, defined advertising creativity as "the art of establishing new and meaning-ful
relationships between previously unrelated things in a manner that is relevant,
believable, and in good taste, but which somehow presents the product in a fresh new
light" (Burnett, 1968). Combining two or more previously existing items, materials, ideas,
thoughts, concepts in a new way can not only be creative, it is considered by many to
be the essence of creativity providing," ... the combinatorial leap which is generally
described as the hallmark of creativity" (Mendelsohn, 1976, in Martindale, 1999, p. 139).
Reid, King, and DeLorme (1998, p. 3) define advertising creativity as "original and
imaginative thought designed to produce goal-directed and problem-solving
advertisements and commercials." This definition, based on Dillion (1975), Moriarty
(1991), Politz (1975), and Reid and Rotfeld (1976), incorporates four key elements:
originality, imagination, goal-direction, and problem solving. The authors maintain that
advertising creativity is a special form of creativity and differs from others in that
"originality and imagination must operate within a goal-directed and problem-solving
context" (Reid, King, and DeLorme, 1998, p. 3). Yet, the concepts of "relevance" and
"appropriateness" of mainstream creativity research also imply goal attainment and
problem solving, and are key features of other definitions of creativity (e.g., Amabile,
1983; Martindale, 1999; Mumford and Gustafson, 1988; Sternberg and Lubart, 1999;
Unsworth, 2001). Architects and designers of all kinds "create" by applying their
79
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
originality and imagination to solve problems and achieve goals that are set, usually, by
others. An artist may paint for the purpose of self-expression, but she or he may also do
it for critical recognition, fame, and fortune--surely a "goal-directed" context. Hirschman
(1989) showed that advertising creatives are motivated by similar considerations, even
though their ostensible primary motive is to achieve the advertising objectives of their
clients. White (1972, in Zinkhan, 1993, p. 1) maintained that "the process of creativity in
advertising (or marketing) is more or less identical with the process of creativity in the
arts and sciences."

Theories
Underpinning any definition of advertising creativity is a mental model. The three
primary theories of creativity are: (1) Primary Process Cognition, (2) Defocused
Attention, and (3) Associative Hierarchies (Martindale, 1999, pp. 138-39).

Primary Process Cognition dates from Kris (1952) and postulates that creative
individuals are more able to switch between primary and secondary cognitive modes,
primary being the mode of dreaming, reverie, psychosis, and hypnosis. "It is autistic,
free-associative, analogical" (Martindale, 1999, p. 138), and a probable explanation of
Kipling's (1937/1985) "Daemon" residing in the subconscious mind of Freudian
psychology (Sternberg and Lubart, 1999). Secondary process cognition, by contrast, "is
the abstract, logical, reality-oriented thought of waking consciousness" (Martindale,
1999, p. 138). Creative people switch between the two because the primary state
enables the discovery of new combinations of mental elements, while the secondary
state is necessary for elaboration of creative concepts identified in the associative
primary state.

Defocused Attention (Mendelsohn, 1976) concerns the number of elements that an

individual is able to keep in mind at one time. The greater this number, the more likely it
is that the person can make meaningful and useful combinations and thus formulate
creative ideas. There is evidence to support the hypothesis that less creative people
have more narrow-focused attention than do those who are more creative (Dewing and
Battye, 1971; Dykes and McGhie, 1976).

The theory of Associative Hierarchies was first proposed by Mednick in 1962. He stated
that creativity is an associative process involving, "the ability or tendency which serves
to bring otherwise mutually remote ideas into contiguity [to] facilitate a creative solution."
This leads to a view of advertising creativity being the process of associating previously
unrelated facts in order that previously unrealized relationships between them become
apparent (Reid and Rotfeld, 1976). If a person can only give a narrow range of answers
in response to divergent thinking tests, he or she is said to have a steep associative
hierarchy. Conversely, a wide range of answers indicates a flat associative hierarchy.
According to Mednick (1962), creative individuals have flat associative hierarchies, so
are more able to make original associations and thus have more creative ideas. Reid
and Rotfeld (1976) were interested in establishing the role of the associative process
within advertising creativity. This had previously been assumed, primarily by advertising
practitioners, based largely on their own experience, and from studies in the psychology
literature on creativity. Reid and Rotfeld (1976) were particularly concerned with
establishing the relationship between associative ability, attitude, and creative ability,
and developed a conceptual model to show how this might work in the advertising
context. In accordance with Mednick (1962) and Mendelsohn (1976), they pointed out
that advertising creativity was dependent on the availability of a large number of facts
80
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
with which, and from which, to draw associations.

Of the three theories, the associative has dominated the literature, but, as noted by
Martindale (1999), the three theories are virtually the same (albeit using quite different
vocabulary) as all support the notion that associative ability is at the core of creative
ability. As a final point, it is worth mentioning that Sternberg and Lubart (1991, 1992,
1995, 1996) and Sternberg, O'Hara, and Lubart (1997) proposed an "Investment Theory
of Creativity." Their proposition is based on confluence theory, which suggests that
creative people are willing to "buy low and sell high" in the realm of ideas. That is, they
pursue (invest in) ideas that are of little interest to other people, or are unheard of, but
that they believe have "growth" potential. When first presented, these ideas meet
resistance. The creative person persists in the face of this resistance and, eventually, is
able to "sell high." Creativity requires the confluence of six factors: intellectual ability,
knowledge, styles of thinking, personality, motivation, and environment. Again the link to
the idea of associative ability can be made.

In seeking to measure the creativity of television commercials, Bell (1992) adopted a

similar approach to Amabile (1982), taking the view that the popularity of the creative
product (the television commercial) is a proxy for creativity. Instead of attempting to
measure creativity, the reaction of the target audience to advertising was measured.
The advantage of this is that there is no need to identify experts, as any member of the
target audience is an "appropriate judge" (Amabile, 1982). Stone (2000) was interested
in the relationship between three key aspects of advertising: recall, likeability, and
creativity. In a telephone survey, respondents were asked to name their most liked and
their most disliked television advertisement and then, separately, these commercials
were rated for creativity by an expert panel. Seventy percent of "liked" commercials
were deemed by the panel to be creative, compared with only 46 percent of those
"disliked." This clearly provides support for Bell's method (1992).

81
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 6(d)

Brand Marketing Strategy

An effective brand marketing strategy pulls at the heartstrings of prospective buyers to

evoke an emotional response called loyalty. Consumers buy goods and services, not
only because of the quality or ability of a product to perform as promised, but because
of emotions products and services evoke. Branding is all about promoting the right
perception to a target audience, which will convince that audience of the advertiser's
promise to bring comfort, safety, security, assurance, a sense of well being, or social
acceptance. An advertiser's brand is a name, symbol, graphic, or slogan which
identifies the goods and services the advertiser sells, while setting them apart from the
competition.

Successful brand marketing strategy can take a product that is similar to another, yet
place it in a class of its own, simply due to the emotion it conveys. A prime example is
Quaker Oats. The actual product is similar to other brands -- an oat is an oat is an oat --
but the message conveyed is quite different. Quakers are a religious sect noted for
purity and old fashioned, timeless hand craftsmanship. Just the name, Quaker, evokes
images of vast farmlands with plainly dressed, full-bearded men sowing and reaping
fields free of industrial pesticides and assembly lines. In the consumer's mind, those
oats must have been harvested by hand and lovingly transported on horse drawn
wagons to the local supermarket. But not so; for decades, marketing strategists have
successfully promoted Quaker Oats as just a cut above other brands due to the
product's perceived purity.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities have long employed successful brand marketing
82
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
strategy to promote images of caring and loving concern. While everyone knows that a
hospital is a place of pain, anguish and cold bed pans; healthcare marketing
professionals have succeeded in branding healthcare providers in a more positive light.
Print and electronic media portray smiling faces, sunlit examining rooms, and hospital
staff holding patients' hands as if they were beloved family members. While some
healthcare providers have excellent bedside manners, the perception is more a product
of effective branding than reality; and consumers love to have it so.

Brand marketing strategy within the world system operates on negative and positive
perceptions. But the Word of God is able to change our negative perceptions to positive
ones, bringing faith to believe and receive salvation through Jesus Christ. "But what
saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:8-10)

Corporate identity programs not only help to distinguish one enterprise from others, but
effectively form positive perceptions or images in the minds of consumers. A company's
brand is the interpretation of its image wrapped up into a single graphic, name, logo, or
slogan; but delivered and reinforced through print, electronic and digital media
advertising. Crucial to a company's marketing campaign is succinctly identifying and
portraying its image to a specific target audience to solicit a given response. Successful
brand marketing strategy requires repetitive multimedia marketing which drives a
corporate message home time after time, until the target audience responds with
repeated purchases and eventual brand loyalty.

Advertising in cyberspace opens up avenues conventional marketing could never tap

into. Corporate Internet branding reaches a global audience with unlimited opportunities
to build loyal consumers. Instead of newsprint, magazines, and television spots,
corporate website branding utilizes the full spectrum of digital color, hyperlinks, flash
animation, and compelling keyword rich text to captivate and motivate global browsers
to purchase products and services. Rather than paying exorbitant column/inch rates for
newspapers and magazine space or thousands of dollars for 30-second radio spots,
today's entrepreneurs can actively and affordably promote their corporate brand 24/7,
365 days a year worldwide. Internet branding employs the same strategies as other
media, but targeting, or narrowing down, the audience is more difficult. But, owners can
also buy targeted website traffic through companies that help position and promote
cyber-advertisers using specific demographics. Search engine optimization (SEO)
helps eliminate browsers who don't fit a consumer profile and places links to corporate
websites within reach of targeted consumer groups.

Unlike traditional advertising, corporate Internet branding utilizes online, interactive,

digital media with web hosting firms that offer affordable listings from whole pages to
hyperlinks. Ads can be placed and paid for online using major credit cards or PayPal
options. Some hosts provide pop-up blocks to impede annoying ads from detracting
away from a business owner's brand. And unlike static advertising, websites can be
edited and updated to reflect changing trends and keep consumers coming to the site.
Brand effectiveness can easily be tracked with built-in website counters which monitor
hits and visitors to the site.

83
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Effective corporate Internet branding actually positions companies in a more effective
way than any other media. Slick, sophisticated graphics, well designed web pages, and
flash animation help build a corporate image and draw browsers in for a closer look.
Easily navigated pages allow entrepreneurs the opportunity to tell a more complete
story and present an image that evokes a more immediate response. While static
advertising can only hold a reader's attention for a short time, interactive websites
reach out with open arms to embrace a browser for minutes, seconds, hours, and days,
compelling visitors to log onto the site repeatedly for more information and to catch
updates. Corporate Internet branding is much more than mere advertising. It's about
evoking positive perceptions and emotions, establishing relationships, and consistently
building customer loyalty through the amazing power of the worldwide web.

Question 6(f)

Target Reach and Cost Efficiency

Criteria for determining media values is a combination of two princiles-

a. Use of vehicles that reach a large number of target

b. Select the vehicles which have the lowest CPT

Another factor to be considered is the frequency required. If higher frequency is

required than we can use vehicles which deliver frequency but less reach and
more duplication. But reach cannot be totally scarified.
Normally the vehicle that delivers the largest target has the lowest CPT
though not always.
Strategic Impressions
Weightages should be given to vehicles according to the TG- i.e. if women are
decision makers, then more weightage and lesser weightage to influlancers. In mass
vehicals the proportion is difficult to get.
Pass along readers or Secondary audiences- recall the ads less than the rimary
readers.

84
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Editorial Environment: It is compatible to ad. Life style affects the choice of vehicles. E.g.
two teenagers,same demographics, but different life style. Editorial matter of vehicles
differ.
Special opportunities in Magzines
Cosmo,Elle,Verve—upper income women
Split runs
Media Imperatives-shows heavy light viewers readers of TV/ Magazines. Reach of TV
may be high but at times you can have light viewers of TV who are heavy readers of
magzines.
Positioning- first page with editorial matter. Premiums are charged. This is acreative
function.
Advertising clutter- Least clutter is desirable. Brand leaders even in a clutter will prosper
but others suffer. We can pressurise the magazines/newspaper to place competitors
ads at a distance. Starch study shows ad readership decreases if number of ads in a
magzines increase.
Circulation Trends of publications are considered like the decline or growth will help
determine whether a publication should be included.
New Product Edtiorial Feature- we can release new product ads here.
Response to coupons-helps measure the response not all publications allow this, some
like RD monitor it for you.
Discounts-packages available, discouns on multipe insertions. But reach and cost
efficiency are more important than discounts.

Flexibility— Two kinds that affect media value

1. Degree to which a medium can be used to reach geographically superior markets
precisely, while avoiding weak markets. Local media like newspapers, radio, local
cable, outdoors are flexible geographically.
Vernacular magzines are regional and some local.

2. Production flexibility or quick changes in copy. Black and White ads in newspapers
can be changed at the last minute.
Colour quality: bad and good. In some areas the copies will be good in others bad of
the same publication as well.

85
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)

Question 6(e)

The Heart of Creativity

Devotees of the humanities expect to be surprised. An arresting metaphor or poetic
image, an unpredicted twist of the plot, a novel style of music, painting, or dance...all
these unexpected things amaze and delight us. Scientists, too, appreciate the shock of
a new idea--the double helix, the jumping gene, or the benzene-ring. Indeed,
unpredictability is often said to be the essence of creativity. But unpredictability is not
enough. At the heart of creativity lie constraints: the very opposite of unpredictability.
Constraints and unpredictability, familiarity and surprise, are somehow combined in
original thinking.

86
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
An adequate account of creativity should clarify the "how" in that "somehow." It must
show how creativity is grounded in constraints, and why it is that creative ideas are
unpredictable--and often inexplicable even after they have occurred.
In the next section, I show why it is that constraints are crucial to creativity. Then, in
Section III, I discuss a scientific approach to creativity that uses concepts drawn from
artificial intelligence to help us understand the human mind. Finally, I offer various
reasons why creative ideas will always remain surprising, why unpredictability is
inescapable.
creativity, constraints, and conceptual spaces
How can one distinguish creativity from (mere) novelty, in a way that helps us to
understand both the surprise-value of creative ideas and their sometimes startling
obviousness?
People of a scientific cast of mind often try to define creativity in terms of "novel
combinations of old ideas." In that case, the surprise caused by a creative idea must be
due to the improbability of the combination, and purely statistical tests (as used by
some experimental psychologists) could identify creativity. Creativity, in this view, just is
unpredictability.
Combination-theorists typically leave at least two things unsaid. The "novel
combinations" have to be not only new, but interesting: to call an idea creative is, in
part, to say that it is valuable. Combination-theorists, however, usually omit value from
their definition of creativity. Also, they fail to explain how the novel combination comes
about. They take it for granted (for instance) that we can associate similar ideas or
recognize more distant analogies, without asking just how such feats are possible.
These complaints aside, what is wrong with the combination-theory? Many ideas we
regard as creative are indeed based, at least in part, on unusual combinations. Much of
Coleridge's enchanting imagery in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, for example, draws
together diverse ideas scattered in his eclectic reading.And Harvey's vision of the heart
as a pump is just one case in which a novel comparison of ideas led to important
scientific discoveries. Combination-theory, then, is not wholly irrelevant. But it cannot
explain, or even adequately describe, the most intriguing cases.
Creative "novelties" are of significantly different types--the most interesting of which lie
beyond combination-theory. Many creative ideas are surprising not because they
involve some unusual mix of familiar ideas, but in a deeper way. They concern novel
ideas which not only did not happen before, but which--in a sense that must be made
clear (and which combination-theory cannot express)--could not have happened before.
What does it mean to say that an idea "could not" have arisen before? Unless we know
that, we cannot distinguish radical originality from mere "first-time" newness. This
"could not" refers to the mental capabilities of the person concerned, and says nothing
about anyone else. Someone is creative, in this sense, if they have an idea which they
could not have had before--no matter how many other people have already thought of
it. ("Historical" creativity is a special case, in which we use historical evidence and
social criteria to credit someone not only with creativity in the sense already defined,
but also with being the first to have had the idea.)
Linguists sometimes speak of the "creativity" of natural language, by which they mean
that language is an unending source of novel sentences. But these sentences are
novelties which clearly could have happened before, being generated by the same
rules that can generate other sentences in the language. Any native speaker could
87
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
produce novel sentences using the relevant grammar. In general, to come up with a
new sentence is not to do something deeply creative.
The "coulds" in the previous paragraph are computational "coulds." That is, they
concern the set of structures described and/or produced by one and the same set of
generative rules (the rules of English grammar and vocabulary). This notion enables us
to distinguish first-time novelty from radical originality. A merely novel idea is one which
can be described and/or produced by the same (specified) set of generative rules as
are other, familiar ideas. A genuinely original, or creative, idea is one which cannot.
It follows that constraints, far from being opposed to creativity, make creativity possible.
To throw away all constraints would be to destroy the capacity for creative thinking.
Random processes alone can produce only first-time curiosities, not radical surprises
(although randomness may contribute to creativity, as explained in Section IV).
To justify calling an idea creative, then, one must specify the particular set of generative
principles--what one might call the conceptual space--with respect to which it is
impossible. Conceptual spaces are established styles of thinking (sonata form, chess,
tonal harmony, pointillism, sonnets, limericks, aromatic chemistry, the Thirty-Nine
Articles...). Different conceptual spaces have distinct structures, each with its own
dimensions, pathways, and boundaries.
However, it now begins to look as though no one can possibly be creative. To be sure,
anyone can juggle ideas in their head, sometimes coming up with interesting
improbabilities. But, with respect to the familiar structures in the relevant domain
(chemistry, poetry, music...), a "deeply" creative idea is not just improbable, but
impossible.
How can it arise, then, if not by magic? And how can one impossible idea be more
surprising, more creative, than another? How can creativity happen?
A generative system defines a certain range of possibilities: molecules, for example, or
jazz melodies. These structures are located in a conceptual space whose limits,
contours, and pathways can be mapped, explored, and transformed in various ways.
The "mapping" of a conceptual space involves the representation, whether at conscious
or unconscious levels, of its structural features.The more such features are represented
in the mind of the person concerned, the more power (or freedom) they have to
navigate and negotiate these spaces. A crucial difference-- probably the crucial
difference--between Mozart and the rest of us is that his cognitive maps of musical
space were very much richer, deeper, and more detailed than ours. In addition, he
presumably had available many more domain- specific processes for negotiating them.
Much as a real map helps a traveller to find--and to modify--his route, so mental maps
enable us to explore and transform our conceptual spaces in imaginative ways. Studies
of young children have shown that they need explicit, though not necessarily conscious,
representations of their lower-level drawing skills in order to draw imaginatively: to
create a picture of a one-armed man, for instance, or a seven-legged dog.Before
developing such skill-maps, the child simply cannot draw a one-armed man (and finds a
two-headed man extremely difficult even to copy). Much the same applies to other
skills, such as language and piano-playing (in adults as well as children).To understand
Mozart's creativity, then, we would need to know what were his (many-levelled) mental
maps of musical space, and what processes he employed to explore and alter them.
What counts, in this context, as exploration? One interesting example is the
development of post-Renaissance Western music, which is based on the generative
system known as tonal harmony. Each piece of tonal music has a "home key" from
88
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
which it starts, from which (at first) it did not stray, and in which it must finish.
Reminders and reinforcements of the home key are provided (chords, arpeggios, and
fragments of scales). As the years passed, the range of possible home keys became
increasingly well defined. J. S. Bach's "Forty- Eight" was specifically designed to
explore--and clarify--the tonal range and basic dimensions of this conceptual space.
Travelling along the path of the home key alone soon became insufficiently challenging.
Modulations between keys then appeared, within the body of the composition. But all
possible modulations did not appear at once. The range of harmonic relations implicit in
the system of tonality became apparent only gradually. At first, only a small number
within one composition were tolerated, and these early modulations took place only
between keys very closely related in harmonic space. With time the modulations
became more daring and more frequent. By the late nineteenth century there might be
many modulations within a single bar, not one of which would have appeared in early
tonal music.
Eventually, the very notion of the home key was undermined. With so many, and such
daring, modulations within the piece, a "home key" could be identified not from the body
of the piece but only from its beginning and end. Inevitably, someone (it happened to
be Schoenberg) suggested that the convention of the home key be dropped altogether,
since it no longer made sense in terms of constraining the composition as a whole.
Exploring a conceptual space is one thing. Transforming it is another. In general, novel
ideas gained by exploring an unknown niche in a pre-existing conceptual space are
regarded as less creative than ideas formed by transforming that space in radical ways.
A mathematician at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study put it like this:
The reason why proving this would be important is that in order to prove Schanuel's
Conjecture you would in the process have to prove something else, something bigger,
and that would be really great. I mean if you prove it by being tricky, without
establishing anything new, then you wouldn't get any recognition, and you probably
shouldn't. The assumption is that if you prove one of these great big things like
Fermat's last theorem, you'd have to develop a whole new branch of mathematics. But
if you prove it by some quirky little two-line proof that everybody had always missed,
then people would pat you on the back, and they'd say "God, you're clever!", and so on,
but it really wouldn't be as much of an accomplishment.
Notice, however, the words used in this quotation. To explore a space and locate within
it a substantial sub-space, an environmental niche for a range of previously
unsuspected ideas, is to do more than find "some quirky little two-line proof." That
phrase suggests a notch, not a niche. Some musicians argue that Mozart was less
adventurous than Haydn (that he made fewer transformations than Haydn), but that his
exploitation of the potential of the current musical style (his exploration of the existing
conceptual space) was so supreme as to make him the greater composer. Whatever
your views on that particular judgment, the point is that some explorations are more
surprising than others, even if transformations are the most surprising of all.
What is it to transform a conceptual space? One example has just been mentioned:
Schoenberg's dropping the home-key constraint to create the space of atonal music.
Dropping a constraint is a general heuristic for transforming conceptual spaces. Non-
Euclidean geometry, for instance, resulted from dropping Euclid's fifth axiom, about
parallel lines meeting at infinity. And Oscar Wilde's story of Dorian Grey relied on
dropping the normal human constraint of aging.

89
 (BIMS/AF/02/2009/2012)
(PGDM DUAL)
Another very general way of transforming conceptual spaces is to consider the
negative; that is, to negate a constraint. One well-known instance concerns
Kekul&eacu;'s discovery of the benzene-ring. He described it like this:
I turned my chair to the fire and dozed. Again the atoms were gambolling before my
eyes....[My mental eye] could distinguish larger structures, of manifold conformation;
long rows, sometimes more closely fitted together; all twining and twisting in snakelike
motion. But look! What was that? One of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail, and
the form whirled mockingly before my eyes. As if by a flash of lightning I awoke.
This vision was the origin of his hunch that the benzene-molecule might be a ring, a
hunch which turned out to be correct.
Prior to this experience, Kekul&eacu; had assumed that all organic molecules are
based on strings of carbon atoms (he himself had produced the string-theory some
years earlier). But for benzene, the valencies of the constituent atoms did not fit.
We can understand how it was possible for him to pass from strings to rings, as
plausible chemical structures, if we assume three things (for each of which there is
independent evidence). First, that snakes and molecules were already associated in his
thinking. Second, that the topological distinction between open and closed curves was
present in his mind. And third, that the "consider the negative" heuristic was present
also. Together, these three factors could transform "string" into "ring."
A string-molecule is an open curve. If one considers the negative of an open curve, one
gets a closed curve. Moreover, a snake biting its tail is a closed curve which one had
expected to be an open one. For that reason, it is surprising, even arresting ("But look!
What was that?"). Kekule might have had a similar reaction if he had been out on a
country walk and happened to see a snake with its tail in its mouth. But there is no
reason to think that he would have been stopped in his tracks by seeing a Victorian
child's hoop: no topological surprises there.
Finally, the change from open curves to closed ones is a topological change, which by
definition will alter neighbour-relations. And Kekul&eacu; was an expert chemist, who
knew that the behaviour of a molecule depends partly on how the constituent atoms are
juxtaposed. A change in atomic neighbour-relations is very likely to have some
chemical significance. So it is understandable that he had a hunch that this tail-biting
snake-molecule might contain the answer to his problem.
Hunches are common in human thinking (mathematicians often describe them in terms
of an as-yet-unproven "certainty"). An adequate theory of creativity must be able to
explain them. It must show how it is possible for someone to feel (often, correctly) that
a new idea is promising even before they can say just what its promise is. The example
of Kekul&eacu; suggests that a hunch is grounded in appreciation of the structure of
the space concerned, and some notion of how the new idea might fit into it. Without
hunches, people would waste a lot of time in following-up new ideas that "anyone could
have seen" would lead to a dead-end. Some of our hunches, some of our intuitions,
turn out to be mistaken. But that is not to say that we would be better off without them.

90