The T- Plan

Where are we? ( Situation Analysis )

The situation analysis consists of the
background information that will be used to
develop the campaign. The information
should be structured, detailed and focused.
Structure
The situation analysis should be structured so
that it is clear that the companys problems
and opportunities are uppermost in the minds
of the people who are performing the
analysis.
An inside perspective strives to
understand the companys problems from
its point of view while the outside
perspective may provide different and
valuable information.
Detail
The purpose of the situation analysis is to
provide a research foundation that can be
used to develop strategy and tactics.
Research questions should be posed to elicit
specific information.
Focus
It is important that the detail in the situation
analysis focuses on identifying problems and
opportunities. Otherwise, it is merely
padding, or information without meaningful
significance.
The Company Analysis
This analysis should consist of some basic
ideas of what the company is concerned and
what it represents. It will provide a
benchmark to keep you from going off on a
tangent, pursuing opportunities the company
will never consider.
2 Issues
Usually, money problems are
symptomatic of more fundamental
problems. Trend analyses often uncover
problems that barely show up in a static
time frame.
Internal Information
What is the companys mission?
What is the companys culture like?
What are the sales trends over the past
ten years?
Has the companys share of market
gone up? Down?
External Information
What has been the industrys sales
trend?
What is the general economic climate?
Are there any social, cultural, political
conditions detrimental to the future of
the company?

Consumer Analysis
Who are the consumers?
How do they use the product?
What motivates them to buy?
What do they look for in a product?
How do they look at life?

Users are described according to
the following characteristics:
Demographic criteria
Psychographic criteria
Degree of product/brand usage
Degree of brand loyalty

Demographic Criteria
Describes the consumer in terms of
variables such as age, gender, income,
geographic location, marital status,
education, race and family cycle
Psychographic Criteria
Includes information that is both
psychological in nature (personality,
motivation and attitude) and sociological
(lifestyles, activities)
Degree of Product/Brand Usage
The standard way to classify usage is to
categorize consumers into heavy,
medium and light users
Degree of Brand Loyalty
The amount of brand loyalty displayed
by consumers can have a strong
influence on both advertising strategy
and tactics.
4 Different Patterns of Brand Loyalty &
Buying Strategies (Leo Burnett)
Long loyals are committed to one brand
regardless of price or any other factor.
Rotators show regular patterns of shifting
between preferred brands motivated by
variety rather than price.
Dealer sensitives show a pattern of shifting
between preferred brands determined by
availability of special offers or incentives.
Price sensitives follow a decision rule to
purchase the cheaper option, regardless of
brand

What Motivates Consumers To Buy?
One way to organize your understanding
of buyer behavior is to examine what
consumers think and feel about the
product and how they use it.
How consumers think about the product
To what extent are they aware of the product,
especially the brand name?
Do they know about the brands special
features?
Do they understand how the product or brand
works?
Do they understand the brands superior
qualities?

How consumers feel about the product

What is their attitude toward the product category?
What is their attitude toward the specific brand?
To what extent do they like or desire the product or
brand?
Do consumers trust the brand to deliver the promised
benefits?
Do consumers have a preference for this brand?
What image or personality do consumers associate
with the product or brand?
What do consumers feel is this brands essence?

How consumers use the product
How do consumers use the product?
Where do consumers use the product?
When do consumers use the product?
Why do consumers use the product?
Are there alternative uses to the
product?
Under what conditions would the
consumer use more of the product?

Product/Brand Analysis
In product analysis, the basic questions
address how the many aspects of the
product match up with consumers
needs, wants, problems and interests. It
is always helpful to understand how
many of a products want-satisfying
qualities are tangible product attributes
and how many are intangible.
In analyzing a products more tangible
qualities, consider the following:
Product variety
Special designs
Differentiating features
Qualities
Packaging
Sizes
Services

Competitive Analysis
To begin a competitive analysis, it is
important to identify the options
consumers consider in their purchasing
decisions. To do a competitive analysis,
rival companies and their brands should
be understood in as much depth as the
analysts company.
Perceptual Mapping
A perceptual map helps define a brands
image by putting it into the context of
how consumers perceive the brand with
respect to competitive brands. This
technique can help the analyst
understand how a product is positioned
in consumers minds.
Why are we there?
There are a number of ways to process
the information you collect and the three
most common are:
the SWOT analysis
brand audit
problem and opportunities focus.
SWOT acronym suggests that the analysis
begins with an examination of the
companys strengths and weaknesses

It examines the brands history, especially
for national branded products. It suggests
an attitude.
A brand audit sometimes leads to a brand
contact audit: an identification of the
ways in which consumers come into
contact with an impression of the brand.
Problems and opportunities approach is
used because it helps identify where the
company is going to have a problem or an
opportunity
In marketing, a problem is any barrier or
situation that makes it difficult to achieve
an objective, whether past, present or
future. An opportunity is a situation or a
circumstance that can potentially give the
company a marketing advantage.
When seeking out opportunities, the focus
generally should be on ways to increase sales.
There are four basic ways to increase sales:
Get current users to continue using the brand.
Get current users of the brand to use more of
the product
Find new uses for the product.
Find new users

Where do we want to be?
Objectives are formal statements of the
goals of the advertising or other marketing
communication
They outline what the message is
designed to achieve in the long term and
how it will be measured

Measurable Objectives
A measurable objective includes five
requirements:
A specific effect that can be measured
A time frame
A baseline (where are we or where we begin)
The goal (a realistic estimate of the change the
campaign can create; benchmarking is used to
justify the projected goal)
Percentage change (subtract the baseline from
the goal; divide the difference by the baseline)

Main Effects and Objectives
Perception Objectives
Grab attention; create awareness; stimulate
interest; stimulate recognition of the brand or the
message; create brand reminder
Emotional/Affective Objectives
Touch emotions; cue psychological appeal;
create brand or message liking; stimulate brand
loyalty; stimulate desire


Cognition Objectives
Establish brand identity; establish or cue the brand
position; deliver information; aid in understanding
features, benefits and brand differences; explain how to
do or use something; stimulate recall of the brand
message; stimulate brand loyalty; brand reminder
Association Objectives
Establish or cue the brand personality or image;
create links to symbols and associations;
connect to positive brand experiences

Persuasion Objectives
Stimulate opinion or attitude formation; change or
reinforce opinion or attitude; present argument and
reasons; counter argue; create conviction or belief;
stimulate brand preference or intent to try or buy; reward
positive or desired response; stimulate brand loyalty;
create buzz or word of mouth; create advocacy

Behavior Objectives
Stimulate trial, sample or purchase; generate other types
of response (coupon use, test drive, store visit, sign up,
attend, participate)



How do we get there?
Writing the Creative Strategy

Creative strategy is a simple written
statement of the most important issues
to consider in the development of an
advertisement or campaign.

It includes the following elements:

The basic problem the advertising must
address
The objective of the advertising
A definition of the target audience
The key benefits to communicate
Support for these benefits
The brands personality
The Role of Creativity in Advertising
Creativity Helps Advertising Inform
Advertisings responsibility to inform is greatly
enhanced by creativity.
Good creative work makes advertising more
vivid, a quality that many researchers believe
attracts attention, maintains interest, and
stimulates consumers thinking.
A common technique is to use plays on words
and verbal or visual metaphor

Creativity Helps Advertising Persuade
A creative story or persona can establish a
unique identity for the product in the collective
mindset, a key factor in helping a product beat
the competition.
To motivate people to some action or attitude,
advertising copywriters have created new
myths and heroes.
To be persuasive, an ads verbal message
must be reinforced by the creative use of non-
verbal message elements (color, layout and
illustration).

Creativity Helps Advertising Remind
Only creativity can transform your boring
reminders into interesting, entertaining
advertisements.

Creativity Puts the Boom in
Advertising
Good punch lines come from taking an
everyday situation, looking at it creatively,
adding a bit of exaggeration, and then
delivering it as a surprise.

The Creative Process
The creative process is the step-by-step
procedure used to discover original ideas
and reorganize existing concepts in new
ways.

Roger von Oech developed a four-step
creative model used today by many
companies.

The Explorer searches for new information,
paying attention to unusual patterns
The Artist experiments and plays with a
variety of approaches, looking for an original
idea.
The Judge evaluates the results of
experimentation and decides which approach is
most practical.
The Warrior overcomes excuses, idea
killers, setbacks and obstacles to bring a
creative concept to realization


The Explorer Role: Gathering Information
Develop an Insight Outlook
In advertising, it is important that when
creative people play the Explorer role, they
get off the beaten path to look in new and
uncommon places for information to
discover new ideas and to identify unusual
patterns.

Von Oech suggests adopting an insight
outlook (a conviction that good information is
available and that you have the skills to find
and use it)

Ideas are everywhere: a museum, an art
gallery, a hardware store airport. The more
diverse the sources, the greater your chance
of uncovering an original concept.

Know the Objective

Philosopher John Dewey said, A problem
well-stated is a problem half-solved.
Brainstorm
A process in which two or more people team
up to generate new ideas.
It is often a source of sudden inspiration.
It must follow a couple of rules:
All ideas are above criticism (no idea is wrong)
And all ideas are written down for later review
Free association allows each new idea to stimulate
another

Von Oech suggests other techniques for
Explorers:
Leave your own turf (look in outside fields and
industries for ideas that could be transferred).
Shift your focus (pay attention to a variety of
information)
Look at the big picture (stand back and see
what it all means)
Dont overlook the obvious (the best ideas
are right in front your nose)
Dont be afraid to stray (you might find
something you werent looking for)

The Artist Role: Developing and
Implementing the Big Idea

The Artist must accomplish two major
tasks:
searching for the big idea and;
then implementing it.

Task 1: Develop the Big Idea
The big idea is a bold, creative initiative
that builds on the strategy, joins the
product benefit with consumer desire in
fresh, involving way, brings the subject to
life, and makes the audience stop, look,
and listen.

It means creating a mental picture of the
ad or commercial before any copy is
written or artwork is begun. This step (
also called visualization or
conceptualization) is the most important in
creating the advertisement.

It is where the search for the big idea
that flash of insight - takes place

A strategy describes the direction the
message should take. A big idea gives it
life.


Transforming a Concept: Do something
to it

Creative ideas come from manipulating
and transforming resources. Artists have
to change patterns and experiment with
various approaches.


Von Oech suggests several techniques for
manipulating ideas:
1. Adapt. Change contexts. Think what else
the product might be besides the obvious.
2. Imagine. Ask what if? Let your imagination
fly.
3. Reverse. Look at it backward. Sometimes
the opposite of what you expect has great
impact and memorability.

4. Connect. Join two unrelated ideas
together.
5. Compare. Take one idea and use it to
describe another.
6. Eliminate. Subtract something. Or break the
rules.
7. Parody. Fool around. Have some fun.

Task 2: Implement the Big Idea

In advertising, art shapes the message into a
complete communication that appeals to the
senses as well as the mind.
Once the creative people latch onto the big idea,
they must focus on how to implement it.
In advertising, balance, proportion, and
movement are guides for uniting words, images,
sounds, and colors into a single communication
so they relate to and enhance each other.

The Judge Role: Decision Time
The role of the Judge is to evaluate the
quality of the creatives big ideas and
decide whether to implement, modify, or
discard them.
When playing the Judge, creative people
need to ask certain questions: Is this idea
an aha! Or an uh-oh?

The Warrior Role: Overcoming
Setbacks and Obstacles

The Warrior carries the concept into
action. This means getting the big idea
approved, produced, and placed in the
media.

Bruce Bendinger suggests five key
components to give a presentation maximum
selling power.

1. Strategic precision. The selling idea must be
on strategy. The presenting team must be able to
prove it, and the strategy should be discussed first,
before the big selling idea is presented.
2. Savvy psychology. The presentation, like
advertising, should be receiver-driven. The idea
has to meet the clients needs, thinking style, and
personality.

3. Polished presentation. The presentation must
be prepared and rehearsed; it should use
compelling visuals and emotional appeals.
4. Structural persuasion. The presentation
should be well structured, since the clients value
organized thinking.
5. Solve the problem. Solve the clients problem
and youll sell the big idea and do it with style.

Segmentation Strategies
By using a segmentation strategy, a
company can more precisely match the
needs and wants of the customer with its
products


Types of Segmentation
1. Demographic Segmentation
Gender
Ethnicity
Religion
Income
Education
Household size

2. Life-Stage Segmentation
Age
Living situation
Discretionary income

3. Geographic Segmentation
International
National
State
City Climate
Urban/rural


4. Psychographic Segmentation
Social class
Lifestyle
Personality
5. Behavioral Segmentation
Usage rates
User status
Brand loyalty

6. Values and Benefits-based Segmentation
Specific problems solved by product
Specific benefits offered


Positioning

It is locking the brand in consumers minds
based on some quality relevant to them where
the brand stands out.

The goal of positioning is to locate a product in
the consumers mind based on its features and
advantages relative to its competition

Positioning identifies the features that make a
brand different from its competitors and relevant
to consumers

Product Features and Attributes
An initial step in crafting a position is to
identify the features of the brand, as well as
those of the competition, to determine where
the brand has an advantage over its
competitors

Locating the Brand Position
Superiority Position
Jack Trout suggests that positioning is
always easy if something is newer, fancier,
safer

Preemptive Position
Being first in the category often creates
category leadership and dominance

Value Position
Value for money

Psychological Position
Some brands are designed around non-
product differences

The Media Plan
The media plan is a written document that
summarizes the objectives and strategies
that guide how media budget will be spent.

The goal is to find the most effective and
efficient ways to deliver messages to a
targeted audience.

Media plans are designed to answer the
following questions:

Who (target audience)
What for (objectives)
Where (the media vehicles used)
When (time frame)
How big (media weight)
At what cost (cost efficiency)


Challenges of Media Planning

Increasing Media Options
Increasing Fragmentation of the
Audience
Increasing Costs
Increasing Complexity in Media
Buying and Selling
Increasing Competition


Increasing Media Options
There are many more media to choose from today, and
each offers more choices.
TV is now fragmented into network , syndicated, spot
and local television, as well as network and local cable.
Specialized magazines now aim at every population and
business segment.
The incredible growth of the Internet has brought with it a
host of new media options.
Many companies spend a considerable portion of their
marketing budgets on specialized communications like
direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations and
personal selling
Increasing Fragmentation of the
Audience

Readers and viewers have scattered across the
new media options, selectively reading only
parts of magazines or newspapers, watching
only segments of programs, and listening to
many different radio stations.
Consumers spend on average 3,530 hours with
media but an increasing proportion of that time
is spent with less traditional media vehicles.

Increasing Costs

People can cope with only so many messages,
so media restrict the number of advertisements
they sell. As a result, the costs are increasing
for almost all media.

*To run a 30-second spot on American Idol now
costs $750,000.

Increasing Complexity in Media
Buying and Selling
In the battle for additional sales, many print and broadcast
media companies developed value-added programs to
provide extra benefits.
Value-added packages often employ communications
vehicles outside traditional media planning, such as public
relations activities, sales promotions and direct marketing.
To get a bigger share of the advertisers budget, larger
media companies bundle the various stations,
publications, or properties they own and offer them in
integrated combinations as further incentives.

Increasing Competition
The competitive environment completely
changed the structure of the advertising
business.

Media Strategy

The Strategy Elements

(Pangilinan in Ong, 2000)

Media Mix

The use of two or more media will deliver
a wider reach of the target
It will allow delivery of the message in
different psychological contexts
It will address audience segmentation

Selecting the Media Mix

1. The Characteristics of Each Medium
2. The Media Objective
3. The target Audience Definition
4. Scheduling
5. Reach and Frequency Goal
6. Competitive activities
7. Geographic Split
8. Creative Considerations
9. Budget

Media Weights
In advertising, how much advertising you will
need is quantified in terms of reach and
frequency

Reach vs. rating
Rating is the size of the audience tuned in to a
given station or the readership of a newspaper
or magazine. The summation of all the ratings
of all programs in a media plan is called Gross
Rating Points
Reach is the measure of how many households
or people were exposed to the ad at least once
over a period of time, expressed as a
percentage (%) of the universe.

Frequency is a measure of how many times
each of the target audience actually saw or
heard the advertising message over a period of
time
Effective Frequency is the amount of
frequency, or repetition, necessary for the
message to have some effect on the target
audience over a given period of time.
Effective Reach is the percentage of the
audience reached at the defined effective
frequency.

Continuity
Dominant brands within the fast-moving consumer goods
segment advertise year-round. Certain categories,
however, prefer to limit their advertising to seasons or
occasions.
Methods for Scheduling Media
To build continuity in campaign, planners
use three principal scheduling tactics:
Continuous
Flighting
Pulsing

Continuous schedule
-Advertising runs steadily and varies little over the campaign
period. Advertisers use this scheduling pattern for products
consumers purchase regularly.

Flighting
-Alternates periods of advertising with periods of no advertising.
-makes sense for products and services that experience large
fluctuations in demand throughout the year.
- often used by products and services to stretch limited budgets.

Pulsing
-This scheduling strategy mixes continuous and flighting
strategies. The advertiser maintains a low level of advertising all
year but uses periodic pulses to heavy up during peak selling
periods.
-appropriate for products like soft drinks.

Additional Scheduling Patterns

Bursting
Running the same commercial every half hour on the
same network during prime time.

Road-blocking
Buying airtime on all three networks simultaneously.

Blinking
It is used to stretch a slim advertising budget.
To reach business executives, Digital Equipment
flooded the airwaves on Sundays to make it virtually
impossible for them to miss the advertisements.

Geographic Coverage


Principle:
Put your money where your
business is, or where you want it
to be.

Creative Considerations

The brands creative strategy will direct a
media planner to choose between visual
vs. audio, color vs. black and white,
image vs. hard sell, as well as
commercial lengths and number of
executions,