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Advertising is a form of communication that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer. Advertising often attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume a particular brand of product or service Definition of Advertising Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by identified sponsor. Framework for advertising planning and decision making [pic] PLANNING FRAMEWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Major internal and external factors involved in advertising planning and decision making are shown in Figure 2-1. Internally, situation analysis, the marketing program, and the advertising plan are key considerations. As suggested in the diagram, the three legs of advertising planning concern: (1) objective setting and target market identification, (2) message strategy and tactics, and (3) media strategy and tactics. The advertising plan is best thought of as part of an overall marketing plan which should be developed following a situation analysis of the organization’s particular situation.
Situational analysis implies research and research is vital to planning and decision making. Once developed, an advertising plan is implemented and becomes an advertising campaign, carried out in the context of social, legal, and global factors and with the aid of various types of facilitating agencies. The balance of this chapter addresses each of these considerations. First, situation analysis is explained and discussed. Then a brief review of a marketing plan is presented. This is followed by sections on facilitating agencies and a discussion of the role of social, legal, and global factors.
MARKETING STRATEGY AND SITUATION ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The planning and decision-making process begins with a thorough analysis of the situation the advertiser faces and the development of marketing strategy. Marketing strategy includes the long-run vision and objectives of the company as well as an articulation of the specific strategic position it will aim to occupy in the marketplace in the years ahead. The company’s strategic position might be either one in which it is the low-price leader, seeking growth through offering prices that are consistently lower than competitors.
Or one in which it focuses on offering differentiated products that offer high quality and reliability. 1 The development of marketing strategy thus should begin with situation analysis, and a comprehensive examination and analysis of all important external and internal factors operating in a particular situation. This includes assessing the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities, so-called “SWOT analysis,” of the company involved. In many cases, it means that new research studies will be undertaken as well as relying on company history and experience.
Consumer and Market Analysis A situation analysis often begins by looking at the aggregate market for the product, service, or cause being advertised: the size of the market, its growth rate, seasonality, geographical distribution; the possible existence of different segments; and trends in all of these aggregate market characteristics. Competitive Analysis Advertising planning and decision making are heavily affected by competition and the competitive situation the advertiser faces.
Competition is such a pervasive factor that it will occur as a consideration in all phases of the advertising planning and decision-making process and the various topics treated in much of the balance of this book. A type of market structure analysis that involves the development of this book. A type of market structure analysis that involves the development of perceptual maps of a market, for example, attempts to locate the relative Perce perceptual maps of a market, for example, attempts to locate the relative perceptual positions of competitive brands.
This topic is covered in detail in Chapter 6. Situation analysis should usually include an analysis of what current share the brand now has (if it an established brand), what shares its competitors have, trends in these shares, reasons for these trends, what share of a market is possible for the brand, and from which competitors an increase in share will come. The planner also has to be aware of the relative strengths and weaknesses??????financial, production, and marketing??????of the different competing companies, and the history of competitive moves and objectives in the product category.
If we spend advertising dollars communicating the fact that our brand has a desired benefit, will certain competitors begin claiming the same benefit, thus eliminating any competitive advantage we may hope to get? Opportunities for marketing and advertising can also be uncovered using competitive analysis. Is there a “hole” in the market not now being filled by a competitive offering? In other terms, is there a bundle of attributes that a consumer segment desires that some competitor has not yet targeted against?
Much research shows that companies that are the first to launch brands that meet unmet needs often have a “pioneering advantage” that later competing entries find difficult to fight. 4 These types of questions need to be asked and answered not only in the initial stages of developing an advertising plan but through the years in which ole campaigns are evaluated and improved. Many companies have initiated their own tracking systems for monitoring competitive advertising that monitor the content of the advertising, how much money is being spent, and the media in which competitive ads appear.
We discuss some secondary sources of such competitive information in Chapter 17, since such competitive spending information is often a useful input into the budgeting decision. A chapter is not devoted to competition in this book. It is important to look at competition as a precursor to the planning process and to appreciate that the development of plans and decision making with respect to objectives, budgets, copy, and media all must take into account the competitive factor. THE MARKETING PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertising planning and decision marking take place in the context of an overall marketing plan. The marketing plan includes planning, implementation, and control functions for the total corporation or a particular decision-making unit or product line. The marketing plan will include a statement of marketing objectives and will spell out particular strategies and tactics to reach those objectives. The marketing objectives should identify the segments to be served by the organization and how it is going to serve them.
The needs and wants of consumers on which the firm will concentrate, such as the needs of working men and women for easily prepared meals, are identified and analyzed in a marketing plan. There are several marketing tools that can be used to help an organization achieve its marketing objectives. Most people are familiar with the “4 ps”??????the marketing mix which includes product, price, place, and promotion. A marketing plan formulates the strategy and tactics for each of these. The marketing plan should be based on the specific problems or opportunities uncovered for the brand by the situation analysis.
It should serve as a response to those problems or opportunities through the allocations of the marketing budget and the development of specific plans for various components of the marketing mix. A discussion of how to create a good marketing plan can be found in any marketing textbook and is thus not repeated here. The effectiveness of the various elements of the marketing mix with respect to the problems or opportunities should be the factor that determines what share each receives of the total marketing budget. Conceptually the budget hould be divid4ed so that the marginal value of an extra dollar will be the same in all components of the mix: dollars should be shifted to the areas that will produce the greatest incremental sales volume. In evaluating the advertising budget, therefore it is important to kept in mind that incremental amounts of money put into advertising must be more useful than the same amounts put into distribution or product refinement, or even reduced prices. THE COMMUNICATION AND PERSUASION PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The most important factor to be considered in planning advertising in addition to the marketing plan, is an understanding of the communication and persuasion process. Although much has been researched and written about the effects of advertising and how if works, it is important to appreciate that this is a subject about which there are few definitive answers. There are perhaps as many theories about how advertising “works” as there are people who work in advertising, and it is impossible to discuss them all here. Some of these theories will appear in later chapters, but we will present two well-known ones here.
An appreciation for the processes by which advertising works is of great value in designing advertising plans??????plans that maximize the advertisement’s impact on the consumer. Advertising Communication System Figure 2-2 shows one simple model of the advertising communication system. Advertising communication always involves a perception process and four of the elements shown in the model; the source, a message, a communication channel, and a receiver. In addition, the receiver will sometimes become a source of information by talking to friends or associates.
This type of communication is termed word-of-mouth communication, and it involves social interaction between two or more people and the important ideas of group influence and the diffusion of information. Source The source of a message in the advertising communication system is the point of which the message originates. There are many types of “sources” in the context of advertising, such as the company offering the product, the particular brand, or the spokesperson used. A model on source factors is developed in Creative Approaches to show the various dimension of source effects, ;such as credibility and attractiveness.
They are of obvious importance in deciding how best, and through whom, to communicate the advertising message. Message The message refers to both the content and execution of the advertisement. It is the totality of what is perceived by the receiver of the message. The message can be executed in a great variety of ways and can include, for example, the use of humor and fear, as discussed in Chapter 9 (Associating Feelings with the Brand). In later chapters, specific types of television commercials will be discussed and can also be considered ways to think about the advertising message. Channel
The message is transmitted through some channel from the source to the receiver. The channel in an advertising communications system consists of one or more kinds of media, such as radio, television, newspapers. Magazines, billboards, point-of-purchase displays, and so on. The impact of the communication can be different for different media. For example, an advertisement exposure in Vogue can have an effect quite different from exposure to the same advertisement in Good Housekeeping. In Chatter 17 (Media Tactics: Allocating Media Budgets), this channel effect will be considered in more detail.
Word-of-mouth communication, as mentioned above, represents another channel that is of special interest because it can sometimes play a key role in an advertising campaign. It should be noted that any communication system has a channel capacity. There is only so much information that can be moved through it and only so much that a receiver will be motivated to receive and capable of processing. For example, there is a physical limit to the number of advertisements that can be shown on prime time. Shortages of available advertising time can be area problem. Receiver
The receiver in an advertising communication system is also called the target audience. Thus, the receiver can be described in terms of audience segmentation variables, lifestyle, benefits sought, demographics, and so on. Of particular interest might be the receiver’s involvement in the product and the extent to which he or she is willing to search for and/or process information. It is the characteristics of the receiver??????the demographic, psychological, and social characteristics??????that provide the basis for understanding communications, persuasion, and market processes.
Destination The communication model in Figure 2-2 does not stop at the receiver but allows for the possibility that the initial receiver might engage in word-of-mouth communication to the ultimate destination of the message. The receiver then becomes an interin source and the destination becomes another receiver. As mentioned earlier, word-of-mouth communication resulting from advertising can be a critical part of a campaign. The reality is that for some products the absence of word-of-mouth communication can be fatal.
It is only the word-of-mouth communication that has the credibility, comprehensiveness, and impact to affect the ultimate behavior of a portion of the audience. Furthermore, advertising can actually stimulate word-of-mouth activity. Even when it cannot stimulate it, a knowledge of its appropriateness and power can be very helpful. Note that an advertising message can have a variety of effects upon the receiver. It can ??? Create awareness ??? Communicate information about attributes and benefits ??? Develop or change an image or personality ??? Associate a brand with feelings and emotions Create group norms ??? Precipitate behavior Buying decision Process Markets have to go beyond the various influences on buyers and develop an understanding of how consumers actually make their buying decisions. Specifically, marketers must identify who makes the buying decision, the types of buying decisions and the steps in the buying process. Buying Roles It is easy to identify the buyer for many products. In the United States, men normally choose their shaving equipment and women choose their pantyhose, but even here markets must be created in making their targeting decisions because roles change.
When ICI, the giant British Chemist Company discovered that woman made 60 percent of the decisions on the brand of house hold paint, it decided to advertise its Dulux brand to woman. We can distinguish five roles people play in a buying decision Initiator – The person who first suggests the idea of buying the product or service. Influences – The person whose view or advice influences the decision. Decider – The Person who decides on any component of a buying decision. Whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy or where to buy Buyer – The person who makes the actual purchase.
User – The person consumes or uses the product or service. Buying behavior: Consumer’s decision making varies with the type of buying decision. The decisions to buy the toothpaste, a tennis racket, a personal computer and a new car are all vary different. Complex and expensive purchase are likely to involve more buyer deliberations and more participants. Henry Assael distinguished four types of consumer buying behavior, based on the degree of buyer involvement and the degree of differences among the brands. Complex Buying Behavior Complex buying behavior involves a three – step process.
First the buyer develops beliefs about the product. Second he or she develops attitudes about the product third, he or she makes a thoughtful choice. Consumers engage in complex buying behavior. When they are highly involve in a purchase and aware of significant differences among brands. This is usually the case when the product is expensive, bought in frequently, risky and highly self – expressive, like an automobile. The marketer of a high – involvement product must understand customer’s information – gathering and evaluation behavior.
The marketer needs to develop strategies that assist the buyer in learning about the product’s attribute and their relative importance, and which call attention to the high standing of the company’s brand on the more important attributes. The marketer needs to differentiate the brand’s features, use print media to describe the brand’s benefits and motivate sales personnel and the buyer acquaintances to influence the final brand choice. Dissonance – Reducing Buying Behavior sometimes the customer is highly involved in a purchase but see little difference in brands.
The high involvement is based on the fact that the purchase is expensive, infrequent, and risky. In this case the buyer will shop around to learn what is available. If the consumer finds quality differences in the brands, he or she go for the higher price. If the consumer finds little difference, he or she might simply buy on price or convenience. After the purchase, the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features of hearing favorable things about other brands and will be alert to information that supports his or her decision.
In this example, the consumer first acted, then acquired new beliefs, then ended up with a set of attitudes; marketing communications should supply beliefs and an evaluation that helps the consumer feel good about his or her brand choice. Habitual Buying Behavior many products are brought under conditions of low involvement and the absence of significant brand differences. Consider salt. Consumers have little involvement in this product category. They go to the store and reach for the brand. If they keep reaching for the same brand, it is out of habit not strong brand loyalty.
There is good evidence that consumers have low involvement with most low – cost frequently purchased products. Variety – Seeking Buying Behavior some buying situations are characterized by low involvement but significant brand differences. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. Think about cookies. The consumers have some beliefs about cookies, choose a brand of cookies without much evaluation and evaluate the product during consumption. Next time, the consumer may reach for another brand out of a wish for a different taste.
Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety rather than dissatisfaction. The market leader and the minor brands in this product category have different marketing strategies. The market leader will try to encourage habitual buying behavior by dominating the shelf space, avoiding out – of – stock conditions, and sponsoring frequent reminder advertising, challenges firms will encourage variety seeking by offering lower prices, deals, coupons, free samples and advertising that presents reasons for trying something new. Stages of the buying decision process pic] Problem recognition The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli. Marketers need to identify the circumstances that trigger a particular need. By gathering information from a number of consumers, marketers can then develop marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest. Information search An aroused consumer will be inclined to search for more information. We can distinguish between two levels of arousal. The milder search state is called heightened attention.
At this level a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product. At the next level, the person may enter an active information search: looking for reading material, phoning friends, and visiting stores to learn about the product. Of key interest to the marketer are the major information sources to which the consumer will turn and the relative influence each will have on the subsequent purchase decision. Consumer information sources fall into four groups: ? Personal sources: Family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances ?
Commercial sources: Advertising, salespersons, dealers, packaging, displays ? Public sources: Mass media, consumer-rating organizations ? Experiential sources: Handling, examining, using the product The relative amount and influence of these information sources vary with the product category and the buyer’s characteristics. Generally speaking, the consumer receives the most information about a product from commercial sources??????this is, marketer dominated sources. However, the most effective information comes from personal sources.
Each information source performs a different function in influencing the buying decision. Commercial information normally performs an informing function, and personal sources perform a legitimizing or evaluation function. For example, physicians often learn of new drugs from commercial sources but turn to other doctors for evaluative information. Total set Awareness set Consideration set Choice set Decision IBM IBM IBM IBM ? Apple Apple Apple Apple
Dell Dell Dell Dell Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Toshiba Toshiba Toshiba Compaq Compaq NEC Tandy – – – Figure 7. 5 Successive Sets involved in Consumer Decision Making Through gathering information, the consumer learns about competing brands and their features. The first box in Figure 7. 5 shows the total set of brands available to the consumer. The individual consumer will come to know only a subset of these brands (awareness set). Some brands will meet initial buying criteria (consideration set).
As the person gathers more information, only a few will remain as strong contenders (choice set). The brands in the choice set might all be acceptable. The person makes a final choice from this set. 42 Figure 7. 5 makes it clear that a company must strategize to get its brand into the prospect’s awareness set, consideration set, and choice set. The company must also identify the other brands in the consumer’s choice set so that it can plan competitive appeals. In addition, the company should identify the consumer’s information sources and evaluate their relative importance.
Consumers should be asked how they first heard about the brand, what information came in later, and the relative importance of the different information sources. The answers will help the company prepare effective communications for the target market. evaluation of alternatives The some basic concepts will help us understand consumer evaluation processes: First, the consumer is trying to satisfy a need. Second, the consumer is looking for certain benefits from the product solution. Third, the consumer sees each product as a bundle of attributes with varying abilities for delivering the benefits sought to satisfy this need.
The attributes of interest to buyers vary by product: 1. Cameras: Picture sharpness, camera speeds, camera size, price 2. Hotels: Location, cleanliness, atmosphere, price 3. Mouthwash: Color, effectiveness, germ-killing capacity, price, taste/flavor 4. Tires: Safety, tread life, ride quality, price Consumers vary as to which product attributes they see as most relevant and the importance they attach to each attribute. They will pay the most attention to attributes table 7. 4 A Consumer’s Brand Beliefs about Computers ComputerAttribute Memory Graphics Size and | |Capacity Capability Weight Price | |A 10 8 6 4 | |B 8 9 8 3 | |C 6 8 10 5 | |D 4 3 7 8 | | Note: Each attribute is rated from 0 to 10, where 01 represents the highest level on that attribute, Price, however, is indexed in a | |reverse manner, with a 10 representing the lowest price, because a consumer prefers allow price to high price. | hat deliver the sought benefits. The market for a product can often be segmented according to attributes that are salient to different consumer groups. The consumer develops a set of brand beliefs about where each brand stands on each attribute. the set of beliefs about a brand make up the brand image. The consumer’s brand image will vary with his or her experiences as filtered by the effects of selective perception, selective distortion, and selective retention. purchase decision In the evaluation stage, the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set. The consumer may also form an intention to but the most preferred brand.
However, two factors can intervene between the purchase intention and the purchase decision (Figure 7. 6). 46 The first factor is the attitudes of others. The extent to which another person’s attitude reduces one’s preferred alternative depends on two things: (1) the intensity of the other person’s negative attitude toward the consumer’s preferred alternative and (2) the consumer’s motivation to comply with the other person’s wishes. 47 The more intense the other person’s negativism and the closer the other person is to the consumer, the more the consumer will adjust his or other purchase intention. The converse is also true: A buyer’s preference for a brand will increase if someone he or she respects favors the same brand strongly.
The influence of others becomes complex when several people close to the buyer hold contradictory opinions and the buyer would like to please them all. The second factor is unanticipated situational factors that may erupt to change the purchase intention. A consumer’s decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a purchase decision is heavily influenced by perceived risk. 48 The amount of perceived risk varies with the amount of money at stake, the amount of attribute uncertainty, and the amount of consumer self-confidence. Consumers develop routines for reducing risk, such as decision avoidance, information gathering from friends, and preference for national brand names and warranties.
Marketers must understand the factors that provoke a feeling of risk in consumers and provide information and support to reduce the perceived risk. In executing a purchase intention n, the consumer may make up to five purchase sub-decisions: a brand decision (brand A), vendor decision (dealer 2), quantity decision (one computer), timing decision (weekend), and payment-method decision (credit card). Purchases of everyday products involve fewer decisions and less deliberation. For example, in buying sugar, a consumer gives little thought to the vendor or payment method. Attitudes of others Evaluation of Purchase Purchase alternatives intention decision Unanticipated Situational factors figure 7. Steps Between Evaluation of Alternatives and a Purchase Decision Postpurchase behavior after purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The marketer’s job does not end when the product is bought. Marketers must monitor Postpurchase satisfaction, Postpurchase actions, and Postpurchase product used. POSTPURCHASE SATISFACTION The buyer’s satisfaction is a function of the closeness between the buyer’s expectations and the product’s perceived performance. 49 If performance falls short of expectations, the customer is disappointed; if it meets expectations, the customer is satisfied; if it exceeds expectations, the customer is delighted.
These feelings make a difference in whether the customer buys the product again and talks favorably or unfavorably about it to others. Consumers form their expectations on the basis of messages received from sellers, friends, and other information sources. The larger the gap between expectations and performance, the greater the consumer’s dissatisfaction. Here the consumer’s coping style comes into play. Some consumers magnify the gap when the product is not perfects, and they are highly dissatisfied; others minimize the gap the are less dissatisfied. 50 The importance of Postpurchase satisfaction suggests that product claims must truthfully represent the product’s likely performance.
Some sellers might even under. State performance levels so that consumers experience higher-than-expected satisfaction with the product. POSTPURCHASE ACTIONS Satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will the product will influence a consumer’s subsequent behavior. If the consumer is satisfied, he or she will exhibit a higher probability f purchasing the product again. For example, data on automobile brand choice show a high correlation between being highly satisfied with the last brand bought and intention to buy the brand again. Postpurchase communications to buyers have been shown to result in fewer products returns and order cancellations. 4 Computer companies, for example, can send a letter to new owners congratulating them on having selected a fine computer. They can place ads showing satisfied brand owners. They can solicit customer suggestions for improvements and list the location of available services. They can write intelligible instruction booklets. They can send owners a magazine containing articles describing new computer applications. In addition, they can provide good channels for speedy redress of customer grievances. POSTPURCHASE USE AND DISPOSAL Marketers should also monitor how buyers use and dispose of the product (Figure 7. 7). If consumers store the product in a closet, the product is probably not very satisfying, and word of mouth will not be strong.
If they sell or trade the product, new-product sales will be depressed. Consumers may also find new uses for the product: Give it Rise it away To be Get rid of it (re)sold temporarily Lend it Trade it To be Get rid of it used Product permanently
Use it to serve Sell it Direct to original purpose consumer Throw it Through Keep it Convert it to serve away middleman a new purpose To Store it intermediary Source: From Jacob Jacoby, Carol K. Berning, and Thomas F. Dietvorst, “What about Disposition? ” Journal of Marketing (July 1977): 23. Reprinted with permission of the American Marketing Association. Figure 7. 7 How Customers Use or Dispose of Products If consumers throw the product away, the marketer needs to know how they dispose of it, especially if it can hurt the environment (as in the case with beverage containers and disposable diapers). Deciding on media and measuring effectiveness After choosing the message, the advertiser’s next task is to choose media to carry it.
The steps here are deciding on desired reach, frequency, and impact; choosing among major media types; selecting specific media vehicles; deciding on media timing; and deciding on geographical media allocation. Then the results of these decisions need to be evaluated. Deciding on reach, frequency, and impact Media selection is finding the most cost-effective media to deliver the desired number and type of exposures to the target audience. What do we mean by the desired number of exposures? Presumably, the advertiser is eking a specified advertising objective and response from the target audience??????for example, a target level of product real, the aerate of product trial will depend, among other things, on level of brand awareness.
Suppose the rate of product trial increases at a diminishing rate with the level of audience awareness, as shown in Figure 20. 2(a). If the advertiser seeks a product trial rate of (say) T*, it will be necessary to achieve a brand awareness level of A*. The next ask is to find out how many exposures, E*, will produce a level of audience awareness of A*. The effect of exposures on audience awareness depends on the exposures’ reach, frequency, and impact: ? Reach ??: The number of different persons or households exposed to a particular media schedule at least once during a specified time period. ? Frequency (F): The number of times within the specified time period that an average person or household is exposed to the message. Impact (I): The qualitative value of an exposure through a given medium (thus a food ad in Good Housekeeping would have a higher impact than in the Police Gazette). Figure 20. 2(b) shows the relationship between audience awareness and reach. Audience awareness will be greater, the higher the exposures’ reach, frequency, and impact. There are important trade-offs among reach, frequency, and impact. The relationship between reach, frequency, and impact is captured in the following concepts: ? Total number of exposures (E): This is the reach times the average frequency; that is, E = R x F. this measure is referred to as the gross rating paints (GRP).
If a given media schedule reaches 80 percent of the horns with an average exposure frequency of 3, the media schedule is said to have a GRP of 240 (80 x 3). If another media schedule has a GRP of 300, it is said to have more weight, but we cannot tell how this weight breaks down into reach and frequency. ? Weighted number of exposures (WE): This is the reach times average frequency times average impact, that is WE = R x F x l. The media. planner has to figure out the most cost-effective combination of reach, frequency, and impact. Reach is most important when launching, new products, flanker brands, extension soft well-known brands, or infrequently purchased brands; or going after an undefined target market.
Frequency is most important where there are strong competitors, a complex story to tell, high consumer resistance, or a frequent-purchase cycle. 28 choosing among major media types The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types of deliver reach, frequency, and impact. The major advertising media along with their costs, advantages, and limitations are profiled in Table 20. 1. Media planners make their choice among media categories by considering the following variables: Table 20. 1 Profiles of Major Media Types |Medium | Advantages | Limitations | |Newspapers Flexibility; timeliness; good local market coverage; |Short life; poor reproduction quality; small | | |broad acceptance; high believability |”pass-along” audience | | | | | | |Combines sight, sound, and motion; appealing to the | | |Television |senses; high attention; high reach |High absolute cost; high clutter; fleeting exposure; | | | |less audience selectivity | | |Audience selectivity; flexibility; no ad competition | | | |within the same medium; personalization | | |Direct mail | |Relatively high cost; “junk mail” image | | |Mass use; high geographic and demographic | | | | | | | | | | |Radio |High geographic and demographic selectivity; |Audio presentation only; lower attention than | | |credibility and prestige; high-quality reproduction; |television; no standardized rate structures; fleeting | | |long life; good pass-along readership |exposure | | | | | |Magazines |Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low cost; low |Long ad purchase lead time; some waste circulation; no | | |competition |guarantee of position | | | | | |Excellent local coverage; high believability; wide | | | |reach; low cost | | |Outdoor | |Limited audience selectivity; creative limitations | | |Very high selectivity; full control; interactive | | | |opportunities; relative low costs |High competition; long ad purchase lead time; creative | |Yellow Pages | |limitations | | |Flexibility; full control; can dramatize messages | | | | |Costs could run away | |Newsletters |Many users; opportunity to give a personal touch | | | | | | | |High selectivity; interactive possibilities, relatively|Overproduction could lead to runaway costs | |Brochures |low cost | | | | | | | | |Relative high cost unless volunteers are used | |Telephone | | | | | |Relatively new media with a low number of users in some| | | |countries | |Internet | | | ? Target-audience media habits: For example, radio and television are the most effective media for reaching teenagers. Product characteristics: Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization, explanation, believability, and color. Women’s dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras are best demonstrated on television. ? Message characteristics: Timeliness and information content will influence media choice. A message announcing a major sale tomorrow will require radio, TV, or newspaper. A message containing a great deal of technical data might require specialized magazines or mailings. ? Cost: Television is very expensive, whereas newspaper advertising is relatively inexpensive. What counts is the cost-per-thousand exposures.
NEW MEDIA Ideas about media impact and cost must be reexamined periodically. For a long time, television was dominant. Then researchers began to notice reduced effectiveness, which was due to increased commercial clutter (advertisers beamed shorter and more numerous commercials at the audience), increased “zipping and zapping” of commercials (aided by the arrival of new TV systems such as TiVo and Replay TV), and lower viewing owing to the growth in cable TV and VCRs, Furthermore, television advertising costs rose faster than other media costs. Several companies found that a combination of print ads and television commercials often did a better job than television commercials alone.
Another reason for review is the continuous emergence of new media. Advertorials are print ads that offer editorial content and are difficult to distinguish from newspaper or magazine contents; infomercials are TV commercials that appear to be 30-minute TV shows but are advertisements for products. Advertisers have substantially increased their spending on outdoor media over the last decade. Outdoor advertising provides an excellent way to reach important local consumer segments. Selecting specific vehicles The media planner must search for the most cost-effective vehicles within each chosen media type. In making choices the planner has to rely on easurement services that provide that provide estimates of audience size, composition, and media cost. Audience size has several possible measures: ? Circulation: The number of physical units carrying the advertising. ? Audience: The number of people exposed to the vehicle. (If the vehicle has pass-on readership, then the audience is larger than circulation. ) ? Effective audience: The number of people with target audience characteristics exposed to the vehicle. ? Effective ad-exposed audience: The number of people with target audience characteristics who actually saw the ad. Deciding on media timing In choosing media, the advertiser faces both a macroscheduling and microscheduling problem.
The macroscheduling problem involves scheduling the advertising in relation to seasons and the business cycle. The most effective pattern depends on the communication objectives in relation to the nature of the product, target customers, distribution channels, and other marketing factors. The timing pattern should consider three factor. Buyer turnover expresses the rate at which new buyers enter the market; the higher this rate, the more continuous the advertising should be. Purchase frequency is the number of times during the period the average buyer buys the product; the higher the purchase frequency, the more continuous the advertising should be.
The forgetting rate is the rate at which the buyer forgets the brand; the higher the forgetting rate, the more continuous the advertising should be. In launching a new product, the advertiser has to choose among ad continuity, concentration, fighting, and pulsing. Continuity is achieved by scheduling exposures evenly throughout a given period. Generally, advertisers use continuous advertising in expanding market situations, with frequently purchased items, and in tightly defined buyer categories. Concentration calls for spending all the advertising dollars in a single period. This makes sense for products with one selling season or holiday. Fighting calls for advertising for some period, followed by a hiatus with no advertising, followed by a second period of advertising activity.
It is used when funding is limited, the purchase cycle is relatively infrequent, and with seasonal items. Pulsing is continuous advertising at low-weight levels reinforced periodically by waves of heavier activity. Pulsing draws on the strength of continuous advertising and flights to create a compromise scheduling strategy. 38 Those who favor pulsing feel that the audience will learn the message more thoroughly, and money can be saved. ———————– Postpurchase behavior Purchase Decision Evaluation of alternatives Information Search Problem Recognition Implementation The Communication Process Advertising Plan Marketing Program Situation Analysis