Advertising Management © Anup Mukherjee i3pep.org

Part 1 Part 2 (this page)

The next important step relates to advertising strategy. This has two dimensions- message strategy, and media strategy. The message has to be crafted so that it fulfils the requirements of the objectives. Much of the researches relating to consumer behaviour and communication studies go into it. The advertisement message should be easily understandable and stand out from the clutter of its competitors as well as in the market place generally. The message can have any of the written, audio, and visual aspects. The visual aspects can be both still images as well as movie image. The message has different dimensions.

The message can be conveyed in various ways. It can have different appeals. This issue is resolved through where the advertisement is aiming to position the product. So an advertisement for diaper needs to convey warmth and a sense of security particularly for the parents, who would actually be buying the product. An advertisement for cement must exhibit strength. An advertisement for talcum should convey softness and fragrance. An advertisement for business clothing must convey a sense of formality etc. This way the ads focus on specific appeals aimed at particular target audience. A punchline is equally valuable eg. ‘Connecting People’ (for Nokia), or ‘Money can’t buy everything, For everything else there is Mastercard’ etc. These help the consumers to remember the product more vividly. Often advertisements try to create associations between some important event or personalities. Often footwear companies use sports icons to endorse their products. The objective is to create easy recall for the consumers.

The media strategy relates to which media to use for advertisement. This is particularly important because of the twin factors of cost and reach. Any advertisement has to have a trade-off between these two. Any advertisement cannot reach all the people, simply because there is nothing like an unlimited budget. Consequently, a given budget needs to be maximised. This is done by use of much calculations that factors into it things like cost, reach, impact, target audience, visibility etc. This is done by generally using a mix of different media types like print media eg newspapers and magazines, an audio media like radio, a visual media like bill boards, an audio-visual media like television etc. Also, the advertisers have to keep in mind that advertisement is not a one-time affair, it needs to be repeated over specified periods. Therefore the frequency of advertisement is also an important issue that involves cost. The media strategy addresses all these aspects.

Finally a review does take place that among other things tries to see to what extent the objectives have been achieved by the particular advertisement. This can be in terms of increase in sales, in terms of increase of awareness or anything that was the main objective of the company or the advertiser.

Advertising Agency:
Advertising agencies are specialised agencies that take up various different Advertising campaigns. An Advertising agency has usually four departments. The Creative department is the one that actually thinks up the advertisement and produces it. The Media department selects the media through which the advertisement would be beamed. Generally the media selection is done on the basis of statistical evaluation of cost and benefits and other related variables. Based on the product and the target audience, it includes evaluating the reach of particular media among the target audience and the costs involved in executing an Advertising campaign on such a selected media. The media is not just one, but can be a mix like use of radio, television, newspaper etc. The campaign needs to be balanced within the selected media so that it reaches the maximum number of target segment of the consumer base. The Research department studies the consumer behaviour and various other characteristics that go as important inputs into making of and execution of the Advertising campaign. These researches are based on various criteria by which the consumers are segmented into different categories based on geographical, demographic, psychographic and socio-cultural criteria. Consequently based on their input both the creation of the advertisement and its beaming is targeted at that particular segment of consumer base. Then there is the Business department that handles the business activities of the Advertising Agency. The Advertising Agency is after all itself a business firm providing service to its customers.

Some misconceptions about Advertising:

Often it is thought that Advertising is wasteful. It is thought that spending on advertisement is a waste, as it does not add to any productive activity of the society. It is also alleged that advertisements lead to creation of false wants and leads to unnecessary sense of deprivation among those who do not possess the advertised products. It is also thought that these promote material values that are not desirable in the society. These criticism are generally overstated. Firstly, Advertising is productive because it makes the whole process of production and distribution efficient. It makes possible for people to make choices by providing information. It thus makes investments in purchase of products fruitful. Secondly, as Advertising cannot create wants that do not exist. It cannot influence people to buy what they do not need. A diaper would be bought only for infants; woollen products would be used only in the colder climatic region etc. Often our habits are governed by culture and religious beliefs and our geographical settings. These govern our dietary and other habits. These cannot be altered by the Advertising mechanism. Thirdly, Advertising only reflects the wants and needs of the people and gives them a channel to make informed choices. It cannot promote any kind of values in terms of materialism in the society other than reflecting whatever material values already exist in the society. Though it does help to promote certain desirable values that are necessary for social change and good of the society like saving environment, caring for animals, promoting literacy etc.

Advertising and ethics:
In many conservative societies use of women model is seen as demeaning by exploitation of female form. This becomes a balancing act particularly when the advertisements promoting the products of transnational corporations tend to portray a standard image of women as in the West. Broadly, advertisements should not be obscene or indecent in the society to which it is being beamed. Some issues are also raised when advertisements use children. To what extent is it proper to use children in advertisements, when the children themselves are not aware of the various issues for which they are being used to promote the product? Such matters need to be addressed sensitively by the advertisers and also in the context of society in which the advertisement is being beamed. Similar issues arise in matters concerning products like liquor, cigarettes etc. Is it proper to advertise these products that are addictive and harmful to health? In many countries such advertisements are severely restricted. Though advertisers work in a competitive business system, they are also part of the system and have to work within a given environment and the ambit of law. The advertisement should not give false information about the product. It should not claim features for the product that it does not have. Use of endorsements should not be misleading. It is necessary for the advertisement to stick by certain codes of ethical behaviour. In absence of such a thing the credibility of the advertisement, as well as the product is lost. Often in different countries there are self governing bodies or councils of Advertising Agencies that are set up to look into any such issues or complains of unethical advertisements. They also generally have a code of conduct for its members.

Conclusion:

Advertisements play an important part in the economic system. It has become very important with the greater input of technology and improvements in communication technologies and the mass media. In the age of globalisation its importance is increasing. Consequently, even Advertising Agencies have also increased their scope and operate as transnational corporations. As now production of a particular product takes place at various countries and its consumers are similarly situated in various countries, an effective communication has become very important part of the company strategy to survive in the market place. And Advertising makes such a thing possible.

Part 1 Part 2 (this page)

© Anup Mukherjee

Further Reading:

1) David A. Aaker, Rajeev Batra & John G. Myers, Advertising Management (5th Edition)
2) Leon G. Schiffman & Leslie Lazar Kanuk, Consumer Behaviour, (New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 1997)
3) Leon G. Schiffman, Consumer behavior
4) Philip Kotler & Gary Armstrong, Principles of Marketing, 10th Edition
5) William J. Stanton, Michael J. Etzel & Bruce J. Walker, Fundamentals of Marketing (McGraw-Hill series in marketing)
6) S.A. Chunawalla & K.C. Sethia, Foundations of Advertising Theory & Practice, (Himalaya Publishing, 1997)

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