ADVERTISING DECISIONS

The word advertising comes from the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of
towards". Some of the definitions given by various authors are:

According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the activities involved in

presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a
product or organization."

According to American Marketing Association "advertising is any paid form of non-personal

presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor".

Advertising is used for communicating business information to the present and prospective
customers. It usually provides information about the advertising firm, its product qualities,
place of availability of its products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for both the sellers
and the buyers. However, it is more important for the sellers. In the modern age of large scale
production, producers cannot think of pushing sale of their products without advertising
them. Advertisement supplements personal selling to a great extent. Advertising has acquired
great importance in the modern world where tough competition in the market and fast
changes in technology, we find fashion and taste in the customers.

Adverting is only one element of the promotion mix, but it often considered prominent in the
overall marketing mix design. Its high visibility and pervasiveness made it as an important
social and encomia topic in Indian society.

Promotion may be defined as “the co-ordination of all seller initiated efforts to set up
channels of information and persuasion to facilitate the scale of a good or service.”
Promotion is most often intended to be a supporting component in a marketing mix.
Promotion decision must be integrated and co-ordinated with the rest of the marketing mix,
particularly product/brand decisions, so that it may effectively support an entire marketing
mix strategy. The promotion mix consists of four basic elements. They are:-

1. Advertising

2. Personal Selling

3. Sales Promotion, and

4. Publicity

1. Advertising is the dissemination of information by non-personal means through paid media

where the source is the sponsoring organization.

2. Personal selling is the dissemination of information by non-personal methods, like face-to-

face, contacts between audience and employees of the sponsoring organization. The source of
information is the sponsoring organization.

3. Sales promotion is the dissemination of information through a wide variety of activities

other than personal selling, advertising and publicity which stimulate consumer purchasing
and dealer effectiveness.

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4. Publicity is the disseminating of information by personal or non-personal means and is not
directly paid by the organization and the organization is not the source.

DEFINITIONS OF ADVERTISING

1. American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-
personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an indentified sponsor”.

2. According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity”.

3. According to Gardner, “Advertising is the means of mass selling that has grown up parallel
with and has been made necessary to mass production”.

FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

1. Communication : Advertising is means of mass communication reaching the masses. It is a

non-personal communication because it is addressed to masses.

2. Information : Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits they would get when they
purchase a particular product. However, the information given should be complete and true.

3. Persuasion : The advertiser expects to create a favourable attitude which will lead to
favourable actions. Any advertising process attempts at converting the prospects into
customers. It is thus an indirect salesmanship and essentially a persuasion technique.

4. Profit Maximisation : True advertising does not attempt at maximising profits by

increasing the cost but by promoting the sales. This way It won‟t lead to increase the price of
the product. Thus, it has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost approach.

5. Non-Personal Presentation : Salesmanship is personal selling whereas advertising is non-

personal in character. Advertising is not meant for anyone individual but for all. There is
absence of personal appeal in advertising.

6. Identified Sponsor : A sponsor may be an individual or a firm who pays for the
advertisement. The name of reputed company may increase sale or products. The product
gets good market because of its identity with the reputed corporate body.

7. Consumer Choice : Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It enables consumers to

purchase goods as per their budget requirement and choice. Right choice makes consumer
happy and satisfied.

8. Art, Science and Profession : Advertising is an art because it represents a field of

creativity. Advertising is a science because it has a body of organised knowledge.
Advertising is profession is now treated as a profession with its professional bodies and code
of conduct for members.

9. Element of Marking Mix : Advertising is an important element of promotion mix.

Advertising has proved to be of great utility to sell goods and services. Large manufactures
spend crores of rupees on advertising.

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10. Element of Creativity : A good advertising campaign involves lot of creativity and
imagination. When the message of the advertiser matches the expectations of consumers,
such creativity makes way for successful campaign.

OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING

The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something - a product, a service or an idea.

In addition to this general objective, advertising is also used by the modern business
enterprises for certain specific objectives which are listed below :

 To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among the prospective

customers.
 To support personal selling programme. Advertising maybe used to open customers'
doors for salesman.
 To reach people inaccessible to salesman.
 To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.
 To light competition in the market and to increase the sales as seen in the fierce
competition between Coke and Pepsi.
 To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better quality products and
services.
 To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in selling he product.
Dealers are attracted towards a product which is advertised effectively.
 To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise's products.

IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING

Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the modern era of large scale
production and serve competition in the market. It performs the following functions:

 Promotion of Sales : It promotes the sale of goods and services by informing and
persuading the people to buy them. A good advertising campaign helps in winning
new customers both in the national as wet as in the international markets.
 Introduction of New Product : It helps the introduction of new products in the market.
A business enterprise can introduce itself and its product to the public through
advertising. A new enterprise can't make an impact on the prospective customers
without the help of advertising. Advertising enables quick publicity in the market.
 Creation of Good Public Image : It builds up the reputation of the advertiser.
Advertising enables a business firm to communicate its achievements in an effort to
satisfy the customers' needs. This increases the goodwill and reputation of the firm
which is necessary to fight against competition in the market.
 Mass Production : Advertising facilitates large-scale production. Advertising
encourages production of goods in large-scale because the business firm knows that it
will be able to sell on large-scale with the help of advertising. Mass production
reduces the cost of production per unit by the economical use of various factors of
production.

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  Research : Advertising stimulates research and development activities. Advertising
has become a competitive marketing activity. Every firm tries to differentiate its
product from the substitutes available in the market through advertising. This compels
every business firm to do more and more research to find new products and their new
uses. If a firm does not engage in research and development activities, it will be out of
the market in the near future.
 Education of People : Advertising educate the people about new products and their
uses. Advertising message about the utility of a product enables the people to widen
their knowledge. It is advertising which has helped people in adopting new ways of
life and giving-up old habits. It has contributed a lot towards the betterment of the
standard of living of the society.
 Support to Press : Advertising provides an important source of revenue to the
publishers and magazines. It enables to increase the circulation of their publication by
selling them at lower rates. People are also benefited because they get publications at
cheaper rates. Advertising is also a source of revenue for TV network. For instance,
Doordarshan and ZeeTV insert ads before, in between and after various programmes
and earn millions of rupees through ads. Such income could be used for increasing the
quality of programmes and extending coverage.

ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN MARKETING MIX

Marketing mix consist of four important variables of marketing,

i.e. 4Ps-Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Apart from the traditional 4 Ps, there are also
other variables, i.e. Packaging, Postion, and Pace.

Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only assists in promoting the

product, but also affects the other variables of marketing mix. This can be explained as
follows:

 Advertising and Product : A product is normally a set of physical elements, such as

quality, shape, size, colour and other features. The product may be of very high
quality .At times, the product is so designed that it requires careful handling and
operations. Buyers must be informed and educated on the various aspects of the
product. This can be effectively done through advertising. Thus, advertising plays the
role of information and education.
 Advertising and Price : The price is the exchange value of the product. A marketer
may bring out a very high quality product with additional features as compared to
competitors. In such a case, price would be definitely high. But buyers may not be
willing to pay a high price would be definitely high. Here comes advertising.
Advertising can convince buyers regarding the superiority of the brand and thus its
value for money. This can be done by associating the product with prestigious people,
situations, or events. Alternatively when a firm offers a low price products the job of
advertising needs to stress the price advantage by using hard hitting copy. It is not just
enough to convince, but it is desirable to persuade the buyer. Thus advertising plays
the role of conviction and persuasion.

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  Advertising and Place : Place refers to physical distribution and the stores where the
goods are available Marketer should see to it that the goods are available at the
convenient place and that too at the right time when the buyers need it. To facilitate
effective distribution and expansion of market, advertising is of great significance.
Thus advertising do help in effective distribution and market expansion.
 Advertising and Promotion : Promotion consists of advertising, publicity, personal
selling and sales promotion technique. Businessmen today have to face a lot of
competition. Every seller needs effective promotion to survive and succeed in this
competitive business world. Advertising can play a significant role to put forward the
claim of seller, and to counter the claims of competitor. Through effective advertising,
sellers can face competition and also help to develop brand image and brand loyalty.
 Advertising and Pace : Pace refers to the speed in marketing decisions and actions. It
involves among other things the launch of new products or brand variations at greater
speed than before. As and when new brands are launched, advertising plays an
important role of informing, educating and persuading the customers to buy the
product.
 Advertising and Packaging : The main purpose of packaging is protection of the
product during transit, and preservation of quality and quantity. Nowadays, marketers
take lot of efforts to develop and design attractive packages as they carry advertising
value. A creatively design package attract the attention of the customers. It also
carries an assurance of quality and creates confidence in the minds of customers to
buy the product.
 Advertising and Positioning : Product positioning aims at creating and maintaining a
distinct image of the brands in the minds of the customers. Through advertising the
marketer can convey the positioning of the brand and accordingly can influence the
buying decision of the target audience.

Advertising Process
“Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the development of Advertising”

Calvin Coolidge in the New York Public Library.

For the development of advertising and to get best results one need to follow the advertising
process step by step.

The following are the steps involved in the process of advertising:

1. Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service which
has to be advertised and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and the product.
2. Step 2 - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the purpose
of advertising. i.e. what message is to be delivered to the audience?
3. Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing the
competitors, what type of advertising they are using, what is the response of the
consumers, availability of the resources needed in the process, etc.
4. Step 4 - Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers most
likely to buy the product. The target should be appropriately identified without any
confusion. For e.g. if the product is a health drink for growing kids, then the target
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 customers will be the parents who are going to buy it and not the kids who are going
to drink it.
5. Step 5 - Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one should select
an appropriate media for advertising so that the customers who are to be informed
about the product and are willing to buy are successfully reached.
6. Step 6 - Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so that
there is no short of funds or excess of funds during the process of advertising and also
there are no losses to the company.
7. Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of ad on
papers is made by the copywriters of the agency, then the actual creation of ad is done
with help of the art directors and the creative personnel of the agency.
8. Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to
make it perfect to enter the market.
9. Step 9 - Place and Time of Ad: the next step is to decide where and when the ad will
be shown.The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is
most visible clearly to them. The finalization of time on which the ad will be
telecasted or shown on the selected media will be done by the traffic department of
the agency.
10. Step 10 - Execution: finally the advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect
placement and perfect timing in the market.
11. Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms of
the response from the customers, whether they are satisfied with the ad and the
product, did the ad reached all the targeted people, was the advertise capable enough
to compete with the other players, etc. Every point is studied properly and changes are
made, if any.

If these steps are followed properly then there has to be a successful beginning for the
product in the market.

ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN TOURISM

Advertising is one of the most important factors that help the tourism industry to generate
tourists from both the local and international marketplace. The tourism sector is responsible
for promoting the natural resources, culture, heritage etc that help every visitor in
experiencing the destination. Tourism advertising helps the visitor to get familiar with the
place even before visiting it personally.

We live in a media-driven world. Every organisation today uses media to promote their
business. For customers, in this case, tourists, go to places and plan their vacations that are
more talked about. Just a general example of the importance advertising has in marketing;
Adidas in the 1970s deducted its advertising cost on its sports shoes. They all of a sudden
noticed the dip in the business and later the brand had to recover from this.

Undoubtedly, advertising is important for any business. Similarly, in the travel business, it
plays a key role to entice the customer (tourist). Technically, tourism is not a product. It is
intangible so unlike products, industries can not sell it to their customers. So the industries
sell the destination on the basis of the customer’s imagination skills.

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 The customer plans a holiday on the basis of expectations developed via advertising.
An improper advertisement can lead to a loss in the tourist business. Effective advertising
does not guarantee success but will surely increase the chances for it.

There are three major roles that advertising plays in the tourism industry:

1.To inform tourists to visit a destination and everything tourists need to know about the
place.

2.Persuade tourists to visit a destination.

3.To remind tourists about a destination and where to do all the bookings from.

The global travel market is expanding and so is the advertising market. Advertising
campaigns are predominant in western countries to promote travel destinations abroad. Many
advertisers only intend to increase their revenue by promoting their services, be it flight
bookings or hotel reservations. Whereas there are a few advertisers who feel the need to
connect to their target audience which, according to me, is important.

Advertising Budget
Advertising Budget and Factors Affecting it
“Money does matter a lot.”

Advertising Budget is the amount of money which can be or has to be spent on

advertising of the product to promote it, reach the target consumers and make the sales
chart go on the upper side and give reasonable profits to the company.

Before finalizing the advertising budget of an organization or a company, one has to take a
look on the favorable and unfavorable market conditions which will have an impact on the
advertising budget. The market conditions to watch out for are as follows:

 Frequency of the advertisement

 Competition and Clutter
 Market Share of the Product
 Product Life Cycle Stage

1. Frequency of the Advertisement

This means the number of times advertise has been shown with the description of the
product or service, in the granted time slots. So here, if any company needs more
advertising frequency for its product, then the company will have to increase its
advertising budget.

2. Competition and Clutter

The companies may have many competitors for its product. And also there are plenty
of advertisements shown which is called clutter. The company has to then increase
their advertising budget.
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 3. Market Share

To get a good market share in comparison to their competitors, the company should
have a better product in terms of quality, uniqueness, demand and catchy
advertisements with resultant response of the customers. All this is possible if the
advertisement budget is high.

4. Product Life Cycle Stage

If the company is a newcomer or if the product is on its introduction stage, then the
company has to keep the budget high to make place in the market with the existing
players and to have frequent advertisements. As the time goes on and product
becomes older, the advertising budget can come down as then the product doesn’t
need frequent advertising.

When the market conditions are studied thoroughly, then the company has to set up its
advertising budget accordingly. For setting advertising budget, there are four
methods:

They are as follows.

 Percentage Of Sales: In this method, the budget is decided on the basis of the
sales of the product from previous year records or from the predicted future
sales. This is a pure prediction based method and best applicable to the
companies which have fixed annual sales. But if in case there is a requirement
for more promotional activities then this method has a disadvantage because
there will be decrease in advertisements as the budget is fixed.
 Affordability: this method is generally used by the small companies. Only the
companies which have funds and can afford advertising opt for this method.
The companies can go for advertising at any time in whole year whenever they
have money to spend. The amount spent also varies from time to time as per
the advertisements takes place.
 Best guess: This method is basically for newcomers who have just entered the
market and they have no knowledge or say they are not aware of how the
market is and how much to spend on advertising. Thus, this method is applied
by the higher level executives of the company as they are the only experienced
people.

Thus, doing the homework and then moving forward, i.e. searching for best market
conditions and setting the best advertising budget will have a great impact on improvement
and development of the company.

Advertising Copy formulation

An advertising copy is a term used to describe the main text used in the advertisement. The
text could be a dialogue, a catchy punch line or a company’s dictum.

It is a print, radio or TV advertising message that aims at developing and retaining an interest
of the target customer and prompting him to purchase the product within a couple of seconds.

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According to the UK advertising guru, David Ogilvy, ‘people do read lengthy advertisements
if they are skillfully written’. The most significant part of the copy is the headline, and
sometimes even a small shift in the text brings magnanimous results. A short ad copy is the
most popular in consumer-product advertising, or an artful, indigenous lengthy ad copy may
work wonders too. An advertisement copy is mostly a result of extensive advertising and
consumer research designed by professional copywriter’s employees by advertising agencies.
Drafting an ad copy demands skill and effort. An ad copy involves a complete investigation
of the target audience. There is a substantial effort that goes into making an ad copy.
Companies outsource their ad campaigns. The advertisement industry flourishes when they
succeed in delivering the advertisement just like its copy.

ESSENTIALS OF A GOOD ADVERTISEMENT COPY

An ad copy is made of various principles, all of which are integrated into a few lines of the
copy that the advertisers are allowed to engage. It combines search engine optimisation with
marketing strategies and is used in all kinds of advertisements, not only pay per click and
contextual ads. The essentials of a good ad copy are as follows:

 Credibility- An ad copy must focus on the credibility or the reliability of the ad. The
copywriters should essentially flaunt an element of reliability in the ad so that the
consumers are convinced to go ahead with the product. The credibility of an
advertisement is the extent of honesty in the ad message. Misleading and
misinterpreted ads harm the reputation of the selling house.
 Attention- The keywords, punch lines or phrases that seize the attention of the
potential consumers or some component in the ad that attracts the target audience is
essential in a good advertising copy.
 Assurance of benefit– An advertisement copy must contain some promise of the
benefits that the product offers if the consumer purchases and uses the product.
 Brief and clear- An ad copy must be brief and clear, i.e. it must be to the point. It
doesn’t mean that the copy must omit the important elements of the ad. A clear copy
is easy and quick to be read by the readers. It is self-explanatory, definite, and precise.
Clarity makes way for interpretation.
 Apt and conforming- The copy must be apt and must match the needs of the
prospects. A copywriter has to use the most suitable USP. Every ad copy must meet
the conforming standards and rules acceptable to the advertising media and the laws
of the land. A copy that offends the morality challenges religious beliefs of the people
is not welcomed by any media.

Types of Advertising Copy

Technique or formula of presentation of an ad is the way in which a message is presented.
Various types of advertisement copies are formulated to inform, inspire, influence, affect,

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engrave, and inscribe the mindset of the reader. Certain elements are significant in a copy like
the attention, conviction, sentiment, instinct, and education.

The advertisement copies can be divided into six main types:

 Human interest ad copy

 Educational ad copy
 Reason why? ad copy
 Institutional ad copy
 Suggestive ad copy
 Expository ad copy

Human Interest Copy

Human interest copy entices the emotions and senses of its prospective customers rather than
the intellect and judgment. This advertisement copy defines the product to people instead of
sticking to facts. Human Interest copy gets to selling part indirectly or reluctantly. It focuses
on people’s undying interest in themselves, their families and friends. The most important
forms of Human Interest Copy are- humorous copy, fear copy, predicament copy, and story
copy.

HUMOROUS COPY
Humorous ad copy is a copy which is designed to make the reader laugh. This copy brings
about a smile on the readers face.

FEAR COPY
Fear ad copy arouses a sense of fear in the reader to save their lives or to protect themselves
from something. It creates interest among its consumers by instilling a sense of fear in them.
Fear advertisement copies must be designed carefully as it may carry an unpleasant
association on the viewer’s mind concerning the product.

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STORY COPY
In a story copy, a story is narrated in a very interesting way to develop interest amongst its
prospects. Customer experiences can also be narrated in the form of a story.

PREDICAMENT COPY
In a predicament copy, the copy provides a dramatic explanation about the product. This copy
explains all the advantages and benefits of using the product. The predicament copy usually
takes over the other three forms of the advertisement copy.

Reason Why Copy

A Reason Why advertising copy offers reasons as to why the consumers are expected to buy
the product of a particular brand. The reason why copy appeals directly to the intellect or the
judgment of an individual than the emotions. It tries to explain the product qualities and
benefits by giving evidence in the forms of testimonials, guarantees, customer experiences,
and so on.

The approach of this copy explains reasons to readers as to why the advertised product has to
be purchased. The format of this copy states a fact about a product or a service in the headline
and then explaining why the fact is true in its further text. This form of advertising works
better in print than on media, because broadcasting an ad has a limitation with respect to time.
There are good chances of the viewer missing the headline or the reasons why the headline
claims to be the truth.

Educational Ad Copy
An educational ad copy attempts to inform, update and prompts its clients to buy a product by
educating the prospective customers. It is designed to educate the public about the attributes
of the product. Introductory ad copies are usually created in this way. It is the responsibility
of every manufacturer to educate the prospects regarding the product and endure a warm
welcome amongst its clients. Such an ad copy signifies the benefits and special features of the
product.

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Institutional Ad Copy
Institutional copy doesn’t sell its goods and services. Institutional ad copy aims at promoting
the selling house. It focuses to build a strong reputation for the selling house. The main
objective of this type of ad copy is to create, maintain, and increase the goodwill through its
philosophy, objectives and policies so that the prospective customers register it in their
minds. Institutional copy invites the target customers to the selling outlet. It is also called as
prestige or corporate advertising.

Example:

Suggestive Copy
A suggestive copy suggests or attempts to convey the message to the readers directly or
indirectly and prompts them to purchase the product. Suggestive ad copy works best when
the reader is confused regarding the quality of the product and is juggling with decision
making regarding his purchase.

Expository Copy
Expository copy conflicts with the Suggestive copy. An Expository copy doesn’t conceal
anything about the product but instead exposes the facts that are clear and apt. It describes the
product features, uses, merits, operation and benefits of the products or services. Even a swift
glance registers quickly in the consumer’s mind and is quite easy to remember or pick up.

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Writing an ad copy is an art of putting in the words or the elements that create a strong desire
to possess the product wherein the product features satiate the consumers desire to possess
the product. It is the ability to eliminate the surplus and substitute it with the essential
elements without jeopardising the meaning.

Action is the essential end goal of any advertisement copy, which is to receive some reaction
from the target audience for the advertisement. It could be just about visiting the page of the
brand on the net, enquiring or filling a form or the actual purchase itself.

Types of Advertising Appeals and Execution Styles

Being creative requires more than being funny. Targeting consumer needs with the right
advertising appeals is critical in marketing.

 In advertising, there are many choices to be made concerning the message that should be
conveyed. How to convey that message needs to be strategic and well conceived. One of the
most important first steps is to determine what the purpose of the campaign is and the
specified target audience. By clearly knowing the purpose and the intended target audience,
then creative talents can be focused on what should be the appropriate common theme and
which set of advertising appeals and execution styles should be employed.

An advertising appeal is an approach that uses a type of message intended to influence the
way the consumer relates to what is being sold. In order to reach the consumer, the right
appeal (tactic) needs to used and that is based on objective of campaign and the type of
consumer being targeted.

Think of advertisements that stick in your head. What makes them so memorable? Is it the
product itself, or is it the techniques used to produce the ad? Advertising appeals are the
persuasive pressures that stimulate a person to buy a product or service by speaking to an
individual's needs, interests, or wants. The goal of an ad is to persuade customers, and
advertising appeals provide just the right hook to allow persuasion to occur. Advertising
appeals are designed to create a positive image and mindset about those who use the product
or service, and are a major factor of consideration for advertisers. Companies put a lot of
effort into their creative advertising strategies and use various types of appeals to influence
purchasing decisions.
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Emotional appeals are the most common appeals utilized by marketers. This type of appeal
targets a consumer’s emotions and influence consumer engagement. Anytime a marketer can
get a consumer to identify with the situation, especially through emotion, the percentage of
conversion (purchase) increases dramatically.

Simply stated, the idea of using an emotional appeal is to relate to the individual’s
psychological and social needs for purchasing a product or service.

Emotional appeals include:

 Personal appeal
Focused on emotions centered around the need for love, joy, self-esteem, happiness,
safety, and family well-being
 Social appeal
Focused on the individual need for recognition, respect, involvement, affiliation, and
status
 Fear appeal
Focused on individual needs based on fears….fear of loss of health, safety, and
beauty. Fear appeals are widely used because they simply work. Fear can increase a
viewer's interest in an advertisement and can heighten persuasiveness, causing
consumers to remember these ads more so than upbeat, warm ads. Fear appeals fit
particularly well with certain types of goods and services, particularly those products
that can eliminate threats or provide a sense of personal security. For example, fear is
often used in insurance company ads, focusing on the consequences of an untimely
death. Or, a mouthwash ad can invoke a fear of bad breath.

 Musical Appeals
Music can help to capture the attention of a listener because music is often linked to
emotions, experiences, and memories, grabbing the attention of those not previously
engaged. The use of musical appeals allows for a connection between the product or
service and a catchy jingle or piece of music. As an example, Nationwide Insurance
uses the well-known 'Nationwide is on your side' jingle as an appeal. And since these
musical memories are often stored in the long-term recall areas of the brain, many
consumers remember the jingles for extended periods of time. The selection of music
can involve an already familiar tune or can involve the creation of an original
composition specifically for the ad.

 Humor appeal

It is proven that “humor” sells, because of attention, association, and memory recall is
improved through an engaging humorous message. Humor is a proven appeal type for
grabbing attention and keeping it. When consumers find something humorous, it has
value because is causes them to watch, laugh and, most importantly, remember. By
capturing the viewer's attention, humor appeals cut through advertising clutter and
allow for enhanced recall and improved moods; consumers who are happy associate
the good mood with the product and service. E-Trade's talking baby ad campaign
provides an example of this appeal, with a goal of attracting viewer attention through
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 humor. However, humorous ads can be tricky to design because those that aren't
received well result in only the ad being remembered, rather than the product or
brand.

 Rational Appeals
Rational appeals place emphasis on facts, details, and product benefits. The goal is
moving from product awareness and knowledge to liking, product preference,
conviction for the product and, finally, purchase. By transmitting basic product
information, a rational appeal provides product knowledge. In order to promote liking
and preference, a rational appeal provides logical reasons as to why a particular brand
or service is superior to another.

Other common types of appeals include sex appeal, music appeal, scarcity appeal, brand
appeal, adventure appeal, endorsement, romance appeal and others.

The next step in using a specific appeal is to determine the executional styles for advertising. 
This is critical to get correct and has to be aligned with the type of appeal.

Executional styles include: 

 Lifestyle: One of the most successful, relevant current strategies—Shows “how” the
product or service will “fit” perfectly into the consumer’s lifestyle or raise their
convenience or quality of life. This format can be associated with personal appeal,
causing the consumer to desire the lifestyle they see others in the advertisement
experiencing, because they have the product depicted. If a consumer cannot “see” and
“feel” the benefit of product/service to them, the sale will not happen. Lifestyle
“shows” the consumer “how” and creates an aspiration for the offering. (i.e. A
beautiful set of new lawn furniture being enjoyed by a family).

 Slice-of-Life: Another successful style, usually associated with social appeal, depicts

people in a normal setting enjoying life because of a certain product or service. This
style is aimed at creating an attachment to an offering through showing how “they”
could enjoy a slice-of-good-life if they were to engage in the offering. (ie. An
advertisement depicting a luxurious cruise.)

 Spokesman/Testimonial/Endorsement: Having celebrities or experts explain a

product is often a way to have a consumer gain trust in a brand. However, trust has to
be authentically created and not just a paid voice that is not behind   the brand.
Consumers today are smarter than ever and loyalty and trust cannot be bought, only
earned.

 Fantasy: Creating a fantasy around a product and what it can do for a consumer often
aligns well with a social appeal-the need to identify with something bigger than
oneself. (i.e. The status of having a sports car with the fantasy of a beautiful women
being impressed by it.)

 Humorous: Aligns directly with the humor appeal to engage a consumer in

something that is funny and memorable. More than 30% of advertisements utilize
humor for greater success.

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Other execution styles include musical, scientific, mood/image.

Overall, being creative is very important, but before one can be creative in the right direction,
the purpose of the campaign and the target audience needs to be determined. From there,
an appropriate type of advertising appeal and execution style will provide creative direction.
The funniest message in the world may not have the effect desired if it does not evoke the
right emotional recognition of a need and appeal to the person who “sees” the advertisement.

Alternative media
Alternative media are media that differ from established or dominant types of media in
terms of their content, production, or distribution. Alternative media take many forms
including print, audio, video, Internet and street art. Some examples include the counter-
culture zines of the 1960s, ethnic and indigenous media such as the First People's television
network in Canada (later rebranded Aboriginal Peoples Television Network), and more
recently online open publishing journalism sites such as Indymedia.

While mainstream mass media, on the whole, "represent government and corporate

interests",alternative media tend to be "non-commercial projects that advocate the interests of
those excluded from the mainstream", for example, the poor, political and ethnic minorities,
labor groups, and LGBT identities. These media disseminate marginalized viewpoints, such
as those heard in the progressive news program Democracy Now!, and create communities of
identity, as seen for example in the It Gets Better Project that was created on YouTube in
response to a rise in gay teen suicides at the time it was created.

Alternative media challenge the dominant beliefs and values of a culture and have been
described as "counter-hegemonic" by adherents of Antonio Gramsci's theory of cultural
hegemony. However, since the definition of alternative media as merely counter to the
mainstream is limiting, some approaches to the study of alternative media also address the
question of how and where these media are created, as well as the dynamic relationship
between the media and the participants that create and use them.

Advertising Media Selection

The selection of a media is very important. It will influence the impact and cost of
advertising. The target audience should also be identified.

An advertising campaign cannot contribute to success unless the target audience is exposed to
it. The purpose of media selection is to transmit the message of advertising to the target
audience effectively and economically.

The selection of media involves the selection of a particular source or vehicle of advertise-
ment and its utilisation over a period of time.

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Medium or media selection is a unique decision to be made by the advertiser. There is no one
medium that is best for all business units and what is best depends on the unique individual
situation of the business unit.

Factors Influencing Media Selection:

In making media selection, we have to consider the following factors:

(i) The financial allocation for advertising.

(ii) The nature of the product and the demand for it.

(iii) The type of prospects, their location and other characteristics,

(iv) The nature of competition and the extent of coverage required,

(v) Cost of media, co-operation and promotional aids offered by media, media circulation.

Right media of advertising will enable the advertiser to deliver the message effectively to the
intended markets or prospects.

Media choice is determined by a number of factors such as—Number of viewers, readers,

listeners, characteristics of audience-education, sex, income, family size, relative cost of
various media. Media selection helps the advertiser to find out which type of media to be
used.

Note:

1. Displays, shows, exhibitions, trade fairs, point of purchase materials are normally included
in sales promotion devices.

2. Advertising specialties such as calendars, diaries, blotters, pen stands, ball pens, pencils,
key rings, and many other novelties are partly for advertising and partly for sales promotion.
These are business gifts and means of publicity and patronage.

Media of Advertising:

(i) Print Media – Newspapers, Magazines, Trade Journal and Periodicals.

(ii) Direct Mail – Catalogues, Leaflets, Pamphlets, Brochures, Price Lists, Sales
Letters/Circulars.

(iii) Transit Advertising – Railways, Buses, Aeroplanes, Trams, Taxis, Auto Rickshaws,
Cars.

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(iv) Broadcast Media – Radio, T.V., Film, Screen Slides, Internet.

(v) Out-Door or Mural – Posters, Hoardings, Sky advertising, Electrical

(vi) Other Forms – Window displays, point of purchase, Exhibitions, Directives, Showrooms,
Trade fairs, Advertising specialities such as calendars, diaries, pen-stands, ball-pens Key-
rings etc.

 Major Factors to be Considered for the Selection of a Particular Media

The selection of a media is very important. It will influence the impact and cost of
advertising. The questions like- (a) what to communicate (b) to whom to communicate and
(c) how to communicate should be answered properly. The object of advertising is to increase
the volume of sales and establishment of a brand name. Creating goodwill for the
manufacturer may be the other objective.

The target audience should also be identified. The buying preferences of buyers, when and
from where do they purchase, the strengths and weaknesses of products as compared to those
of competitors should also be considered while selecting the audience to be approached. After
selecting the message and the audience, efforts should be made to adjust these variables in
such a way that it makes the greatest possible impact.

The following factors should be considered in the selection of media:

(i) Advertising Objectives:

The most important consideration in choosing media is the objective or the objectives of
advertising. The objectives include a specification of the target consumer and the intended
effect of the message upon him.

Assume, for instance, that the objective is to make teenagers aware of a new disco club. If
this is the case, commercials on TV and radio would be most appropriate. On the other hand,
the objective may be to induce industrial buyers to purchase a newly developed anti-pollution
air scrubber. Here, trade magazines would toe a likely choice.

(ii) Media Circulation:

A desirable medium is one whose listeners, viewers or readers are target consumers of the
marketer. Media circulation must match the distribution patterns of the product.
Consequently, the geographic scope of the market will considerably influence the choice of
media. Furthermore, those media should be selected which will reach the desired type of
market with a minimum of waste circulation.
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A firm manufacturing shotguns, for example, will advertise in a magazine which appeals
primarily to hunters. The media used to reach the teenage market will be different from those
used to reach married women with small children.

(iii) Cost of the Media:

The cost of the advertising media should be considered in relation to:

(a) The amount of funds available; and

(b) The circulation of the media.

In the first instance, the amount of funds available may rule out TV as a choice. On second
count, the advertiser should try to develop some relationships between the cost of the medium
and its circulation.

An important selection criterion is cost, both total and per contact. The management, of
course, must rule out the media whose total cost exceeds its budget levels.

The cost per contact is the total cost divided by the number of readers, viewers or listeners.
(Many advertisers express cost in terms of cost per thousand, the cost per contact, multiplied
by 1,000.

The cost per thousand then indicates the cost of exposing 1,000 consumers to the
advertisement.) Generally, direct mail has a high cost per contact, and newspapers a low cost
per contact.

(iv) Nature of the Message:

The preferred media should be compatible with the advertising; message. The management
should consider the media which are most .suitable for the presentation of the message to the
market. Floor coverings and apparel are ordinarily best presented in a pictorial form.

The radio is not a good medium for these lines. If a product, such as insurance, calls for a
lengthy message, outdoor advertising should not be chosen. If the advertiser can use a very
brief message, as in the case of beer, the billboards may be the best choice. If the marketer
desires to create excitement and interest in new product, TV may be preferable, since its
combination of visual and auditory cues is useful for this purpose.

(v) Time and Location of Buying Decision:

The advertiser should select the medium which will reach the prospective customer at or near
the time he makes his buying decision and the place where he makes it. For this reason,

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outdoor advertising, is often good for petroleum products. Grocery store ads may be placed
on Friday in anticipation of heavy weekend buying.

(vi) Co-Operation and Promotional Aids Offered by Media:

A manufacturer may want to tie in his advertising with that of his dealers. Consequently, he
will look favourably upon those media which offer reprints for use in counter or window
displays. Another firm may want some research done on local markets. The management may
select the individual medium which can provide this service.

Types of Media
We can start our discussion of media by defining and describing different kinds of media that
children are using today. Modern media comes in many different formats, including print
media (books, magazines, newspapers), television, movies, video games, music, cell phones,
various kinds of software, and the Internet. Each type of media involves both content, and
also a device or object through which that content is delivered.

 Print Media
The term 'print media' is used to describe the traditional or "old-fashioned" print-
based media that today's parents grew up with, including newspapers, magazines,
books, and comics or graphic novels. Historically, only wealthy publishers had access
to sophisticated type-setting technologies necessary to create printed material, but this
has changed in recent years with the widespread accessibility of desktop publishing
software and print-on-demand publication services such as Lulu.com (LINK). More
recently, electronic book readers such as the Amazon Kindle which store hundreds of
books on a single device and which allow readers to directly download books and
newspapers have become popular.
 Television
Television has been entertaining American families for over fifty years. In the
beginning, there were few programs to pick from, but today, there are literally
hundreds of general and specialty channels to choose from and thousands upon
thousands of programs. Where it was once the case that programs had to be watched
at the time they were broadcast on a television, this is no longer the case. Today,
viewers can summon a movie or television episode whenever they want, through
many cable or satellite services' pay-per-view or free on-demand services. They may
also download or stream episodes from the Internet and watch them on their
computers. Viewers may use DVR (digital video recorder) devices, such as a Tivo to
record programs at one time and watch them at another time. Viewers with certain
cell phones may even watch programs through their cell phones.
 Movies
Movies (films) are the oldest form of motion picture technology capable of capturing lifelike
video-style images. Originally, movies could only be consumed at a neighborhood movie
theater, but these days movies are widely available for people to consume in their homes, on
their computers, and even in through their telephones. Commercial movies are broadcast on
television, and via cable and satellite services which may feature High Definition (HD) video
resolution and sound, essentially allowing the movie theater experience to be replicated in a
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home theater environment. Commercial movies are also distributed on DVD and Blu-Ray
disks, which can be rented from stores and through-the-mail services such as Netflix, and
through downloadable computer files, which can be legally downloaded from movie rental
services such as Amazon and iTunes or streamed through Netflix or on-demand cable
services. Home movies produced by amateurs with inexpensive video cameras are now also
widely available through video sharing websites such as YouTube.com and Vimeo.com.
 Video Games
Available since the early 1980s, video games have only grown in popularity among
youth. Today's games make use of advanced graphics and processors to enable three
dimensional game play featuring highly realistic landscapes and physics simulations,
and the ability to compete against other players through a network connection.
Modern video games are immersive, exciting and increasingly interactive. Players feel
like they really are in the situation because of the life-like graphics and sounds.
Through video games, youth can extend their pretend play, as they become soldiers,
aliens, race car drivers, street fighters, and football players.
Popular gaming consoles today include Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony
Playstation III. There are also hand held consoles which enable mobile game play such
as Nintendo's DS. As well, some video games can also be played on personal computers.
Most video games use a hand-held device with buttons, joysticks, and other devices for
manipulating the characters on the screen. However, the newer games systems use motion-
detecting sensors, such as accelerometers which encourage players to move their entire body
to complete game activities. For example, in Wii Tennis, a player swings his entire arm to
have the player on the screen hit the tennis ball.
Games such as the recently popular World of Warcraft are played in a networked universe
shared simultaneously by thousands of gamers at once. Players may be across the street from
one another or across the globe using the the Internet to participate in a shared three-
dimensional world in which each player can control one or more avatars, and chat using text
or voice.

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