Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
My sincere effort was to accomplish this task at best with the guidance and
coordination of my supervisor Mr. Priyabrata Chowdhury, Faculty of Business
Studies (FBS), Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP). I had been allowed
to conduct this report on the “Marketing Communication Practice by Advertising
Agencies in Bangladesh” as it is entitled. My aim was to make the report as
informative and knowledgeable as possible.
My friends and seniors also assist me by providing the ideas, documents and possible
guidelines for completing this report in full fledge. So it is worthwhile to show my
gratitude to them for their unconditional assistance.
Finally, words alone cannot express the thanks I owe to Almighty Allah, who gave
me the opportunity to complete my work according to the best of my abilities.
1
Executive summary
The Objective of the report is to study the advertising Communication Practice by different
agencies in Bangladesh, to find out how an advertising agency works and their role in marketing
sector. In order to achieve the above mentioned objective and finish the study to perfection, I have
made a judicious and a balanced use of primary sources as well as secondary sources of data
collection. The personal sources comprise of direct interaction of my previous personal work place
and communication with some known advertising agency personnel.
I tried to research with some questionnaire that would serve the purpose in the most efficient and
productive way. Due to factors like lack of cooperation anticipated from some agencies,
considering of the secrecy of data made me to resort to secondary sources like internet, websites,
magazines and newspapers.
In this study I have observed many a fact of advertising agencies- their strength, weakness,
opportunities and threats which deserve a mention. Most of the advertising agencies are basically
interested in just the needs of the consumer irrespective of the nature of the product or service
proposed to be advertised.
The primary objective of the agencies is basically profit generation and profit maximization. The
agencies conduct SWAT analysis of the client but not of the product at the time of accepting an
assignment. There is not dynamism in these agencies as far as expansion plans are concerned,
diversification objectives are involved or specialization motives are in question.
The agencies are highly committed to their activities but sometimes they tend to be over
professional in their attitudes, over reserved in the choice of strategies, over confidential in their
operations. Not many agencies are laying too much emphasis on selection of proper human
resources or managerial personnel. They appear over burdened by objectives of cost control.
There is not proper training imparted to people working in the modesty positioned advertising
agencies. Due to this, there is lack of specialization, improvisation and dynamism. The advertising
2
business is such a lucrative one that very many people are employed in the sector as specialists
and non-specialists.
Advertising message often extol the good qualities of products or service. For consumers to
continue to buy these product or service, manufactures or organization are compelled to adhere
to the advertised qualities, for if they allow the qualities to drop, consumers will buy less of their
products or services and patronize their competitors instead. This thus ensures that manufactures
and organization do not allow the quality of their products or service to fall below a standard that
is acceptable to consumers.
Many things that make life easier and more pleasant like radio, television, fan, video, computer,
and motor cars and so on are not necessities but comforts. The comparative inexpensiveness of
these products are made feasible through mass demand, a “by- product” of mass awareness
created by advertising. This evidently shows the link between advertising and standard of living in
a society.
3
Table of Content
Sl Content Page
Acknowledgement 1
Executive summery 2-3
Table of content 4-5
Preface List of Table & Figures 6
Abbreviations and Acronyms 7
1.1. Background of the Study 8
1.2. Introduction of the study 9
1.3. Integrated Marketing Communications 10
1.4. Advertising & Its Types 11-12
1.5. What is Advertising Agency? 13-14
1.6. Types of Ad Agency 15
Chapter 1 1.7. Roles of Ad Agency 15-16
1.8. Ad Agencies Functions 16-17
1.9. Why client hired Ad Agency? 18-20
1.10. How Agency Works? 20
1.11. Agency Department 21-23
1.12. Structure of a Full Service Agency 23-26
1.13. Objectives of the Study 27
2 Research Methodology 28
Chapter 2
2.1 Data Collection Procedure 28
28-29
2.2 Sample Size Calculation/Sampling
2.3 Data Analysis 29
4
4.2 Current Status of Advertising Agencies of 39-40
Bangladesh
5
List of Table
Table 1 Leading Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh 41
List of Figure
Figure 1 Integrated marketing Communication (IMC) Framework 11
6
Abbreviations and Acronyms
Ad Advertising
G2 To Global
GP Grameenphone
7
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
A descriptive framework has been made in order to understand the marketing communications
practice by advertising agencies and their strategies, categories of advertisement, advertising
types, how an advertising agency works, and major players of advertisement in our country. This
study adopts with qualitative in nature. This research enables researchers to understand the
industry, trends and influential aspect of an advertisement in our country. I have got the chance
to have practical experience of an advertising agency so, I am well aware of their tasks and
activities, how they accomplish their production, what types of method they basically follow for
accomplishing the task etc. In details, I have tried to explain my task and the experience. In the
report I have explained what types of work I had to do, which type of method I had to follow when
accomplishing the task and a research topic. Basically, in my thesis project I have worked about
the Marketing Communication Practices of Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh, where I have
discuss about various types of marketing communication like Strategic Planning, Campaign
Conception and Development, Media Planning, Media Buying, Broadcast Commercials (TV,
Radio and Internet), Print Advertisement, Outdoor and Transit Advertising, Point-of-Sales
Advertising, Sales Promotion, Corporate Identity, Printing, Research and Analysis. The general
purpose of the study is to address and evaluate present activities and performance of the
Advertising Agencies (Ad firms) in Bangladesh and then to propose some recommendations that
can be adopted by the ad firms to improve their performance as well as to help business
organizations improve their advertisement and marketing strategy. In defining the limits of this
study, the study areas to be addressed are determined.
8
1.2 Introduction of the study
Marketing communications are the means by which firms attempt to inform, persuade, and remind
consumers directly or indirectly about the products and brands they sell. In a sense, marketing
communications represent the voice of the company and its brands; they are a means by which the
firm can establish a dialogue and build relationships with consumers. Tuckwell, Keith J. (2013)
9
1.3 Integrated Marketing Communications
The promotional function in most companies was dominated by the mass media advertising for
many years. Most marketers use additional promotional and marketing communication tools, but
sales promotion and direct marketing agencies were generally viewed as auxiliary services and
often used on a per project basis. PR agencies were used to manage the organization’s publicity,
image and brand related affairs on an ongoing process but were not viewed as integral
participants in the marketing communication process. Many marketers build strong barriers
around the various marketing and promotional functions and planned and managed them as
separate practices with different budgets, different views of the market and different goals and
objectives.
During the 1980’s many companies began taking a broader perspective of marketing
communication and seeing the need for a more strategic integration of their promotional tools.
These firms moving towards the process of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) which
involved coordinating the various promotional elements and other marketing activities those
communicate with a firm’s customers.
Many agencies responded to the call for synergy among the promotional tools by acquiring PR,
sales promotion and direct marketing companies.
Integrated marketing Communication (IMC) is a strategic business process used to plan, develop,
execute and evaluate coordinated, measurable, persuasive brand communications programs over
time with consumers, customer’s prospects, employees, associates and other targeted relevant
external and internal audiences. The goal is to generate both short term financial returns and
build long term brand and shareholder value.
There are several important aspects of this definition of IMC. First, it views IMC as an ongoing
business process rather than just tactical integration of various communication activities. It also
recognizes that there are number of audiences relevant with the process those are important part.
The IMC approach to marketing communications planning and strategy is being adopted by both
large and small companies and has become popular among firms marketing consumer products
and services as well as B2B marketers.
10
Participants in the integrated Marketing communications Process: organization, specialized
communication service and collateral services. Each group has specific roles in the promotional
process.
Participants in the IMC process can be divided into five major groups: the advertiser, advertising
agency, media organizations, specialized communication services and collateral services.
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or
services by an identified sponsor (Kotler 1999).
11
The advertising agency has evolved to provide the specialized knowledge, skills, and experience
needed to produce to produce effective advertising campaign (Sandage 1967).
But, this mass promotion approach presents problems since many exposed to an advertising
message may not be within the marketer’s target market, and thus, may be an inefficient use of
promotional funds. However, this is changing as new advertising technologies and the emergence
of new media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising. Modern Advertising developed
with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Today there are different types of advertisements used in Bangladesh to promote the products and
services, brands or companies to inform and persuade the customers about them. Advertising
through advertising industry of Bangladesh employs varieties of forms, such as Television
advertising, Infomercials, Radio advertising, covert advertising, press advertising, billboard
advertising, mobile billboard advertising, In-store advertising, Street advertising, celebrity
branding and online advertising (Search engine results pages,, banner ads, in text ads, online
classified advertising, e-mail marketing and social network advertising i.e., face book advertising
etc).
12
Different Advertising Techniques
Virtual advertising-- the insertion of electronic images such as signs, logos, and
packages into live or taped programs
Branded content advertising-the visible placement of branded merchandise in
television shows, films, and video games
Interstitial ad-- a splash page ad that appears before the actual webpage content
Banner advertising– a form of ad appears on web pages in many forms, including web
banners
POP advertising--ad or display materials located in a retail environment to build traffic
that advertise an offering, and encourage impulse buying
Advocacy advertising– ad paid for by an identified sponsor that communicates a
company's stand on a particular issue
Flex form advertising--an odd-shaped ad that doesn’t conform to normal shapes and
stands out from traditional square print ad spaces
We are now discussing about Advertising agency and its role in our country.
We know that marketing is nothing but pushing you to buy that kinds of things which is not
necessary for you at all. Advertising and Communication is that kinds of work which basically
helps you to project your product’s identity. Effective communication brings the company in front
of the market. It lets you to grow up. To survive in the market every company needs marketing
strategies. They should follow that kind of strategies through which they can keep pace with their
competitors. Sometimes they should alter their strategies and always be alert about those
strategies which are taken by the competitors. Like- as a new company they need huge promotional
13
activities. Except the promotional activities, it is difficult for a new company to survive among the
giant companies. So, they have to apply various kinds of marketing strategies.
An Advertising Agency or ad agency is a service provider that works for clients to create an
effective and goal oriented advertising campaign aimed at representing the Company positively in
the eyes of its target customers. Businesses hire advertising agencies to connect with their target
customers. In the face of stiff competition, every Co / brand wants to break through this clutter
and create a favorable space for itself. Ad agencies help clients to do just this by creating attention
grabbing, persuasive and unique ad campaigns that make the brand stand out in the minds of
customers. Many businesses organizations are involved with different advertising agencies in
order to maintain their activities effectively and efficiently. Advertising has become a part of the
economic & social fabric of a nation. It provides information about the product, service, ideas etc.
It influences the choices we make. A descriptive framework has been made in order to understand
the strategies of advertising in Bangladesh, categories of advertisement, advertising Types, how
an advertising agency works, major players of advertisement in our country. This study adopts
with qualitative in nature. This research enables researchers to understand the industry, trends
and influential aspect of an advertisement in our country. Companies use an ad agency to assist
them in developing, preparing and executing their promotional programs.
“An independent business composed of creative and business people who develop, prepare and
place advertising in a medium or mix of media for the clients (Advertisers) seeking to find
customers for their goods and services.”
Directly involved in campaign planning & preparation. (Belch and Belch, 2009)
14
1.6 Types of Ad Agency
Most full service agencies work on a combination of fee based and commission based
compensation. Full service or media neutral advertising agencies produce work for many types of
media, creating integrated marketing communications or through the line (TTL) advertising.
2. Interactive Agency:
3. Tradigital Agency:
Tradigital agencies are advertising agencies who are experts in both traditional and digital
advertising. They offer the best of both worlds and are very useful in today’s digital age where all
campaigns now require both online and above the line advertising.
4. Other Agency:
Enterprise technology agencies often work in tandem with advertising agencies to provide a
specialized subset of services offered by some interactive agencies: website design and
development, Content management systems, web application development, and other intuitive
technology solutions for the web, mobile devices and emerging digital platforms.
The major role as advertising agency is to work alongside the clients to develop and sustain the
brands that they mutually serve, through consumer understanding and insight and through
creative and media delivery skills to provide best advice and the best execution thereof to those
clients for the advertising of those brands.
15
Brands are much more than mere products and services. Brands, if successful, are clearly
differentiated entities with which consumers can and do form a mutually beneficial relationship
over time, because of the values – rational and emotional, physical and aesthetic those consumers
derive from them. The importance can be summed up as follows:
The role of advertising and the advertising agency is to help effect this transformation from
product or service to brand by clearly positioning the offering to the consumer – its role and its
benefits and by communicating the brand’s own personality. In short its role is to provide
meaningful differentiation via the consumer connection.
As one wise head in advertising once said, “nothing kills a bad product faster than good
advertising”. Typically advertising is playing this role, along with other parts of what we call the
marketing mix, in highly competitive market places.
Most advertisers assign this job of informing the target audience and creating images to
advertising agencies. Thus, the advertising agencies plan, prepare and place ads in the media. But
even an advertiser can do all these things. The management can do planning of ad campaigns. For
preparing ads, creative personal can be hires. And the advertiser for placing the ads can buy
media space or time. So, why hire an advertising agency? Belch and Belch (2009)
Today advertising agencies are found in virtually every major city on the world and their role in
stimulating economic growth is solidly established. To understand advertising, we need to examine
the functions of an Ad Agency. These are: -
The basic function of an Ad Agency is providing talent. The creative efforts of the art director, the
detailed analysis of the research director and the political understanding of the campaign director,
16
are just a few examples of the many abilities of Ad Agency personal have to offer. A business
organization or person will contract the services of an ad agency to help market a product. This
function involves processing the information collected from the client and through research and
designing communication material in the form of advertisements and other publicity material. This
also includes planning creative strategies, copy or script writing, visualization, designing, layout,
shooting of films, editing, giving music, etc.
Research:
The second function of an Ad agency is research. In order to distribute the message to the public
successfully, the agency must first know all that it can about the product. One of the first jobs is to
research the product and the company, one must learn, one possibly can about both. The research
must even take one close to the heart of the firm’s inner operations. Ad agencies use research as
a tool to test consumer reactions to products and services.
The third important function of an ad agency is distribution. Here you decide what type of message
you will create for the company and what media will be most helpful in sending this message to
the public. On the basis of the media habits (access and exposure) of the target audience, agency
people prepare a media plan. This plan includes which media to be used, which part of the media
to be used, when to place the ads and for how long to place the ads, etc. media planners keep track
of the viewer ship, listener ship and readership of all kinds of media.
Monitoring Feedback:
By monitoring consumer feedback, a decision on whether to revise the message, the medium, the
target audience or all of them can be made. Ad agencies are developing to reach the target
audience. As information is the backbone of all advertising, to prepare ads, one requires
information about the product; its competitors, the market situation and trends, information about
the audiences (their likes and dislikes and media habits) also need to be collected. Some of the
most effective advertising includes advertisement written in their native language. All of these
17
specialized campaigns are creating new demands on agencies and are requiring new talents for
people who work in advertising.
In addition, many agencies also offer a variety of allied services. These include:
Merchandising
Public relations
Organizing exhibitions and fairs
Preparing all kinds of publicity material
Planning and organizing special events (event management)
Direct marketing
Expertise and experience- An advertising agency brings together people with the required
expertise and experience of the various sub-disciplines of advertising. Thus, it has the
copywriters, visualizes, researchers, photographers, directors, planners and people who
get business and deal with clients working in ad agencies. An agency moulds all these
people into a team and gives them a highly conducive work atmosphere. The agency makes
the best use of their talents and experience to deliver rapidly, efficiently and in greater
depth than a company or organization could do on its own.
Objectivity and professionalism- Advertising agencies are highly professional. Objectivity
is a major virtue of ad agency. They operate in a strange way. While they take up
advertising for others, agencies hardly advertise themselves. Ad agencies being outside
intermediaries can be objective. They thus will offer independent and detached viewpoints
and suggestions based on objective analysis.
Cost effective- If an organization wants to hire people to do its advertising, it cannot
provide them work all through the year. Also most experts in the fields of advertising like
directors, musicians, photographers, charge huge amounts and are often not affordable.
Moreover, hiring, organizing and managing all talents required to produce advertising
campaigns is not an easy thing. And the fact that 98% of advertisers the worlds over hire
as agencies is proof enough about the cost effectiveness of the agencies. Also the kind of
18
consistent, powerful and compelling advertising that can be created by using the expertise,
experience, objectivity and professionalism of ad agencies cannot be measured
economically.
Ad agencies provide the client with the services of highly skilled individuals who are
specialists in their chosen fields.
An ad agency staff may include artists, writers, media analysts, researchers and others
with specific skills, knowledge and experience that can help market the clients, products
or services. Tuckwell, Keith J. (2013)
Advertising has become increasingly important to business enterprises –both large and small.
Outlay on advertising certainly is the voucher. Non-business enterprises have also recognized the
importance of advertising. The attempt by army recruitment is bases on a substantial advertising
campaign, stressing the advantages of a military career. The health department popularizes family
planning through advertising Labor organizations have also used advertising to make their
viewpoints known to the public at large. Advertising assumes real economic importance too.
Advertising strategies that increase the number of units sold stimulate economies in the production
process. The production cost per unit of output is lowered. It in turn leads to lower prices. Lower
19
consumer prices then allow these products to become available to more people. Similarly, the
price of newspapers, professional sports, radio and TV programs, and the like might be prohibitive
without advertising. In short, advertising pays for many of the enjoyable entertainment and
educational aspects of contemporary life. Advertising has become an important factor in the
campaigns to achieve such societal-oriented objectives such as the discontinuance of smoking,
family planning, physical fitness, and the elimination of drug abuse. Though in India, advertising
was accepted as a potent and recognized means of promotion only 25 years ago, its growing
productive capacity and output necessitates the finding of consumers and advertising plays an
important role in this process. Advertising helps to increase mass marketing while helping the
consumer to choose from amongst the variety of products offered for his selection. In India,
advertising as a profession is in its infancy. Because of this fact, there is a tremendous scope for
development so that it may be productively used for the benefit of producers, traders, consumers,
and the country’s economy.
Ad agency come in all sizes and include everything from one or two person shops, small or medium
sized agencies, large independents, and multinational. Most full service agencies work on a
combination of fee based and commission based compensation. The fee is paid by the entity for
which the marketing is being done. The commission is a payment from the media to the agency
and usually equal to 15% of the cost of the advertisement. The broadcast media, Radio and
Television traditionally pay a commission.
Full service or media neutral advertising agencies produce work for many types of media, creating
integrated marketing communications, or Through the Line (TTL) advertising. The “line”, in this
case, is the traditional marker between the media that do not.
20
1.11 Agency Department
The people who create the actual ads form the core of an advertising agency. Modern advertising
agencies usually form their copywriters and art directors into creative teams. Creative teams may
be permanent partnerships or formed on a project-by-project basis. The art director and copywriter
report to a creative director, usually a creative employee with several years of experience.
Although copywriters have the word "write" in their job title, and art directors have the word "art",
one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures; they both generate
creative ideas to represent the proposition (the advertisement or campaign's key message). Once
they receive the creative brief from their account team, the creative teams will concept ideas to
take to their creative director for feedback. This can often be a back and forth process, occurring
several times before several ads are set to present to the client. Creative departments frequently
work with outside design or production studios to develop and implement their ideas. Creative
departments may employ production artists as entry-level positions, as well as for operations and
maintenance. The creative process forms the most crucial part of the advertising process.
Agencies appoint account executive to liaise with the clients. The account executives need to be
sufficiently aware of the client’s needs and desires that can be instructed to the agency’s personnel
and should get approval from the clients on the agency’s recommendations to the clients. Creativity
and marketing acumen are the needed area of the client service people. They work closely with the
specialists in each field. The account manager will develop a creative brief, usually about a page
that gives direction to the creative team. The creative brief often includes information about the
target audience and their attitudes and behaviors. The creative team will take the brief and, aware
of their parameters; develop original copy and graphics depending on media strategy.
The media services department may not be so well known, but its employees are the people who
have contacts with the suppliers of various creative media. For example, they will be able to advise
21
upon and negotiate with printers if an agency is producing flyers for a client. However, when
dealing with the major media (broadcast media, outdoor, and the press), this work is usually
outsourced to a media agency which can advise on media planning and is normally large enough
to negotiate prices down further than a single agency or client can. They can often be restrained
by the client's budget, in which, the media strategy will inform the creative team what media
platform they'll be developing the ad for.
Modern agencies might also have a media planning department integrated, which does all the spot's
planning and placements.
1.11.4 Production
Without the production department, the ads created by the copywriter and art director would be
nothing more than words and pictures on paper. The production department, in essence, ensures
the TV commercial or print ad, etc., gets produced. They are responsible for contracting external
vendors (directors and production companies in the case of TV commercials; photographers and
design studios in the case of the print advertising or direct mailers). Producers are involved in
every aspect of a project, from the initial creative briefing through execution and delivery. In some
agencies, senior producers are known as "executive producers" or "content architects".
1.11.4 Production
In small agencies, employees may do both creative and account service work. Larger agencies
attract people who specialize in one or the other, and indeed include a number of people in
specialized positions: production work, Internet advertising, planning, or research, for example
Advertising interns are typically university juniors and seniors who are genuinely interested in and
have an aptitude for advertising. Internships at advertising agencies most commonly fall into one
of five areas of expertise: account services, interactive, media, public relations and traffic.
University students working on the creative side can find internships as an assistant art director or
assistant copywriter.
22
An internship program in account services usually involves fundamental work within account
management as well as offering exposure to other facets of the agency. The primary responsibility
of this position is to assist account managers. Functions of the account management intern may
include:
• Research and analysis: Gathering information regarding industry, competition, customer product
or service; as well as presenting findings in verbal/written form with recommendations
Interns often take part in the internal creative process, where they may be charged with creating
and managing a website as well as developing an advertising campaign. Hands on projects such
as these help interns learn how strategy and well-developed marketing are essential to a sound
advertising and communications plan.
During their internship, the intern will experience the development of an ad, brochure and
broadcast or communications project from beginning to end. During the internship, the intern
should be exposed to as much as possible within the agency and advertising process.
23
1.12 Structure of a Full Service Agency
24
Presents agency’s recommendations & obtains client’s approval.
He/she must know a great deal about the client’s business and be able to communicate this
to specialists in the agency working on the account.
The ideal A/C executive has a strong marketing background as well as a thorough
understanding of advertising process.
25
For print ads, the Art director and graphic designers prepare layouts, which are
drawings that show what the ad will look and form which the final art work will be
produced.
For TV commercials, the layout is known as story board, a sequence of frames that
depicts the commercial in still form.
Writers and artists generally work under the Creative director.
Once the copy, Layout, illustrations and mechanical specifications have been approved,
the ad is turned over to Production Department.
Like any other business, an advertising agency must be managed and perform basic
operating and administrative functions such as accounting, Finance, and Human
Resources.
It must also attempt to generate new business.
Large agencies employ administrative, managerial, and clerical people to perform these
functions.
The bulk of an agency’s income goes to salary and benefits for its employees.
Thus, an agency must manage its personnel carefully and get maximum productivity from
them.
26
1.13 Objectives of the Study
Major Objective:
The main objective of the study is to analyze the Marketing Communication Practice by the
Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh- Focusing case study of selected Ad Campaigns.
Specific Objectives:
The specific objectives of the study are:
To analyze the Current Practice of Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh
To describe the Current Status of Advertising Agency in Bangladesh.
To figure out the Problems the Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh.
To recommend solutions of problems Advertising Agencies are facing in Bangladesh.
To assess the Future Prospect of Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh.
To measure the Advertising Agencies Communication effectiveness,
To know the Advertising Agencies Contribution in Bangladesh Economy
To evaluate some Advertising Campaign’s effectiveness as communication practice.
27
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Data Collection Procedure
This study was conducted by using primary and secondary data. To collect primary data a mixed
questionnaire and interview was used. Both open-ended and close ended questions were included
into the questionnaire. For the interview, two types of questionnaires were prepared. First one for
advertising agency personnel; and the second one for audiences or viewers; consists of
questionnaires about the advertiser’s information related to their campaign, their view of
recognition. During the time of interview, the main concern was ‘how do the agency personnel
evaluate the performance of the ad campaign and what are the views of the viewer in that aspect?
I also used the secondary information such as journals, books, manuals, annual reports, bulletins
and internet.
For this research work convenient sample size was used determined by formula of sample size
calculation in online. Before collecting the final data for the study the questionnaire will be pre-
tested. After the finalization of the questionnaire a simple random sampling technique used to
collect final data from the respondents. In filling in the questionnaire phone call and hand-
deliveries (drop-collect) were used.
Formula:
28
Source: http://www.macorr.com/sample-size-calculator.htm
2.3 Data Analysis
No hard and fast calculations are carried out for data analysis, all is considered from a holistic
on all sides of view and simple mathematical procedure followed for data analysis. First, I have
compiled all the respondent answers. Then try to analyze them in respect of percent of majority. I
had also conducted some case studies to know the advertising industry real scenario based on
some selected Ad Campaigns.
The main limitation of the study is the time limitation; I had a very limited time for doing
this huge report.
29
Some of the information I collected from textbook and some directly from Internet and
articles. So there is a possibility to get some controversial information which could affect
the report.
Because of the limitation of information some assumption was made.
30
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW
According to Wanoff (1997), Advertising is a tool of marketing for communicating ideas and
information about goods and services to an identified group, which employs paid space or time in
the media or uses another communication vehicle to carry its message. It openly identifies the
advertiser and his relationship to the sales effort.
According to Bennet (2006), Advertising can also be defined as any paid form of non-personal
communication about an organization, product, service or idea by an identified sponsor.
Advertising is any paid massage presented through various media, such as television, radio,
magazines, newspaper, or billboards by an identified source.
Frank Jefkins (2005) reported that, whether we emphasized the art or science of advertising, we
must concede the fact that like many other fields of social endeavor, advertising is becoming more
and more measurable and scientific source. But because it deals with people and its main products
are artistic expressions of human creativity, it will never be an exact science but a social science
Sandage and Rotzoll (2001) reported that, the main role of advertising is to make known the
availability of a product or science to sell. In addition to this however, advertising performs
some other useful and important roles in every society.
Sohel Ahamed S.M. (2011) Reported that Advertising has become a part of the economic & social
fabric of a nation. It provides information about the product, service, ideas etc. It influences the
choices we make. A descriptive framework has been made in order to understand the history of
advertising in Bangladesh, categories of advertisement, advertising prices of different mediums,
major clients of advertisement in our country, and legal aspect of advertising in Bangladesh. This
study adopts with qualitative in nature. This research enables researchers to understand the
history, trends and influential aspect of an advertisement in our country. After all these research
will unveil the overall trends and quality of advertisement in Bangladesh.
Sandage (1999) reported that, the scope of advertising anywhere could be measured in terms of
the volume of money involved in the Advertising business, the number of personnel in the industry,
31
the standard of professional practice, the sophistication of equivalent and material use in
advertising practice and other numerical parameters.
According to Jamil Md Abdullah (2012) the advertising industry has already passed almost four
decades of institutionalization in Bangladesh. At the beginning of information and
telecommunications technology, the industry has practiced drastic drag in all its localities such as
the number of advertising agencies, patron firms, research organizations, models, production
houses, fashion houses, handicrafts and so on. The industry has inclined its contiguous
circumstances as well as accustomed to cope-up with the changed position. Now, it is time to
reunite the progress and find out what it has accomplished and what nevertheless to achieve. So
far, the study has contemplated on the quantitative features of the industry but the qualitative
approval however needs to be completed. This paper also concentrated on the qualitative
characteristics of the industry and marks the trends in progress of the advertising industry while
focusing on the potential prospects. Finally, it provides some courses of action leading to an
environment promising and healthy for the advertising industry of Bangladesh.
Rahman, M. (2010) reported that, In Bangladesh, the size of the advertising industry is assumed
to be tk.1200 crore. Print media leads the industry with 43% market share while TV stands second
at 36% of the advertising market of the country. The industry is growing at a rate of 10% per
annum mainly due to the heightened competition among the major mobile operators.
Anwar F, (2009) reported that, before the independence, there were only a few advertisement firms
in Bangladesh, the erstwhile East Pakistan, due to inadequate industrialization and limited
demand for ads. The pioneers were the firm like Bitopi, Asiatic, and Inters pan who served the
multinational firms like the Lever Brothers.
The advertisement sector is so vast in terms of nature of the firms, span of operation, registration
position and other magnitudes that it is so tough to properly bring them into a database.
Bangladesh Television shows a total of 150 agencies in the country registered with them but the
number exceeds 500 when both the formal and informal sectors are considered (Anwar F, 2009).
On the other hand, Bangladesh Yellow Pages registers a total of 200 advertising and counseling
agencies and firms today (Bangladesh Yellow Pages, 2010).
32
Top nine advertising firms in descending order of market share-Adcomm, Asiatic, Bitopi,
Unitrend, Grey, Interspeed, Popular, Madona, and Matra hold more than 70% of the formal
market share while another 13% share is held by other firms and the rest remains the domain of
in-house advertisements of business firms (Anwar F, 2009).
Farhat Anwar classifies the advertisement media into two categories namely-Above the Line and
Below the Line. He includes in Above the Line category the newspapers, magazines, radio,
television, and satellite and cable television while the Below the Line category includes event
management, in-house advertisement (company performing own advertisement) at point of
purchase, outdoor advertisement (billboards, hoarding, neon signs, and bell signs), innovative
activities (jatra, street drama) and advertisement on vehicle bodies or fliers. The market size of
the formal advertising agencies accounted for about Tk.2 billion in 1999, while, in-house and
outdoor advertisements by manufacturing or service providing companies and the informal
agencies (non-registered agencies and individuals) accounted for about another Tk. 1 billion. The
advertising agencies primarily serve the private national companies (PNC), multinational
companies (MNC) and non-government organizations (NGO). The MNCs constitute more than
60% of the media share followed by the PNCs constitute 25%. The major client of the print media
is the government (Anwar F, 2009).
Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) studies and publishes quantitative data on advertising spending
by the companies or industries. It shows how the industry is enlarging, how the spending shifts
from one media to another, one company to the other etc. In 2007, BBF showed the percentage of
advertisement placed in different types of media (The Daily Star, 02 March, 2008). It showed that
the highest portion (43%) of advertising went to the print media; TV covered only 36%, radio 4%
and the rest by outdoor, cinema and the Internet. They calculated a 7% increase of ad-spending
by major brands in 2007. They found out highest spending companies in ten categories namely-
telecom, bank, real-estate, education, soft-drink, mobile-handset, personal-wash, electronics,
shampoo and snacks. It estimated that the top ten categories of industries comprised almost 80%
of total media spending that year.
In Bangladesh, institutions like ‘Dhaka News’ and ‘Ryan’s Archive’ and many others are doing
some important work on capturing and analyzing the advertisements and news on both news-
33
papers and TV channels. Dhaka News disseminates news on advertising expenditures of different
mobile phone companies of Bangladesh in 2010. It claims TV commercials to be the most expensive
form of advertising in the country (Rahman, M. 2010). It finds out that ‘Robi’ surpasses Grameen
Phone in July, 2010. It also analyses the plausible reason behind the substantial increase in the
company’s ad expense. Ryan’s Archive provides information on rate, time, and composition of
advertisements in different print and digital media in Bangladesh. This archive makes available
information on program rating, audience rating, data on TV commercial monitoring and other
services.
Hanley et al. (2006), Advertising communication goals can be parsimoniously stated as reaching
a target audience, increasing brand recall, increasing sales; Developing advertising strategies to
achieve these goals centers around two critical factors: (1) understanding the communication
channels to reach the audience and (2) understanding the use behavior of these mass media
channels by the audience; Therefore, advertisers need to choose the right medium for advertising
so that they will be noticed by their desired target audience and illicit the desired response to the
promoted call to-action.
Bauer (2005), globally, the high penetration rate of mobile phones has resulted in the increasing
use of mobile advertisements to market products and services. Mobile advertising differs from
traditional media advertising in many ways. Among the two most salient differentiating
characteristics are that mobile advertising is (a) interactive and (b) can be used to target an
individual.
Humayun k. et all (2006), The high penetration rate of mobile phones has resulted in the increasing
use of handheld devices to deliver advertisements for products and services. Short Message
Service (SMS), in particular, has been very successful. Based on the existing literature about
attitudes toward advertising and consumer behavior models, a research framework is constructed
to illustrate the factors affecting consumer attitudes toward SMS-based advertisements in
Bangladesh. The findings of this study show that if mobile advertisers can present mobile ads
pleasingly, with appropriate information, consumers will not be annoyed and there is a fair
possibility that they will gradually like the ads. Furthermore, credibility, a construct of this study,
34
has found to be the most significant of the factors affecting respondents’ attitude toward mobile
ads.
Bauer et al. (2005); as an extension of the internet environment, the high penetration of mobile
phones in recent years has created a good opportunity for mobile advertising there are different
synonyms for advertising via mobile devices, such as wireless advertising or wireless advertising
messaging. Usually, mobile advertising messages are transmitted via short message service (SMS)
According to Dr. George E. Belch and Dr. Michael A. Belch (2004), there is a growing opinion
that the Super Bowl has turned into an expensive beauty pageant for great agencies that want to
see their creative ads on display rather than appreciate the opportunity for launching new products.
Zyman (2002) contends that traditional advertising in the form of 30 second ads doesn’t work and
it is a colossal waste of money and it could even destroy the company and the brand. Advertising
is a lot more than just television commercials. It includes for example branding, sponsorships,
publicity, and customer service. It is important to understand that everything a company does
communicates something about the brand to current and future customers. Bangladesh is no way
out of the track from the world trend.
Advertisement media in Bangladesh can be classified into two categories based on the placement
strategy - Above the Line (ATL) category and Below the Line (BTL) category, each claiming about
50% of the total revenue. ATL includes newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and satellite and
cable television. Placement strategies under BTL includes event management, in-house
35
advertisement (company performing own advertisement) at point of purchase, outdoor
advertisement (billboards, hoarding, neon signs, and bell signs), innovative activities (jatra, street
drama) and advertisement on vehicle bodies or fliers. The market size of the formal advertising
agencies accounted for about BDT 2 billion in 1999, while, in-house and outdoor advertisements
by manufacturing or service providing companies and the informal agencies (non-registered
agencies and individuals) accounted for about another BDT 1 billion.
In Bangladesh Brand Forum (BBF) studies and publishes quantitative data on advertising
spending by the companies or industries. It shows how the industry is enlarging, how the spending
shifts from one media to another, one company to the other etc. In 2007, BBF showed the
percentage of advertisement placed in different types of media (The Daily Star, 02 March, 2008).
It showed that the highest portion (43%) of advertising went to the print media; TV covered only
36%, radio 4% and the rest by outdoor, cinema and the Internet. They calculated a 7% increase
of ad-spending by major brands in 2007. They found out highest spending companies in ten
categories namely- telecom, bank, real-estate, education, soft-drink, mobile-handset, personal-
wash, electronics, shampoo and snacks. It estimated that the top ten categories of industries
comprised almost 80% of total media spending that year.
In Bangladesh, institutions like ‘Dhaka News’ and ‘Ryan’s Archive’ and many others are doing
some important work on capturing and analyzing the advertisements and news on both news-
papers and TV channels. Dhaka News disseminates news on advertising expenditures of different
mobile phone companies of Bangladesh in 2010. It claims TV commercials to be the most expensive
form of advertising in the country (Rahman, M. 2010). It finds out that ‘Robi’ surpasses
GrameenPhone in July, 2010. It also analyses the plausible reason behind the substantial increase
in the company’s ad expense.
36
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSION
There are many practices used by Ad agencies for successful reach of their product or service to
the target market like Advertising, Sales promotion, Events and experiences, Public relations and
publicity Direct marketing, Interactive marketing, Word-of-mouth marketing and Personal selling
etc. But Advertising is most widely used practiced here in Bangladesh.
As per my survey 47 out of 51 respondents that is 92 percent advertising people and audiences
choose advertising as a marketing communication tools most used in Bangladesh. Among them 44
percent respondents think that sales promotion is the 2nd best options for successful marketing
communication practice, 42 percent people support direct marketing or email marketing as a
marketing mix and 40 percent people said that social media played important role as a marketing
communication medium. Due to availability of modern technology social media getting more
priority as a networking and communication tools but it doesn’t means that needs of advertising
decreases as increase of use of modern technologies.
Though, the advertising is most cost worthy practice till now it is the best communication practice
in Bangladesh Advertising Industry. As per my survey most of the firm’s personnel choose
advertising as a useful marketing communication tools, Sales promotion, direct marketing and
Email marketing are also promising marketing communication tools that are used by Advertising
agencies and familiarizing SMS marketing day by day. Increases of use of social media like
Facebook, Twitter etc. are getting popularity due to digitalization around the country. In near future
It might be exceed the popularity of Advertising as these are cost efficient than any forms of other
Advertising.
Customer Analysis
Business organizations always want cost effective, innovative services correlated with their market
approach, capable of achieving their market and organizational goals. Every business now has
marketing needs because without marketing it products or services a business cannot survive in
the market or cannot sustain its existence. Some large companies have their own marketing
37
department that performs all kinds of marketing activities of the company but those businesses
which do not have their own marketing department hire some advertising agency in order to
advertise and promote their product or service. Companies spend heavily on advertising in order
to keep going in competition. In order to analyze their spending behavior we can have these
questions;
Businesses continue to spend on advertising but there are some times when the spend more as
compared to normal, As per my survey in Bangladesh they accelerate their spending on several
traditional and religious occasions running different seasonal campaigns for instance;
They hire advertising agencies and other marketing firms to advertise and promote their products
and services. As per my studies, most of them spend for preparation and subscription of advertising
material. Sometimes they also use sales promotion, event & sponsorship and Public Relations
purpose.
38
Where they spend?
The companies or clients spends their communication budget in different medium like Television,
Radio or Electronic Media, Print Media, Event or Sponsorship etc.
More than 200 agencies are operating business currently in Bangladesh. There are several well-
known advertising firms in Bangladesh such as Grey, Asiatic, Adcom, Interspeed, Carrot,
Clockwork etc. Here, I am mentioning few top agencies working in Bangladesh. These Ad firms
make Ad for well-known multinational companies and franchises like Unilever, Grameenphone,
Banglalink, Robi, Airtel, Citycell, PRAN, Mojo, Pepsi etc.
Most of agencies come in all sizes and include everything from one or two person shops (which
rely mostly on freelance talent to perform most functions), small to medium sized agencies, large
independents, and multi-national, multi-agency conglomerates. Most full-service agencies work
on a combination of fee-based and commission based compensation. The fee is aid by the entity
for which the marketing is being done.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2012-13) placed Bangladesh 119th
out of 144 countries, with a value of 3.3 out of 7. Coming below the mean of 4.1, this indicates that
companies in the country are less likely than average to utilize sophisticated marketing tools and
techniques. In relation to buyer sophistication, the country placed 94th with a score of 3.1, below
the mean of 3.5. This suggests that buyers in the country are more likely to make purchasing
decisions based on the lowest price rather than on a sophisticated analysis of performance
attributes.
The advertising market in Bangladesh is relatively small compared to those of other Asian
countries, but is catching up fast. The country’s advertising market has been growing at a double
digit rate over the years, especially due to the mobile phone operators, banks and real estates who
advertise frequently. There around 200 advertisement companies operating in the country, but the
top 15 companies control 65 per cent of the BDT 1,000 corer advertisement markets. In the 80’s
and 90’s advertisement sector was not a desired sector for employment. Candidates were
discouraged by society and family in taking any aspect of advertisement as profession. Individuals
39
from sectors like films and drama used to come and participate in this sector. But advertisement is
a completely different sector from typical media. Even then individuals who were creative,
intelligent and had futuristic approach succeeded to make a place for them by contributing
efficiently and effectively in this sector. Personnel like Aly Zaker, Asaduzzaman Noor, Tarik
Anam, Afzal Hossain can be mentioned in this aspect. But in the past there were very few
intelligent ad personnel like the ones mentioned above. It was very difficult; almost impossible for
them in maintaining the standard of the whole industry. But still they had their own creations which
separated them from the mass.
From the late 90’s slowly people started to cultivate this field and thought of entering into it
professionally. Different institutions started offering courses and degrees in fields relevant to
advertisement such as marketing, ad making, advertisement optimization etc. In the 2000’s the
entrance of some revolutionary individuals such as Amitabh Reza, Mostofa Sarwar Farooqee
changed the entire scenario. The most interesting part was that all the ad makers who became
successful in this decade with their unconventional ideas were very young in age and they became
a source of great competition to the existing ad firms and ad makers of our country.
Television adverts are undergoing a dynamic evolution, a trend that has been persistent in the
industry since the last five years. While ingredients like melodrama, humor, animation and others
are being constantly experimented and used in these commercials, audiences from all classes of
life are appreciating this new trend. These successful achievements of the young ad makers
inspired newcomers to come into the industry. As they started entering the advertisement industry
the number of works and creations increased. Among the creations, only works with good quality,
content and execution succeeded to influence the target viewers and others got vanished with the
passage of time. Due to extreme competition the ad people were forced to differentiate their
creations with innovative and interesting ideas which helped to continue the constant development
of the advertisement industry. The advertisement industry has grown enormously. According to
the article “Advertising market in Bangladesh is expanding fast” (2008), there are around 200
advertisement companies operating in the country. But as always different opinions are there.
There will be growth in this area as well.
Source: The Daily Independent. 06 March 2008
40
4.3 Top Agencies in Bangladesh
The advertising, marketing and PR sector in the country is considered small in comparison with
other Asian countries relative to its population. However, the industry has seen impressive growth
and the advertisement market is estimated by industry experts to be more than TK 2000 crore
annually, with a growth rate of 10 percent a year (2012). A large part of this growth is thanks to
mobile companies. Banks and the real estate sector also provide a significant proportion of
advertising revenue.
41
The sectors are expected to continue to flourish with the increased access to technology and
various media, including the internet and satellite television, and with a large emerging young
population. With the growing economy and population, experts predict that more international
brands will be attracted to the country, fuelling the growth of the advertising industry
Numerous international agencies operate via their locally based affiliates. These include Ogilvy
and Mather Communications Pvt. Ltd., part of the global Ogilvy and Mather, operates from its
office in Dhaka, the global agencies Ad People Worldwide, Grey, BBDO Bangladesh, and Bates,
a WPP company. One aspect of developments in the country’s industry is represented by Ogilvy
Noor, the first bespoke Islamic branding firm in the world. With the growing number of both
international and local advertising firms, the sector continues to become more competitive. One
of the largest marketers in the country is Unitrend, the Bangladesh affiliate of McCann World
group (Table-1).
Departments where worked: The interns in JWT were rotated among the different departments to gain
exposure of how the different departments work. The departments in which the interns were rotated
were:
Strategic Planning
Creative
Client Service
42
Strategic planning in JWT focuses on gathering research to find out the market dynamics. It
attempts to gain insight about the changing trends in consumers and their preferences. The
department’s functions are: conducting extensive researches in the market, formulating and
implementing activation plans, generating various ATL and BTL activities and evaluate the after-
effects of the advertising after its run on the media. Also, the department makes presentations of
the collected information and insights and presents it to the clients.
Inters speed Advertising is one of the largest advertising and marketing agencies or firms in
Bangladesh. Inter speed advertising agency was founded by Enayet Karim in 1968. It was known
then as Inters speed. Over the last 42 years it remains the largest independent agency in
Bangladesh and respected for its creative streak and out-of-the-box thinking and great brand
building work for some of the largest clients in our country.
Mainly Inter speed advertising has three business units for its clients:
Inter speed advertising: Traditional full service creative agency that provides clients with
through the line advertising and brand consultancy services.
Inter speed Activation: Brand activation, rural outreach and events management agency.
Inter speed Market Solutions: Direct marketing, trade marketing and one-to-one customer
engagement agency.
Grey, the world largest advertising company started their journey in Bangladesh for the last 2
decades. Grey with 121 offices in 116 cities in 94 countries, ranks among the largest global
advertising companies. Grey is reputed for launching and building many of the world’s leading
brands rooted includes one fifth of all fortune 500 companies. Grey is a full service agency for the
21st century with a total offering that delivers best in class brand communications in every channel.
43
Focus: To accelerate the potential of our clients’ brands with powerful creative ideas across all
touch points. The strength and success of our network lies in the imagination, passion and
creativity of our people across countries and cultures. In the asia pacific region, Grey spans across
17 countries.
Clients: GSK, Grameenphone, AFBL, ACI, AKS, P&G, GMG, Beximco, Qubee, Newzealand
Dairy, Apex etc.
The advertising agency Mediacom ltd. emerged in the year 1997 as an in-house agency for square
group, one of the largest and most respected business conglomerates in Bangladesh. Day by day
Mediacom grew as a strategy based advertising agency in Bangladesh.
Services of Mediacom Ltd. Bangladesh: Mediacom Ltd. provides services like Brand
Consultancy, marketing communication, social communication, event management, media
planning, print productions and related other advertising and marketing services.
4.3.5 Unitrend:
In 1985 landmark advertising campaign for Philips bulb ‘Maacher raja Ilish r Battir Raja Philips’
(King of fish Hilsha & King of Light Philips) was created by Inter speed which gives the Philips
bulb’s national sales jumped by 60%. Affiliation: in 1995, Unitrend became affiliated with
McCann-Erickson World group. Portfolio alignment welcomes brands like Coca-Cola, Reckitt &
Coleman
44
4.4 Problems and Challenges of Ad agency facing in Bangladesh
About 80 percent of ad agency personnel and viewers think that skilled manpower problem is the
main problem for this sector, where as 63 percent people think Investment problem is another
major problem for this industry. Lack of proper training for the manpower involved in ad agency
business is another problem as per my study. Government interruption like bureaucracy is another
problem whereas government should cooperate the sector for better revenue earning from this
sector. These are a few things we can think of basis our time in a digital agency
Investment: This is very much clear that Airtel can sell more SIMs than Taletalk can. One of the
reasons for this is that Airtel invests much more in advertisements than Teletalk do. Why are these
happening? Reasons for this can be attributed to either of the two groups- Ad firms: They do not
attract or do not want to attract the local firms. Rather they are satisfied with their present clients.
Pricing: Advertising is very time- and labor-intensive - hence, cost-intensive. Costs of acquiring
new technology are high. What's more, in Bangladesh, clients assume digital is 'cheap'. Hence,
pricing is a great challenge to agencies - how do we stay afloat and win the business at the same
time.
Partnerships: No agency in Bangladesh has consistent access to great content and technology.
So, they may build apps but not sustain them due to lack of content. Or struggle to build high-
quality technical solutions.
Brand Custodianship: Few advertising agencies in our country are perceived to understand
branding very well. Which makes clients - and mainline agencies - want to steer clear.It can be
observed that multinational companies are more concerned about advertising than local business
organizations. Many local firms are not bothered about or less interest in Advertising. These firms
either make less investment in advertising or no interest in it. As a result they cannot compete with
those companies especially with the MNCs.
Local firms: They are not bothered about investment in advertisements. They don’t think it as an
advertisement another thing is that, the quality of the advertisements created by these advertising
firms for the local business firms is not up to the mark. For example, there are many people who
45
buy products when they are influenced by ads. That means there are some people who are greatly
influenced by ads. But if a person of this type sees the advertisement of ‘Walton motor bike’ which
is made in Bangladesh will prefer an ‘Apache’ or a ‘Hunk’ to the ‘Walton motor bike’. Even if the
materials to produce a Walton bike is same as the Hunk or Apache, the person will not buy a
Walton just because of two reason, Hunk or Apache is more popular than Walton. And the major
reason is, Walton’s Advertisement is not attractive and not informative. The viewers will not get a
clear idea about the mechanism and performance of the Walton. Thus Walton will lag behind its
foreign competitor. This is a common scenario for most of the local product of Bangladesh.
Virtually every product and service, at some time in its life cycle moves to commoditization. It’s
the same with most ad agencies as they grow from small entrepreneurial “hot shops” to big,
comfortable ones. As differences between agency offerings become narrower, there is a greater
potential that their offerings become commoditized. Given no other differentiation, the only way
to win is based on price often lower fees.
As more clients work on the assumption that costs can be standardized, some agency executives
believe “We’re getting to the point where our clients are going to be telling us what our creative
director’s salary should be.” Others say “Agencies and media companies feel they’re being treated
like credit lines rather than valued partners”.
Some agencies stress their company’s great service. Unfortunately, since that is exactly what
everyone else says these days, it’s pretty ineffective. Some are price driven offering more for less,
and faster too. Ultimately, this drives prices down so much that only the very low-cost providers
survive. The reality is – good work is not cheap. As the proverb goes: Pick two of the following:
Fast, Cheap, and Good.
There are clients that will always hire an agency on price, regardless of whether their creative
product and strategic abilities have significant differentiation, or whether it is a commodity. Price
is important to every decision, but it is incumbent on both the agency and the client’s success to
focus on value creation in every situation. If we allow ourselves to be commoditized, if we allow
ourselves to stop creating value, then we deserve the outcomes we create.
46
The “expert” is also becoming commoditized. These days, it seems that everyone thinks they can
do your job—only better, faster and cheaper than you can. With a computer and a few creative
programs, everyone is a writer, an art director, a designer, a photographer, a video director, a
marketer.
A common complaint in our industry is that it’s tough to differentiate ourselves. These days,
whether dealing with consulting firms or ad agencies, it’s hard to avoid hearing the same advice
from different talking heads. Most industry ‘experts’ are reading from the same playbook. I
believe that this is all because of commoditization.
When advertising agencies work at raising their differentiation profile, they often run into
difficulty. Having a staff of highly-creative people with cool solutions to complex business
challenges does not mean they are different, nor immune to creeping commoditization. At the end
of the day, being better isn’t good enough.
4.5 How they faced/ overcome challenges and solve the problems
Loan or credit facility by government, modern training facilities should provide for development
of this sector as it is a rising sector for our country. Outsourcing sector may be incorporate with
the advertising sector for better revenue earnings. Most of the agency personnel think that,
government should give more flexibility to the Ad agencies as it is a growing and promising
business sector for Bangladesh.
About 80 percent of ad agency personnel and viewers think that the current practiced using by
agencies should improve to compete with modern of world.
47
Avoids possible failure: Advertisers are not sure of results of advertising from a particular
advertising campaign. Evaluating advertising effectives helps in estimating the results in
order to avoid complete loss.
To justify the Investment in Advertising: The expenditure on advertisement is considered
to be an investment. The investment in advertising is a marketing investment and its
objectives should be spelt out clearly indicating the results expected from the campaign.
The rate and size of return should be determined in advance. If the expected rate of return
is achieved in terms of additional profits, the advertisement can be considered as effective
one.
To know the communication Effect: The effectiveness of the advertisement can be
measured in terms of their communication effects on the target consumers or audience.
The main purpose of advertising is communicated the general public, and existing and
prospective consumers, various information about the product and the company. It is
therefore desirable to seek post measurements of advertising in order to determine whether
advertisement have been seen or heard or in other words whether they have communicated
the theme, message or appeal of the advertising.
Compare two markets: Under this procedure, advertising is published in test markets and
results are contrasted with other. Markets – so called control markets – which have had
the regular advertising program. The measurements made to determine results may be
measurements of change in sales, change in consumer attitudes, changes in dealer display
and so on depending upon the objectives sought by the advertiser.
Future prospects of advertising business in Bangladesh are very high as digitalization made all
around the country. Now rural tanagers also know how to use modern technologies which is a
good sign for our advertising industry. There are more than 40 TV Channels including BTV, more
than 10 FM Radio station and above 400 dailies around the country and other newspaper, weekly,
fortnightly magazines are operating there business in Bangladesh. Affordability of mobile phone
and computer are comparatively cheap than previous years. That’s why the advertising sector is
growing continuously.
48
In my survey, Almost 90% respondents agreed that there are huge prospects for advertising agency
business in Bangladesh. Though more than 200 advertising agencies are operating their business
in the industry, there is more scope to expand the industry more and more as national and
multinational company or clients are seeking out sourcing for promoting their product and
services. Before judge the opportunity we should understand the Future of Advertising.
Advertising is on the cusp of its first creative revolution since the 1960s. But the ad industry might
get left behind.
Like a beetle preserved in amber, the practice of advertising has sat virtually unchanged for the
last half-century. Before 1960, ad making was a solitary practice. Copywriters toiled away on
words to pitch a product, and then handed them off to an art director who translated them into an
illustration or photograph. Creative director Bill Bern Bach changed all that when he recognized
that pairing wordsmith and artist could spark genius. That simple move ignited the industry's
creative revolution, raising the practice of advertising from sleazy salesmanship to some
permutation of art.
The Ad business became an assembly line as predictable as Henry Ford's. The client (whose goal
was to get the word out about a product) paid an agency's account executive (whose job was to
lure the client and then keep him happy), who briefed the brand planner (whose research uncovered
the big consumer insight), who briefed the media planner (who decided which channel- radio,
print, outdoor, direct mail, or TV- to advertise in). Then the copywriter/art director team would
pass on its work (a big idea typically represented by storyboards for a 30-second TV commercial)
to the producer (who worked with a director and editors to film and edit the commercial). Thanks
to the media buyer (whose job was to wine-and-dine media companies to lower the price of TV
spots, print pages, or radio slots), the ad would get funneled, like relatively fresh sausage, into
some combination of those five mass media, which were anything but equal. TV ruled the world.
After all, it not only reached a mass audience but was also the most expensive medium - and the
more the client spent, the more money the ad agency made.
49
4.7 Current Agency Compensation Practices in Bangladesh
Commissions
Method
Cost-Plus
Agreements
Agencies are Percentage
compensated Charges
for their work in Fee
Arrangements
Incentive-
Based
Figure 3: Methods of Different Agency Compensation
Most common traditional method of compensating agencies, when the agency receives a
specified commission (usually 15%) from the media on any advertising time or space it
purchases for its clients.
This system provides a simple method of determining payments.
Commission system has been controversial for many years.
Whether or not 15% represents equitable compensation for services performed
Two agencies with different amount of Commission are shown below;
50
Table 2: Agency Commission methods for Ad Agencies
MEDIA BILLS AGENCY AGENCY BILLS ADVERTISER
Costs for magazine BDT 2,60,000 Costs for magazine BDT 2,60,000
space space
Less 15% - 39,000 Less 2% Cash - 4,420
Commission Discount
Cost of 2,21,000 Advertiser Pay 2,55,580
media space Agency
Less 2% -4,420
Cash
discount
Agency pays 2,16,580 Agency Income 39,000
Media
Source: Top of Mind, Dhaka
The commission is a payment from the medial to the agency and is usually equal to 15% of the
cost of the advertisement. The broadcast media, radio and television traditionally pay a
commission. Interactive agencies may differentiate themselves by offering a mix of web
Design/Development, Search Engine Marketing, Internet Advertising/Marketing, or E-Business/E-
Commerce consulting. The advertising agencies always try to give their best for your product
because they want to create a good impression on you so that you will refer others to their agency
and remain faithful to their work.
All advertising efforts are directed mainly towards the achievement of business, marketing and
advertising objectives i.e., to increase the sales turnover and thus to market the maximum profit.
The advertiser spends lakh’s of taka in to this advertising activity. In the background of all these
efforts, is an attempt to attract the customer towards the product through advertising. As soon as
the advertising campaign is over, a need is generally arisen to measure the effectiveness of the
campaign. Whether, it has achieved the desired results i.e. desired sales profitability or results in
51
terms the change in customer’ behavior in favor of the company’s product which will naturally,
affect the future sale of the product.
In order to measure the effectiveness of advertising copy, two types of tests pretests and posttests-
can be undertaken. Pretests are generally conducted in the beginning of the creation process or
at the end of creation process or production stage. There are several pre and posttests techniques
to measure the effectiveness of the advertising copy.
The effectiveness of advertising in a particular media may also be measured in any of the following
ways;
The technique is known as keying the advertising. Thus in measuring the effectiveness of
advertising we include measuring of the effectiveness of advertising campaign, advertising copy
and the effectiveness of individual media. This chapter deals these three problems.
The management should attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising campaign if the
firm's advertising goals are to be achieved and the ad effectiveness is to be increased. By regular
evaluation of the effectiveness, the short comings and the plus points would be revealed and the
management would be able to improve the campaign by negating the shortcomings and retaining
the favorable point. For this purpose, it is very necessary to know how advertising affects the
buyer’s behaviors. But this is very difficult task because measurements are imperfect and
imprecise.
The effectiveness of advertising can be measured by the extent, it to which it achieves the
objectives set for it if it succeeds in attaining the objectives. Advertising can be said to be effective
otherwise it will be a waste of money and time. In this sense, advertising can be recognized as a
business activity like other activities.
52
In a very real sense the integrity of promotional activities rests on how well those activities work.
An advertising budget that is spent on some poorly defined task or on undefined tasks may be
regarded as an economic waste as compared to that spent to achieve the well-defined objectives
for which the results can be measured. Any social institution upon which a significant portion of
our total productive efforts is expanded should be able to point to its specific accomplishment.
Indeed, it is a source of discomfort that specific results of advertising activities have not always
been subject to precise measurement. Both practitioners and critics feel that promotional activities
should only be accepted as socio – economic – institution with full right and privileges “when the
means exist to prove that advertising super are productive rupees” It is undoubtedly a source of
embarrassment that we cannot exactly measure the effectiveness of advertising in definitive terms.
1. The reaction of consumer – buyers to the advertising efforts cannot be known in advance.
2. The reaction of competitors in the field cannot be guessed in anticipation and
3. The unexpected events (such as change in social and economic environment and the
government policies etc.) cannot be accurately anticipated. Such events may influence the
results of the advertising efforts.
Strength: Modem Facilities, Professionalism, Strong Networking with National and International
companies Investment
Weakness: Lack of Skill Manpower, Lack of Training Facilities, Less Investment etc
53
It is easier to assess the communication effect of advertising than the sales effect. Many firms try
to measure the effectiveness of advertising in terms of sales results but this practice is always
misleading. Since, the effect is the result of so many variables, a distinct effect of advertising on
sales cannot be correctly measured, although there may be some exceptions. For example direct
mail advertising can effectively be measured by the inquiries received. But in many situations the
exact relationship between advertising activity and sales cannot be established satisfactorily.
We can correctly assume that some sales will occur even though there is no advertising or little
advertising or conversely there will be no increase in sales after the point of saturation is reached
or it may be that sales will show a decreasing trend at this point in spite of large amount of
expenditure on advertising is done. It is so because advertising is not the only variable that effect
the sales.
Thus, we may conduct that sales effect of advertising is difficult to measure because a number of
variables affect the quantum of tales and the contribution of advertisement cannot be measured
separately unless all other variables are presumed to be constant. This situation is quite
hypothetical and almost non-existent. Added to this is the fact that advertisement itself is made of
a variety of variables such as media, messages, colors, page or time of the day, locations, the size
of the headline and the appeals used.
Thus even if the advertising variable is separated this would still not answer the question about the
effectiveness of the individual components of the advertising campaign. So advertisers try to
measure the communication effect of the advertising.
It is not long time adverting agencies have emerged as a major contributing industry to the
economy of Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi advertising industry is talking business today. It has
evolved from being a small-scale business to a full-fledged industry. It has emerged as one of the
major industries and tertiary sectors and has broadened its horizons be it the creative aspect, the
capital employed or the number of personnel involved. Bangladeshi advertising industry in very
little time has carved a niche for itself and placed itself on the global map. Bangladeshi advertising
industry with a big value has made jaws drop and set eyeballs gazing with some astonishing pieces
54
of work that it has given in the recent past. The creative minds that the Bangladeshi advertising
industry incorporates have come up with some mind-boggling concepts and work that can be
termed as masterpieces in the field of advertising.
Advertising agencies in the country too have taken a leap. They have come a long way from being
small and medium sized industries to becoming well-known brands in the business. Adcomm Ltd.,
Top of Mind (ToM), Akkhor Media, Asiatic, Grey Dhaka, Windmill, Bitopi are some of the top
agencies of the country.
Bangladeshi economy is on a boom and the market is on a continuous trail of expansion. With the
market gaining grounds Bangladeshi advertising has every reason to celebrate. Businesses are
looking up to advertising as a tool to cash in on lucrative business opportunities. Growth in
business has leaded to a consecutive boom in the advertising industry as well.
The Bangladeshi advertising today handles both national and international projects. This is
primarily because of the reason that the industry offers a host of functions to its clients that include
everything from start to finish that include client servicing, media planning, media buying, creative
conceptualization, pre and post campaign analysis, market research, marketing, branding,
and public relation services.
Keeping in mind the current pace at which the Bangladeshi advertising industry is moving the
industry is expected to witness a major boom in the times ahead. If the experts are to be believed
then the industry in the coming times will form a major contribution to the GDP. With all this there
is definitely no looking back for the Bangladeshi advertising industry that is all set to win accolades
from the world over.
55
A case study on selected advertising campaigns was conducted among agency personnel of
different advertising agencies of Bangladesh. The following advertising campaigns was taken into
consider in random basis.
The main concept of this advertisement is reflected in a wider aspect. There are so many people
who are shown in this advertisement as their target market. As we focus in this advertisement we
can see that they have shown us:
Person who wants information in the very morning.
Students who need information in every steps of their life.
Elder people who needs information for knowing the country.
A corporate person who need information in their every steps.
Children who will use this in their near future.
Religious people can also get the light of the knowledge.
Village peoples.
From this advertisement they tried to show us that they targeted the mass people. This is the
information I found from the employees of Grameenphone. They said, the target market is rural
people who are not yet been in the touch of internet technology & urban people who need to know
more about it. But at a close look on this advertisement we can’t find that urban people get any
supportive knowledge form this advertisement. In a very little aspect they showed the touch of
internet in the rural area.
56
Its main message is: “Grameenphone internet has reached to 20 million people as the light of
knowledge”. It means that, by using the internet one can get the light of knowledge. Internet can
help them to know the world around them. They can easily access to the big world of information.
Grameenphone is providing this internet service to the subscribers that they can easily get this
light of internet. Through this advertisement they try to portray that the light will find its way.
The target market of this advertisement is diversified as well as the medium of the advertisement.
Though we are discussing the TV commercial but Grameenphone has communicated this
advertisement and the message through radio, billboards and newspapers along with TV
commercial. The urban segment is being covered by television, radio, billboards and newspaper
advertisements. And the rural segment is covered by basically radio advertisements and
Community Information Centre (CIC) which provides access to the Internet for the rural people.
But the contradiction is such a diversified target segment cannot be covered by a single medium.
So a combination is needed to cover the whole target segment. But the internet users are basically
from the urban area and in urban areas it is easy to communicate with people through television.
That’s why we can consider this; the advertisement is in the right medium.
What design elements have they used to get the target markets attention?
The elements of an advertisement have strong influential effect on the target market. These
attention getting points can be divided into two parts. Some of the elements of advertising design
are mentioned as follows : Direct Attention Subconscious Minded Stimulating Points Attention
Stimulating Points Concept Line Color Logo Models Variety Music Rhythm Direct Attention
Stimulating Points:
Concept: A concept is a potent idea that can be best expressed in a few words, but no more than
a few sentence. The concept of this advertisement is related with different facets of life & ultimate
focus is on creating awareness for learning. And the appeal is emotional and a reflection of real
57
life scenes. These are the different aspects we have picked up from this advertisement: The basic
concept of this advertisement is showing the internet as a light of knowledge in the people’s life.
The concept is wonderful. But as their target market is mass people, this basic concept is
convincingly meaningful to them. Very few literate people have really understood the actual
concept of this advertisement. So we can say that though the concept is wonderful but there should
be an understandable meaning for target people.
Color: Colors are considered in terms of intensity and brightness. How color is used in the
advertising design can have a big impact on how it is interpreted by the customers. The utilization
of mixture of various colors with its proper blend with the emotional aspects worked like magic.
Models: The models in this advertisement are real life people who can be seen in reality. For this
purpose there is no celebrity endorsement needed.
These people are real life character. The reason behind not using the celebrities is that, those real
life characters can make target people feel that they are one of them and who are actually using
the internet and become benefited. But there are some problems in this advertisement regarding
the usage of models. There are several character is this advertisement who has a very confusing
role in this advertisement. Those characters are the dancing girls, a man in the road or flyover or
foot over bridge. The actual meanings of these characters are not clear. There may be some
relation of this advertisement with those characters but those can’t be easily defined by the target
people.
58
Music: The musical aspect makes the emotional appeal stronger. There has been a use of
instrumental music first with a vocal of a female singing Alo Ashbei. The music can create a
fantasy like feeling in the consumer mind. The music of this advertisement actually is one of the
strongest elements. Because, this is the music that makes some people to actually understand this
advertisement. And this is the music that actually creates some sort of emotional appeal in the
consumers mind. Subconscious Minded Attention Stimulating Points: Some points may seem like
technical terms but in reality theses influences the consumer’s subconscious minds towards having
a positive or negative point of views about an advertisement. Some of these factors related with
this ad are:
Line: A line is exactly what you think it is – a continuous mark connecting two points. In the
advertisement there is proper sequence of connecting one aspect with another story. As all the
scenes are related to our daily life scenarios the lines between them have appropriateness.
Rhythm: Rhythm gives the advertising design the feeling of movement or action. The artist places
objects or creates patterns so that the eyes of the consumers can follow a path. The path the eye
follows in advertising is very important, because it creates a relationship between the consumer
and the advertisement. In this advertisement we can find rhythm by movement of light, a boat in
the river, a busy student life, dancing girls, playful children and so many other ways.
Variety: Variety describes the complexity of a work. In this advertisement a diversified amount of
variety kept the consumer engaged and involved with the piece thus creating emotional attachment
which is being successfully used in this advertisement.
Logo: The logo of Grameenphone has a positive effect on consumer mindset. The logo is of blue
color which creates a sense of reliability, trust, security, and technology. Blue also signifies
coolness and belonging. The never ending cycle of the logo points toward the assurance of
continuous improvement in service given by GP. In terms of this advertisement, this logo actually
puts very little mark in terms of time of showing. But still, it played an imperative part of the
advertisement since it is used on the entire television screen. The logo was shown twice going from
59
the left corner to the right side. That attracted the sight of viewers. And at the last shot, the logo
appears with the brand name as it does in other advertisements.
Grameenphone is the market leader in telecommunication sector and with this advertisement they
have successfully enhanced their brand. But with this ad the mother brand GP is getting all
attention. At the end they provided a message, Grameenphone internet has reached to 20million
60
people as the light of knowledge‖. Through this message they mentioned that they have 20 million
subscriber and they showed that those subscribers are the mass people by the advertisement. The
advertisement was made for mass people but is understandable to some extent. They basically tried
to create an emotional appeal through this advertisement as they always do with their
advertisement. They always successfully create those emotional appeals with an appropriate
message of their offer. But this time they failed to do that thing. They create an emotional appeal
but failed to provide the message in an easy way. So there is confusion about the brand being
effectively communicated which results a communication failure.
That significance or difference that led to people remembers. People can’t recall easily this
advertisement. One major reason of disregarding this advertisement, as we found, is the number
of new ad exposure. In the competitive market arena, companies are continuously introducing new
advertisement to attract the target segments and we are watching new ads in almost every day.
Moreover, this specific advertisement is not targeting any specific market segment, rather
targeting the entire market having no specialized concept. That’s why, although being a pleasant
advertisement to watch, this advertisement does not seems to be very much memorable. Thorough
the research, we found some interesting responses like some people mentioned that they liked
celebrity endorsement on this advertisement. But in reality there is no celebrity endorsement on
this advertisement. Rather than these things there is a communication lacking in the process of
communication. Maybe the consumers liked the musical aspect of this advertisement or the visuals
and situations in it. But the communication aspect in the message is not communicated properly.
61
So in general perspective the advertisement may have positive thinking about GP but is not that
much memorable for the consumers.
From the point of view of Mass People In our opinion the advertisement is not that much effective
because it’s an emotional thematic advertisement targeted for mass people. But basically the theme
is not expressed properly. The people of Bangladesh have less expectancy due to illiteracy and if
this advertisement is made for mass people its vague because this can’t signify its motto. The focus
of this advertisement is diversified and made a confused poisoning of the brand and products. GP
branding is present in this advertisement but product focus is missing. The advertisement is aimed
at mass people but is not easily understandable. It may have expressed its inner meaning to
intellectual people who may already have internet facilities available to them. So the direct sales
will not be influenced as an output of this advertisement. From the point of view of Product Life
Cycle From the perspective of product life cycle GP internet is now in a growth stage and
consumers are aware of the competitive scenario of the market. So to be successful in this stage
there should be competitive advertisements focusing on the products attributes. From the point of
view of Implication Level Grameenphone’s main purpose for making this advertisement was to
create awareness about the thought-"Light will find its way" & learning. The advertisement was
jointly aligned with Bissho Shahitto Kendro as a CSR activity by Grameenphone which basically
focus on the spreading the light of education and knowledge on the minds of mass people. If this
advertisement is made for the purpose of creating awareness for gaining knowledge with the help
of internet, then why is it not communicated properly? In a real sense this advertisement just
touches consumers mind for a few seconds and fades out without creating any spot for learning or
anything. From Image Building Perspective Grameenphone has its own brand identity in the
market as well as in consumer mind. Thus in brand building perspective this advertisement is
completely successful and can be considered as another good and thoughtful advertisement created
by Grameenphone and nothing more than this.
62
The challenges
Airtel and Asiatic Mindshare came to G&R with an objective to engage with online consumers in
a fun and interactive way. It was clear that while photography is a very popular hobby in
Bangladesh, there was an opportunity to get people more excited about connecting and sharing
their photos. It was from this insight where the concept of the “Bangladesh in My Lens” app was
born.
The approach
“Bangladesh in My Lens” was launched as photography contest to celebrate the Bangladesh
Independence Day on March 26th 2012. The focus of the “Bangladesh in My Lens” campaign was
centered around Facebook and engaging with the audience already present on the social network.
The G&R team has unrivalled expertise in the local market in developing applications on the
Facebook platform as well as ad campaigns driving users to the application itself.
With photography being the key theme for this campaign, designing a high quality application was
key - particularly one that delivered when it came to user experience. The contest revolved around
participants “Liking” the Airtel page. From this point, participants could upload photos to be
judged by fellow users. The winners of the contest had their photos exhibited at a local gallery.
The results
This campaign delivered phenomenal results - see the key data points below
“Bangladesh in My Lens” was declared a huge success by Airtel and the agency, Asiatic
Mindshare. Its impact has led to more collaboration with G&R and the launching of a follow up
campaign in June 2012 called “Monsoon in My Lens”. Perhaps the most rewarding measure of
success though is that other large companies attempted replicating the Airtel campaign.
63
4.10.3 Case study of GrameenPhone Free Life Insurance offer ‘Nirvoy’
In partnership with Micro Insurance Asia and Pragati Life Insurance, Grameenphone has
introduced a Free Life Insurance offer Nirvoy for its customers. All Grameenphone users (except
data SIM only users) will be able to avail this offer by registering (Free) from nearest
Grameenphone centers or selection service touch points.
The "Target Market" of Grameenphone Free Life Insurance television commercial is all GP
customers/ parents who have one or more dependent child on him and who is worried about his/her
beloved child even in absence of him. Who can’t afford normal insurance policy for better future
of his/her child, especially low income blue collar workers, white collar worker etc,
Grameenphone is offering a Free Life Insurance policy for them.
The touching heart ad focuses on those who are only earning person of their family and they have
interest for future planning for his/ her family members. Life insurance provides protection to their
dependents which assured financial security in case of his inopportune death. The dependents or
family members get a fixed sum of money in case of death of the assured. The target market of Life
Insurance Company can be low, middle or higher income families. They also want to address blue
collar workers or white collar workers.
Every one of us is working to build a bright future for ourselves and our loved ones. But sometimes
there comes a moment... a moment of realization of the uncertainty that can turn the whole world
upside down. We all want to remove hurdles that may put up a barrier for our loved ones to reach
their dreams. A humble effort from Grameenphone with 'Nirvoy' may support that journey of going
beyond.
The main message of the ad is so touchy for securing your children’s future in case of any
unavoidable ill-timed incident. The ad title is ‘NIRNOY’ no worries for your children’s future even
in absences of you. It means the financial safety and security through insurance planning and risk
management. Insurance is a financial tool that transfers the risk of financial loss from one party,
the insured, to another party, the insurance carrier. When there is an insurance claim, the insurer
64
restores the economic loss, in whole or in part. A solid plan oftentimes includes insurance to cover
property (personal property, real estate, automobile, etc.), liability (negligence, torts, etc.), and
personal risk (death, disability, poor health, etc.).
Yes it is. As this is a television commercial so it is the right medium because now a day everybody
watches television. Low, middle or high class people most of them has a television. Through this
ad GP life Insurance can reach toward the all target group. Additionally, since the ad is totally an
emotional ad so it will touch the heart of the parents and they will try to make a life insurance for
their children by thinking that what will their children do after their death. Through repeatedly
telecasting this ad will easily reach out to the target population who are interested in life
insurance.
What design element have they used to get the get market attention?
The TVC was designed and portrayed in an e environment filled with a feeling of in security in the
mind of a small daughter and she was engulfed with fear and uncertainty. Assurance came with
the presence of father. The whole TVC was pictured in the stage of a family environment where
the daughter became afraid in the absence of father. The background music in the eminent scenario
of storm, uncontrolled door and windows portrayed emotional appeal nicely.
Management of space, control and combination of light and presentation of product feature with
brand logo makes the ad more effective and unity of effect.
All the visuals and audible elements are crystal clear and distinctive in grabbing the attention of
market. Sound effects were inserted in right sequence and right time. Sound clips were selected
matching with the emotion of environmental effect and actress of TVC. Color selection, contrast
and special effect on color by controlling light shed gives a feeling of real life show.
Simulation of main object of insecurity and requirement of insurance was nicely pictured. Emotion
provoking dialogues, text popup and way of getting in into insurance policy was clearly spelled
65
out. The title of the ad is NIRVOY rightly matched with the sense of insurance. In the last portion
of the TVC the addition of text clip made the message of insurance more clear to the audience.
There is effective branding in the advertisement. This is because of the following reasons:
Logo: The logo of Grameenphone has a positive effect on consumer mindset. The logo is of blue
color which creates a sense of reliability, trust, security, and technology. The never ending cycle
of the logo points toward the assurance of continuous improvement in service given by GP.
In terms of this advertisement, this logo actually puts very little mark in the time of showing. But
still, it played an imperative part of the advertisement since it is used on the entire television
screen. The logo was shown once going from the right corner to the left side. That attracted the
sight of viewers. And at the last shot, the logo appears with the brand name as it does in other
advertisements.
Visual Aspect: The technical aspects explain the advertisements perfection and clarity in terms
of technical expertise. The visualization and scenes are very clear without any doubt.
Aesthetically: The aesthetical clearance means the combination of the clearance of audio and
video with contrast of the message that have to be delivered to the consumer mind. The targeted
customers should understand what message is given with each sight and word. The consumers
also have to get a clear understanding of the theme of the advertisement. Which is missing in this
advertisement may be only intellectuals or special segment can understand the meaning of this
advertisement so aesthetically the message is not that much clear.
Yes, the ad is definitely memorable as the ad is containing the following important aspects: The
dramatic and exciting emotional appeal between the father and daughter which has been shown
on the TV is remarkable and memorable.
The love and affection between parents and children is unconditional and universal. The advertiser
could attract the attention of the target market and make them more curious and bring them to the
details of the ad successfully as the ad is related with their life.
66
The advertiser could create the curiosity in the mind of the viewers as there were nothing in the
initial part of the ad other than the dramatic feelings of emotion which hold the patience of the
consumer up to the last where the product name and brand is shown technically. This creates a
positive attitude and impact on the viewer’s mind who may be ultimately motivated to purchase
the product.
All these things make the ad more memorable to the target market and the popular and very well-
known logo of the brand which helps the ad to be more memorable.
We can say the ad is very effective but it can be easily said that this ad is moderately effective. The
reasons behind it are appended bellow:
The ad instantaneously draws the attention of the target market and makes the ad memorable by
creating the emotional appeal in the mind of the potential buyers. It focuses on the product or
product features and also the brand name which is very important.
It’s an emotional thematic advertisement targeted for mass people. It may have expressed its inner
meaning to intellectual people. The mass people of Bangladesh also lacks in using modern
technology so that direct sales will be less influenced as an output of this advertisement.
However the ad could convey the ultimate message of the product to the particular group by using
the right media in focusing the necessary and important features of the product with its brand
name. So the ad is moderately effective.
In terms of reach to target market 58 percent respondent recommend that GrameenPhone Alo
campaign got highest reach to target market where as Airtel Bangladesh in my lens got 2nd highest
reach choice and Grameenphone Nirvoy Insurance Ad got minimum reach percentage to target
market.
67
In case of Positioning (Message) 52 percent respondent (9 out of 17 active respondents)
recommend that best positioning done for Grameen Phone Alo Ashbei, whereas Airtel Bangladesh
in My Lens ranked at equal positioning in terms of message quality and Nirvoy got least
percentage in this regards.
68
In terms of memorable or recall ability of Grameen Phone Alo Ashbei Campaign positioned 1st
and got 48 percent respondent recommendation whereas GrameenPhone Nirvoy Campaign
positioned second and Airtel Bangladesh Campaign positioned third.
69
CHAPTER 5:
Advertising industries are becoming saturated with competitors of all sizes, to the point where the
products and services we produce and provide, are becoming commoditized. Differentiation is difficult
because truthfully, everyone is offering pretty much the same thing. In the advertising and marketing
industry, commoditization is spreading like wildfire, and creativity looks more and more like it could
get commoditized.
The Internet has accelerated the industry at dizzying speeds. Markets teem with ruthless competition.
Commoditization has for one reason or other, slipped under the radar, despite it being arguably the
biggest threat of all.
Marketing is all about emphasizing you to buy a product or service which is less or not necessary for
you at all and advertising agency is that kind of place where it deals with the communication purpose.
They emphasize on that issue through which you can sell your product or service more properly and
reach to the highest customers.
Advertising industry is treating ideas, creativity, and media, simply as tools that can always be made
faster and more cheaply elsewhere. Now social media too has become popularized, as brands broadcast
messages all day long on Facebook and Twitter, so agency should pay more attention to social media.
PR has also shifted, since all the journalists can go straight to the source and no longer need the PR
person. It now takes a dashboard to be a marketing person at a major brand. That dashboard keeps
track of brand assets, agencies, and hopefully, objectives. The agencies are relegated to an “arms and
legs” role, not the conceptual role they were meant to offer. And that will get worse and worse.
Unfortunately, most ad agencies big and small fail to differentiate their services and then wonder why
they keep getting beaten to the punch. Advertising agencies are supposed to be in the business of
creating differentiation. Sadly, many of them pursue the standards of “Better, Bigger, Faster”, which
puts our industry at great disadvantage.
Perhaps it is time for those agencies that do not have a clear strategic difference, to rethink their
business. To go from undifferentiated to differentiated takes hard, strategic work. The kind of work
70
that most agencies say they do for their own clients. It’s time they practice what they preach or
commoditization will surely put a cap on their bottom line.
Agencies need to obsess with ‘difference’. They need to provide their clients with different
experiences, unique people, new ways of thinking, working and collaborating. Thinking ‘different’ is
the best way to obliterate commoditization.
Digitally knock to the unused talents: Advertisers should utilize information technology to tap the
creative power of unfamiliar but genuine talents who are less cared and unevaluated. These people
may remain unexplored in all walks of life. Students often do not find any scope to expel their creative
ideas generated in their course works. This digital age provides them much opportunity to be creative
but their ideas do not see the auguring face of fruition in practical field due to the absence of
opportunity
Before concluding my report, I would like to confess to my reader that, maybe it is not a complete one,
there are many more points that I can’t concentrate during study this industry in future, I just try to
initiate a study which may be essence of thinking about the subject matter. There are lots of area that
I can’t cover in my report due to shortage of time and resources. The firm tries to keep confidentiality
and didn’t give all data that I require for preparation of a better report. I hope they would be more
liberal in future for providing data or information to conduct this type of research.
71
5.2 REFERENCES
Article on ‘Advertising market in Bangladesh expanding fast’ Thursday, 06 March
2008, the Daily Independent.
Belch, E George and Michael A Belch, (2009), “The Promotional Mix”, Advertising
and Promotion, 7th ed., the McGraw- Hill Inc.
Bauer, R. A., & Greyser, S. A. (1968). Advertising in America: The Consumer View,
Boston, MA: Harvard University, Graduate School of Business Administration, Division
of Research Bauer,
Dholakia, R.R. & Dholakia, N. 2004. Mobility and Markets: Emerging Outlines of
M-Commerce. Journal of Business Research, 57, 1391-1396
George Belch, Michael Belch, Irene Powell (2004), Advertising and Promotion: An
Integrated Marketing Communication Perspective, 7th ed., the McGraw- Hill Inc.
72
Humayun K et. all (2006). Consumer Attitude toward Mobile Advertising in an Emerging Market:
An Empirical Study, International Journal of Mobile Marketing, VOL. 1(2)
H H., Barnes, S.J., Reichardt, T. & Neumann, M.M. (2005). Driving Consumer
Acceptance of Mobile Marketing: A theoretical framework and empirical study, Journal of
Electronic Commerce Research, 6(3), 181-192
Islam, Md. Ariful (2012), A study in the decision making of clients advertising
Kotler Philip, Keller Kevin Lane (2011), “Marketing Management”, ‘Twelfth edition,
Pearson Hall, pp 405-407, 412-414.
Love lock Christopher, Wirtz Jochen, 2004, “Service Marketin: People, Technology,
73
Strategy”, 5th edition, Pearson education (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., pp 406-411.
Sergio Zyman, Armin Brott (2002), `The End of Advertising as We Know It’
Sandage, C.H. (1939), “The advertising Agency”, Advertising Theory & Practice,
(Seventh edition), Business Publication Inc., pp.625-647
Sohel Ahmed S.M. (2011) Historical Perspective and Evaluation of Advertising Firms
in Bangladesh: European Journal of Business and Management, Vol 3(5)
The Daily Star, (March 02, 2008). Star Business, “Telecom operators’ battle fuels
Increase in advertising spends”.
http://www.commonwealthofnations.org/sectorsbangladesh/business/advertising_marketing_and
pr/ Advertising, Marketing and PR organizations in Bangladesh
74
Retrieved from: http://banglaipedia.org/index.php, available on March 06, 2014
75
Appendix-1
Questionnaire for advertising agency personnel/Viewer Selected Ad Campaign
Name:
Address:
I. Rank the marketing communication tools (with no.) most used in Bangladesh?
Advertising
Public Relations
Sales Promotion
Direct mail or email campaigns
Social Media
……………….
Yes/No
IV. Please figure out the some problems for the Ad agencies in Bangladesh?
Government interruption
Skill manpower shortage
Investment problem
Lack proper training
…………………………
V. What is your suggestion overcoming the problems Ad agencies are facing in Bangladesh?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
VI. What is the Future Prospect of Advertising Agencies in Bangladesh?
Very Good/Good/Bad/ Very Bad
VII. Do you think that Current Practice of Ad Agencies in Bangladesh should be improved?
Yes/No
VIII. What are your firm’s strength, weakness, opportunities and threats?
A. …………………………
B. …………………………
C. …………………………..
D. …………………………..
76
Appendix-2
Question on selected Ad campaign evaluation for advertising agency personnel
Name:
Address:
A. GrameenPhone Alo Ashbei
B. Airtel presents ‘Bangladesh in My Lens
Campaign
C. Grameen phone Free Life Insurance offer
‘Nirvoy’
IX. Rank above ad according to reach of target market?
X. Arrange above ad according to positioning?
XI. Rank them based on medium/tools used?
XII. Rank them based on design element have they used?
XIII. Arrange above ad according visual clarity?
XIV. Ease of understanding rank them please?
XV. Effectiveness of branding & the ad itself?
XVI. Rank according to memorable or not?
XVII. Why Clients spent for ad Campaign?
Stay in Competition/Earn profit/boost up business/ Create hype
XVIII. When they spend?
Regular/ occasional/ Seasonal/Launching a product or service
XIX. How they Spend?
Ad/PR/Promotion/Event & Sponsorship
XX. Where they spent?
Print AD/Electronic AD/ Direct /Email marketing
77
Appendix-3
Questions on selected Ad campaign evaluation by agency personnel
78