WHAT IS ADVERTISING?

Advertising is mass, paid communication, the ultimate purpose of which is to impart information, develop attitude and induce action beneficial to the advertiser (generally the sales of a product or service).

The Field Of Advertising Management

Advertising management is heavily focused on the analysis, planning, control, and decision-making activities of the institution the advertiser. The advertiser provides the overall managerial directions and the financial support for the development of advertising and the purchase of media time and space, even though many institutions are involved in the process. The development of advertising plan or program for the advertiser is the focal point of the activity.

 In case of an organization offering different range of products the separate plans or program are developed or made for each. The resulting advertisement or communication is placed several times in or aired and the schedule, which is prepared, is referred to as advertising campaign. The development and management of an advertising campaign associated with the advertisers brand, product or service is thus a major point of advertising management.

The Advertiser
The advertiser is the core institution of the field of advertising and the expenditure of the advertiser provides the basis of estimates of the size of advertising industry. An advertiser uses the facilitating institutions such as -Advertising Agency, Media, and Research Suppliers. Small and large-scale advertisers are distinguished according the degree to which they use the facilitating institutions.

 The typical large national advertiser will have more than one advertising under contract and will buy numerous types of research services as well as conduct research on their own whereas the small-scale advertisers due to the budgetary constraints use only few of the facilitating institutions.

 Advertisers differ according to the markets they serve, goods and services they produce and the media they use. Incase of private sectors the advertisers are distinguished as consumer, industrial or retail advertisers. Consumer advertisers are those mainly involved in the manufacture of durable or non- durable goods and services for the consumer markets. Industrial advertisers are predominantly manufacture and market products for industrial markets and Retailers are often advertise locally to attract store purchase

 Retail advertisers particularly at local level use newspaper advertising extensively. Consumer goods and services advertiser use newspaper, radio, and magazines. Industrial advertisers generally make use trade magazines, Business news papers, direct mail, and trade show. The audience for industrial advertising is made up of professionals who are often willing and able to accept and process detailed information than is an audience made up of members of household

 The advertisers whose spends are high are from categories like retail, automotive, business and consumer services, entertainment, foods, cosmetics, toiletries drugs. In case of the FMCG products the Brand Manager who is responsible for managing all marketing related aspects of the brand handles the advertising. Since consumer products acre bought by virtually every household, most of the there budgets are spent on television advertising.

 In contrast the manufacturer of durable goods will be more inclined towards print media because the durable product is more complex and requires more detailed copy. Print media is also more used by the retail advertisers.

 Non profit organizations such as NGO, schools are using local media. Business firms must identify the groups they serve, determine their needs, and develop products and services to satisfy those needs and communicate them with their constituencies.

What does Advertising Do?

 Basically advertising does FIVE core things Advertising COMMUNICATES Advertising is PART OF A WIDER MARKETING PROCESS Advertising SELLS Advertising BRANDS Advertising PROTECTS

Advertising COMMUNICATES
All adverts try to SAY something to the consumer about the product or service they are advertising. They contain a message, through which the advertiser hopes to positively influence our thinking in favour of their brand. When it come time to consider buying a product or service of that type, it is hoped, then the message contained in the advertising will predispose us to look favorably upon that particular product or service over the others which might be available.

Advertising is PART OF A WIDER MARKETING PROCESS

Advertising on its own doesn't usually have the power to totally influence our decision to buy something. Other factors, such as price and availability, also exert an important influence, so advertising has to work alongside the other elements of MARKETING in an 'integrated' way to communicate effectively with the consumer.

Advertising SELLS
It costs a lot of money to put together an advertising campaign ; a large FMCG company like Procter & Gamble might well spend huge amount of money on EACH of its main soap powder, cleaning product or shampoo brands such as Ariel or Head & Shoulders. Advertising must therefore EARN BACK the money it spends, by generating new business which more than covers what the advertising cost.

Advertising BRANDS
A 'brand' originally referred to a distinguishing mark of some kind, placed on objects, animals (or in some cases people) to signify ownership or status. In advertising, 'branding' refers to the creation of a special set of qualities for the product or service, a brand 'identity', which consumers can recognize and identify with, and which will SEPARATE or DIFFERENTIATE the product or service from competitors. Most advertising campaigns try to create such an identity for their clients because a powerful brand is a highly persuasive combination of RATIONAL and EMOTIONAL attributes. If a brand works, it means people will remember it, trust it and prefer it to competitors even though it may be more expensive, or harder to get.

Advertising PROTECTS
A successful advertising campaign not only sells products, it also DEFENDS the position of the client in the marketplace against competitors. Money spent on advertising, therefore doesn't just result in a shortterm gain in sales for the client which will fall away once the campaign's immediate effects die off. It also BUILDS BRAND EQUITY, which is the word used for the longer-term effect good advertising has in predisposing consumers to look favorably on one product rather than another.

 Advertisers use some form of media to accomplish the organizational objectives, where some media expenditure is involved, the advertiser will also use the services of advertising agency, and one or more research supplier. These three types institutions make up the primary facilitating institutions of advertising management. The advertising agency is a link between the advertiser and media. A major role of the advertising agency is to purchase the media time and space. The research inputs are vital to the process of advertising based on which the major decisions are taken.

Facilitating Institutions

The Advertising Agency

In most of the cases the advertising agency makes the creative and media decisions .It also offers supportive market research and sometimes involved in marketing plan. The basic compensation for most of the agencies is a fixed percentage of 15%, which they receive from media in which advertisement is placed. Many companies now also link the compensation to the campaign performance, paying the agency a bonus if the campaign exceeds agreed upon communication goals.

Agency Organization
An agency employs three different types of people in addition to those handling administration. The first is the creative services group that includes copywriters, artists, and people associated with advertising production. They develop the advertising campaign, prepare the theme, and create the actual advertisements. The second group includes the people from marketing services whose responsibility includes media and market research. This group contains technical experts who direct market research efforts and the operation researchers who develop media buying models.

 The final group includes client services group, which includes account executives. An account executive is responsible for contact with client. As the advertising campaign is developed, the account executive obtains advice and decisions from the client, as they are needed. Over a period, several agencies have embraced other organizational innovations called Account Planning.

 An Account planner is a specialist in consumer attitudes and motivations who relies on qualitative in-depth research and who works with account and creative teams in ensuring that the is built with a deep and through understanding of consumers point of view.

 An advertising agency that offers full spectrum of services includes market research, introduction plans, creative services, media planning and purchase is termed as full service agency. Recently the alternatives to the full service agencies have appeared for large advertisers. This involves replacement of large agency with smaller specialized organizations. It is stimulated by the development of organizations that specialize in media planning and purchases and others that provides only creative services the creative boutiques.

 The perceived need to make advertising and media investments work harder by negotiating bigger media discounts by consolidating media buying and by using smaller agencies that are sometimes perceived to be more creative than larger ones have led to these developments.

 The media includes various media vehicles such as print, television, direct mail, out door, radio, and internet. The largest media category includes print. The second largest category includes television. The third largest category includes direct mail. Direct mail is a medium that has recently increased its share in advertising expenditure. A business paper includes trade magazines used by the industrial advertisers and others who target their advertising to non-consumer audience. Radio has gained importance in advertising expenditure recently due to the emergence of FM radio

The Media

 Television attracted advertisers as an advertising medium because it provides opportunity for presenting live demonstrations to large audience. The installations of fiber -optic cable to household throughout the country and many parts of world promises to speed the development of so-called information highway with many important implications for the media industry. Various types of sales promotions can also be considered by the advertiser and represents yet another kind of media. It includes focus on premiums, promotions, contest, coupons, sampling, and price-offs, and cash refunds, point of purchase.

Research Suppliers
The final type in facilitating institution is made up of companies that supply research services to advertisers, advertising agencies, and the media. The advertising researchers developed methods for assessing the effectiveness of advertising. They provide wide variety of services to advertisers which ranges from consumer surveys copy testing, audience measurement and many others.

 The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) - provides the authenticity in terms of circulation of newspapers and magazines. National Readership Survey (NRS.) and Indian Readership Survey (IRS) Provides insight in readership of newspapers and magazines. It also gives insight in terms of readership hobbits of people. Television Audience Measurement (TAM)Provides insight in view ship habits of people. Market Research is a significant industry in the country and it is the source of much information used in advertising management.

Advertising as Communication:

Sender

Medium

Receiver

 Communication is the process of transferring the information; meaning and understanding from sender to receiver. Carrying out that process convincingly and proficiently is an absolute essential for an organization.

Marketing Communication
Marketing communication is a collective term for all the various types of planned messages used to build brand such as advertising , public relation, sales promotions, direct marketing, personal selling, packaging, events, sponsorships, and customer services. Marketing communications have little value without media, the vehicles through which marketing communications messages are carried to large audience

 Building brands is the overall objectives of all marketing communication as well as all marketing activities. Building brand is the same as building business. Marketing communication with the help of media help to build a brand by connecting company with customers. Brand messages also add value to a brand for both customer and company. Customer gain value by learning about what brand can do for them or what brand offers and where it can be purchased as well as answers to specific questions.

 Several options which are present in marketing communication , such as advertising, sales promotions, personal selling, publicity, direct marketing, public relations ,makes working in the field of marketing communication exciting. Each of these tools have functional expertise and significantly impact the brand. It is one of the most important strategic decisions that marketer must take is what mix of marketing communication function and media would be best for their brands.

 A marketing communication mix is the selection of marketing communication functions used at a given time as a part of a marketing program. Apart from selecting the mix, marketer must also decide to what extent each function will be used

Advertising
Advertising has evolved as a tool of marketing communications. It is an art as well as science. Competition, growing marketing expenses, product failures, liberalization, globalization, and emergence of new electronic media has given an impetus advertising activity. To reach masses advertising has to buy space or time in one or more media of mass communication such as radio, television, and news papers/magazines. Advertising not only draws attention of audience but also creates brand awareness.

Advertising serves three purposes To recruit new customers, To increase the use of goods or service among existing customers, and To help potential customers choose among the brands. These three motives can be merged in to a single purpose market share , or to convince the customer to choose one brand over another and retain him for life. It deals with capturing human feelings and emotions which makes it one of the most challenging job.

 Advertising is the most visible marketing tool, which seeks to transmit an effective message from the marketer to a group of individuals. The marketer pays for sponsoring the advertising action. It is a non- personal presentation and it is directed at a mass audience. In the process of communication, an advertiser is the source who transmit the message which passes through

 An appropriate medium like press, TV, radio, or Internet. The message is decoded meaningfully. This message is received by the target audience for whom the product / service is meant. The main purpose of advertising is to make the target audience favorably inclined towards the product or service. This makes advertising a marketing communication. It passes the information about the product. /service in such a way about the same that it interest is created in the mind of prospective customer

Definition of Advertising
Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about product, service, or ideas by an identified sponsorer through various mediums.

Process of Advertising
The process of communication begins when sender transmits the message to receiver and result of this process is the understanding of a message. This message is transmitted through media or certain channels. The response to the message is measured by receiving the feedback from the recipient of the communication. The communication sometimes fails to accomplish its purpose creation of an appropriate response or understanding when the message is distorted by noise elements.

PROCESS OF ADVERTISING

SENDER

ENCODE THE MESSAGE

ENCODE THE MESSAGE IN MEDIA

DECODING OF THE MESSAGE

RECEIVER

NOISE DISTORTION

FEEDBACK

RESPONSE

 The sender is the source of the message. It puts the message in symbolic form; it may be letter or advertising copy. This is called encoding . The message is carried by the media may be television or newspapers; the message is received by the receiver who shows a particular response which is communicated back to the sender.

 Integrated marketing communication is a process of planning, executing, and monitoring the brand messages that creates customer relationships. It is about synergy and creativity ,integration and communication.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

IMC Model
Buying Intent to Buy Brand Relationship
Attitudes Towards Buying

Brand Message

Evaluating & Planning

One and Two Way

Customer Brand Experience

Strong Brand Relationship

Weak Brand Relationship

 Modern marketing is the management of four Ps product, price, place or distribution channels, and promotions. The entire marketing process has large contents of communication for eg. , The product communicates a distinctive image such as youthfulness, glamour, or prestige. The brand name communicates physical and psychological attributes of the product eg. Dream flower talc.

 The package communicates to the customer what the manufacturer thinks of his convenience and sense of beauty. The price communicates the quality of the product. Each element of the marketing mix either helps or hinders communication and ultimately the sales effort. Thus marketing communication is a broader term than promotional strategy.

 Integration is combining of separate parts into unified whole. The outcome of integration is synergy, which is interaction of individual parts in a way that makes the integrated whole greater than sum of its parts. When brand message reinforce each other synergy is produced. When message s are different they can be confusing and actually distract from a coherent impression of a brand not produce synergy.

 Integration needs to occur in al where the customer comes in contact with a brand such as customer service and product performance. Otherwise the marketing communication is waste in spite of its consistency. Integrated marketing communication is an ongoing communication process that spins off brand relationships, which when strong produce brand equity, sales, and profits. Organizations constantly evaluate the impact of brand message on customer attitudes and responses and adjust their marketing plans accordingly. Planning provides direction for creating and delivering brand messages.

 The media delivers as well as provide the ways for customers and prospects to initiate send message to the company. As customer receives brand message and respond to a company by buying its products, asking questions and so on, brand experience is created. Each brand experience either strengthens or weakens the brand relationships. Strengthened brand relationships results in increased sales and profits, enhancing brand equity.

 Marketing mix. Promotional mix consist of four tools such as Advertising, Sales promotions, Publicity, Personal Selling, Public Relations

Advertising
Any paid form of non-personal communications of ideas, products, or services through a medium by a known sponserer. Publicity: Non personal stimulation of demand for a product/service or business organization as a whole by putting commercially significant news in media to create a favorable image . It is not paid for by the sponserer.

Personal Selling:
Sales person making oral presentation to the buyer/ buyer for generating sales.

Public Relations:
Marketers use the public relations to develop a favorable image of their organization in the eyes of public public at large, customers, suppliers, government, media companies, shareholders, employees, and the society.

The Process of IMC

The marketing department of an organization who act as a sender, sends message which is encoded in the form of advertising copy, publicity material, sales promotional displays, The media for delivering the message may be print, electronic media, or a sales presentation. The decoding involves customer interpretation of the message. This challenging aspect of the process as customer may not always interpret the message, as the sender wants them to interpret.

 This may happen due to the meanings attached to various words and symbols may differ. Depending upon the frame of reference and the field of experience between the sender and receiver. The overlapping of field experience and frame of reference makes the process of communication possible. In absence of overlap the communication is waste or bad. The response to the, message can be judged by undertaking market research study or by analyzing the sales report.

 The noise element is the competitor promotional messages. The errors in the communications can reduced by understanding the market, the needs and attitudes of potential customers.

STRATEGIES TO MOVE US FROM WHERE WE ARE TO WHERE WE WOULD LIKE TO BE STRATEGIC BUSINESS PLAN

MARKETING PLAN

OBJECTIVES TO REALISE THESE STRATEGIES

COMMUNICATION OR PROMOTIONAL PLAN

OBJECTIVES OF EACH ACTIVITY

ADVERTISING

SALES PROMOTIONS

PR & PUBLICITY

DIRECT MARKETING

PERSONAL SELLINGT

PROGRAMMES & BUDGET

DETAILED PLANS & BUDGET ALLOCATION

REVIEW & EVALUATE

RESULTS MEASURED & COMPARED

COMMUNICATION PLANNING

Communications Plan
Organizations treat advertising, public relations, publicity, and sales promotions and direct marketing as separate activities. Strategic business plan is the starting point of the communication plan this strategic plan generates strategic marketing plan.

Strategic Business Plan:

Strategies designed /crafted to move from where organization is to the place where an organization wishes to be in future.

Marketing Plan:
Objectives that set in strategic business plan are required to be realized in this step.

Communication Plan:
Objectives to be fulfilled in each activity.

Budget:
Details of each activity plan are studied and budgets are allotted.

Push v/s Pull Strategies:

The promotional strategies are directed at either dealers or customers.

Pull Strategy:
In this case, the activities like advertising, sales promotions are directed towards end user to create a demand for the product. The customer is motivated to approach a retailer asking about the availability of product.

 When several such enquiries come, the retailer is compelled to approach the wholesaler for the stock of the demanded product. This strategy helps to sell the product by creating the pull which is exercised by the customer on the distribution system .

Push Strategy
Manufacturer Wholesaler Retailer End Consumer

Push Strategy In this strategy, the product is pushed through the channel instead of pull. Push strategy directs efforts towards the channel partners. Such promotional efforts could be personal selling, dealer promotions, and advertising. The manufacturer pushes the product to wholesaler; in turn this wholesaler pushes the product to the retailers. This retailer promotes the product to the end customer. Many industrial; products and ready-made garments are promoted by the push method.

Promotional Tools and Consumer Response

The consumer passes through the stage called AIDA before he makes the buying decision. AIDA stages are as follows, Attention To get attention of the consumer or to create an awareness about the product./ service . InterestTo arouse the interest in the mind of consumer about the product and build it. Desire To create the desire for the product. ActionTo motivate the customer to buy the product.

AIDA Cognitive Affective Awareness Interest Desire

Hierarchy of Effects Awareness Knowledge Liking Preference Conviction Purchase

Behavioral
Customer

Action
Satisfaction

Satisfaction level

 The thrill and challenge in advertising is in informing and persuading the consumers about the benefits of the brand and in meeting their needs and aspirations to make the brand a more meaningful part of their life. The success and reward is in ensuring the growth and prosperity of the brand and in its being recognized, valued and bought by the consumers.

 From the perspective of the receiver, advertising not only provides him or her with the information necessary to undertake the selection process but also helps to satisfy some basic and relevant needs of the receiver. Advertising also provides the receiver with the choice. It gives him or her an opportunity to choose the most suitable or the fittest products. The consumer has the option to choose that will satisfy his or her needs the best.

 Marketing approach is a more evolved form of selling. It is more sustainable form of selling driven by customers needs and aims for a win-win outcome. In contrast to the selling approach, which takes the product as given and look for customers to sell it to, the marketing approach takes customer needs as given and looks products to plug them. Need satisfaction or the fulfillment is the central to marketing., but not necessarily selling .

 From a marketing perspective, if an Eskimo has no real need for a refrigerator he or she should not be sold. Instead, products that Eskimo might need should be developed. Marketing is customer driven and relationship oriented; in contrast to selling is product driven and deal oriented, the two stands for different mindset.

 The Selling Mindset is one of the hit and run, of shooting in dark. It is one that believes that you keep finding newer targets every time. It is not worried about leaving behind the annoyed and unsatisfied ones

 The genesis of advertising lies between journey form selling approaches to marketing approach. Advertising plays a crucial role in marketing approach by persuading customers to buy a product through need satisfaction and build a mutually beneficial relationship with them, hereby reducing the emphasis on having to sell.

 Due to increase in the of competition, product parity, and consumer choice there is transformation from sellers one to buyers one. This forces a company to look beyond the product driven selling approach. They need to evolve their products and selling efforts to influence consumer choice in their favor They need to adapt and innovate rather than being relevant to customer since they need to survive. Hence marketing approach becomes the mantra for growth and longitivity.

 In marketing world , the individuals and companies are facing competition in selling their products to the customer , gradually learn to adapt and innovate their products and their efforts to create a distinct superiority or completive advantage in getting access to their customers.

 The Marketing Mantra of being more relevant to the consumers rather than competing products has become the new pitch for a success. It require a company to not only to understand their consumer better but also be more prepare and consistent in their marketing approach. This requires a planned marketing approach for in the end analysis plans by themselves mean nothing planning is everything.

The Marketing Planning Process:

The starting point of any marketing planning process is extensive Market Situation Analysis, the first thing being to research and understand the consumers from the product category perspective. Following questions are answered un this process.

Who are they? Where and hoe do they live? What are their needs? How do they decide and purchase the products? How do they use the products?

Keeping consumer in mind the completion is also analyzed. Who are they? What product? Which technology? What are their strengths and weakness? What are the product offerings? How are they are perceived by the consumers? What does consumer think about you and your product as compared to competition?

SWOT Analysis
The next step of market situation analysis is SWOT Analysis. The outcome of market situation analysis will help to find the holes or opportunities available to you in the market in comparison to the competition. What are the faults or pitfalls or threats you need to guard against. This analysis indicate the relative competitive advantages or strengths you might have over the competitor to leverage the available opportunity better than them ,and what are the relative disadvantages or weakness that you might need to correct and to compete in better way.

 This unique SWOT analysis for product and company outlines and guides you in defining the Marketing Problem, What challenges needs to be met?, What needs to be tackled? It is extremely important to define the Marketing Problem correctly and properly since the solution will depend on how the problem is defined.

 The solution to the problem will depend on how the marketing problem has been defined. The solution achieved is defined as Marketing Objectives that needs to be achieved to solve the problem it is then translated in to specific marketing tasks that are required to undertake to fulfill the defined marketing Clearly defined objectives and tasks gives purpose and direction to marketing process that follows.

 Fundamentally, the objectives of any marketing effort are to acquire the sustainable market share, which will ensure survival, growth, and longitivity of product. Once the marketing tasks are defined then look for the way, which is relevant to the consumer, and it is distinctly superior to what competitors are doing. The answer to this will be the Marketing Strategy. Marketing strategy is about creating a distinctive competitive advantage that helps in gaining and sustaining market share. Deriving market strategy involves two steps, such as

 To identify the consumer segments that can be satisfied better than competitor can, To position the brand or product in the mind of consumer as the only one that can satisfy the identified need.

 The first step involves defining Target Segments. Who are they? , Where they live? What they need? How will you get them? Market share objectives often guides in deciding target segments. Marketer needs to concentrate on those segments that have enough market potential to, make you achieve your market share goals

Segmenting Consumers: The segmentation can be done based on demographics, psychographics, and user graphics. By Demographics-Age, Income Sex, Rationality, Education, Family size, Family life cycle, Religion, Race ,Socio-Economic status, Occupation. By Psychographics- Social class, Personality, Lifestyle, Attitude. By User graphics User status-(non-user, potential user, first time user, regular user) Usage rate (heavy, medium, light, non-user)

 Attitude towards the product (enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, hostile) Loyalty status (switcher, shifting loyal, soft loyal, hardcore loyal) Product benefit sought (economy,convenience, performance) After selecting a target segment, the marketer must decide how to reach and serve this segment effectively. It is not possible or feasible to concentrate on entire segment. Eg Pepsi.

 The second step in marketing strategy is Market Positioning the position product will take in the minds of consumer so that they see the product as only one which will meet their requirements and expectations. This also called Brand Positioning. Brand Positioning is what wants to stand in the mind of consumer in unique way. For instance, freshness is associated with Liril, protection is associated with Dettol, and Beauty is associated with Lux.

 Targeting Strategies: Un differentiated Targeting-One homogenous target group, mass audience. Eg.. Coke, Tata salt, Iodex, Saridon. Differentiated Targeting- Multiple target groups. Eg. Sony, Maruti, Toyota, Lux, Clinic shampoo, Hyundai, Samsung, LG, Nike, Reebok. Niche Targeting-One focused small target group. Eg. Rolex, Rolls Royce, Omega, Ferrari, Armani.

 Product attribute or Benefit Approach: In this case, the brands are positioned on the basis of distinctive attritrbute or benefits offered in comparison with others in the category. The chosen attribute or benefit is based on the needs, expectation of significant numbers of individuals from the category. Eg. Maruti 800- economy. Volvo-safety, Toyota-reliability, BMW-performance. Indica- value for money.

 Price Quality Approach Comparative positioning on the key points in comparison with product quality. This means that brand is seen as economy (cheap), or value for money (good value), or premium (high value) or expensive (luxury) Eg. Duke T-shirt- economy, Lacoste-premium, TommyHilfiger-luxary.

 User Approach-A personality based approach where a users image or association rubs off on the brand image. Many times the lifestyle brands use this approach. The user may be a celebrity, an expert, or any ordinary user. Most of the cosmetic brand use this approach to position their brands. Marlboro is the classic example, Thums-up for grown up by using an adventurous man Akshay Kumar

 Product category Approach-In this case the brand is positioned the entire category as a new or superior alternative. Most of the new brands start like this. For example, sports cars against all general cars with cars like Ferrari, Jaguar. Dove soap positioning approach of being a moisturizer against all soaps.

 Competitor Approach-Usually comparative positioning is taken against some specific brands in the category. For example, Burger King took No. 2 position against Mc Donald. Whatever may be the approach the basic steps and logic remains same. Based on the consumer needs that the category fulfills and the position that competing brands already occupy in the minds of consumer; marketer must look for the gap that brand can uniquely and relevantly occupy.

 After finalizing the marketing strategy the marketer decides how and in what form marketer will deliver this distinct brand position to your target audience , this is nothing but the outlining the Marketing mix. This essentially means defining, what will be the Product ie what ingredients, size, features, packaging and many more. What Price it will be sold for, hoe and where it will be distributed or made available to consumers, Place, how you will Promote the product among the target segments. ie what kind of advertising, publicity, direct marketing efforts and many more.

 The last step of marketing plan is implementing and control. This involves the outline the action points to implement the marketing mix elements Budgets are allocated and managers are assigned to ensure the implementation and monitoring. The most important thing in this case to prepare the Contingency Plan Plan B if the existing plan takes bad turn.

 The role of various elements of marketing mix is complementary and not supplementary. If the key role of the advertising is to convert a distinct need in to a distinct consumer want and outline the contours of brand images and identify, then the role of the other elements to tap that consumer want and convert in to a purchase. In other words, if the role of advertising is to promise the brand experience and create consumer expectations, then role of other marketing elements is to that brand promise and experience.

 When all the elements of the marketing mix are in synergy that the true potential of advertising can be harnessed for brand. Only then a mutually beneficial relationship can be developed with the customers. Only then can marketing effort succeed. An advertising success has no meaning unless it is translated into marketing success.

The Brand Perspective: Brands rule the world of marketing today because they rule the world of consumers. They have not only changed the way consumer shop and buy, but also have profound effect on their life. We do not drive cars but we drive our Maruti, Toyota, and Honda. ` We do not wear shirts or jeans but we wear Arrow, Wrangler, and Levis.

 We as a consumer not only show clear preference for brands in any product category but also demand by the name when we shop. What makes own brands and not products? What makes us possessive about brands? The answer to this question will answer our main question about brand preference as well.

Drinkers Social drinker Reparative drinker Drinks for social Sees drink as acceptance a reward or to celebrate Indulgent drinker Drinks to express frustration

Oceanic drinker Drink to escape or Non-achievement

Smokers Casual smoker Smokes occasionally for fun

Careful smoker Habitual but conscious

Defiant smoker Addicted & chain smoker

Women clothing
Plain women Functional feminine Clothing She is comfortable Manly women Wears unisex cloths , power dressing

Fashionable women Dresses up to look attractive Happening & stand off

The Brand and Consumer Equation We interact and deal with brands in same as we interact with people. Brands start playing a meaningful role in our lives and we begin to very strongly own them. The stronger the relationship, the deeper is the ownership and possessiveness and loyalty towards them. The loyalty shown towards the brands shows a meaningful part of our life.

 We select brands either consciously or sub consciously. We show the same behaviour sequence and pattern of introduction to identification, to preference, to relationship, to ownership, and to loyalty for brand as well.

 The brand that promise us a unique offer of utilities, benefits, values, personality traits, images, and associations, that will satisfy our given needs and that we can relate to the ones that we identify with and show preference for. Hence more often than not the brand extends beyond the product core.. When the brand delivers its promise consistently over a period of time , a bonding or a relationship developers between the brand and the consumer. This evolves into loyalty driven ownership of a brand.

 A successful brand often transcends their physical existence take on a life and build relationship with their consumers. The positive experience, values, and associations that consumers perceive the brands bring to them leads to fulfillment of their expectations. The feeling of fulfillment becomes the reason for the success of the brand, and the basis for the relationship/

Competing Brands Making of successful brands requires long time and huge investments of marketing monies and efforts, together with sincere consumer driven approach, to reach where they have build trust with their consumers Strong sustainable brands with loyalties do not happen, nor are created overnight. They have to be built block by block and evolve only over a fairly long period of time, often decades. There are no short cuts.

 Building brands is like running a marathon. It requires huge business sense to invest in brand building. Strong reputed brands have lasting bonds with their consumers. It is very difficult to break their brand loyalty. The loyalty of consumers raises the entry barriers for the competitors and enables the company to enjoy benefits like premium pricing, and sustained market share over longer period of time. All these put together results in the brand being able to leverage its equity with the consumers and reap long-term profits for the company.

Brand name Playing Meaningful Role in the Consumer life

Strong brands are what the consumers relate to, identify with, and buy them, it is important to understand what makes a brand and how it is different from a product. The simplest way that outlines a brand as a companys idea of a product. Some other define brand as a perceived experience offered by a product or service. A brand can also be defined as a product that plays a perceivably meaningful role in a consumer life.

 The meaningful role comes from the brands promise to satisfy the desired functional as well as emotional needs of a consumer from a product category. When the brands succeed in doing so it creates one to one identification between the brand and the consumer. Product +Utility + Image = Brand

 A brand should make a promise that is relevant to fulfilling a consumers expectations, from the product category . A promise it can deliver. A PROMISE NO COMPETING PRODUCTS CAN MAKE OR DELIVER. Only then can it stand out as a brand. A brand is product plus some value this value addition is the sum total of all benefits, values, images, personality traits, inspirations, associations and experience that branding brings.

 Brand not only outlines what it provides but also who it is. Since the brand brings in an emotional involvement with the consumer, it is relationship oriented. Brands exist in the minds of consumer. As the consumer starts interacting and identifying with the brands , the brand ownership shifts to the consumers. From this point the brand experience gets defined more by the consumers perception of the brand and not by the manufacturer. People are increasingly differentiating brands by their images, personalities, and quality perceptions.

 The identification that consumers have with brands is not related to the brand name or the word itself, but with the meaning, it carries in their minds. Whether a brand name has meaning or not, what definitely seemed to have helped more often than not, is having a short catchy brand name. They stick in the mind and more importantly are easier to say, remember, and recall.

How Brands are different from product?

Product

Generic Easy to copy Functional Concrete, Rational Transaction oriented Describes what

Brand Unique, Distinct Cant be copied Emotional, Functional Conceptual, Perceived Relationship Oriented Describes what &who

GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR BUILDING & SUSTAINING STRONG BRANDS

OWN THE WITHSTAND THE TEST OF TIME EVOLVE CATEGORYU OWN AS WORD FOCUS

BE CONSISTENT
ENDURE

STRONG BRAND

BE RELATIVELY DIFFERENT UNIQUE

BE REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT ASDVERTISE

BE THE BENCHMARK QUALITY

It takes lot to build a strong brand

What made strong brands survive so long and keep going, while some others could not? A significant part of difference came from attitude. Their attitude has shown greater sincerity in their consumer driven approach to build loyalty and trust. It is their attitude that did not take consumer loyalty for granted. The brands kept evolving constantly and consistently to remain relevant to their consumer needs and provide them value.

ADVERTISING & BRAND BUILDING THE FRAMEWORK

BRAND POSITIONING

PHYSICAL, SENSORY, EMOTIONAL

FULFILL

MARKETING
END BENEFIT

NEEDS
NEED SIMULATION NEED SATISFACTION

IDENTIFICATION BRAND DESIRABILITY CONSUMER

I N T E R N A L T R I G G E R

SELF EXPRESSION BRAND CHOICE

EXTERNAL TRIGGER
ADVERTISING BRAND PROMISE WANTS

INTERNAL TRIGGER

EXPECTED SELF IMAGE ASPIRATIONS

Advertising Perspective
In todays world advertising is most critical link between the marketer and consumer. It is through the advertising the marketer reaches the consumer even before the consumer has seen the product in the market. The ability of advertising to transform products into brands in consumer mind is vital for creating and sustaining a relationship with them.

Role of Advertising
In order to succeed in competitive world, effective advertising should support the marketing efforts. This makes advertising a double- edged sword and needs careful handling. An advertising requires good understanding of marketing and branding. The role of advertising in the marketing plan should be well defined. Clarity in knowing what advertising is supposed to achieve and within what marketing and brand parameters will give a proper direction to the entire advertising planning and development process.

ADVERTISING & BRAND BUILDING THE FRAMEWORK

BRAND POSITIONING

PHYSICAL, SENSORY, EMOTIONAL

FULFILL

MARKETING
END BENEFIT

NEEDS
NEED SIMULATION NEED SATISFACTION

IDENTIFICATION BRAND DESIRABILITY CONSUMER

I N T E R N A L T R I G G E R

SELF EXPRESSION BRAND CHOICE

EXTERNAL TRIGGER
ADVERTISING BRAND PROMISE WANTS

INTERNAL TRIGGER

EXPECTED SELF IMAGE ASPIRATIONS

Advertising Perspective
In todays world advertising is most critical link between the marketer and consumer. It is through the advertising the marketer reaches the consumer even before the consumer has seen the product in the market. The ability of advertising to transform products into brands in consumer mind is vital for creating and sustaining a relationship with them.

ADVERTISING PLANNING FRAME WORK

MARKETING PLAN MARKETING OBJECTIVE, STRATEGY & MIX ROLE OF ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING PLAN

OBJECTIVES ,TARGETING, KEYMESSAGE, CREATIVE& MEDIA STRATEGY

 Advertising Strategy essentially flows out of the marketing strategy . A clear defined target segments in the marketing strategy will automatically translate into a well defined target audience for advertising.. Similarly, the positioning in marketing strategy will translate in to a key message or proposition that the advertising needs to focus on. Only when it is clearly known that, whom are you talking, and in what context, you can develop a meaningful advertising strategy of what you are going to say and how. After this, the creative and media aspects are worked out.

 The focus of the Creative Strategy is to come with advertising idea and campaign that can inspire and motivate the consumers to identify with and own a brand. The focus of Media Strategy is to ensure that advertising is taken to peoples home and lives in the most visible and effective way possible. It also needs to ensure that in doing so the advertising monies are used as effectively as possible.

 Other factors might be as critical in a sales conversion or non-conversion Availability of the brand, its affordability and pricing, its quality, dealer support etc., can all make or break sales despite advertisings effectiveness or ineffectiveness. Even if a consumer goes to shop after seen the advertisement for a brand, there is no guarantee that he or she will buy it. What if he or she will find that shop does not stock that brand, or gets tempted to buy some other brand because it seems cheaper or of better quality, or even worse, because the retailer convinces him or her to buy another brand as he gets better margin on that brand.

 The role and effectiveness of advertising is more in the realm of bringing out the needs and wants of the consumers to make them desire the brand. Its strength lies more in persuading and motivating consumers to want this brand in establishing identification between the consumer and brand, there by creating a preference for it. It is then the task of other elements of marketing mix to capitalize on and covert the brand preference sales.

 It makes sense to let advertising focus on doing what it does well and not burden it too much with sales goals.' Setting sales goals as the advertising objectives would suggest a lazy marketer at work. The reason for avoiding sales as advertising objectives is that advertising has more of long-term impact on sales rather than an immediate one. The lead-time between a consumer being exposed to an ad and its conversion to buy is often uncertain and long, more so if the product is high value item. It just might be that the sales happens immediately after exposure to the advertising, or it might happen after a few days, or some times even months later.

ADVERTISING IMPACT ON SALES

NEW CUSTOMERS

IMMEDIATE SALES

ADVERTISING
EXISTING CUSTOMERS

FUTURE SALES

Advertising Impact on Sales

Advertising affects the sales more in long term rather than in short run. Its impact on sales is more indirect, through channeling consumer needs and wants towards brand. Setting a sales goals as advertising objectives then would be akin expecting every egg laid by the hen to grow in to a healthy chicken .How sure can you be of that?

Advertising Goals
The advertising goals should be realistic and measurable. Such goals should be within the realm of advertising ability to influence and motivate consumers choice towards brand. These interim goals should directly lead to brand preference, which is what advertising is best suited to deliver. As the brand preference will eventually be translated in to sales, these interim goals will at least indirectly also contribute to the final sales goal.

ADVERTISING GOALS
INTRIM
INFORMATION

LONG TERM

BRAND AWARENESS ENTRY STAGE

TRIAL PURCHASE

BRAND FAMILARITY

COMPETITIVE STAGE

PERSUATION

BRAND COMPREHENSION

BTAND PREFERENCE

BRAND IMAGE

S A L E S

BRAND PERSONALITY
MATURE STAGE

REINFORCEMENT

REPEAT PURCHASE

BRAND RELATIONSHIP

 Hence creating brand preference lies at the core of any objective being set for advertising. It means trying to persuade and convince the consumer that only the said brand can offer the benefits, identification, and experience to satisfy their relevant needs and wants. Hence they should prefer the said brand to the other brand and buy it. Depending on the product categorys life cycle and brands own position in that category, the advertising goals may vary from creating brand awareness to reinforcing brand relationship.

 In early stages of brand s life cycle. Often advertising focuses a lot more on providing information about the brand to create Brand Preference. As people may not be aware of the brand, the task is to make consumer familiar with brand promise. , benefits, image, personality, and symbols. It also means giving them relevant information so that they can understand what the brand stands for, what are unique benefits, what attributes and values it has to offer.

 There is a particular sequence in which these advertising goals appear or should appear .It is not the case that only one interim goal is achievable or aimed to be achieved by brand , at a time. The advertising might need to inform yet persuade potential consumers as brand gets launched in a competitive market. Or Advertising might need to reinforce relationship with loyal consumers and yet attempt to persuade new potential consumers as market fragment and so on. Creating brand awareness and familiarity is often the minimum task that any advertising effort needs to achieve.

 Most advertising needs to aim for much more. Generating enough and sustainable brand awareness that will ensure brand recall is a necessary condition for brands to survive, but it is not sufficient for them to succeed. To succeed, the advertising also needs to give a reason why the consumer s should consider buying the brand. In addition, that reason to be persuasive enough to motivate the consumer to desire and own the brand.

 The persuasion often comes from what the brand wants to stand for and mean to the consumer. It could from the utility or rational part of the brand, or from the identity or feel good part of the brand or combination of both. (Diagram Creating Brand Preference) When advertising creates persuasion over and above generating awareness, will it be able to create preference for the brand. Persuasion is the key creative or quantitative task of advertising, and awareness the key media or quantitative task of advertising.

CREATING BRAND PREFERENCE

FEELINGS
BRAND ASSOCIATIONS BRAND IDENTITY
ELEMENTS

BRAND

AND/OR

AWARENESS
RECALL

PERSUATION
PREFERENCE

BRAND COMPREHENSION BRAND UTILITY ELEMENTS

THINKING
NECESSARY CONDITIONS

SUFFICIENT CONDITIONS

Media Perspective: A Tight Ropewalk

While advertisement is being created, the focus shifts to how best we can take it to the people. Who are the people we need to reach? How can we reach them? Where and when can we deliver these ads to them? How often do we need to reach them? What it will cost us to do so?

 These are some of the key issues that need to be analyzed, understood, and decided upon in Media Planning. The essential task is to deliver the advertising to the target audience in a way that is visibly effective and cost efficient. If creating ads is more of a qualitative task of advertising, then delivery of these ads through various media is the quantitative task of advertising. Media planning is number crunching game.

 Starting from setting media objectives to measuring the efficiency and effectiveness of a media plan, involves looking at hard numbers and delivering results in hard numbers. Media planning process starts with looking at What objectives the media plan needs to achieve, and What kind of media budgets are available to do so . Many times it involves deriving how many people in target audience can be reached and with what regularity within a given media budget.

 Media Objectives essentially flows out of the advertising objectives and strategy. It is a direct function of what advertising is trying to achieve; is it trying to increase the brand awareness level (getting more audience to see the ad), or trying to increase brand persuasion level (getting the existing audience to see more of the ad), or striving for combination of both. Hence depending upon the advertising task , the media task will either focus on achieving better spread of the advertising exposure if brand awareness is more critical ,or focus on achieving better penetration if brand persuasion or reinforcement is more critical .

The Media Planning Process

Advertising Objectives & Strategy Brand Awareness Budget

Brand Persuasion Audience Profile &Media habits

Reach Media

Media Objectives Advertising Exposure Media Strategy

Frequency

Media Selection

Media Scheduling

Media Operations

Negotiations

Buying

Placement & Monitoring

What is Reach? The total numbers of different persons exposed to an ad at least once is Reach. The number of different persons exposed to an ad at least once among its defined target audience is its Effective Reach. The total number of different persons reached at least once for entire media schedule is called its Cumulative Reach. Reach is always meant to be unduplicated and for specified period of time.

What is Frequency? The number of times a person is exposed to an ad is its Frequency. The minimum number of times (threshold) an ad is to be exposed to each reached person among the defined target audience is its Effective Frequency. The average number of times a person is exposed to the entire media schedule is its Average Frequency. Frequency is for a specified period.

Reach x Frequency=Total Ad Exposure

 If the brand is launch or in early stages, brand awareness is critical, hence the reach overrides. If the brand is in the maturity stage, the brand persuasion is critical, hence the frequency dictates. In the interim growth stage, both reach and frequency are important and the task of media planning is to finely balance the two.

 Fundamentally, the objectives of media plan are to optimize the combination of reach and frequency in as cot effective way as possible. By doing so plan automatically maximize the advertising exposure to the target audience that can be afforded efficiently with the given media budget. The combination of reach and frequency that maximizes the total ad exposure is always the optimum one. This takes care of only the quantities aspects of Media Objectives and ensures that plans is cost effective. Then what about the qualitative aspects of media plan?

 Qualitative issues in setting Media Objectives: The qualitative issues in setting media objectives essentially originate from creative impact, brand image, and competitive environment.

ADVERTISING STRATEGY
CONSUMER INSIGHT PROPOSITION APPEAL PERSONALITY IMAGE

CREATIVE STRATEGY
THEMATIC THIS BIG IDEA TONE,STYLE

CAMPAIGN

FORMAT(LOOK&FEEL) STRUCTURE(PRESENTATION) SOURCES (CREDIBILTY) STORY BOARD (TV/FILM)

EXECUTION

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Creative Impact
The cost efficiency parameters of reach and frequency do not often take in to account the creative content of the ads. For instance two ads, every thing is same (audience, size, objectives, duration, etc,) the efficiency criteria will produce plans that will be the same, irrespective of difference in quality or creative content of ads. It is a known fact that more creative and persuasive ads work better and therefore might need lesser advertising exposure to create brand preference than ads that are less persuasive.

 An ad may work better in a medium that might otherwise be expensive. For instances an ad campaign based on emotional appeal, television may be a better medium of creative expression than print. A cost efficiency driven plan may underplay television, since it is expensive per exposure especially if the audience is limited. The television, which is better in delivering more impact, will be ignored by this plan.

 Sometimes a creative work may require larger size or larger duration ads to create the right impact with the audience. For example, when a brand is launched, a fullpage ads or usually larger size of ads are created for the impact, a full [page ads or large size ads are required to create an impact and feeling to launch or newness.

 Sometimes a category leader might want to use the size of ads to reinforce its leadership position in the consumer mind. Many a times an ad for products like cameras, or colour televisions, the need is to advertise in in colour even if it means taking ads in a relatively costly media like magazines. Here in this case the cost efficiency approach might not be conductive to take such creative ideas in to account.

Brand Image
If the given brand is a premium brand, then it is obviously it needs to advertise in in premium media. This is not because a premium media caters to the right audience but also because being seen in those media caters to right audience, the premium image of the brand. For example, in flight magazines, premium location billboards, airport transit, etc. However, highly relevant from the image perspectives these mediums may not be available in the most cost friendly terms. Hence the cost efficiency based plan will again not do justice to such brand image relevant ideas and compromise on the effective ness of the campaign.

Competitive Environment
In categories that are highly competitive, the sheer clutter of advertising and noise levels might force you to advertise more than what cost efficiency required. It may mean advertising more frequently or using bigger size ads, even if they care cost inefficient, just to be heard.

 Hence, it is critical to consider these qualitative issues and account for them while setting the media objectives. Even though it is extremely important to balance the reach and frequency equation in a media plan., it is equally important to balance the qualitative and quantitative aspects as well. Having both a visibly effective and a cost-efficient media plan would be the ideal solution.

 A media plan that ensures better creative impact may compensate for cost inefficiency in the long run , but cost efficient media plan will rarely be able to compensate for weakened creative impact.

The Media Planning Ropewalk

How many people to reach with what frequency? At what cost? (A quantitative call for efficiency) with what impact? (A qualitative call for effectiveness) The ropewalk is tough since thinner the rope, the tougher the walk. Thus smaller the available advertising budgets the tougher it is to maximize the advertising exposure.

 How much money needs to be spent to get desired advertising exposure? How much is adequate? How much is enough? What is the minimum required? These are not the easy questions to answer.

 Setting advertising budgets is a complicated task. There is a difference between the media budget and advertising budget. The difference between the two is the money that is needed for the production of ads which includes the cost of making ad films , print ads and agency fee , and commissions etc. However the media budgets variably constitutes the bulk of the ad budgets.

 Marketers essentially decide on the Advertising Budgets as AN PART OF THE MARKETING PLAN. . Following factors are taken into account before setting an Advertising Budget. The marketing tasks to be achieved. . For example, more money spent in generating the trial purchase, once the consumer has used the product and is satisfied with the use, they would require less communication to generate repeat purchase.

 The advertising tasks. More funds are required to create brand awareness and brand persuasion than only in reinforcing brand relationship where only remainder advertising may suffice.
The product category lifecycle stage. More money is needed to spent in the early stage (to establish the brand and educate the consumers about the product itself) and growth stage (to establish stronger brand differentiation due to increased competition ).

 Though even in the maturity stage might need the higher spends to defend the market share, diminishing marginal returns might make companies hold back. Declining stage would require operating on a minimum needs plan.

FRAMEWORK TO MAXIMISE ADVERTISING EXPOSURE

NEW CUSTOMERS EXISTING CUSTOMERS

MARKETING OBJECTIVES

THE PURCHASE

REPEAT PURCHASE

ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

BRAND AWARENESS

BRAND PERSUATION

BRAND REINFORCEMENT

MEDIA OBJECTIVES

MAXIMISE REACH

OPTIMISE REACH &FREQUENCY

MAXIMISE FREQUENCY

MAXIMISE ADVERTISING EXPOSURE

The brand life cycle stage the brand. The launch phase requires heavier spends to create brand awareness and generate enough trial to establish the brand. It is advisable to invest at growth stage of the brand to build the market share. In maturity stage with an existing consumers base and a keen eyes on the profits, the ad spends are likely to be less.

 Degree of product differentiation in the category. The more similar the products , the greater the needs to invest in brand differentiation through advertising. In this case higher ad spends are required to achieve the average results. Degree of price competition in the category. The greater the price competition, the higher the need to invest in and defend brand loyalty. Computers and peripherals are the good examples of these situations.

 Level of competitive advertising. The heavier the competition in the market the greater is the choice of brand available to the consumers. This often leads not just ore advertising but also to more cutthroat advertising, thereby requiring deeper pockets Soft drinks, cars and white goods are good examples categories.

 Brand loyalty among users. The higher the loyalty of users, the fewer brands needs to spend on persuasion and continuous reminding. Reinforcement ads from time to time might suffice and sustain sales. Raymond is a good example of this.

 Spread of the market. The national brand needs to spend more than a regional or local brand as a longer geographical area and different kinds of audience need to be reached. This brand also required to advertise in different languages, thereby shooting ad budgets further.

 Importance of retailers. The lesser the retailers support for the brand, the greater the need to advertise and create the consumer pull for the brand. If the brand enjoys good push by retailers in the shop; then there are fewer burdens on advertising. This is possible in the categories that do not involve self-shopping by the consumers for example the white goods, consumer electronics.

 With so many variables to think about , deciding on ad budgets is as much tight rope walk for marketers as maximizing ad exposure is for media planners. To make the job easier marketers use thumb rule method to arrive at required Adverting Budgets.

Advertising Budgets Approaches: Sometimes more than one approach is used to get a better fix on what should be the appropriate advertising budget. Percentage of sales method: This is most commonly used method. Companies peg the advertising budget as a certain percentage of the projected sales for that year in the marketing plan. The actual percentage may vary depending upon the market conditions, the companys marketing philosophy, the importance it attaches to advertising in its marketing mix, and the faith it has in the effectiveness of advertising to make consumer buy brands.

 The percentages usually vary from 3to 4 percentages of projected sales up to 15 percentages so on. Pay out plan approach: This method is same as percentage of sales method but the difference lies in that the ad budget for the year is a percentage of projected sales of next year and not of the same year. This approach treats ad budget as an investment in building future sales rather than as a marketing expense towards generating current sales

 Category average approach: This is also a method of variation of percentage of sales method. The difference is that here the percentage that is derived is not for the company but for the entire product category. The total sales revenue generated by the entire category is divided by the total ad spend in the category to arrive at the required figure.

 After arriving at the average percentage for the category, the company can use this as benchmark to arrive at its own ad budget. Depending upon the market share goals it can decide to spend more or less, than the industry average. If the goal is to gain market share then it might have to spend significantly more than the industry standards.

 The need based approach: This approach works on the principle of whatever it takes. This approach first set up its sales goals for the year, and based on the same, the advertising goals are derived (awareness, persuasion, reach, and frequency levels, etc) . Thereafter whatever the monies are required to achieve are calculated. Many times affordability becomes an issue in the use of this approach.

 What monies are required may not be available with the company .Hence after arriving at need based budget, often the spend levels are adjusted to match what is affordable. The media objectives targets are then accordingly redefined. Competitive budgeting approach: This is more calculated budgeting approach

 Here the ad spends are benchmarked against those of other key competitors in the category. The spend may be benchmarked against nearest competitor, or against the cluster of close competitors, or perhaps even against the category leader. To attain the parity or superiority in the share of voice is the motivation for this approach. In short to have more advertising exposure.

 The underlying assumption is that the more the advertising exposure, more that brand will be heard and brands which are heard more are more bought by the consumers. The advertising clutter and noise that one gets to see on TV and newspapers these days clearly shows that this principle is being practiced quite commonly and faithfully by marketers.

 This approach tracks the ad spend of the competitor and share of voice achieved by them in the category by tracking their GRP (Gross Rating Points) achieved by them . Then based on the market share objectives ,and share of voice that might seem to be sufficient to achieve it , the ad budget requirement is worked out. Affordability and deep pockets to sustain are the key issues need to be seriously considered while using this approach.

 Is it true that if you shout more you will be heard more, and if you are heard, more you will be bought more? There are three types of people, one who talk or shout more are most visible, whether famously or infamously. However, if they only talk and lack substance, over a period of time they become a noise or irritable people.

 The one who talk less but with substance all, the times are notices and respected but are less visible and end up becoming nice people. The one who talk often and talk sense most of the time. These ones become popular, visibly famous and wanted. The same is case in brand advertising. As a brand, you will be heard if you shout more. However, you will not be able to hold your audience for a long if what you say does not make any sense to them, if it is not relevant in their lives. Brands that make sense to them are not only heard but also identified with and preferred.

 An efficient and impactful media planning can make sure that brand gets heard more. To ensure that it stays that way and sustain the attention and interest of the consumers, it needs to be supplemented with the superior creative and persuasive power of ads. Whether the brand is bought or not is a function of whether the persuasive power of the ads can create brand preference or not.

 The best brands are the ones who are shouting most, they know that good quantity of advertising support will give them high visibility at the same time they take care of their quality of advertising first Hence before they bombard the consumers with their ads they make sure that what it says to them is relevant and meaningful. However, these basics are ignored by many brands and are carried away in flooding consumers with meaningless advertising. For example, the soft drinks ads being thrown at consumers in the name of using hot favorite celebrities.

Effectiveness of the advertising.

 Will it be correct to say that higher the ad spends, and therefore higher the share of voice will lead to higher market share?

MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS THE FRAMEWORK

SHARE OF SPEND VISIBILITY SHARE OF SHARE OF SHARE OF MARKET VOICE MIND TOP OF RECALL, PREFERENCE PERSUATION

BRAND AD SPEND TOTAL CATYEGORY AD SPEND

BRAND AD SPEND

WHO PREFER BRAND TOTAL CATEGORY CONSUMERS

BRAND SALES TOTAL CATEGORY SALES

TOTAL CATYEGORY ADEXPOSURE

 If a media plan is efficient in maximizing its ad exposure, and takes care of the creative and image impact issues, then higher the ad spends should ensure higher visibility. This would mean higher share of voice in the category. The higher share of voice, when combined with creative, impactful, and meaningful ads gets top of the mind recall. This would mean higher share of mind among the consumers of the category.

 The greater share of mind together with the persuasion power of the advertising creates a preference for the brand that may eventually lead to higher market share. If we keep the qualitative impact of advertising constant, then there is a correlation between the share of voice and share of market for brand. The greater the share of voice, the higher is market share.

 The correlation between the advertising share and the market share provide us with quantitative way of evaluating Effectiveness of Advertising. The effectiveness of advertising can be measured as the ratio of market share of the brand to the advertising share (share of voice) of the brand. Ratio of anything over one is good, since the it means that the advertising rupee is being spent effectively.

 By optimizing reach and frequency, gives us a good measure of efficiency of advertising, optimizing share of voice and share of market gives us good quantitative measure of effectiveness of advertising. How much or how frequently should you advertise to make an impact on peoples mind? When you are crossing the line and making too much of noise that can irritate people?

 Some believe that 3 to 4 exposure are per person is the threshold and anything more than that will get wasted. The reason for this is that these exposures are enough to stimulate people and they either would have acted on the ads by then or would have stopped noticing them. This does not mean that the ad is exposed 3 to 4 times. It is unlikely that all of the target audience see brand advertising at the same time. Hence, to get to target of 3 to 4 exposures per person till everyone has seen the ad that many times would actually require far more exposures of the ad (may be 8,or 10, or 13or...)

 The approach in this case is different, according to this an advertising clutter exist along with the confusion of ads and brands , people have to cope with all kinds of other Information overloads situations in their daily lives (office work, television programs, news and current events family and other tensions and so on,,). If all these were not bad Enough, the limitations of human memory (limited processing, selective perceptions, use of short cuts ,forgetfulness and so on)

 Hence many more exposures are required to take it to a threshold level where the Message is absorbed and acted upon by the people. If the product category is such that the product is bought and used frequently like FMCG products, it becomes extremely important to constantly remind consumers at very regular intervals to maintain the brand momentum.

 People in general do not think or dwell upon the ads as the ad professional do .Hence when the media objective is to keep the brand recall on the top of mind for it to be preferred and bought, it is necessary to aim for high an advertising exposure as affordable. Some caution is required to keep an eye on consumers reaction to avoid slipping in to the noise slot. The idea is not to let the advertising fatigue, disinterest, or irritation creep into consumers mind and affect brand association negatively.

 Also not to forget that omnipresent law of diminishing returns applies to advertising spends as well. So overspending may not always add great value to the brand and may end up creating noise unless there is some new relevant information to convey to the consumers.
Brand Momentum = Market share X Share of Mind X Share of Voice

 The concept of Brand Momentum can help in understanding and determining the real power of the brand in dynamic context .not just what is today (market share) but what is likely to be in the future. Companies who spend more in advertising are likely to build greater brand momentum (even if the market share remains the same), and create more powerful and sustainable brand. When the market share is high , the larger advertising efforts are required to sustain the brand momentum. As the market share increases, it will take over the burden of sustaining the brand momentum, thereby reducing the burden on advertising.

 A BRAND WITH A HIGH SHARE BUT DECREASING SHARE OF VOICE (MORE SO WITH A DECREASING SHARE OF MIND) MEANS DROPPING BRAND MOMENTUM AND CAUSE OF WORRY FOR THE LONG TERM HEALTH OF THE BRAND.

 After deciding the objectives and tasks of the media plan, it is time to work out the Media Strategy. The focus of media objectives is what to optimize then the focus of media strategy is to how to optimize it. This involves taking strategic decisions where and when to advertise to maximize the ad exposure and impact within the given budget.

The relevant questions in this case are What mediums to use? Which one to ride on? What channels, programs, and publication to take? What duration, size, or format of ads can best be afforded? How to schedule the ads so that they can be seen and heard by the target audience?

 Media environment is highly fragmented. The reasons for the Media Fragmentation are not different from the reasons for market fragmentation an effort by media marketers to slice the consumer pool to their own competitive advantage. Addition to this is the change in the lifestyle and technology leading to more individualistic needs, wants and preference, ultimately leading to more choice. Media is a buyer market as any other consumer market.

 Fragmentation has led to a proliferation of distinctive media options. This has led to audience specific channels and programs on television to audience specific newspapers and magazines. This has divide apparently mass and homogenous audience in to smaller and specified groups. Not only the number of channels has increased but also specific interest segments have also emerged as soap channels news channels, sports channels, film channels, music channels etc. Similar trends have taken place incase of newspapers and magazines.

 Media fragmentation has allowed the marketers and media planners to reach specific interest groups or niche segments more effectively , it has made reaching the mass audience more expensive. A wide choice of media options has made audience become more and more selective in their viewing and reading habits. Further, even though people might be watching more television than before, their attention span for a particular channel or program has reduced significantly. Channel surfing has become as common and frequent as blinking eyes. The same is for other mediums like press, radio, and outdoor, but to a lesser extent.

 Media fragmentation has transformed the media planning from a generic and simple function to a specialized one with its own sets of twists and turns. It has media planners job complicated and agonizing. It has made understanding media habits of the target audience as important as understanding their buying habits.

 Getting a good understanding of target audience profile and their Media Habits together with the geographical markets that needs to be reached is the first step in defining media strategy. Only when you know where they live and what they need, can you figure out how best to reach them in a visible way.

 In order to understand the audience from the media perspective, it is critical to get very clear definition of their demographic profile. This is essential because of information available or media habits of people (viewer ship of television, readership of news papers and magazines etc) , one primarily based on their demographic classification age, name, sex, location, language, social class, socio-economic class, education level, occupation etc.

 In order to understand the audience from the media perspective, it is critical to get very clear definition of their demographic profile. This is essential because of information available or media habits of people (viewer ship of television, readership of news papers and magazines etc) , one primarily based on their demographic classification age, name, sex, location, language, social class, socio-economic class, education level, occupation etc.

 An assessment of the audience profile gives us a clear indication of how many of them and how many are reachable by the available media. It helps in quantifying the available and reachable audience through media. It is the only way to get information on the media habits of the defined audience.

 A good analysis of the audiences media habits can help a media planner arrive at the potential brand contact points, ie where and when the brand can talk to them. This might mean finding out their television viewing habits (when and what they watch) then reading habits (where and what they read) their commuting and traveling habits, their social and professional group membership and so on. The task is to understand how they sped their weekdays and weekends in as much details as possible, to find out the available media and non-media opportunities to potentially reach them.

 From the media planning perspective a good understanding of the psychographic and user graphic profile of the audience is useful from the qualitative angle. It helps to fine tune the strategic decisions arrived at from the quantitative analysis of the demographic profile. While deriving the media strategy ,which is the next step it is necessary to look at all the media options , then using the audience profile and their media habits to select the most relevant ones Media Selection essentially involves making decisions on four levels ,viz

MEDIA SELECTION DECISIONS

MEDIA CLASS MEDIA VEHICLES MEDIA SIZE /FORMAT MEDIA SCHEDULE

TV

CHANNEL , PROGRAMS

60 SECS,30SECS

DATE, DAY, TIME, SLOT

PRESS

NEWSPAPER, MAGAZINES

FULL PAGE, HALF PAGE, 100CC DOUBLE SPREAD,B/W, COL

DATE, DAY, , POSITION

RADIO

CHANNEL , PROGRAMS

60 SECS,30SECS

DATE, DAY, TIME, SLOT

40*40,60*30

LOCATION,POSITION, DURATION

OUTDOOR

BILLBOARD , KIOSK

Key Media Selection Decisions

In the beginning, the decision is about what available mediums or Media Class are the most appropriate one to use. The common available media classes are television, newspapers, radio, and outdoor option like billboards, bus shelters, kiosk, tranlites etc. Which ones to use in which combination or proportion and what role can or will each chosen ads play?. The use of each medium has its own advantage and disadvantage .

Television: It is most appropriate to use television when the audience is large, diffused and somewhat more homogenous. This is the medium of masses. It is most appropriate to advertise the products which require demonstration and dramatization, or when the brand promise is based on emotions and feelings. Since it uses sight, sound, and action, it has a potential for delivering both higher attention and higher retention.

 This being the mass medium it has less geographic flexibility in reaching the audience and therefore large wastage element. It is relatively expensive medium to use especially if the audience size is not big enough. It is often; cluttered with advertising as well. Ads on television are often perceived as; intusive as they frequently disrupt the program of viewers interest.

Press: The use of this medium is most appropriate when the audience is more heterogeneous. This often in the case either when the audience size is large but fragmented or differentiated when they are a relatively small niche segment . This medium also works better when the advertising needs to carry more tactful information or when the brand promise is more rational, or when product benefits or usage need explanation.

 Often the print medium is perceived as more credible and believable than other mediums partly because it has text medium and therefore is an medium of intellects, more information and knowledge led. In comparison with television and radio are seen more as casual and entertainment media.

 Within print medium, news [papers are more appropriate when there is news value in the advertising like launch of new products, advertising new models, or features. Newspapers are more appropriate when there is an attached sense of urgency in the advertising like special offers response driven ads Magazines have more shelf life and have multiple readership .Magazines are of specific interest or group focused ,that is for certain kinds of people .Magazines make selective targeting by psychographics profiles, more feasible . Magazines are perceived as a more prestigious and individualistic than newspapers.

 Radio: Radio coverage is often area or city specific and provides good geographical flexibility to reach diverse audience. It is inexpensive medium to reach people. though the listener base is usually small for most radio stations. Its retention value is suspect because of its only audio appeal and hence the radio is seen more as more of reminder medium of advertising rather than as a lead medium.

Outdoor: Billboards and kiosks are more city or area specific and give the greater geographical and give the greatest geographical flexibility to reach diverse audience .They provide high repeat exposure possibility as commuter regularly pass by them. Again, they are inexpensive and very appropriate for remote and rural areas. Outdoor is looked as a reminder medium rather than lead medium.

 This is because their message retention value is suspect due to the glancing view by passing audience. With the possibility of vinyl printing and back illuminated boxes, the glowing billboards of today are often seen as image support medium as well.

Selecting a Media Class: Media habits of the target audience and affordability are the most commonly used quantities criteria for selecting a media class. The other factors like level of noise, and clutter in a particular media class, its fit with the product type and advertising appeal, fit with brand image etc, bring in the qualitative call. This may lead to inclusion or exclusion of a particular media class from the plan.

 Depending upon the media budgets, target audience reach ability and strategic fit of the media class with the advertising appeal and presentation, one or more media class is selected.. Many times a newspaper or television is selected as the core medium to lead the media plan. The value addition as support medium may either be in terms of reaching more target audience that cannot be reached by the lead medium (expanding reach) or by creating multiple exposures with the audience that are already reached by the lead medium( more frequency).

 Such multiple ad exposures through two or three different media class to the same target audience are often beloved to9 deliver a multiplier effect .That is, combined sum of these multiple exposures is greater than the sum of their exposures individually. .For example, if television, news papers, radio ,and outdoor all give one ad exposures each to the same audience , then the effect they generate together as combinations not four but more than four. The logic behind the multiple effects is synergy and is the same as in saying two brains working together deliver more than two brains working separately.

 The second level decisions on media selection involve choosing the appropriate Media Vehicle within the each media class. For television and radio, it means selecting the what program on what channel are the best to go with. For press, it means selecting the most suitable newspaper and magazines. For outdoor, it means to select the best location and traffic directions. Total Ad Exposure = Reach x Frequency OTS = Reach x Ave. Frequency. OTS = Opportunity to See.

 For television , the reach of the program is measured in terms of TRP 9Television Rating Points). The efficiency of a program is measured by Cost Per Rating Points (CPRP). TRP of a program is the proportion of all TV households that watch that particular program.

 Media planners use these various research dat6a along with TRP of various programs to select the relevant programs. First, the program whose viewers fit the identified target audience profile most closely is identified. Then by comparing the cost per TRP achieved by various programs, the most cost efficient program among the short listed ones are selected.

 Qualitative issues that might be relevant one are also considered before finalizing the final list of programs eg. Issues like image fit, creative impact, a clutter on program, lead-time requirements and logistics. The cost of buying spot on the television is generally expressed in cost per 10 secs of time. Any additional qualitative issues that have become extremely relevant in the last few years for television media planning is channel surfing.

 This phenomenon is the biggest nightmare for media planners because flicking of channels happens significantly more at ad commercial breaks. Since it is almost impossible to predict when people might flick channels and therefore beyond the advertisers control. it is extremely difficult to counter the phenomenon with any surety.

 Media planners at times use scheduling techniques like road blocking to lessen the possibility of getting lost in the channel surfing, they cannot be sure whether the ad is actually being watched or not. In a road block the ad is scheduled in all the selected channels in the media plan at exactly the same time on the same day.

 Incase of a press, the reach of a newspaper or magazine is measured in terms of readership, the cost effectiveness or efficiency of the publication is measured by cost per thousand readers (CPT). Readership of a publication is the total number of people who read that publication and is derived by multiplying the circulation (the number of copies sold) with the average number of people who read a copy of that publication.

 Reach of a publication is the proportion of all publication readers who read that particular publication. When we multiply the reach of the publication with the average number of times an ad is exposed to its readers, (frequency) we get opportunity to see (OTS) achieved with that publication. Conceptually OTS is the total exposure as defined for press. Readership of publication is measured through readership survey conducted periodically among representative samples of households reading newspapers and magazines

 . In India , two types of surveys are available ;National Readership Survey (NRS) AND Indian Readership Survey (IRS) .These reports give the readership profile for most publications in terms of demographics of their readers. Media planners use this data to select the relevant publications. First, the publication whose readers fit the identified target audience profiles most closely is short-listed. Then by comparing the cost per thousand readers (CPT) achieved by various publications, the most cost efficient from the shortlist ones are selected.

 For press there is an additional but important issues that media planners need to take in to account during selection, viz the issue of duplication of readership between publications. The higher the duplication between the two publications relatively lesser is the combined reach and higher the combined frequency that can be achieved by taking them together. Media planners need to factor in this duplication before making any calls on the reach and frequency of the press plan.

 The third level decision on media selection involves choosing the appropriate Media Size and Format for every media vehicle being used. For television, this involves making decisions like what should be the duration of the spot. It is usually in the multiples of 10 sec. For newspapers, it would be deciding the size of ad. The size of ad in newspaper is measure in column centimeters or cc. It is calculated as height of the ad multiplied by the number of columns. The size or format of the advertisement is more a creative call than media call.

 After the selection of media, the last strategic decision to be taken in media planning is Media Scheduling. This involves deciding when to slot the ads to achieve maximum visibility, that is, what distribution pattern will be most effective in creating good visibility for the ad campaign. Depending on the period under consideration, scheduling decisions may be either macro scheduling (for entire media plan) or micro scheduling (plan for a particular burst of media activity at any time during the year).

 Micro scheduling decisions may be for a quarter, a month, or even shorter durations. The often involve when to advertise (weekdays, weekends, holidays, special days ,etc) ,what position or time slots to take, and how frequently to advertise. The frequency or distribution pattern of advertising here is often guided by the purchase frequency of the product (more frequently for FMCG than durables) ,involvement level of decision making (more frequently for impulse purchase than considered purchase) and the ad clutter in the category (the more the clutter, higher the rate of forgetting and more frequency is required to remain top of mind).

 Macro scheduling decisions on the other hand , are for longer duration ,often the entire year .They involve deciding which part of year to advertise in and with what depth of ad exposure. The idea is to stretch the advertising budget for the entire year with appropriate ad weights given at the right time to support the marketing efforts sufficiently.

 The distribution pattern of advertising here is often guided by the seasonality of the product category (peak season versus off-season), and the competitive advertising pattern (to advertise with the competition as a counter measure or to advertise when they are quieter and avoid clutter). While deciding on the macro schedule it is important to keep in mind carry over effect of a previous burst of advertising exposures before the next begins. There are three types of media scheduling options available. These options are more of macro scheduling techniques but are valid for micro scheduling as well, with exceptions of some very small bursts.

 Continuous: In this case the ad exposures are scheduled evenly throughout the given period. This method of scheduling is most appropriate when there is no significant seasonality for product category. FMCG and impulse items are valid candidates for the same. Implementing this method requires lot of money.

MEDIA SCHEDULING OPTIONS

A D E X P O S U R E A D E X P O S U R E

A D E X P O S U R E

TIME

TIME

TIME

CONTINUOUS

FLIGHTING

PULSING

 Flighting In this case the advertising is exposed in a heavy burst for some time followed by the break where no advertising is exposed, which is followed by the another flight of advertising exposure. Due to the alternating pattern of on-off-on-off it is also called alternating scheduling. This patterns seems more appropriate for product categories with pronounced seasonality and with infrequent or longer duration purchase cycles, for instance, the durable category. This technique is suitable when the media budgets are low or moderate.

 Pulsing: in this case, the advertising is exposed continuously for the entire duration at a low frequency level but reinforced from time to time by additional heavier short term bursts. This technique is a combination of continuous and flighting schedule. This schedule works on the assumption that audience is kept exposed to the advertising continuously at a minimum exposure level to counter the out of sight out of mind phenomenon.

 The pulsing technique is an attempt to optimize the lower cost benefit of flighting schedule with the consistent ad exposure benefit of a continuous schedule. After working out media schedule, the media planning process is complete. The next step is to implement the plan.

 Media Plan Implementation involves negotiating and buying the media units as planned. Media units are priced at regular rate cards, negotiation is the name of the game here. The task is to negotiate volume discounts, bonuses, special positions, and spots without paying any premiums for them. Once the media units are negotiated and bought, it is time to organize the media releases as planned by delivering the advertising material to the channels and publications.

 The releases are maintained so that the plan may be reviewed from time to time with feedback information. If required, necessary changes may be incorporated in the plan. Some important brand contact points to connect with the target audience may be tapped by other available means like in-store advertising and promotions, and direct marketing efforts.

 In Store advertising play a critical role in supporting and reinforcing brand message or image at the retail level. If the retail outlet happen to be multi brand store then it can be an even more important tool in getting the brand into the consumers mind when it matter most, ie on the shop floor.

 In-store advertising or promotions catches the buyer when he or she is in shopping mode and increases the chances of the brand being considered for purchase. If the product category is one where the buying decision is based on the impulse, then the in sore advertising could be the difference between the life and death. Important factors that has made in store promotions and display an inseparable part of retailing these days is the emergence of selfshopping concept. With lesser number of service staff, brands have to do lot of their sales to themselves.

 Prominent shelf space , attractive, colorful, conspicuous , packaging, point of sale collaterals ,show window displays and promotional ideas all go a long way in increasing the visibility of the brand inside the shop. Brand logo signage outside the store and in the market area also reinforces brand recognition and recall.

 Direct Marketing: This is the other significant way of reaching the target audience outside the world pf conventional media. All direct marketing effort attempt to reach the target audience at the individual level. They attempt to make a personal sales call to the customers, either in person or symbiotically. The intention is to induce or trigger an immediate response.

 Compared to brand or media advertising, direct marketing efforts also have a relatively higher selling focus. All direct marketing efforts should work towards strengthening and building a longterm relationship between the consumer and the brand and not compromise it in any way. The ability of direct marketing to selectively target the consumers, right up to the individual level, is a definite advantage.

 They often form the backbone of most marketing efforts in niche market scenario. On the other hand, the costs of delivering tailor made messages at such micro level are quite high. Smaller audience sizes also means lower economies of scale . This makes direct marketing a relatively expensive medium to connect with the consumers, making them more approachable for higher unit value or big ticket product and services rather than low unit value or volume products.

 Variety of direct marketing approaches and techniques used are Personal Selling - This may be either door to door, or in the market alone by companys sales force. Sampling- This may again be done door to door or in the shops and market. At times, they may be mailed or physically put in the mailbox if the sample packs are of small size. Extremely handy and critical and at the launch phase of a brand to generate sales.

 Tele marketing- Sales calls are made through telephone by specially trained staff. Direct Response Advertising - These may be either ads in the newspaper or magazine or special inserts in them. Such ads carry a response coupon for the consumer to respond. . Collecting consumer database is often an important secondary objective here. Mail Order Catalogue- Mainly used in product category where it is possible to ship the goods to the consumers. Product catalogues are printed and distributed among potential customers. Orders may be booked either through response cards, websites, telephone etc. Otto Burlington ,Ikea are the popular examples. Sky shops are the electronic version this concepts.

 Direct Mail: They may be in the form of sales letters, catalogues, brochures, new product mail, invitations for shopping or special promotional events, consumer loyalty program mails, etc. However, the response generated by direct mails is usually quite low, often less than 1%. Such wastage makes them seem expensive. Direct mails are more popularly used more for high value products category ie. Jewellery, fashions, cars, consumer durables, etc.or categories that offer personalized services like business-to-business marketing, banking etc.

 Consumer Chains: This is the different marketing concept that is used successfully by the companies who do not rely on usual distributor-retail setup to sell their products. Instead they form a chain of their core customers who not only use the products but also market them personally to other consumers they know. With each member of a chain, creating a separate chain under him or her, it eventually becomes a vast network of consumers cumsellers. Common example of this category is consumer chain network of Amway.

 E- Marketing: The combination of internet connectivity, electronic transactions through credit cards and home delivery supply management has made it possible to sell and market brands through the net as well. This seems to be the future and higher technology versions of the mail order concept.

 Marketers often use a combination of various direct marketing techniques to generate the right sales impact and momentum. These are often put together in the form of a below the line marketing activity plan that runs along side above the line advertising plan.

The New Born:

The emergence of Internet was pronounced as the dawn of a new era, not just for advertising but also for the marketing and business as well. It has not shown any signs of doing that yet. In less than three years most marketers and advertisers are back to slogging it out in the old enemy mode after the new economy seems to have ditched them. They are not too sure, where this high tech medium will take them, and how fast or slow will be the ride next time.

 Can Internet emerge as the next big medium of advertising? The answer to this question is not easy and can at best be probabilistic. In addition, after the dot com bust very few would risk making a predictions again. Internet is most likely to emerge as the next big Medium of Direct Marketing rather than an advertising medium of great significance. The reasons for this might be as much perceptual as; real.

 The real reasons comes from the fact that Internet, like most direct marketing ones, is on, Interactive Medium. It is one of the most interactive mediums of communication after personal selling. When people surf the net they are more in the mode of actively seeking information rather than passively receiving information. Their interaction with the medium is dictated by the search for specific information or for doing a specific task like checking and sending e-mails. In such mode, people are less likely to be receptive to ads per see. With their minds already preoccupied in an active way, they might not be very attentive to ads.

 Even if they see ads, their minds may not be to keen to register and respond unless the ad has some sense of urgency attached to it and talks of something that is of extreme importance or interest to him. In contrast , while watching television, reading news papers , the most people are in the passive mode of receiving information be it news, entertainment or ads.

 Conventional medium of advertising are passive in nature. However, passive ideas will hardly fit with the active nature of Interne. Due to this reason, why the initial passive banner ads on the net failed to elicit much interest .Surfers soon became blind to them. .Hence largely interactive and urgent ideas will be more suitable for this medium.

 Some interactive forms of advertising have already emerged on the scene with the use of rich media. The use of animation, pop -ups, and pop-unders, interstitials and superstitials have already improved visibility, attention and interest levels of ads on the net. However, these ads also run the risk of being seen as the interference or nuisance and may end up irritating people, especially when they are actively doing or searching something on the net. If they do, they create the negative association with the brand. Hence, such interactive ads need to be used carefully.

 The information load and clutter on the net is huge. This makes it largely unsuitable for brand advertising. Brand advertising requires some Singularity of Attention and visual impact to stand out in peoples minds. It needs to make a strong connect.

 The visual experience of an ad on a web page is somewhat similar to the classified ads in the newspapers. You look at classified ads only when you are actively searching for a job, a car, house, etc. Otherwise, most of us have a blind spot for them. No advertisers will ever consider the classified section of newspapers for brand advertising in normal circumstances. The same holds true for websites on the net as of now.

 The perceptual medium why the internet may not emerge as an advertising medium of significance has to do with the mega association people have with advertising .Having seen certain forms of advertising for years on on the conventional medium ,people have got conditioned to them.

 Therefore, the Internet seems more likely to be positioned as a direct marketing medium in peoples minds. The very nature of interaction people with it, its current limitations as a medium, and the perceptual barrier it may or may not be able to cross all the point in that direction.

 Marketers often advertise on the Destination Websites on the net primarily the ones that are frequently visited by their target audiences. These sites could be either the specific sites (for instance mtv.com may be used by Pepsi to reach teenagers or young adults) or generic interest sites (for instance Pepsi may also advertise on yahoo.com, rediff.com or msn.com as the same teenager might visit it to check his or her e-mail).

 Proprietary Websites: Marketers build and use their own proprietary websites and create a target audience pool around their site. One form of such proprietary sites is the corporate or brand site that gives all kinds of information to its audience about the company or brand , its products and services, benefits and offers ,distribution network, e-helpline, loyalty programs, etc.

Approach to the Advertising on the net

There are three approaches to the advertising on net. The first is the association kind of advertising. Here the advertising is separate and not integrated with the site content in any way. At the best, the brand gets association linkage. For example a airline putting a banner ad on the travel tourism site. The second kind is the informative advertising approach.

 Here the brand message and product information is often integrated with the site content. Often the brand or product message may be a banner or a link on the home page with a linked page or site giving the detailed information. For example, a PC brand banner ad may be linked to a page that gives detailed information on various available models with features and pricing.

 The third one is the interactive approach .Here the brand or advertising message involves a series of interactions with the audience through links resulting in some sort of immediate response from them. Such ads are more often direct marketing message rather than passive advertising messages. For example the message could the audience to participate in the on line contest or play the game to win the brand as prize.

Sales promotion
Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix (The other three parts of the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, and publicity/publicrelations.)

SALES PROMOTIONS

Promotional mix
There are four main aspects of the Promotional Mix. These consist of: Advertising Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and emails. Personal selling -A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral presentation.

 Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be faceto-face or via telephone. Sales promotions -Incentives designed to stimulate the purchase or sale of a product, usually in the short term.

 Examples: Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, product samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins, and exhibitions. Public Relations -Non-paid non-personal stimulation of demand for a product, service, or business unit by planting significant news about it or a favourable presentation of it in the media. Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TV and radio presentations, Charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.

 Sales promotions are non-personal promotional efforts that are designed to have an immediate impact on sales. Media and non-media marketing communications are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include:

Coupon In marketing a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a productt. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of salespromotions. They are often widely distributed through mail,magazines , news papers and theinternet. Internet coupons have become popular recently, because there is no postal cost, and the printing cost is borne by the user (who prints the coupons) rather than the businesses issuing them.

Discounts and allowances are reductions to aprice . They could modify either the manufacturer's list price (determined by the manufacturer and often printed on the package), the retail price (set by the retailer and often attached to the product with a sticker), or the list price (which is quoted to a potential buyer, usually in written form). The market price (also called effective price) is the amount actually paid. The purpose of discounts is to increase short-term sales, move out-of-date stock, reward valuable customers, or encourage distribution channel members to perform a function. Some discounts and allowances are forms ofsales promotions.

Types of discounts and allowances

The most common types of discounts and allowances are: Cash discounts for prompt payment These are intended to speed payment and thereby provide liquidity to the firm. They are sometimes used as a promotional device. Examples are:

 2/10 net 30 - this means the buyer must pay within 30 days, but will receive a 2% discount if they pay within 10 days. 3/7 EOM - this means the buyer will receive a cash discount of 3% if the bill is paid within 7 days after the end of the month. 3/7 EOM net 30 - this means the buyer must pay within 30 days after end of month, but will receive a 3% discount if they pay within 7 days after the end of the month. 2/15 net 40 ROG - this means the buyer must pay within 40 days of receipt of goods, but will receive a 2% discount if paid in 15 days.

 Cash discounts for preferred payment method - Some retailers (particularly small retailers with low margins) offer discounts to customers paying with cash, to avoid paying fees on credit card transactions. Quantity discounts - These are price reductions given for large purchases. The rationale behind them is to obtain economies of scale and pass some (or all) of these savings on to the customer. In some industries, buyer groups and co-ops have formed to take advantage of these discounts. Generally there are two types:

 Cumulative quantity discounts (also called accumulation discounts). These are price reductions based on the quantity purchased over a set period of time. The expectation is that they will impose an implied switching cost and thereby bond the purchaser to the seller. Non-cumulative quantity discounts. These are price reductions based on the quantity of a single order. The expectation is that they will encourage larger orders, thus reducing billing, order filling, shipping, and sales personal expenses.

 Trade discounts (also called functional discounts) - These are payments to distribution channel members for performing some function . Examples of these functions are warehousing and shelf stocking. Trade discounts are often combined to include a series of functions, for example 20/12/5 could indicate a 20% discount for warehousing the product, an additional 12% discount for shipping the product, and an additional 5% discount for keeping the shelves stocked. Trade discounts are most frequent in industries where retailers hold the majority of the power in the distribution channel (referred to as channel captains).

 Seasonal discounts - These are price reductions given when an order is placed in a slack period (example: purchasing skis in April in the northern hemisphere, or in September in the southern hemisphere). On a shorter time scale, a happy hour may fall in this category.

 Forward dating - This is where the purchaser doesnt pay for the goods until well after they arrive. The date on the invoice is moved forward - example: purchase goods in November for sale during the December holiday season, but the payment date on the invoice is January 7th. Promotional allowances - These are price reductions given to the buyer for performing some promotional activity. These include an allowance for creating and maintaining an instore display or a co-op advertising allowance.

 Brokerage allowance - From the point of view of the manufacturer, any brokerage fee paid is similar to a promotional allowance. It is usually based on a percentage of the sales generated by the broker. Trade-ins - This can be a way of reducing the price. By offering more for a trade-in than it is actually worth, the net effect is to reduce the effective price earned by the seller. The advantage of this is it encourages replacement sales without altering the list price or the perceived value.

Contest Contest may refer to: A contest, is an event in which two or more individuals or teams compete against each other, often for a prize or similar incentive. to contest, in law, is to disagree with a civil or criminal legal charge in court.

 Point of purchase A check-out counter or checkstand is the aisle where people place items they have POS or PoS is an abbriviation for point of sale or point of service. This can mean aretail shop , a checkout counter in a shop, or a variable location where a transaction occurs in this type of environment. Additionally, point of sale sometimes refers to the electronic cash register system being used in an establishment. Point of sale systems are used in restaurants , hotels,stadiums, casinos, as well as retail environments in short, if something can be sold, it can be sold where a point of sale system is in use.

 Rebate A rebate is a type of sdales promotion marketers use primarily as iincentive or suppliments to product sales. The mail-in rebate (MIR) is the most common. A MIR entitles the buyer to mail in acoupon , a receipt and barcode in order to receive a check for a particular amount, depending on the particular product, time, and often place of purchase.

 Rebates are offered by either the retailer or the manufacturer of the particular item. Large stores often work in conjunction with manufacturers, often requiring two or even three separate rebates for each item. Manufacturer rebates are sometimes valid only at a single store. Rebate forms and special receipts are sometimes printed by the cash register at time of purchase on a separate receipt or available online for download.

Benefits for consumers Some rebates are paid in the form of a debit card that may carry restrictions on how it can be used. Rebates give customers an avenue to a better value by redeeming the rebates. The amount of time and effort required in comparison to the savings potential is a weight to measure for each individual consumer. The very fact that some consumers do not redeem their rebates is what allows companies the ability to offer such value pricing in the first place that many consumers do capitalize on.

 Free sample A free sample is a portion of food or other product which is given out inshopping malls,grocery stores , and other venues. Sometimes samples of non-perishable items are included in direct marketing mailings. The purpose of a free sample is to acquaint the consumer with a new product. The concept of a free sample is not unlike that of atest drive , in that a customer is able to try out a product before purchasing it, gifts and incentive items free travel, such as free flights

 Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer , sales staff, or distribution channel members (such asretailers ). Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are called consumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers and wholesale are called trade sales promotions. Some sale promotions, particularly ones with unusual methods, are considered gimmick by many.

Consumer sales promotion techniques

Price deal: A temporary reduction in the price, such ashappy hours . Loyalty rewards program: Consumers collect points, miles, or credits for purchases and redeem them for rewards. Cents-off deal: Offers a brand at a lower price. Price reduction may be a percentage marked on the package.

 Price-pack deal: The packaging offers a consumer a certain percentage more of the product for the same price (for example, 25 percent extra). Coupons: coupons have become a standard mechanism for sales promotions. Loss leader : the price of a popular product is temporarily reduced in order to stimulate other profitable sales Free-standing insert (FSI): A coupon booklet is inserted into the local newspaper for delivery.

 On-shelf couponing: Coupons are present at the shelf where the product is available. Checkout dispensers: On checkout the customer is given a coupon based on products purchased. On-line couponing: Coupons are available on line. Consumers print them out and take them to the store.

 Online interactive promotion game: Consumers play an interactive game associated with the promoted product.. Rebates: Consumers are offered money back if the receipt and barcode are mailed to the producer. Contests/sweepstakes/games: The consumer is automatically entered into the event by purchasing the product.

 Point-of-sale displays:
Aisle interrupter: A sign the juts into the aisle from the shelf. Dangler: A sign that sways when a consumer walks by it. Dump bin: A bin full of products dumped inside. Glorifier: A small stage that elevates a product above other products. Wobbler: A sign that jiggles. Lipstick Board: A board on which messages are written in crayon. Necker: A coupon placed on the 'neck' of a bottle. YES unit: "your extra salesperson" is a pull-outfact sheet.