Is Online Media More Popular Than Traditional Media to Advertise a Brand in the Digital Age?

Is Online Media More Popular Than Traditional Media To Advertise a Brand in the Digital Age?

Ade Kusuma1, Adiasri Putri Purbantina2, Citra Rani Angga Riswari3, Ririn Puspita Tutiasri4

1 4Communication Science Dept. Universitas Pembangunan Nasional “Veteran” Jawa Timur, Indonesia 2 Ph.D Candidate, Graduate School of Asia Pasific Studies, Waseda University, Japan 3 Faculty of Communication Science, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya, Indonesia

Corresponding authors: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. The evolution of media played a significant role in influencing the shift in the concept of traditional advertising towards digital advertising. Advertising in traditional media such as electronic and print media is considered less efficient because it requires a considerable budget. Advertising on online media is recognized as being cheaper than traditional media, both production costs or placement fees in the media. This research is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. Data collection techniques using literature studies, and in-depth interviews with the advertising workers. The results of this study show how the strength of traditional media than online media to advertise a brand in digital age. The online media such as youtube and social media more effective to build brand awareness compared sales impact. In addition, this paper also explain comparasion the power of word of mouth rather than social media influencer effect in digital advertising.

Keywords : Online Media, Traditional Media, Advertising, Digital Age

INTRODUCTION

Donald Jugenheimer (Principal and Partner, In-Telligence Inc) said that mass media are charging rapidly. Several tends that are in operation simultaneously are dramatically reshaping the face of mass media: convergence, interactivity, engangement, commoditization, cadence, personalization, and networking (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 327). The digital age demands adaptability for traditional mass media company owners, such as print, television, and radio. Digitalization is a form of integration between traditional mass media and the internet, as an effort to meet the needs of people who have relied on internet-based gadgets, especially related to the pattern of information and entertainment consumption, from traditional mass media that are turning to online media. The development of mass media also influences how interactivity between media actors as communicators with audiences. Traditional mass media tends to use linear conceptualization or source-oriented definition. Information submitted is one-way, without feedback from the audience or delay, unlike the mass media in the current digital era. The audience has the opportunity and space to provide feedback to media or other audiences. The development of technology and communication happened so fast, along with the advent of the internet. The internet affects changes in all aspects of human life. The era of new media is marked by the use of online media in all aspects of communication activities. Dennis McQuail (2010), there are important changes related to the emergence of new media,

namely, first, the digitalization and convergence of all aspects of the media. Second, increased network interactivity and connectivity. Third, the occurrence of mobility and the delocation of sending and receiving (messages). Fourth, adaptation of publications and audience roles. Fifth, the emergence of various new forms of 'gateaway' media, namely the entrance to access information on the web or to access the website itself. Finally, there is the fragmentation and escape of 'media institutions (Junaedi, 2019: 158). Media is an important part that cannot be separated from advertising activities. Advertising is non-personal communication using mass media carried out by the business, non-business, personal, institutions with a certain fee and aims to persuade certain people to take action to purchase (Santosa, 2009: 7). The accuracy of the media selection in advertising will affect how the audience achieves. The ability to choose good media will also affect how much advertising costs will be incurred. According to TNS Media Intelligence, a reporting service that tracks advertising spending, uses the following categories: 1) Television, 2) Radio, 3) Newspapers, 4) Magazines, 5) Internet, 6) Outdoor, and 7) Branded Entertainment (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 327). Advertising is a paid form of persuasive communication that uses mass and interactive media to reach broad audiences in order to connect an identified sponsor with buyers (a target audience), provide in information about product (goods, services, and ideas), and interpret the product features in terms of costumer’s needs and wants. (Moriaty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 7). Advertising activities are not just sales messages to gain benefits from a product. More complex, advertising aims to introduce a product, influence potential consumers to think and to take certain actions, up to make the purchase. Advertising is not just about introducing products and directing the audience to conduct purchasing. The ad also contains persuasive messages that can convince the audience, why is the product important to have? Thus, creative messages become an essential part of an advertisement. Creative refers to something original, new, different, unique, and unexpected. Meanwhile, creativity can be a particular form of solution to a problem. Determining creative messages is a tactic for delivering messages to attract attention, attract interest, be easy to remember, and stick to their memory. Attracting attention is a mental state of human beings at the stage of recognition of the product through advertising. Interesting is curiosity, feeling there is an interest, and fascination with the message. Easy to remember (memorability) means that the ad is not just to be heard, but must have sticking power (Santosa, 2009: 27).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Ad Placement in The Traditional Media

Advertising is paid persuasion communication that uses mass media to reach the right audience, namely as many potential customers. Before determining the placement of ads in certain mass media, advertisers must recognize how the advantages and disadvantages of each. Traditional advertising media consists of print media, broadcast media, and outdoor media. Print advertising is ad placement in newspapers, magazines, brochures, and posters. Daily newspapers have consistently been a profitable business throughout the 20th century (Vivian, 2008: 71). Some forms of newspaper ads are classified ads, display ads, and supplement advertisements. Classified ads and supplement ads tend to be used to local advertising, while display ads can be targeted by local (retail) and national commercials. In

contrast to magazine ads, which tend to display national brand-oriented advertisements that appear more attractive (compared to newspapers that have limited display colors) because the format and quality of the ads are better after printing. Placement of advertisements in magazines must be adjusted to the magazine's form, whether consumer magazines (the more general content) or certain business magazines. The advantage of print media is that it saves so that the audience gets a long time to be able to receive and understand messages from advertisements displayed in print media. Broadcast media are radio, television, film, and other forms of video media that display messages in audiovisual form and can reach a vast and diverse audience. The disadvantage of placing ad messages on broadcast media is that they tend to be expensive (because they are purchased based on the duration of seconds or minutes), and the message is delivered briefly. Television is still the popular media chosen for placing advertisements. A large number of television audiences make it a medium with a large effect on people, cultures, and other media. Now television is the dominant mass medium for entertainment and news (Vivian, 2008: 224) Popular outdoor media ads can be divided into transit ads and ambient ads. Transit advertising is outdoor advertising that is placed in various public transportation facilities that are crowded by captive audiences. They are people who pass through the places that daily or use transportation for routine activities, such as trains fire, bus, metro rapid transit, monorail, or taxi. Transit advertising is put on the ads on bus stops, subways, stations, airports, and so on. Meanwhile, ambient advertising, another term known as guerrilla advertisement, is a creative 3D or 4D ad placement in the center of the crowd. It attracts people who pass by.

Advertising in Online Media

The digital age has given rise to a new medium for advertisers in online media such as Youtube and social media. However, advertisers do not leave traditional media, but they experiment with the possibility of online advertising (Vivian, 2008: 374). Online advertising has great potential for groups of potential consumers who frequently access the internet. YouTube distributes video products using the internet so that all audiences can see it. The existence of YouTube, of course, will not be separated from advertisements. Since 2017, there has been a shift in the concept of advertising that is present on YouTube. According to Google Indonesia's Head of Marketing, Veronica Utami, advertisers are now starting to switch from regular advertising (straightforward) to longer video forms (Nistanto, 2018: kompas.com). Ads on YouTube use the concept of storytelling, which is more interesting, as well as web series. Story ideas displayed on YouTube tend to prioritize stories that relate to personal experiences as an effort to engage audiences. The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) revealed that internet users in Indonesia currently reach 63 million people, and 95 percent of internet users in Indonesia use the internet to access social networks (Kominfo, 2013: kominfo.go.id). Some popular social networks in Indonesia include Facebook, Twitter, Path, and Instagram. Through online media, promotional and marketing activities can be carried out on a customer-based basis and two-way communication because customers can freely provide feedback through comments or other reactions related to the product or service they buy. Facebook and Instagram are social networking applications that are often used for advertising. Both of these applications make it easy for users to share photos and videos while having a variety of interesting features that can be used to edit and enhance your photos

and videos. Facebook is the most popular social media today. As a social networking website, Facebook has several other features that can be utilized for individuals or business people, including walls (or user profile pages to send messages, photos, and videos). On the Facebook page, several classifications can be selected according to the category of the business type carried out by business actors, including local business or place; company, organization or institution; brand or product; artist, band or public figure entertainment, and cause or community. Classification can also make it easier to help the process of finding potential customers relevant to the type of product or service to be offered through an advertisement Instagram is also a popular social media site. This is a perfect option for all those businesses that rely heavily on visual media such as fashion businesses, food, design, and travel and so on (Kennedy, 2015: 19). Instagram provides attractive features for its users, especially for photography and video enthusiasts. Instagram can be simply defined as a mobile application based on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, where users can shoot, edit and post photos or videos to the main page of Instagram and other social networks (Winarso, 2015: dailysocial.id). Currently, Instagram has three main features: feed, stories, and ig-tv.

Creative Ads

Professor Charles Freazer from University of Washington, proposed a set of six creative strategies that address various types of message situations, i.e. preemptive, unique selling proposition, brand image, positioning, resonance, and affective or anomalous (or ambiguous) (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 236). The preemptive strategy uses the attributes or general advantages of the product or service offered. This strategy is used for the categorization of introducing new products by showing more products to be offered. A unique selling proposition strategy uses attributes that can create an impression of benefit for consumers. This strategy is used for conveying the development or innovation of the products offered. The positioning strategy is used to categorize new product which want to challenge market leaders to put themselves in the minds of consumers. The preemptive, unique selling proposition and positioning strategy tend to use a hard-sell advertising message strategy approach because the message delivered is more informative to touch the mind and create responses based on the logic of the audience The other three forms of creative strategy tend to use a soft-sell approach that tries to use emotional appeal or the image of the audience to create a response related to the audience's feelings and attitudes. The brand image strategy uses attributes that display the unique advantages of a product or service, and tries to display psychological differences in the minds of consumers, just like Indomie, which has become the top minds in society because it has a brand image as an instant noodle product that represents the tastes of the archipelago (read: selera nusantara). While the resonance strategy is often used for highly competitive product categories (such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Burger King, etc.), it is necessary to use situations, lifestyles, and emotions to be easily identified the target audience. The last one, affective or anomalous strategies that like to use emotional messages, but sometimes can cause ambiguity to the product message to be conveyed. This strategy should be used only for brands that have become the top brands so that it is easy to recognize what products or services you want to offer. To formulate creative ads, advertisers can create a communication brief. The brief is an outline of the message strategy that guides the creative team and helps keep its ideas

strategically sound (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 214). The form of the communication brief is likely to be different between one advertising agency and another advertising agency. The communication brief or also known as the creative brief is a worksheet that contains planning about the problem (what the audience needs), the audience (the ages, character, and pattern of their behavior), brand position, advertising communication goals, ideas or proposed sales, selection of appropriate media, and creative direction or tone of voice advertisements.

METHODOLOGY

This research is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. The phenomenology studies aim to find out the world from the perspective of people experiencing it directly or related to the nature of human experience and the meaning attached to it (Kuswarno, 2009: 36). Data collection techniques were carried out by researchers by in-depth interviews of informants who are the advertising workers.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Strength of Ad Placement on Traditional Media in the Digital Age

People in contemporary society live in a world of media-delivered news and information, which traditionally has been supported by advertising. Newspapers, magazines, and posters provided the visual dimension of communication; radio added an audio dimension; television enabled message to be heard and seen with moving images; and internet has basically combined television and the computer, thus providing the added dimension of interactivity (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 329). The development of the internet gave rise to the presence of social media with various platforms. Social media platforms are commonly used by people, communities, and companies to introduce and demonstrate their essence. Social media is also one of the choices for advertising media today that can reach large numbers of audiences. The popularity of social media, as a marketing tool, rose in the last decade as more and more companies realized its true potential and began using it to their advantage. Social media is now part of every company's marketing strategy (Kennedy, 2015: 11). Ad workers said that television is still the most popular and effective advertising medium to date, which cannot be replaced simply by the presence of online media. Traditional mass media such as television are considered more able to reach the audiences so that it affects the chances of getting more and heterogeneous prospective consumers, especially to advertise a product or service-oriented to a national brand. 1st informant gave an example of how television is still considered a more effective medium than online media. He said that brands of household products and equipment are promoted for housewives, or household assistants who work daily at home. They often receive advertising exposure, especially during prime time advertisements such as drama serial and dangdut music programs on television. Television still has a higher number of viewers and heterogeneous audiences rather than online media. He stressed that the selection of media in advertising should be adjusted to the target audience. No one is going to be interested in your product or your advert unless they feel it addresses them directly, is relevant to their needs, entertains them – and ideally offers them a

significant benefit that will improve their lives in some large or small way (Bowdery, 2008: 44). The presence of advertisements for potential consumers will give a warning about the importance of a product and service used. Choosing the right advertising media makes it easy for advertisers to reach target audiences who are also potential customers. 3rd informant explained that he chose to stay with traditional media to the premium advertise because he often got good feedback from clients regarding the impact of the purchase after the advertisement was placed on traditional media, such as television, radio, and brochures or flyers. He gave an example of one of the local advertising strategies for a contemporary coffee shop and working space that had been done before. Based on the market segmentation, which is working people and students, he uses two ad placement strategies, is on Instagram, and distributes flyers in several places that have been adapted to market segmentation which coverage area between 2 kilometers from the coffee shop. Ads on Instagram have been activated since the soft opening of the coffee shop, the response of comments and likes on Instagram is quite good, but it does not really have an impact on the increase in the number of buyers who come or use the delivery order service. But after advertising on flayers is distributed, the number of buyers is quite increased. He stated that the opportunity to choose online media to advertise no more that 40 persen, and that applies to all the advertising strategies that he has done. But furthermore, they agreed that online media is one of the alternative media used to place the advertisements they produce today. Publication costs are much cheaper than television into consideration. Based on their experience explained that sometimes the cost of publication on television could reach three to five times higher than the cost of producing the ad. While in online media, advertising publication costs can be very far pressed as low as possible.

How to Build Brand Awareness Through Online Media?

The choice of online media to advertise a brand is also influenced by the type of brand and market reach. One type of advertising that tends to be placed on online media is retail or local advertising. Local advertising aims to lead prospective consumers to realize that there is an availability of products or services they need near or the area around them so as to facilitate access to follow up to take action as well as buying attitude. If traditional media tends to be one-way, then online media offers convenience for advertisers to get feedback from audiences. Advertisers can interact and measure how much the audience is interested in the ad or brand through the forms of engagement from the audience (number of likes and comments). Three of the five informats admitted that online media will be very effective to use if the target audience and market segmentation of their advertising brands are young people and adults who actively use online media such as YouTube and social media. Those who can not be separated from the gadget will easily receive messages displayed in an ad, whether in the form of images or audiovisual. The 2nd informant explained that using online media to advertise can be maximized if the market segmentation were a millennial generation. She added that to get feedback from potential customers; she often uses Instagram feeds and stories, as well as WhatsApp stories. They tend to respond immediately if the product is suitable, or not appropriate with what they need. The fifth informant did not agree that the determination of advertising media was only based on market segmentation. According to him, it is too common to determine that online

media always appropriate to advertise brands which aimed at young people. He argues that he also should do some research and write business analysis to be able to find a value proposition design that can explain the uniqueness of a brand so that it can be offered to potential customers in the personal user category. Personal users describe the characteristics of potential customers to the level of behavior, habits, tastes, feelings, and so forth from personal experience. The results of that research to find more suitable insights, solutions, and media placement of advertising. The digital age makes people, especially those who can not get away from gadgets, receive exposure to advertising at any time. The number of advertisements seen or heard makes them more likely to be annoying and unimportant advertisements. This is realized by ad workers. They are required to make unusual advertisements to attract the attention of the audience, ads that are interesting and adding value. John O’Toole, former chairman of FCB Communications and former president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies says you should consider there things when determining a strategy; 1) Who or what is the competition?, 2) Who are you talking to?, 3) What do you want them to know, understand, and feel? (Drewniany, Jewler, 2008: 110-111). It is recognizing who and what competitors are a necessity in developing an advertising strategy. A brand must have its own uniqueness that makes it different but still stands out, easily recognized by the audience, and not owned by other similar brands. The positioning of a brand will make it easier for advertisers to identify market segmentation, and to know who the potential audience will use the brand. Furthermore, the audience also knows the existence of a brand and understands and feels the value to be conveyed by ads. Bowdery (2008: 28) said that good ideas for your ad campaign will often grow from your product investigations. He remind us to remember, not all ad campaigns are built around solid product that you can see and touch. Some adverts will be for a service that you can not get hold of physically, for example, a life assurance policy, an annual gym membership, or a donation to a charity. You task then is to try and make abstract benefits tangible and desirable. The ad workers argue the importance of the stages of research that must be carried out before creating creative content from an ad. Research is conducted to recognize the added value or new value of a brand to be advertised. Advertisers must also recognize who their competitors are? And look for differences between the two. It becomes important to create and develop creative ideas. The 1st informan shared his experience if a brand (product or service) did not have it, they should show how the advertisement must be unique or out of the box to be able to attract the attention of the audience. The message approach can be oriented to the product or its attributes but can also be oriented towards users and relate their lifestyle (Santosa, 2009: 27). The same thing was conveyed by Frazer, one form of creative advertising strategy is resonance (Moriarty, Mitchell, Wells, 2012: 236). This strategy uses situations, lifestyles and emotions that can be identified by the target audience. As a creative advertising strategy with a softsell approach, advertising can touch the audience by linking products to their personal experiences. The fourth informant stated that an effective advertising message is not only seen from creativity, but also how advertisers are able to provide a logical connection of an idea concept that is relevant to the audience and the product being offered. Usually the message formula that will be used is to provide a snapshot life story of the character and tell about a product that can be a hero because it has provided a solution to the problem for him.

The third informant said that the power of advertising is also influenced by brand quality. Not everyone easily believes in buying a product just because they see an ad on social media. He further believes that the age of an advertisement will not be more than six months (since it was published). Advertisers must continually update their creative advertising strategies if they want to stay remembered by audiences. Creativity and originality are demanded to exist in innovative and creative advertising strategies to attract attention to action. According to the second informant, clans on social media provide a medium for influencers (not just actors who portray characters in the story in an advertisement) as part of a creative advertising strategy. An influencer can play a role as a force of word of mouth. He gave testimony about their experience using a brand and made it a reference to the audience. According to Kotler and Keller (2008: 174), the public has more confidence in the product by word of mouth. This relates to excellence and experience after using the product and communicates to the community through oral, written, or electronic communication. Indicators measure word of mouth(Armeilini and Villanueva, 2010: 7) are: 1. How many volumes (frequency) of the word of mouth that consumers receive, both directly and through e-WOM? 2. What is the value of information from word of mouth that received by consumers? 3. Sources of information word of mouth (relationship closeness, level of trust, level, and ability of informants to influence) The informants agreed that online media was able to create brand awareness, faster and more effectively, compared to ad placement in traditional media. Online media are considered to make a piece of viral information, including the presence of an advertisement to be widely discussed and spread from one netizen to another. The interesting things discussed in online media also have a great appeal for publication in traditional media. Online media is suitable for introducing a new product and adding value to a particular brand so that it can be published quickly.

CONCLUSION

The existence of online media cannot replace traditional media. In the activity of selecting ad placement in the media, traditional media is still the main media strategy chosen by advertisers because the range and character of the audience are considered more diverse, especially to advertise a product or service-oriented to a national brand. This provides opportunities for the expansion of target audiences that are part of market segmentation. But the weaknesses of traditional media are, of course, still with the relatively high budgeting problem. On the other hand, online media has a great power to build brand awareness, especially for new products or adding value to a brand so that online media will always be used as an alternative media strategy to publish an advertisement. The choice of online media as an advertising medium focuses not only on the market segmentation of youth or adults who cannot be separated from gadgets and the internet. Advertisers should understand that a creative advertising strategy that uses a personal experience approach from potential customers will be more interesting and accepted by logically so that it is easy to turn them into loyal customers in a particular brand.

BIODATA

Ade Kusuma S.Sos., M.Med.Kom is a lecturer of Communication Science Dept on UPN Veteran Jawa Timur, Surabaya, Indonesia. She has a research interest in intercultural communication, gender and film studies. Adiasri Putri Purbantina, S.IP, M.Si, MA, is a lecturer of of International Relations Dept on UPN Veteran Jawa Timur. And also, she is Ph.d Candidate on Graduate School of Asia Pasific Studies, Waseda University, Japan. She has a research interest in international political economy and development studies. Citra Rani Angga Riswari, S.Sos, M.Med.Kom is a lecturer of photography and sinematography in Faculty of Communication Science, Universitas Dr. Soetomo Surabaya. Ririn Puspita Tutiasri S.I.Kom., M.Med.Kom is a lecturer of advertising, psychology and small-group communication in Communication Science Dept, UPN Veteran Jawa Timur, Surabaya, Indonesia.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to give out appreciate to Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur, and the informants of this research.

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