ADVERTISING AND SALES PROMOTION UNIT – 1 CONCEPTS OF ADVERTISEMENT - Advertising is a big business and ranks among the top industries of the world along with oil, auto, information technology and agriculture. - The growth of advertising industry in any country is directly related to the level of business activity and the health of its economy. - Companies ranging from large global players to small local retailers are increasingly relying on advertising and other promotions to help sell their products and services. - In economies, such as ours, consumers are rapidly learning to rely on advertising and other promotional messages for information in making purchase decisions. Communication Model . What makes an advertisement effective? Below are the key points on the effectiveness of a message. 1. Attract Attention 2. Secure Interest 3. Build Desire for the product 4. Obtain Action . The above has been formulated as the AIDA Model. Attention could be the form of the layout of a print advertisement or the way an advertisement is made in the form of moving pictures, the colors used, the models used and the copy written, the movements used and the contrasting element used. We are bombarded by so many advertisements that there are a few we see and while a few we don’t. The advertisement, which arouses interest in us and provokes us to think or feel about a product, is what an advertiser looks at. It basically means to catch the eye of the public. Desire would mean the buying motive. When you feel that you want to posses the particular product or be associated with it. Action would normally mean the acquisition of the product. Within the AIDA framework, Attention would refer to the cognitive stage, both Interest and Desire would relate to the affective stage and Action would be a behavioral activity. Within the framework of advertisements the following should be kept in mind: • Understanding the Objective(s) of the advertisement (MISSION) • Defining the Target Audience (MARKET) • Understanding the Budget (MONEY) • Understanding the Message (MESSAGE) • The Media used for putting the advertisement (MEDIA) • Seeing whether the advertisement was Effective (MEASUREMENT) The above would commonly be termed as the 6 M’s of Advertising. The Mission statement would refer to the Aim of your advertisement. Is to improve sales, is to launch a new product, it for recall, is it for some short term offers, is it to gain attention, etc. The Market analysis would incorporate the type of buyer you want to sell the product to. For a cosmetic company it is but natural they would show women and not men in their advertisement. For Horlicks they would show children having the product. Money is the amount of budget constraint that the advertiser has in allocating the money between different medias and the expenditure to be incurred. For example, Procter & Gamble may allocate Rs. 2 crore for the advertisement of Tide detergent spread over one year. What to say, how to say, who will say it and what type of appeals to be given in the message is what Message formulation is all about. Shahrukh Khan being the spokesperson for Hyundai Santro, the colors used in the car, the movements of the car and what the person should remember the car as are few of the elements to be kept in mind. INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION IMC can be defined as: A concept of marketing communications planning that recognizes the added value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication disciplines. In other words, the message and approaches of general advertising direct response, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling efforts are combined to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communications impact. IMC, thus, calls for a "big picture" approach to planning marketing and promotion programs and coordinating the various communication functions. It requires firms to develop a total marketing communications strategy that recognizes what the sum total of a firm's marketing activities, not just advertising, communicate to its customers. Consumers' perceptions of a firm and/or brands are a synthesis of the messages they receive from various sources. These include media advertisement, price, direct marketing efforts, publicity, and sales promotions, as well as interactions with salespeople and other customer-contact employees. Marketing-Mix and Advertising Marketing - mix Product Price Promotion Place Advertising Personal Selling Sales Promotion Publicity Direct Marketing . Marketing-mix is a major concept in modern marketing and includes everything that the marketer uses to create a blend that would influence the demand for its products or services. Popularly, 4 Ps are used to represent the elements of marketing-mix. Each ‘P’ stands for, o Product – a product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.” o Price – the price is the sum that customer pays in exchange for the product, or to get a service performed. o Place (Distribution) – refers to marketing activities undertaken to make the product or service available to consumers at convenient locations where they are normally expected to shop for such things. o Promotion – includes marketing activities used to inform, persuade and remind the target market of an organization, its products, services and other activities. In the marketing-mix product or service is the most important element. Promotion-mix is made up of the specific group of marketing activities, which are concerned with the communications aspect with existing or potential consumers and relevant publics. It involves many activities, such as, o Advertising o Personal Selling o Sales Promotion o Direct Marketing o Publicity . Advertising is a powerful communication force, highly visible, and one of the most important tools of marketing communications that helps to sell products, services, ideas and images etc. DEFINITION OF ADVERTISING . Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor. “Salesmanship in print” . “Advertising as a substitute for the human salesman” . “Advertising is the business of creative thinking for commercial advantage” The above are few definitions of what advertising is all about. To Communicate, to Persuade, to Influence and to Lead to some action is what advertising is all about. Advertising is controlled, identifiable information and persuasion by means of mass communications media. Paid form: the paid aspect of the definition reflects the fact that the space or time for an advertising message generally must be bought. Non personal presentation and promotion: advertising is totally non-personal, offering no personal interaction, delivered through media and often viewed as an intrusion. Ideas, goods and services: is used not only to present and promote goods and services with the intent of selling them, it is also increasingly used to further the goals of public interest and social causes. An identified sponsor: the sponsor of ideas or opinion is known. Controlled: the advertiser controls the content of the advertising message, its time and direction. Mass Communications media: a broad group of audience can best be reached by mass media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio and outdoor displays and this is what separates advertising from personal selling. Persuasion: it is the major objective of advertising . It is not neutral it is not unbiased: all ads that appear are controlled by the advertiser and are intended to serve the advertiser’s interest in some way. BRIEF HISTORY OF ADVERTISING . The recorded history of advertising goes back to about 5000 years including the modern satellite and internet age. Before the invention of printing from movable type, there were three forms of advertising, o Trademark: craftsman, in early times, wanted to be identified for their skills and placed their individual marks on goods that they crafted. o Signs: Phoenicians, and other traders, painted commercial messages on prominent rocks along trade routes they frequented. o Town criers: This system of town criers was perhaps, present in all developed civilizations of the ancient world. Development of Modern Advertising: During 1920s, modern marketing research entered the world of advertising. As a result of this new development, advertising in this period started stressing on the outcomes of consumer purchases such as health, happiness, status, love, etc. FUNCTIONS OF ADVERTISING The various functions of advertising can be listed as follow: . Stimulates demand . Strengthens other promotion mix elements . Develops brand preference . Cuts costs . Lower Prices . Competitive Weapon BENEFITS OF ADVERTISING Advertising performs an important economic function for the advertiser, affects economic decisions of the audience, and is an integral part of the entire national international economic system. The benefits of advertising are as follows: . Information . Brand Image Building . Innovation . Growth of Media ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF ADVERTISEMENTS . Effect on the Value of Products or Services: Advertising sets off a chain reaction of economic events. In a free-market system, consumers have he option of choosing the desired value in the products or services they buy. If price is more important to consumers, they have options of buying less expensive alternatives. Others looking for luxury and status may choose more fancy and expensive alternatives.