Advertising and Sales Promotion Assignment

1. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of music as a tool for

Constructing effective radio ads?

 Radio Advertising
It is, buying commercials, frequently called spots in the radio industry, to promote
their products or services. Advertisers pay commercial radio stations for airtime
and, in exchange, the radio station broadcasts the advertiser's commercial to its
listening audience.

 Significance :-

Music and sound is crucial for the radio advertisements. It is highly significant to
make the right selection not only of texts or songs, but of the accompanying
sounds. The sound is the main radio advertising tool. Music in advertising refers to
music integrated in (mass) electronic media advertisements in order to enhance its
success. Music in advertising affects the way viewers perceive the brand by
different means and on different levels, and can significantly affect the emotional
response to television commercials. It also has an effect on the musicians whose
music is featured in advertisements.

Advantages of Radio Ads :-

1. Reaching your demographic

Radio advertising specialists know who is listening to their programming, which

means you can reach your intended audience without the guesswork.

2. Saving money

Buying spots on local radio can be a great way to reach your audience for less than
it would cost to run the same advertisement on television or to implement a costly
direct mail campaign.

Radio offers a variety of features to advertisers and many of the medium’s

characteristics seem to be important to advertisers. Of all the mass media, radio is

believed to be the most personal medium and offers advantages over other media

like selectivity, cost efficiency, flexibility and mental imagery.

3.Selectivity

Radio offers a high degree of selectivity through geographic coverage by a large

number of stations and various programme formats. Advertisers can focus their ad
messages on specific audiences who speak different languages in different areas,
which otherwise may not be accessible by means of other media.

4.Cost efficiency

Cost advantages are quite significant with radio as an advertising medium. Radio
time costs far less than TV and the commercials are quite inexpensive to produce.
They require only a script of the commercial to be read by the announcer, or a
prerecorded message that the station can broadcast. Advertisers can use different
stations to broaden the reach and frequency within a limited media budget.

5.Flexibility

Among all the media, probably radio is the most flexible as it has a short closing
period. Radio commercials can usually be produced in a relatively short time and if
required, the ad message can be changed almost just before broadcast time. Same
ad message can be adjusted in different languages to suit market conditions

6.Mental Imagery

Radio advertising uses sound, and a major advantage of this situation is that it
encourages audiences to use their imagination in creating images while processing
the ad messages. According to Verne Gay, radio can reinforce images created by
television commercial through image transfer. In this technique, the same spoken
words or jingles are used in radio commercial as on television. Image transfer
means that when consumers hear the same ad message or jingle on radio, they
connect it to the TV commercial and visualize images. Thus, radio and TV ads
reinforce each other.
Disadvantages of Radio Advertising

1. Lack of a Visual Element

The most fundamental problem associated with radio is lack of a visual element.
The radio advertiser cannot show or demonstrate the product, or make use of any
other visual appeal. As discussed earlier, in creating brand awareness, package
identification often is critical for many advertisers considering the
increasingnumber of large retail stores in cities with self-service. In rural markets,
where the literacy rates are quite low, package identification plays a major role in
brand selection.

2. Audience Fragmentation

Large number of radio stations create audience fragmentation. The number of

audience tuned to any particular station is usually quite small. Advertisers who
want to reach broad market areas through radio, with language differences, have to
buy time on a number of stations reaching specific geographic areas.

3. Limited Research Data:

The research data on radio is limited compared to other major advertising

mediums like television, newspapers, and magazines.

4. Limited Listener Attention

It is difficult to attract and retain radio listeners attention to commercials.

Programme switching is frequent among listeners and they often miss all or some
of the commercials. Possibilities of distortion in radio broadcast are high and this
irritates the listeners – the result commercials are missed.

5. Clutter

With the increasing intensity of advertising, clutter has become a problem in

advertising media, and radio is no exception. Commercial channels carry many ad
messages every hour and it is becoming increasingly difficult for ad messages to
attract and retain audiences’ attention. Much depends on the precision of script
writing, accompanying sounds and level of distortion.
2. Discuss the activities and decisions involved in the final production of print ads.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is defined as the arrangement of type and visual elements along
with specifications for paper, ink colors, and printing processes that, when
combined, convey a visual message. The graphic design stage includes concepting,
page layout, typography, illustration, photography selection, color decisions, and
producing final computer files.

Creation of artwork – Important facts

Creating artwork requires taking multiple factors into account. Here are some of
the most important elements to consider:

Proper design software

Art must be prepared in the software that is best suited for the particular task, and
in a version that is compatible with the selected print shop. If the print shop uses a
newer or older version than what the art file was created with, you can run into
problems. Some of the industry’s standard applications include: Illustrator, a
drawing program to create logos or illustration; Photoshop, a pixel-based program
to manipulate photos; and In design, a page layout program to create a single or
multi-page document.

Accurate layout

Usually, files need to be built at actual size and use bleed space when appropriate.
(This eliminates room for errors with the printing estimate and final printed result).
If a file is not built correctly, the printer will have to spend time (and therefore
charge you a fee) to readjust files to fit the correct specifications of the job.

Approved fonts

The fonts should be consistent with your brand standard and must be included with
the files sent to the printer. If the printer does not have the font used in the artwork,
and it has not been included with the packaged files, the printer may simply choose
to substitute the fonts, producing something that is probably similar but not what
you actually approved.

Suitable image resolution

Images need to be high-resolution and large enough to fit within the assigned
space. The resolution should be 300 dpi (dots per inch). Anything smaller than that
might result in a loss of quality.

Precise color

As with the fonts, the colors and general tone of the piece should be consistent
with your brand. That said, never trust the colors of a piece being designed on a
computer as the actual colors that will turn out once printed! The reason is because
a computer screen and paper printing use 2 different types of processes, RGB and
CMYK, to create actual colors:

RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is an “additive coloration” mode. Think of a computer

screen with a black background. In order to see the colors, some lights of red,
green, and blue are “added” to the black background. RGB is typically used to
render colors on monitors and computer screens.

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) is a “subtractive coloration” mode. It is

intended to be applied to print on white or colored paper, and calculates the correct
hues by “subtracting” from the initial brightness of the paper. The CMYK
coloration mode is intended for use in paper printing applications and printing
specific, exact colors.

CMYK is also referred to as “process colors,” which is different than spot colors
(also called PMS – Pantone Matching System). CMYK uses four different color
inks (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) overlapping each other to achieve the
full color spectrum. To print any multicolor image, the same four color inks are
used. The press runs four times to apply each ink individually.

Spot colors are pre-mixed inks that are applied only to the area assigned for each
particular color. For example, to print a blue, brown, and red image, pre-mixed
blue, brown, and red inks are used. In this case, the printing press runs only three
times, which reduces printing costs.
 We work on-site with the printer to ensure that the final printed product matches
your brand colors as closely as possible and we advise on color corrections along
the way if necessary.

File Naming

Files must be named to allow printers to work more efficiently. For example, make
sure there are no unusual characters in the file’s name or it may cause a printer’s
computer to crash. They should be labeled with the correct extension: .ai for
Illustrator, .indd for InDesign, etc. Perhaps this sounds elementary to some, but we
have learned that this simple step significantly expedites the process.

File preparation to release for print

Before the artwork can be sent to the printer, here are a few steps we use to ensure
the files are prepared correctly:

Use of preflight software: Preflight software helps collect all the fonts and images,
search for missing items, and avoid mistakes.

Verification of page size settings and bleeds: Incorrect page settings cannot be
fixed by simply scaling up or down, so make sure the document size is the final
trim size. Bleed photos and other graphics that extend to the edge of a page must
be set up to overlap the trim margins by a 1/8th inch to avoid white along the edge.

File clean up: Cluttered files not only confuse and frustrate printers, they
compound the possibility of errors. Make sure to remove unnecessary artwork,
delete unused colors, and verify that all the color names match exactly across all
programs. An oversight such as not specifying whether a color is CMYK or PMS
(or spot colors) might change the overall colors of a piece or even turn a four-color
job into a more expensive five-color job by mistake.

The Quote Process – Communication with vendors is key

We always communicate with our vendors early in the process and negotiate the
best prices for our clients without sacrificing quality. We discuss topics covering
the purpose of the materials we will be printing, the final size, the quantity needed,
the deadline, etc. All of this information is essential to determine the best type of
press to be used (digital or offset), schedule press time, order paper, etc.

Here are some of the elements we take into consideration:

Size: dimensions of the piece (flat and final size) Stock: weight, finish, grade
name, and color of the paper Inks: number and types of inks and varnishes (four-
color process, PMS colors) Bleed: an 1/8th inch extension to the edge of a page
Proofs: review of PDF and hard-copy versions

File format: this information is very important to make sure the print shop can
support our software/application and can open the files

Finishing: type of trim, score, fold, assembly, and seal if applicable

Printing and mailing or shipping date: this step is very important to determine
which vendor and what kind of budget best suits the project

Prepress and the proofing process

Prepress refers to all the print production functions that take place from the
moment the files are sent to the printer to the actual printing. These functions
might include some of the following: receiving media files, creating proofs for
review and approval, making any final changes/edits, creating the plates for the
offset press, etc. At BluePrints, we use a 3-step final proofing process:

Step 1:

PDF proof (review copy/elements/fonts) – We request a PDF proof of the artwork

from our vendors. This allows us to proofread the content one last time and make
sure the piece contains no mistakes. It also lets us make sure the text hasn’t shifted
or the images haven’t moved while the printer processed the files.

Step 2:
Hard-copy proof (review color match/paper) – We then receive a hard-copy
printout, which lets us see the final document, check for discrepancies, and clarify
how the layout is intended to look.

Step 3:

On-location press-check – Upon approval of the hard-copy proof, we go to the

print shop for a final press-check in order to approve the paper, inks, varnishes,
colors, etc.

Printing (offset vs. digital)

Printing is the mechanical process of applying ink to paper using an offset or

digital press. The offset press is the most cost effective way of producing large
volumes of printed materials, while the digital press is more commonly used for
smaller volume and lower production cost. It is important to understand that the
final product will look slightly different when printed digitally vs. offset, as well as
from printer to printer. Proper and consistent paper selection is also a critical
component of the process because color appears distinctively on different paper
stocks and with or without finishes (varnish, aqueous coating, etc.). So when you
need to reprint, it is best to use the same methodology, on the same paper, with the
same finishes, at the same printer to match the original run as closely as possible.
As part of our service, we have skilled production managers who oversee the
process to ensure great and consistent outcomes.

Bindery/Finish

After a job is printed, the next stage includes one or many steps depending on the
end product: cutting/trimming, folding, laminating, scoring, perforating, stitching,
and binding. The last step in the bindery stage includes packaging for delivery.

Delivery

Most jobs are shipped to our clients directly or delivered to a specialized facility
called a mail-house or “letter-shop” when materials are to be mailed on behalf of
the client. In this stage, the addresses are computer-imprinted from the customer’s
mailing list database onto the printed piece, then sorted and prepared for delivery
to the post office.

As you can see, the print production process is very detailed and requires a certain
level of experience and expertise. Most importantly, at BluePrints, we monitor the
jobs in person, from start to finish, to ensure that the highest standards are met,
your brand is represented through quality materials, and that you always receive
the utmost value for your investment.