TOPIC 2

The Practice of Advertising

For some, advertising is a career and there are many marketing

professionals who really engage in specialization in terms of advertising. Here in
the Philippines, as a career, marketing professionals choose advertising for
many reasons such as the never-ending opportunities brought about by
advertising and the limited advertising organization in the Philippines. In fact,
some of well-known companies and corporation do not have their own
advertising department, therefore, they tend to seek for outsourcing agreement
from an advertising companies and seek advises from freelance consultants.

It is said that, competition, growing marketing expenses, product failures,

liberalization, globalization and the emergence of new electronic media has
given an impetus to advertising activity.

We must understand however that advertising is a communication

process. We have a specific message and that is ‘Decoded’ by a party or the
Sender and to be ‘Encoded’ by another, the message receiver.

We must understand that the message so encoded should be so clear that

the person should not distort the meaning of it. This means that what you are
trying to say and what the other person makes out of the message should be the
same. You should not make the other party confused.

So, it means that the message should:

 1. Gain attention of the receiver.
In a usual practice, the answer to the questions on how to gain the attention of
the audience in terms of the message lies with its font style and font size.

2. Be understood.
The message should not be hanging in terms of its meaning so that the reader
would not process other interpretation aside from the suppose
purpose/meaning of the adverting message or statement.

3. Be able to stimulate the receiver and suggest appropriate method to

satisfy their needs.
The message should allow the receiver/audience to conceptualize, critically
examine the advertising message in order for them to assess whether the
product or services being advertised will satisfy their needs and wants.

The Communication Model

As we have understood that the sender identifies the receiver(s) and

develops a message, the basic of the sender is that the customer or the target
audience should buy the product or the service. For this we must understand
whether a particular message so created has been effective in reaching out to
them. So, 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.

Due to various forms of advertisement as well as the medium that

companies currently utilized, many good advertisements were not given so
much attention and the advertisement that arouses our interest and provokes us
to think or feel about a product, is what an advertiser looks at and it basically
means to catch the eye of the public.

Desire would mean the buying motive. When we feel that you want to
possess 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:

1. Understanding the Objective(s) of the advertisement (MISSION)

The first and foremost activity in making and implementing marketing strategies
is to develop and state a well clear objective. In case of advertising, the purpose of the
advertisement must be clear to all members of the team. By doing so, the purpose of the
specific advertisement will be developed in clear and precise manner and this will be
eventually transformed into advertising message, the core essence of an advertisement.

2. Defining the Target Audience (MARKET)

 Identifying the target audience plays a critical role in the development of an
advertisement. Proper audience must be identified so that resources will not be
wasted such as money, time, effort and the advertisement itself.
3. Understanding the Budget (MONEY)
Advertising and advertisement require large amount of capitalization. Most of the
cases, advertising is considered an expense. However, some will deem it as
investment and the fruit of it will be realize in the long run. Thus, determining
the budget for each advertising strategies will be crucial in terms of its efficiency.
4. Understanding the Message (MESSAGE)
Again, a clear purpose should be determined right from the start. When the
objective is clear, so the advertising message.
5. The Media used for putting the advertisement (MEDIA)
The medium for the advertisement also plays a critical role in the whole
advertising process. The decision whether to use a print media or non-print media
depends on many factors such as the range of scope, patronage, target audience
and the budget.
6. Seeing whether the advertisement was Effective (MEASUREMENT)
The most common tool to measure the effectivity of an advertisement is through
the
Sales. It is with the assumption that, when sales increases after the advertisement
of a specific product or service, then we can consider that the advertisement is
effective.

The above would commonly be termed as the 6 M’s of Advertising.

The Integrated Marketing Communication

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:
1. media advertisement
2. price direct marketing efforts
3. publicity
4. sales promotions
5. interactions with salespeople
6. other customer-contact employees.

In a global economy with international markets and instantaneous

communications, no aspect of marketing can be studied in a vacuum or in
isolation if one expects to be accurate and relevant. Marketing tools, used as
planned business-building techniques are more likely to facilitate attainment of
organizational goals.
So how does it play a role with IMC or advertising? There are 3 ways in which
it plays a role:
1. It is a key element in inducing trial or repurchase in many communication
programs in which advertising creates awareness and favorable attitudes
but fails to spur action. The action comes about due to the limited duration of
the program so the consumer must act quickly. The consumer may perceive this as
a value for money purchase.
2. In many retail outlets the companies are able to make out through
scanners as to which brands are moving fast off the retail shelves and also
try to understand as to which shelf does not receive much sales so that
they could reduce the hiring or the display of merchandise from the shelf.
This is done in order to be cost effective.
3. In order to keep the brand equity of the brand intact especially for high
involvement products and ‘feeling’ products, the advertising and sales
promotion efforts must complement each other.
References
Information Resources Management Association (2017). Advertising and
Branding: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications. Published
by IGI Global. Identifiers: LCCN 2016045618| ISBN 9781522517931
(hardcover) | ISBN 9781522517948 (ebook)

Brierly, S. (1995). The Advertising Handbook. Published by Routledge. ISBN 0-

203-97833-1

Faulkner, A. et al (2017). Learning Graphic Designs and Illustration. Published

by Pearson. ISBN 13: 978-0-13-446041-

Hackley, C. & Hackley RA (2018). Advertising and Promotion. Published by

SAGE Publishing. ISBN 978-1-47399-798-1 ISBN 978-1-47399-799-8 (pbk)

Tondreau, B. (2019). Layout Essentials: 100 Designs Principle for Using Grid.
Published by Rockport Publishers. ISBN: 978-1-63159-631-5

Article

Advertising Management by Rai Technology University in India.