UNIT 1. ADVERTISING AND BRAND MANAGEMENT.

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as the process of planning and executing
conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges
that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

PROMOTION MIX; A promotion mix is a set of different marketing approaches that marketers
develop to optimize promotional efforts and reach a broader audience.

1. Advertising. This is a non-personal promotion of products and services. Marketers use

advertising as a vital tool for increasing brand awareness. Advertisers show promotions to
masses of people using email, webpages, banner ads, television, radio, etc.

2. Direct selling. This is a one-to-one communication between a sales representative and a

potential customer. Direct selling influences people to decide to buy certain products or
services. It is one of the most effective ways of promoting your brand because the sales rep
can tailor the promotion precisely to those who are most likely to make a purchase. On the
other hand, this is the most expensive form of sales because companies need to pay for one
person’s time.

3. Sales promotion. This is a set of short-term activities that are designed to encourage

immediate purchase. Sales promotions are a campaign that uses time-sensitive offers —
sales, discounts, coupons, etc., to engage existing consumers and bring in a larger audience.
Many companies make this a core component of their marketing efforts, though sometimes
it’s the most annoying type of communication for people.

4. Public relations. This type of promotional method determines the way people treat the
brand. Companies using PR try to build a firm and attractive brand image by planting
interesting news stories about their activities in the media. Public relations are not fully
controlled by the company, though, as some reviews and webpages may negatively highlight
the brand. If a company adequately solves these issues, people will reward them with
positive word-of-mouth consideration.

5. Personal Selling. Selling, the art of persuasion, is defined as a one-on-one interaction

whereby a tangible or intangible item of value is exchanged for a different item, usually with
money in an amount of equal or greater value of the item being sold. Selling is part of the
promotional mix. It is systematic, repetitive, and measurable. When properly analysed, sales
data will offer objections to overcome and help to predict sales patterns and projections.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION;

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is an approach used by organizations to brand

and coordinate their communication efforts. The American Association of Advertising
Agencies defines IMC as “a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety
of communication disciplines and combines these disciplines to provide clarity, consistency
and maximum communication impact.” The primary idea behind an IMC strategy is to create
a seamless experience for consumers across different aspects of the marketing mix.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION PROCESS;

 The IMC Planning Process
In developing an integrated marketing communications strategy, a company combines the
various promotional-mix elements, balancing the strengths and weaknesses of each to
produce an effective communications program. Integrated marketing communications
management involves the process of planning, executing, evaluating, and controlling the use
of the various promotional-mix elements to effectively communicate with target audiences.
Planning plays an important role in the development and implementation of an effective
integrated marketing communications program. This process is guided by an integrated
marketing communications plan that provides the framework for developing, implementing,
and controlling the organization’s IMC program. The process of an IMC planning
encompasses six steps as mentioned below:
1. Review of the Marketing Plan
2. Promotional Program Situation Analysis
3. Analysis of the Communication Process
4. Budget Determination
5. Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program
6. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control
1. Review of the Marketing Plan
Before developing a promotional plan, marketers must understand where the company (or
the brand) has been, its current position in the market, where it intends to go, and how it
plans to get there. Most of this information should be contained in the marketing plan, a
written document that describes the overall marketing strategy and programs developed for
an organization, a particular product line, or a brand.
For most firms, the promotional plan is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Thus, the
promotional planners must know the roles advertising and other promotional-mix elements
will play in the overall marketing program. The promotional plan is developed similarly to
the marketing plan and often uses its detailed information.
2. Promotional Program Situation Analysis
After the overall marketing plan is reviewed, the next step in developing a promotional plan
is to conduct the situation analysis. The situation analysis focuses on the factors that
influence or are relevant to the development of a promotional strategy and includes both an
internal and an external analysis.
 Internal Analysis; The internal analysis assesses relevant areas involving the product/service
offering and the firm itself. The capabilities of the firm and its ability to develop and
implement a successful promotional program, the organization of the promotional
department, and the successes and failures of past programs should be reviewed. The
analysis should study the relative advantages and disadvantages of performing the
promotional functions in-house as opposed to hiring an external agency (or agencies).
If a firm is not capable of planning and managing its advertising and promotional programs,
it would be wise to look for assistance from an advertising agency or some other
promotional facilitator. If the organization is already using an advertising agency, the focus
will be on the quality of the agency’s work and the results achieved by past and/or current
campaigns.
Other aspects of the internal analysis are assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the firm
or the brand from an image perspective and also assessing the relative strengths and
weaknesses of the product or service; its advantages and disadvantages; any unique selling
points or benefits it may have; its packaging, price, and design; and so on. This information is
 particularly important to the creative personnel who must develop the advertising message
for the brand.
 External Analysis; The external analysis focuses on factors such as characteristics of the
firm’s customers, market segments, positioning strategies, and competitors. An important
part of the external analysis is a detailed consideration of customers’ characteristics and
buying patterns, their decision processes, and factors influencing their purchase decisions.
Attention must also be given to consumers’ perceptions and attitudes, lifestyles, and criteria
for making purchase decisions.
A key element of the external analysis is an assessment of the market. The attractiveness of
various market segments must be evaluated and the segments to target must be identified.
Once the target markets are chosen, the emphasis will be on determining how the product
should be positioned.
3. Analysis of the Communication Process
This stage of the promotional planning process examines how the company can effectively
communicate with consumers in its target markets. The promotional planner must think
about the process consumers will go through in responding to marketing communications.
The response process for products or services for which consumer decision making is
characterized by a high level of interest is often different from that for low-involvement or
routine purchase decisions. These differences will influence the promotional strategy.
Communication decisions regarding the use of various source, message, and channel factors
must also be considered. The promotional planner should recognize the different effects
various types of advertising messages might have on consumers and whether they are
appropriate for the product or brand. Issues such as whether a celebrity spokesperson
should be used and at what cost may also be studied. Preliminary discussion of media-mix
options (print, TV, radio, newspaper, direct marketing, Internet) and their cost implications
might also occur at this stage.
Communication objectives refer to what the firm seeks to accomplish with its promotional
program. They are often stated in terms of the nature of the message to be communicated
or what specific communication effects are to be achieved. Communication objectives may
include creating awareness or knowledge about a product and its attributes or benefits;
creating an image; or developing favourable attitudes, preferences, or purchase intentions.
Communication objectives should be the guiding force for development of the overall
marketing communications strategy and of objectives for each promotional-mix area.
4. Budget Determination
In reality, promotional budgets are often determined using a more simplistic approach, such
as how much money is available or a percentage of a company’s or brand’s sales revenue. At
this stage, the budget is often tentative. It may not be finalized until specific promotional-
mix strategies are developed. Determining the budget could be done in five manners such as
Historical Method, Objective-Task Method, Percentage-of-Sales Method, Competitive
Budgets, or All You Can Afford.
Here is where a media agency regularly gets involved. Many media agencies like Armani
Media Agency create a strategic media plan helping their clients to better manage and
allocate their media budget in an IMC campaign and also to better get their target
audiences. One tool that we use it in Armani Media Agency to get this job done is BDI and
CDI matrix which respectively stands for Brand Development Index and Category
Development Index.
To create this matrix, Armani clients will tell us about their revenue in different cities and
locations and then by some market research we reach data such as client’s market share.
Having these data in hand, Armani Media Agency could help clients to optimize their ads
budget and expose their prospects in locations which are the best for that product. We will
discuss about planning the media in next blog.
5. Developing the Integrated Marketing Communications Program
Developing the IMC program is generally the most involved and detailed step of the
promotional planning process. As discussed earlier, each promotional-mix element has
certain advantages and limitations. At this stage of the planning process, decisions have to
be made regarding the role and importance of each element and their coordination with one
another.
Two important aspects of the advertising program are development of the message and the
media strategy. Message development, often referred to as creative strategy, involves
determining the basic appeal and message the advertiser wishes to convey to the target
audience. This process, along with the ads that result, is to many students the most
fascinating aspect of promotion. Media strategy involves determining which communication
channels will be used to deliver the advertising message to the target audience. Decisions
must be made regarding which types of media will be used (e.g., newspapers, magazines,
radio, TV, outdoor, digital) as well as specific media selections (e.g., a particular magazine or
TV program). This task requires careful evaluation of the media options’ advantages and
limitations, costs, and ability to deliver the message effectively to the target market.
Once the message and media strategies have been determined, steps must be taken to
implement them. Most large companies hire advertising agencies to plan and produce their
messages and to evaluate and purchase the media that will carry their advertisements.
However, most agencies work very closely with their clients as they develop the
advertisements and select media, because it is the advertiser that ultimately approves (and
pays for) the creative work and media plan.
A similar process takes place for the other elements of the IMC program as objectives are
set, an overall strategy is developed, message and media strategies are determined, and
steps are taken to implement them. While the marketer’s advertising agencies may be used
to perform some of the other IMC functions, they may also hire other communication
specialists such as direct-marketing and interactive and/or sales promotion agencies, as well
as public relations firms.
6. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Control
Advertising and other marketing communication agencies are creating tools and techniques
to help marketers evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing
communication expenditures. The IMC planner wants to know not only how well the
promotional program is doing but also why. For example, problems with the advertising
program may lie in the nature of the message or in a media plan that does not reach the
target market effectively. The manager must know the reasons for the results in order to
take the right steps to correct the program.

ROLE OF IMC IN MARKETING PROGRAMME.

IMC is defined as customer centric, data driven method of communicating with the
customers. IMC is the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools,
avenues, functions and sources within a company into a seamless program that maximizes
the impact on consumers and other end users at a minimal cost. Integrated Marketing
Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that all forms of communications and
messages are carefully linked together.
 All elements of marketing mix must be consistent with the strategic plan that will produce
an integrated marketing communications program. This chapter discusses how to influence
the marketing strategies of promotion activities and how the promotion decision should be
coordinated with other marketing mix elements. This chapter also discusses the role of
advertising and other promotional elements in an integrated marketing program, a decision
to be taken on each element of the marketing mix and find out how decisions that affect and
interact with a promotional strategy, the concept of target marketing in integrated
marketing communications program; the role of market segmentation and its application on
integrated marketing communications programs as well; the use of positioning strategies.

Marketing and Promotions Process Model.

Opportunity Analysis

 A careful analysis of the marketplace should lead to alternative market opportunities for
existing product lines in current or new markets, new products for current markets, or new
products for new markets

  Market opportunities are areas where there are favourable demand trends, where the
company believes customer needs and opportunities are not being satisfied, and where it
can compete effectively

Athletic-shoe companies such as Nike, Reebok, and others see the shoe market as an opportunity to
broaden their customer base both domestically and internationally

Competitive Analysis

 In developing the firm’s marketing strategies and plans for its products and services, the
manager must carefully analyse the competition to be faced in the marketplace. For
example, recently the U.S. market has seen significant growth in the high-end luxury market,
 with more consumers spending more of their money on luxury goods than ever before.
High-end products from Coach, Tiffany’s, and Ralph Lauren are all benefiting from this
change in consumer spending habits.

 This may range from direct brand competition (which can also include its own brands) to
more indirect forms of competition, such as product substitutes

 An important aspect of marketing strategy development is the search for a competitive

advantage, something special a firm does or has that gives it an edge over competitors

In developing the firm’s marketing strategies and plans for its products and services, the manager
must carefully analyse the competition to be faced in the marketplace. Interestingly, it is not just the
wealthy that are purchasing these very expensive products, but the middle class is doing so as well.
Leading marketers apply labels such as the “massification of luxury,” “luxflation,” or the “new
luxury” segments

Target Marketing

Identifying Markets

 Target market identification isolates consumers with similar lifestyles, needs, and the like,
and increases our knowledge of their specific requirements.

 The more marketers can establish this common ground with consumers, the more effective
they will be in addressing these requirements in their communications programs and
informing and/or persuading potential consumers that the product or service offering will
meet their needs.

Market Segmentation

Dividing up a market into distinct groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to a
marketing process.  The Process involves the following steps:

 Finding ways to group consumers according to their needs

 Finding ways to group the marketing actions—usually the products offered available to the
organization

 Developing a market-product grid to relate the market segments to the firm’s products or
actions

 Selecting the target segments toward which the firm directs its marketing actions

 Taking marketing actions to reach target segments

 

Bases for Segmentation

 Geographic Segmentation

 Demographic Segmentation

 Psychographic Segmentation

 Behaviouristic Segmentation

 Benefit Segmentation

Selecting a target market

1. Determining how many segments to enter:

 Undifferentiated marketing involves ignoring segment differences and offering just one

product or service to the entire market

 Differentiated marketing involves marketing in a number of segments, developing separate

marketing strategies for each

 Concentrated marketing is used when the firm selects one segment and attempts to capture
a large share of this market

               

1. Determining which segments offer potential:

The second step in selecting a market involves determining the most attractive segment. The firm
must examine the sales potential of the segment, the opportunities for growth, the competition, and
its own ability to compete. Then it must decide whether it can market to this group.

Market Positioning

Positioning has been defined as “the art and science of fitting the product or service to one or more
segments of the broad market in such a way as to set it meaningfully apart from competition.”
Positioning strategies generally focus on either the consumer or the competition.

Developing a Positioning Strategy: To create a position for a product or service, managers must ask
themselves six basic questions:

 What position, if any, do we already have in the prospect’s mind?

 What position do we want to own?

 What companies must be outgunned if we are to establish that position?

 Do we have enough marketing money to occupy and hold the position?

 Do we have the guts to stick with one consistent positioning strategy?

 Does our creative approach match our positioning strategy?

  Approaches:
o Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits
o Positioning by Price/Quality
o Positioning by Use or Application
o Positioning by Product Class
o Positioning by Product User
o Positioning by Competitor
o Positioning by Cultural Symbols
o Repositioning

Determining the positioning strategy

 Identifying competitors
 Assessing consumers’ perceptions of competitors
 Determining competitors’ positions
 Analysing the consumers’ preferences
 Making the positioning decision
 Monitoring the position

Developing the Marketing Planning Program

Product Decisions

Product planning involves decisions not only about the item itself, such as design and quality,
but also about aspects such as service and warranties as well as brand name and package
design. Consumers look beyond the reality of the product and its ingredients. The product’s
quality, branding, packaging, and even the company standing behind it all contribute to
consumers’ perceptions.

Branding

One important role of advertising in respect to branding strategies is creating and maintaining brand
equity, which can be thought of as an intangible asset of added value or goodwill that results from
the favourable image, impressions of differentiation and/or the strength of consumer attachment to
a company name, brand name, or trademark.

Packaging

Packaging is another aspect of product strategy that has become increasingly important. The
package is often the consumer’s first exposure to the product, so it must make a favourable first
impression.

Pricing

The price variable refers to what the consumer must give up to purchase a product or service. While
price is discussed in terms of the dollar amount exchanged for an item, the cost of a product to the
consumer includes time, mental activity, and behavioural effort. A firm must consider a number of
factors in determining the price it charges for its product or service, including costs, demand factors,
competition, and perceived value.

Distribution Channel

Marketing channels, the place element of the marketing mix, are “sets of interdependent
organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or
consumption.

1.Direct distribution channel; A direct distribution channel (also known as zero level channel) is
when your business sells directly to the customer.

2.Indirect distribution channel; Indirect distribution includes channels like selling your product
through a wholesaler or retailer. There needs to be at least one third party intermediary for it to be
considered indirect distribution.

3.Push strategy; Push marketing is a promotional strategy where businesses attempt to take their
products to the customers. The term push stems from the idea that marketers are attempting to
push their products at consumers.

4.Pull strategy; The goal of pull marketing is to get the customers to come to you, hence the term
pull, where marketers are attempting to pull customers in. Common sales tactics used for pull
marketing include mass media promotions, word-of-mouth referrals and advertised sales
promotions.

ADVERTISING;
Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive
in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media.
Bovee/Arens, 1992.

PURPOSE OF ADVERTISING;

1. Attracting new customers.

2. Increasing the usage of our product / service among existing customers.
3. Attracting customers who are using our competitors’ products.
4. Retain customers for lifetime.

ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Factors influencing consumer behaviour are;

 Cultural Factors (culture, subculture, and social class).

 Social Factors (family, groups, and social roles).
 Personal Factors (age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle,
personality, and self-concept).
 Psychological Factors (motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes)

Cultural Factors
Cultural factors have the most significant influence on consumer behavior. Marketers need to
understand the role played by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social class in shaping consumer
behavior.

The influence of cultural factors can be stated as under:

Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviours learned by a member of society
from family and other important institutions. Every society has a culture of its own. The influence of
culture on buying behavior may vary markedly from country to country. A marketer must
consciously adjust to these differences. Failure to do so may result in ineffective marketing or costly
mistakes.

Subculture

Each culture is composed of smaller subcultures. Subculture refers to a group of people with shared
value systems based on common life experiences and situations. Subcultures consist of nationalities,
religions, racial groups, and geographic regions. Subcultures have important marketing implications.
They constitute important market segments, and marketers often design products and marketing
programs to fit their needs. Consumers buying behavior will be influenced by the subculture to
which he belongs. Subculture will affect his food preferences, clothing choices, recreation activities,
and career goals.

Social Factors
Various social factors influence consumer behavior. These factors are consumers, small groups,
family, and social roles and status and can be explained as under;

Reference Groups

Many small groups exert influence on a person’s behavior. Group refers to two or more people who
interact to accomplish individual or mutual goals. Groups to which a person belongs that have a
direct influence are called membership groups. Membership groups include primary groups and
secondary groups.

Primary groups include family, friends, neighbours, and co-workers with regular and informal
interactions.

Secondary groups include organizations like religious groups, professional associations, and trade
unions, which are more formal and have less regular interaction.

People often are influenced by groups to which they do not belong. These are called reference
groups, which serve as direct or indirect points of comparison or reference in forming a person’s
attitudes or behavior.

FAMILY
The family is the most important consumer buying organization in society as members of a family
can strongly influence buyer behavior.

Social Roles and Status

An individual belongs to more than one group. The position a person holds in each group can be
defined in terms of both role and status.
Personal Factors
Personal characteristics have a significant influence on a buyer’s decisions. These characteristics are
the buyer’s age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, and personality and
self-concept.

Age and Life-Cycle Stage

People buy different types of goods and services during different periods of their lives. Demand for
various goods and services is often age-related. The buying pattern is also influenced by the stage of
the family life cycle.

Family life-cycle represents the stages through which families might pass as they mature over time.

Occupation

A buyer’s occupation significantly influences decisions regarding what to buy. Marketers try to
identify the occupational groups that have an above-average interest in their products and services.

Economic situation

A buyer’s economic situation affects product choice. Marketers monitor trends in personal income,
savings, and interest rates. If income indicators give a signal of a recession, marketers can take
measures to redesign, reposition, and reprice their products closely.

Lifestyle

People coming from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may have quite different
lifestyles. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living, as expressed in his or her psychographics.

Personality and Self-Concept

Every individual has a unique personality that influences his or her buying behavior. Personality
refers to the unique psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting
responses to one’s environment.

Many marketers use a person’s self-concept, which is related to personality. Self-concept is also
known as self-image. The basic self-concept holds that people’s possessions contribute to and reflect
their identities.

Psychological Factors
Four major psychological factors have their influence on a person’s buying behavior. These factors
are; motivation, perception, learning, and beliefs and attitudes. These can be expressed as under:

Motivation

A person has many needs. Some of these needs are biological such as hunger and thirst, while others
are psychological, such as recognition, esteem, or belonging. A need becomes a motive when it is
aroused to a significant level of intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the
person to seek satisfaction of the need.

Perception
The way a person acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Persons with the same
motivation and in the same situation may act quite differently because they perceive the situation
differently. Perception is how people select, organize, and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world.

Learning

When people act, they learn. Learning describes changes in an individual’s behavior arising from
experience. Learning theorists say that most human behavior is learned. Learning occurs through the
interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement.

Beliefs and Attitudes

People acquire beliefs and attitudes through action and learning. Beliefs and attitudes influence
buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought which a person maintains about something. Beliefs
may be based on real knowledge, opinion, or faith and may or may not be associated with emotion.
An attitude is a person’s consistently favourable or unfavourable evaluations, feelings, and
tendencies toward an object or idea. Attitudes put people into a frame of mind of liking or disliking
things, moving toward or away from them. It is very difficult to change the attitudes of people.

ADVERTISING AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR- BUYING BEHAVIOUR

4 Types of Consumer Behavior;

A consumer’s buying decision depends on the type of products that they need to buy. The behavior
of a consumer while buying a coffee is a lot different while buying a car.

Based on observations, it is clear that purchases that are more complex and expensive involve higher
deliberation and many more participants.
Consur buying behavior is determined by the level of involvement that a consumer shows towards a
purchase decision. The amount of risk involved in a purchase also determines the buying behavior.
Higher priced goods tend to high higher risk, thereby seeking higher involvement in buying decisions.

There are four type of consumer buying behavior:

Complex buying behavior

Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

Habitual buying behavior

Variety seeking behavior

1. Complex buying behavior

Complex buying behavior is encountered particularly when consumers are buying an expensive
product. In this infrequent transaction, consumers are highly involved in the purchase decision.
Consumers will research thoroughly before committing to invest.

2. Dissonance-reducing buying behavior

In dissonance-reducing buying behavior consumer involvement is very high. This might be due to
high price and infrequent purchase. In addition, there is a low availability of choices with less
significance differences among brands. In this type, a consumer buys a product that is easily
available.

3. Habitual buying behavior

Habitual Buying Behavior is depicted when a consumer has low involvement in a purchase decision.
In this case the consumer is perceiving only a few significant differences between brands.

4. Variety seeking buying behavior

In variety seeking consumer behavior, consumer involvement is low. There are significant differences
between brands. Here consumers often do a lot of brand switching. The cost of switching products is
low, and hence consumers might want to try out new products just out of curiosity or boredom.
Consumers here, generally buy different products not because of dissatisfaction but mainly with an
urge to seek variety.
ADVERTISEMENT EFFECT ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Advertisement always seeks behind influencing consumers and make them buy a product in the first
place. Advertisers track consumers' behavior in order to be able to influence their decision-making
process. That makes advertisers target each phase of consumer behavior decision making with a
different approach. A consumer is looking for information, and an advertiser is a person who
communicates all the required information to a consumer but for a specific product. Following, I’ll
introduce the role of advertisement in each stage of the consumer decision-making process.

ADVERTISEMENT ROLE IN PROBLEM RECOGNITION

Problem Recognition phase of consumer decision making is the phase when the consumers realize
their needs and look for satisfying these needs. The problem which creates the need and wants can
be related to the human basic needs³ of food, water, shelter, clothing, sanitation, education, and
healthcare. The problem usually realized by the consumer when they are dissatisfied by their current
state in any of the basic needs. The problem can also be due to a seek of a higher level of satisfaction
through a luxury wants.

Advertisers found that creating needs⁴ and wants is very useful especially with the innovative and
new products in a market. An example of the advertisement in need and want creation is an
advertisement role in transferring the concept of using a car as a way of transportation to be a
better life need and a sign of social level. In this stage, the advertisers use both rational and irrational
advertisements. The rational advertisement helps more in creating the needs of the advertised
product while the irrational advertisement helps more in creating the wants.

ADVERTISEMENT ROLE IN INFORMATION SEARCH

A consumer starts searching for information once a problem is perceived. The consumer’s goal in
this phase is to find all the required information to help in solving his problem. In this phase,
advertisers focus on rational advertising to help consumers understand how the advertised products
are serving their problems. Consumers in this stage are confused because of the many choices they
see and comparing them to reach the best choice isn’t an easy task. Advertisers target consumers
through the informational advertisement to create a shortcut road to specific products.
Advertisements can take place on TV, Radio, newspapers, any printed material or social media
channels.

ADVERTISEMENT ROLE IN EVALUATING ALTERNATIVES

Evaluating alternatives and information search is like a continuous cycle stage in which a consumer
keeps going forward and back between them before making the purchase decision. During
evaluating alternatives phase of decision making, the consumer doesn’t only compare how a product
is satisfying his need against⁵ other products. Consumers usually have some other factors that take
part in the comparing process, like a brand name or how the product would contribute to consumer
social prominence. The psychological factors are usually attacked by irrational advertising. Through
the irrational advertising, an advertiser will be able to form different other values than the core real
value of a product or a service. A Nike shoe can be just something that protects your leg and makes
you walk comfortably or can be a shoe that makes you look stylish in people’s eyes. The previous
example is showing the difference between the core value of a product and the irrational
advertisement that a consumer can receive. The order winner in this phase is the advertiser who will
manage to make his product to be superior over all the other products in the market. An advertiser
role isn’t only to show that his product is superior but also to convert all negative associations to a
product to be a positive point. The advertiser should work on decreasing the uncertainty⁶ that a
consumer has toward a specific product. That all makes transformational advertising plays an
important role in the evaluation of alternatives stage.

ADVERTISEMENT ROLE IN PURCHASE DECISION

In the decision-making phase, a consumer shall have a well-defined idea about what exactly the
product he wants to buy. This stage can be interrupted if the consumer received negative feedback
through social media or a friend who has experience with such a product. Advertisers focus on this
stage more on rational advertising to bring the core value on the table to persuade and influence the
consumer purchase decision. They can also use the irrational advertisement here to make the wants
have a higher power over the needs. Both transformational and informational advertisements can
be utilized in this stage based on the message that the advertiser wants to deliver.

ADVERTISEMENT ROLE IN POST PURCHASE

Post-purchase advertisement aims to build a relation and loyalty between a customer and a
company. This advertisement can be just for promoting new relevant products, showing more
information about a sold product to the consumer, or providing product care to the consumer. The
advertisement role in this stage is also to collect feedback about a sold product and build a better
communication channel, targeting message and customer experience. Informational advertising can
be utilized in this stage to help in promoting new products or customer service. The transformational
advertising can help in keeping the consumers loyal for a longer time to the product they bought and
appeal them more to it.

SETTING ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES;

Importance of setting specific objectives for advertising and promotion;
COORDINATION; Specific objectives serves as communication devices and facilitate the coordination
of the various groups working on the campaign both on the agency and the client side. Problems can
be avoided when they have a set of written and approved objectives to guide their decisions.

PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING; Serve as guide for decision making. Advertising and promotion
planners/managers are often faced by number of options in the decision-making process. Choices on
these options should be made on the basis of how well a strategy or tactic matches the promotional
objectives.

MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION OPF RESULTS; Objectives provide a benchmark or standard

against which success or failure of the campaign can be measured. Objectives make it easier for
management to measure what have been accomplish by the campaign.

The determination of objectives should occur after:

1. a thorough situation analysis has been conducted.

2. marketing and promotional problems have been identified.

Hierarchy-Of-Effects Theory

The hierarchy-of-effects theory is an advanced advertising strategy in that it approaches the sale of a
good through well-developed, persuasive advertising messages designed to build brand awareness
over time. While an immediate purchase would be preferred, companies using this strategy expect
consumers to need a longer decision-making process. The goal of advertisers is to guide a potential
customer through all six stages of the hierarchy.

The behaviours associated with the hierarchy-of-effects theory can be boiled down to "think," "feel,"
and "do," or cognitive, affective and conative behaviours. The hierarchy-of-effects model was
created by Robert J. Lavidge and Gary A. Steiner in their 1961 article A Model for Predictive
Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness.1

Hierarchy-Of-Effects Theory Stages

  The awareness and knowledge (or cognitive) stages are when a consumer is informed about
a product or service, and how they process the information they have been given. For
advertisers, it is essential to key brand information in this stage in a useful and easily
understood fashion that compels the prospective customer to learn more and make a
connection with a product.

 The liking and preference (or affective) stages are when customers form feelings about a
brand, so it is not a time when an advertiser should focus on a product, its positive attributes
or technical abilities. Instead, advertisers should attempt to appeal to a consumer's values,
emotions, self-esteem, or lifestyle.

 The conviction and purchase (or conative) stages focuses on actions. It is when an advertiser
attempts to compel a potential customer to act on the information they have learned and
emotional connection they have formed with a brand by completing a purchase. It may
involve the conversion of doubts about a product or service into an action. In these stages,
advertisers should attempt to convince potential customers that they need a product or
service, possibly by offering a test drive or sample item. Advertisers should also build a level
of trust with them by focusing on the quality, usefulness, and popularity of a product or
service.

COMMUNICATIONS EFFECT PYRAMID;

Communications Effects Pyramid Advertising and promotion perform communications tasks

in the same way that a pyramid is built, by first accomplishing lower-level objectives such as
awareness and knowledge or comprehension. Subsequent tasks involve moving consumers
who are aware of or knowledgeable about the product or service to higher levels in the
pyramid. The initial stages, at the base of the pyramid, are easier to accomplish than those
toward the top, such as trial and repurchase or regular use. Thus, the percentage of
prospective customers will decline as they move up the pyramid.
The communications pyramid can also be used to determine promotional objectives for an
established brand. The promotional planner must determine where the target audience lies
with respect to the various blocks in the pyramid. If awareness levels for a brand and
knowledge of its features and benefits are low, the communications objective should be to
increase them. If these blocks of the pyramid are already in place, but liking or preference is
low, the advertising goal may be to change the target markets' image of the brand and
move consumers through to purchase.

DAGMAR
DAGMAR is a marketing expression that stands for “Defining Advertising Goals for
Measured Advertising Results”. It is a marketing tool to compute the results of an advertising
campaign. DAGMAR attempts to guide customers through ACCA model. According to this
approach, every purchase encounter four steps; Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, and
Action. DAGMAR method is an established technique of creating effective advertising.

DAGMAR is an advertising model proposed by Russell Colley in 1961. Russell Colley

advocated that effective advertising seeks to communicate rather than to sell. Advertisers
discover whether their message conveyed enough information and understanding of a product
to their consumers and also its respective benefits from clear objectives.
1. AWARENESS

 Awareness of the existence of a product or a service is needful before the purchase

behaviour is expected. The fundamental task of advertising activity is to improve the
consumer awareness of the product.
 Once the consumer awareness has been provided to the target audience, it should not
be forsaken. The target audience tends to get distracted by other competing messages
if they are ignored.
 Awareness has to be created, developed, refined and maintained according to the
characteristics of the market and the scenario of the organization at any given point of
time.
 The objective is to create awareness about the product amongst the target audience.

2. COMPREHENSION

 Awareness on its own is not sufficient to stimulate a purchase. Information and

understanding about the product and the organisation are essential. This can be
achieved by providing information about the brand features.
 Example: In an attempt to persuade people to budge for a new toothpaste brand, it
may be necessary to compare the product with other toothpaste brands, and provide an
additional usage benefit, such as more effective than other toothpaste because it
contains salt or that this particular toothpaste is a vegetarian toothpaste, which will, in
turn, attract more customers.
 The objective is to provide all the information about the product.

3. CONVICTION

 Conviction is the next step where the customer evaluates different products and plans
to buy the product. At this stage, a sense of conviction is established, and by creating
interests and preferences, customers are convinced that a certain product should be
tried at the next purchase.
 At this step, the job of the advertising activity is to mould the audience’s beliefs and
persuade them to buy it. This is often achieved through messages that convey the
superiority of the products over the others by flaunting the rewards or incentives for
using the product.
  Example: Thumbs up featured the incentive of social acceptance as “grown up”. It
implied that those who preferred other soft drinks were kids.
 The objective is to create a positive mental disposition to buy a product.

4. ACTION

 This is the final step which involves the final purchase of the product. The objective is
to motivate the customer to buy the product.

Characteristics of Objectives

A major contribution of DAGMAR was Colley’s specification of what constitutes a good

objective. Four requirements or characteristics of good objectives were noted

Concrete and measurable—the communications task or objective should be a precise

statement of what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target
audience. Furthermore, the specification should include a description of the measurement
procedure

Target audience –a key tenet to DAGMAR is that the target audience be well defined. For
example –if the goal was to increase awareness, it is essential to know the target audience
precisely. The benchmark measure cannot be developed without a specification of the target
segment

Benchmark and degree of change sought—another important part of setting objective is

having benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the beginning
of the campaign with respect to various communication response variables such as
awareness, knowledge, attitudes, image, etc. The objectives should also specify how much
change or movement is being sought such as increase in awareness levels, creation of
favourable attitudes or number of consumers intending to purchase the brand, etc. a
benchmark is also a prerequisite to the ultimate measurement of results, an essential part of
any planning program and DAGMAR in particular.

Specified time period—a final characteristic of good objectives is the specification of the
time period during which the objective is to be accomplished, e.g., 6months, 1 year etc. With
a time period specified a survey to generate a set if measures can be planned and anticipated.

Criticism of DAGMAR approach

1.Problem with the response hierarchy; The fact that consumers do not always go through the
sequence of communication effects before making a purchase decision, hence alternative
response models have been built.

2. Sales objective; Advertising is seen effective only if it induces customer purchase.

3. Practicality & Cost; Difficult to implement the model as money is needed to measure
change in response hierarchy and establish quantitative benchmarks.

4. Inhibition of creativity; Too concerned with quantitative assessment of a campaign’s

impact rather than developing a creative message.
Establishing and allocating promotional budgets:

Once the promotional objectives have been zeroes in upon, it’s time to allocate the
promotional budgets to achieve the desired objectives. The first thing that should be kept in
mind while allocating budgets is that advertising budget should be viewed as an investment
and not as an expense. Some of the concepts that come in handy while deciding the
promotional budget are explained below:

Marginal analysis: A firm would continue to spend advertising /promotional dollars as long
as the marginal revenues created by these expenditures exceeded the incremental
advertising/promotional costs.

Sales Response model : This explains the response pattern of the sales of a firm as a function
of the advertising expenses. A number of sales response models have been proposed but there
are basically two models that are widely accepted by the marketers

Apart from these there are a number of other factors that have to be considered while setting
up the budget for a particular product, some of which may include stage in product life cycle,
competition, differentiation, current market share etc.
Budget setting can either be done by following top down approach or by following a bottom
up approach which are both pretty self-explanatory by the following figure:
TOP-DOWN APPROACHES;

In the top-down approach, budget is fixed and is passed on to various departments. These
budgets are predetermined without theoretical basis

a) The Affordable Method: This is a very simple method of budget allocation. After the
budget has been allocated in all the areas i.e. all the other expenses have been taken care of
the company then allocates the left over money for the advertisements. This method is also
called “All you can afford”. Those companies, which follow this method, consider
advertisement as an expenditure and no expectations on returns are associated with this
method.

b) The Arbitrary Allocation: This method seems to be a weaker method than the affordable
method for setting a budget. The arbitrary allocation method is completely dependent on the
management’s discretion and hence has no theoretical basis. The budget is determined by
management solely. They on the basis of what they feel to be necessary. So ultimately the
decision depends on the psychological and economical build-up of the people in the
management and not on the market requirements.

c) The Percentage of Sales: This approach is the most commonly engaged method of setting
budgets. One approach uses past sales histories, while the second—a percentage of projected
future sales —uses projected sales figures. Many firms employ both methods, with a
projection used for planning, and the final budget adjusted according to actual sales.

d) The Competitive Parity; While keeping one’s own objectives in mind, it is often useful for a
business to compare its advertising spending with that of its competitors. The theory here is that if a
business is aware of how much its competitors are spending to advertise their products and services,
the business may wish to budget a similar amount on its own advertising by way of staying
competitive. Doing as one’s competitor does is not, of course, always the wisest course. And
matching another’s advertising budget dollar for a dollar does not necessarily buy one the
same marketing outcome. Much depends on how that money is spent. However, gauging
one’s advertising budget on other participants’ in the same market is a reasonable starting
point.
e) The Return on Investment; This method, also referred to as ‘rate on investment’ or
‘incremental method’, considers advertising and promotion as investments, like plant and
equipment. Therefore, investment in the budgetary appropriation i.e. expenditure on
advertising and promotion is expected to bring certain returns. This method measures the
return in terms of increased sales on spending advertisement appropriation in comparison to
the sales on not spending anything.
BUILD UP APPROACHES;
Objectives and task method; The objective task method, or objective and task method of
budgeting, is a process for creating a marketing budget. It follows several steps that begin
with identifying and ranking specific objectives that a business wants to accomplish through
advertising. Next, the objective and task method require leaders to determine how they will
meet their objectives, and which tasks it will require. Finally, based on estimates for the cost
of performing these tasks, leaders can allocate money within the marketing budget to each
task that seeks to fulfil an objective.
ADVERTISING PLANNING AND STRATEGY.
Background: Background analysis is required before an advertising planning is formulated which
involves identifying the market situation of the particular brand, which is the proper time to launch
the advertising campaign while the other competitor’s advertising campaign are going in the market.
It is also important to find out if there is any particular problem faced by the organization and
whether the advertising campaign is going to solve that problem before launching it in the market.

Situation Analysis: It involves the process of SWOT analysis which is based on identifying
internal “strength”, “weakness” of the company and also “opportunities” as well as “threats”
that may have concerns for a successful marketing plan.

Marketing Objectives: Specific marketing objectives provide proper vision to achieve

corporate goal, therefore a consistency should be maintained between corporate objectives
and marketing objectives. After a proper situation analysis, marketing objectives are set
which are like primary considerations for an advertising plan. Such marketing objectives are
devised to increase market share, maximizing sales by 35% and also build brand awareness.

Advertising objectives: Every advertising plan is guided by some objectives of the advertisers
which are set to meet the marketing objectives. For a successful advertising campaign, an
advertising message must reach four layers of consumers’ psychology such as reaching their
perception level, learning, persuasion and finally at the behavioural level. They must see the
advertisement, read the message, understand it and finally act upon in purchasing the
product/service. Therefore, the advertising objectives can be categorized into three types:

i. Sales objectives: One of the basic objectives of advertising plan is to increase sales. Among
other factors such as price, packaging, distribution and others, advertising is another factor
which influences sales of the company.

ii. Communication objectives: Communication objectives of an advertising plan are to work

on increasing awareness and knowledge of the brand, thereby to achieve consumers’
preference and liking.

.iii. Behavioural objectives: The crucial objective of an advertising campaign is to bring

behavioural changes among the consumers by persuading them to purchase their products or
services.

Brand Positioning: Positioning of a brand implies establishing it in the market as unique

products or services highlighting certain aspects which make them different from others.
Through positioning of the brand, it tries to communicate with the consumers with clear idea
about what the bandstands for and what are the unique features they have in it. For example,
the brand “Sensodyne” has been positioned in the market as the best solution for the dental
sensitivity problem and everyone in the market recognizes it as anti-sensitivity toothpaste. So,
advertising plan must include such positioning image in the message strategy.

Creative strategy: Creative strategy is the core of an advertising plan which basically implies
the presentation of the message considering all the marketing as well as advertising
objectives. It includes the content of the message, core theme of the advertising campaign
which are meant to help in positioning the brand in the minds of the target audience. Creative
strategy is the actor behind a successful marketing plan.
Message strategy: Message strategy involves three steps for communicating the core idea
with the target audience, these are- message generation, message selection and message
execution. Designing a message must consider a strong content so that it can work on four
levels of drawing – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA) in the minds of the
consumers. Message appeal is another important issue to be decided in the message strategy,
such as formulating an advertising message using emotional appeal or rational appeal.

Media strategy: Media strategy implies to all those media planning functions including
buying space and time in media houses for communicating promotional messages with strong
coverage. It is the decision-making process for selection of appropriate media channel to
reach the target audience at the appropriate time. It also involves dove tailing media with
messages or vice-versa.

Advertising Budget: Advertising budget is another important area in advertising planning

which determines all other functions such as message strategy, media selection, and others.
There are some factors which govern the advertising budget such as deciding media mix,
buying space and time in media, reach of target audience, and the like. It depends on the
corporate vision of promoting a brand, how much the marketing objectives are emphasized in
penetrating the brand into the market. As such, account planning is an important aspect of
advertising planning.

Implementation and Evaluation: At this stage of implementing advertising plan, the advertiser
should have some precise ideas regarding what and how to do things in order to have an
effective advertising plan. Success of an advertising plan depends on suitable management of
time and human resources in every aspects of execution of the plan. However, the advertisers
required to evaluate the results whether they achieve their objectives or not and should do
necessary corrections if it requires for better outcomes.

CREATIVE STRATEGY.

Most important part of an IMC program is the advertising message.

CREATIVE STRATEGY

Determining what the advertising message will say or communicate

CREATIVE TACTICS

Determining how the message strategy will be executed

ADVERTISING CREATIVITY

Advertising creativity is the ability to generate fresh, unique, and appropriate ideas that can
be used as solutions to communications problems. It is important for ads to be appropriate
and effective. A creative idea must be relevant to the target market. A lot of advertisement
agencies understand how important is to develop creative and different ad campaign that
communicates relevant information.

People who develop ads and commercials are called “CREATIVE TYPES”.
Planning Creative Strategy

Those who work on the creative side of marketing communication often face a real challenge.
They must take all the research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communication
objectives and other inputs and transform them into an marketing communication message.
Their job is to write copy, design layouts and illustrations and produce commercials that
communicate effectively. Marketers usually hire marketing communication agencies to
develop and implement their marketing communication campaigns because they are
specialists in the creative function of marketing communication. However, it is important to
point out that the development of creative strategy also involves representatives from the
client side and other people in the agency as well as the creative staff.

The Creative Challenge

Those who work on the creative side of marketing communication have the responsibility of
developing an effective way of communicating the marketer’s message to their customers.
The creative person or team is often provided with a great deal of input and background
information on the target audience, such as their lifestyles, needs and motives, and
communication objectives. However, every marketing situation is different and requires a
unique approach.

Taking Creative Risks

Many creative people in agencies argue that they often follow proven approaches or formulas
when creating ads because they are safe and less likely to fail. They note that their clients are
very often risk averse and feel uncomfortable with marketing communication that is too
different. It is important to note that companies who have very creative marketing
communication are more willing to assume some risk. However, many managers are more
comfortable with marketing communication that is straight forward in communicating with
customers and gives them a reason to buy.

Creative Personnel

It is a fairly common perception that those individuals who work on the creative side of
marketing communication tend to be somewhat unique and different from those working on
the managerial or business side. It is worthwhile to discuss some of the characteristics of
creative personnel in marketing communication and the need to create an environment that
fosters, and is conducive to, the development of creative marketing communication.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS;

James Web Young, the former Vice President of J Walter Thompson, developed one of the
most popular approaches to creativity in advertising.

He developed a five-step model of the creative process and commented in his book titled A
Technique for Producing Idea, “The production of ideas is just as definite a process as the
production of Fords; the production of ideas, too, runs an assembly line; in this production
the mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled, and that its
effective use is just as much a matter of practice in the technique as in the effective use of any
tool.”
Young’s five-step model of creative process is;

Step 1. Immersion:

Gathering raw material and information through background research and immersing yourself
in the problem.

tep 2. Digestion:

Taking the information, working it over and wrestling with it in the mind.

Step 3. Incubation:

Putting the problem out of your conscious mind and turning the information over to the
subconscious to do the work.

Step 4. Illumination:

The birth of an idea – the phenomenon, “Eureka!

Step J. Reality or verification:

Studying the idea to see if it still looks good or solves the problem, then shaping the idea to
practical usefulness

Inputs to the Creative Process: Preparation/Incubation/Illumination —

These models of the creative process offer an organized way of approaching an marketing
communication problem. Both models stress the need for preparation or gathering of
background information that is relevant to the problem as the first step in the creative process.
Various types of research and information can provide input to the creative process of
marketing communication at each stage. There are numerous ways the creative specialist can
acquire background information that is relevant to the marketing communication problem.
These include:

Background research – informal fact-finding techniques and general preplanning input.

Various ways of gathering background information might be discussed. ti

Product specific research – this involves different types of studies such as attitude, market
structure and positioning, perceptual mapping and psychographic studies.

Qualitative research input – techniques such as in-depth interview or focus groups with
customers or ethnographic studies.

Verification/Revision – The purpose of the verification/revision stage of the creative process

is to evaluate ideas that come from the illumination stage, reject any that may be
inappropriate, and refine those that remain and help give them final expression.

Some of the techniques used at this stage include:

Focus groups

Message studies

Portfolio tests

Pretesting of ads in storyboard or animatic form.

Creative Strategy Development

The creative process of marketing communication is guided by specific goals and objectives
and requires the development of a creative strategy or plan of action for achieving the goal.
Creative strategy development actually begins with a thorough assessment of the marketing
and promotional situation and a determination of what needs to be communicated to the
marketer’s target audience. Creative strategy should, however, also be based on a number of
other factors that are stated in the creative or copy platform.

Marketing Communication Campaigns

Most advertisements are part of a series of messages that make up an marketing

communication campaign which consists of multiple messages, often in a variety of media
that c The Search for the Major Selling Idea

An important part of creative strategy development is determining the central theme that will
become the major selling idea or big idea for the ad campaign. There are several different
approaches that can be used for developing major selling ideas and as the basis of creative
strategy. Some of the best known and most discussed approaches include:

The unique selling proposition

This concept, which was mentioned in the opening vignette, is described in Rosser Reeve’s
Reality in Marketing communication. It’s three characteristics include:

 each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer

  the proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not offer
  the proposition must be strong enough to pull over new customers to your brand

Creating a brand image

Some competing brands are so similar it is difficult to find or create a unique attribute or
benefit so the creative strategy is based on the development of a strong, memorable identity
for the brand through image marketing communication.

Finding the inherent drama

Leo Burnett believed marketing communication should be based on a foundation of consumer

benefits with an emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing these benefits.

Positioning
The basic idea is that marketing communication is used to establish or “position” the product
or service in a particular place in the consumer’s mind.

enter on a single theme or idea. The determination of the central theme, idea, position, or
image is a critical part of the creative process as it sets the tone or direction for the
development of the individual ads that make up the campaign.

The Search for the Major Selling Idea

An important part of creative strategy development is determining the central theme that will
become the major selling idea or big idea for the ad campaign. There are several different
approaches that can be used for developing major selling ideas and as the basis of creative
strategy. Some of the best known and most discussed approaches include:

The unique selling proposition

This concept, which was mentioned in the opening vignette, is described in Rosser Reeve’s
Reality in Marketing communication. It’s three characteristics include:

 each advertisement must make a proposition to the consumer

  the proposition must be one that the competition either cannot or does not offer
  the proposition must be strong enough to pull over new customers to your brand

Creating a brand image

Some competing brands are so similar it is difficult to find or create a unique attribute or
benefit so the creative strategy is based on the development of a strong, memorable identity
for the brand through image marketing communication.

Finding the inherent drama

Leo Burnett believed marketing communication should be based on a foundation of consumer

benefits with an emphasis on the dramatic element in expressing these benefits.

Positioning

The basic idea is that marketing communication is used to establish or “position” the product
or service in a particular place in the consumer’s mind.
Copy Platform

The written copy platform specifies the basic elements of the creative strategy. Different
agencies may call this document a creative platform or work plan, creative brief, creative
blueprint, or creative contract. 

COPY PLATFORM OUTLINE

Appeals and Execution

Once the major selling idea has been agreed upon, the creative team will then turns its
attention to determining the specific type of appeal and execution style that will be used to
carry out the creative concept.

Marketing Communication Appeals

The marketing communication appeal refers to the basis or approach used in the
advertisement to elicit some consumer response or to influence their feelings toward the
product, service, or cause. At the broadest level, these approaches can be broken down into
two categories or classes which are informational/rational appeals and emotional appeals.

1. Informational/rational appeals – these types of appeals focus on the consumer’s practical,

functional or utilitarian need for the product (both goods and services) and/or specific reasons
for owning a particular brand.  Examples of a number of product-related appeals that would
fall under the category of rational appeals are discussed including:

Feature appeals

Competitive advantage appeals

Favorable pricing appeals

News appeals

Product popularity appeals

Emotional appeals
These types of appeals relate to consumers’ social and/or psychological needs for purchasing
a product. Emotional appeals have become very popular in marketing communication as
marketers recognise that many purchase decisions are made on the basis of feelings and
emotions since rational, functional-based differentiation is often very difficult.

Another reason for using emotional appeals is to influence consumers’ interpretations of their
product usage experience through the use of transformational marketing communication. This
type of marketing communication creates feelings, images, meanings and beliefs about the
product that may be activated when the consumer uses it and thus “transforms” their
interpretation of the usage experience.

Combining rational and emotional appeals

Many purchase decisions are made on the basis of both rational and emotional motives. Thus
rational and emotional appeals may be combined in the advertisement to attempt to influence
both types of purchase motives.

Marketing Communication Execution

Creative execution refers to the manner in which an marketing communication appeal is

carried out or presented. A particular marketing communication appeal can be executed in a
variety of ways and a particular means of execution can be applied to a variety of marketing
communication appeals. Some of the more commonly used execution techniques include:

Straight-sell or factual message – this type of execution relies on a straightforward

presentation of information about the product or service such as specific attributes or benefits.

Scientific/technical evidence – a variation of the straight sell where scientific or technical

evidence or information is presented in the ad to support a claim.

Demonstration – this type of execution is designed to illustrate the key advantages or

benefits of a product by showing it in actual use or in some contrived or staged situation.

Comparison – this type of execution involves a direct or indirect comparison of a brand

against the competition.

Testimonials – many advertisers present their marketing communication messages in the

form of a testimonial whereby a person speak on behalf of the product based on his or her
personal use of and/or experiences with it.

Slice of life – this type of execution is often based on a problem/solution type of format. The
ad attempts to portray a real-life situation involving a problem, conflict or situation
consumers may face in their daily lives. The ad then focuses on showing how the advertiser’s
product can resolve the problem.

Animation – this technique used animated characters or scenes drawn by artists or on

computer.

Personality symbol – this type of execution involves the use of a central character of
personality symbol to deliver the marketing communication message and with which the
product can be identified. The personality symbol can take the form of a person who is used
as a spokesperson, animated characters or even animals.

Fantasy – this type of appeal is often used for image marketing communication by showing
an imaginary situation or illusion involving a consumer and the product.

Dramatisation – this execution technique creates a suspenseful situation or scenario in the

form of a short story. Dramatizations often use the problem/solution approach as they show
how the advertised brand can help resolve a problem.

Humour – humour can be used as the basis for an marketing communication appeal.
However, humour can also be used as a way of executing the message and presenting other
types of marketing communication appeals.

Combinations – many of these execution techniques can be combined in presenting a

marketing communication message. For example, slice-of-life ads are often used to
demonstrate a product or make brand comparisons.

Creative tactics
Once the creative approach, type of appeal, and execution style have been determined,
attention turns to creating the actual advertisement. The design and production of an
marketing communication message involves a number of activities such as writing copy,
developing illustrations and other visual elements of the ad and bringing all of the pieces
together in a finished product.

Creative tactics for print marketing communication – there are three basic
components of a print ad including the headline, body copy, and the visual elements or
illustrations. These elements are brought together through a layout.

Headlines – the headline refers to the words in the leading position of the advertisement –
those that are likely to be read first or are positioned to draw the most attention. The most
important function of a headline is to attract the reader’s attention and make them interested
in the remainder of the marketing communication message. There are various types of
headlines including:

Direct headlines

Indirect headlines

Subheads – many ads also contain a main headline and one or more secondary headlines or
subheads. These subheads usually appear in a smaller type size than the main headline and
are generally larger the type size used for the body copy. They are used to break-up or section
off large amount of body copy and highlight key sales points in the ad.

Body copy – the main text portion of a print ad is referred to as the body copy. Body copy
content depends on the type of marketing communication appeal and/or execution style being
used.
Visual elements – another major component of a print ad is the visual elements or
illustrations. Visual components often dominate print marketing communication an play a
very important role in determining effectiveness.

Layout – a layout refers to the physical arrangement of the various parts of the ad including
the headline, subheads, illustrations, body copy and any identifying marks.

Creative Tactics for Video

– As with print ads, video/television commercials have several components which must work
together to create the right impact and communicate the advertiser’s message.

Video – the video or visual elements are what is seen on the screen. Decisions have to be
made regarding the main focus of the visual such as the product, the presenter, action
sequences, lighting graphics, colour and other factors.

Audio – the audio portion of a commercial includes several elements such as voice, music
and sound effects. Voices may be heard in several ways such as through the direct
presentation of a spokesperson or as a dialogue or conversation among people in the
commercial. A common method for presenting the audio portion of a commercial is through a
voice-over whereby the message is delivered or action on the screen is narrated by the voice
of an announcer who is not visible.

Music – a very important part of many television commercials is music which plays various
roles and functions such as providing a pleasant background or helping create the appropriate
mood or setting. Another important musical element in both television and radio commercials
is jingles which are catchy songs about a product that usually carry the marketing
communication theme and a simple message.

EVALUATION;
1. Is the ad consistent with the brand and marketing objectives?
2. Is the ad consistent with creative strategy and objectives?
3. Is the ad targeted to the appropriate audience?
4. Is if feasible for the media environment?
5. Is the ad truthful?