C Planning2 PDF

Advertising Account Planning
Sub Code - 702
Developed by
Prof. Santha Ilango
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Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research
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1. Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe 2. Dr. B.P. Sabale 3. Prof. Dr. Vijay Khole 4. Prof. Anuradha Deshmukh
Group Director Chancellor, D.Y. Patil University, Former Vice-Chancellor Former Director
Welingkar Institute of Navi Mumbai (Mumbai University) (YCMOU)
Management Ex Vice-Chancellor (YCMOU)
Program Design and Advisory Team
Prof. B.N. Chatterjee Mr. Manish Pitke

Dean – Marketing Faculty – Travel and Tourism
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Management Consultant
Prof. Kanu Doshi Prof. B.N. Chatterjee

Dean – Finance Dean – Marketing
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai
Prof. Dr. V.H. Iyer Mr. Smitesh Bhosale

Dean – Management Development Programs Faculty – Media and Advertising
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Founder of EVALUENZ
Prof. B.N. Chatterjee Prof. Vineel Bhurke

Dean – Marketing Faculty – Rural Management
Prof. Venkat lyer Dr. Pravin Kumar Agrawal

Director – Intraspect Development Faculty – Healthcare Management
Manager Medical – Air India Ltd.
Prof. Dr. Pradeep Pendse Mrs. Margaret Vas

Dean – IT/Business Design Faculty – Hospitality
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Former Manager-Catering Services – Air India Ltd.
Prof. Sandeep Kelkar Mr. Anuj Pandey

Faculty – IT Publisher
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Management Books Publishing, Mumbai
Prof. Dr. Swapna Pradhan Course Editor

Faculty – Retail Prof. Dr. P.S. Rao
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai Dean – Quality Systems
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai
Prof. Bijoy B. Bhattacharyya Prof. B.N. Chatterjee

Dean – Banking Dean – Marketing
Mr. P.M. Bendre Course Coordinators

Faculty – Operations Prof. Dr. Rajesh Aparnath
Former Quality Chief – Bosch Ltd. Head – PGDM (HB)
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai
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1st Edition (Nov 2019)

CONTENTS
Contents
Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No.
12 Introduction to Account 4-23

3 Planning The Client 24-47
4 The Consumer 48-82
5 The Product and its Benefits 83-98
6 The Brand Personality 99-117
7 The Creative Brief 118-142
8 Digital advertising 143-167
9 Media and media planning 168-192
10 Measuring the Ad Success 193-219
11 The Life of an Account Planner 220-237
The Future of Account Planning 238-245
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INTRODUCTION TO ACCOUNT PLANNING
Chapter 1
Introduction to Account Planning
Objectives:
After completing this Chapter, you will be able to:
•Understand how the world of advertising used to operate before account

planning
•Gain an insight into the history of account planning origin
•Define account planning
•Describe the function of an account planner
•Account planning in tune with the digital world
Structure:
1.1 Before Account planning
1.2 History of Account planning
1.3 Account planning
1.4 Role of an Account planner
1.5 Benefits of Account planning
1.6 Myths about Account planning
1.7 The current account planning scenario
1.8 Summary
1.9 Self-Assessment Questions
1.10 Multiple Choice Questions
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1.1 BEFORE ACCOUNT PLANNING
In the 1950's, advertising agencies were very consumer research oriented.

Many market researchers would interact with consumers and accordingly
plan and strategize for advertisement delivery. Many advertisements during
this time were product demonstrations to differentiate brands and show the
product's Unique Selling Proposition (USP) in action.
Thus we can clearly see that in this period the major chunk of the work of the
advertising agencies were into - Marketing and marketing plans, market
research where it involved market researchers, market research studies, and
huge data compilation and compiled data results used mainly for the
purpose of marketing and communications. Advertising agencies were the
main pioneers of market research programmes. The advertising agencies
were very close to the consumers at this point of time.
A typical advertising agency in this period would be divided into various

departments like-
•Interacting with clients and looking out for their interests (account
management)
•Buying advertising (media)
•Creating advertising (creative)
Advertising in the 1960's
After World War II, the consumer scenario changed. The growth of
technology and the rise of health and fitness concerns started having an
influence .More women entered the workplace, new product categories to
cater to the needs of women were introduced. Also supply caught up with
demand and consumers had purchased the necessities of life. This period of
prosperity saw good times for the advertising industry too.
In the 1960's many FMCG companies like Unilever expanded and diversified
through innovation and acquisition, setting up advertising agencies, market
research companies and packaging businesses and aligned their ways of
working along marketing lines. This was the time when "branding" of a
product gained importance. The FMCG companies starting interacting with
the consumers directly to get an insight into product attributes, consumer
needs. In order for better product
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development, consumer insights, cut costs in-house market research

departments were set up.
Many third party companies conducting market research also came into
existence. These companies specialized in generating and selling information
that analyzed and dissected the changing populace. Among the biggest
purchasers of this information were advertising agencies.
Hence the dependency of the clients on the advertising agencies reduced.

Advertising agencies were now required for only specialized activities like the
professional development of advertisements. Advertising agencies were no
longer market consultants for these companies. This created a gap between
the research team and the account management team within the agency.
As a result, the advertising agencies lost their touch with the consumers.
Advertising agencies at this point of time were mere executors rather than
creative people.
Account planning originated from a need to concentrate client research,

which in the 1960s was diluted across marketing, advertising and media-
research departments. The generated research information was not fully
understood by the inexperienced account management team, the agencies
were no longer in direct contact with the consumers, resulting in irrelevant
advertisements.
In this scenario, there was a need to have an interface which could

understand and decode the consumer insights gained from the market
research team, understand the client's requirements from the account
management team and create a unique advertisement which would serve
the purpose of the business and create success.
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1.2 History Of Account Planning
The increasing gap between marketing, advertising and media-research

departments and the need for an interface was recognized by two UK
advertising agencies, BoaseMassimi Pollitt (BMP) and J. Walter Thompson
(JWT), both in London. Stanley Pollitt of BMP and Stephen King of JWT were
the two dominant personalities involved in their respective organizations.
They were largely unsatisfied with the way marketing departments of the
clients and the account managers of the agency were interacting. Apart from
their common thought that the "consumer is important"; the approach of
these two agencies was very different, representing two distinct ideologies.
Thus planning is widely considered to have evolved in the UK advertising

agency scene in the late 1960's in an effort to bring the research department
closer to the creative process.
The BMP approach was through a person, whereas the JWT approach was
through a process. But both the approaches finally led to the restructuring
and reorganization of media planning, market research and marketing
departments. Both the approaches has led to what we now know as Account
Planning.
The BMP approach
In 1968, Stanley Pollitt helped set up the advertising agency "Boase Massimi
Pollitt". Here he put forward his idea of account planning for the first time .This
account planning department tried to show that all its advertising efforts were
accountable, effective and measurable. He elaborated the role of the market
researcher and made this role get involved in planning and execution of
advertisements and involvement with the consumers i.e. BMP planners
became involved in advertising research, and often in fieldwork.
"The creative man, the new type of planner and the account man, in
essentially as a businessman with a flair for advertising, are all likely to have
greater equality of status. And all of them are likely to be directly involved with
the client. Because of their different mental processes and ways of tackling
problems they are likely to work together more in a status
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of controlled friction than artificial harmony." (Stanley Pollitt "How I started

Account Planning in Agencies"- Campaign, 1979)
The JWT approach
Around the same time of 1968, Stephen King too thought that his agency
needed reorganization. He merged the marketing, media and research
department and created a new department. This new department was a new,
three-person managing team for each of its accounts, comprising of -
•The account director who had to understand the requirements of the

client and the clients marketing strategy
•The creative group head, who had to come up with creative ideas to
cater to the client's requirements
•The account planner who was a representative of the client's target

consumer was to be involved in research and media planning.
One of the early supporters of planning at this time was Jeremy Bull more
who was Managing Director of JWT London in the early days when the
department was first set up. He was a great supporter of planning and
planners.
Account planning travels to the U.S.
As we have seen, account planning began to find its foothold in the UK

because of JWT and BMP. Slowly and steadily the clients too began to accept
this way of working. The concept of Account planning further strengthened
when in 1979, England's Account Planning Association recognized the need of
strategy and planning to determine advertising effectiveness rather than just
do a pretesting of advertisements.
It was finally in 1980, that Chiat\Day became the first agency in the United
States to adapt the concept of an account planning department. In 1982 he
hired Jane Newman, a British planner, to come and work for his office in New
York. Newman had previously worked at BMP. He also appointed Jeff De
Joseph from the Young and Rubicam media department to be the first
planner on staff. As the department grew, so did Chiat\Day. In ten years the
agency grew from billings of $50 million to $700 million. Also ,in the
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1980's period , this agency was the 'Agency of the Decade' by Advertising
Age, and won Gold Lions at Cannes .In a few years’ time , almost all
advertising agencies were following the successful mantra of "account
planning"
Currently many awards and recognitions are recognizing the talent needed in
Advertising Account Planning –
1.APAC Effie Awards

Organized by the Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations (
CAAAA ) recognizes the best communication works.
2.IPA Effectiveness Awards

Established by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in 1980 and
associated with World Advertising Research Council ( WARC )
3.4A’s Jay Chiat Awards

The American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA or 4A's) started
these wards to recognize the best strategic thinkers in the industry.
These awards recognize –

•Good account planning at the front end of the advertising process
•Unique creative briefing
•Creative development
•Account planning
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1.3 Account Planning
From the advertising history it can be clearly understood that account

planning came into existence to fill up the gap which was between the
research team and the account management team within an agency. It was
an interface which could combine hard core technical research data and
deliver it into effective advertising by the early involvement of consumers.
In the 1960's when FMCG companies started having their own market
research, advertising agencies and their account management were reduced
to just executors which increased the gap between the consumer and the
consumer.
The account planner was the face of the consumer. With account planning
coming at an interface role, the effect was two ways -
1.The account management team now was not to work in isolation but
had to work jointly with the account planner for advertising strategy
2.The creative team now had the account planner who could feed in
consumer insights and add more value to the creative brief and the
process.
Hence a good account planner should be well versed in research skills, able to
know what type of information is required and how to collect it and how to
interpret it. They should also have the skills to make the information
understandable and useful to everyone - particularly the creative team.
Thus Account planning exists for the sole purpose of creating advertising that
truly connects with consumers. It advocates an approach to consumer
research that is based on simplicity, common sense, and creativity--an
approach that gains access to consumer’s hearts and minds, develops
ongoing relationships with them, and, most important, embraces them as
partners in the process of developing and advertising.
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Definitions:
Account planning is all about having a consumer focus and in turn which will
add value to create an effective, measurable and successful advertising
output.
Account planning creates a better chance of producing more effective and
more creative advertising more often!
"Account Planning brings the voice of the consumer to the creative, so that, in
turn, the creative can talk to the consumer" - Iona Kligman
"The Account Planner speaks with the voice of a thousand consumers" - Jane
Newman
"An Account Planner will find a statistic, then, rather than simply deliver the
data - interpret what the number means in the real world"- A Feuer
Conceptually, account planning emphasizes the importance of the target

consumers: understanding them, finding advertising strategies that will best
fulfil the client's marketing objectives in terms of attitudinal or behavioral
response, and then evaluating the advertising developed , by pre- and post-
testing, long term tracking etc.- Staveley
It is the planner's job to take all this information and funnel it down into a
short idea that helps inspire and give direction to the creative department.
Account planning philosophy proposes a change in view to the relationship

with the client. Instead of having similar goals like the marketing team of the
client in terms of increase in volume and revenue, the agency should instead
provide a deeper understanding of the consumer and thereby create effective
advertising, and then later on measure the success of such advertisements.
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Need for account planning (Events favourable to account planning)
1. Change in client expectation from agency

When an organization wants to improve its communication strategy,
enhance its advertisement content and really touch base with the consumer
needs, account planning in the agency would be needed.
2.Relevant data to advertisement decisions is critical for its

success.
When an advertisement needs to be backed by sufficient consumer insights
to be successful and consumer understanding by the agency becomes a
necessity.
3.Change in consumer attitudes - Agencies must monitor the

changes.
When the consumer requirements change at regular intervals, account
planning in an agency is needed to capture this changing attitude and needs
1.4 Role Of An Account Planner
The main role of an account planner is to have extensive interaction with

the consumer and dig out insights which would help the creative teams to
create work that is not only unique and creative, but also successful.
Example of a creative online campaign
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(https://www.exchange4media.com/digital-news ) (2nd april 2019 )
Hotstar rolls out TVC for VIVO IPL 2019 campaign #KoiYaarNahiFar
The ad campaign shows Hotstar( a streaming app ) coming to the rescue

of a motley crew of Indian superheroes helping them watch VIVO IPL
2019. The first three days of this year’s VIVO IPL saw 135 million viewers
on Hotstar, a 120 per cent jump in audience reach from the same period
last year.
The new TVC features a small town Indian superhero, inviting his other
superhero friends to watch the game with him. Unfortunately, his friends
are stuck using their powers for some underwhelming, household work,
making it difficult even for the ostensibly powerful local superhero group
to come together. Finally, Hotstar connects the superheroes through its
first-ever social cricket-watching experience, ensuring that they don’t
miss out on the unmatched joy of watching the game with each other.
This new TVC has been rolled out in three languages - Hindi, Tamil and
Telugu, and is also available across Hotstar’s social platforms.
With ‘Koi YaarNahi Far’, the streaming giant is bringing people together
irrespective of their location giving viewers the opportunity to invite their
friends and family to Hotstar, watch the matches, and participate in the
Watch ‘N Play game together.
This edition of the VIVO IPL has started off with a bang. With Hotstar
garnering 135 million viewers in the first three days of the tournament
itself, this figure is 2.2X the reach and 2.2X the watchtime of the first
three days of last year’s IPL. Collectively, Hotstar aims to reach 300
million viewers through the course of VIVO IPL 2019.
Thus creative ideas that drive and make a successful business are more
typically the result of a strong collaboration between creative teams and
account planners.
The account planner is a trained researcher who is responsible for bringing

a whole consumer perspective to the communications process. This means
that the planner is responsible for taking a brief from the client, developing
a communications strategy expressed in the form of a creative brief. The
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planner supports the creative team throughout the creative process and
evaluates the creative concept using research (conventionally qualitative
discussion groups though quant pre-testing is also a possibility). The planner
is also responsible for the evaluation of the whole campaign.
The main roles played by an Account Planner can be summarized as follows-
•Prepares directional creative brief
•Uses diagnostic research to establish a dialog between creative team and

consumer
The above would be normally achieved by the following activities-
•Coordination with the client's marketing department and the brand team
to identify specific business problems and develop ideas
•Communicate the same with the creative team and the key account
manager within the agency and create a creative campaign;
•Gather an all-round data for the advertising strategy by various data points
like demographics, socio-economics and the market for the client's
product and market share;
•Initiate research studies to collect data internally as well as through third

parties using various qualitative and quantitative methods. Some of the
methods that are generally used are focus groups, interviews,
questionnaires, etc.;
•Keep a constant check on the changing social , economic and cultural trends
and study their effect on consumer attitude , behavior and
perceptions;
•To hit on the right and unique proposition on which the advertising can
be based upon;
•Conduct product research to have better technical or specific knowledge;
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•Bridging the gap between the consumer perceptions of the brand and the
way the client wishes the brand to be perceived;
•Have complete understanding of the brand and its target market so that
the right communication can be devised;
•Providing the creative team with a clearly defined brief with complete data
about the product, target audience so that they can develop
creative ideas applicable to the media channels;
•Explain the communication created by the creative team to the

marketing and brand team of the client with supportive concrete data
•Analyzing and interpreting customer response and sales data to measure

the success of the ad campaign.
What makes a good planner?

Advertising account planners need to work closely with agency
accounts and creative staff, producing briefs to ensure campaign
ideas and strategies are effective and targeted to the right
audience. They need to coordinate and workwith art directors,
copywriters, clients, consumers, media planners, digital strategists,
UX designers, data analysts and so on, so that at the end of the
day, the advertisement is able to deliver both creatively and in a
profitable way.
Hence a good account planner needs to have the following qualities -

•Passion for advertising creativity
•In-built constant curiosity about consumers
•Good communication skills
•Knack and skill for research interpretation and reasoning ability
•To visualize a great selling point for the ad to be based upon
•Great team worker with desire for involvement in account team
•Use both the right and left-hand side of the brain i.e. Need to be analytical,
detailed and focused one minute and in the next moment
creative, engaging and flexible.
•Researcher, data analyst, ability to predict future trends, New Product
Development consultant, media/communications planner, strategy
developer and have financial understanding
•Eager to learn new technologies and consumer behavior on a continuous
basis.
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1.5 Benefits Of Account Planning:
1. Creative advertisement
The account planner has better consumer understanding and hence obtains
relevant consumer insights, fresh perspective to the consumer needs and
thereby is able to propose creative ways of advertising for a product.
2. Effective advertisement
The consumer is understood more precisely because of account planning.

The client understands the consumer only from their point of view of business
volumes and market shares. The account planner is able to decode the
consumer insights and create an effective advertisement which will be
ultimately achieving the client's objective of business success.
3. Relevant advertisement
Constant interaction of the account planner with the consumer helps both
the client and the agency to be aware of the changing needs of the consumer
which would help the advertisements of the product to be changed
accordingly and be a relevant one.
4. Successful advertisement
Account planners are up-to-date with the consumer insights so their

advertisements are always eye-catching and unique which helps in the
growth of the brand and its sales.
5. Increased customer involvement
Account planning increases customer involvement and this starts right from
the start leading to successful campaigns.
6. Right understanding of client's requirement
The account planning process requires complete understanding of the

client's brand, its consumer perspective leading to effective campaigns.
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And in the end for the agency - Account planning makes it easier for the
agency to sell their creative work to the client, they are able to explain
each and every concept backed by thorough consumer research
1.6 Myths About Account Planning
Account planning is often said that it is a precursor to action i.e. it is the

thinking part before developing an advertisement. It also brings the
consumer into the process of developing an advertisement. But many a
times account planning has been misunderstood in the industry.
The following is taken from an article by George Creel which appeared in

Advertising Age on September 16, 1991.
1.Account planning is the solution to all the advertising industry's problems.

(While account planning can strengthen an agency's creative
product, no one discipline can solve all of the problems of an agency.)
2.Account planning leads to breakthrough creative. (Account planning does

provide the background and consumer research to develop creative work,
but breakthrough creative is a result of a superior
creative staff.)
3.Account Planning is the key to winning the new-business pitch. (Pitching is

a "team sport" that requires all of the departments of an agency to
work together.)
4.There is a process for account planning. (There are numerous ways to

execute proper account planning; Intuitive skills, a passion for advertising, and
personal involvement are all essential and are a good
place to start.)
5.Account planning is a continuous process. (Advertising is expensive!)
6.Account planning is new name for research, qualitative or otherwise.

(Research is only one of the tools that account planners use to discover
insightful information.)
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7.Account planning and research departments can coexist. (Each

department must have a clear definition of its role and must know who
is in charge of whom.)
8.Clients like account planning. (They LOVE it - if it is free).
9.Account planning is the role of the account planner. (Good solutions can
come from anywhere or anyone.)
10.Account planning is glamorous. (It is fun as well, if you have the

passion to fight for your beliefs.)
11.Account planners sit in the room while the ads are made. (The account
planner must articulate strategy to the creative team before the ad is
created.)
12.Good account planners are hard to find. (Account planners can come
from all backgrounds and disciplines.)
13.The best account planners are the English. (No particular culture. race,
religion, sex. sexuality, or national origin is better at account planning
than another.)
1.7 The Current Account Planning Scenario
Today’s world can be called as a digital world. Everything and everyone

around us is influenced by technology. Be it organizations, consumers,
products, media, none have been left untouched.
Some of the attributes of the digital world include
1. W.r.t. technology
Gone are the days when the television and the newspapers had a major
rule to play in spreading the advertising content. Nowadays the new
mediums of reaching out to target consumers are –
Mobile – smartphones, tablets, and/or other mobile devices, via websites,

email, SMS and MMS and apps
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Social networks - social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

and websites to promote a product or service
Streaming channels - Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon prime etc.
1. W.R.T. to the consumer

Gone are the days when the consumer visited a store, heard the salesman at
the counter and made a decision on buying a product. The consumer too
has evolved over the years. The biggest change that technology has brought
about is from passiveness to active interaction. Active interaction has
resulted in consumers connecting directly with organizations and products.
In the digital world. Consumers at one hand like to experience brand and
their stories personally, but at the same time are very strict about intrusions
in their personal space and constant ad bickering on their screens.
2. W.R.T. the organization or the client

Many organizations are battling to cope up the rapidly with the ever-
changing scenario. The old school management needs to understand the
nature and the digital consumer to channelize their resources and budget in
the most economical and rewarding way. Decisions need to be made fast and
need to be concrete.
3. W.R.T. the product

Products too have evolved over the years. The buzz words are instant,
ecofriendly, portable, personalized etc.
The advertising account planner needs to remember all the above factors and
constantly keep himself up-to-date. The account planner needs to
•Make consumers experience the brand on-the go.
•Add a more personalized tone to make customers feel like they’re having
a one-on-one experience with the client.
•Let consumers know that their opinions matter by allowing them to

participate in the development of the brand.
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Challenges –
•Need a greater focus on consumer digital and social media behavior.

•Need to select the right digital tool to collect consumer data
•Understanding digital data collected from tools. This calls for quicker
response and flexibility
•Needs to actively revamp the client’s organization to the digital world
with budget constraints.
•Needs to understand the socially and digitally fast paced consumer
Activity:
Account planning is not just a process and set of tools; it is an attitude.
Elaborate and try to explain this statement.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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1.8 Summary
It is said that if a child cannot understand the message that the

advertisement was trying to convey then that advertisement wasn't
communicating as clearly as it should. If an advertisement does not deep into
the heart and soul of the targeted consumer, it would be a total waste. In the
1960's this was understood and account planning was introduced. The
planner is the agency's representation of the target consumer responsible for
ensuring that advertising is relevant to the target group, has the desired
persuasive impact and is presented in the right media.
Any advertising firm that embraces account planning will certainly encounter
lesser risk and provide more creative and successful advertisements. A good
account planner has an inbuilt interest in consumers, loves data and its
interpretation and is capable of sharing inputs to design a creative
advertisement.
Advertising account planner acts as a business partner to clients, relationship

manager (internal & external), sales person (growing business for the agency)
and financial custodian (turning a profit).’
Finally, account planning helps in increasing the chances of getting the

advertising right the first time itself.
1.9 Self-Assessment Questions:
1.List down the reasons as to why an advertising agency should adapt

account planning?
2.Is a creative advertisement possible without account planning? Explain.
3.Explain in brief the job description of an account planner?
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1.10 Multiple Choice Questions:
1.The JWT approach in advertising account planning is a three-person

managing team for each of its accounts, comprising of –
a.The marketing team, the brand team and the sales team
b.The account director, the creative group head and the account
planner
c.The account director, the marketing team and R & D
d.None of the above
2.There are many definitions to define the role of an advertising account

planner. One of them has been given by Jane Newman which states that
"The Account Planner speaks with the voice of a thousand
_____________________”
a.Ideas
b.Ideas and Consumers
c.Consumers
d.Strategies
3.The BMP approach was through ___________, whereas the JWT

approach was through __________________
a.process, person
b.creativity, process
c.process, profit
d.person, process
4.WARC stands for ________________________

a.World Alliance of Reformed Center
b.World Advertising Research Center
c.Western Applied Research Corporation
d.Web Authoring Resource Center
5.Account planning is the solution to all the advertising industry's

problems. Is this statement true?
a.True
b.False
c.Maybe
d.Sometimes
Answers: 1. (b), 2. (c), 3. (d), 4. (b), 5. (b)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
Click on the links below to view additional reference material for this
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture - Part 1
23
THE CLIENT
Chapter 2
The Client
Objectives:
•Justify why the client understanding is important in account planning
•Explain what and why is SWOT and other analysis needed
•Understand the concept of Situation analysis
•Understand the importance of organization story telling
Structure:
2.1 Account planning and the client
2.2 Situation analysis
2.3 SWOT and PESTLE analysis
2.4 Organization story telling
2.5 Summary
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THE CLIENT
2.1 ACCOUNT PLANNING AND THE CLIENT:
An organization (client) is a social entity that has a collective goal and is

linked to an external environment. Most of the times it is a legally
recognized designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. The
owners and operators of a business have as one of their main objectives
the receipt or generation of a financial return in exchange for work and
acceptance of risk.
It is now a known fact that for any organization to be effective, it must use a
rational approach towards anticipating, responding to and even changing
itself to the future environment.
From the previous chapter, we now know that Account Planning allows the
organization's marketing efforts and communications effort to become more
specific, effective and successful.
An account planner acts as an interface between the organizations also

known as the client and the creative team within the agency. As an interface,
the account planner is bound to know everything about the organization. It is
like the case of a soldier going for a war- the strengths, weakness of the
enemy needs to be understood by the soldier so that he can make strategies
to win the war. Understanding the organization helps the account planner to
determine where the organization stands and where the organization wishes
to go in the future. Also, an account planner needs to balance with the
consumer wants with what the company wants. The company wants are
generally reflected in its corporate targets, which are shared with the account
planner. It is the job of the account planner to translate these wants to the
creative team along with consumer insights, so that an effective
communication can be strategized.
The client should be understood from the business, brand, consumer and the
communication angles. Also the study should include both external and
internal factors that will affect these factors. The typical analysis done of the
above factors many a times include only the business aspect like impact on
market share, market volume, profit, brand value etc. It is the job of the
account planner to include the consumer perspective to such analysis and
give it a 360 degree perspective. And in the end, the account planner can
contribute in understanding to identify new business opportunities for the
client's brand portfolio.
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THE CLIENT
In summary, a realistic recognition of the weaknesses and threats that exist is

the first step to countering them with a robust and creative set of strengths
and opportunities. This is normally done through a situation analysis.
2.2 Situation Analysis
Situation analysis refers to a collection of methods that is used by most

managers to analyze an organization's internal and external environment
to understand the organization's capabilities, customers, and business
environment. The situation analysis tries to understand the internal and
external factors that can affect the organization. A situation analysis
identifies strategic options and opportunities.
Account planners need to understand the client and use situation analysis as
a process of finding a strategic fit between external opportunities and
internal strengths while working around external threats and internal
weaknesses.
The first step for any new client of the agency is to study the history of the
organization. Account planners normally do this by using research methods
like secondary and qualitative research. Once the data about the client's
history has been analyzed and interpreted, Account Planning takes the next
step- of studying and analyzing the future perspective of the client's targets
and ways of achieving them, by developing the best creative advertisement.
There are many tools that an account planner can use to study the
organization. The methods available are -
1. Left sided brain exercise - SWOT analysis, PESTLE etc
2. Right sided brain exercise - Organizational story telling
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THE CLIENT
2.3 THE S.W.O.T. ANALYSIS
It is defined as "An analysis of the internal and external environmental factors

performed as part of developing the organizational strategy". S.W.O.T. stands
for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats and is a part of the
traditional Strategic Planning process. It is a qualitative research
methodology that defines the perspective of the client's business as well as
the business of the client's competitors' business, usually done with a
meeting facilitator in a day's time. The participants are usually the marketing
and brand team with the agency and a few selected vendors and well-
wishers of the client.
History of SWOT
Albert Humphrey developed the SWOT tool as a strategic planning tool in the
1960's and the 1970's.For a SWOT analysis to be successful, clear objectives
need to be specified. Then an evaluation of internal and external factors is
conducted to find the following -
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THE CLIENT
Strengths –
Internal attributes that are helpful to the organization to achieve its objective
Weaknesses
Internal attributes that are harmful to the organization to achieve its

objective
Opportunities
External attributes that help the organization to achieve its objective
Threats
External attributes that are harmful to the organization to achieving its

objective. After the SWOT exercise is over, all the internal and external factors
need to be studied individually as well as their interdependence. This helps in
deciding upon the initiatives to be taken to achieve the organization’s goal.
Internal factors
The internal factors are usually the strengths and weakness of the
organization. These include factors like personnel, manufacturing capacity,
finance, etc.
External factors
External factors like economical change, technology change, laws of the

country, competition strategy, competitive forces, competitive moves of
rivals, industry's dominant economic traits, etc.
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Purpose of a SWOT Analysis
The purpose of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

framework is to get managers thinking about everything that could
potentially impact the success of a new project. A SWOT analysis is used to
analyze an organization’s current situation. Failure to consider a key strength,
weakness, threat or opportunity could to lead to a poor business decisions.
For example, if a new mobile company did not take into account the threat
that there might be a hike in the labor services in China leading to an
additional assembling cost, it would later realize that new product did not
bring in enough revenue as expected. Similarly if an account planner does
not take into account the client's SWOT, the agency will never be able to
design an ad which captures the opportunity and bring business.
SWOT analysis can be used for / during in the following situations •Product
Launch
•Competitor Evaluation
•Strategic Planning
•Workshop Sessions
•Changing Jobs
•Decision making
•Product Development Planning
•Product Evaluation
•Brainstorming Meetings
Some of the questions that need to get answered at the end of a SWOT
analysis are -
•What are the key trends in their industry?
•Who are their top prospects and customers?
•What are the top issues facing their customers?
•What are the critical trends in the geography?
•What is reflected in their financial reports and news about them?
•What Strengths can be benefited from?
•Which Weaknesses needs a response?
•Which Opportunities in the marketplace can be taken advantage of? •What
Threats need to be defended against?
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Strengths and Weakness:
The first part of the SWOT analysis is the Strengths and Weaknesses analysis.
This is a look inside at the current activities, capabilities, and shortcomings of
the organization. Many a times, clients are not ready to accept or part details
with the organization’s weakness. Hence it is the people skills of the account
planner which comes handy and he/she is responsible in assuring the client
that the SWOT / weakness data would be put to the correct use. The account
planner should be able to conduct a very open, honest and participative
process to identify the real strengths and weaknesses of the organization.
A client's strengths are its resources and capabilities that can be used for
developing a competitive advantage. Examples of such strengths include:
•Patents
•Strong brand names
•Good reputation among customers
•Cost advantages from proprietary know-how
•Exclusive access to natural resources
•Good access to distribution networks
A client's weakness is the absence of certain strengths. For example, the

following may be considered weaknesses:
•Lack of patent protection

•A weak brand name
•Poor reputation among customers
•High cost structure
•Lack of access to best natural resources
•Lack of access to key distribution channels
But sometimes even a skilled account planner cannot conduct an effective

SWOT analysis if the client's management itself is very reserved, orthodox and
not ready to discuss. A successful strength / weakness SWOT analysis part will
give way to a strong strategy selection in the latter stages and hence it is one
of the most important aspects, where the client really needs to share
everything with the account planner.
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Opportunities and Threats:
This part of the SWOT analysis is carried out by considering the external
factors to the client and which are mostly beyond their control. It should
include discussion on the few main areas in any of which the client may face
risks or problems. It should include discussion on changes in the Political,
Economic, Social, and Technological areas. It should also include discussion
on competitors through competitive intelligence, competitor analysis, and an
understanding of the competitive advantage.
Some examples of opportunities are listed below -
•An unfulfilled customer need

•Arrival of new technologies
•Regulations becoming less rigid
•Patent expiry
•Labor cost decrease
•New natural resources found
Some threats can be listed as follows -
•Change in consumer preference

•Substitute products becoming cheaper
•New regulations
•Increased trade barriers
While brainstorming for opportunities and threats, it needs to be kept in

mind that change has become the norm of the present day and consumer
interests in products change at a very fast rate. This demands companies to
accelerate innovation, development and product introduction to stay
competitive and in the forefront of the competition. The SWOT analysis needs
to consider the capability of the client in this regards.
In the end, after SWOT, the account planner should have the following details
–
•Understanding of the client's customers

•Understanding of the client's strengths, weakness and gaps and issues
•Understanding the factors which are preventing the client from achieving
their targets.
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•Identify trends, resources and shortcoming
Benefits of SWOT analysis:
The SWOT analysis involves very little cost. Also it helps in -
•Assessment of the present situation of the client

•Assessment of the current strategies implemented and identifying the
gaps
•Identification of the key factors for the client to be more successful in the
near future
•Taking advantage of the strengths and develop business goals,
communications and strategies for achieving them.
•Take advantage of a new business opportunity
•Respond to new trends
•Implement new technology
•Deal with changes to your competitors' operations.
Limitations of SWOT analysis
SWOT identifies only one aspect of the business planning process i.e. it covers
only the strength, weakness, opportunity or threat. Because of this, it's
difficult to address uncertain or two-sided factors, such as factors that could
either is strength or a weakness or both.
For example, a small company has the new technology, but the patent fees
are so high that it can't file a patent.
Also SWOT analysis does not provide solutions and is not suitable for complex
issues. In such cases, more in-depth research and analysis would be required.
Example of a SWOT analysis
A PET based plastic manufacturing client is wanting to foray into the business
of recycled products based on PET with its own brand name with increasing
pressure of environmental sustainability , the client has the idea that the used
PET bottles would be collected , recycled and made into reused products
based on PET which the client would then sell in the consumer market under
its own brand name.
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An advertising account planner has been assigned the task to check the
viability of this idea.
SWOT analysis done for the client / organization
Strengths Weaknesses
•a 50 year old company who knows all •Use startup cost
aspects of the PET technology •The infrastructure needs to be ready
•The client has well defined before the actual process
distribution networks which can be
converted to collection network
•Till date, no PET manufacturer has
ventured into this area.
Opportunities Threats
•Use demand for recycled products. •Continuous R & D would be required
•If marketed well , can lead to huge as laws and regulations continuously
profits get upgraded and changed.
•Environment Sustainable •Risk of PET getting completely
organization label and brand acquiredbanned. Then the whole business
model would be a failure.
Importance of studying trends in SWOT analysis
The general direction in which something tends to move is called a trend.

From the past history, there is a thumb rule that consumer trends change in
3-5 years, leading to evolution of trends. By understanding consumer's
changing perceptions and behaviors with time, it becomes an inspiration to
create new products and profitable innovation.
Trend analysis is an analysis of macro environmental factors in the external

environment of a business. It consists of analyzing political, economic, social,
technological and demographic trends. Understanding consumer market
behavior calls for more than simply tracking what is happening. It requires an
understanding of why things are happening, which forces are driving the
change and how these shifts represent new opportunities for the business.
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Some of the questions that need to be answered while understanding trends

are -
•How is the current economic situation impacting consumers in the

desired market?
•How can an understanding of changing consumer lifestyles and values
add inputs to new product innovation?
•How and where are global consumer trends and drivers impacting the
markets and consumer groups?
•What are the consumer similarities and differences worldwide?
Customer trends that would shape the automotive industry in

2025
BY PRASAD SATYAVOLU , PUBLISHED: 30, Apr 2018 in Forbes
India
Cars are growing brains
The first shift is the inevitable and phased embrace of autonomous

vehicles, The five levels of evolution for autonomous vehicles
defined by SAE International Standards are:
Level 0: A driver controls everything inside the vehicle.
Level 1: Specific functions such as accelerating and steering are

automated.
Level 2: The car includes at least one automated driver assist
system using driver environment information.
Level 3: Drivers are still necessary, but critical safety functions are
completely automated.
Level 4: Fully autonomous
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Level 5: Fully autonomous system .These cars would also be made

without steering wheels or pedals.
While most of the advanced commercially-available cars were in

level 2 in 2018, they are expected to hit Level 4 and 5 by 2025.
Experience matters, not ownership
The second defining shift in the industry is the spread of the sharing
economy.
In today’s digital age, customers have already developed a high
level of comfort with the idea of sharing rather than owning a
vehicle. The sharing economy that is based on the pay-per-use
service model has also caught up in the automobile industry.
The future is therefore less about owning a car and more about
owning the experience. This trend is predicted to accelerate,
impacting sales that vehicle production numbers are expected to
flatten in 2025.
Emerging consumer trends create new opportunities for businesses. But

not all trends can or should be pursued at the same time, but some are
substantial enough to merit the attention of all companies as they are
reshaping consumers' perception of value.
To benefit from these trends, the account planner should:
1.Engage customers in a closer dialogue.
2.Create a better understanding of consumer needs and encourage

customers to share their opinions in order to increase consumers'
engagement in product development.
3.Encourage and monitor online consumer reviews
4.Monitoring consumer feedback
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5.Use online platforms to engage customers and make it easy to share

ideas.
6.Engaging consumers in the creation of new products can help companies

better understand market demands and reduce development
risks.
7.Allow customers to modify or customize products as long as it can

enhance the product's functionality.
Finally the key is to address the trends proactively, not reactively. Huge
opportunities lie ahead for organizations that leverage these changes to
develop new ways of competing, while staying true to their core business
strategy. In this whole exercise, the account planner plays a very strategic role
of converting trends into potential opportunities.
The traditional way of collecting consumer trends data
In the initial ways of working in the advertising world, questionnaires and

telephonic data collection and group discussions usually helped in collecting
data on predicting future consumer trends.
Some well-known agencies had their own protocols to do the same.
Examples –
The Yankelovich Monitor, was a research service that tracked more than fifty
social trends and provided information as to shifts in size and direction, and
resulting marketing implications. One of the earlier examples was based on
two-hour interviews with 400 people and looked at changes in American
values and had data and insights that helped companies to identify the most
relevant consumer trends for their business and leverage to take advantage
of growth opportunities.
Another early report, called Food for Life, followed up with 5000 consumers
who had completed an earlier survey and interviewed them in-depth to delve
into their attitudes about food with respect to preventative healthcare. Most
consumers agreed with the statement "If it takes a lot of extra work to
prepare it, I won't eat it, no matter how healthful and nutritious it is." The
implication of this finding to advertisers was that
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THE CLIENT
healthful foods need to be convenient. Another finding, "I like to show off
how healthfully I eat," suggested that advertisers should emphasis the
health status of their products.
The Gallup Organization operates one of the largest telephone research data-
collection systems in the world. It is an American analytics and advisory
company based in Washington, D.C. and the company became known for its
public opinion polls conducted worldwide.
But the internet now shapes nearly every aspect of a consumer's purchasing
decision. The first step for many consumers begins on the web: they search
for the product or service, are heavily influenced by online reviews, compare
product characteristics across websites, and then purchase online
Mere telephonic conversations and questionnaires will not be able to provide

all the answers in today’s digital world. Earlier it was easy to communicate
and assemble consumers for a one-to one interaction, but now, account
planners will have to adopt new tools and technologies and collect consumer
data in real time and from various social platforms, videos, personal blogs and
feedback comments from active consumers.
Some technologies and applications available to account planners to study

consumer trends -
•YouTube Analytics
The YouTube Application Programming Interface, or the YouTube API, allows
to access video statistics. It can share information what kind of videos and
content are being watched by consumers and their interest area and
demographics.
•Google searches, surveys and Google analytics

Google analytics is used to track the website activity of the users such as
session duration, pages per session, bounce rate etc. along with the
information on the source of the traffic. It can be integrated with Google
AdWords, with which users can review online campaigns by tracking
landing page quality and ultimately sales. Google Analytics e- commerce
reporting can track sales activity and performance. The e- commerce
reports shows a site's transactions, revenue, and many other commerce-
related metrics.
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•Social Mention
This is a free tool that provides a real-time analysis of social media. It
organizes social media mentions of your brand into a single stream and
includes hashtags, top keywords, and sites.
•Facebook Audience Insights

Audience Insights are different than Page Insights and report customer
demographics by gender, age, relationship status, lifestyle, and job role. In
addition, this tool reports the number of likes, purchase activity, and
Facebook usage.
•Klout
This is a great tool for exploring, identifying, and categorizing influencers.
Using Klout, you can search for influencers in your niche. It uses Twitter
engagement to measure influence.
Firms into market research and the digital tools And others can be useful to
the account planner in the following way -
•Understand marketplace dynamics and changing consumer behavior -

both short and long term
•Understand emerging opportunities
•Understand how consumers will perceive brands in the future
•Understand key targets, segmentation and brand users
•Identify opportunities ahead of the client's competitors
After the SWOT analysis:
Once the SWOT analysis is over, the client can strategize the following -
•S-O strategies pursue opportunities that fit well the company's

strengths.
•W-O strategies overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities.
•S-T strategies identify ways that the firm can use its strengths to
reduce its vulnerability to external threats.
•W-T strategies make a defensive plan to prevent the firm's weaknesses
from making it susceptible to external threats.
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IN ADDITION TO SWOT ANALYSIS
The external environment in which the client would be operating and finally
selling to the consumers also has started to gain importance in the business
world. SWOT analysis is just an internal evaluation which gives 50 % of the
picture to the client.
In addition some additional tools need to be used by the account planner to

get the complete picture.
PESTLE
It is a useful tool for understanding the “big picture” of the environment in

which the client would be operating
•P – Political
❖ The current and potential influences from political pressures
•E - Economic
❖ The local, national and world economic impact
•S - Sociological
❖ The ways in which changes in society affect the project
•T - Technological
❖ How new and emerging technology affects our project / organization
•L - Legal
❖ How local, national and global legislation affects the project
•E - Environmental
❖ Local, national and global environmental issues
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Other forms of PEST - PESTLE, PESTLIED, STEEPLE and SLEPT:
Some people prefer to use different flavors of PEST analysis, using other
factors for different situations. The variants are:
•PESTLE/PESTEL: Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal,

Environmental;
•PESTLIED: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal,

International, Environmental, Demographic;
•STEEPLE: Social/Demographic, Technological, Economic, Environmental,

Political, Legal, Ethical; and
•SLEPT: Social, Legal, Economic, Political, Technological
Example of a PESTLE analysis
Till date, a well-known beauty brand in the United States operated in India by
importing its products. It now wants to set up a manufacturing unit in India.
THE SWOT analysis indicated the account planner that the client has the
resources and funding and that the brand has potential customers in India.
So as a next step the PESTLE analysis was done.
The PESTLE analysis gave the following insights in addition to the SWOT
analysis
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POLITICAL The new mantra of “Make in India” could be a possible

reason of protest against the foreign manufacturing unit
ECONOMIC Quality raw materials if not sourced in India, import of raw
materials would be a challenge, leading to higher
manufacturing costs.
SOCIAL Training of the local staff to the required international
standards would incur costs.
TECHNOLOGY Budget would be needed to cater to the make changes in
technology to suit Indian standards
A thorough understanding of the legal aspects of a foreign
LEGAL
brand manufacturing in India needs to be understood
beforehand
ENVIRONMENTAL Disposal of the waste generated needs to be studied
2.4 Organisational Story Telling
Organizational story telling is a right-sided brain exercise. It is "a detailed

narrative of past management actions, employee interactions, or other
intra- or extra-organizational events that are communicated informally
within organizations"
Storytelling is a vivid, memorable way to pass on an organization's history,

values, and vision. Everyone has a story to share and the capacity to become a
great storyteller - By Beverly, Kaye and Betsy Jacobson.
Storytelling is used in organizations as a communication tool to share

knowledge with inspiration. The language used is authentic (experience, not
fact oriented); it is the narrative form that most people find interesting and
attractive. Employees are people and people think in stories, talk in stories,
communicate in stories, and even dream in stories. Stories can be used to
create change, build culture, disseminate learning, and capture knowledge.
When doing a left brain exercise, it is easy to overlook certain factors. But
during a right brain exercise, it is more of the emotional connect. Storytelling
is a powerful tool that evokes visual images and heightened emotions and
the story teller gets involved in the process and narrates
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THE CLIENT
each and every small detail of the organization. The client and its employees
enjoy the process of sharing their experience about the organization and this
helps the account planner to understand the client.
The process is usually like storytelling, but it is more of an evaluation

process.The account planner is the listener and the client's employees are the
story tellers. The client is the main character of the story. The strength,
weakness, opportunities and threats are necessary and important angles of
the story. The richest organizational stories are the ones that capture the
essence of the organization's identity-like who they were when they started
and their vision of what they want to become in the future. Story telling forces
planners to think through their recommendations and helps build support
for the implementation efforts that are to follow. Story telling provides both a
method and a forum for the team to think through the changes necessary to
facilitate implementing the new project and at the same time; address the
resistance to change that might be encountered. In the process, good
incidences, laurels as well as their failures and how they could have avoided it,
comes as part of the story.
The story should clearly describe how the proposed project will benefit the
organization and how organizational assets and processes will be affected by
the new project and what changes will be necessary to take full advantage of
the project. Also, the story must convey not just proposals for changes in
structure, people and tasks deemed necessary to make best use of the
system, but the logic behind their recommendations. Having to write such
stories will force the team to clearly think through the recommendations,
make it easier for others to understand why changes are being made and
finally, build support for the changes that are sought.
Story telling builds on external and internal factors examined in SWOT

analysis by treating strategy as an evolving drama incorporating the most
likely forces affecting the intended outcome of the story i.e. goal. This process
will force senior management to be heavily involved in the development
efforts and in so doing, help overcome hidden phobias, thereby reducing
their resistance to changes. These well-written stories can be developed into
an operational strategy considering each decision- making tier of the
construction organization.
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The organizational stories created must -

•Be concrete and tell about real people
•Describe real events and actions
•Be set in a time and place which the listener can recognize and with
which he can identify
•Connect to the organization's philosophy and culture.
•Have both the narrator and the listener know the organization’s culture
Organization story telling in account planning
Stories are a powerful medium. It can help to communicate a leader's vision

of the future and invoke others' commitment, create a collective sense of
shared purpose and meaning that can enhance cohesion around an
organization's culture, enable people to find patterns in their lives, enhancing
self-knowledge and a productive interpretation of experiences and can also
inspire alignment in support of a change initiative.
If an account planner wants to understand what's going on in an

organization, he/she needs to listen to the stories. In account planning,
storytelling is a critical skill. It's the stories i.e. the research analysis and
consumer insights about target audiences which inform new product
development, operations, and advertising. The job of an account planner as a
consumer advocate requires storytelling, objectively and with passion. The
account planner can also then persuade others by telling stories that present
the ideas effectively in writing and in presentation form.
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Example of an organization storytelling on values:
Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises,

Volume 22, 1995, ORGANIZATIONAL STORYTELLING: TELLING TALES
IN THE BUSINESS CLASSROOM -Sandra Morgan, University of
Hartford, Robert F. Dennehy, Pace University.
Another story, a classic about IBM's legendary chairman, Thomas
Watson, Jr., follows:
At IBM, a young woman was hired to ensure that only authorized
people were allowed to enter a sensitive area of the plant. With a
group of men, Watson approached the area where the guard was
stationed, but he wasn't wearing the proper badge for admission.
Even though the guard recognized Watson, she refused him entry to
the area because he lacked the appropriate identification.
The men with Watson were shocked. Someone challenged the
guard's decision, but Watson quitened the group and patiently waited
while the correct identification was obtained.
The story ends happily, with a positive moral. It says that IBM
executives play by the same rules as other employees. (Pike, 1992,
p.12)
Activity:
In 2013, Unilever owned food brand “Knorr” launched an online portal to

recruit food enthusiasts to act as brand ambassadors as part of a wider
advertising push to raise its brand image in the UK. Try building a SWOT
analysis, both as a left brain exercise and as a story telling exercise.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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2.5 Summary
Account Planning needs the planner to listen as acutely as possible to the

client in order to understand the unique proposition and design
communication accordingly. SWOT analysis, organization storytelling and
understanding consumer trends can be used by the account planner as a
part of process of discovery of the client. It is exceedingly valuable and
involves identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the
client. Understanding the client is the first step accomplished by the
account planner.
2.6 Self Assessment Questions
1.Explain the importance of situation analysis in the life of an account

planner.
2.Try a story telling exercise for the story slow and steady wins the race"
1.In a SWOT analysis, which two elements are part of

the internal environment?
a.strengths and threats
b.opportunities and threats
c.strengths and opportunities
d.weaknesses and strengths
2.The purpose of a SWOT analysis is to get managers thinking about

everything that could potentially impact the success of a new project. A
SWOT analysis is used to analyze an organization’s _____________.
a.current profit
b.current situation
c.current losses
d.current attrition rate
3.PESTLE is an analytical tool which considers ___________ factors and

helps the account planner to understand and evaluate and eliminate
and overcome and think about their impacts
a.economical
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b.current situation
c.external
d.current attrition rate
4.The _____________ monitor is one of the earliest research service that

tracked more than fifty social trends and provided information of shifts
in size and direction, and resulting marketing implications.
a.Data
b.Chiat
c.Survey
d.Yankelovich
5._____________ Analytics allows the advertising account planner to

measure and analyse data from social networking sites
a.Google
b.Twitter
c.Facebook
d.Instagram
e.Answers: 1.(d), 2.(b), 3.(c), 4.(d), 5.(a)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture
47
THE CONSUMER
Chapter 3
The Consumer
Objectives:
•Define the consumer and his behavior
•Know the factors that influence consumer buyer behavior.
•Understand the buying decision behavior
•How to market to existing customers.
•How to create a new market
Structure:
3.1 Target consumer
3.2 Motivation for buying
3.3 Consumer's Product Involvement
3.4 Maintaining and Expanding the Target Market
3.5 Reasons for Consumer Buying
3.6 Target Triangle
3.7 Marketing target
3.8 Summary
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THE CONSUMER
Introduction:
An Account planner plays a major role in delivering the right message of the
client's product to the end consumer. Just as it is important for the account
planner to understand the client, the product and its message, it is equally
important to understand the audience for the message. If the account
planner does not get the right audience, all the efforts will yield no positive
results. Teenagers in the age group of 13 to 18 in Europe listen to different
music as compared to Indian teenagers. The account planner of the agency
for a new music company needs to keep this in mind.
Consumers buy branded products because they expect a certain quality.

They believe that the manufacturer of a branded product will provide that
quality. Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final
consumers. Account planners need to study consumer buying behavior in
detail, which helps in creating the right creative brief and finally a successful
campaign.
3.1 Target Consumer
Who is the target consumer?
The account planner needs to start with the first basic question "Who is the
target consumer?"
Many clients share that their target is "everyone." This is a very difficult
situation to be in for the account planner. A good planner needs to
understand that all population is not the target .Only a percentage of the
general population will buy the product offered by the client .So the more
accurately they are focussed on, the less the ad efforts will be wasted. It is a
good idea not to aim too widely with the targets, to avoid spreading the
resources too thinly.
For this good consumer segmentation is needed. A good planner should

insist on a good consumer segmentation study which will help to identify the
most valuable current and potential customers. It will also give you a set of
very specific target descriptions that will not only be invaluable on future
creative briefs, but also help the clients develop innovative product or service
offerings. Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base
into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways
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THE CONSUMER
relevant to marketing. Customer segmentation allows a company to target

specific groups of customers effectively and allocate marketing resources to
best effect. It is a good foundation for winning and keeping profitable
customers.
Markets are segmented due to following reasons:
1.It would be in a better position to spot and compare marketing

opportunities. It can examine the needs of each and every segment against
the current competitive offerings and determine the extent of current
satisfaction. The segment with lower levels of
satisfaction from current offerings represents good opportunities.
2.It can make finer adjustments of its product and marketing appeals. The
seller can evolve a separate marketing programme to meet the
needs of different buyers.
3.Marketing programmes and budgets could be chalked out on the basis of

response characteristics of specific market segments. Funds may be
allocated efficiently to bring out the desired effects in different
parts of the market.
4.Market segmentation is undertaken with the purpose of locating the tastes,

temperaments and buying habits of different groups or segments. The
behavioural scientists feel that all buyers are different. They are keenly
interested in segmenting the market as the significant differences in market
behaviour between the various segments of society rarely exists. In this
background, the formulation of marketing
policies or programmes or tactics for all segments becomes urgent.
5.Market segmentation is done with the purpose of locating new markets.

The group wise or segment wise study of buyer’s tastes, temperaments, living
habits and so on help a marketer, while searching for new market.
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THE CONSUMER
Markets can be segmented or targeted using a variety of factors, including:
•Demographics-- age, family size, life cycle, occupation

•Geography - cities, states, regions, countries
•Behaviour characteristics -- product knowledge, usage, attitudes,
responses
•Psychographic characteristics --lifestyle, values, personality
Some of the mistakes that can occur while defining the target consumers are
-
1.Too broad a target market
2.The wrong target market - a premium anti-ageing cream to contract

women laborers who work on daily wages basis.
3.Locating the target market in the wrong place: launch of whitening

cream in Europe
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THE CONSUMER
A target consumer group is a group when a set of consumers tend to act in a

similar manner and are potential buyers of a product. There are three major
types of markets.
1.The consumer market. Individuals and households who buy goods for
their own use or benefit. Example: FMCG products
2.The industrial market. Individuals, groups or organizations that purchase

raw materials to be converted into the final product. Example:
fatty acid to make soap
3.The reseller market. Middlemen or intermediaries, such as wholesalers

and retailers, who buy finished goods and resell them for a profit.
How many target consumers?
Once the client and the account planner have an idea about the target
consumer, knowing its size is the next question to be answered.
To get an understanding of the quantitative aspect of the number of

consumers for the product offered by the client and their habits and attitudes
there are many agencies like Nielsen (Nielsen Media Research), Media mark
Research and Intelligence.now Kantar, Quintiles IMS( IQVIA), a healthcare-
focused company, Ipsos ,GfK and others.
These agencies understand the importance of knowing what consumers

watch and buy. They study consumers globally to give the most complete
view of trends and habits worldwide. They help to bring insight to the
account planner and the client and help the business to grow.
Nielsen remains comfortably the largest market research company in the

world, with revenues exceeding $6.3 billion last year, per the 2017 AMA Gold
Global Top 25 Report.
Its motto “Don’t ask what’s next. Know what’s next” captures the essence of
importance of market research w.r.t. consumers.
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THE CONSUMER
Neilsen has introduced an in house Branded Integration Intel, which they

claim is a leading solution in capturing, measuring and evaluating product
and brand exposures. By analyzing all integrations, Branded Integration
Intel provides a scoring system for branded integration comparisons to
understand the impact across all platforms and the value versus traditional
advertising.
In particular GfKMRI performs research through all types of media, including

the Internet. Most of MRI's data comes from their yearly "Survey of the
American Consumer." MRI gathers data for this survey through in- person
interviews of 26,000 consumers about their lifestyle, attitude and use of over
6,000 products in 550 categories. Random selection of households reduces
bias and allows MRI to extrapolate data on a few thousand consumers to
represent several hundred million Americans.
As the leading U.S. supplier of multimedia audience research, Media mark's

national syndicated data is widely used by companies as the basis for the
majority of the media and marketing plans that are written for advertised
brands in the United States. The MRI Consumer Behavior Survey, conducted
continuously since 1979, surveys the demographics, product usage, and
media exposure of all persons aged 18 and over in the contiguous 48 states.
The numbers represent predicted behaviour/product usage/lifestyles for
adults.
Example
Source
https://fitnyc.libguides.com/c.php?g=584108&p=4034539
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THE CONSUMER
Sample Report
There are others like the
IMRB International – a multi country market research, survey and business

consultancy firm which offers a range of syndicated data and customized
research services
NuReach Global – best source of dependable and ethical Search Engine

Marketing and social media services
IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India)
Deep dive the life of a target consumer

Now that the numbers are known, the next step is to deep dive into a
consumer's life. If an account planner doesn't know the lifestyle of a
consumer, it's a dangerous situation. H will not be able to find the areas of
need, when does the consumer interact with various media, and what kind of
message does he like.
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THE CONSUMER
SMRB and MRI stand for Simmons Market Research Bureau and Media mark
Research Inc. They are the most widely used secondary data sources
regarding various consumer products. It samples and conducts a survey with
over 25,000 households in the U.S. twice a year .They provide information on
the –
Product: profiles who uses different product types, brands, etc. Also includes
profiles of behaviors (e.g. leisure activities / hobbies, sports participation,
voting, lottery, etc.)
Media: profiles the media used by different demographic groups (e.g. by age,
occupational group, educational level, etc.).
Magazine Qualitative: provides a qualitative measure of how a magazine is

used by readers (e.g. where do they read it, with how much attention and
thoroughness, do they take any action after reading it).
Magazine Cumulative: provides 4-issue reach and frequency data for each
title.
Product and brand usage: for example for a shampoo - Consumption level
(Heavy, medium, light users), Form of consumption (Bottle, tube), Type of hair
(color treated, damaged, dandruff, dry, oily, normal), Specific brand,
Manufacturer etc.
It also includes a10 days of keeping a 'diary' of all activities, purchases,

consumption, and media, etc. and an In-person fieldworker interview of the
household after the diary exercise.
The questions that can be answered from the above exercise and which is
useful both for the client and the account planner is are as follows –
1.Demographically, who are the best buyers or customers of product x or

brand y?
2.Demographically, who should the manufacturer target in order to

increase market share?
3.What are the psychographics for this target group?
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THE CONSUMER
EXAMPLE 1:
A recent study shows that the average 8- to 10-year-old spends nearly 8

hours a day with different media, and older children and teens spend
more than 11 hours per day. Kids who have a TV in their bedroom spend
more time with media. About 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell
phones, and nearly all teenagers use text messaging.
EXAMPLE 2 :A study show casing the influence of kids in parents

purchase decisions
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THE CONSUMER
EXAMPLE 3: Other study involving kids of the Nielsen company found that -
•Children 6 and younger spend an average of two hours a day with

screen media
•75% of children six & younger live in homes where TV is on half the
time, and 33% in homes where is on continuously
•33% of children <6 have TV in their bedrooms, 25% have their own
VCR or DVD player, and 10% have a video console in their rooms
•Children who have TV in their rooms spend 14 more minutes a day
watching
•25% of children <6 are "heavy watchers" with more than 2 hours/day
There are some digital tools which can help identify average income,
geographic location, psychographics and other segmentation of the
consumers.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics can provide data in terms of Potential/Actual Target

Locations, Interests of Target Audiences/Demographics and Breakdown of
Target Audience(s), What websites your target audience is from, Platforms
to advertise on, Where to find potential customers
Google Analytics Audience tab -quickly understand whom your customers
are and where they are located
Google Analytics Demographics tab- can find your audiences approximate
age(s) and gender(s).
Google Analytics Affinity- identifies users in terms of lifestyle like health
conscious, exercise freak , travelers etc.
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Google Analytics In-Market -identifies users in terms of their product-

purchase interests like Beauty parlor services , online shoppers , electronics
geeks etc.
Google Analytics – Acquisition Tab – can find how your customers and web
traffic were referred to your site.
Example
Source
https://www.hallaminternet.com/google-analytics-demographic-data-age-
gender-interests/
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THE CONSUMER
Quantcast measure tool
This tool delivers real-time insights from across the web. Digital Audience
measurement method addresses two basic questions about consumers -
who are they and how many are there? Quantcast Measure provides deep,
real-time insights about who the target consumer is, what motivates them,
and how they spend their time .It is ( artificial intelligence) AI-driven audience
behavior platform for the open Internet that today directly quantifies over 100
million mobile and web destinations.
From these data, the account planner can create a typical day in the life of
the consumer which they can use to get familiar with the market situation
and aid in message development. Also it helps the account planner in
•Brand experience-learn about brand's history, plans for the future, and
relationship with customers.
•Competitive analysis-tries other brands to compare.
•Advertising audit-collect and assess client's and competitors' advertising,

plus related products.
•Content analysis-review competitors' approaches and strategies;

compare the client's position with the competitor.
•Semiotic analysis-analyzes signs and symbols in a message to find

deeper meanings and how they related to target markets.
The account planner can then share with -
•Media planners - They can decide which media formats will help accomplish
the advertising objectives and all the possible media and
marketing communication tools that might be used to deliver a message
•Copywriters - they can imagine the consumer and devise the right
communication strategy
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3.2 MOTIVATION FOR BUYING
Source: Online Consumer Behaviour Models: A Literature Review , Biz and Bytes
(Vol. 8. Issue: 1, 2017)http://cbsmohali.org/img/journal_3-1-9.pdf
Motivation is an inner drive that reflects goal-directed action. It is an

unsatisfied need that drives human behavior to exert effort to reach the goals.
In a consumer behaviour context, the results are a desire for a product,
service, or experience. It is the drive to satisfy needs and wants, both
physiological and psychological, through the purchase and use of products
and services.
'It is quite true that man lives by bread alone - when there is no bread. But
what happens to man's desires when there is plenty of bread and when his
belly is chronically filled? At once other (and "higher") needs emerge and
these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when
these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still "higher") needs emerge and so
on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are
organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency' (Maslow, 1943 )
Maslow's hierarchy of needs defines motivation as a means of satisfying

human needs Five types of needs as listed by Maslow are -
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THE CONSUMER
•Physiological: food, water, sleep, exercise, sex
•Safety: security, shelter, normalcy in daily life
•Love and belonging: affection and acceptance as part of a family or

group
•Esteem or status: self-respect and the respect of others; the need to feel
competent, confident, important, and appreciated
•Self-actualization: the need to realize one's own potential, to achieve

dreams and ambitions
One must satisfy lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet
higher level growth needs. Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied,
one may be able to reach the highest level called self- actualization. Every
person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level
of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to
meet lower level needs. Life experiences including divorce and loss of job may
cause an individual to fluctuate between levels of the hierarchy. Maslow
noted only one in a hundred people become fully self-actualized because our
society rewards motivation primarily based on esteem, love and other social
needs.
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Understand what motivates the target consumer
It is very important to understand how consumer needs affect product

choice. This equips the marketers to position brands to win. It is true that
consumers can't tell why they choose the brands they do exactly. A brand
choice depends on product features, convenience, price, etc. But a choice of a
brand depends on other factors too. Brand choice has complex and hidden
drivers that reflect underlying psychological dimensions. These unseen
motivational factors need to be understood.
Motivational research is a type of marketing research that attempts to explain

why consumers behave as they do. It tries to identify reasons like cultural
factors and sociological forces that make a consumer decide on a brand.
Virtually all effective marketing initiatives help harmonize a brand's

positioning with the needs of consumers. Understanding how consumer
needs affect product choice equips marketers to position brands to win.
Market research that delivers insight into consumer motivations should
therefore be at the core of most strategic research programs.
Since brand choice has complex and hidden drivers that reflect underlying
psychological dimensions motivational research is the key for the insights
into consumer-brand relationships is Motivational Research.
Motivational Research Deliverables include -
Motivational market segments

•Segment motivational drivers
•Profiled on demographics, behavior, etc.
•Quantification of purchase behavior
Brand profiles
•Tangible attributes
•Image/personality
•Emotive symbols
•Overall brand positioning
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Brand Positioning Analyses

•Brand positioning against needs segments
•Competitive brand positioning against needs segments
•Brand portfolio analysis and planning using motivational framework
•Brand repositioning analysis using motivational framework
•New product/extension positioning and opportunity analysis - targeting
needs segment "white space"
Major Techniques for motivation research are -
1. Observation
A joint family was dining at a 5-star restaurant. Right from the moment of
their entry to their exit, the way they ordered, scrutinized the menu, their
comments etc., all was observed by Ramesh, the assistant manager, without
their realization. The manager of the restaurant had for a while wanted to
understand newer ways to improve the services. In this case, Ramesh is
acting like a mystery shopper who was making systematic observation which
will can produce really insightful results about consumer behavior and help
the manager to achieve his target.
It is easier to observe consumers in buying situations than in their homes, and

here the observation can be in-person or by video cameras. Observational
studies can collect data on physical actions, such as in-store shopping
patterns, television viewing; verbal sales conversations, amount of time spent
shopping etc.
Sony, the maker of Play Station might observe play to answer questions like
•What are the games liked by and by which age group?

•Are the kids able to handle the controller in a convenient way?
•Are group games or individual games popular?
Generally, observation must be supplemented by focus groups or depth

interviews to fully understand why consumers are doing what they do
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2. The Focus Group
A focus group is a carefully planned discussion to obtain perceptions of a

defined interest area in a permissive, non-threatening environment.
Approximately seven to ten people with common characteristics relating to
the discussion topic gather. The discussion is conducted by a trained
interviewer (moderator, facilitator). Three focus groups are the minimum for a
study.
The focus group in the hands of a skilled moderator can be a valuable

motivational research technique. To reach its full motivational potential, the
group interview must be largely nondirective in style, and the group must
achieve spontaneous interaction. It is the mutual reinforcement within the
group (the group excitement and spontaneity) that produces the revelations
and behaviors that reveal underlying motives. A focus group discussion
dominated by the moderator will rarely produce any motivational insights.
3. The Depth Interview
It is a one-to-two hour, one-on-one, personal interview, conducted directly by

the motivational researcher. The motivational researcher tries to create an
atmosphere where the consumer can express freely. The consumer may be
asked to tell a story, play a role, draw a picture, complete a sentence, or
associate words with a stimulus. Photographs, product samples, packages,
and advertisements can also be used as stimuli to evoke additional feelings,
imagery, and comment.
Each interview is tape-recorded and transcribed. A typical motivational study,

consisting of 30 to 50 depth interviews, yields 1,000 to 2,000 pages of typed
verbatim dialogue. During the interview, the motivational researcher makes
notes about the respondent's behaviour, mannerisms, physical appearance,
personality characteristics, and nonverbal communication. These notes
become a road map to help the researcher understand and interpret the
verbatim transcript of the interview.
The Consumer Buying Behavior in the Digital Age also needs to be

understood .Technology has changed the way consumers think and
purchase. it’s possible to do everything in a few clicks using a smart
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device. Consumers have come a long way from relying on sales people for
product information.
Some interesting facts are –
•Smartphones have literally become an important shopping necessity
•“Near me” has almost taken up space as a major keyword during Google
searches.
•“Online Reviews and blogs are becoming the new sources of information
for the consumer before buying aproduct.
•Consumers are convinced to buy a product if they have proof on social

media of a known person using the product
•“Engaging Product Videos”can lead to potential buying as a modern

consumers spends at least a couple of hours online.
Thus in the digital age, it can be explained in the following way –
Around 2005, the “Moment of Truth” model is one of the most accurate term
which captured the essence of the consumer’s (First Moment) while picking
up and buying the product from the shelf and then experiencing a product
(Second Moment of Truth) and then becoming loyal to the brand.
Around 2011, a consumer has sufficient access to smartphones and the

internet to go beyond the shelf when evaluating the product. Also online
shopping serve as viable alternatives to the physical retail store. So instead of
the experience of direct store purchase, the consumer googles and buys a
product. This is the Zero Moment of Truth.
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3.3 CONSUMER'S PRODUCT INVOLVEMENT
The next thing that goes hand in hand with motivation is involvement.
Involvement is defined as a psychological state that motivates consumer's
people to be more aware and careful about products. It also indicates a level
of personal importance that the person attaches to such products. Product
involvement is a measure of a customer's interest in a particular type of
product and commitment to a particular brand. Thus; there are (a) high and
low-involvement consumers; (b) high and low-involvement purchases.
Example: While purchasing a new handset, a consumer would first collect

information about the various brands and evaluate them, he would then
prioritize his preferences and finally go in for purchase of brand X over Y. On
the other hand, in terms of low involvement, while trying out a new
restaurant, may have the food, consume it, and finally form an attitude of like
or dislike. This would have a bearing on his visit to the restaurant in future,
whether he continues to visit or not.
Depending on whether the involvement is short term or long term, consumer

involvement could be of two types, viz., situational and enduring.
1.Situational involvement: It is specific to a situation and is thus temporary in

nature. It could vary from low to high, depending upon the
situational factors. A gift buying exercise is an example.
2.Enduring involvement: When the level of involvement towards the

product/service category extends over a period of time across situations, it is
referred to as enduring involvement. Buying cosmetics
by a beauty conscious lady is an example.
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Measuring Product involvement
1.Questionnaire
A simple product questionnaire can be an effective way of measuring product

involvement. One question might ask how important a particular type of
product is to the respondent on a scale of 1 to 10. A second question might ask
how loyal the respondent feels to a particular brand. If most people feel that a
product is very important but they feel little brand loyalty, this situation
represents a real opportunity for a marketer. With the right message, a
marketer can take advantage of this situation to build brand loyalty.
On the other hand, if a survey reveals that most people feel a particular
product is not very important, it would probably be a waste of money to try
building brand loyalty. Most people don't feel strongly enough about the
product to care which brand they buy.
2. Mean end chain
Consumers often think about products and brands as bundles of attributes.

Consumers think about products and brands in terms of consequences.
Functional consequences are tangible outcomes of using a product that
consumers experience rather directly and psychosocial consequences refer to
the psychological and social outcomes of product use.
A means-ends chain links consumers' knowledge about product attributes

with their knowledge about consequences and values. The four levels of
means-end chain-
Attributes
Functional consequences
Psychosocial consequences
Values
Example
Attributes Functional Psycological Values

Consequences Consequences
Hair Spray Easy to Hair Not tacky I Feel More Impress others
Dispens Attractive and Self Esteem
e
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It is usually measured by one-on-one personal interviews which involves

two steps:
•Researcher must identify/elicit the product attributes most important to

each consumer.
•Laddering - interview process designed to reveal how the consumer links

product attributes to more abstract consequences and values.
It allows the researchers to explore consumer choice beyond the superficial

level to understand the emotional underpinnings that drive consumer's
decisions.
This way of interview provides a deeper understanding of consumers' product

knowledge. It also identifies the basic ends that the consumers seek when
they buy and use certain products and brands and gives insight into
consumers' deeper purchase motivations. It also identifies the consumer-
product relationship.
Once the motivation is generated, involvement refers to consumers'

perceptions of importance or personal relevance for an object, event, or
activity. It is a motivational state that energizes and directs consumers'
cognitive and affective processes and behaviors as decisions are made. A
consumers' level of involvement depends on the importance of the product
to him and his own up gradation as an individual.
The Analysis
The motivational research has an output which lets to know the forces and
motives influencing consumer behaviour. It tries to unveil the unique
motivations that relate to the product category. It answers some of the
questions like -
•What psychological needs does the product fulfil?
•Does the product relate to one's status aspirations, to competitive drives,

to feelings of self-esteem, to security needs?
•Does the product have deep symbolic significance?
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The research also answers questions like the business environment, including
competitive forces, brand perceptions and images, relative market shares, the
role of advertising in the category, and trends in the marketplace.
Acting as the voice of the consumer within an agency, a Planner needs to

understand and use research data to identify suitable audiences and the best
methods of communication. Planners combine market data, qualitative
research and product knowledge within a brief to enable the creative team to
produce advertising ideas that resolve defined business problems. With
increasing public awareness of marketing strategies, a key challenge is to
develop innovative ways to reach consumers.
Hence an account planner needs to know which product attributes are most
important to consumers, what those attributes mean to consumers and how
consumers use this knowledge in their buying processes. Understanding
consumers' product knowledge and involvement help-
•To understand the critical consumer-product relationship
•To develop more effective marketing strategies
•To identify the key attributes and consequences underlying a product

purchase decision.
•To understand the meaning of those concepts to consumers.
Expanding the Target Market
Every organization would love to have an unlimited budget to market their

business in order to find new customers and increase sales. Selling to existing
clients is always easier because they already know the work and they trust the
client. But that does not mean that selling to existing customers is a
cakewalk. Consumers evolve with time and hence the selling strategy also
needs to change. Many brands have died because the brand has not evolved
with the consumer.
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A classic example is the iconic vanaspati brand that was a market leader till
the 1980s.But when the consumer shifted to healthier refined oils and the
cooking medium market had shifted, the company behaved like a
commodity player and lacked the "marketing mindset" to revive Dalda.
Also just as existing customer base is important, but it can't be the only way
for an organization to grow. Hence along with the existing customer base, it is
important to find new customers and increase sales. As an organization it is
important to understand that the possibilities for finding new customers
range from cold calling names from the phone book to buying lists of
potential customers to using newer Internet techniques like search engine
optimization to drive new business to the website.
The key to effective revenue generation is to maintain and expand the

organization's current target market and identify new markets. The current
and the new markets will require personalized separate communication
messages that impress them. As an account planner, it is important to
understand this aspect, because all these insights will be needed while
creating the brief which will lead to the correct communication message.
3.4 MAINTAINING AND EXPANDING THE TARGET MARKET
Retaining loyal customers is utmost important, but even loyal customers can
buy competitor brands. Some customers may have tried your brand once
only, or used to buy your product but have recently stopped.
Hence it is important to understand on a regular basis whether the current

target market is satisfied with the value proposition currently offered and
keep an eye on what the competition is currently offering in the market and
where there are gaps for a new entrant. These can be done by research and
questions that need to be answered through research and important as an
account planner to gain insights are -
i. Who buys the product or service?

ii. What value proposition is being offered currently?
iii. What is the competition offering its customers?
iv. How is the client different than the competition?
v. What is the best way to reach the audience?
vi. How is it possible to get repeat business?
vii. Who are the potential customers that have the problem that this
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THE CONSUMER
product can solve?

viii. How frequently will the product be purchased?
The account planner needs to have an understanding of the current scenario

which will help while developing the creative brief. By understanding who
these customers are and why they are buying what they do, the account
planner can contribute in creating a communication to encourage these
consumers to tick to the client's brand.
A. Increase buy rate
It's much easier to get an existing customer to buy from you than to convince
a new customer to take the plunge. Bundling products (can "bundle" a few
products or services together for a special price) , up sell ( AMC's with
products) , purchase points , free samples etc are some of the ways by which
sales could be increased with the existing customer base.
By understanding how frequently customers would normally shop in a

category versus the client's brand, the account planner can identify those
customers who have the potential to purchase the product more frequently.
An account planner will come to know what the consumer likes as an
additional gift / benefit / etc, only when he understands the consumer well
and interacts with them on a regular basis and thus the account planner can
contribute in media planning and communication planning
B. Increase Pack size
By explaining the benefits of a larger pack size, for example, to the right
audience, they will feel that they are getting better value from the brand as a
whole. By using the right media solution, it will aid increase in existing use
that will be beneficial both for the client and the consumer
C. Trade up
Identify groups of customers who are loyal to your brand within a category,
but buying a lower price-point product and who would find a product within
the client's your more premium offering a better match for their needs.
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D. Increase usage rate
Behavioral segmentation divides consumers into groups based on their

knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product. Usage rate divides
buyers into light, medium, and heavy product users.
1. Heavy users
The "Pareto Principle" named after Vilfredo Pareto -an Italian economist .He
observed in 1906 that 20% of the Italian population owned 80% of Italy's
wealth. In general it says that a small number of causes is responsible for a
large percentage of the effect--usually a 20-percent to 80-percent ratio. In
brand usage, 'heavy users' are likely to be disproportionately important to the
brand (typically, 20 percent of users accounting for 80 percent of usage - and
of suppliers' profit).
Example of the Pareto Principle: Case study Twitter
Heavy users are every Marketers dream segment. Large sales, highly
profitable (usually), and inclined to stay with your brand forever. As a result,
suppliers often target 'heavy users' because in many categories one heavy
user can be worth as many as 10 to 20 light users. Some "light user" customers
can actually cost more money because the expense of
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marketing to them is more than any possible Return On Investment. Hence

brands that attract the heavy users tend to be the leaders in their categories.
2. Light and medium users
The second way is to convert light users to medium and heavy users.
Generate new target market.
In order to develop a marketing plan to reach new customers, it is necessary

to understand who you're already selling to. This can be done by qualitative
and quantitative market research ways. This information will be useful to
develop a target audience for your business in its drive to win new customers
and increase sales.
Determine which key messages, features and benefits matter to each

potential market. Tell the customers how the product can help them solve
their problems.
A. Penetration strategy
A marketing strategy used by firms to attract customers to a new product or

service. Penetration is the practice of offering a low price for a new product or
service during its initial offering in order to attract customers away from
competitors. The reasoning behind this marketing strategy is that customers
will buy and become aware of the new product due to its lower price in the
marketplace relative to rivals
The chief disadvantage, however, is that the increase in sales volume may not
necessarily lead to a profit if prices are kept too low. As well, if the price is only
an introductory campaign, customers may leave the brand once prices begin
to rise to levels more in line with rivals.
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B. Increase the Pie strategy
This involves coaxing traditional non users of a brand to buy the same. A
classic example is of the Tata company .In one of the interviews, when asked
about launching cheaper products like Nano, it was said "No, we are not into
the marketing approach of low pricing. We are trying to create fields where
none exist. We did not set targets of 40 per cent or 50 per cent cheaper when
we launched Nano or Ginger hotels but we looked at what people need and
looked to satisfy them. We are not trying to convert users of a category from
other brands to us (which is a typical marketing approach). We are trying to
convert non-users into users"
Expand target market on the basis of need
A need state(s) is the name of a concept that can be used to define the
topology of a market - a map for showing the driving needs that determine
brand choice in a particular market. Consumers may have multiple need
states within a category. Need state thinking does not fit consumers into
separate and fixed boxes.
Need states refer to the complex web of rational, emotional, social,

environmental and personal triggers that lead to the choice of a particular
brand or product? The word 'state' means 'the condition of a person with
respect to circumstances. Need states are context-dependent needs. For
example, the choice of what snack to eat on-the-go depends on who I am
with, where I am, what is available nearby, how I feel emotionally, how I feel
physically, what time of day/season it is etc. The final choice crosses multiple
categories e.g. it could be a ice cream, bag of crisps, pizza or coffee depending
on a lot of factors existing at that moment.
Certain chocolate brands have come to dominate a need state like Mars bar
for energy, Kit Kat for a little daytime break, etc. A need state motivates the
consumer to purchase. As a marketer, it is necessary to identify primary
drivers to identify need states. This can be found both qualitatively and
quantitatively and in the end the underlying unmet needs or wants.
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THE CONSUMER
Need based segmentation
Needs-based segmentation is the segmentation strategy of choice, since

human needs are the ones that drive market behavior. This is the clustering of
customers according to common sets of needs and purchasing behavior and
then further dividing the customer list into one or more segments, each
consisting of a group of customers who share a common set of needs, and a
way of doing business.
It helps in building a long lasting customer relationship, targeted

communication to create a loyal base of long-time customers. It involves
Identifying the best customers, identifying their needs and concerns,
comparing Compare their needs to the organization's strengths, then develop
segments based on customer needs and then allocate the organization's
resources in proportion to potential return.
3.5 Reasons for Consumer Buying
As seen, there are strategies to increase the target market. But an important
point to be noted is that the behind the visible act of making a purchase lies a
decision process. Marketing managers from the client side as well as the
account planner should understand consumer behavior during the purchase
decision process. And the reasons for their purchase
The main reasons for understanding this process in depth is to gain

knowledge about-
1. What Are Their Reasons For Buying?
There is a need to have a clear understanding both the rational reasons and
importantly the emotional reasons customers buy.
Example - a person obsesses with social status will go to any extent to buy the
best lifestyle .Here use of product and price which are the rational reasons are
less important as compared to the emotional reason of status. These
emotional reasons will be a far bigger driver than price in their buyer decision
process.
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THE CONSUMER
2. How often do they buy?
Understanding this can help the client and the account planner with the
timing of the marketing, media and other strategies.
3. What Do They Buy?
If the client has a range of products and services it is a good idea to

understand which particular products or services are bought on a regular
basis. Having this understanding helps to make strategic decisions. Such as
whether you keep the whole range or focus on one or two key products or
services only.
4. Where Do They Like To Buy?
Today there are many channels available for customers. Increasingly

customers are buying directly from websites or online stores. Understanding
their preferences allows you to focus on the key channels to increase the
opportunities for them to buy from you.
5. Where Do They Get Their Information?
Today there are so many sources of information. It is helpful to understand

where they get the information and who they listen to. These sources could
be friends, websites, online reviews or influencers. As many customers will
visit the website as part of the decision making process it is so important to
ensure the content is rich and right.
6. Are They Buying For Others?
Sometimes customer buys on behalf of others. A classic example is mothers

buying for their children. The ones that use or consume the products or
services can have a big influence on the buyer so both need to be studied.
Out of all the above reasons, the last one needs special attention. As
mentioned, many a times the product user is different than the purchaser. In
the consumer purchase behavior process, three types of target have been
identified -
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THE CONSUMER
• Brand purchaser
• Brand user
• Brand influencer
3.6 Target Triangle
Many a time's organizations identify their customers as one single entity. If a

company is producing expensive video games , its "users" are going to be
boys aged between 3 and 12 years , the "purchasers", are the parents and the
"influencers" could be the close friends or family , whom the parents consult
before buying the expensive game.
Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne proposed this target triangle in a Harvard
Business Review paper titled "Creating New Market Space". The three groups
often differ. Identifying where the groups differ, helps companies to come up
with successful innovations.
Consider the example of Blizzard, a gaming software company founded in

1991 created the successful strategy game called War craft, realized that other
competitors were paying too much attention to "users" and neglecting the
"influencers". As a response, they developed an online multi-player game that
need users to interact with other players and convince them to play to get
points. The result was that "users were turned into influencers ".The company
achieved a tremendous success and has over 7,5 million active players that
pay a monthly subscription fee of $15 just to play the game.
Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne say that instead of looking for a single
customer companies should identify the "chain of customers", composed of
users, purchasers and influencers. The office equipment industry has
traditionally focused on the purchasers (corporate purchasing departments)
just like the pharmaceutical industry focus predominantly on influencers
(doctors).This needs to change.
Users are those that will use the product or service, Influencers help define
specifications and provide information for evaluating alternatives and Buyers
have formal authority to select the supplier and arrange terms of purchase.
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THE CONSUMER
To be successful, an account planner needs to understand the users,

influencers and buyers separately because this will help him/her to share the
right inputs for a marketing target which will eventually use the creative brief,
the media plan, the communication plan etc.
3.7 Marketing Target
Whether it's an expansion or a new market, once all the data is available,
the account planner needs to compile to form a marketing target. Defining
the marketing market is the hard part. Once it is known who has to be
targeted, it is much easier to figure out which media has to be used to
reach them and what marketing messages will apply to them. It's like
instead of sending direct mail to everyone in your area, you can send only to
those who fit your criteria. Save money and get a better return on
investment by defining the right marketing target.
Example for marketing target of Dove Shampoo

Demographics females between the ages of 18 and 40
Usage habit shampoos hair every alternate day
Need state to be able to leave hair loose without any hassles
The beauty of the marketing target is that it makes the advertising content,
promotion, pricing and distribution of the products and/or services easier and
more cost-effective. It provides a focus to all of the marketing activities.
Target customer profile
Once the data is available of the marketing target, the account planner can
create a profile for the target consumer. It would include all the Demographic,
Psychographic, Geographic, Behaviour Patterns and Consumption Patterns
segments with e at least 5 elements for each segment. It makes it easy to
understand when a face and a story are put to the marketing target.
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THE CONSUMER
Activity:
Choose the handset market (smart phones) and show how these may be
segmented.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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THE CONSUMER
3.8 Summary
The account planner needs to understand the consumer in totality. It's not
just the numbers like how many consumers, how much they buy, but it also
involves finding data like-where are the consumers spending their time,
what motivates the consumer etc. Planners therefore constantly need to be
working on getting in touch with what consumers really think and feel
about brands. Qualitative research is needed in getting understanding the
way advertising works on consumers. The job of the planner is to understand
the right target consumer, understands all the data interpretations which
helps him to create the most effective communication and present to the
right kind of consumers in the right kind of media. Use needs variables to
segment markets.
To achieve this, market segmentation helps in a great way. Select segments

taking into account both the attractiveness of segments and the strengths of
the firm.
1.List down the importance and benefits of market segmentation with

examples
2.It is always better to target all consumers to increase profit logically.

But it is said that choosing and understanding of the right target
consumer so important in account planning and for the brand finally.
Explain.
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THE CONSUMER
3.10 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1.Study of target consumers in the context of gender, race and occupation

is called ____________________________
a.demographic environment
b.cultural environment
c.economic environment
d.natural environment
2.The process of “Motivation for consumer buying” can be studied by

_________________
a.Observation , focus group and in depth interviews
b.Storytelling , observation and interviews
c.The financial status of the consumer
d.None of these
3.At Google, the ______________ refers to the moment in the buying

process when the consumer researches a product prior to purchase.
a.Second Moment of Truth
b.Zero Moment of Truth
c.First Moment of Truth
d.None of these
4.The order of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, from bottom to top is:

a.Safety, Esteem, Social, Self-Actualization, Physiological
b.Physiological, Esteem , Social , Safety, Self-Actualization
c.Physiological , Safety ,Social , Esteem , Self-Actualization
d.Physiological , Safety ,Esteem , Social , Self-Actualization
5.A ___________________ market customer profile identifies the

customer most likely to buy your product or service.
a.potential
b.interested
c.knowledgeable
d.target
Answers: 1. (a), 2. (a), 3.(b), 4. (c), 5. (d)
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THE CONSUMER
REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
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THE PRODUCT AND ITS BENEFITS
Chapter 4
The Product and its Benefits
Objectives:
At the end of this Chapter, you will be able to:
•Define product and know the major classifications of products and

services.
•Differentiate between attribute and benefit
•Explain the functional, emotional benefits of a product
•Explain the concept of benefit laddering
Structure:
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Product Attribute
4.3 Product Benefit
4.4 Difference between attribute and benefit
4.5 Functional and emotional benefits of brands
4.6 Summary
4.8 Multiple Choice questions
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4.1 Introduction:
Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition,

use or consumption. It satisfies a want or a need. It can also defined as a good,
service, or idea consisting of a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes
that satisfies consumers.
A product can be Physical Products, Services, and Ideas etc. Product and
service classifications fall into two broad classes based on the types of buyers
who use them.
•Consumer products
•Industrial products
Product Classifications in Consumer Products includes –
Many marketers assume that consumers will understand why they should
buy their product or service just because they've been told about it. Thus,
business owners only communicate the features of their product or service to
prospective customers. They do not try to understand what is needed by the
consumer. Most of the communications is more self-promoting rather than
identifying the needs of the consumer and fulfilling it.
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This is where the account planner has a role to play. As a voice of the
consumer, he will understand the consumer need gaps; convey it back to the
client. The client will then come back with the right product to the account
planner. The planner then needs to understand the product attributes and
convert it into meaningful benefits for the consumer to understand,
appreciate and finally purchase the product. Hence it can be understood how
important it is for the account planner to know the product.
A Product generally has two adjectives attached to it - attributes and benefits.

Product decisions include attributes, benefits, branding, packaging, labelling,
marketing, selling and its services. But many marketers themselves are not
aware the differences between the two and many a times, this leads to
unsuccessful campaigns. Let us understand each in detail.
4.2 Product Attributes
Attributes are inherent characteristics of a product. Attributes are only those

characteristics that are inherent to a product as it is manufactured. Lists of
attributes can help a potential user quickly compare your product or service
to another.
Example: In an electronics shop which has all brands of television, the

common product attributes are dimensions, warranty etc., but the additional
attribute for one brand could be high definition.
Product attributes are the descriptors clients use to define kinds of products.
These attributes are the ones which are recognized by the consumers. They
are the characteristics of a raw material or finished goods which make it
distinct from other products. Attributes include size, color, functionality,
components and features that affect the product's appeal or acceptance in
the market. It usually represent a manufacturer's or a seller's perspective and
not necessarily that of a customer. Attributes of instant coffee, for example,
may include its aroma, flavor, color, caffeine content, packaging and
presentation, price, shelf-life, source, etc. Attributes have only two possible
ratings (negative or positive) expressed as acceptable or unacceptable,
desirable or undesirable, good or bad, etc. The features and attributes of a
product are integral to the product design process, which in turn assists in the
creation of new products.
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But consumers don't evaluate attributes individually. The consumer

combines attributes and then evaluates and compares the product. Example
while buying a television, screen size and picture quality could be a
combination of attributes that a consumer seeks.
There are two types of attributes -

•Horizontal
•Vertical
Example: Consider the purchase of a car - two things are usually considered -
the basics like performance, mileage etc. and the other are the looks and
layout. Here, the basic attributes are common to all consumers, but in the
latter, one consumer may want a lavish car, but a second consumer may want
a simple car. Hence vertical attributes are the attributes which mostly all
consumers agree upon when a product is considered and horizontal
attributes are evaluated differently by different consumers
As a thumb rule, quality and performance of a product are vertical attributes

because consumers believe that the higher their standard the better. These
attributes help the consumer in product differentiation. The common
attributes are the horizontal attributes.
Attribute Listing
Attribute listing is a creative technique used to find new ideas, solve problems
and find innovative products and services. Attribute listing involves breaking
the problem down into smaller parts and looking at alternative solutions. The
attribute listing technique is often used in the Research & Development (R&D)
department of many companies, especially those who are constantly
producing innovative products in order to have an advantage over their
competitors. It is one of the best ways to generate ideas, whereby there any
many parts to the problem / challenge faced.
The usual procedure is to take an existing product or service for example and
list all of its attributes. For example, a flashlight may be described as a long,
round tube made of plastic using batteries to light a bulb which shines
through a clear plastic shield when the user pushes a switch. Examining each
of the attributes could lead to new ideas. Why is it round? Why plastic? Could
it be turned on in a different way, or be powered by a
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different source? This kind of questioning could lead to new products which
would address entirely new markets.
Steps of the process:
•Identify the product/process/service or the components of the product/

process/ service which is wished to be improved.
•Make a list of elements of a product or a service or a list of elements of an

organizational strategy of the company. List all of the elements (e.g. material,
color, weight, use of the product, design) that can be described with certain
attributes. Choose some of these attributes that seem
particularly interesting or important.
•Draw a table and insert the elements/attributes into the table as headings.
Find as many variations of attributes as possible within the
columns under each heading.
Combine one or more of these alternative ways of achieving the required

attributes and try to come up with a new approach to the product or process
being worked on. Discuss the feasibility of implementing these alternatives.
The job of the account planner in attributes is limited in this area, but at the
same time, he needs to explain to the client the benefit needed by the client,
so that the client can come up with the corresponding product attributes.
Finally when the product is innovated, he needs to be able to understand the
link between attribute and benefit.
Example: The speed dial option in mobile phones.

Product benefit: Convenience and fewer key strokes
Product attribute: R and D had to incorporate this feature after the consumer
insight was received that for commonly used numbers, there should be an
automatic system, which was gained by the account planner research.
As seen, attribute and benefit work together, but the consumer is never really
bothered about the attribute. It is the job of the account planner and the
communication to portray the attribute as a benefit.
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4.3 Product Benefit
Actual factor like cost effectiveness, design, performance, etc. or perceived

factor image, popularity, reputation, etc. that satisfies what a customer needs
or wants is a product benefit.
By definition, a benefit is something of value or usefulness. In marketing, a

benefit explains what the features mean and why they are important.
Customers are looking for solutions and a benefit shows the customer how
the attributes will solve their problems.
Example: What is the value to a customer of a digital camera that shoots up

to 10 megapixels? It could mean a more professional photo that will be
sharper and have true-to-life color. The benefit stated to a potential buyer
could be that more megapixels will produce a better photo and a better way
to capture important memories; this will mean more to the customer than a
technical description. A benefit can also bring to light solutions to problems
that a customer didn't even know she or he had. Perhaps this 10 megapixel
camera also features a blur reduction component. The benefit is that pictures
will look sharp, even when taking an action shot. Suddenly, blurry pictures of
the past may begin to flash in the customer's head. S/he wasn't looking for a
blur reduction feature, but after seeing its benefits, it might just be what
compels her or him to make a purchase.
How to Determine the Benefit
In general, nearly every attribute has a benefit, but they aren't always obvious.
As an account planner, he needs to understand - How can the customer see
the benefits? Start with a list of a product or service's features. What does it
do? What unique characteristics does it have? What technical information is
important?
The benefits should dig deep and be as specific as possible. Show, don't tell.
Let the story of the ad or the communication shows the problem and the
solution.
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4.4 Difference between attribute and benefit
Product attributes reside in the product, while benefits reside in the

customer. For example, a cigarette can have reduced nicotine content (a
concrete attribute), providing the customer the benefit of a less harmful
smoking experience. Or basketball shoes can have extra support around the
ankle (an attribute), reducing the wearer's chance of injury.
Product attributes tend to be concrete, but they can also be abstract. Think,
for example, of a fast microprocessor. A computer can have a microprocessor
with a fast clock speed (a concrete attribute) and provide the benefit of being
able to get your job done faster. There is a more abstract way of thinking of
this attribute by using the term "performance." Benefits are always abstract,
and they are often the result of a cluster of product attributes, some of which
may be abstract attributes. For example, think of car safety. There is a cluster
of concrete product attributes -- air bags, brakes, and body construction --
that give rise to the more abstract concept of the benefit of safety. But note
that "safety" can also be applied to the car, making it an abstract product
attribute. Many times, abstract product attributes are closely related to
benefits.
Market the Benefits, Not the Features of the Product
A good example of highlighting benefits compared to features is a car

commercial done for Volkswagen Jetta. The commercial doesn't talk about
the horsepower it possesses, it doesn't talk about the variety of safety features
that are offered (though these may be factors in a purchase decision), and
instead they focused on the main benefit of driving a VW Jetta. Driving one
can save your life during the most vital moment - during a car crash. It was
reported that sales of the VW Jetta jumped up by 17% after the commercial
aired.
A mistake that can happen quite often is to list out features in marketing
material, this is especially common for the product industry. But it's really the
benefits of the product that will sell.
Another way of looking at a benefit, is that a benefit is a solution to a pain

problem that a customer has. If the benefit can solve a tremendous pain
problem that the customer is experiencing, than this is a major benefit to the
consumer. Sometimes it can be hard for consumers to piece together a
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feature associated with a specific benefit for a product. This is a common

problem that people who works in their industry too long. They associate a
feature to a benefit right away without a second thought. But new users of
a product don't see this, and a marketer needs to be able to lead them
through the process of connecting a feature to an actual benefit.
Infomercials are extremely good at this process. Infomercials discuss quite a

bit about features, especially ones that focus on cosmetics. An infomercial
may tell that they have a secret substance that they found in a plant that's
from a tropical area of the world. This is an attribute. They then go on and say
that the product will help you get rid of wrinkles. This is the benefit, but the
customer starts to connect the dots of how the attribute is helpful. And then
an infomercial shows two pictures of how much younger a woman may look
after using that product that contains special mineral and vitamins. The
benefit is then solidified. The cosmetic product will help you look younger,
longer. It will make feel happier, more confident and self-assured in your daily
life.
Positioning by Product Attributes and Benefits
Sometimes it is better to associate a product with an attribute, a product

feature or a consumer feature. Sometimes a product can be positioned in
terms of two or more attributes simultaneously. The price/ quality attribute
dimension is commonly used for positioning the products.
A common approach is setting the brand apart from competitors on the basis
of the specific characteristics or benefits offered. Sometimes a product may
be positioned on more than one product benefit.
Example:
•Ariel that offers a specific benefit of cleaning even the dirtiest of clothes
because of the micro cleaning system in the product.
•Colgate offers benefits of preventing cavity and fresh breath.
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Benefits Can Be Emotions
While a benefit can focus on solving an actual problem, the benefit of a

particular product may be to elevate a person's mood or to lesson a negative
feeling. If someone feels that they are being overwhelmed by stress, then a
new bubble bath product can be used to help a person relax after a long and
stressful day of dealing with dozens of customer complaints.
If a customer can feel a strong emotional benefit with the product then this
will definitely help drive sales of the product. Always think of what the
emotional benefits a customer may have when he decides to use the product.
But sometimes highlighting attributes helps. Infomercials that focus on

cosmetics know that they need to compete with a lot of different cosmetics
out there. But if they talk about how they extract a specific vitamin from a
type of fruit and the process is secretive and only known by the company,
then the feature they've highlighted has given them a differentiation factor
compared to their competition. And this can help them stand out, but at the
end of the day, features and benefits need to work together like a great
peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Taking further the eight types of product benefits which are relevant are -
1. Emotional/Feeling (pleasure/pain)
2. Practical (save time & money & lives)
3. Exclusivity/Scarcity/Prestige
4. Origin story/Uniqueness/Character/Brand (Ego/Hero)
5. Relationship/Care/Compassion (Family?)
6. Credibility/Longevity/Dependability
7. Design (see & touch primarily)
8. Mission/Values (including CSR)
Out of these, functional and emotional are the most important. Let us
understand in more detail-
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4.5 Functional And Emotional Benefits Of Brands
Brands can evoke strong rational and emotional responses in consumers to

be successful, brands must create a relationship with key audiences by
meeting both functional and emotional expectations at all points of
interaction. The brands consumers choose can reinforce their self-image and
generate social acceptance like iPhone.
Car manufacturers are experts at combining the rational and emotional.

BMW and Mercedes for example, are all about build quality and engineering
excellence. BMW however focuses on performance while Mercedes focuses
on reliability. They have built brand strength by leveraging their functional
excellence into an emotional resonance in the minds of consumers. BMW
transforms performance into a form of emotional aggression. Mercedes
translates reliability into a form of emotional reassurance.
These functional and emotional associations which are assigned to a brand by

its customers and prospects are known as brand attributes. Brand attributes
can be either negative or positive, and can have different degrees of relevance
and importance to different customer segments, markets and cultures.
Identifiable product features are referred to as 'functional benefits'. Some

brands are easily differentiated by their functional benefits. Where functional
benefits aren't easily identifiable or differentiated, marketers often rely on
'emotional benefits’. Emotional benefits are often closely linked with self-
expressive benefits.
Benefit Laddering
As seen, benefits fall into two categories, according to the underlying

motivations to which they relate: (1) functional benefits and (2) emotional
benefits. Functional benefits address a customer's basic tangible needs. These
benefits are often linked to fairly basic motivations. Emotional benefits relate
to the intangibles of how one feels to use the product or service.
The Benefits Ladder is based on the principle that connecting a brand to

higher-order emotional benefits creates strong and lasting customer loyalty.
They must be connected, however. The higher brands go up the
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ladder, to uniquely own intangible benefits, the greater the value, the
stronger the relationship, and the better the margins.
1.Focus on delivering key benefits to attract the most desirable customer

segments. Early stage companies must obtain rich insights to understand the
exact nature of the segment needs and then figure out which benefits to
deliver. To gain customer permission, you must start
at the bottom of the Benefit Ladder and then connect upward to the next
level of benefits after satisfying that level. This is referred to as a benefit
bundles because companies must deliver the entire bundle,
including function and emotional benefits; not a collection of parts.
2.Consistently deliver benefit bundles to create a lasting bond with target

customers. After targeting the appropriate customer segment with the
appropriate benefit bundle, the next step is effective delivery. Without
it, even the most compelling and distinctive benefit bundle will fail to
connect with customers.
3.Leverage permission benefits to generate exponential growth. Trust is

achieved by successfully and consistently delivering permission benefits, the
highest form of commitment a company can achieve. Trust is earned and
only customers grant it. For example, once that trusted relationship
is established, customers often request additional offerings or underwrite
the exploration of emerging needs. Typically the next generation of
innovation is right next to the current offering. Consistent
delivery creates strong and lasting relationships.
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Applying Benefits
Applying the concept of benefit ladders, especially in times of rapid change, is

a challenging one, faced by the account planner. It involves three steps:
constructing the ultimate benefit bundle that the company aspires to own,
determining the ascension path to deliver the permission benefit and earn
customer trust, and envisioning the horizontal extension that drives the next
generation of products and services.
The account planner needs to build this ladder and understand where the
company is on the ladder through your customers' eyes and then develop a
creative brief around it.
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Activity:
A college running on the concept of correspondence courses wants to
attract more working professionals to be enrolled. As an account planner of
the agency assigned with advertising the same, try building the benefit
ladder
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4.6 Summary
One of the main factors for a product to be successful is that its benefits
should be understood and conveyed to the right consumers. It needs to be
shown as how the product meets the needs of the consumer. Hence the
job of the account planner is too understand the attributes of the product,
match it with the consumer needs and translate the attribute into a
benefit.
The account planner needs to translate the benefit and be different from
competition too. Hence he needs to understand the functional and emotional
benefit and then use benefit laddering for creating the right brief.
1.Describe the difference between emotional and functional benefit
2.Sometimes attributes can be also be used in explaining the benefit.

Explain with examples.
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1.In economics, ______________ is defined as anything that can be

offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption and
that might satisfy a want or need.
a.Brand
b.Tangible service
c.Intangible service
d.product
2.Characteristics of a raw material or finished good which make it distinct

from other products are called ___________ including size, color,
functionality, components and features that affect the products appeal
and acceptance in the market.
a.features
b.Attributes
c.Unique selling proposition
d.Functionality
3.The ____________ is based on the principle that connecting a brand to

higher-order emotional benefits creates a strong and lasting customer
loyalty.
a.Product positioning
b.Advertisement story
c.Benefits Ladder
d.Unique selling proposition
4.Product benefits fall into two categories, according to the underlying

motivations to which they relate: _______________ benefits which
address a customer's basic _______________needs. and
____________benefits relate to the ____________ of how one feels to
use the product or service. ( please select the option in the right order )
a.functional , tangible , emotional , intangible
b.emotional , tangible , functional , intangible
c.functional , intangible , emotional , tangible
d.emotional , intangible , functional , tangible
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5.The _________ type of product is purchased less frequently & careful

comparison is made by the customer on the price, quality, sustainability
& style. It needs increased time & effort is made by the customers in
collection of information & comparison making.
a.convenience
b.shopping
c.consumer
d.speciality
Answers: 1. (d), 2.(b), 3.(c), 4.(a), 5. (b)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture
98
THE BRAND PERSONALITY
Chapter 5
The Brand Personality
Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to -
•Understand why brand personality is important
•Explain Tonality of Advertising
•Create a Brand Story
Structure:
5.1 Brand Personality
5.2 Brand Personality Scale
5.3 Brand Story
5.4 Challenges to maintain brand personality in the digital age 5.5
Summary
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Introduction
Brands came into existence to satisfy certain qualities, to serve certain targets,
to symbolize some values, and to stand for some emotions. Companies create
and build brands for some reason. The Brand is a perception resulting from
experiences with, and information about, a company or a line of products. It
exists only in people's hearts and minds. It differentiates products from
competitors and makes a promise to customers.
Brand identity is the purpose for which the brand is born. Brand identity goes
much further than image though brand image being the customer's
perception, helps create the brand identity. Brand image is about what we
know of the brand in the past and ignores the future. Brand identity as the
sum of the brand expressed in terms of product, organization, person, and
symbol. Brand identity structurally has two dimensions, the inner core identity
and the outer core identity containing all the above dimensions.
5.1 Brand Personality
Brand identity helps brand managers to formulate strategies to make

consumers relate to the product in a much easier way, whereas Brand
Personality is based on the premise that consumers prefer something that
exhibits their characteristics or their ideal values. When it is a brand's
positioning, it is the description of the things that differentiate one brand
from others. But when it is the brand's personality, it is the description about
how the brand expresses and represents itself.
Brand personality associations create a composite image of a brand that is

not very different from the image that we have of other people: they make us
think of a brand as if it were a person. Just as a person will have certain
characteristics that define his or her personality, so will a brand.
For example - Some global brands are characterized differently in different

parts of the world. For example, in Italy, Spain, and the UK, the Apple iPhone is
viewed as a Seductress, but in Australia it is a Joker, and in Japan, a Dreamer.
This shows that the brand personality is not only about the product, but it is
about the consumer's perception of the product in light of their own values,
traditions, and circumstances.
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It is important when the product is socially conspicuous (products like

automobile, clothing) or when the availability scarce (as in the case of luxury
goods) or when it is complex product (in case of hi-tech products, consumers
rely on image rather on the features of the product which is a bit difficult to
comprehend) or when the target audience is highly self- conscious.
Brand managers and advertising planners have long understood that their
brands are differentiated by the way they address their customers. Some
particular personality traits can strengthen or undermine a brand's
competitive position. Hence branding messages need to be in line with the
market scenario.
Emotional Brand Attachment
Creating emotional brand attachment is a key branding issue in today's

marketing world. One way to accomplish this is to match the brand's
personality with the consumer's self. A key question, however, is whether the
rand's personality should match the consumer's actual self or the consumer's
ideal self. The consumers' emotional brand attachment are complex and
differ by consumers' product involvement, consumers' individual difference
variables, and the type of self-congruence .On a general level, actual self-
congruence has the greatest impact on emotional brand attachment.
Brands make consumers feel emotions - For instance, people long for
freedom. Harley Davidson promises freedom on the road. Coco Cola promises
happiness.
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Importance of brand personality in every aspect is as follows –
Advertiser -
For the advertiser, the development and reinforcement of a personality for a

brand serves to differentiate the brand from competition. At a time when
many brands are at or near parity in terms of technology (or are perceived to
be so by consumers), the only difference between brands is often the
personality that is associated with them. By creating a favorable and liked
brand personality, a marketer can set his brand apart, which often enables the
marketer to gain market share and/or to charge a higher price .While
competitors can match the brand's features and price; they cannot come up
with the same brand personality. Advertising that creates or reinforces a
brand's personality serves to increase the asset value of the brand. Brand
personality also helps when brands are bought or sold.
Consumer -
Brand personality is important to the consumer for a rather different set of

reasons. Knowingly or unknowingly, consumers regard their possessions as
part of themselves; people acquire or reinforce their sense of self, their
identities, in part through the goods they buy and what these material goods
symbolize, both to themselves and to others they come into contact with and
care about. Consumers invest themselves, for example, more in automobiles
and clothing, less in the paper towel. Consumers use possessions not only to
define ourselves as individuals, but also to define which groups we belong to-
and do not belong to.
As part of this "self-defining" process, consumers select those brands that

have a brand personality that is similar to theirs. Example -a consumer who
does not think of himself as "flashy" is likely to feel uncomfortable in a car like
the Limousine.
An intelligent account planner will use research to understand the role that
the client's brand and its personality plays in building consumer relationships,
and will apply that learning to maximize brand appeal through the correct
communication.
Global communications and other marketing levers can help ensure that a
brand is positioned in a consistent way around the world, but a single tone
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of voice is unlikely to succeed in engaging consumers across varied cultures.

Account planners need to understand the cultural context in which the brand
communicates so that the creative brief can capture what needs to be said
and how it has to be said.
5.2 Brand Personality Scale
As seen, consumers personify things. They assign human-like attributes to

essentially anything with a name - people, places, things, and yes, even
products and companies. There are many ways for defining brand
personality. Some of them are -
•Car Analogy - ask if your organization was a car, what kind of car would it be?
Why? Get specific, and define the year, make, model and color. Are
you value for money oriented like "Nano" or jazzy like "Bravo"
•Celebrity Analogy - If your organization was a famous celebrity, who would it

be and why? Maybe the perfectionist like Äamir Khan" or the
royal like "Saif Ali Khan"
•Animal Analogy - If your organization was an animal, what kind of

animal would it be? Are you Strong like a lion, fast like a leopard etc
The brand may have a number of negative personality attributes, but it needs
to be included, because the account planner needs the correct brand picture.
Brand personality according to Aaker
Jennifer Aaker developed a framework for measuring brand personality with

five core dimensions of brand personality, each divided into a set of facets. The
five core dimensions and their facets are –
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5 Dimensions of Brand Personality (AAker)
Each facet is in turn measured by a set of traits. The trait measures are taken
using a five-point scale (1= not at all descriptive, 5=extremely descriptive)
rating the extent to which each trait describes the specific brand of interest.
The traits used for each of the facets are -
•Down-to-earth (down-to-earth, family-oriented, small-town)

•Honest (honest, sincere, real)
•Wholesome (wholesome, original)
•Cheerful (cheerful, sentimental, friendly)
•Daring (daring, trendy, exciting)
•Spirited (spirited, cool, young)
•Imaginative (imaginative, unique)
•Up-to-date (up-to-date, independent, contemporary)
•Reliable (reliable, hardworking, secure)
•Intelligent (intelligent, technical, corporate)
•Successful (successful, leader, confident)
•Upper class (upper class, glamorous, good looking)
•Charming (charming, feminine, smooth)
•Outdoors (outdoors, masculine, Western)
•Tough (tough, rugged)
Example: Brand personality of the "PaperBoat” beverages
PaperBoat a brand of traditional Indian juices and drinks by Hector

Beverages, a young and vibrant brand made an emotional connect with
consumers in a short span of time. It used story-telling that not only it has
made brand awareness but also an emotional contact with its target
audience.
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•Sincerity – family oriented (family connection)

•Excitement – cool (childhood memories)
•Competence – reliable (health conscious)
•Sophistication –imaginative (packaging)
•Ruggedness - bubbly
A brand could acquire such a personality profile through advertising- created

associations with certain types of users (the kinds of people depicted as using
it) or the kinds of people used to endorse it in the advertising. Of course, other
sources of such associations might be more important than advertising,
including direct observations of typical users, culturally ingrained stereotypes,
word-of-mouth, and news media reports or publicity.
An account planner needs to consider this with advertising as ways of

developing or enhancing brand personalities. He can brand personality scale
for -
•Enriching understanding -Consumer perceptions and attitudes towards

the brand
•Differentiating identity - will help to differentiate the product in the

category
•Guides the communication effort-the creative brief will be more accurate
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Advertising tone of voice (tonality) and brand personality
To effectively develop a brand through marketing, one must build a good

brand personality. An important part of brand personality is the tone of voice
in advertising. Advertising Has a Tonality as Advertising "speaks" to the
consumer in many ways. Consumer note things like - How is the brand
ambassador speaking? How are they dressed? What is their "tone"? The tone
of voice in marketing means not only what your advertisements say about
your brand, but how they say it. In other words, the tone of the advertising
and the brand personality needs to be hand to hand.
The tone of voice is simply the 'personality' of the brand or company as

expressed. Tone of voice governs what is said and how it is said - the content
and style of textual communications, in any setting and in any medium.
Example - A company that wants to project its brand as knowledgeable

might use a detached or professional style, proper grammar and more formal
language. A thing that most big brands should keep in mind - own a tonality
that is opposite to their equally big competitor. A Lifebuoy should never be as
scientific and direct as Dettol and likewise Dettol with its usually serious
tonality should never be about the vitality of kids bouncing around having
fun.
Whatever tone of voice needs to be represented for the brand personality,

consistency is the single most important value in building it. Advertisements
that deliver a consistent tone of voice build a believable brand personality
that consumers feel they can trust. In contrast, advertisements that switch
between contrasting tones of voice can create a sense of discomfort in
consumers, just as unpredictable personalities can be alienating in real life.
Although consistency in tone of voice is crucial, it also is important to know

when to vary your style within your brand's established tone of voice. For
example, while your advertisements uniformly project a fun tone of voice,
advertisements aimed at children might use one set of vocabulary, while
those aimed at adults use another. Similarly, different types of media require
somewhat different styles; you may find that a successful newspaper
advertisement demands different grammar than an advertisement on a
social media website.
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An account planner needs to understand the advertising tonality of the client

which will be his inputs in the creative brief and to the creative team.
Brand personality according to Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the
founder of Analytical Psychology. There are 12 classic archetypes. These cover
the whole range. Choosing the right archetype for the business is essential.
The archetypes are useful in creating a deep connection with the target
market.
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Archetype Goal Traits DrawbackBrand example

The Hero Help to Courageous, May be Nike
improve the bold arrogant, aloof
world
The Outlaw Break the RebelMay be Harley-
rules adamant Davidson
Help to gain knowledgeableMay be Google
The Sage
wisdom opinionated
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5.3 Brand Story
It is a known fact that stories matter in life and in marketing. Stories make
people feel something, and those emotions create powerful connections
between the audience, the characters within the stories and the storyteller.
Hence stories help in building brand loyalty and brand value. When an
emotional connection is built between consumers and the brand, the brand
will grow.
A brand story is different than the text on a website, brochure or regular sales
presentations. Brand story is a two way thing - it's what you want to tell
consumers and what consumers believe about the client. Brand storytelling
requires creativity and an understanding of fiction writing fundamentals. It's
different from standard story writing, because brand stories should indirectly
selling the brand rather than just entertain.
Hence brand stories need to have the following in mind –
•It should not be a narration - The story should be emotionally charged rather
than just narration. For example , rather than telling them to eat chocolates
during happy times , the Cadbury ad shows the happy moments in such a
way that the consumer feels that he is experiencing
the same happy moment.
•Create Characters that the consumer can relate to -Many brand stories
feature brand mascots as the primary characters, but that is not always
necessary. For example, the Dove shampoo ad uses woman of the real world
as brand ambassadors. So when a working lady talks about time crunch and
hair loss, all the consumer working women groups are able to
relate to that ad
•Understand the Complete Story Arc -The brand stories shouldn't be stand-
alone short stories. Instead, they should be part of a broader, long-term story
arc. If the complete story is told in one shot, the
opportunity to build a long-term relationship with the audience is lost.
•Stay Consistent with the Brand Promise - The brand stories should always
consistent with the brand promise and image. For example, Thumps up
image is one of adventure. From its commercial series of
bungee jumping to all, it depicts the spirit of adventure.
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The account planner needs to keep all the above in mind and conduct
research in such a way that he is able to gather information which may lead
to be inputs in the brand story. In this context the essential elements of a
Brand Story are
Resolution:
The reader, viewer or listener when reads, watches or hears the story, should
get the message of resolution. For example - How does the product or service
resolve something? How does it make their lives easier? Does it save them
money? Does it boost their confidence? Resolution typically follows the
climax of a story. It's how Kellogg's corn flakes is for health conscious people.
The account planner needs to think about the problems the consumer has
and how the brand, product or service helps to solve them. So the brand story
should have a resolution the problem faced. The solution should evolve in the
brand story as a logical conclusion.
Character:
It’s not always easy to come up with the right character for the brand story.
Getting brand ambassadors to depict that character is easy, but to think of
the character is a big challenge. Hence the account planner needs to find the
following answers which will help give the r brand the depth and interest to
be a fully developed character-
•What is the brand value?
•What does the brand do to help others?
•How does the product sold represent the values of the brand?
•What is your brand's history and what lessons have you learned to
develop your brand into what it is today?
•What is the one thing that the brand has or does that defines who it is?
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Conflict:
Where there is conflict and struggle, human beings start caring about
characters. The same principle applies to a brand story. Storytelling makes
the consumer about a brand, and conflict is a necessary pain to include in
that story.
Example: Buddha was a rich prince and later invented Buddhism
Buddha was a rich prince. One day he saw the miseries of the world. He
struggled to find the true meaning of life. Finally he invented Buddhism and
attained Nirvana.
It's the problem, the looming destruction, the struggle to save something
that makes the consumer care and take notice. As an account planner the
consumer research insights should help to identify the conflict, the struggle
and then according to the first element, resolve it.
Theme:
It's like the moral of a story, but for brand stories, the theme is an emotional
truth. The reason a theme is important to a brand story is because a
consumer's motivation to buy isn't based purely on practical reasons.
Setting:
The setting of the brand story is where and when the story takes place. It also
helps shape the tone or mood of the story. For example a car like Santro will
have a family set with members in a mood for a picnic or and so on...
As an account planner, it is needed to understand the circumstances of the

conflict, so that the right cord can be struck with the consumer.
Plot:
The plot of a brand story is the action i.e. the sequence of the events that lead
up to and finally resolve the conflict. It gives the characters a series of events
to carry out and follow from start to finish.
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Example
Resolution Availability of home cooked food like Healthy options within 30

minutes
Character A 24/7 working IT Indian female professional
Conflict Reaches home just 30 minutes before children’s dinner time
Theme Healthy food , healthy family
Setting nuclear family consisting of husband and 2 growing kids , Many

a times husband on travel and the unavailability of domestic
help
Plot Online food ordering service
Ways to create a brand story
Consumer writing brand stories
Lots of ideas get created when consumers are told to write stories. This is
because consumers being users visualize the brand according to their
thoughts. After this exercise is done, the account planner and the client can
sit to together to combine, edit and create a meaningful communication and
a great brand story.
Ethnographic research
It is one of the most in-depth research methods possible. An ethnographer

sees what people are doing as well as what they say they are doing. It
provides researchers with rich insights into the human, social and cultural
aspects of organizations. The main purpose of ethnography is to obtain a
deep understanding of people and their culture. One distinguishing feature is
fieldwork. Ethnographers immerse themselves in the life of people they study
and seek to place the phenomena studied in their social and cultural context.
It is one of the most valuable aspects is the depth of understanding and can
challenge 'taken for granted' assumptions but it takes a long time.
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Example:
Netflix decided to create the Netflix Socks project when it realized that many
of its users were falling asleep while binge-watching its shows. In an attempt
to solve this problem, it created a smart socks accessory that used an
accelerometer to detect when users dozed off, sent a signal to the user’s TV
and paused the show so that the user didn’t wake up several episodes ahead
of where they slept off.
5.4 CHALLENGES TO MAINTAIN BRAND PERSONALITY IN

THE DIGITAL AGE
It is important to maintain the brand’s personality relevance even for the

digitally inclined consumers.
As of now, Amazon’s Alexa, based on artificial intelligence, can choose a

product of any brand, many a times, Amazon’s own products, if the consumer
doesn’t specify the brand name. This means that in an instant, a brand is just
out of the consumer’s radar. This poses a great challenge both to the
organization and the advertising account planner to gain and retain the
consumer’s interest and buying intention of products.
The 360° brand experience covers everything the customer senses in the
“brand ecosystem”: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. In many ways, the
digital age has blurred these senses, with brands losing more and more
physical contact with customers. However, many brands forget or
underestimate the sixth sense: how the brand makes a customer feel.
Because a feeling can stay for eternity, long after the sponsored ad has been
lost in the endless newsfeed.
The 360 degree branding is a combination of integrated marketing

communications and web 2.0 usages. Integrated marketing follows a user
centric approach and primarily focuses on use of online and offline tools to
engage and excite consumers. Integrated communication ensures that
message is consistent throughout irrespective of the channel. A good
marketing communication plan helps onboard more customers and increase
sales revenue & business.
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A web 2.0 usage pays more attention to customer rating and social media
as consumers talk about the brand outside of the boundaries of the brand.
Therefore it is important to map a 360° brand experience that centers
around the sixth sense of “what do I want my customer to feel?”, amplified
by sight and sound and content, which then compels customers to
experience your brand fully and in a more engaging way. Hence the
visibility and the brand story need to be present across all possible formats-
Right from TV advertisements to newspaper ads to social websites to GIFs,
emoticons, typography, UI iconography, short and long form copy,
notification sounds, etc. to make the consumers retain the brand
personality.
Activity:
A company wants to launch skin care wipes in India. It's a new product
category and the marketing team wants a good brand story. As a consumer,
try to create a brand story.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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5.5 Summary
Brand personality is the human characteristics or traits that can be attributed

to a brand. Brand storytelling is not about the company. It's about the
customers and the value that they get when engaging with the client's
product or service. The most powerful brand stories are the ones that
prioritize customers as the stars.
1.The brand is more than a product. Explain this statement with

examples.
2.Explain Ethnographic research and its advantages.
3.Can the wrong brand personality affect even if the product is good.
Explain this statement with examples.
1.The _______________ research is a qualitative method where

researchers observe and/or interact with a study's participants in their
real-life environment and is a very helpful tool in doing brand
personality
a.Methodological
b.Psychological
c.Visual observation
d.Ethnographic
2.It is important to maintain the brand’s personality relevance even for

the digitally inclined consumers. ______________is a combination of
integrated marketing communications and web 2.0 usages.
a.360 degree branding
b.Zero degree branding
c.240 degree branding
d.180 degree branding
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3.Archetypes were a concept introduced by the psychiatrist __________,

who believed that archetypes were models of people, behaviors, or
personalities and were inborn tendencies that play a role in influencing
human behavior.
a.Philip Kotler
b.Carl Gustav Jung
c.Seth Godin
d.Zach Johnson
4.The five main types of ________________ are Excitement, Sincerity,

Ruggedness, Competence and Sophistication
a.Brand positioning
b.Brand personality
c.Brand attributes
d.Brand equity
5.One of the main challenges faced by the advertising account planner is

creating an ________________ brand attachment in today's marketing
world.
a.Emotional
b.Rational
c.Ethical
d.Realistic
Answers: 1. (d), 2.(a), 3. (b), 4. (b), 5. (a)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Chapter 6
The Creative Brief
Objectives:
At the end of this chapter you will be able to:
•Explain why advertising plays an important role
•Design a creative brief with the right components
•Conveying the brief in the right way to the creative team
•Explain the role of the creative brief
•List principal elements that should be included in the creative brief
•Discuss the meaning and the importance of creativity
Structure:
6.1 Need of advertising
6.2 Components of effective advertising
6.3 Need of creativity in advertising
6.4 The creative brief
6.5 Components of a good creative brief
6.6 Creative briefing
6.7 Summary
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Introduction:
The word advertising comes from the Latin word "advertise meaning" to turn
the minds of towards". Advertising is defined as a complex form of
communication using objectives and strategies to impact consumer
thoughts, feelings, and actions. It is a form of marketing communication to
reach customers and deliver the needed message. It is very useful in
increasing the profits of an organization if used in the right way. Hence many
awards and recognitions come along the way of the advertising team like -
•EFFIE awards recognize effective advertising.
•Awards like advertising and marketing effectiveness (AME), Canada's Cassie

Awards, and London-based Institute of Practitioner's Awards
(IPA).
•Clios, the One Show, and the Cannes Lions Awards recognize advertising
creativity.
•The American Advertising Awards- recognizes and rewards the creative

spirit of excellence in advertising.
•The International ANDY Awards
6.1 Need of Advertising
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of

ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.
•The time or space devoted to it is paid for
•It uses a set format to carry the message rather than personal, one-on-
one selling
•It identifies the sponsor of the message
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Most of the FMCG companies spend a major chunk of their budget in

advertising. A question may come in one's mind - Why advertise? Why spend
so much money? It is important to note that advertising has a major role to
play. Some of the major reasons are-
1.Advertise to Reach New Customers - The consumer market changes

constantly. The dynamics changes with the younger generation coming
in, their constantly changing tastes, and changing consumer buying
habits.
2.Advertise Continuously-Consumers are no longer loyal to the brand. So

advertising is necessary to keep pace so that the organization is one
step ahead of the competition.
3.Advertise throughout the Buying Process-A lot of effort, time and thought is
spent by the consumer when they hop from one shop to the other and they
take time to before making the final decision. Hence it is necessary that the
product be in the minds of the consumer right from
the start to the finish. Advertising helps in this process.
4.Advertise to counter competition Advertising-In the FMCG market, there

are many players and competition also adopts the route of advertising.
Hence to be competitive, advertising is important.
5.Advertise to increase sales-At least in FMCG advertising works! The most

aggressive and consistent advertising companies are almost
invariably the most successful organisations.
6.Advertise to stay active in a bad economy-Positive and creative

advertising helps even in a bad economy
7.Can reach a large audience
8.Builds awareness of products and brands
9.Creates brand images
10.Provides information
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Advertising also plays the following functions -
1.The Marketing Role
Marketing is satisfying customer wants and needs by providing products and

the marketing department is responsible for selling the product using the 4
Ps (product, price, place/distribution, and promotion) and brand
development. Advertising helps in all these aspects.
Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only assists in

promoting the product, but also affects the other variables of marketing mix.
This can be explained as follows:
Advertising and Product:
Consumers must be informed and educated on the various aspects of the

product. This can be effectively done through advertising by providing
information and education.
Advertising and Price:
A marketer may bring out a very high quality product with additional features
as compared to competitors. But buyers may not be willing to pay a high
price would be definitely high. Here comes advertising. Advertising can
convince buyers regarding the superiority of the brand and thus its value for
money.
Advertising and Place:
To facilitate effective distribution and expansion of market, advertising helps.
Advertising and Promotion: Advertising can play a significant role to put

forward the claim of seller, and to counter the claims of competitor. Through
effective advertising, sellers can face competition and also help to develop
brand image and brand loyalty.
Advertising and Packaging: A creatively design package attract the attention

of the customers. It also carries an assurance of quality and
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
creates confidence in the minds of customers to buy the product.

Advertising can explain this to the consumer.
Advertising and Positioning: Through advertising the marketer can convey

the positioning of the brand and accordingly can influence the buying
decision of the target audience.
2.The Communication Role
Advertising is a message to a consumer about a product, designed to create a

response and it uses mass communication to transmit product information
to connect buyers and sellers in the marketplace.
3.The Economic Role
Advertising reaches large groups of people; advertising makes marketing

more cost-efficient and creates a demand for a brand
4. The Societal Role
•Informs consumers about innovations and issues

•Helps us compare products and features
•Mirrors fashion and design trends
•Teaches consumers about new products and how to use them
•Helps shape consumer self-image
•Facilitates self-expression through purchases
•Presents images about diversity in our world
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
6.2 Components Of Effective Advertising
For an advertising to be creative, it has to follow some steps and norms,

which are listed below -
Advertising Strategy
•The strategy is the logic and planning behind the ad that gives it
direction.
•Advertisers develop ads to meet objectives.
•Advertisers direct ads to identified audiences.
•Advertisers create a message that speaks to the audience's concerns.
•Advertisers run ads in the most effective media.
Creative Idea
•The creative concept is the central idea that grabs the consumer's
attention and sticks in memory.
•Planning strategy requires creative problem solving.
•Research involves creativity.
•Buying and placing ads requires creative thinking.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Creative Execution
•Effective ads are well executed reflecting the highest production values in
the industry.
•Clients demand the best production the budget allows.
Media Planning/Buying
•Television, Internet, magazines, and other media are used to reach a

broad audience.
•Deciding how to deliver the message requires creativity.
Key players in the advertising process:
Agencies:
Agencies have the strategic and creative expertise, media knowledge, talent,
and negotiating abilities to operate more efficiently than the advertiser
Media:
•Media are channels of communication that carry the message to the

audience
•They're vehicles, but also large media conglomerates like Viacom.
Suppliers:
•Group of service organizations that assist advertisers, agencies, and the

media in creating and placing ads by providing specialized services
•Artists, writers, photographers, directors, producers, printers,

freelancers, and consultants
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Target audience
•People to whom an ad is directed-their responses determine if

advertising is effective.
•Targeting is the process of identifying the people in the desired audience.
•Interactive technology allows ads to be customized to the target

audience's individual needs.
The advertising process
The advertising process usually is a systematic process. It usually starts with

the SWOT analysis and the briefing from the client, involves research,
brainstorming for creative ideas, planning, execution and finally measuring
success and impact of the placed ads.
Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service
which has to be advertised and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and
the product.
Step 2 - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the
purpose of advertising. i.e. what message is to be delivered to the audience?
Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behaviour,
knowing the competitors, what type of advertising they are using, what is the
response of the consumers, availability of the resources needed in the
process, etc.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Step 4 - Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers
most likely to buy the product. The target should be appropriately identified
without any confusion. For e.g. if the product is a health drink for growing
kids, then the target customers will be the parents who are going to buy it
and not the kids who are going to drink it.
Step 5 - Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one
should select an appropriate media for advertising so that the customers who
are to be informed about the product and are willing to buy are successfully
reached.
Step 6: Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so
that there is no short of funds or excess of funds during the process of
advertising and also there are no losses to the company.
Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of
ad on papers is made by the copywriters of the agency, then the actual
creation of ad is done with help of the art directors and the creative personnel
of the agency.
Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is

redefined to make it perfect to enter the market.
Step 9 - Place and Time of Ad: the next step is to decide where and when the
ad will be shown. The place will be decided according to the target customers
where the ad is most visible clearly to them. The finalization of time on which
the ad will be telecasted or shown on the selected media will be done by the
traffic department of the agency.
Step 10 - Execution: Finally the advertisement is released with perfect

creation, perfect placement and perfect timing in the market.
Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in

terms of the response from the customers, whether they are satisfied with
the ad and the product, did the ad reached all the targeted people, was the
advertise capable enough to compete with the other players, etc. Every point
is studied properly and changes are made, if any.
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As seen advertising is an important aspect in the marketing of any product. A

good and effective ad can be achieved only when the creative brief is right.
The creative brief is the area where the account planner contributes and is
responsible the most. The account planner understands the client's
requirement and translates it to the creative team of the agency. This brief is
the starting point for the creative team to think of new ideas. Hence the brief
has to be drafted in a very intelligent way so that it helps the creative team.
Thus, writing the "creative brief "is a very important role in the overall function
of advertising.
6.3 Need Of Creativity In Advertising
New Advertising means like electronic media are making advertising are
more intimate, interactive, and personalized, consumers contact companies
by phone, the Internet, and through friends and hence advertising too has to
evolve to keep up with technology.
Hence it can be seen that creativity is very important in advertising. Creativity

involves more than just the ad's big idea, but finding new ways to engage
consumers beyond traditional mass media. Creativity in advertising involves
two aspects -creative idea and creative execution
Creative Idea
•The creative concept is the central idea that grabs the consumer's
attention and sticks in memory.
•Problem solving too requires creativity.
•Research involves creativity.
•Buying and placing ads requires creative thinking.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Creative Execution
•Effective ads are well executed reflecting the highest production values in
the industry.
•Clients demand the best production the budget allows.
Creativity is the combining of two or more previously unconnected objects or

ideas into something new. Creativity is an important aspect in advertising as
it becomes unique, attracts attention, maintains interest, stimulates thinking
and in the end becomes more persuading and the consumer can be
propelled to buy the product.
But at the same time, creativity of an individual can be blocked by

information overload, mental or physical fatigue, stress, type of thinking.
Creativity can also be affected when the ad agency starts thinking like the
client. Hence it is very important that the account planner be more close to
the consumer.
6.4 The Creative Brief
In its simplest terms, the creative brief is the bridge between smart strategic
thinking and great advertising (advertising that involves consumers on both a
rational and emotional level, and which is capable of affecting a change in
both their thoughts and behavior) and it is the key tool with which planners
and their account management partners can unlock the talents and
imagination of their agency's creative people. Also a creative brief helps to
inspire copywriters and art directors by channeling their creative efforts
toward a strategically sound solution that addresses the client's brand
challenge.
Creative briefs help keep projects running smoothly and prevent

misunderstandings and delays by connecting objectives with creative
strategies, building team consensus, aligning expectations and defining clear,
measurable goals
It is a normally a short (one pager) created for a campaign activity, which has
specific deliverables. It provides the creative team with an overview of the
most important issues to consider in the development of an advertisement or
campaign. It is the road map comprising of the
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communication strategy for the beginning of the creative process and acts
as an inspiration to the creative team. A good creative brief is created by an
intelligent and creative account planner.
A creative brief is a combination of Direction and Inspiration-
•Direction - What is the one thing you want the advertising to say? If you
can't explain it to your friends in one sentence, start again.
•Inspiration - The most powerful advertising contains insights that truly

resonate with the consumer
The creative brief is the foundation of any advertising or marketing

campaign. It's the treasure map that creative team then follows to create a
great mind blowing a. It gives direction to the creative team to start looking
out for creative ideas. A good creative brief is hard to come by.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
The main task of a creative brief is not to say 'OK, it's finally time for you
creative folks to start work' but to inform the creative team and, most
importantly, to inspire them (Steel, 1998).
History of creative brief
The writing of creative brief has its own history. In 1970's in the US, creative
brief had only a few key pointers which the account planner would research
collect data and write a creative brief. There is an example from the 1996
Olympics in Atlanta where the brief had just one sentence "Sport is War,
minus the killing.", but which summarized everything, right from the true
sportsmanship spirit to the crux of the sports event.
The JWT approach to solving an advertising problem was -
•Where are we? - Develop a situation analysis

•Why are we there? - Identify Problems
•Where could we be? - Identify Opportunities
•How could we get there? - Develop message, media, and marketing
communications strategy and tactics
•Are we getting there? - Develop a plan to measure (track) campaign
effectiveness
A typical 1970 early creative brief would just have the following details -
Example -Cassette based walkman by Sony in 1979
1.Key fact - more than 70 % of the U.S. population love music, but find it
difficult and inconvenient to carry the heavy stereo
2.Problem that advertisement must solve -educate and excite stereo using
consumers to the new technology of cassette based walkman with its
many convenient features
3.Advertising objective-to capture the market of music lovers on the go
4.The creative strategy -Demonstrate convenience and joy when listening

to music on the go - relieves stress, cheerful atmosphere etc.
With time and more detailing into account planning, the creative brief has
also become concise and complete in all aspects.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
But whatever be the type of creative brief, before starting to write a creative
brief, the account planner should do the following -
1. Start with the Client
A creative brief is an expression of the client's wants. A good account planner

has to extract everything you can from the client, and condense it. A good
account planner should try to know as much as about the product or service.
Ask as many questions like what, where, when, who, how
2. Use the Product or Service
A good account planner should experience the product or service .This will
help to explain the strengths and understand the shortcomings.
3. Put Everything Down On Paper
Scribble everything down and then organize according to the components of

a good creative brief such as - summary, overview, drivers, audience,
competition, tone, message, visuals, delivery and people.
4. Spend the Most Time Writing the Single Minded Proposition
The account planner should concentrate on getting the SMP (single minded
proposition) accurate because a good SMP helps the creative team in the
right direction. The SMP sums up the most important thing that has to be
said about the brand or product. It is the most crucial to get right and the
easiest to go astray
Here are some examples of great SMPs:
a.Launch of iPOD- When every other MP3 player at the time was talking
about memory, price point, compatibility, interoperability, and a million other
benefits at once, the iPod simply boasted, "1,000 songs
in your pocket".
b.Coca-Cola, "The pause that refreshes"
c.Nike, "Just do it"
d.McDonald's, "You deserve a break today"
e.DeBeers, "A diamond is forever"
f.Absolut Vodka, the Absolut Bottle, TBWA, 1981
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
5. Simplify
After the SMP or USP is ready, the account planner has to write the one pager
creative brief. All the research and all the background work should be
available as support documents.
6. Get Feedback
The account planner then has to get a feedback from the creative director,
because it is going to form the basis for his department's work. Many a times,
the creative director can add valuable inputs after which the brief should be
modified
7. Get the Client's Approval
This is important as the client's approval is necessary. The creative brief has to
be signed off by the client.
8. Briefing the creative team
After the creative brief is approved, the account planner needs to brief the
creative team.
6.5 Components Of A Good Creative Brief:
An account planner’s biggest and far most important job is the making of
the creative brief. The main background and structure of a creative brief
remains the same for any kind of medium, say a print medium or a digital
medium. With many technologies available, a good brief could be data-
driven based on solid, accurate research.
Such data would provide –
•Good consumer insight

•Provide clear objectives
•Information about target consumers
•Reach of media to be successful
•Budget needs.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Following are the points that need to be remembered by writing the brief -
1.Background summary: Should include -
a) Client details
b) Product details
c) SWOT analysis conclusions specially strengths and weakness
d) Answers to questions like -
i.What is the background/context for the project?

ii.What are the main reasons for this brand to be advertised?
iii.What does the client want the ad to achieve? The account
planner has to understand the advertising objectives
iv.Who: Demographically, psycho graphically, geographically, geo
demographically, values, lifestyles, etc.
v.Why: Does the consumer have specific needs/wants the
communication should appeal to
vi.Where/When: Where and when the message be delivered?
Timing, and which markets would be covered?
vii.How: what style, approach, or tone should the campaign use?
What should the ad communicate?
viii.What does the client want the consumer think?
ix.Why should the consumer interpret the ad in a certain way?
x.How would the brand's character be best described?
xi.What is the single most important thing that the ad can say to
influence the consumer?
2) Overview: Should include -

a) Project details
b) What has to be designed and why?
c) Importance of this project to the client
d) Opportunity ideas as concluded from the SWOT analysis
3) Drivers: Should include -

a) Project goals defined
b) Purpose of the project
c) Top objectives
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
4) Audience: Should include details like -

a) Define the target consumers
b) Understand what they think about the product
i) How interested are they in the product?
ii) How often do they use it?
iii) When do they use it?
iv) How do they feel about it?
v) How do they feel about our brand vs. the competition?
vi) What do they ultimately want the product or brand to do
for them?
c) Be as specific
d) Try to describe a real person
5) Competition: Should include like -

a) Who is the competition?
b) Understand competition's message to the target consumer
c) Differentiation between client's and competition product
6) Tone:
a)How should the message be communicated
b)Define adjectives, feelings, expressions to be used in the
communication
7) Message: Should include pointers like -

a)What does the client want to convey
b)Legal information or disclaimers that need to go along with the
message - Trademarks, copyrights, slogans, taglines, icons, etc.
c)Are there format constraints that the creative team should be
aware of?
8) Visuals:
a) What images can be used
b) How will they be procured - photo shoot or existing snaps?
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
9) Delivery:
a) List of deliverables
Medium to be used -What type of materials is the creative team
requested to produce? Example: Radio, television, print,
outdoor, sales promotion
materials, etc.)
b) Budget allocated
c) Project timelines
10) People:
a) Stakeholder's list
b) Approving authority assigned
c) Mode and frequency of communication to stakeholders
The Creative brief has to meet the following to be called a good creative brief
-
•Defines a clear picture of the goal, intended audience and communication

objectives
•Explains the opportunities and threats
•Describes key content, tone and the message
•Describes the format, proposed activities
Importance of a creative brief
The reasons given for not writing a brief often include - "It's a fast-track
project" or "I don't have the time" or" The agency already understands what's
needed". But writing a brief pays dividends in the longer term.
Writing a brief is good business practice and there are three reasons to write
a brief:
1. It leads to better work
Without a written brief the work can be creatively brilliant and extremely
effective in working against the wrong objectives. Even if the aim has been
verbally expressed, agreement in writing is essential to avoid any doubt or
misunderstanding and to have shared clarity of purpose. The lack of a written
brief means there are no agreed objectives, no criteria for success, and
therefore no means of evaluating how effective the agency's work is.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
2. It saves time and money
No-one wants to waste time and money. Efficiency all round is only achieved
by clear aims and focus of effort. It helps the advertiser to get into the
marketplace faster and therefore get a return on investment.
3. It makes remuneration fairer
Written briefs act as a form of contract between advertiser and agency. They
should lay out what the agency is expected to deliver in a clear and
measurable way. Without mutually agreed measurable objectives, the
agency's work can only be evaluated subjectively and remuneration disputes.
The problem with informal briefing is that it makes a huge assumption that
the person being briefed shares the unstated knowledge of the person doing
the briefing.
Example of a sample creative brief
PurposeTo provide a simple and non-invasive test which can be used

by any woman to get early detection of pregnancy.
Target AudiencePregnant women in their early stages
CommunicationPregnancy kits work by detecting the presence or absence of
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin or HCG in a female’s urine.
This is a hormone, which is only found in the body of women
who are pregnant.
BenefitsDetection of early pregnancy and can avoid complications
ToneEmotional , excited , knowledgeable
Media channelsWomen magazines , newspapers, social media
Creative briefs are thought to be an outcome of convergent thinking. By

definition, convergent thinking relates to bringing together or combining
information geared towards problem solving. It uses knowledge and logic
to arrive at solutions. While creating a brief, the account planner first
collects all relevant information and then starts the process of elimination
and arriving at logical conclusions .i.e. it goes from general to specific. For
example, from about 4-5 consumer insights, the account planner narrows
down to the most important insight.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
Once the creative brief is generated, the account planner along with the
creative department then has to get into the mode of divergent thinking.
Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate
creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions. This thinking occurs
in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner, such that many ideas are
generated. Many possible solutions are explored in a short amount of
time, and unexpected connections are drawn. After the process of
divergent thinking has been completed, ideas and information are
organized and structured using convergent thinking.
6.6 Creative briefing
After the creative brief is generated and the creative team starts working
on it, there is an in-between step called as Creative Briefing. Just making
the creative brief is not enough. It needs to be conveyed to the creative
group with all the passion and energy that the account planner had used
when writing the creative brief.
A creative brief is a piece of paper, which is concrete, concise up to the point

and is a point of reference to the creative team. But while presenting to the
creative team, the reverse needs to be done by an account planner. The
briefing should be more like a story, very verbal and interactive. The account
planner should explain the brief in such a way as if the creative team has
themselves interacted with the consumer. It should be more like a story
rather than technical. Although the brief needs to be short, it is not the same
with the briefing. In the end, the brief and the briefing are opposite to each
other.
The role of a briefing meeting is often underestimated. It is not just to offer

the agency a means of asking questions about the brief and clarifying areas
of uncertainty. It is also an opportunity to create a deeper understanding of
what is required, to emotionally engage with the task, and so inspire and
motivate. It is sometimes a good idea to take the agency is taken somewhere
to inspire them, or to illustrate the point of the brief.
The Creative Briefing Process is a much planned process, attended by the

client and the creative team. It is neither a one sided presentation by the
account planner nor a monotonous process. The account planner can share
details like product, packaging, historical ads, competitor ads, share the
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need gap and then brainstorm on the same as how it can be approached.
The briefing session needs to be a stepping stone for the creative team
making them realize as to what the account planner and the client expect
from them.
By conducting a briefing, the account planner should in the end achieve the
following -
❖Inform the creative team about the target market

❖Create a stepping stone for the creative team by providing a background
❖Contribute towards the quality of ideas generated or to be generated by
the creative team
Implementation of a creative brief
Although a creative brief is made before the start of a project, it is used

throughout the entire creative process. It is the one document which has
been agreed upon by the client and the agency. The client can use it to
moderate and determine if the creative team of the agency has actually
solved the problem as intended. The creative team uses creative briefs to
fact-find and understand their client, building knowledge about both
perception and reality of the problem at hand. Many a times, the client
version of the problem is very different than the problem at hand. The
creative brief helps in discarding such off track discussions and sticking to the
main problem at hand.
Once the creative brief is approved, it is a useful tool for getting all members
of the creative team ready to work on the project. The designers and art
directors use information to instigate their creative thoughts, the writers use
it to write messages, the production and project managers use it to track
project milestones and deadlines, the account planner uses it to coordinate
and convey relevant information at periodical intervals to all the stakeholders
involved in the project.
In the end, all efforts need to be measured. The creative brief too needs to be
evaluated and the following questions can be asked by the account planner
to himself/herself -
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
•Is the creative aligned with the client's goals and brand values?
•Does the creative distinctly position the client as unique?
•How has the target audience responded to the creative? Have they
actively engaged and even shared it with others?
•Does the creative showcase unique ideas and functionality?
•Has the creative attracted attention?
Report each evaluation results back to the client. This will serve as a databank
for future projects. In the end, it can be said that a good creative brief can be
the game changer.
Activity
Job the account planner spends almost a month to write the creative brief.
Can this action of Job be justified, saying that the brief is the lifeline for
future activities? Explain.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6.7 Summary
Great advertising is the ability to capture the imagination of the public.

Advertising is a promotional weapon and great advertising keeps the
consumers bound emotionally. Advertising is an essential marketing activity
to fight competition. It consists of all the activities involved in presenting to an
audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a
product or organization.
Creative briefing is an important step in getting the advertising right. Writing

the creative brief with all the necessary inputs is the most important job of
the planner.
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
1. Advertisements are based on the creative brief. Explain 2.
What are the requirements for effective advertising?
3. Describe Creative briefing in short.
1.A creative brief is a very important document in any advertisement

account planning exercise and it is a combination of ______________
and __________________
a.Branding and Management
b.Direction and Inspiration
c.Promotion and Branding
d.Inspiration and Branding
2.A _______________ is a short document that provides the team with a

complete overview of the most important issues to be considered in the
development of an advertisement or campaign
a.Branding flyer
b.Advertisement flashcard
c.Business plan
d.Creative Brief
3.One of the components mentioned below is not a part of any creative

brief. Which component is being referred to?
a.Target Audience
b.Communication Objectives
c.Brand ambassador details
d.Channels
4.The advertising account planner is solely responsible for developing the

______________ for the product.
a.Creative brief
b.Media plan
c.Marketing strategy
d.Brand personality
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
5.The components of any effective advertising are –

a.Idea, Product, Brand ambassador and Pricing
b.Strategy, Media, Creative idea and Creative execution
c.Idea, Product, Budget and Ad execution
d.Strategy, Media, Idea and Product
Answers: 1. (b), 2.(d), 3.(c), 4.(a), 5. (b)
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THE CREATIVE BRIEF
REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture - Part
1 Video Lecture -
Part 2
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
Chapter 7
Digital Advertising
Objectives:
•Define digital advertising and concepts associated with digital advertising

•Social media used in digital advertising
•Key terms used in digital advertising
•Tools available in digital advertising
•Social media audit importance
•Role of an advertising account planner in the digital scenario
Structure:
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Social Media in Digital Advertising
7.3 Applications of social media in digital advertising
7.4 Terms used in social media advertising
7.5 Terms used in social media returns on investment
7.6 Need of social media audit
7.7 New trends in digital advertising
7.8 Summary
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Advertising has altogether taken a new turn in the digital age. From the
humble newspaper ads to billboards, hoardings, TV ads and now on the
social media platform, advertising has indeed grown in an unbelievable
way. Just as the avenues for advertising have increased, it has come along
with new challenges for the advertising account planner.
With most of the population spending more and more time on social media
and using the internet for almost all of their chores , it is important for the
advertising account planner to evolve strategies to target consumers where
they spend their time.
The evolution of web 1.0 to 2.0 environments has added importance to digital
advertising and social media. The term “Web 1.0”, refers to the dissemination
of information where communication is one way and in a read-only format.
On web 1.0, a user could visit websites to acquire information, interact with
Web content, or make a purchase but was unable to modify information.
With the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies, users have been given the
ability to create, and modify content through the use of social networking
applications. Web 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that
facilitate interactive communication and information sharing. Examples of
Web 2.0 include social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, video-sharing sites,
hosted services, web applications etc. It creates a sense of community on the
Web where users facilitate the development of online content and online
interaction.
Hence online advertising has become an option that cannot be ignored by

the industry to reach out to its customers. Online advertising may be defined
as promoting goods, ideas or services to targeted consumers using internet
as medium. Advertising account planners will have challenges to reach target
consumers as more and more consumer base is becoming fragmented and
the choices vary from individual to individual.
To meet this challenge, the advertising account planner in addition to the

creative skill set, will need to work more with digital tools like Google analytics
to reach consumers and calculate the Return on Investment across various
reach mediums.
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
One of the biggest differences between online advertising and traditional

advertising is the scope of advertisements and connect it can generate
with the consumers.
On the advantageous side –
•Reach more - online advertising can potentially reach more customers in

more places. This could advantageous for smaller setups to do
business far outside their local area.
•Reach Specific Consumers - Small businesses often operate in market niches

that appeal to specific types of customers or consumers located in
specific areas.
•Active and interactive involvement - Traditional advertising marketing is

solely one-way passive communication, showcasing a product or service. But
with social media discussions and search engine
reviews, there are many ways for customers to share their experience
•Quick adaptation - Digital campaigns can also usually be produced,

launched, and updated faster than print.
•Greater Flexibility – Digital campaigns can be run at will i.e. stop and
start which is not quite possible with traditional advertising methods.
•Cost - Online advertisers can allot budgets and put a spending limit on
ads whereas print advertisements can be expensive.
•Return on Investment analysis- Digitally with analytical software and data

analytics it is possible to know what is spent, and what is obtained
in return. Also it is possible to have consistent sales coming in from the
first day the website is live.
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
On the disadvantageous side –
•Connect with Consumers - Unless a web ad is eye catchy and

content oriented, the consumer has the option of leaving the
webpage in a matter of seconds. In addition, web users can
install ad-blocking software to prevent ads from appearing on
websites.
•But this does not mean that the print media is dying out. Both the
mediums have unique advantages, so a good campaign should
incorporate both digital and print media.
•As an advertising account planner, the best thing to do would be to have

advertisements with the right combination of media, depending on brand
personality, target audience, target market, creative brief, target size,
right product and the right budget.
7.2 Social Media In Digital Advertising
The digital advertisement is of two types, namely intrusive advertisement

and nonintrusive advertisement
Intrusive Advertisement - is a kind of advertisement where consumers are

being interrupted.
•Pop-up - is an online advertisement that appears on the screen without the

user’s permission or requesting for them. This method of advertising may be
regarded as irritating and are not always effective unless when a user has
personal interest in the company or in a particular product that
is being advertised
•Banners: Banners are small box-like icon on the web pages that display
information or messages. If an Internet user click on the banner, then such
user will be directed to a website where more information will be displayed
for the user to view, and probably make a necessary purchase. Banner is one
of the best ways of online marketing because most of the
messages displayed entice a user to visit the website
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DIGITAL ADVERTISING
•Spam message is defined as an unsolicited message sent in form of email to

users of a website. In some cases, users get irritated by spam messages and
often ignore or delete such a message without even going through it.It is
advisable that companies always seek for consumers’
permission before sending e-mail to them.
•Many consumers may find spam, banners and pop-ups irritating and could
invoke negative perceptions to online advertising. Due to negativity and
problems associated with spam, successful marketers in the United State
have adopted a code of conduct with the U.S. government, and several
foreign countries have passed legislation regulating, and banning
the act of spamming
Non-Intrusive Advertisement - a consumer has to activate his/her account

before participating in such a communication. Here, a consumer chooses to
receive the communications/information.
•Internet presence sites: Most organizations or companies have a presence

on the Internet in other to provide information that will assist consumers to
utilize the products and services of the online provider. Most of the
information has to be available all the time in other to facilitate effective sales.
In country where Internet access is limited, most companies still prefer to use
offline marketing communication
methods to online social networks marketing.
•E-mail: companies use e-mail to send information to their customers most

especially when a product or services is newly introduced or a kind
of special offer is available on the website.
Thus forms of online advertising can be grouped under
•Search advertising
•Display advertising
•Mobile advertising
•Social media advertising
•Email advertising
•Video advertising
In this, social media advertising is one of the biggest and most important
channel for the advertising account planner.
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Social media
By definition, it means different forms of electronic communication through

which users can create online communities to exchange information, ideas,
messages and other content such as videos or music etc.
Social media has two parts –
•Social media platform – Software or technology that allows users to build,

integrate, or facilitate a community, interaction among users, and
user-generated content
•Social media tool – Enables users to communicate with each other online
The different combinations of media platform and tools to serve Ads:
•Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+).

•Microblogging (Twitter, Tumblr).
•Photo sharing (Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest).
•Video sharing (YouTube, Facebook Live, Periscope, Vimeo).
Let’s have a look at some of the tools in social media for advertising –
•Blogs-A blog (shortening of “weblog”) is an online journal or informational

website displaying information in the reverse chronological order, with latest
posts appearing first. It is a platform to share
information and views
•App – Short for application, it is a free or paid software download that links
users to a wide range of goods and services, media and text
content, social media platforms, search engines
•QR codes - short for quick response codes. It is a two-dimensional bar codes
that can be read by some mobile phones with cameras and when
scanned can share information contained with the user
One of the core principles to keep in mind when choosing a social media
platform on which to advertise is that you need to go where your audience is-
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Facebook - offers a wide array of targeting options and the biggest social
media audience in the world, with 1.79 billion users as of the third quarter of
2016 (Statista, 2016). 83% of female-identified and 75% of male- identified
Internet users use Facebook. The demographics are skewed toward the
youth market, with 88% of 18 to 29-year-olds, 84% of 30 to 49-year-olds, and
62% of online users aged 65 and up using the platform 82% of users have
some form of higher education (Sprout Social, 2017).
Facebook offers a set number of ad formats to choose from that will help to
meet the objective. The formats are:
•Single image
•Single Video
•Carousel
•Slideshow (video-like ads)
•Dynamic ads
•Lead ads
•Boosted posts and promoted posts
•Collection
•Messenger ads
•Canvas (an ad type that offers different components in various
configurations to tell a brand story).
Instagram- More women use Instagram than men, and more people in urban
areas use it than in rural areas.
Twitter -users are skewed towards the youth market, 36% of adults aged 18 to
29, but only 10% of adults over 65, use it
In the end, whatever medium is chosen, a good digital advertisement should

accomplish the following -
•Generate Leads
•Increase Your Visibility
•Reach Target Specific Audiences
•Increase Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty
•Test Drive Promotions
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7.3 Applications Of Social Media In Digital Advertising
Business applications of social media is increasing day by day as it is

becoming an integral part of life. In business, social media is used to –
•Share product information

•Increase brand awareness
•Promote and market and advertise
•Create new business
•Offer customer services
•Increase sales
The applications of social media in terms of business can be grouped under –
•Gathering data - Social media analytics

•Marketing - Social media marketing (SMM) which includes social media
optimization (SMO) and search engine optimization (SEO)
•Digital advertising- Using the internet and social media to deliver
promotional advertisements to consumers.
•Customer interaction - Social CRM (Social customer relationship
marketing)
Social media analytics
There are a number of types of social media analytics tools for analyzing data
based on machine learning and artificial intelligence which gathers and
analyses data from tweets and posts of potential consumers.
Example:
R - The R programming language is for predictive analytics and data

visualization. The "R" name is derived from the first letter of the names of its
two developers, Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman.
The job done by focus groups and surveys and market research can now be
compensated with social media analytics most of the times.
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Social media marketing (SMM)
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that involves

creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve
the marketing and branding goals for a particular product.
Some of the terms used in social media marketing are –
1.Content - It is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through

social media sites. This needs a very good content. Content is whatever is
being posted. It can be a Facebook status update, a photo
on Instagram, a tweet on Twitter, something to pin on a board on Pinterest,
etc. Content comes in many different forms and it needs to be
customized for each social media platform.
2.Context - A great content if placed in the wrong social media platform can
be a disaster. A great lengthy write up may be a good blog but the
same content would a complete no-no in a twitter tweet.
3.Hashtags - It lets an online user to describe the topic of the content or mark
it as part of current trends. They make the content easy for users
to discover and therefore more likely that they’ll share it.
4.Shares: Shares are called the currency of the social media world. When a
content gets shared, it means it is serving its purpose. The more
shares, the more people love the content.
5.Engagement - User engagement with the content is more when it has

more number of shares associated.
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Search engine optimization (SEO)
It is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a

search engine's "natural" or unpaid (organic) search results.
•Natural or organic search - Whenever a question is typed into Google, or any

other search engine, the list of links that appear below the ads are known as
"organic results." These appear purely based on the quality
and content of the page.
Traffic that comes from people finding the links among these results is
classified as "organic search" traffic or just organic traffic.
•Paid Search- Paid search accounts are those that companies have paid to
appear at the top of search results. Paid search has been more popular in
recent years as organic search has become more competitive.
Ideally, it takes time to see Return on Investment from organic search mode.
But many clients are not ready to wait till that time. So the advertising
account planner has to take the timeline and budget into consideration
before deciding on a natural search or paid search mode of advertising.
Some of the terms used in Search engine optimization are -
Keywords - the search terms the user types into a search engine, when they
are looking for certain information.
On-Page Optimization - The first rule of on-page SEO is to think about what
the target users might be searching for, and make sure the right keywords
are on the page Meta tags are the official data tags for each web page that
are found between the open and closing head tags in the HTML code. The
most popular Meta tags are the title tag, Meta description, and keyword tag.
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Social customer relationship marketing
Social customer relationship management or Social CRM is the integration of

social media channels into Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
platforms. Customers can interact with businesses via their preferred
channels which leads to better customer service and greater marketing
insight from customer social media data. Social CRM makes it possible for a
client and the advertising account planner to communicate with customers
using the channel of their choice—whether by phone, text, chat, email or
social media (e.g. Facebook or Twitter).
Consumers expect to be able to move easily between channels of

communication and for the client to respond promptly.
7.4 Terms Used In In Social Media Advertising
Affinities
Social media monitoring tools can analyze not just what users say on social
media but also what else interests them, or put another way, what they have
an affinity to. It measures the interests of an audience and gives brands
valuable insight into what else concerns their customers.
API (application programming interface)
An API allows brands to set up a feed directly into their own sites, providing
continually updated, streaming data (such as text, images and video) for
display. For example, Twitter’s API can display tweets from the site on the
brands blog.
Conversion rate
This measures the results of the call to action (CTA) in social posts. Common
CTAs include "follow us", "sign up for..." and "register for..."
Engagement rate
Engagement rate is a measure of how much social media users are

interacting with the desired media. For example, engagement rate will
measure retweets and replies on Twitter.
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Firehose access
When you can access the firehose of a social network it means you have full
access to all public posts and data shared on that network in real time.
Geo tagging
A feature that social media networks offer for location based sharing. Users
can "check in" at given locations or include where they are posting from.
Impressions
Impressions represent the number of times a specific post has been

displayed, regardless of whether someone has clicked it or not. It is the
number of times a post could have potentially been read and it is possible for
one person to see multiple impressions of the same post.
Influencer
There are many factors when it comes to defining someone as a social media
influencer. It's best to start by thinking about what gives an individual the
power to influence others in their social media circle. The three attributes that
are most important for marketers to factor are relevance, reach and
resonance.
Klout score
Klout is a widely used website and mobile app that uses social media
analytics to rank its users according to online social influence via the Klout
score, a numerical value between one and 100.
The company defines influence as "the ability to drive action" and measures
hundreds of signals from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram,
Wikipedia and its own network.
Reach-Reach is defined as the total number of people who have received

impressions of a post. The same person reading a post multiple times will
create further impressions, but will not impact reach.
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Share of eye
Most social networks started off as text-based platforms but video and image
has rapidly become the preferred type of content shared among users.
Thus it is important to measure brand presence in these images, to identify

brand mentions that do not occur through text. Image analysis technology
which can recognize logos allows brands to track share of eye, enabling them
to quantify brand value and measure campaign ROI of, for example,
sponsorship of a concert stadium, or logo sponsorship of an event.
Share of voice
Percentage of relevant social media posts in a given category. Brand’s often

use this to ascertain their popularity against competitors in relation to a
particular online conversation.
Social retargeting
Because social media audiences represent some of your most engaged

prospects online, having the ability to keep your brand in front of them, even
after they leave your social networks, can help you generate potential
customers.
With social retargeting, you can use the links shared through Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn and other social channels to create retargeting pools.
When prospective customers click on a shared link, a cookie is placed on their

browsers, putting them into a retargeting pool so that you can now keep your
brand and messages in front of them.
Trending topic
A topic that is being rapidly shared on social media and has achieved a strong
level of popularity. Trending topics tend to be temporary but some give origin
to viral posts.
These can either be spontaneous, due to external factors (breaking news,
PR incidents for example) or planned (a new ad campaign that is widely
accepted).
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Viral
Content, generally videos, which get shared across social platforms at a rapid
rate. It’s important to note that viral videos are not a choice. No matter how
much you plan, the internet will always have the final say.
Bounce Rate
A bounce rate is when a user lands on the site and only views one page.
Google Analytics will show the bounce rate for the website. If this number is
high, the digital ad will need some adjustments. The more pages a user views
and the more time they spend on the site, the higher the chances for the ad
to be successful.
CTA
Call to Action - usually a button used to get the customer’s attention and
response. It should be big, bold and be able to grab the customer’s attention.
It should immediately direct the customer to the next step like – add to wish
list or buy or subscribe etc.
7.5 Terms Used In Social Media Return On Investment
Social Media ROI is a measurement of the effectiveness of an organization’s

investment in social media. Like any metric for return on investment, social
media ROI is calculated by dividing the total benefits of an investment by the
sum of its costs.
Therefore, it is completely dependent on which costs and benefits are

factored into the calculation. It’s tempting to look at vanity metrics but this
won’t resonate with execs and will always leave social media at a tactical level
in your company.
To get meaningful value from an ROI calculation, the metric should be fully
aligned with the business objectives behind a social media activity.
The most likely ways to calculate ROI one will encounter include:
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•CPC (Cost per click ) or CTR (Click through Rate)
When running a social media advertising campaign, the click through rate
shows how many times an ad was clicked on by users. - pay only when the ad
is clicked on
•Total potential impressions
Total Potential Impressions is the number of times a tweet about your topic
could have been read. If every follower of every author read every one of their
tweets about your topic that would be the total potential impressions. The
number is calculated in two steps using Twitter data. The first part of the
calculation is when an account tweets. The initial tweet generates a potential
impression number equal to the amount of followers they have. The second
part is when someone retweets the original tweet, which generates a
potential impression number equal to the amount of followers the second
individual has.
So if user A has 50,000 followers and tweets something, they will generate
50,000 potential impressions for that Tweet. If user B retweets this and has 75
followers, then the new total for potential impressions is now 50,075.In short,
potential impressions equal the sender's followers plus the followers of all
users who have retweeted the post.
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•CPE (Cost per engagement )
It is pay only for demonstrated engagement with the ad
•CPM (Optimised cost per mille )
Facebook’s flexible ad bid type, where bids can be adjusted based on the
goals the advertiser hopes to achieve
•CPI – Cost Per Impression –
It measures how many times the ad appears on a site whether or not the
users actually sees or interacts with it.
•PPC- Pay Per Click
It has similarities with SEO but these are paid ads that run on Google. If the
project can afford to have a good amount of budget and the client is willing
to spend it, the advertising account planner can place the ad at the top of
Google search results in no time at all. The largest Pay per Click advertiser is
Google.
7.5 Tools Used To Measure Social Media Return On

Investment
Most digital advertisers look at social media conversion based on these three
metrics:
Paid media: the investment is in the social ads that they are displayed to
predefined audiences.
Owned media: Content posted on the brand's official social channels like
Twitter or LinkedIn.
Earned media: User generated content involving a brand, but which the
brand has no control over. More often than not, earned media is the result of
carefully planned paid and owned media campaigns
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Social media ROI tools
•Social ROI calculator: This free tool makes it easy for you to calculate
the return on your social media investment.
•Google Analytics: Track website traffic, conversions, and sign-ups from

social media campaigns.
•Hootsuite Impact: Measure the ROI of social media across paid,

owned, and earned social channels.
•Facebook Pixel: A piece of code for the website that allows to track
conversions from Facebook ads—everything from leads to sales.
•UTM parameters: Add these short text codes to a URL to track

important data about website visitors and traffic sources. UTM
parameters work with analytics programs like Google Analytics.
•Hootsuite Insights: Will help to identify conversations and trends

within the specified industry, reach, brand sentiment,etc.It is backed by
100 million data sources, real-time results, and an easy-to-use interface.
•Kissmetrics - is an analytics platform designed to optimize marketing

success and ROI. It lets to track individuals, groups of similar individuals,
and the users as a whole throughout their visit to a particular site.
•Customer Lifetime Value Calculator: can be used to find out not only
what a new lead is costing
•RJ Metrics’ Cloud BI: The tool not only automatically calculates CLV, it
will even break the CLV down to show the social media channel that sent
the user in the first place.
•Cyfe: is an all-in-one reporting tool that provides an insane amount of

information about how the content is shared across social media and the
impact it’s having on the overall ROI.
•Google Analytics: allows to see where the traffic is coming from and
how visitors interact with the site, including the visitors coming from
social media.
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3 ways to improve ROI
Measuring the ROI of social media is needed so that it helps in deciding the
strategy for future actions.
Here are a few more quick tips and resources for improving ROI.
1. Test and optimize

Experiment with different audience segments and ad formats. The
technique of A/B Split Testing that is 2-3 similar ads run at the same time to
see which the best one is of great help.
2. Use creative ideas

Attracting new users is always going to be one of the greatest challenges
for the advertising account planner.
3. Iterate
Social media is always changing. The content, strategies, and channels that
are valid today may become obsolete tomorrow.
7.6 Need Of Social Audit
White Label Content
Since ages, consumers have had the belief that advertisement contributes to
the cost of purchase, and believe that products that are not advertised are of
better value.
According to Cho and Cheon (2004) model on online advertising avoidance,

three antecedents of online advertising avoidance are:
•Interruption of task-advertisements such as pop-up advertisements, which

disturb advertisements, and advertisements that require consumer attention
before they can continue their online activity. This manner of advertisement
may encourage consumers to disregard such information
or avoid it completely.
•Perceived advertising clutter-It attracts distractions, motivating users to

avoid advertisements which they consider as not useful to them
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•Negative experience-most of the Internet users presume that, Internet

advertisements are deceiving, unreliable, and misleading users to wrong
sites, some users are afraid of being infected by a computer virus by
clicking on an advertisement
Online advertising avoidance can be defined as all actions by online users

that differentially diminish their exposure to advertisement content.
Examples of advertisement avoidance include
•Ignoring a newspaper/magazine advertisement (cognitive method)
•Going out of a room during an advertisement break (behavioural

method)
•Ignoring pop-ups on the Internet and using a digital video recorder

(DVR) to cancel advertisement (mechanical means)
•Deleting/ignoring advert from pop-ups, banner on social network sites.
•Using ad blocks for web browsers, so as to block it automatically
Hence a social media audit becomes necessary. A social media audit is an

examination of a person or organization’s social media presence, evaluating
online activity to develop insights. An audit researches and analyses a brand’s
current position in social media, competitor activity and audience data.
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A typical social media audit would contain the following -
1. Create a document for the audit
For each social account, the following would be needed to record-
•the link
•the social handle
•the person or team responsible for managing the account
•the posts to be monitored
•the important parameters against which the post to be monitored
•demographic information
2. Track down all your social media accounts
•Search the web

•Search social networks
•Log the findings
3. Identify your best posts
4. Evaluate performance
•Use social media analytics
5. Understand the audience for each network
6. Decide which channels are right for you
7. Repeat
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7.7 NEW TRENDS IN DIGITAL ADVERTISING
In the ever growing competitive world, consumers are spending less time
in their homes. Even when being online on social media, they have the
option of ignoring an advertisement. This challenge is now being overcome
by Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.
It refers to dynamic media distributed across place-based networks in venues

including, but not limited to: cafes, bars, restaurants, health clubs, colleges,
arenas, gas stations, convenience stores, barber shops, airports and public
spaces.
It has two major platforms-
1.Digital Place-based Networks (DPN)

2.Digital Billboards & Signage (DBB)
DOOH networks typically feature independently addressable screens, kiosks,

jukeboxes and/or jumbotrons. DOOH media benefits location owners and
advertisers alike in being able to engage customers and/or audiences and
extend the reach and effectiveness of marketing messages. It is also referred
to as digital signage.
In 2015, DOOH have started to extend to in-transit advertising. Tablets are
installed inside popular ride-sharing vehicles like Uber. Digital ads are
displayed inside the screens allowing brands to reach to high value
passengers. This type of DOOH leverages technology to provide ad
distribution and better OOH audience targeting. GPS of tablets are used to
enable location-based marketing. Brands can specify geo-fences to
determine where their ads will be shown to the passengers.
Activity:
Create a social media plan for the proposed “Plastic Ban” by the state
government ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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7.8 Summary
To be in tune with the ever changing social media nd digital advertising

scenario , the advertising account planner needs to remember the following
•Identify the target audience using Facebook Audience Insights, Twitter

Audiences, etc.
•Create ad copy for display ads
•Decide which content to promote with paid advertising
•A/B testing different ad components to optimize the strategy
•Monitor advertising progress for the overall business goals and bottom
line
•Know how much is being spend on social media
•Cost of tools and platforms
•Budget allocated to social ad spends
•Content creation cost
•Content creation and sharing
•Engagement and relationship building
•Customer service
•Influencer nurturing
•Advertising
•Overall management
In the end, social media is a rapidly changing arena for advertisements. It

requires a diverse set of skills to build a social media advertisement that will
deliver results.
1.Share your vision about Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising in the

year 2025.
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1.According to Cho and Cheon (2004) model, the three antecedents of

________________ are interruption of task, perceived advertising
clutter and negative experience.
a.Offline advertising avoidance
b.online advertising avoidance
c.offline social audit
d.online social audit
2.________________ two platforms namely digital place-based networks

and digital billboards & signage.
a.Digital out-of-home advertising
b.Social out-of-home advertising
c.Offline out-of-home advertising
d.Internet out-of-home advertising
3.The click-through rate of an advertisement is the number of times a

click is made on the ad___________ by the number of times the ad has
had impressions.
a.Added
b.Subtracted
c.Multiplied
d.Divided
4.Pop-up, Banners, Spam messages are all types of

__________________advertisements.
a.Digital
b.Untimely
c.Intrusive
d.Non-Intrusive
5.The technology __________is a one way and in a read-only format.

With this technology a user can visit websites to acquire information,
interact with web content, or make a purchase but cannot modify
information.
a.web 1.0 next
b.web 1.0
c.web 2.0 next
d.web 1.0
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Answers: 1. (b), 2.(a), 3.(d), 4.(c), 5.(b)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
1 Video Lecture -
Part 2
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MEDIA AND MEDIA PLANNING
Chapter 8
Media And Media Planning
Objectives:
•Explain the various terms used in Media and Media planning
•Calculate the effectiveness of an ad
•Differentiate between reach and frequency
•Construct a media plan
Structure:
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Media Planning
8.3 Role of an account planner in media planning
8.4 The Media Work Plan
8.5 Key media challenges
8.6 Summary
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8.1 Introduction
The average person is exposed to approximately 2000 ads each week and
around $300 billion is spent each year on advertising worldwide!! Billboards,
newspaper advertisements, radio and television commercials, signs at bus
stops, Internet pop-up ads are all examples of mass media communication.
Even residents in isolated rural areas get their share of exposure to mass
media through cable television. It is an information age where most people
still enjoy reading hard copy newspapers, books and magazines from time
to time. Television and radio continue to be affordable .In the digital way,
up-to-date information is available on demand at the touch of a button.
People expect to have instantaneous access to information. Updates are
available online via blogs, news sites, Twitter feeds and Face book updates.
Businesses need advertising agencies to help them generate awareness, and

more importantly, interest in their products. Media includes the various
categories of delivery systems, including broadcast and print media
8.2 Media Planning
Media planning is a series of decisions involving the delivery of messages

to audiences. Media planning is an essential part of the advertising
business. The media planning department of an advertising agency is
responsible for placing advertising where it will reach the right target
consumer at the right time and in the right place and which needs to be
done in the most cost-effective way. It is the responsibility of the media
department to develop a plan that answers the question: how can the
greatest number of consumers in the target group be reached often
enough to have the advertising message seen and remembered-and at
the lowest possible cost.
The history of media planning began in 1650 with the first newspaper ad in
Germany; the first ad agency was created in 1786 in London. The media
industry has travelled its own exciting and challenging journey. Over the
years, media has changed.
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The different categories of advertising media include -
1.Print media - includes newspapers, direct mailing, magazines, outdoor

advertising etc
2.Broadcast media - includes radio, television etc
3.Specialty media - like inexpensive, useful items with an advertiser's

name printed on them - usually given away
4.Other types of media - include Sports Arena Billboards, Movie theater

commercials, Hot air balloons, blimps, skywriting, banners, shelf ads,
shopping cart ads, coupon machines, receipt ads etc.
5.Social media-is the new buzz where the digitally inclined consumers
search, decide and even buy online.
The functions of a media planning team includes –
1.Develop an understanding of how consumers interact with media

channels so that brands become integral part of the consumer
2.Use consumer insights to create meaningful and effective

communication
3.Work with the creative team to help them understand the media
scenario and how the creative can be more effective in a selected
particular media medium
4.Prepare media brief that contains insights which leads to integrated

campaigns across traditional, nontraditional and emerging media
5.Determine, research, negotiate and close deals with outside media

representatives
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The five steps of the media planning process. They are:
1. Analyze the market

2. Establish media objectives
3. Develop media strategy
4. Implement the strategy
5. Evaluate performance
Media planning involves decisions on:
1.Marketing Analysis (careful consideration of target market(s))

2.Advertising Analysis (fundamental Advertising Strategy and Budget)
3.Media Strategy (Media to be used and creative decisions)
4.Media Scheduling (What ads when and where)
5.Justification and summary (Metrics of success)
The complete media planning flow diagram can be summarized as follows –
The evaluation of ad effectiveness can be done through pre-testing, post-

testing like unaided recall tests, aided recall tests and inquiry evaluation.
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8.3 Role Of An Account Planner In Media Planning:
Planning and buying media at an advertising agency is exciting and

challenging because ways of communicating are constantly changing and
becoming more complex. Technological advances such as the cable
television and the internet, or videotext make an impact on what media are
available for advertising and how viewership is calculated. Internet
advertising was predicted to reach $15.9 Million by 2007.A recent increase in
the number of specialty publications enables more precise targeting of
consumers. In addition to traditional methods of advertising, companies now
use social networking resources, such as Twitter and Face book, to publicize
their company and persuade consumers to buy their products and educate
them. Using modern mass media, companies can instantly reach thousands
of customers and engage them in conversation. Changes in the advertising
scenario include-
•Shift from Advertising to Integrated Marketing Communications

•Globalization of Marketing and Marketing Communications
•New Marketing Communications Technology
This calls for greater understanding of the target consumer and this is where
an account planner and the media team can work in synergy. It helps to
direct budget, set objectives and define end results. Without knowing the
target consumer, audience campaigns can become incoherent, unfocused,
difficult, and ineffective and expensive. The account planner helps the media
team to understand how consumers will interpret the communication
designed by them. For this the account planner also needs to understand the
effectiveness of different media and how it is relevant to the target
consumers.
Account planners act as an advisor in giving advice on how to reach

consumers, but they stop short of recommending what the message should
be and when the contact is finally made. They advise the media planning
team on -
•Getting really connected with the target consumer
•Guide with consumer insights to help select media channel selection -

account planners can add value by telling clients how and why their
consumers are using the kinds of digital and social media. Also they are
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while simultaneously telling them exactly the right mix of messages, media
and platforms to use and in what instances, especially as digital
and social media platforms change so quickly.
•Guide with consumer buying behavior
Let us try to understand each role in detail -
Media connected to the right consumer
The first objective of a media plan is to select the target audience. If the
target audience understanding is not right, then the whole media exercise
would be futile. It is like trying to sell an advanced detergent liquid for
washing machines to the rural class of India where there is water shortage
and ladies still do hand washing of clothes to save water. Ideally such a
situation should never arise, but many a times, the client sources out the
creative work and the media planning to separate agencies.
The account planner can communicate and act as an interface to the two
groups involved. The creative team needs to understand the target audience
from a need and insight point of view and the media team needs to
understand the reach, taste, media exposure etc of the consumer.
Example: Introduction of Jain PavBhaji ready-to-eat
The creative team will work on the communication needed to reinforce the
USP of the product like onion and garlic free and would need the consumer
insights like taste preference , eating time , their cooking habits etc. of the
product from the account planner.
The media team would need information like number of working women and
their characteristics like "Women, age 30-50 with an income of Rs 10 lac / pa
in the Jain community to whom this ad needs to be targeted from the
account planner. Then the media team would research and decide on the
best media which will reach these Jain working women target consumer
group.
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The target audience is often defined in terms of demographics and

psychographics. Demographics include gender, age, education, household
income, marital status, employment status, type of residence, and number of
children in the household. Psychographics is a generic term for consumers'
personality traits (serious, funny, conservative), beliefs and attitudes about
social issues (opinions about abortion, environment, globalization), personal
interests (music, sports, movie going), and shopping orientations (recreational
shoppers, price-sensitive shoppers, convenience shoppers).
Thus the account planner will provide the details necessary for the media
group to develop media analysis.
Media connected to the consumer at the right time
Mass media is everywhere. Even if an individual thinks that he will not be

affected by an advertisement , mass media still finds its place in his/her life.
It has an impact on the individual's knowledge, consciousness and
behavior.
It is essential to become familiar with the target market media habits and
media consumption. For example- are the consumer's social media users, do
they respond to banner advertising or do they love competitions and
giveaways online? Does the consumer consume their media in the morning,
on in the lunch break or in the evening after work?
Media connected to the right decision maker:
As we have seen, though a toy may be liked by a child, but the purchaser is
the parent, similarly for a car, many a times, the parents take advice of the
kid. This shows that media needs to be targeted at the right decision maker
and not just the user.
In India, as an example, health drinks use this strategy a lot. The ads are
designed in such a way that the ad has the kid explaining to the parent about
the benefits.
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Media connected at the right place:
If the right consumer and the right time are chosen, still media planning
can go wrong if the medium and the placement selected are wrong. It
may so happen that the consumer may not see the ad at all. Also the
media medium is so dispersed today called as media fragmentation.
Fragmentation can happen in outlet as well as the audience as well as the
fragmentation in the job being done by various means.
Media Outlet fragmentation
In the past, print and broadcast was used to reach the audience. It was
simple and communication was one-to-many way. But now with
advanced media options floating around, the market has fragmented
and the client can no longer assume that simple messages can be
broadcasted to a largely passive, mass audience. In the social media,
conversation and content are getting important. Outlet fragmentation
has led to some loss of control and visibility for traditional publishers.
Audience attention fragmentation
Today's generation believes in multi-tasking. The consumer's attention is

divided across multiple channels and outlets. People watch television with
one eye while they are reading a news story on their tablet computers; they
browse the Web at work with the radio playing in the background; and they
hop between different social media apps on their smart phones. Even when
social media is discussed, the audience is fragmented across Face book,
Twitter etc.
Consumers now know exactly what they want and where they can find it.
They need to be reached with consistent messaging across all of these points
and with messages that take into account how different audience segments
interact with content across different media. It is important yet difficult to
understand the consumer's perceptions of a brand.
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Media job handling fragmentation:
Finally many companies still have an in-house marketing department but

outsource all the advertising aspect to an agency. There is little interaction
between the PR, brand, advertising and consulting agencies with very little
interaction and information sharing between these different service
providers. Many a times, different aspects of digital like social, display
advertising, paid search and mobile may be outsourced to different
agencies.
Thus the above various fragmentations create a range of new challenges and
opportunities for the client and the agency. Hence there exists a scope where
the account planner can pitch in and act as an interface and share
communication so that all the involved work towards a single goal.
8.4 The Media Work Plan
The goal of a media work plan is to obtain good media coverage. It also
aids and directs the media planner in developing strategically sound
media plans that agree with the marketing and advertising goals. It also
explains to the client and obtains client involvement and agreement on
the objectives and issues that will impact on the media plan. It is a
document which identifies the marketing conditions that impact on the
formulation of media strategy. It also identifies media strategies that best
can accomplish the marketing objectives and describes execution
recommended for fulfilment of the media strategy.
The first step is to zero down on the media objectives-It lists down what is
expected to be accomplished. It should be marketing-driven exercise. It
should capture "what "is needed and not "how "it needs to be achieved. I.e.
the media objectives tell what is to be accomplished, they do not mention
specific media selection. Media selection is at the strategy level and objectives
deal only with what is to be done.It should be specific, clear and measurable,
to the extent possible.
As mentioned, the media plan determines the best way to get the advertiser's
message to the market. The basic goal is to find that combination of media
that enables the marketer to communicate the message in the most
effective manner to the largest number of potential
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customers at the lowest cost. The goal of a media work plan is to obtain
good media coverage.
An ideal Media Work Plan should include the following -
1.Background
2.Advertising objectives
3.Target Audience - Demographic, geographic and psychographics
characteristics considerations
4.Geographic Coverage - Local, regional, national or selected markets -
here BDI and CDI's data helps
5.Scheduling (Seasonality / Timing)
6.Reach / Frequency
7.Creative Implications
8.Budget - should consider affordable and available funds
9.Mandatory considerations
10.Measurement
Some of the important components are discussed below -
Target audience
In this step, the key questions to be answered in the market analysis stage
are -
To whom should the advertisement be targeted?

Which geographic area needs to be targeted?
When should the advertisement be done?
Where the efforts should be focused?
Where to allocate the media budget?
Geographic coverage
Two tools which help greatly are the BDI and CDI -
Brand Development Index (BDI)
It assists marketers in answering the question as to where to allocate the
media budget.
The index uses the ratio of the following variables:
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BDI = (% of brand to total sales/% of total population in market) *100
The higher the BDI number the greater the potential that exists in a
particular market.
Category Development Index (CDI)
It is computed in a manner similar to the BDI index, except that it uses

information regarding the overall product category rather than for specific
brands. This index uses the ratio of the following variables:
BDI = (% of total product category sales in a given market/% of total

population in market) *100
This enables to determine the potential for development of the total

product category in a given area
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Media Budget
The right use of the budget is when the most number of target audience
impressions for the least cost is delivered.
There are some ways by which this can be calculated -
•Cost per impression -Cost of the media buy/total impressions delivered

•Cost per thousand impressions -Cost of the media/total impressions
delivered x 1,000
•Gross rating points -Program rating x total impressions delivered
•Cost per rating point -Cost of the media buy/vehicle rating
Two basic calculations are used for media vehicle cost
Cost per rating point (CPP)
If the cost of a 30-second commercial is divided by the ratings of the

media vehicle in which the advertisement is placed, then the CPP is
obtained.
CPP=Cost of the ad/rating of the vehicle
Cost per thousand impressions (CPM) also called cost per mille
It is the cost to have 1000 members of the target audience exposed to an

ad. Impressions are defined as opportunities to see the ad.CPP does not
contain the size of a vehicle audience but CPM considers the same. CPM is
calculated in two steps
Gross Impressions=Audience size * Rating/100

CPM=Cost / Gross Impressions *1000
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Media Exposure Level
It is necessary to gather information about the reach of media to the

consumers. Some terms frequently used are -
Reach: How many target members are exposed to our ad at least once over a
given period?
Frequency: How many times was the target market exposed to the ad over a
given period?
Rating: What percentage of households was watching a particular program?
Share: What percentage of households with the television on was watching a

particular program?
Media consumption (media diet)
It is the sum of information taken in by an individual .It includes activities

such as interacting with new media; reading books and magazines; watching
television , listening to radio; and so on. There are several studies that are
conducted to understand the media consumption by various research
methods.
Example:
An online media survey conducted by A.C. Neilson in 2008 published the

following data -
Increase penetration of internet has led to an increase in the usage of

streaming content from the web like - Ads or movie trailers at 57 %, which
shows that there was a beginning of a trend towards media consumption in
the digital format.
Commercial research data helps the media planning team to take media
investment decisions like deciding on the time of airing to attract more
audience. A reach / fragmentation matrix as below can act as a thumb rule for
the type of media to be used for the population of target consumers and the
accessibility of these consumers.
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Media Scheduling
Getting the right timing is every media planner's dream. Questions like when
and how much should we run, competition schedule etc. need to be
answered. The primary objective of media scheduling is to time advertising
efforts so that they will coincide with the highest potential buying periods.
There are three scheduling methods available to the media planner:
•Continuity - continuous pattern of advertising; every day, every week,

or every month - for products which are used on ongoing basis
•Flighting - intermittent periods of advertising and no advertising - for

seasonal products like ice creams and winter lotions
•Pulsing - combination of the first two; continuity is maintained but at certain

periods advertising is increased- example cold beverages in the
hot summer months
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Media Exposure Level
It is necessary to analyze the following like - How many exposures/

impressions can be afforded and how can it be delivered more cost
effectively. Certain terms need to be remembered like -
•Reach: How many target members are exposed to our ad at least once
over a given period?
•Frequency: How many times was the target market exposed to the ad
over a given period?
•Rating: What percentage of households was watching a particular

program?
•Share: What percentage of households with the television on was

watching a particular program?
To determine effective frequency there are numerous factors that need to be

considered such as marketing factors, message and creative factors, and
media factors. The marketing factors to be considered include:
•Brand loyalty, brand share with frequency have inversely proportional
•Usage cycle - products needing to be replaced frequently require higher

frequency to maintain top-of-mind awareness
•Brand history - new brands require higher frequency
•Share of voice - when strong competition exists, higher frequency is

required
•Purchase cycles - shorter purchasing cycles require higher frequency to

maintain top-of-mind awareness
•Target group - the ability to learn and retain messages has an impact on
frequency
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Media strategy
Developing media strategies involves matching the coverage of the media

vehicles to the target market. Four scenarios can occur -
1.Media coverage is in proportion to the total population - needs to be

improved
2.Full media coverage to the target market - ideal situation
3.Partial media coverage, leaving some customers without exposure
4.Media coverage exceeds target audience - wastage of efforts
Implement the strategy
The next step is to analyze and choose the appropriate media to convey
the message. Poor planning in the placement will compromise the goal
to reach the advertising objectives. This is also increasingly difficult now
due to the explosion of available media. At this step the Media Planners
work with creative team and account people to understand the objectives
of the campaign and research the target audience and best media outlets
to meet the objectives
The Media Buyers then negotiate and purchase the media time and space.
Evaluating Media Performance
There are various methods like tracking, surveys, feedback and

observation-
•Surveys can be conducted with a sample of the target audience in the

beginning, middle and end of a campaign.
•Feedback options like customer care, coupon system, toll free numbers
and internet are available and handy.
•Tracking is used in online ads or interactive media. When a user visits a

website, the action is recorded in live time.
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•Observations collect audience reaction at the point of purchase or

marketing events. But it is a costly affair and difficult to tabulate.
Some of the factors that can be considered are -
•Rating point: the % of a given population group that uses a specified

media vehicle.
•Share: Households/persons using television (HUT, PUT): % of homes or

people watching TV at a given time.
•Gross rating point (GRP): total number of ratings for different media
vehicles.
•Gross impression: translation of GRPs into people; number of audience

exposures x number of times they will see or hear vehicles.
•Cost per rating point (CPP): cost of buying one rating point in a given
media vehicle or type.
•Audience: number or % of homes or persons using a media vehicle.
•Coverage: Same as reach - the % of homes or persons receiving

broadcast signal within specified area, or receiving specific magazine or
newspaper.
•Circulation: Total number of copies of a publication sold through various

forms of distribution.
•Readers per copy: average number of people who read each issue of
publication
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8.5 Key Media Challenges
The Media Strategy Concerns includes getting the right Media mix, Target
market coverage, Geographic coverage, Scheduling, etc.
Globalization of media channels, different media having different penetration

levels in different countries, the prominence of social media, growth of
Internet advertising and getting information/media from cell phones and
mobile media are some of the challenges faced by media planners. Out of the
many, there are two main challenges- the right balance between cost and
media effectiveness and the second is the right extend of media reach.
Let us understand each challenge in return -
1. Media effectiveness at the right cost
The Media Planner needs to make the most out of the budget allocated. He
needs to negotiate to the last trickle so that target audiences are reached.
Cost per Thousand impressions (CPM) also called cost per mille allows a
media planner to compare media based on two variables: audience and cost.
CPM is used as a comparative device. The lowest cost per thousand medium
is the most efficient, all other variables being equal.
Example - Suppose an ad is placed on Star Plus for Rs 250000, viewed by

20000000 consumers and the same ad on Sony cost Rs 300000 viewed by
30000000 consumers, then
CPM for Star Plus = (250000/20000000) *1000 = Rs 12.50

And
CPM for Sony = (30000/30000000) *1000 = Rs 10.00
Then the Sony option is more effective.
The job of the Account Planner is not to negotiate. But at the time of
negotiations, the account planner needs to keep a watch on whether the
effectiveness and the quality of the media plan are not compromised for
lower costs. Because cheap does not mean good and low CPM generally
means no attention to where or how the exposure occurs.
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2. Media reach
The real reason to advertise is to reach the target audience in the most
effective way. This should include the time of day, the position of the
placement, the frequency of repetition, and placement to minimize
clutter. It is very important to Achieving the Right Media Mix to Engage
the Right Customers. Customers use a variety of multiple channels in
their interactions, it's important for marketers to use mixed media to try
to reach target customers based on their channel behaviors and
preferences. Hence understanding the customers, including the different
channels they use and the reasons they use those channels is critical for
developing effective engagement strategies.
By analyzing reach and frequency data, one can find out how many people
saw the ads and how many times they saw them over a certain period of
time. As mentioned, Reach is the number of unique customers exposed to a
particular advertisement during a specified period of time. Frequency is the
minimum number of times a unique user saw the ad over a given time
period.
Reach builds in a consistent pattern -
•First airing, all viewers are "new" -Entire audience is unduplicated,

allreach
•Second airing, some viewers are "new" others are "old" - seen the
message before-Some Reach and some Frequency
•Tenth airing, most viewers have already seen it, very few "new"
exposures-Mainly build frequency, reach growth slows
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Effective Frequency & Reach answers the question - How much is enough?
Effective frequency: The number of times a message must be repeated to be
effective and Effective reach is the percent of the population exposed to the
message at or above the effective frequency level.
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Vertical advertising appeals to people in a specific industry. Horizontal

advertising is not limited to a single industry, but targets people in numerous
industries and sometimes the general public. It aims to reach a particular
demographic or multiple demographics.
As an account planner, the job is to guide the media planning team. He can
also suggest whether a horizontal or a vertical reach advertising strategy is
required.
Digital Media planning
Source:http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/22479/1/Media%20Planning-
%20Evaluating%20the%20distance%20between%20theory%20and%20pr
actice.pdf
In their book , DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital
Marketing, Wertime& Fenwick, highlight that unlike the traditional media
plans which were passive , the new digital media plans need to be active and
need to integrate direct response and activationplanning to connect with the
consumers, record their views. Also there needs to be an interlink to capture
the connection of media across devices, physical location and time.
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Pringle & Marshall in their book - Spending Advertising Money In The Digital
Age summarize that media planning has been about the development of
plansto maximize the delivery against a core target audience via selected
media. The new role for the advertising account planner is to be more precise
in defining the target and identifying where that audience can be most
effectively reached, across various media and within segments of an individual
media.
They suggest four important guidelines to support this –
1.To reach and engage with potential consumers it is increasingly necessary to

adopt a multi-media approach, utilizing a combination of
media that reflect their customers' behavior and preferences.
2.That effective communications leverage all these opportunities, and most

successfully in combination, i.e. the combination of 'bought,
owned and earned' media.
3.More precision in defining the target, and where that audience can be most
effectively reached; be it across the various media or within
segments of an individual media.
4.Developing new value models is now a fundamental part of the media

strategy and planning process
Activity
Consider the example of Cricket world cup 2019. Star Plus had the exclusivity
in India. Try constructing a media plan for its online streaming application
Hotstar proposing the number of slots, timings, frequency etc.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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8.6 Summary
Media planning is a series of decisions involved in delivering the message to

the target audience. Media Planning strategy includes considering the
specific types of consumers/audiences the messages will be directed to,
selecting and buying media vehicles and an essential part of the
advertising business. It answers questions like where should we advertise,
which media vehicles, how often should it run etc.
Media reach is the number of different or unduplicated households or persons

that are exposed to a television program or commercial at least once during
the average week for a reported time period.
1. Explain the process of media planning
2. Write down the job performed by a media planner.
3. Which is more important for an ad- reach or frequency? Explain.
8.8 MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1.The five steps of the ______________________ process are analyzing

the market, establishing media objectives, developing media strategy,
implementing the strategy and finally evaluating the performance.
a.Media budget
b.Media assessment
c.Media planning
d.Media reach
2.The term __________________ is a term used in traditional advertising

media selection, as well as online advertising and marketing related to
web traffic It refers to the cost of traditional advertising or internet
marketing or email advertising campaigns, where advertisers pay each
time an ad is displayed.
a.Cost per thousand likes
b.Cost per thousand impressions
c.Cost per thousand views
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d.Cost per thousand clicks
3.The ____________ advertising delivers advertising on a wide base. It is

not limited to a single industry, but targets people in numerous
industries and sometimes the general public. It aims to reach a
particular demographic or multiple demographics and the adverting
account planner in his media plan does not know where the ad
impressions will get accepted.
a.Horizontal
b.Vertical
c.Diagonal
d.None of these
4.Selecting a proper media type for running ads , selecting a correct time
for running ads so that the purpose is solved and advertisements should
be sufficient enough (in number) to deliver the message to the target all
falls under media ____________________
a.Scheduling
b.Designing
c.Implementation
d.Planning
5.Media _____________ is the sum of information and entertainment

media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as
interacting with new media, reading books and magazines, watching
television and film, and listening to radio.
a.Consolidation
b.Grouping
c.Allotment
d.Diet
Answers: 1.(c), 2.(b), 3.(a), 4.(a), 5. (d)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
1 Video Lecture -
Part 2 Video Lecture
- Part 3
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MEASURING THE AD SUCCESS
Chapter 9
Measuring the Ad Success
Objectives:
At the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
•Explain the rationale and importance of message research.
•Describe the various research techniques used to measure consumer's

recognition and recall of advertising messages.
•Explicate the role of persuasion measurement, including pre- and post-

testing of consumer preference.
•Explain the meaning and operation of single-source measures of

advertising effectiveness.
Structure:
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Why and what needs to be measured?
9.3 Advertising objectives and effectiveness
9.4 Techniques for measuring ad message effectiveness
9.5 Techniques for measuring Advertisement success
9.6 Copy testing
9.7 Creating better advertising
9.8 Summary
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9.1 Introduction
The digital ad shows cabin crew of British Airways meeting an Indian

passenger and developing a special bond with her and later visiting the
passenger’s house in India who then is amazed by the hospitality and care
which she received. With this digital marketing campaign, the airline
company announced a special three-day offer for its customers from India to
London with exclusive fares .This campaign was among the best digital
marketing campaigns and won an award in the US and had gone viral and
touched many lives. It had crossed 3.9 million views on YouTube channel, and
the emotions in the video left the viewers with tears in their eyes.
https://digitalready.co/blog/the-top-10-digital-marketing-campaigns-from-
india
Characteristics of a successful ad -
•The Successful Ad Has a High and the right Degree of Visuals

•The Successful Ad Selects the Right Audience
•The Successful Ad Backs Up the Promise
•The Successful Ad Presents the Selling Proposition in a Logical Sequence
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After an ad is released, the next question that arises is whether the ad has
been able to achieve its objectives. Right from the client to the creative team,
everyone is eager to know the outcome. Everyone wants to analyze the
consumer's reaction, the ad cost and its effectiveness.
With social media coming into the picture, the scenario has become more
complicated. Do clicks, likes and share mean that the ad is successful? This
many a times leads to the selection of wrong parameters to measure success.
9.2 Why And What Needs To Be Measured??
Success is the ability of a product category to retain a reasonable market

share despite market redefinitions. Measurement is an essential criterion in
order to determine the success of a new product and to learn about its
success or to use it as a bench mark for future product developments.
Everyone wants to analyze their consumers, their ad spending decisions, and,

frankly, everything. For ad campaigns, the question becomes what to
measure? What conclusions to draw? And, most concerning, are the wrong
conclusions being drawn? Many advertisers like digital or social media
because they believe they can quantify the results.
But Darren Woolley points out in "The humorous impact of using the wrong
online metrics," a recent article he wrote on the subject: "Clicks, likes and
impressions are simply audience reach. Unique and total visitors are an
indication of frequency ... an extra 50,000 Likes on the client's Face book page.
Or increased … unique (Web site) visits by 30%."Every time you divide the
number of Likes or Visits by the budget, it becomes a fairly expensive direct
response campaign."
Another approach is demanding proof of return on investment (ROI) from an

ad campaign. But considering ROI in isolation can be misleading. ROI is
calculated by taking the net profit and dividing it by the ad spend.
The ROI is usually higher when sales and ad budget are closer to zero. As
demonstrated here, evaluating ROI only would have advertisers choosing the
small budget campaign option over the big budget one. The big budget
option was the better choice, as it generated far more net profit. The less
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you spend on advertising, the greater the ROI. Net profit provides a more
accurate picture upon which to evaluate success.
In some cases, profit is not the only goal - or it is not the goal at all. Both
quantitative and qualitative factors need to be used in evaluating success of
the advertising. But beware. As demonstrated with ROI, sometimes we can
focus on measuring the wrong thing - perfectly.
"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts
can be counted." - Albert Einstein
9.2 Why And What Needs To Be Measured?
I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never
find out which half."-John Wanamaker
James Fox, chief strategic officer, gives another example - A product like Axe
deodorant is 1% perfume and the rest compressed air, but planners unearthed
the emotional need -- the insecurity of young men -- and promised them
seduction. Here, emotional propositions are done in a nontraditional
manner. Hence demanding measurable results isn't always easy for planners,
and so Mr. Fox says "Planners have to find new metrics to evaluate and
measure things that are ... in some ways immeasurable.
Every individual has his own definition of success. For example, a mother
would define success as 95 % marks fir her child, but the same child would be
just happy with passing the examination at 85 % and think that he is
successful. Similarly in the world of business, the marketing manager would
define success as "Increase in sales", the R and D colleague would feel
successful when the product is accepted in the market and so on.
Advertising effectiveness should also be measured to avoid costly mistakes,

evaluate alternate strategies and increase the efficiency of advertising. In the
advertising world, for an ad to be successful, it should -
•Get noticed by the right consumer / decision maker

•The right message
•Message to motivate the purchase decision
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If any one of the three is not right, then the ad will not be effective and
successful. All the above three needs to get captured by the account
planner. Hence here the role of the account planner is to help in setting
the advertising objectives right by providing inputs about the target
audience, the product USP and the consumer needs so that the right
message is put across to provide a solution to consumer.
9.3 Advertising Objectives And Effectiveness
An effective ad results when the right advertising objectives are set. Should
the ad sell the company image or a product? Is it expected to bring the reader
to the point of purchase or just present an idea for consideration? For what
audience is the product intended? Answering these questions helps in a great
way.
The first requirement is that clear advertising goals need to be defined. To

boost business overall is a very broad objective whereas increase sales of a
new product or service is a more specific goal.
There are two basic questions that advertising objectives should address.
'Which consumers are to be influenced?' and 'What specific benefits or
information is being tried to be communicated? Marketing objectives are
concerned with what products go to which markets, whereas advertising
objectives are measurable targets concerned principally with changing
attitudes and creating awareness.
Some of the specific advertising objectives can be -
•To make attitudes more favorable to a particular product.

•To build an image for the product.
•To get across the idea of a unique product.
•To reduce existing negative attitudes.
•To keep building loyalty.
•To establish the brand and position it in a particular way, e.g. as warm
and friendly.
•To convey the idea that the product is 'value for money'.
•To say how much people like the product.
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Behind all effective advertising there lies a lot of careful thought and planning,
and much of it goes into ensuring that the advertising objectives are the right
ones. If these are wrong, everything else which follows is doomed to failure.
As an account planner, who acts as an interface, hence it becomes very

important to set the success parameters well before the whole exercise, even
before the SWOT analysis, so that all team members are in line with their
expectations of success.
There is no exact way to measure the success of an ad campaign. It is next to

impossible to conclude revenue generated per rupee of advertising spend.
But there are methods that will give a rough idea of whether the ads are on
the right track. Both quantitative and qualitative factors need to be used in
evaluating success of the advertising. Some of the ways in which an the
effectiveness of an advertising campaign can be accessed is
•Monitor sales, new customers, requests for information, phone inquiries,

retail store traffic, website traffic, or click-through rates. T
•Track retail traffic by counting the people who enter your store. For
this, monitoring traffic before the start the ad campaign is important
comparison.
•Ask new customers how they heard about your business.
•Compare sales before, during, and after an ad campaign. Advertising often

has a delayed effect, so ad-driven sales results may not boost
immediately.
•In print ads, include a coupon that customers can redeem for a discount or
gift with their purchase. Code the coupons so that ad or publication
which generates the best results can be determined.
•Offer an incentive for customers who respond to an ad. Example

"Mention this ad and get a 10 percent discount on your first order."
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9.4 Techniques For Measuring Ad Message Effectiveness
More than 80% of advertisers and agencies pretest television commercials

before airing them on a national basis. This shows that how important
message research is to both the client and the agency.
Message research involves -
•To test effectiveness of messages

•Pretesting ads during developmental stages
•Post testing to determine if messages achieve their established
objectives
Four Stages at which ad message research might be conducted-
1. Copy development stage

2. "Rough" stage
3. Final production stage
4. After the ad has been run in the media
Message research is needed to diagnose an advertisement's prospective

equity-enhancing and sales-expanding potential because no one measure is
universally appropriate or best.
Measures of Recognition & Recall
Bruzzone test - Advertising Response Model (ARM) links responses to the 27

descriptive adjectives to consumers' attitudes toward both the ad and the
advertised brand and to purchase interest. It provides valid prediction of
actual marketplace performance along with being relatively inexpensive. It
offers important information for evaluating a commercial's effectiveness and
whether it should continue to run. But it doesn't provide a before-the- fact
indication. These tests are performed online
Burke Day - After Recall Testing - It is used to assess the effectiveness of test
commercials and to identify strengths and weaknesses. The Claimed-recall
scores indicate the percentage of respondents who recall seeing the ad and
Related-recall scores indicate the percentage of respondents who accurately
describe specific advertising elements.
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Recall simply measures whether an ad is received but not whether the

message is accepted. It is also biased in favor of younger consumers. Also
recall scores generated by ads are not predictive of sales performance.
Measures of Physiological Arousal
Ads that are better liked are more likely to be remembered and to persuade. It
is possible to measure consumer's affective and emotional reactions to ads.
•Galvanometer-measures minute levels of perspiration in response to

emotional arousal
•Pupillometric tests-measure pupil dilation
•Advertising researchers use changes in physiological functions to indicate

the actual, unbiased amount of arousal resulting from ads.
Measures of Persuasion
It is used when an advertiser's objective is to influence consumers' attitudes

toward and preference for the advertised brand.
Rational vs Emotional Message
One of the biggest debate is whether the ad should be rational or emotional.

While emotions drive behavior, logic and emotion are somehow mutually
exclusive. Emotion and logic are intertwined.
Advertisers have various choices relative to advertising appeals and execution

style.
Advertising appeal - the approach used to attract the attention of consumers

and/or influence their feelings toward the product, service, or cause
Execution style - the way the particular appeal is turned into an advertising
message presented to the consumer
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Rational appeals focus on the consumer's practical, functional, or utilitarian

need for using the product or service. These messages emphasize the
features of the product or services and/or benefits or reasons for owning or
using a particular brand. There are several types of rational appeals like -
•Feature - focus on dominant feature of the product

•Competitive - make comparisons to different brands
•Price -makes price the dominant point
•News- announcement about the product
•Popularity - stress the brand popularity
Emotional appeals relate to the customers' social and/or psychological need

to purchase a product or service. Many feelings or needs can serve as the
bases for these appeals, including psychological states or feelings directed to
the self, as -
Safety, Security, Fear, Love, Affection, Happiness, Joy, Nostalgia, Sentiment,

Excitement, Arousal, Stimulation, Sorrow, Grief, Pride, Achievement,
Accomplishment, Self-esteem, Embarrassment, Actualization, Pleasure,
Ambition, Comfort.
Consumer purchase decisions are often made on the basis of both emotional
and rational motives. People do not buy goods & services. They
buy relations, stories, and magic. This quote by Seth Godin describes
how we make most of our purchase decisions. Attention must be
given to both when developing effective advertising. Even a purely functional
product, such as laundry soap, could offer the emotional benefit of seeing
one's children in bright, clean clothes.
Example of rational and emotional message mix -
When the McCann-Erickson agency took over the account a few years ago,
MasterCard was perceived as an ordinary credit card you keep in your wallet.
The challenge was to create an emotional bond between consumers and
MasterCard without losing the brand's functional appeal. The "Priceless"
campaign has helped build an emotional bond with consumer by positioning
MasterCard as the best way to pay for everything that truly matters and can
enrich one's life.
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Huawei recently launched an influencer campaign in Germany which

featured several influencers from the fashion, travel, and food sector. With the
hashtag #showwhatyoulove, the campaign aimed at highlighting
experiences and moments captured with the new Huawei P10 smartphone.
Source:https://blog.influencerdb.com/emotional-vs-rational-purchases/
As an account planner, the job is to see whether the ad under creation meets
the following criteria -
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•Is the creative approach consistent with the brands marketing and
advertising objectives?
•Is the creative approach consistent with the creative strategy and
objectives? Does it communicate what it is supposed to?
•Is the creative approach appropriate for the target audience?
•Does the creative approach communicate a clear and convincing

message to the customer?
•Does the creative execution keep from overwhelming the message that
sales are lost?
•Is the creative approach appropriate for the media environment in which
it is likely to be seen?
•Is the ad truthful and tasteful?
If yes, it doesn't matter if the ad is rational or emotional. If not, then the

account planner needs to guide the creative team on the right path.
9.5 Techniques For Measuring Advertisement Success
Every ad passes through the stage of pre, during and post. Hence an ad
evaluation can be done as follows-
Pre-campaign - Pre-tests are those measures taken prior to the

implementation of the campaign. This is sort of a Strategy Research when it is
necessary to understand how advertising will differ from brand to brand
within a category. This means that each brand must develop an
understanding of its consumers and their motivations to serve as a template
for creative development.
Mid - campaign - Once the advertising creative is developed (either rough or

finished), it's really important to pretest the advertising. Pretesting helps
identify outstanding commercials and flags underperforming commercials.
More importantly, pretesting provides guidance to the improvement of the
commercial and to the improvement of all future commercials. However,
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pretesting is not perfect nor foolproof. Pretesting cannot perfectly predict on-
air success.
Post campaign - Posttests occur after the ad or commercial has been in the
field. They are used to determine the effectiveness of the ads once the
campaign has been implemented. Once commercials go "on air," tracking
studies refers to questioning a representative sample of target-audience
consumers. These interviews can be continuous (i.e., a certain number of
interviews are conducted every day or every week throughout the year) or
pulsed ( i.e., the interviewing is conducted in "waves," at discrete points in
time, say every three months or every six months).
Tracking studies:
Tracking Studies follows the activity of a specific consumer or groups of

consumers over a specified period of time. Advertising Tracking research is
conducted to assess the effectiveness of your advertising and marketing
communications. Tracking research is designed to gauge the impact of the
marketing initiatives and determine how the brand is performing within its
competitive environment over time. A pre/post research design, with one
wave of research prior to the start of advertising and another after a campaign
has ended, can be used to measure changes in awareness, attitudes, and
intended behaviors that can be attributed to a specific campaign.
It is sometimes called as Awareness, Attitude and Usage (AA&U) study. It helps

to provide strategic advice to guide the development of brands and
businesses by identifying opportunities to expand reach, attract new
consumers, improve product positioning, and product and service features.
Ad tracking studies usually measure:
•brand awareness
•ad awareness / recall
•Purchase interest of brand
•recall of brand attributes
•recall of advertising claims
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Tracking studies also analyze and measure impact of Media spends:
•Total spends by the brand

•Impact of Media
Tracking studies output gives answers to questions on advertising

effectiveness like-
•What is the effectiveness of the advertising, promotions, or other

marketing communications?
•What media are most effective?
•Does advertising drive awareness, consideration, purchase, repurchase,

or other marketplace metrics?
Advertising does not operate in a vacuum, hence the entire marketing mix
and advertising messages, the competitive environment, and overall market
conditions is taken into consideration to understand the advertising impact.
Once the questions have been decided for the tracking study, the sample for
the study need to be decided -
Sample -Sample needs to be broad, as inclusive as possible. The broader

sample helps because the demographics of a market can change over time.
Also define the product category to be tracked as broadly as possible. Also,
always set quotas for gender, so that you do not under represent men.
The study can then be conducted in two ways -continuous or pulsed study
Depending on the speed of the purchase cycle in the category, tracking can
be done continuously (a few interviews every week) or it can be "pulsed," with
interviews conducted in widely spaced waves (ex. every three or six months).
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Pulsed tracking method
Pulsed method can be concentrated into a short time interval to provide

highly precise before-after measurements for specific flights of media
advertising, and the waves of interviewing can be precisely timed to
coincide with media schedules.
Tracking begins with a set of questions asked from a random sample on

predetermined date. First question qualify a person who has seen or heard
the ad. A series of questions follow. The answers serve as a benchmark for
acceptability and allow adjustments in the message content, media choice
and timing. Two months later, the researcher makes another series of random
calls and asks the same questions. The second wave is compared with the
first.
But it has its own disadvantages. For products which are used regularly and
the market is dynamic, pulsed method will not be able to give the correct
picture.
In this scenario, the continuous tracking method delivers.
Continuous tracking method
In 1976, Maurice Millward and Gordon Brown set up their first continuous
tracking study, now named Dynamic Tracking, for Cadbury Schweppes
with the objective to explore the issue of ad wear-out over time. Dynamic
Tracking provides a complete 360° view of brand health and a continuous
flow of knowledge about what is working for a brand and what could be
working better. The approach now used for continuous tracking is almost
universally based on that introduced by Millward Brown.
Consumer Diaries:
Advertisers ask a group of representative consumers to keep a diary during a

campaign. The consumer records activities - brand switches, media usage,
brand purchased, use of coupons and exposure to competitive promotions.
Advertiser reviews these diaries and determines factors such as whether the
message is reaching right target audience and the audience is responding to
the message as intended.
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Pantry checks:
It provides the same information as the diary method but requires little from
the consumer. A researcher goes to homes in the target market and asks
what brands or products have been purchased. Researcher counts the
products or brands currently stocked by the consumer. The consumer may
also be asked to keep empty packages.
Continuous Versus Pulsed Study
Continuous interviewing offers a number of advantages over pulsed.

Continuous provides a complete record of consumer measurements over
time-with no gaps or missing time periods in the data. The quality of
interviewing tends to be higher with continuous surveys, since the same
interviewers work on the project day after day. Continuous tracking smoothes
out the effects of short-term disturbances such as adverse publicity, new
product introductions, bad weather, etc., whereas pulsed tracking can be
biased strongly if some negative event occurs just as a "wave" of interviewing
is conducted. Continuous tracking is a better monitor of competitive
information, since the interviewing is ongoing and not biased to the media
schedule of one brand (as tends to happen in pulsed interviewing).
Continuous tracking data can be analyzed in relation to other continuous data

(sales, advertising expenditures, market share, etc.), normative standards can
be set, and predictive mathematical models can be derived. That is, it is
possible over time to develop a model for a specific brand that explains the
relationship among media expenditures, tracking variables, and market share
(given sufficient time and data). Such an understanding is the Golden Fleece
that marketing executives seek.
Regardless of which method is used -continuous or pulsed, several guidelines

should be followed to ensure that the tracking data is comparable from time
period to time period:
•Maintain Constant Methods. The questionnaire, the sample definition, the

training of interviewers, the editing, coding, and tabulation procedures must
all remain constant from time period to time period. Any change in methods
is very likely to cause perturbations in the survey
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results, and destroy the comparability of data between different time

periods.
•Stay With One Research Company. If agency is changed every year or two,
the tracking data will not be comparable across time. Small differences in
methods (i.e., interviewing training, callback policies, editing and coding
conventions, etc.) from Research Company to
research company will almost always destroy data comparability.
•Stick With Advertising Tracking. The tracking research will grow in value
from year to year, as you learn more and more about the long- term effects of
advertising. The same tracking measurements need to be
used year after year to fully realize the maximum strategy insights.
Marketing Mix Modelling
It helps in estimating the effectiveness of investment in media .Consumers

and brands interact very differently across geographies. Understanding how
consumer behaviour differs is key to manage the brand in the best way.
The term marketing mix modelling is widely used and applied

indiscriminately to a broad range of marketing models used to evaluate
different components of marketing plans, such as advertising, promotion,
packaging, media weight levels, sales force numbers, etc. These models can
be of many types, but multiple regressions are the workhorse of most
marketing mix modelling. Regression is based on a number of inputs (or
independent variables) and how these relate to an outcome (or dependent
variable) such as sales or profits or both. Once the model is built and validated,
the input variables (advertising, promotion, etc.) can be manipulated to
determine the net effect on a company's sales or profits.
Marketing mix modelling is an analytical approach that uses historic

information, such as syndicated point-of-sale data and companies' internal
data, to quantify the sales impact of various marketing activities.
Mathematically, this is done by establishing a simultaneous relation of various
marketing activities with the sales, in the form of a linear or a non- linear
equation, through the statistical technique of regression. MMM defines the
effectiveness of each of the marketing elements in terms of its contribution to
sales-volume, effectiveness (volume/revenue generated by
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each unit of effort), efficiency (sales volume generated divided by cost) and
ROI. These findings are then adopted to adjust marketing tactics and
strategies, optimize the marketing plan and also to forecast sales while
simulating various scenarios.
This is accomplished by setting up a model with the sales volume/value as the

dependent variable and independent variables created out of the various
marketing efforts. Once the variables are created, multiple iterations are
carried out to create a model which explains the volume/ value trends with a
certain accuracy. Further validations are carried out, either by using a
validation data, or by the consistency of the business results. The output can
be used to analyze the impact of the marketing elements on various
dimensions. The contribution of each element as a percentage of the total
plotted year on year is a good indicator of how the effectiveness of various
elements changes over the years. The yearly change in contribution is also
measure by a due-to analysis which shows what percentage of the change in
total sales is attributable to each of the elements. For activities like television
advertising and trade promotions, further analysis like effectiveness can be
carried out. This analysis tells the marketing manager the incremental gain in
sales that can be obtained by increasing the respective marketing element by
one unit. If detailed spend information per activity is available then it is
possible to calculate the Return on Investment of the marketing activity. Not
only is this useful for reporting the historical effectiveness of the activity, it also
helps in optimizing the marketing budget by identifying the most and least
efficient marketing activities.
Once the final model is ready, the results from it can be used to simulate
marketing scenarios for a 'What-if' analysis. The marketing manager can
reallocate this marketing budget in different proportions and see the direct
impact on sales/value. He can optimize the budget by allocating spends to
those activities which give the highest return on investment.
Different variables are identified as possible factors that significantly drive

sales. The selection of these variables depends on product type, industry and
market characteristics. As an example, ice cream sales definitively show a
seasonal pattern and may depend on temperature. FMCG could be heavily
driven by promotional activities.
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In general, here are some types of data to consider when developing the
dataset like Economic, Industry, Product category, Product lines and SKUs
(Stock Keeping Units) ,Pricing, Distribution levels, Retail depletions,
Advertising measures, Consumer promotion, Trade promotion ,Sales force
effects, Service effects, etc.
Marketing mix modelling can act as a source of data to make marketing and
advertising decisions.
9.6 Copy Testing
Another important area in advertising research is copy testing. The word

copy is used to denote an entire advertisement, including the message,
pictures, colors etc., regardless of the medium in which the advertisement
has appeared. Methods of copy testing can be divided into 2 categories:
1.Before tests includes all those tests that are used in ascertaining the
suitability of an advertisement before it is finally released.
2.After tests include tests to measure the effectiveness of an

advertisement after it has been formally released.
Before tests
1.Consumer jury - In this method, a sizeable number of consumers from the

target audience are shown a set of rough and unfinished advertisements.
With respect to these advertisements they are asked
such questions as:
•Which copy would you prefer to read?
•Which one would induce you to buy the product?
•Which headline is the most interesting?
The assumption in this method is that at least one of the advertisements

shown will be liked by them.
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2.Rating Scales - This method involves the use of certain standards against
which a copy is tested. It may be added that weights may be assigned to
different factors or items on the basis of which a copy is to
be tested, depending on their relative importance or relevance.
This method is generally used by professional advertising agencies which are

able to rate advertisements without any difficulty.
3.Portfolio tests - According to this method, a number of alternative copies

that are to be tested are placed in a portfolio. At times, the copies are placed
in dummy copies of magazines or newspapers. Respondents are given the
portfolio and asked to go through it. After they have done so, they are asked
to recall the copies from memory. The interviewer may facilitate recall by
asking about specific advertisements. The extent of recall will indicate the
strength of the
copy.
After tests
There are three methods that are frequently used to test an advertisement
after it is formally released-
1.Recognition tests - These tests are carried out with respect to a printed
advertisement and commonly referred to as a readership study. Here, the
respondents are asked if they have read a particular issue of a magazine. They
are further asked as to what they saw and read. Generally, the respondent is
shown a particular page of the magazine
and then the following measures of recognition are taken:
•Noted: the percentage of readers who have seen the advertisement

earlier.
•Seen - Associated: the percentage of readers who read a part of the

advertisement which indicates the brand of advertiser.
•Read most: the percentage of readers who read a major part of the
advertisement.
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Scores are assigned to these three measures and overall scores are
determined for all the advertisements contained in a particular issue of the
magazine. These scores are then related to the expenditure incurred on the
advertisements. In this way cost ratios can be determined.
2.Recall tests - In these method respondents are asked to recall specifics of

the advertisement. To begin with, copies of test magazines are sent
to a sample of respondents who are asked to read them in a normal
manner. Telephone interviews are held on the following day.
Respondents are read out a list of advertisements and asked to identify
those they remember and the extent to which they are able to recall.
Thus, score are assigned to the ability of the respondent to remember the
name of the product, the underlying message contained in the
advertisement and their favorable attitude regarding the advertisement.
3.Sales test - This method measures the effect of an advertisement on the

sale of the product. The assumption is that changes in sales are as a result of
the advertisement. However, as there are several factors influencing sales,
one has to be extremely careful in establishing a relationship between
advertisement and sales. It is desirable to isolate the influence of other factors
while determining the impact of an
advertisement on the sale of the product.
As an account planner, the job is not to conduct copy testing, but to keep
a check whether copy testing is required or not. If yes, then the account
planer needs to define the objectives of the copy testing study, and how
the copy testing results data will be used.
Positioning Advertising Copy Test (PACT)
Because measuring effectiveness is not an easy task, twenty-one of the

largest U.S. advertising agencies have endorsed a set of principles aimed at
"improving the research used in preparing and testing ads, providing a better
creative product for clients, and controlling the cost of TV commercials". This
set of nine principles, called Positioning Advertising Copy Testing (PACT), is
designed to establish guidelines for good copy testing research. The nine
PACT principles are shown here -
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•Provide measurements relevant to objectives of advertising

•Require agreement on how results will be used
•Provide multiple measures
•Be based on a model of human response to communications
•Consider multiple versus single exposure to the stimulus
•Require alternative executions to have same degree of finish
•Provide controls to avoid biasing effects of exposure context
•Take into account basic considerations of sample definition
•Demonstrate reliability and validity
On the digital advertising front, Google analytics is a great tool to measure:
•Online sales
•Leads from Web forms
•Leads from live chats
•Website visits through SEO
•Page Views per visit
•Time spent on the website Point of Origin Traffic like direct traffic (direct
visits to the site), referral traffic (from external links on other sites), organic
traffic (traffic coming from search), and social traffic (those
visitors who found the site through social media pages).
•Overall Traffic (A healthy campaign should see a slow and steady
increase of traffic over time)
•Bounce Rate ( bounce rate to be low needs to be low as visitors who land
on the website stick around, they don’t “bounce” on up out of there. )
•New Sessions (this measurement tells you how many site visitors are
new and how many are recurring.)
Case study of using Google analytics by The American Cancer

Societyhttps://marketingplatform.google.com/about/resources/
american-cancer-society-donations-rise-with-analytics/
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Challenge
The American Cancer Society realized it needed help understanding how
people interact with its sites and apps. It was a challenge for the digital
marketing team to distinguish how to group users in a way that would be
beneficial to all parties. The Society also wanted to understand how its
users’ behavior changed over time, and remarket to all segments once
they were identified. So, it turned to the digital analytics and marketing
company Search Discovery for help.
Successful traffic
Cancer.org is the primary site used by the Society to distribute cancer
research and information, but a separate site called Making Strides Against
Breast Cancer is used to raise money specifically for breast cancer research.
Results
More than 39,000 people followed links throughout the month. The team
also created a new donation form on Cancer.org that sent funds only to
breast cancer research. The result was a 5.4% jump in Cancer.org revenue
year over year.
As the Society moves into its second century, Search Discovery and Analytics
are helping it reach a new generation of supporters, patients, and donors in
the fight against cancer.
9.7 Creating Better Advertising
The client, agency, research company and the account planner need to work
together to create effective advertising.
The client must craft a sound strategy for its brand, based on facts. The client
must carefully define the role of advertising in the marketing plan and set
precise communication objectives for the advertising. Once strategy and
positioning alternatives are identified and tested, the strategy should be
locked down and rarely changed thereafter.
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As creative executions are developed against the strategy, each execution

should be pretested among members of the target audience. The greater
the number of executions pretested, the more likely it is that great
advertising will emerge. Once a conceptual family of commercials is
identified as the optimal campaign of the future, then the campaign should
be locked down. Long-term continuity of advertising message is essential to
maximizing effectiveness.
Use the same pretesting system consistently. The secret is to use one system
over and over, so that everyone (client, agency, and researchers) learns how to
interpret the pretesting results for the category and the specific brand.
If budget permits, test the advertising at an early stage in the creative

process. Early-stage testing tends to be highly predictive of finished
commercial scores. The testing of the finished commercials gives extra
assurance that advertising is "on strategy" and working.
Use a mathematical model to derive an overall score for each execution. It

doesn't matter that an ad has great persuasion if it does not register the
brand name. It doesn't matter that an ad registers the brand name if no one
will notice the commercial itself. It doesn't matter that an ad increases short-
term purchase interest if it will damage the brand's quality reputation over
time. So, all of the key variables must be put together intelligently to come up
with a composite or overall measure of advertising effectiveness.
Client and agency need to accept that "continuous improvement" of the

advertising is an important goal. This means that every execution is tested
and tweaked based on scientific evidence from the target audience. We are
not talking about changing the strategy or changing the campaign, but
making sure that every execution is "on strategy" and working as hard as
possible.
The ultimate goal of testing is an advertising success formula that works. That
is, the goal of advertising creative development, and the goal of advertising
testing, is to identify the elements/ideas essential to advertising effectiveness,
and then to make sure that those elements/ideas are consistently
communicated by all advertising executions.
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Activity:
Try to draw chart for the process of advertising, right from the problem to
the success measurement, through the eyes of the account planner.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
9.8 Summary
Account planners play a key part in developing advertising campaigns. He

writes the formal creative brief. He faces the key challenge to develop
innovative ways to reach consumers. Once the ad is made, the account
planner analyses and interprets the customer response and sales data to
evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign.
1.What is advertising effectiveness? Explain this statement.
2.Creative brief is responsible for advertising to be successful. Explain this

statement?
3.Find out more about the applications of Google analytics in analyzing an

advertisement success.
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1.The list of nine principles for testing the effectiveness of ads with the
purposes to improve the research standards that the advertising
industry uses to create and test ad copy, to develop better ads for
clients, and to control TV advertising costs is called as
_____________________
a.PACT
b.SET
c.APON
d.BIEY
2.Dummy copies of advertisement are kept along with the regular

advertisements in magazines and volunteers nominated from the target
market are asked to remember in detail the ads that they remember.
This recall kind of ad testing is known as ________________
a.Recall testing
b.Portfolio testing
c.Advertisement testing
d.Day-after recall Testing
3.The technique which helps in quantifying the impact of a marketing

input contributing to sales and which helps in ascertaining the
effectiveness of each marketing input in terms of Return on Investment
is the _________________technique.
a.Multi Media Modeling
b.Marketing and Media Management
c.Market Mix Modeling
d.Multiple Media Metrics
4.Ads that are better liked are more likely to be remembered and it is
possible to measure consumer's affective and emotional reactions to
ads. The Galvanometer and the Pupillometric tests are all measures for
the _____________________aspect in ad testing
a.Physical
b.Physiological
c.Emotional
d.Rational
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5.The Advertising Response Model (ARM) links responses to the 27

descriptive adjectives to consumers' attitudes toward both the ad and
the advertised brand and to purchase interest and provides valid
prediction of actual marketplace performance and evaluates a
commercial's effectiveness. This known as the
____________________test.
a.Response
b.Attitude
c.Prediction
d.Bruzzone
Answers: 1.(a), 2.(b), 3.(c), 4.(b), 5.(d)
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
1 Video Lecture -
Part 2
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THE LIFE OF AN ACCOUNT PLANNER
Chapter 10
The Life Of An Account Planner
Objectives:
•Recreate the day-to-day activities of an account planner
•Explain the importance of account planner's role
•Appreciate the role of an account planner
Structure:
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Characteristics of a good account planner
10.3 Job of the account planner
10.4 How does an account planner approach the project assigned
10.5 Account planner concern areas
10.6 Account planning and agency structure
10.7 Summary
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10.1 Introduction
Tom is the Marketing Manager of the FMCG Company which manufactures

tea but he does not like drinking tea. His passion is cars. On the other end,
Jim is the creative head in the agency side. He too doesn't consume tea
because he likes to sing and he feels that tea will make him dehydrated. In
such a scenario, it is difficult to imagine that Tom and Jim can come up with a
communication plan as they are not the real consumers.
The account planner is "The consumer's representative". In a nutshell the

planner ensures that an understanding of consumer attitudes and reactions
is brought to notice at every stage of advertising development. The planner is
a fully integrated member of the account team working on a continuously
involved basis; bringing a consumer perspective to strategy development,
creative development, pre-testing of ads and tracking of the brand's progress.
An account planner adds value and helps in the following ways -
•An account having an account planner has more integration within the
agency and better teamwork in trying to combine the needs of the client,
the demands of the market, and the expectations of the consumer.
•The planner has brought an added dimension of understanding to the

process of developing ads by stimulating discussion about: purchasing
decisions, the brand-consumer relationship and how the advertising is
working in specific circumstances.
•Helping to win new business: by instilling confidence in the prospective

client as a result of a comprehensive and disciplined approach.
•Defining more tightly-focused strategies: the result of an enhanced

understanding of the consumer.
•Stimulating creative development: the result of more productive contact

between the creative department and the consumer.
•Helping to sell the ads: by explaining the way they work.
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The quality and creativity of advertising grows in line with account planning,
thus proving that the function has helped, rather than hindered this trend.
The benefits of account planning goes beyond the monetary gains and
includes -
•Better customer understanding

•New thinking
•Customer involvement and buy-in
•Sharing of information
•Formulation of strategy
•Learning
•Holistic approach towards customer and establishing single point of
contact
•Common identification of challenges, risks and trends of customer's
business
•Jointly defined next steps and roadmap to fulfil customer's needs •Provision
of outstanding customer benefit
•Establishing of strategic, value added partnership
•Market-leader technical solutions instead of the cheapest available
purchase price
•Increasing own (customers) market share by improving his business
10.2 Characteristics of a good account planner
What makes a good planner? Since the time JWT has thought of this role,
over a period of time, the role has got more refined and accurate. Some of
the traits that a good account planner needs are -
•Passion for advertising creative process
•Intuitive curiosity about consumers
•Inspiring communication skills
•Aptitude for research interpretation
•Visionary mind for big idea
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•Desire for involvement in account team
•Mediator between theory and practice
•Needs to be creative - should think out of the box, most of the times
•Need to be social -Planners need to have an extensive focus on culture,

social organization and communication between groups. They need to
have a solid foundation in research and understanding people on a macro
level. They are highly adaptable and versatile when learning new things.
•Need to be critical -need to analyze everything critically, as well as

observe the world around them for information. Need to be excellent at
picking out details
•Need to be Observational - needs to be keen observers, and have a grasp

at understanding nonverbal communication. They need to be able to look
beyond what is said and written down to get to the key points of what
they are trying to find.
•Need to understand data -need to scan quantitative data and understand

its significance.
•The Jack/ Jane of All -The have their hands in a bit of everything. They've
had stats courses, but they are not necessarily statisticians. They have
had classes in design, but are not necessarily artists. The observe by
nature, but they use their gut instincts to give them further facets to look
into when designing the strategy from the ground up.
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10.3 Job of the account planner
We now know that account planners make sure the consumer's perspective
is fully considered when advertising is developed.
The account planner works continuously towards understanding the

changing needs of the consumer and helps the agency's creative team to
focus on the same, so that meaningful and profitable ads are made. They
study how consumers interpret marketing communications. Using that
knowledge, they help the agency to bring out new ways of communicating
about products and services. Their role is dual - they offer consumer insight as
well as an action plan to deliver effective advertisements.
To achieve the above, an account planner has to understand consumer

psychology and behaviour through research, the client, the brand, the
product, the market and have a holistic approach.
The account planner's skill is not one skill but a combination-
•Planning of the objectives of the advertising which requires analysis and

synthesis, logic and insight.
•Selecting and evaluating the research feedback which requires technical

and research expertise as adapted to advertising
•Make the feedback relevant and stimulating to the creative team.
An understanding of subjects as psychology, sociology, and cultural

anthropology is beneficial. Also planners need to have the ability to interpret
and convey information and generate useful insights.
The account planner's role spans at various stages. He plays a bit of a role in
everything. Let us jot down each role in detail -
224
1.Marketing Researcher - A good planner doesn't speculate or assume

anything when it comes to representing the consumers that they
represent. The difference between research people and planners is that
researchers are only responsible for pulling and passing information to
those who inquire. But planners take the information pulled and put it
through cultural, emotional, psychological, economic, and
anthropological filters to help solve the business and creative problem.
2.Research Designer - It's imperative that a planner come in direct

contact with the target. Any planner that does not conduct, review,
orchestrate, or deal with any quantitative or qualitative consumer
research is not a planner. But a good planner knows all the research
designs like how to conduct a survey, focus groups, in-depth interviews
etc so that the observations provided by these research methods lead to
insights.
3.Data Analyst - An account planner is accountable for the proper

reviewing and analyzing of all data from consumer, industry, economic,
business, and brand research that leads to the development of the
business and creative strategies.
4.Idea generation facilitator - The account planner facilitates and

directs the discussion in a productive way.
5.Data Implementer - A planner makes the data understandable for the

creative team and provide with consumer insight so that the problem is
not just discussed, but solved. The planner makes the creative process
solve the problem and create the solution.
6.Creative Brief Writer - A brief is supposed to be as simple, concise,

and up to the point so that the creative team can work on it. If the brief
is wrong, nothing will be right.
7.Full of insights and data - The planner should be the one stop point
for questions regarding brand, category and consumers. They should
have the ready data or at least know where the required data is
available. This is why it is important for a planner to read as much as
possible and to read everything he can get his hands on.
225
8.Problem solver - The account planner should be able to understand the

need, the gap, the problem that is existing and then in a position to
think of ways to solve it.
9.Consumer representation and insights - the account planner needs

to have the passion and motivation to understand consumers thoroughly.
Keeping an eye on culture, society, and the behavior of
people gets easier with experience and practice.
10.Creation of ads - The planner main job is to see whether the advertisement
developed is relevant to the target audience, and its effectiveness in the
market. The account planner does this by bringing the consumer perspective
to the advertising in order that the brand and the consumer are drawn
together. The planner implements a disciplined
and systematic approach to the creation of ads.
11.Strategy Development Stage - The planner will collect and collate data to
guide building of strategy. This is done by understanding attitudes and
behavior of people; and gaining insight into the consumer relationship with
the brand and the advertising. Then the planner will define the positioning
and relevant proposition that encapsulates the
rational and emotional appeals of the brand.
12.Creative Development Stage - The planner will research on the first cut of
ads to check whether the advertising is achieving the desired responses.
Feedback will be gained on how the ad is working and what effect it is
having. Ad responses will be analyses to refine the creative
process further.
13.The Approval Stage - The planner will help to provide justification on

how and why the particular piece of advertising will work for the brand.
14.The Post-Campaign Stage - The planner will commission and use

research to track the progress of the brand.
In the digital scenario, the advertising account planner needs to develop skill
set which includes knowledge about the digital tools like Google analytics
which helps in data collection and analyses of the data.
226
A normal life of an account planner may include -
1.Liaising with clients to identify specific business problems and develop

ideas
2.communicating with colleagues within the agency, such as creative and

account managers, in the process of developing a campaign;
3.gaining a comprehensive context for advertising strategies by analysing

a wide range of information in great detail, including demographics,
socio-economic and the market for the client's product and market
share;
4.commissioning research from outside organisations to inform

advertising strategies, using both qualitative methods, such as focus
groups and structured interviews, and quantitative methods, such as
demographic profiling and questionnaires;
5.Running qualitative research groups;
6.Using a variety of market and research data to monitor cultural and

social trends and their impact on consumers' attitudes, behaviour and
perceptions;
7.Finding an 'angle' on a specific product or service on which to base an

advertising campaign;
8.Researching the product or service to be advertised, which may involve

gaining technical or specific knowledge;
9.Reconciling the differences between consumers' current perceptions of

the brand and the way the client wishes the brand to be perceived;
10.Meeting the client to learn the background to the brand and advising on
possible approaches or adaptation of approach to the target market;
11.Providing the creative team with a clearly defined brief that contains
concise information on the product, audience and strategy, so that they
can develop creative ideas applicable to the media channels that will
promote the idea most effectively;
227
12.Presenting conclusions and ideas to clients and other agency staff;
13.Analysing and interpreting customer response and sales data to

evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign.
Overall,
In managing the client account -
Many companies still relate 'key customer' with 'large customer'. But it is
not always the right thing to do. According to McDonald, Millman and
Rogers: "Key accounts are customers in a business to business market,
identified by selling companies as of strategic importance." (McDonald,
Millman and Rogers, 1996). They mention that the attractiveness of the
customer and the customer's perception of the supplier's business
strengths are the deciding factors which should be considered by an
agency before deciding on the key account. The second part i.e.
consumer's perception of the client is of utmost importance.
The account manager is the client's representative at the agency, and the
agency's representative at the client's organization. The account planner
needs to develop a thorough knowledge of the client's business, the
consumer, the marketplace and all aspects of advertising, including creative,
media, research, and commercial production.
In account management the account planner -
•Must communicate the client's needs clearly to the agency team
•Plan effectively to maximize staff time and energy
•Present the agency's creative ideas to the client.
•Act in such a way that the final product is profitable and effective for the
client and the agency.
228
For this, the account planner should have strong general business skills like
the ability to write and speak effectively, and the ability to understand and do
statistical analysis. To partner, means to have an agreement with the client
that both the parties will make certain changes to add greater value. The
change may mean joint product research and testing, improvements to your
materials handling and production process, shared technology or co-
branding. The changes usually have additional benefits for the client. The
client may end up with improved production or a lower cost distribution
system, and in addition to satisfied customers, your customer may gain
improvements in similar areas.
The client is very important for the agency, and the two must build a long-
term relationship founded on mutual understanding and respect. Agencies
must remember that they are in a service business and must remain flexible
and responsive to clients' needs. Good planners help the client in the creation
of advertising with a total understanding of every step, and, most important
of all, they provide the insight and clarity needed.
A planner is in tune with the consumer that he or she can help with
packaging, promotion, product development, and even acquisitions,
anything the client needs. In a fast-changing category, the planner's very up-
to-date knowledge of the consumer can help the client to keep in touch and
stay ahead.
The client will have more confidence in the abilities of the creative team and
agency as a whole. Account planning brings the agency closer to the client by
bringing the consumer perspective to the business planning level.
The creative team
The account planner needs to act like an interface. Producing ads is

essentially a team effort, and the way the planner relates to the client on the
one hand and the creative team on the other hand is important Leadership
and co-ordination are the primary skills. They manage the whole advertising
development process, and have ultimate responsibility for the strategy and
creative brief. The account planner also brings greater understanding of the
consumer relationship and more analytical depth to the proceedings. They
provide a simple, single-minded directional brief. To the creative team they
define consumers beyond a mere demographic definition. They inform the
creative team about the kind of attitudes this
229
market. They tell the creative team what the consumer wants, rather than
what the client wants. The planner is better versed than the client in this
context and the same time more intimate and close to the client rather than
the research team.
The dialogue between the creative team and the consumer is one of the
most valuable contributions a planner can make to the process of producing
ads. Their contribution with the creative process can stimulate creative
thinking and the planner's research skill can interpret consumer response
with sensitivity and foresight.
Advertising
Advertising account planners play a key part in developing advertising

campaigns for a diverse range of products and services. The planner is
responsible for writing the formal creative brief and for providing the ideal
environment for creative development. Acting as the voice of the consumer
within an agency, a planner uses research data to identify suitable audiences
and the best methods of communication.
Planners combine market data, qualitative research and product knowledge

within a brief to enable the creative team to produce advertising ideas that
resolve defined business problems. With increasing public awareness of
marketing strategies, a key challenge is to develop innovative ways to reach
consumers.
Consumer:
In today's world, the consumer has already rejected the traditional way of
advertising. The consumer, his needs, his perspective have changed with
time. This is one of many challenges planners have to bear in mind when
they are working out the advertising strategies.
Planning and planner related research is all about talking to real people and
what motivates those people in their daily lives. An account planner needs to
be work towards getting in touch with what people really think and feel
about brands. The planner ensures that all interpretations are sound and
relevant and presented to the right kind of consumers in the right kind of
media.
230
Success of an account planner
•When the right creative brief is created

•Insight created is actually brought into the ad and the consumers agree
•It provides a new way of looking at the client's situation and problem.
•It creates a picture that makes sense to both the client and the creative
team.
•Bringing creativity and effectiveness together
10.4 How does an account planner approach the project

assigned
Let us understand how an account planner approaches his project -
Step 1: Understand the problem

The account planner gets a brief from the client, including the key business
challenges and success expectations, with the budget details.
The first step will be some qualitative, quantitative, research, etc. Then
redefine the problem in a consumer's point of view if possible.
Step 2: consumer segmentation

Understand the target market and consumer. Understand their life, what is
relevant, their decision-making etc
Step 3: Insight
Try to find the unmet consumer insight. Insights are unspoken human truths,
truths the subconscious recognizes when it sees them.
Step 4: understand the brand and the product

The account planner needs to know what is getting sold and what its USP
are. How will satisfy the need of the consumer? Where will it fit in the
brand?
Step 5: writing the creative brief
231
10.5 Account Planner Concern Areas
An account planner needs to be aware of some of the places where it can

go wrong -
•Analysis - While trying to understand the customer and gather data, a vast
amount of data is already available. It's therefore important to select the right
data to draw conclusions otherwise the whole work of the
account planner can get futile.
•Understand past data before new - An account planner needs to understand

what has happened, and have a good sense of the current situation but by
spending the majority of time looking backward. An
account planner cannot ignore this step.
•Client and consumer - An account planner needs to balance what the

company wants with what the customer wants. Many a times, the clients
dictate the objectives and it is the account planner's job to plan that both
the objectives are met.
•Should be consumer driven - Numbers and data are important, but more
important is the qualitative aspect like consumer insights and
verbatim.
•Keep the message simple - just focus on the core objectives
•Should be action oriented - Its great to have a great plan, but it has to be
executed. A good account plan has an output of a brief, clear and
regularly updated action plan.
•Should be measurable - The account plan needs to be measured to ensure

that it stays on track. It should be easily and regularly monitored. But if there
are too many variables to be measured, then the team might
lose its focus.
232
10.6 Account Planning And Agency Structure
If an agency has to incorporate the account planning role, then it can no

longer operate in the traditional way. First and foremost, recruitment of a
skilled account planner is necessary. Internal reshuffling of people with
lesser skill set is not advisable. There is a clear demarcation that happens,
the creative team comes up with the ideas, and the planner is the voice of
the consumer.
Account planning will have an effect on the creative development process

except for production. The creative team will have the consumer's point of
view. For creative development, account planners are responsible for
researching the advertising before production to make sure it is as relevant as
it can be; finally, once the work runs, they monitor its effect in depth with a
view to improving it the next time around.
With the account planner in the picture, more discipline comes in as the
project is monitored on a regular basis. Also the creative team gets involved
right from the start rather than just churning out ideas. The account planner
explains and communicates and drives the creative team to come up with
the best successful ad.
Planning also becomes more organized as the creative brief acts as the
stepping stone which the creative team follows. This is otherwise not the case
if account planning is not incorporated. The creative brief needs to inspire in a
way that might lead to the trigger word, so therefore the brief needs to be
simple, clear and informal.
Sometimes it may be felt that the account planner is just doing too many
things which otherwise can also be done. But the agency and the client need
to remember that the account planner does the same in a more disciplined
and planned way. The planner provides the basis on which advertising for a
brand can be developed, implemented and evaluated.
Typical employers of advertising account planners:

•Advertising companies
•Media agencies
•Clients with a large product portfolio and direct consumer interaction
233
Qualifications:
•University graduates with specialization in journalism, psychology,

business studies, communications, media studies
•marketing or management graduates
•Certificate or work experience in market research, marketing or
advertising
•Digitally trained in analyzing data
Skill set of a good advertising account planner:

•Good interpersonal skills
•Team working
•Presentation skills
•Communication skills
•Creativity
•Logical thinking
•Analysis of data
•Interpretation of data
Activity:
An ad agency has been working without an account planner. But in the
changing scenario, it understands that this role is needed. What are the
compelling reasons?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
10.7 SUMMARY
In the end advertising account planners work closely with agency clients
and the creative staff to produce creative briefs. A good creative brief
ensures effective and successful advertisements targeted at the right
audience. This is a role that cannot be ignored at any cost.
234
10.8 SeLf Assessment Questions
The target audience is the secret to a good advertising account planner.

Explain.
1.The account planner works continuously towards understanding the

changing needs of the _____________ and helps the agency's creative
team to focus on a solution and create the best advertisement
a.Agency
b.Consumer
c.Client
d.All of these
2.Advertising account planners work closely with agency clients and the
creative staff to produce creative briefs. A good creative brief ensures
effective and successful advertisements targeted at the right
___________
a.Client
b.Advertisement
c.Message
d.Audience
3.The dialogue between the ___________________ and the

__________________ is one of the most valuable contributions an
advertising account planner can make to the process of producing
advertisements.
a.Marketing team and consumer
b.Sales team and consumer
c.Market research and consumer
d.Creative team and consumer
4.According to McDonald, Millman and Rogers - "Key accounts are

customers in a business to business market, identified by
_________________ companies as of strategic importance."
a.Selling
b.Buying
c.Successful
d.Larger
235
5.An advertising account planner will juggle between many roles whether
be it developing ideas, collecting and researching data, working with
clients , coming up with creative ideas , advertisement budget , media
planning etc. Which of the below option is always correct for the given
statement
a.True
b.False
c.Sometimes
d.Never
Answers: 1.(b), 2. (d), 3.(d), 4.(a), 5.(a)
236
REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture
237
THE FUTURE OF ACCOUNT PLANNING
Chapter 11
The Future Of Account Planning
Objectives:
•Explain the changing trends in marketing and advertising
•Understand the changing role of the account planner
Structure:
11.1 Introduction
11.2 The changing world of marketing and advertising
11.3 Increased importance of account planning
11.4 The future account planner
11.5 Summary
238
11.1 Introduction
Account planning, as we have seen is an interface role. A client hires an

advertising agency to present its product and brand to its target
audience. This needs the understanding of the target audience in depth
by the agency. This is done by the account planner.
Initially it was creativity that was expected from the agency. But with
changing times, the ad world too has undergone major changes. Traditional
display advertising is in decline. Marketers and agencies have more media
options available. The media industry now offers the chance to make more
innovative use of both strategic thinking and creative vision. New media is
changing the face of online advertising, for as content takes on new forms,
such as mobile and video, so does advertising. Advertising is continuing to
grow and evolve online. There is so much to be done.
This means that the traditional way of making advertisements will not work.
An account planner who is prepared to take a risk and offer something
different will be appreciated by the clients.
11.2 The Changing World Of Marketing And Advertising
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”
Tony Robbins
The marketing role has changed over the years. In the 1900's, emphasis was
on producing and distributing new products. Production processes were
simple and only a few product choices were available. Also consumers had
limited money with which to purchase products and businesses believed that
if they could produce the products, they would be able to sell them.
Then with the industrial revolution in the 1950’s, production became more
efficient resulting in a large numbers of products at lower costs and
companies began to rely on salespeople to represent their products and
convince potential customers their product was better than the competition.
239
Post the World War 2, companies began to use advertising to inform the
consumer of products, reasons to buy the products, and where the products
were located. Marketing got expensive and sometimes just for the sake of
competition, unethical activities were included.
All this, led to a change in thought .Marketing changed from a concept where
it was used only if sales were low or lagging, but not needed in times of good
sales. It gave rise to the concept that marketing was more than the just the
work of one department and that it requires the interaction of all the
departments within a business with marketing personnel working closely
with others throughout the organization. This proved to be a proven an
effective method that is used by the majority of successful businesses and
organizations.
Today's Marketing provides information about customers & their needs, helps
businesses plan more effectively, serve customers through distribution,
pricing, credit, customer services ,Increase customer satisfaction and help
businesses become more profitable by coordinating activities and controlling
costs
Hence as advertisers, the change too is needed –
•Able to cater to a wide range of media to build brand relationships.
•Able to cater on a global scale
•Able to adopt new, unique and innovative ways of communicating with

their target audiences
•Market brands that makes significant benefit to consumer's lives.
In the digital world, the ads too need to change and get interactive, be short
and sweet and be engaging and have relevant content. Account planners
need to upgrade their skills and really use data technology to reach out to the
target consumers with the best ads.
Hence planning will play an important role in the context of creating and
improving understanding leading to enhanced roles under the account
planning cloud.
240
11.3 Increased Importance Of Account Planning
As seen, the importance of the voice of the consumer has grown over time.
Also with digital technology, the world is more interactive. There is a big
future for account planning in advertising and marketing. Every day, new
technology changes the way we communicate and how we connect with
each other not only in everyday life, but in business as well. “There are more
media, consumed in more ways, by more people than ever before.
This will need planners who are great at storytelling and who can use stories
to guide great creative work. The inputs of account planning like consumer
insight, brand strategy, brand expression, etc. Will remain but instead of just
communicating the message, it will also be how to be innovate and connect
all the media channels available.
Some of the reasons are –
•Increased competition
•Increased involvement and faster changing loyalty of the consumer
•Increased requirement of the agency to absorb consumer insights
•Emphasis on the right medium selection of advertising
•Better creative briefs
•Accurate success measurement and accountability
•Better client relations
Other factors which are influential are -
•Bigger team - The consumer insights gathered and the feedback collected is
not now restricted to the client and the creative team, but to
all involved like direct marketing team , online marketing team etc.
•Timing - Speed is an important challenge. Issues such as speed, reliability

and flexibility are also increasingly important for online
advertising. This demands a change in strategy by the account planner.
•Media - The consumer in the future will be choosier about the media format.
A future account planner needs to take this into consideration and know
more about media than ever before. This will also force
planners to use media as a new kind of creativity.
241
•Globalization of the advertising business - According to Pavit (2000)

the stereotype of the modern consumer lifestyle is set against a backdrop
of global culture. Globalization is an entirely new phenomenon, borne out
of late-twentieth-century cultural and economic shifts, rather than a
longer historical process. The advertising industry also has undergone
globalization.
11.4 The Future Account Planner
Good planners should work from the client's needs through to the
implementation of the advertising and in addition plan towards reducing
costs. But with globalization, account planners need to have a wider vision.
Global brands need a different strategy. Planners now need to do backward
integration and try to solve real business problems.
This is because at the core, it is the product that matters. Innovative products
are the star performers. And innovative products can only be obtained when
the account planner starts living the life of the consumer.
Thus the future role of the account planner is not in creating an award
winning ad, because the process of creating a successful ad is very simple
and set. Instead the future lies in bringing in new products which will make
the world a better place to live in.
So the agencies in the future need to work towards creating new products
and services and ideas.
Activity:
Imagine a future ad agency and try to write a job profile description for the
account planner. ____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
242
11.5 Summary
The present role of the account planner can be best described as being the
"voice of the consumer" to create best communication ads to explain
product benefits. This is an action which happens after the need is identified.
But the future role of the account planner will be identifying real business
problems and solving them. The role will eventually help in bringing in new
products which will make the world a better place to live in.
1. What is the future of account planning?
2. Explain the changing role of marketing and advertising.
243
1.The ____________ is also known as the voice of the consumer

a.Branding team
b.Advertising account planner
c.Market research team
d.Marketing team
2.According to Pavit, the stereotype of the modern consumer lifestyle is

set against a backdrop of ____________ culture.
a.Global
b.International
c.Socially active
d.Practical
3.Advertising account planner in an advertising agency department works

along with the client and creates creative advertising. Advertising
account planner brings the ________________ into the process of
developing advertising.
a.Creativity
b.Media plans
c.Consumer
d.Strategy
4.Traditionally qualitative research has been conducted via focus groups,

but with advertising account planning, it aims to create and maintain a
meaningful relationship with the consumers. Is the statement true or
false?
a.True
b.False
5.The future role of the account planner is not in creating an award

winning advertisement but in bringing in new ________________ which
will make the world a better place to live in.
a.Strategy
b.Planning
c.Concepts
d.Products
Answers: 1.(b), 2.(a) 3.(c), 4.(a), 5.(d)
244
REFERENCE MATERIAL
chapter
Summary
PPT
MCQ
Video Lecture
245

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Advertising Account Planning

Sub Code - 702

Program Design and Advisory Team

Prof. B.N. Chatterjee Mr. Manish Pitke

Prof. Kanu Doshi Prof. B.N. Chatterjee

Prof. Dr. V.H. Iyer Mr. Smitesh Bhosale

Prof. B.N. Chatterjee Prof. Vineel Bhurke

Prof. Venkat lyer Dr. Pravin Kumar Agrawal

Prof. Dr. Pradeep Pendse Mrs. Margaret Vas

Prof. Sandeep Kelkar Mr. Anuj Pandey

Prof. Dr. Swapna Pradhan Course Editor

Prof. Bijoy B. Bhattacharyya Prof. B.N. Chatterjee

Mr. P.M. Bendre Course Coordinators

Mr. Ajay Prabhu Ms. Kirti Sampat

Mr. A.S. Pillai Mr. Kishor Tamhankar

COPYRIGHT © by Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research.

NOT FOR SALE. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION ONLY.

1st Edition (Nov 2019)

Chapter No. Chapter Name Page No.

12 Introduction to Account 4-23

After completing this Chapter, you will be able to:

•Understand how the world of advertising used to operate before account

•Gain an insight into the history of account planning origin

•Define account planning

•Describe the function of an account planner

•Account planning in tune with the digital world

1.1 Before Account planning

1.2 History of Account planning

1.3 Account planning

1.4 Role of an Account planner

1.5 Benefits of Account planning

1.6 Myths about Account planning

1.7 The current account planning scenario

1.9 Self-Assessment Questions

1.10 Multiple Choice Questions

1.1 BEFORE ACCOUNT PLANNING

In the 1950's, advertising agencies were very consumer research oriented.

A typical advertising agency in this period would be divided into various

Advertising in the 1960's

development, consumer insights, cut costs in-house market research

Hence the dependency of the clients on the advertising agencies reduced.

Account planning originated from a need to concentrate client research,

In this scenario, there was a need to have an interface which could

1.2 History Of Account Planning

The increasing gap between marketing, advertising and media-research

Thus planning is widely considered to have evolved in the UK advertising

The BMP approach

of controlled friction than artificial harmony." (Stanley Pollitt "How I started

The JWT approach

•The account director who had to understand the requirements of the

•The account planner who was a representative of the client's target

Account planning travels to the U.S.

As we have seen, account planning began to find its foothold in the UK

1.APAC Effie Awards

2.IPA Effectiveness Awards

3.4A’s Jay Chiat Awards

These awards recognize –

1.3 Account Planning

From the advertising history it can be clearly understood that account

Conceptually, account planning emphasizes the importance of the target

Account planning philosophy proposes a change in view to the relationship

Need for account planning (Events favourable to account planning)

1. Change in client expectation from agency