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Advertising and Promotion (MKT621)

Lesson 21

METHODS TO APPRECIATE A PROBLEM

OVERVIEW

In this lecture we will explain various methods to appreciate a problem situation and various

aspects of sponsorship which is a very important tool of advertising. Further more the

characteristics of advertising media, categories of press and the aspects of its various segments

covering advantages and disadvantages of each.

TEN METHODS TO APPRECIATE A SITUATION:

Before proceeding with any advertising campaign during the process of its preparation it is

essential that first of all the methods to determine the type of situation should be identified.

· Opinion, attitude or image surveys:

It is important that to appreciate a situation a focused effort should be made to know the

opinion and the attitude of the concerned audience and conduct service to know about the

image of the company/product/brand.

Press clippings, monitored broadcasting scripts:

This important source can also reveal the underline factors of the prevailing problem.

Sales trends & sales report indications:

The figures from this source will provide enough matter to know and appreciate a situation.

Competition within & from imports:

In the market the competition from the locally made goods / brands and the ones imported

can also provide relevant information.

Share price:

If it is a public limited company the dividend and the balance sheet can easily reflect upon

the information to appreciate a situation.

Industrial relations situation:

The relationship between the management and the employees and the consequences thereof

can also be useful.

Customer complaints, test reports & product performance:

The performance of the product in the market including the test reports and judging from

the customer complaints one can easily determine the situation.

INPUT from sales force & distributors:

Sales force and distributors can also feed and provide good input.

Prices & effect of price changes:

The prices and the effects thereof in case of variations can be also a good source.

Market forces, economic, social & political:

The overall market situation influenced by different aspects like economic social, political

can also prove a good source.

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Advertising and Promotion (MKT621)

SPONSORSHIP--an important tool

In this competitive world in an important tool of advertising i.e. sponsorship is a very good

technique not only to win customers but also to retain them. Before explaining various aspects

of sponsorships, it is imperative to answer a basic question i.e. "why sponsor?"

As Sir Francis Bacon said "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds."

It clearly explains that sponsorship is basically to create more opportunities rather than finding

the prevalent ones. Therefore it is important to answer following four questions.

1. What should be sponsored?

2. What are the total costs involved?

3. How can sponsorship be made effective?

4. How can the sponsorship be organized?

In this context to answer the most important question of the reasons to sponsor following are

detailed below:

· Want to enter a new segment of market.

· Increase familiarity with your name.

· Want to improve customer relations.

· Enhance your corporate image.

· Show how your products perform.

· Want maximum media coverage.

· Support distributors.

· Want company known in export markets.

· Want to increase goodwill.

What to Sponsor?

An important aspect is the determining of the important question of the various segments which

can be sponsored answering the basic question of what to sponsor.

· Sports

· Arts & culture

· Publications

· Professional awards

· Educational

· Charitable causes.

ADVERTISING MEDIA:

An important ingredient of advertising is the source or medium which is used as a vehicle to

translate the advertising campaign and carried across to target clients i.e. the understanding of

media in this context first of all following are the special characteristics of advertising media:

Special Characteristics:

· In-depth coverage & permanence: Basically the media should have good coverage and

should be a permanent source i.e. can be red, re-red and retained; in this regard magazines

are a good example.

· Variety of subjects covered: It should not be restricted and should take care of variety of

subjects.

· Mobility: The media should be in a position to carry the message across to where ever

desired. In this regard the best example are newspaper and magazines which can be red and

carried almost everywhere i.e. in the house while traveling at the place of work or library

etc.

· Results assessable: Basically it is the effort of evaluation which is possible by dividing the

cost of space by the number of replies received.

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Advertising and Promotion (MKT621)

· Statistics available: The media planner can confront the media salesman with calculations

to justify media schedule of recommended space and air time booking.

· Improved printing: The majority of newspapers and magazines now using latest technology

of printing have very good picture quality and printing of text even in black and white and

resulting in much improved printing and thereby becoming a useful advertising media.

CATEGORIES OF PRESS:

During the past few years newspapers are facing a strong competition from radio and

television. In order to understand the importance of the categories of press first of all we have

to determine the advantages of newspapers and magazines and understand the types of

advertisement in them. There are three major types of advertising in newspapers such as

Classified Advertising, Retail Advertising & National Advertising.

While Classified Advertising referred to as want adds primarily for the convenience of readers

generally not including headlines or illustrations also is known as classified display, Retail

Advertising refers to two kinds i.e. sales promotion advertising based on price features, sales or

specials and image advertising is primarily designed to position a product in a better way. The

National Advertising is used to support their products and is part of the manufacturers' national

advertising plans.

ADVANTAGES OF NEWSPAPERS

There are various advantages of newspapers in advertising context which are given below:

FLEXIBILITY:

· advertising space from 1 inch to multiple pages can be used.

· ads can be scheduled on any day of the week.

· ads can be prepared on very short notice.

RANGE OF MARKET COVERAGE

Provide geographical flexibility.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE:

Relatively cheap as against other media.

POSITIVE CONSUMER ATTITUDES:

High reader interest & approx 80% coverage.

INTERACTION OF NATIONAL & LOCAL:

Provide a bridge between the national advertiser and the local retailer.

DISADVANTAGES OF NEWSPAPERS:

Despite being very useful medium for advertising it has certain disadvantages which should be

kept in mind and are as under:

1. No Audience Selection: Does not provide audience selectivity.

2. High waste circulation: makes them too expensive on national basis.

3. Short life Span: unlikely to be put aside and read later like magazine.

4. Poor reproduction: generally poor color reproduction.

ADVANTAGES OF MAGAZINES:

Although the glamour of television has overshadowed magazines for along time yet many

advertisers considered magazines to be an important and second choice, recent study has

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Advertising and Promotion (MKT621)

proven that in some cases magazines are actually a better option then television. However, like

many mediums magazines have their advantages and disadvantages as under:

1. Target Audience:

The magazines can reach specialized audiences and thereby prove very useful e.g.

magazines like men's health target men's for their health and women magazines target

women.

2. Audience Receptivity: Magazines have a very high level of audience receptivity such as an

ad in fortune magazine would impress business audience.

3. Long life Span: Magazines have longest life span of all the media because some of them

might never be discarded like National Geographic magazine etc. moreover these have

highest reach potential as they are past along to family friends customers and colleagues.

4. Format: Generally, the magazines format allows creative advertising variety through

multiple pages inserts and other features.

5. Visual Quality: The production quality has become excellent being printed on top class

paper and with very good reproduction quality.

6. Sales promotions: Advertisers can use magazines to distribute various sales promotions

like coupons, samples and information cards etc.

Disadvantages of Magazines:

Magazines are limited by certain factors and the most prominent disadvantages as are given and

explain below:

Limited distribution: In view of the magazines having limited distribution they lack

penetration, thus selectivity of the medium is lost.

Lack of immediacy: Advertisements may take long time to have an effect on the reader

because some readers may not look at an issue of a magazine until after it comes to

them so the ad may take long time to have an effect on the reader.

Limited flexibility: Despite magazines offering advertisers many benefits long leave

time and limited flexibility are drawbacks there is closing dates often 2 to 3 months

prior to the date of issue.

High cost: The production costs for magazines are relatively high because of high

quality color production.

CHANGES IN MAGAZINE INDUSTRY:

In recent years there has been a major transformation and as with newspapers emerging

technology, particularly online technology is changing the magazine industry. These virtual

magazines are distributed on internet. However, exciting and beautiful critics still consider

online magazines not to be that effective yet and in near future. Basically life or death,

prosperity or difficulty of any communication vehicle depends upon its ability to produce an

acceptable cost-benefit relationship. The question is not the inherent superiority of the internet

over traditional print it is which works better as part of an intelligently developed media

strategy.