Measuring the Effectiveness of Creative Posters - Literature review Example

?Measuring the Effectiveness of Creative Posters Business manager’s core strategy to increase their revenues and expand the product among consumers is through strategic marketing. Advertising is pervasive and bombards consumer with appeal or reminder from the moment they wake up till the moment they fall asleep. Advertising is a business tool and its primary purpose and objective is to produce increased sales on profitable bases for which media plays its role by carrying the advertising to potential consumers (Ricketts, 1938). The origin of advertising dates back to 3000 BC during which Sumerians invented pictograms scratched on clay tablets that represented sounds and ideas as well as things (www.nonlineagency.com). According to Mogel (1993) advertising, ‘criers’ originated in Babylonia during 3000 BC. People would take come on to the street carrying their products and shouting louder about the merchandise. Later in 2200 BC, the development of hieroglyphics in Egypt gave way to paper and ink document used to interpret word and sound concept. Egypt further invented outdoor advertising carving public notices on stelae in 2000 BC (www.nonlineagency.com). If Egyptians were good at promoting Romans knew how to make a convincing sales pitch and early examples of advertising were found in the ruins of Pompeii. Advertising has been around for as long as there have been goods to sell and a medium to talk them up. The field of advertising took a giant step after the invention of printing press and movable type by Johannes Gutenberg, a German in 1447. In 1631, first classified newspaper ads were printed in France’s La Gazette by Renaudot which made him the first French journalist and the inventor of personal ad (Tungate, 2007). Advertising further developed and flourished with the introduction of first English daily newspaper in 1702 and first newspaper advertising in the United States was carried out by Boston News-Letter in 1704. Advertising agencies began in early 1800 during the period when newspapers flourished (Mogel, 1993). Advertising, today, is a huge business making millions of dollars in profit and is not limited only to paper advertising but has expanded its horizon into radio, visual media and internet. This paper critically reviews various literatures in form of books, journals, articles, etc. on creative posters and to measure its effectiveness. Review of Literature Businesses rely on its marketing plan to promote their products which vary depending on their budget. No matter whatever the size of budget is, advertising is the key player in marketing plan because it makes the consumer aware of the product. Wells, Burnett and Moriarty (2007) mentioned that marketing is the way product is designed, tested, produced, branded, priced, distributed and promoted. Whereas advertising plans and decision making take place in the context of overall marketing strategy that includes statement of marketing objectives (Koekemoer and Bird, 2004). O’Guinn, Allen and Semenik (2008) mentioned that advertising is one of the primary tools available for marketing and is only one of the major areas of marketing responsibility. The marketing concepts suggest determining the customer needs and wants and then to develop, manufacture, market and service goods to fill those needs and wants (Wells, 2007). According to Saxena (2009) and Alozie (2009) advertising plays a significant role in awareness creation and attitude formation but has limited role in marketing strategy. Advertisement is the promotion of a company’s products and services through different mediums to increase the sales of the products and services. Advertising is further classified into print, broadcast, outdoor, covert and public service (Management Study Guide, 2011). Out of home advertising further encompasses many advertising forms including outdoor (billboards and signs), transit (both inside and outside the vehicle), skywriting and variety of other media like public walls and furniture. According to OAAA (qtd. in Belch and Belch, 2003) total outdoor expenditures for the year 2001 was $5.3 billion proving that outdoor ads are still the most popular form of advertising. Outdoor advertising has probably existing since olden days and is one for the most pervasive communication forms (Belch & Belch, 2003; Ronald, 2008 and Mackay, 2005). Outdoor posters are the most widely used form of outdoor advertising According to Kumar and Mittal (2002) poster panels, i.e. 30 sheet panels are less costly. Posters appear on and inside buses, trains, taxi as well as in bus shelters, railway stations and such other places where continuous movement of people takes place. The history of poster advertisement could be traced back to 18th century after the invention of lithography in 1794 making it possible to create real posters (Billboard Advertising for Know it Alls, 2008). According to Beasley and Danesi (2002) picture and poster advertising in marketplaces and temples have constituted popular means of disseminating information and of promoting the barter and sale of goods and services. The use of shop signs, posters and town criers continued uninterrupted right into medieval times. Posters were an effective and colorful means of advertising products, stores, restaurants and cafes and were a ubiquitous presence in the city enlivening the walls, buildings and kiosks in order to popularize Art Nouveau (Raizman, 2008). The size of the posters varies with great effect depending on the marketing plan. The standard size of posters range from 4 sheets to 30 sheets (adjacent pic) to 96 sheet and these sheets are purchased as per the requirement and length of the message (www.vinyl-banners.co.uk). Poster advertising benefits the marketing campaign as it is cost effective with little confusion of messages and low competition and repeats exposure of the message several times. However, poster advertising limits creativity limiting the message to few lines and colors. The message could be seen for long time as the posters are often seen on busy roads and at places where people are moving all the time (Stokes and Lomax, 2008). American government used the poster advertising to curb less savory consumption activities, such as drinking, cigarette smoking, drug use, gambling and prostitution. The US government used poster campaigns after World War II which was based on five frugality themes like conserving, recycling, home food production, rationing and saving through war bonds. Creative poster advertising during these periods was helpful in embracing consumerism (Witkowski, 2003). According to the forecasts made by Nikkei Advertising Research Institute (NARI) and Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER), advertising expenditure for the financial year 2011 (April 2011 to March 2012) will increase by 0.6% over the previous year. The graph clearly represents that total expenditure of advertising has increased during the FY 2010. There will be an increase of 0.4% in transit advertising as compared to -1.4% in FY 2010 and 1.9% in flyers and direct mails for the same period (Figure 2) Source: NARI and JCER, 2011, www.nikkei-koken.com According to a report titled “Outdoor Advertising: A Global Strategic Business Report”, world billboard advertising market was expected to increase by $2.85 billion from 2007 to 2010. Transit advertising is also increasing rapidly with a business of $7.14 billion by 2010 (Marketing Charts, 2007). According to Outdoor Advertising Association of America (2011) outdoor advertising for the fourth quarter of 2010, 9.1% of the total expenditure was spent on retail ads, followed by media and advertising (8.6%), financial (8.2%) and communications (7.5%) (Figure 3). Further it is reported by ON Advertising that over ?900 million was spent on outdoor media from billboards to bus shelters. A key marketing decision is the choice of the promotional blend needed to communicate to the target audience (Jobber, 2006). Posters are powerful and eye catching and the most conspicuous form of outdoor advertising (Brannan, 1995). As stated above, raters of poster advertising vary depending on the size, location and period. As per the data provided by Postersites.co.uk, the cost of poster advertising ranges from ?5000 to ?25000 per month. According to Postersites.co.uk, the rates of poster advertising have gone up due to the use of latest technology in printing posters that gives higher quality output. However various other factors affect the poster advertising rates as well as its effectiveness. According to Barber and Dickenson (n.d.) posters have to follows the POSTAR model of visibility so that posters are designed in such a way that it is viewable from the specified distance according to POSTAR. The success of the poster advertisement depends upon the designing of the poster as well as the site at which it is put up (Bootwala and Lawrence, 2007). Advertisement creativity is the practice of developing original, attention getting and memorable ideas that meet strategic objectives promoting products and services. Creativity in poster advertisements was evident since beginning focusing on products and performance. Effective advertising creativity is measured not only by originality but also by its strategic contributions starting from people involved in designing marketing plan (Runco and Pritzker, 1999). Clear Channel Communications, a global media entertainment company using digital outdoor networks so as to provide instant posting of a national message, has the ability to significantly improve the visual integrity and recyclability and targets desired audience (www.clearchanneloutdoor.com). JCDecaux, established in 1964, is the only group focusing exclusively on outdoor advertising and is ranked top in billboard advertising in Europe (www.jcdecaux.co.in). Creativity is a vital ingredient in designing poster advertisements which is why it is necessary to measure the effectiveness of poster creativity. The two basic models of measuring advertisements effectiveness will be helpful in measuring the effectiveness of poster advertisement. The strong model consists of various hierarchy models which includes cognitive, affective and conative (Egan, 2007). The commonly used and described approaches to pretesting print advertisements rely primarily on message recall, overall popularity, attraction, comprehension, etc. Dunn (O’Neill, 1963) points out that the success of an advertisement can be measured on the basis of its sale but effectiveness could also be measured on the basis of its long range effectiveness, attitudes of person toward the brand (O’Neill, 1963). The theories assume that advertising can ultimately persuade consumers to purchase a particular brand. In terms of strong model or high involvement theory, recall has traditionally been the most popular measure which was first developed by Procter and Gamble which aims at unprompted recall surveys of previous days advertising. Whereas in low involvement model or small impact, measurement is achieved through recognition as advertising only nudges the consumer towards brand which may not be remembered unaided but will be remembered when prompted (Egan, 2007). Ads could be measured by random surveys printed and circulated through magazines and in newspapers to collect the feedback from the consumers. This would help in assessing the effectiveness of poster ads and its impact on the sales and profit. Conclusion Business organizations devise marketing strategy so as to reach more and more consumers which is possible only through advertising. Companies spend billions of dollars on advertising which is expected to increase further in FY 2011. Poster advertising is used frequently as it benefits the marketing campaign as it is cost effective with little confusion of messages and low competition and repeats exposure of the message several times. Studies show that expenditure on poster advertisements tend to increase at much faster pace due to the technologies involved in it which has also resulted in increased rates varying on location, size and period. Review of various literature show that agencies are targeting urban area for poster advertising. It should be noted that urban areas have continuous influx of outgoing and incoming population and hence posters can be put up on highways, connecting roads to villages, etc. The models mentioned by Egan (2007) are the best methods to measure the effectiveness of posters, but it could be improved by collecting evidence of purchase and sale from consumers and marketers to substantiate the effectiveness. References 1. 30 – Sheets & Premiers, Marketing Adventures, Ads Outdoors, http://www.adsoutdoor.com/30Sheets-And-Premieres.aspx 2. A Brief History of Advertising, Non Line Agency, http://www.nonlineagency.com/multimedia/the_history_of_advertising/ 3. Alozie, Emmanuelle (2009) Marketing in Developing Countries: Nigerian advertising in a global and technological economy, Taylor & Francis, New York 4. Barber, P.J. and Dickenson A (n.d.) Factors affecting visibility distances for poster panels, Technical Report: POSTAR Ltd, 5. Beasley, Ron and Danesi, Marcel (2002) Persuasive Signs: The semiotics of advertising, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 6. Belch G.E. and Belch M.A. (2003) Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective, Tata McGraw-Hill, New York 7. Billboard Advertising for Know it Alls, Filiquarian Publishing, LLC. 2008, 8. Bootwala, Shaila and Lawrence M.D. (2007) Advertising and Sales Promotion, Nirali Prakashan, India. 9. Brannan, Tom (1995) A practical guide to integrated marketing communications, Kogan Page Publishers, London 10. Clear Channel, http://www.clearchannel.com 11. Egan, J. (2007) Marketing Communications, London: Thomson Learning, USA 12. JCDecaux, http://www.jcdecaux.co.in/ 13. Jobber, David (2006) Foundations of Marketing, 2nd Ed, Tata McGraw Hill, New York 14. Koekemoer, Ludi and Bird, Steve (2004) Marketing Communications, Julia and Company Ltd, South Africa 15. Kumar, N and Mittal, K (2002) Advertising Management, Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., India 16. 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Saxena, Rajan (2009) Marketing Management, 4th Ed., Tata- McGrawHill Education, New Delhi 31. Standard Billboard Poster Sizes, http://www.vinyl-banners.co.uk/billboard_poster_sizes.htm 32. Stokes, David and Lomax, Wendy (2008) Marketing- A Brief Introduction, Cengage Learning EMEA,, US 33. Tungate, Mark (2007) Adland: A global history of advertising, Kogan Page Publishers, Great Britain 34. Wells, D.W., Burnett, J and Moriarty, S (2007) Advertising: Principles and Practice, 7th Ed., Pearson Education, India 35. Witkowski, T.H. (2003) World War II Poster Campaigns: Preaching Frugality to American Consumers, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 32, No. 1, pp. 69-82 Read More