Advertising Media Planning - Essay Example

Advertising The cause of shift of advertising from traditional to modern approaches is deeplyrooted in various factors. However, the one in the spotlight, which also sums it all, is the increased consumer power. Back in the early 20th century, the economy was inclined towards the production side, competition was not severe, and awareness regarding the products was not significant and due to all these factors, the producers were somehow able to victimize the consumers through their advertisements (Graydon & Clark, pp. 23-41). Corporations, not individuals, were in power. However, the tables turned when the world was passing through the mid 20th century. Increased media attention, Keynesian school of thought, entry of new competitors, de-legitimization of modern liberalism, downfall of colonialism and with increased awareness of consumers, the corporations were no longer able to dictate their terms (Kelley & Jugenheimer, pp. 84-92). Now all the pressure was on the producers to make sure that they survive and continue to make profits in this ruthless competitive era. Producers had no way but to come up with new ways of advertising to attract and retain their customers. This was the time when concept like digital adverting, creating value for customers, engaging people, word of mouth and others, under the banner of modern advertising. Nokia says that they connect people, Sony claims to be like no other, Toyota sys touch the perfection, and Wal-Mart has been saying since long that they always provide with low prices, Master tell us “there are some things that money can not buy. For everything else there is Master card” (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, pp. 158-173), Ford claims to be the josh machine, apple asks us to “think different” and BMW thinks that it is the “ultimate driving machine” (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, pp. 158-173). These all are the most famous advertising slogans of these brands. However, the fact is, once all of this is done, most of the people do not bother to recall or cannot recall. In fact, 90 percent of the advertising to which individuals are exposed, they tend not to remember, notice, or recall that. The obvious question here is that why do marketers spend millions of dollars for advertising and how it is effective. It is true that people do not remember most of the advertising messages and marketers were aware of that. That is why all the advertising happens with proper and strong branding. No one would remember the “Ultimate driving machine” if not shown along with the tag of BMW (MacRury, pp. 36-74). People are able to recall ads and their taglines due to their brand names, brand pictures, and brand characteristics. Adverting has been challenged the most by the recent developments in the societal patterns and technological advancements. Advertising was a much easier job in the latter half of 20th century when consumers had not much exposure to millions of ads. Today, there are more organize and aware about their power and roles. That is why using them for brand promotion is one of the toughest jobs (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, pp. 158-173). Moreover, the invention of remote was disaster for advertising industry. Now consumers have the power to switch their channels within seconds, go away, and avoid all the possible ads. Even if the company takes on a strategy to simultaneous, repeated, and mass advertising, the consumers have an answer to that. With technology that filters all the ads and then gives the customer their desired program. Moreover, even if the customers view the ad somehow, there is no guarantee that he or she would remember it even for the next 10 seconds (Kelley & Jugenheimer, pp. 84-92). Therefore, advertisers now feel the pressure of making unique, attention catching ads the ones, which can make them, stand out of the crowd. In addition, while coping with all these challenges companies also make sure that their advertisers do not spend too much of money on advertising. The relations of advertising and society or the impact of advertising has been under debate for the past few decades. Most of the experts agree the advertising has helped in creating a more price sensitive, product aware, responsive, and sensitive consumers. In addition, with advertising it has become uncomplicated for new brands to enter in the market since communication has become easier. Moreover, realizing this great potential of advertising, it institutions use it for many social welfare projects that have benefited the society in long term. However, the critics of advertising have their arguments as well. They view advertising as useless expense from the side of companies because if it is merely for making the customer aware with the characteristics about the product then it is also possible with products labels (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, pp. 158-173). Just because companies spend too much on advertising, they charge it back to customers as well thus exploiting the resources of society. Advertising spiral is a chart that corresponds to the product life cycle chart. There are three stage of advertising spiral, namely pioneering stage, competitive stage and retentive stage. Despite the fact that its runs parallel to the product life cycle since the pioneer stage is somehow the same as the introduction stage in product life cycle, the competitive stage is the same as the growth stage, and retentive stage is similar to the maturity and decline stages of the product life cycle (Graydon & Clark, pp. 23-41). However, advertising spiral is different in the sense that it also tells that what needs to be done. For example, if the product is at the first stage, then the efforts should be concentrated on creating the primary demand and stimulation about the product (Kelley & Jugenheimer, pp. 84-92). During the second stage, differentiating the product based on competitive advantage, points of parity, and other benefits becomes important. Furthermore, during the last stage the marketers concentrate their efforts on ads through which they can do the job of recall from customers since the product has already made a significant name in the market and has a place in the unconscious minds of the consumers as well. According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competitors” (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, pp. 158-173). The development and advent of branding has links with the felt needs for it. With the entry of so many products in the market during the early 20th century and with mass production of their products, both customers and producers felt the need of some tool or instruments through which they can easily distinguish products from seller or factory from the others. They also wanted to assign responsibility for the products of a particular seller. Moreover, they also felt that their unique names could act as their competitive advantage (Graydon & Clark, pp. 23-41). The obvious and simple solution was branding. Moreover, brands lead to brand loyalty and brands loyal customers can generate more revenues for the company. According to its broadest sense, competition occurs when two parties, groups, individuals, societies or nations compete or contest with each other for resources for any other object either tangible or intangible for which sharing is not an option. According to its Merriam-Webster dictionary, in business terms, competition occurs “when two or more independent parties or independent individuals put their efforts for securing the business of any third party by offering the most favorable deal” (Petley, pp. 5-28). Experts view competition as a positive phenomenon in the sense that its puts pressure on firms for increasing their allocative and productive efficiency and better quality. However, on the other hand competition can be negative in the sense that staying in competition sometimes forces the firms to exploit or misuse their resources. “An ad agency provides services of creating, planning, handling, and controlling the advertising to its clients” (Graydon & Clark, pp. 29-32). Moreover, a full service ad agency would be an agency that takes the challenge of taking care of all the aspects of advertising including, planning, production, distribution, placement and all the other related aspects of marketing. An ad agency usually beings with the job of the creative department which has the job to come up with an idea, thought or course or action for the project. Then the project’s evaluation takes place in terms of financial and human requirement on basis of its idea. After than, once the media mediums and channels come on paper, then the production beings. All other jobs of public relations and promotions are happening simultaneously. It is difficult to deny that most of the times in some way or the other, advertising are all about persuasion. Marketers constantly want to pursue their consumers to use their products. Successful ads are only ones that achieve this goal of persuasion (Graydon & Clark, pp. 23-41). Experts have identified many components of persuasion. For example, Authority, bonding, deception, evidence, distraction, exchange, interest, involvement, repetition, similarity, social proof, push pull, consistency, etc (MacRury, pp. 36-74). Advertisers usually begin their process by creating an unknown or unconscious need within the minds of consumers, then they try to make sense with the social needs to the customers and lastly, the load their ads with catchy and heavy words and phrases. The huge chunks of the advertising costs are usually the costs related to media promotions. These decisions not only are expensive but also are also tricky and involve a great deal of research and risk. All these concerns regarding media are usually covered by making a comprehensive media plan, which usually has three major components or steps. During the first stage, marketers define their marketing problem, goals and objectives (Graydon & Clark, pp. 23-41). The second stage involves translating those results into attainable and understandable media objectives. Firms usually ask questions related to mass or niche marketing and identifying their target market during this stage. During the third and the most comprehensive stage of media plan, marketers generally decide upon a media solution by formulating media policies for the project (MacRury, pp. 36-74). They also decide upon the advertising media. More importantly, the also decide upon some important factors such as reach, frequency, cost per thousand, cost per consumer, impact, selectivity, customer psychographics and others. Works Cited Graydon, Shari, & Clark, Warren. Made you look: how advertising works and why you should know. Annick Press, 2003. Kelley, Larry D., & Jugenheimer, Donald W. Advertising media planning: a brand management approach. M.E. Sharpe, 2004. MacRury, Iain. Advertising. Routledge, 2009. Petley, Julian. Advertising. Black Rabbit Books, 2003. Wells, William, Burnett, John, & Moriarty, Sandra Ernst. Advertising: principles & practice. Prentice Hall, 2003. Read More