Advertisement and Marketing Communication - Term Paper Example

Advertisement and marketing communication Introduction The intention of any firm in advertising is to persuade the intended audience to purchase the products of the same firm (Kirkpatrick, 2007). Although this is the central focus of the firms, critics of advertisements have raised issues such as the hyper-commercialization of products. In Gray and Andersen (2008), braded entertainment and including the advertisements in the mainstream media are the issues that have been raised. This paper discuses some of the problematic issues with the VIP Electronic Cigarette company’s advertisement and marketing communication. It also gives an analysis of the modalities that could be used to improve the use of advertisements and marketing communication in general. Discussion The VIP Electronic Cigarette marketing communication is faulted for many reasons that range from social to moral and financial aspects. It is the audiences of these adverts are the same targeted market or the already existing customers. This implies that the information from this marketing communication is consumed and applied by the same audience. Gray and Andersen (2008), notes that placing adverts within the fabric of films causes a significant rise in the level of sales of the firm. As such the spot adverts that were run by the same company within ITV programming could have the same effect. The problem here is not that it could cause the same effect as advertising within a film but the possible negative effect of irritation that it might have on the audience. The audience could possibly be irritated because of the fact that their main interest is the program being aired and not the commercial being shown (Hansen and Christensen2004). As compared to non spot adverts, this marketing communication fails to reach its main target that is a positive evaluation of the product being marketed and the social belief of the targeted audience. The main issue in this aspect is the effect of interruption on the proceeding program. Commercials generally interrupt the viewing of programs and as such will not impress the viewers. A considerable number of viewers would have a negative attitude toward the commercials. The negative attitude of the consumers is also closely linked to the length of a commercial (Woodside 2004). This study also notes that the longer the commercial, the more the consumers are likely to be irritated by the brand name due to the fact that it is delaying their favorite TV programs. This is a source of failure for the VIP Electronic Cigarette commercial apart from the fact that it was not interesting and could not entertain viewers. The result of this is that the viewers are treated as client and prospective customers instead of them sitting back and getting entertained. Another source of failure of the commercial is on the concentration of the audience. This is due to the fact that the commercial’s debut was at the time when Grantchester was being aired. To some the program might not be interesting so they did not watch, to others, the program was more important that they might not have noticed the commercial. As such, the commercial might not reach its target due to concentration issues. Mookerjee et al. (2011), brings in the aspect of children not understanding a commercial. In this aspect, the entire TV audience in the United Kingdom is not purely adult. The consumers of the information comprises of both an adult population and children. The critics of this advert believe that the commercial will encourage non smokers to try out this new idea or even the ad could encourage underage drinking. It is important to note that smoking generally appeals to teenagers. According to Silas et al. (2003), such content and even Hollywood movies could lead to children trying out smoking. The moral obligation of every legal entity is to not to poison the morals and good ethics of the society but participate in upholding these virtues. It is the responsibility of the marketing executive to make decisions that will promote ethics within a society (Pride and Ferrell, 2010). The study also explains that individuals that are charged with marketing should know the influence of their marketing actions and adverts will have on the society (Paul, and Kapoor, 2008, Strydom, 2004). The cost of this marketing communication is also another area that could do with an improvement. According to sources available online the advertisement was to run on television for five weeks. Roy (2009) explains that the cost of airing ads on TV in the United Kingdom could run in to millions. Due to this the ad would not be cost ineffective. Ramprasad (2010) also echoes the social criticism on advertisement that has a possible negative effect on the audience or a section of the audience. Finally, the marketing communication of VIP Electronic Cigarette could have improved on the research on the media of communication (Sahu, and Das, 2003). The choice of the television medium as the most appropriate medium to use is not very appropriate in this case. In Wimmer and Dominick (2011), the importance of research in to the media to be used in advertising will help filter out the issues of ethics in the advertisement process. This study gives an example of the advertisement directed towards children should be channeled and the appropriate techniques to use. In Spielberger (2004), the most important aspect of advertisement is the psychology of the consumers, which influences their attitude and actions. Other aspects that are also discussed in this study are the perception of the advertisement created, and the ability to gain attention of the audience. The level of exposure to the advertisement to the communication and its interpretation is also discussed. In spot advertisement the most important aspect is the ability to capture the attention and expose the audience to the message in the advert (William 1996). In (Dahl 2013) explains that the ability of an advert to be catchy in the opening scenes will lead to the commercial being viewed by the intended audience or the prospecting customer. The study however warns that the costs of such drama and creativity should not be overburdening as the spot TV adverts are generally expensive (Kurtz, 2012). The aspect of attitude which is another basis of analysis a marketing communication is equally important. No marketer wishes to irritate the potential customers with their advertisements and still manage to increase their sales. Attitude is closely linked to the psychology of individual. A marketer needs to understand the general social psychology of a population for effective marketing (OGuinn et al. 2012). The study also indicates that the psychology of an individual is often shaped by beliefs of the same person. Perception of an advertisement is another issue that will affect the effectives of an advertisement campaign. According to Baines, and Fill (2014), the effectiveness of an advert or marketing communication depends on the ability of the consumers to understand the message it contains. In this aspect a person might misunderstand the intention of a commercial and by extension the intent of the advert. Irwin and Wynne (2003), describe an effective advertisement as that which has the intended consumers getting the message clearly and the intent of the same advertiser. Before undertaking an advertisement exercise, there are three form s of analysis that is supposed to be undertaken. These are market analysis, competitor analysis and the analysis the kind of media to be used (Trehan and Trehan 2014, O’Guinn, 2011). From this analysis and research, the marketing executive will then make decisions based on different outcome of the different analysis. There are several issues why the marketing communication strategy adopted by VIP Electronic Cigarette fails to reach its target. First as noted before hand, there must be an analysis at three levels followed by a research into the best possible way to reach the audience and make the communication effective and ethical (Wimmer and Dominick 2011, Sharma Singh, 2009)). If thorough analysis of the market was conducted, then the persons who designed the advert could have realized that it what the liking of the customers was in time before airing the advert. This analysis would also reveal the ongoing trends in trade and policy and prevented the possibility of the advert being frivolous or offensive to the social ethics (Mehta and Purvis, 2006). The other issue that will make the strategy not work is the fact that little or no effort was made on the selection of the media or spot for advertising the products of VIP Electronic Cigarette. In this case the targeted audience for this communication is adults. Targeting the appropriate audience is preferred (Mehra, 2009). Tuten (2008), for instance opines that in web marketing, before sending on adverts to different consumers, it is important to profile them in terms of gender and even geographically. In conclusion, a good marketing communication strategy will involve an analysis of the various aspect of the advertisement. Marketing executive should be keen enough to ensure that they develop and implement good marketing communication plans through research or even consultation (DAmico 1969). 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