help with proj 2 steps 5 and 6 due in 48 hours

Learning objectives

By the end of this chapter you will:

� appreciate the role and scope of communication decisions in marketing strategy; � understand how the communication process works; � be familiar with issues in planning and managing individual elements of the communications

mix; � be aware of developments and trends in promotional strategy.

Introduction

The promotional element of marketing strategy is one of the most potent elements of marketing. Promotion is, of course, one of the 4Ps, but in a broader context the correct term is communications. This involves communicating with a pre-determined audience to elicit a desired response. Understanding the nature andmeaning of this process and its relevance tomarketing objectives and strategy is a prerequisite to communications planning. Promotional expenditure is one of the more difficult areas of marketing to manage well, and considerable money is wasted. The causes of this waste, and how it can be reduced, are the concern of much of this chapter.

Understanding marketing communications

Effective planning of the promotional elements of the marketing mix requires an appreciation of how communication works, which can be summarized by answering these questions: ‘Who says what?’ ‘In what channel?’ ‘To whom?’ ‘And with what effect?’ These questions encapsulate the elements and process of communication, as shown in Figure 7.1.

Implications of the communications process

Figure 7.1 illustrates that communication starts with the sender having a message or a meaning to send to or sharewith an intended audience. To do this the communicator requires encoding of thesemessages or meanings into signs and symbols that incorporate the message or meaning. These can be visual (words and pictures) or oral (speech and other sounds). There are many ways in which the message or

7 Communications strategy

C o p y r i g h t 2 0 1 8 . R o u t l e d g e .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

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meaning can be encoded, but, to be effective, the encoding process needs to be done so that the target audience can readily interpret (decode) the intended meaning. In other words, the encoding process must take into account, and be consistent with, the target audience. An example of its importance is a company that communicates through advertising across international and cultural boundaries. What may be readily understood in one culture may be interpreted in different ways in another. This is discussed more fully in Chapter 17, when we consider global marketing. Suffice to say that inter- national marketers have encountered problems because they have not encoded meanings in a way that allows for accurate understanding on the part of the target audience: for example, the brand name ‘Nova’, a Vauxhall car that was marketed in the UK, would not have been appropriate in the Spanish market, where the name translates as ‘no go’. Even in domestic markets, communication is most effective where symbols used are consistent with the target audience: for example, advertisements aimed at the ‘Yuppie’ market segments so prevalent in the 1980s and early 1990s would now be per- ceived as being brash and inappropriate to the softer, less upfront current lifestyles. Symbols of financially successful young city traders in costly designer wear and driving expensive sports cars are less appropriate now, so encoded messages are being delivered through a variety of media channels to appeal to these segments.

Conventionally, we think of media channels as including television, the Internet, commercial radio, newspapers, magazines and posters. In addition, messages are delivered via a company’s sales force.

Figure 7.1 Model of elements and process of communication

Source: adapted from G. Lancaster and L.C. Massingham (2002), Essentials of Marketing, 4th edn, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill, p. 283.

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A key planning area in marketing communication is media planning. Not only are media one of the major costs in promotional budgets, but a plethora of choices of media, their scheduling and their coverage makes the choice of channels for communicating messages a key one. The receiver is the intended target audience at whom communication is aimed. This audience may

be actual or potential customers. However, organizations may wish to communicate with publics such as financial institutions, shareholders, the local community or government. Irrespective of the target audience, communication requires that the encoded message be decoded by the intended recipient and this decoding process needs to result in the target audience accurately receiving and interpreting the message that the sender intended. A number of factors serve to detract from the accuracy of the decoding process. Receivers often have pre-determined attitudes that influence how they perceive messages: for example, a confirmed left-wing voter will, because of strong attitudes, tend to have expectations about what they will receive in a party political broadcast on behalf of a right-wing party. Because of this, the left-wing receiver will tend only to hear what they ‘expect’ to hear, and will subconsciously add to or remove important meanings when decoding the message. In communication terms, this process is referred to as selective perception and distortion. Only by understanding the decoding process, and factors that affect it, can the sender ensure that messages are received and interpreted as intended. To ascertain that messages have been received and interpreted accurately and have had the intended

effect, another important element is feedback, which may occur in a conversation between two indi- viduals. The sendermight receive feedback through verbal or non-verbal affirmation. Inmuchmarketing communication there is no direct personal contact between sender and receiver, so it is more difficult to gauge how the communication has been received. In managing the process, accurate feedback is important in ascertaining its effectiveness. By measuring this we can determine whether promotional budgets are well spent and if the communication needs to be improved. Noise is anything that serves to reduce the quality of communication that occurs in any part of the

system, as described in Figure 7.1. Selective perception and distortion in the decoding process is an example of noise. A major source of noise in marketing communications is that introduced by other senders ofmessages.We are constantly bombardedwithmessages frommarketers vying for our attention and spending power. Aswell as noise, there are other factors that serve to distract: for example, television advertisers are concerned about viewers ‘zapping’ to another channel with their remote control when advertisements appear during the commercial break. Noise may also appear in the feedback process when, for example, interviewer bias creeps into a market research exercise designed to evaluate the effectiveness of communications. For successful marketing communications, the marketer needs to understand the process of com-

munication. Figure 7.1 is a simplification and is not a communications planning tool. However, it illustrates that for effective communication the sender needs to know the target audience and the purpose of the communication. Messages need to be sent in a way the target audience can interpret as intended. The communicator must send these messages through appropriate media to reach the intended audience and use feedback to monitor audience response and so reduce or counteract noise in the system.

Marketing communications

Having outlined the process of communication, we turn our attention to the elements of planning marketing communication strategies. Promotional elements of the marketing mix must be planned and managed in a systematic and strategic manner to be effective. For marketing communication to become strategic it needs to be planned and implemented so that it is consistent with, and supportive of, overall corporate and marketing strategies. Other elements of the marketing mix often have a strong com- munications element and these are now considered.

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Product communication: for many consumers, products represent symbols denoting characteristics of lifestyles and personality. Packaging, in particular, communicates certain things, such as status, quality, atmosphere and image. A product’s physical properties or brand name can communicate an image.

Place communication: distribution channels can communicate messages to the market: for example, certain distribution channels, such as upmarket stores, may communicate quality and status, whereas others may communicate a particular lifestyle. A retail outlet may communicate messages to the market: for example, untidy shops may create a bad image, whereas well-stocked and well-managed shops may build confidence. Conversely, an untidy shop might communicate that its prices are more economical.

Physical distribution can convey messages. The state of a company’s delivery vehicles may convey a message and companies now pay considerable attention to the livery of their vehicles, as this becomes part of the corporate image.

Prices and communication: as we saw in Chapter 5, particularly for new products, or for brands with which a customer has no previous experience, pricing conveys powerful signals to the market. The price of a product may signal the perceived quality of a product or service. Similarly, regular discounting of brands can lead to consumers forming an image of the brand as inferior.

The communication emphasis of these marketing mix elements illustrates an important point about planning marketing communications: namely, that virtually everything a company does or says can communicate something to the market. Because of this, an effective marketing communications strategy requiresmore than just management of the promotional elements of themix.Marketing communications must be part of an integrated communications strategy with promotional tools being integrated within overall marketing strategies.

Planning marketing communications strategies

Strategic management of marketing communications requires a systematic and ordered approach. A number of approaches that fit these criteria have been developed. Although these approaches vary in their precise detail, there is sufficient commonality between them to propose a generalized framework that is integrated with other elements of marketing strategy. This framework is shown in Figure 7.2. Each of the necessary stages is now discussed.

1 Target audience, marketing strategies and mix elements

Unsurprisingly, effective marketing communications start with the selection of the target audience and the delineation of broad strategies and marketing mix elements designed to achieve objectives in these target markets. We are primarily concerned with communication aimed at customers, but, as we have seen, communications may be aimed at any one or a combination of several target audiences. We have also seen that the specific promotional elements of the marketing mix need to be part of, and consistent with, the communication elements of remaining marketing mix elements. Until the target audience is delineated, it is impossible to proceed in an effective way with remaining elements of the marketing communications planning process.

An example that demonstrates the importance of identifying the target audience for marketing communications is the purchase of a considerable amount of women’s lingerie by men, as gifts for women. Because of this,much of themarketing communications effort of some of the lingeriemarketers is slanted at this important male target audience. This is reflected in the fact that the media selected for advertising is male magazines, and advertising copy and visual content is geared very much to the male psyche.

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2 Behavioural characteristics of target audience

It is not sufficient to simply delineate target audiences; the marketing communicator must also under- stand the target audience as well as the buying decision process. The importance of understanding this process was discussed in Chapter 2. In the context of communication decisions, the stage at which the target audience is in the buying decision process provides important information for planning communication. In the case of the purchase of a new car, communicationwill stimulate the start of the buying process by

encouraging problem or need recognition. In addition, the marketer must understandwhere the customer will search for information about the new car andwhat information they are looking for, as well as who is involved in the purchase process and what the key behavioural and other influences on this decision process might be. If the customer does purchase, the marketer will need to know how the customer feels

Figure 7.2 Steps in planning communication strategies

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about the purchase and take steps to reassure them that they have made the right decision so that they can reduce post-purchase anxiety.

Major car manufacturers take active steps to reduce post-purchase anxiety on the part of customers. For most of us, purchasing a new car is one of themost substantial financial outlays wemake. Because of cost and the wide range of alternatives we have to choose from, it is understandable that, having taken delivery of our new vehicle, we begin to wonder if we made the right choice. Did I get the best possible deal? Is the colour right? Should I have bought a different make or model? To allay these anxieties car marketers use a number of communication tools. A simple but effective one is a follow-up phone call from the dealer two or three days after delivery of a new vehicle to check if the customer is happy and that there are no problems. Another is to send out details of the owners’ club, perhaps with an edition of an owners’ magazine containing stories about satisfied buyers of a similar vehicle.

As mentioned, in addition to understanding how the target market buys and the stage of the buying process theyhave reached, it is important to understandwho is involved in thepurchaseprocess. InChapter2 we saw that we can usefully distinguish between different roles in the buying process: for example, if we are launching a new brand of breakfast cereal, it is important to distinguish between ‘influencers’, ‘deciders’, ‘purchasers’ and ‘users’. All these roles might be embodied in the one target group, but, as we have seen, both in consumer andorganizationalmarkets, these rolesmaybe filled by a range of individuals.

Sometimes it is important to establish the existing preferences and attitudes of the target audience: we are concerned with image, so it might be important to establish the target audience’s current image of the company and its products.

3 Establishment of information needs

Analysis of the target audience helps the marketing communicator to assess the information needs of customers: for example, analysis of search and alternative stages of the buying process should help to establish where the target market looks for information, the degree of reliance on word-of-mouth versus marketer-dominated sources of information and the type of information sought.

4 Determining communication objectives and tasks

Each step in planning a communications strategy helps contribute to the establishment of quantified communication objectives. In the communication process the marketer must determine what effect the communication is intended to achieve, but the problem is that the list of possible communications objectives is endless. Marketing communication objectives are best thought of in the context of what are termed audience response repertoires. These are similar to the stage or stepmodels of buyer behaviour, in that they posit that the buyer passes through a series of stages or steps en route to making purchase decisions. Avariety of such audience response repertoires have been developed. Two of the earliest and best known are Strong’sAIDAmodel,1 Lavidge andSteiner’sHierarchyofEffectsmodel2 andColley’s DAGMARmodel.3 Later, Jones4 suggested thatmarketing communication in general, but advertising in particular, has amuchweaker effect on consumer behaviour that earlier models such as AIDA suggested. Onemodel that reflects his view of aweaker effect for advertising is theATRmodel, which stands for the steps ofAwareness, Trial andReinforcement. Thismodel suggests that advertisingworks by first creating awareness, which may lead to a tentative trial of the advertised product by the customer. Having trialled the product, the customer can then be reinforced or reassured about the purchase through further advertising. These four influential models of how advertising might work are shown in Figure 7.3.

These sequential models of the step-by-step process can be used to help determine appropriate communication objectives, although they need to be interpreted and applied with care; customers need not necessarily always pass through all stages of the various models in the manner prescribed. Factors

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such as nature of purchase, previous experience and time pressure affect the nature and speed of a consumer’s progress through the various stages. By using audience response models, the marketing communicator is able to set communication objectives in terms of what is required to move the target audience through the various steps in the process: for example, in the AIDAmodel, if the target audience is at the early stage of the buying process the primary objective of communication will be to bring the company and its products to the attention of customers. At later stages the objective of marketing communications may be to produce action. We examine these stages of hierarchy models of audience response later when we discuss advertising. As with all objectives, it is important to couch these in quantitative terms whenever possible. This

makes the final stage of measurement and control easier. It also allows preliminary cost estimates to be made regarding research required to meet the objectives, thereby facilitating budget decisions for communication. In setting objectives for marketing communication, it is important to remember that a consumer can rarely bemoved through all response stages by a single promotional campaign. Because of this, like corporate objectives, communication objectives may need to be both long-term and short-term. For many years the British public has been exposed to government-sponsored campaigns aimed at

persuading drivers not to take alcoholic drinks and drive, aimed of course at improving road safety.More recent campaigns have highlighted the effects of taking drugs and driving. In recent years, most of the money spent on these campaigns has gone on television advertising around the Christmas period for drink-driving and throughout the year for taking drugs and driving. Increasingly, the campaigns have been designed to shock viewers by using graphic images of the possible results of drinking and driving, including death and injury, social approbation or imprisonment. Unfortunately, many people are still not deterred and continue to drink and take drugs and drive. Does this mean that the advertising is not working and the government would be better spending this money in other ways?Youwill no doubt have your own views, but the advertiser, in this case a government department, has to appreciate that advertising often works slowly.

5 Determining the communications budget

Having decided communication objectives we are in a position to determine the budget required to meet those objectives. A budgeting method that is often used is to take a percentage of sales, either current or projected. This represents a simple way of setting budgets for communication. However, the problem is that communication budgets will be high when sales are high and low when sales are low, which is not logical.

Figure 7.3 Examples of audience response repertoires

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Another approach is to set the budget at the same level as that of the competition, or at least on a pro rata basis using market share. The problem here is that this assumes that competitors have similar objectives and strategies and are budgeting effectively in the first place. Neither might be the case.

Setting clear and quantified objectives for communication allows us to determinewhat tasks need to be done to achieve these objectives and allows these to be costed. Thismethod is referred to as the ‘objective and task’ approach.

6 Determining the promotional mix: allocation of tasks

This stage of communications planning requires decisions to be made on allocation of communication tasks, and relates the budget to the variety of promotional tools available to a company. Communication tools are embodied in all elements of the marketing mix. However, in the promotional area of the mix, marketers distinguish between a number of promotional tools (termed promo-tools). Collectively these elements are referred to as the communications mix, which encompasses the following:

1 Advertising: paid for non-personal promotion of ideas, goods or services through print media, broadcasting, TV, outer packaging and inserts, cinema, posters and leaflets, billboards, display signs, point-of-sale (POS) displays, the Internet, logos and symbols.

2 Sales promotion: incentives that stimulate purchase of products and services by consumers or the trade: for example, coupons, samples, demonstrations, contests, trade allowances, premium offers, low-interest finance, entertainment, trade fairs and exhibitions and competitions.

3 Public relations and publicity: promotion and protection of company image and products through press releases, ‘in-house’ company magazine, company reports and lobbying persons who might influence events, such as Members of Parliament.

4 Sponsorship: where the company’s name is displayed in support of a particular event or cause. 5 Personal selling: verbal sales presentations aimed at prospective purchasers to make sales, but also

including sales meetings, incentive programmes and provision of samples. 6 Direct marketing: post, telephone, email, Internet and fax to communicate directly with potential

customers: for example, mail shots, fax, voicemail and telemarketing. 7 Eventsmarketing: sponsored activities intended to create brand interactions: for example, sports and

entertainment events, cultural activities and festivals. 8 Interactive marketing: online activities that connect with customers or prospects to improve image,

raise awareness or generate sales: for example, email, TV shopping, intranet and Internet websites.

9 Word-of-mouth communications: oral, written or electronic communications relating to experiences of purchasing and using particular products or services, an example being recommendations from friends to dine at a particular restaurant.

Each of the communications tools has advantages and disadvantages which, together with the precise nature of the communication tasks, means the marketing decision-maker should be able broadly to determine the most appropriate mix: for example, advertising, sales promotion and publicity are usually the most cost-effective tools at the buyer awareness stage, more so than ‘cold calls’ from sales repre- sentatives. Advertising produces comprehension. Buyer conviction is influenced by personal selling and supplemented by advertising. Placing an order is usually, but not always, a function of the sales call with assistance from sales promotion. Additional factors influencing this decision include:

� company objectives and resources; � the stage in the product lifecycle;

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� competitor considerations; � type or product market.

At the extremes of fast-moving consumer goods versus capital and industrial goods the promotional mix differs, with emphasis switching from a non-personal, advertising-dominated promotional mix for fast-moving consumer goods to one dominated by personal selling in capital and industrial goods. This is unsurprising, as organizational buying involves purchasing large volumes and technical products. Organizations are less susceptible to ‘glitzy’ advertising and want to negotiate on a personal face-to-face basis, but this does not mean that advertising should be discounted. We know, for instance, that in industrial markets advertising helps substantially to augment the effectiveness of personal selling by increasing awareness of a company and its products, thereby reducing the dif- ficulty and costs of selling ‘cold’ to customers. It is not simply a choice between advertising and personal selling or a combination of these. There is also a wide range of effective promotional tools to choose from, and more proactive marketers are constantly searching for improved ways to promote products and services. In this constant search for new and effective promotional tools we have seen the development of more

direct ways formarketers to communicate with their target audience. So rapid and far-reaching have been these forms of promotion that the direct marketing element of the promotional mix is as important as the tradition elements of advertising, sales promotion, PR and personal selling. Direct marketing includes a number of dynamic and innovative tools of marketing communication and is set to continue to grow in importance as an element of the promotional mix. We shall, therefore, be considering this relative newcomer to the communicationsmix tools inmore detail inChapter 10. In commonwith the other broad categories of promotion, direct marketing includes the promotional tools of direct mail, telemarketing and Internet or e-marketing.

7 Implementing the promotional mix

Having determined how communication tasks are to be allocated between different elements of the promotional mix, the next step is to develop detailed action programmes for each promotional tool being used. This entails the development of advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, directmarketing and publicity programmes. These need to be co-ordinated one with another and with other elements of the marketing mix. Often, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity programmes will be developed and implemented with an outside agency, so careful selection and briefing of an agency are essential. Planning and implementing each area of the promotional mix requires a detailed understanding of the

issues and steps involved, and we investigate these later. The management of personal selling and direct marketing are discussed in Chapters 8 and 10 respectively.

8 Measurement, control and feedback

The last stage of effective communication management is concerned with the measurement of how effective the communication has been against pre-determined objectives and standards. Evaluating effectiveness is difficult, but with such substantial expenditure close control is important. According to how effective the communication programme has been, some readjustment may be necessary. Measurement and control should not simply assess the extent to which communication objectives have been met but should also provide reasons for variances such as advertising expenditure not producing sales that had been forecasted. This information can then be used to adjust the communications programme.

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In the remainder of this chapter and in Chapters 8, 9 and 10 we examine in more detail the strategic management of each of the fivemajor promotional tools – advertising, sales promotion, publicity and PR, personal selling and direct marketing.

Casper Harnesses

Looking to the future in 2017, there are exciting new trends in customer service technology. One example is Insomnobot3000. This chatbot has been created by sleep specialists Casper. The company sells mattresses and sleep-related products, and even host a yearly sleep symposium on how to catch the best 40 winks.

Insomnobot is a free chatbotwho is awake only between the hours of 11pm and 5am.He is super happy to have someone to keep him company during those long wakeful hours. Text from your mobile phone with whatever’s on your mind, and get sage advice or at least commiseration! He will even spark up conversation himself, so you don’t feel like the relationship is too one-sided. Clever and shareable, this approach gives Casper a bank of mobile numbers to send promotions and information to. As 75% of consumers look more favourably on a brand which is proactive in sending offers and notifications, this is smart as, rather than simply asking visitors to provide data, think of clever and innovative ways to find out more about your customers.

Advertising

Perhaps one of the most visible promotional tools we think of is advertising. Partly because of this high visibility, advertising is also one of the most controversial elements of the promotional mix. Some believe that much advertising is a waste of money or immoral. We start by examining what advertising is (and is not) before looking at how it works. Our main concern is how advertising can be managed so it is cost effective and helps support both overall and marketing communication strategies.

What is advertising?

Anumber of elements distinguish advertising fromother tools of promotion and at the same time indicate its key characteristics. These key elements are:

� Non-personal: unlike personal selling, advertising affords no direct personal contact with the customer. Although this is a limitation, especially in industrial markets, it means that the advertiser has less control over what is said and to whom.

� Paid for by an identified sponsor: advertising is directly sponsored and paid for by the advertiser. It is intended to create a favourable response on the part of the consumer and is identified as being for commercial or organizational gain on the part of the sponsor.

� Promotion of ideas, goods or services: the word ‘promotion’ rather than ‘selling’ is used; although some advertising is intended to create a sale in its own right, such as in classified advertising or some forms of directmarketing,most advertising is only part of the process ofmoving consumers nearer to making a purchase. A distinguishing characteristic of advertising compared with personal selling and to some extent direct marketing is that it is normally aimed at a mass audience through mass communication.

In the case of commercial advertisers, the objective of spending on advertising is to increase sales and profit. However, we must be careful not to exaggerate the power of advertising in this respect, as

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advertising is but a part of the communicationsmix; and the communicationsmix, in turn, is a component of overall marketing strategy. This point is best evidenced, albeit negatively, by illustrating what advertising cannot do:

� Advertising cannot secure repeat business for a product or service that is not value for money. � Advertising cannot remove problems of insufficiently trained or motivated sales staff. � Advertising cannot work if the brand is not in stores when the consumer wants it.

Advertising is only powerful when it, and the rest of the communication and marketing strategy, is well planned, implemented and integrated through integrated marketing communications (IMC), in which communications andmessages are carefully linked so that they work in consistent harmony rather than in isolation, as their sum is greater than their individual parts. This means that communications tools such as direct marketing, media advertising, interactive/Internet marketing, sales promotion, publicity/ public relations and, as Mulhern5 illustrates, increasingly these days digital communication are planned as an integratedwhole to providemaximumcommunications impact by being clear and consistent. There are other levels of integration, namely:

� horizontal (across the marketing mix and also business functions such as finance, production and distribution);

� vertical (so communications objectives support higher-level corporate objectives); � internal (keeping company staff informed about new developments such as new corporate identity,

better service standards and new strategic partners); � external (ensuring that external partners such as PR and advertising agencies work together to

deliver a cohesive, integrated message); � data integration (where sales, direct mail and advertising help each other; this requires a marketing

information system that collects and shares relevant data across different departments.

IMCmeans that thewhole organizationworks together and everyone is conscious that their decisions and actions sendmessages to customers. Furthermore, viewing sales as the objective for advertising is narrow and limiting from a planning perspective. Smith et al.6 suggest that it is particularly important to integrate communications at the marketing–sales interface. In discussing what advertising is (and is not) it is important to recognize that the term ‘advertising’ covers many different types of activity; we can dis- tinguish between retail advertising, trade advertising and consumer advertising. Similarly, we can cat- egorize different types of advertising according to objectives. The objectives of consumer advertising might be to create preference for a specific brand; that of retail

advertising to create traffic through a store; manufacturers’ trade advertising might be to encourage dealers to stock a product, announce important forthcoming price deals or new product launches, or simply to increase trade confidence and loyalty. With government advertising, objectives can vary from presenting public information to exhortations to behave or vote in a certain way. Newspapers provide classified advertising, from announcements such as births, deaths and marriages to the sale of products and services. One of the most useful ways of distinguishing between broad categories of advertising is on the basis

of the intended communication effect. In this way we can distinguish between three main categories:

1 Informative advertising is particularly relevant when a company wants to tell the market about a new product, suggest new ways of using an existing product or inform the market of changes to the product such as price changes.

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2 Persuasive advertising is used to build up a brand following or encourage customers to switch brands, or to attempt to change unfavourable attitudes that potential customers might have towards a product or company.

3 Reminder advertising is aimed at maintaining brand loyalty. It can also be used to encourage former customers who have ceased to buy to return.

An example of the widening scope and application of advertising is the continuous advertising campaign to attract new recruits to the police force in theUK. TheHomeOffice use nationwide television advertising to attract new recruits. National campaigns are backed upwith newspaper advertisements and promotional techniques such as open days. An example from the USAwas California State Highway Patrol’s ‘click-it or ticket’ campaign, which explained the risks involved in not using a seat belt.

Building unique brands is crucial to ensuring competitiveness and differentiation from competing brands, butmechanisms for ensuring consistency are needed. Lee et al.7 undertook a survey of companies operating in the consumer goods sector and found that firms are more likely to build brands with high levels of uniqueness and awareness when their brand has formal company support to maximize performance.

Ethics in advertising is an increasingly important consideration to manufacturers, service providers and customers. In this area Snyder8 has produced a contemporary text based on the rules of the Institute for Advertising Ethics that provides useful examples and a comprehensive guide as to the dilemmas that the industry faces.

How advertising works: behavioural models of advertising

Given the plethora of types of advertising and the underlying complexity of behavioural issues involved, it is not surprising that there exist many conflicting views as to how advertising works. From our per- spective, the reason for attempting to understand how it works is to improve our planning, implemen- tation and control of this element of promotion. In this respect, audience response repertoire models have proved to be the most fruitful.

The four examples of possible audience response repertoire shown in Figure 7.3 –AIDA,Hierarchy of Effects, DAGMAR and the ATR models – are designed to explain how advertising, or more generally communication, works.We can see from these that the precise nature and number of steps varies, but their essence is basically the same. Specifically, they all suggest that advertising, as an element of marketing communications, works by nudging the audience through a series of steps or stages in the buying process en route to making a purchase decision. The AIDA and Hierarchy of Effects models suggest that good advertising can potentially exert a powerful effect on customers, creating, in the case of the AIDAmodel, ‘desire’ and ‘action’, and in the Hierarchy of Effects and DAGMAR models ‘conviction/desire’ and ‘purchase/action’. The ATR model, although based on a step-by-step process, suggests that even where advertising is effective it is much weaker, serving only to encourage ‘trial’ and/or create ‘reinforcement’. Rogers’9 product adoption model adds to these models when he cites the stages as:

� awareness; � interest; � evaluation; � trial; � adoption.

By understanding these steps, and knowingwhere our target audience currently is in the sequence,we can better plan, implement and control advertising decisions. Adoptionmodels have proved to be particularly

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robust and useful to marketers and are still widely used, including in product markets as diverse as the adoption of mobile shopping in Korea (Ko et al.10) and the adoption of Internet banking in Estonia (Eriksson et al.11). These models suffer from the fact that they are not based on empirical evidence. In other words, they

represent hypothetical constructs which may or may not reflect reality. It is true that many lack any empirical support, although others have been extensively tested, and, on the basis of this, subsequently developed and refined. Evidence, however, is mixed. Certainly some consumers pass through the stages shown in the models, but not always. Palda12 has criticized the hierarchy model, suggesting that con- sumers may first purchase a product and then become convinced about its value. These models are also difficult to translate into practice because although they may point to a level in the hierarchy at which advertising should be aimed, it is still necessary to develop a specific campaign.Many of themodels lack detail as to how best to achieve an objective. Refinements to some, such as the DAGMAR model, are attempts to operationalize hierarchy models further. However, there remain difficulties associated with measurement, as conceptual problems are still associated with constructs such as awareness, conviction and preference. In addition, some believe that these models focus on the wrong dimensions. Specifically, it is argued, sales and not communication effects are the underlying objective of advertising; in the absence of a direct andmeasurable relationship between awareness or attitudes and sales, themodels tend to focus attention on objectives which may not be related to sales. Smith et al.13 review the various hierarchy models with particular relevance to creativity in advertising. An interesting criticism is that these models tend to restrict creativity in advertising by over-specifying

what has to be achieved. Certainly, many practitioners and writers on advertising subscribe to the view that the creative element, which effectively establishes and sells the brand image and appeals to the emotions, is the most important element of successful advertising. It is safest to say that the arguments remain unresolved. Certainly we have gone some way to

understanding the complex process of how advertisingworks and how tomanage itmore effectively. The stance taken here is that the models are useful provided they are applied and interpreted with care.

Managing advertising: campaign planning

The following represent the six basic elements of managing advertising effort:

� identification of the target audience; � determination of clear, realistic and measurable objectives for advertising; � determination of the advertising budget; � message selection and creative platform; � media selection and scheduling; � control and evaluation of advertising effectiveness.

External factors also need to be taken into account, including social and legal constraints, the attitudes and ideas of the advertising agency, competitors and customers (particularly their needs and motives). This wider framework for advertising decisions is shown in Figure 7.4. Identification of target audience: this is the first step in planning advertising campaigns. Much of

what follows in campaign planning stems from this essential step. Together with overall marketing and promotional objectives, the target audience determines creative context, media planning and scheduling. Frequently used methods of defining target markets include demographic factors of age, sex, income

and social class. However, particularly useful for advertising decisions are the more behavioural/ psychological bases: for example, the ACORN system, discussed in Chapter 3, and newer ‘lifestyle’ approaches to classifying target markets. This is because these bases give us a fuller, richer description of

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targetmarkets, encompassing not just consumer characteristics such as age and sex but also personalities, spending habits, attitudes, interests and opinions. Where information on these aspects is not available, market research will be required to establish a full profile of target customers.

Setting advertising objectives: once we have determined the target audience for advertising we need to determine what advertising is intended to achieve with that audience. In broad terms, using the earlier classification of types of advertising, it might be intended to inform, persuade or remind. While this might be useful in beginning to delineate the reasons and role of advertising in the overall marketing and communications mix, these broad classifications are not a sufficient guide to the next steps in the advertising management and campaign planning process. Ideally, we need to specify precise com- munication goals for advertising. This is where models of the sequences in buyer behaviour related to communication are useful. For example, Colley’s DAGMAR model translates into some 52 possible communication goals for advertising. Notwithstanding the controversy over these models, they are

Figure 7.4 Managing advertising: a systematic approach

Source: adapted from D.A. Aaker and J.G. Myers (1982), Advertising Management, 2nd edn, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, p. 30.

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helpful in setting specific objectives for advertising, couched in terms of objectives for communication designed to move customers through the buying stages. These objectives should, whenever possible, be defined in quantitative terms and specify a time-scale. Determining advertising budgets: earlier we discussed some of the approaches to setting the overall

budget for marketing communications, together with factors that would determine the allocation of this overall budget to the individual elements of the promotional mix. Having gone through the process of broadly determining the thrust or emphasis of promotional strategy between the different promotional tools, we should have at least a preliminary idea as to how much of the total budget will be allocated to advertising. However, at this stage we need to refine this process to arrive at a precise advertising budget. In fact, the advertising budget can be arrived at on the same variety of bases as the overall budget for communications: that is, based on percentages of sales and/or profits, on competitors’ spend or on the objective and task method. Once again, the only justifiable method is the objective and task approach, as this is distinctly advantageous when setting clear and quantified communication objectives for advert- ising in the preceding stage. With a thorough understanding of what the advertising objectives are, these can be translated into

specific tasks for advertising, and in turn those tasks can be costed in conjunction with the advertising agency. Deciding on the message/creative platform: this is an area which potentially has the greatest impact

on the success or failure of an advertising campaign. Unfortunately, it is an area that generates contro- versy as to what makes a successful creative advertisement. The basic direction for the creative pro- gramme is provided by product strategy that defines the market position towards which (for consistency) the product is to be directed. Advertising objectives are the second vital input to the creative programme. They influence both what the advertising says and the manner in which it is presented. The third input to the creative programme is information developed in the consumer, product and market analysis. In particular, the creative programme should be based on a clear description of the characteristics of the target consumer and the problem that the consumer is trying to solve. It also depends on information about the product to be advertised and detailed information about competitive products. It is here that the manufacturer and the advertising agency have to decide what the advantages of the

product are when compared with those of its competitors’ products. Is it less expensive? Is it of better quality? Is it smaller or larger? Does it have new features? Does it offer a new experience? Does the product have several outstanding advantages to offer the consumer? If it has one truly outstanding feature that can be exploited in the advertising, this is the unique selling point or proposition (USP). In developing a creative programme the advertiser must determine the content of the message.

Advertising content serves the advertiser by carrying out the strategy and objectives set for the product. The content serves the consumer by providing information about solving problems. In addition to deciding what is to be said, the programmes must also consider how it is to be said. The creative pro- gramme must determine how the advertising will be produced. The advertiser faces difficult choices in weighing up the promise or appeal. It has been suggested that

the advertiser should use rational appeals when their prospects face utilitarian problems. Emotional appeals, on the other hand, work best when problems are social or psychological. Controversial but widely used types of emotional appeal are those based on creating fear or shock in the target audience. These have been used in campaigns as diverse as trying to reduce the spread of AIDS, protecting children from cruelty/abuse, promoting anti-smoking messages and even the marketing of Benetton’s fashion clothing. Some believe that, with the advent of reality TV-type programmes, advertising has lost its power to shock. On the other hand,Williams14 suggests that, usedwith care, shock advertising still works today. Opree et al.15 examined the relationship between advertising exposure and life satisfaction and the mediating roles of psychological wellbeing and its underlying dimensions. Their study involved 1,133 eight- to twelve-year-olds. Analysis revealed that personal growth and autonomy acted as positive

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mediators and purpose in life was a negative mediator in relation to advertising exposure and life satisfaction.

Think about the promotion of household cleaning products such as polishes and detergents. Often the advertising approach is to extol the cleaning properties or ease of application of the brand. Increasingly, advertising agencies are using less of an intuitive, subjective approach to developing the creative content of advertisements. Instead, they are turning to a range of market research tools designed to improve the design of creative content based on careful and systematic research. It is over 40 years since one of the most successful advertisers, Leo Burnett,16 advocated using in-depth interviewing techniques to provide information on a suitable copy platform. This is a written statement of creative strategy that specifies work to be done before writing the advertisement. Similarly, in the 1960s Maloney17 developed a framework for designing advertising copy content based on encouraging representative target customers to associate with the type of reward or benefit they expected or hoped to get from having either used or consumed the product or service in question, or from an aspect of the product or brand in question that was ‘incidental’ to the usage experience. For example, we can appreciate that a major benefit of using ‘real’ ground coffee instead of instant for dinner guests is the feeling that we are making a special effort for them. Put another way, making real coffee makes us feel better about ourselves. Many leading brands of non-instant coffee use ideas like this in their creative content.

Determining media selection and scheduling: this element of advertising management should be prepared concurrently with the budget decision. A wide variety of media vehicles are available to the advertiser. Media planning is made easier by adherence to the preceding steps in the advertising man- agement programme. Overall marketing strategy, advertising objectives, budgets and creative strategy serve to delineate and point to the required media strategy, which is determined by the target audience.

A four-step media planning approach proposes:

1 definition of media requirements, specifying the target audience, required exposure, creative requirements of the media and budget available;

2 selection of media to be used against media requirements; 3 selection of specific media vehicles utilizing media requirements to gauge their potential

effectiveness; 4 specifying time length of advertisements and scheduling their appearance.

With such a variety it is difficult for a non-specialist to decide which media are best suited to a particular campaign. There is considerable competition between media to provide a service to advertisers. Most media owners publish information about their media and its coverage/audience. We examine sources of such information shortly, but, generally, media selection requires asking and answering a number of questions:

� To whom is the appeal to be directed and what kind of appeal should be made? On the basis of decisions made, the media department (usually in the advertising agency) will begin to examine the characteristics of available media.

� Towhat extent are variousmedia categories and vehicles appropriate for reaching the target audience and the particular appeal selected?

� What is the credibility of the various media vehicles?

Having drawn up a shortlist of various media that appear to be suitable for a campaign, the media buyer must consider which one is the ‘best buy’. It is rare for only one medium to be selected and usually the best results are obtained by using a combination. When the media buyer prepares the shortlist, he or she will prepare a cost comparison. This will be based on rates issued bymedia owners. A summary showing

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the cost per thousand readers or viewers in the ‘target’market for each of the media will be submitted to the advertiser with the agency’s advice. At this stage, a decision will be taken. There has been a trend towards ‘media shops’ or media agencies (essentially different names for the

same thing). Before the arrival of these independents, agencies had to run their own media depart- ments. These media independents book space or time and specialize in this kind of work. An agency has to consider whether using a media shop gives a better service or whether to integrate the function in-house. Advertising agencies are paid by the media on the basis of a percentage (between 10 per cent and

25 per cent and an average of 15 per cent) of advertising expenditure that the advertising agency places with themedia. The agency’s client agrees the advertising budget, advertising copy andmessagewith the agency, and the agency receives commission from the media based on the advertising spend (often more than £10 million for a major campaign). Advertising is commonly referred to as ‘above-the-line’ promotion (ATL). This is where mass media such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines and the Internet are used to promote brands, and advertising agencies receive commission for placing their clients’ advertising. On the other hand, ‘below-the-line’ promotion (BTL) refers to elements of pro- motion where the agency receives a fee from the client rather than commission from themedia to provide services such as distributing pamphlets, product demonstrations and point-of-sales promotion. Recog- nition of the agency is needed in the UK from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) before commission can be paid, so non-recognized advertising agencies cannot draw commission. In other countries, similar organizations to the IPA exist with similar ‘recognition’ rules. A number of research sources and tools are available to help in the task of media planning and buying.

Some of these are provided by the media owners and the more important of these UK- and European- based sources are outlined below. British Rate and Data (BRAD) gives information on issue date and price, copy date, circulation,

mechanical data and the advertising rates of:

1 national daily newspapers; 2 national Sunday newspapers; 3 provincial daily newspapers; 4 London and provincial newspaper groups; 5 weekly newspapers; 6 consumer publications; 7 trade, technical and professional publications.

Advertising rates and other relevant information are included on:

1 television; 2 radio; 3 posters; 4 transportation; 5 cinema; 6 telephone directory advertising; 7 local free distribution papers; 8 house-to-house distribution.

Media Expenditure Analysis Limited (MEAL) produces a monthly report covering product groups within product categories and providing analysis of advertising expenditure by category, product group and brand, product description and expenditure via press and television.

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British Audience Research Bureau (BARB) measures TV audiences in the UK by monitoring a sample of 4,500 homes using a special meter installed in each household. The meter records which stations are turned on and, using a remote control unit, a record is made of who is watching the pro- grammes at any point in time. This data is then downloaded from monitors direct to BARB for analysis. BARB provides a monthly chart involving the top programmes as well as publishing a weekly top ten of the most popular programmes. In addition, it publishes weekly regional lists of the top programmes and the monthly ratings share of each channel.

Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), established in 1992, measures and analyses radio audi- ences in the UK.

Cinema and Video Industry Research (CAVIAR) produces statistics on cinema and video audiences. TheNational BusinessReadership Survey is commissioned by theFinancial Times and the results are

published at six-monthly intervals. Its purpose is to help in the planning of advertising aimed at business people in the UK.

Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC):most large publishers belong to theABC, towhich their auditors return sales figures. The Bureau has the right to investigate these figures, and random checks are made. The Bureau issues an ABC Certificate at the end of each half year. This gives the ABC figures for publication in the Circulation Review, issued as a supplement to British Rate and Data (BRAD). ABC also measures and verifies website traffic.

The Commission Luxembourgoise pour l’Ethique en Publicit�e (CLEP)was officially relaunched on 20 May 2009 as the Luxembourgish self-regulatory advertising organization, which had been restruc- tured according to the Best Practice Recommendations of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA). As the CLEP had been inactive for several years, a project was initiated in 2008 to restructure and relaunch the advertising watchdog. This was done with the support of EASA and the Belgian self- regulatory advertising organization, Jury voor Ethische Praktijken inzake Reclame/Jury d’Ethique Publicitaire (JEP).

Once these planning stages have been completed, advertising is produced and media booked. Normally, both planning and production of advertising will be done in conjunction with an advertising agency.

Evaluating and controlling advertising: given the importance and expense of advertising, it is vital to assess its effectiveness. This is where the importance of setting clear and quantified objectives comes in. Whenwe discussed objectives for advertising, it was suggested that although sales and profitsmay be the ultimate reason for advertising in profit-making organizations, there are difficulties in relating these to advertising. Because of this, it was suggested that advertising objectives be set in communication terms: for example, increasing recognition and brand awareness. Advertising and creative/copy content must be evaluated before as well as after the campaign. An overview of research techniques for pre-testing and post-testing advertisements is now set out.

An evaluation programme begins by defining elements from the advertising budget, the media pro- gramme and the creative programme. An ‘effectiveness evaluation procedure’ is designed for each element. This includes specification of a standard as a base for comparison; when actual performance is measured it is compared to the standard to determine whether or not performance is satisfactory. Budget evaluation methods involve the sort of standards and control applied to any financial budget: namely, measuring and evaluating any differences between planned and actual spend. Perhaps, as with most budgets, the tendency is to overspend. Reasons for this in the context of advertising can include: overruns on production costs, delays in casting or filming and unforeseen competitor actions. With regard to the media programme element, we might establish standards with regard to required media reach and fre- quency: that is, the number of target customers who have an opportunity to see the campaign and on how many occasions it has been seen. With regard to the creative programme, this can be evaluated against more qualitative measures, such as the ability to recall or changes in attitude.

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For each programme element to be evaluated, the evaluation programme should specify the measure- ment technique to be used: for example, media audience measurement evaluates the effectiveness of media programmes, recognition and recall tests measure the effectiveness of individual advertisements, and techniques such as consumer and retail audits measure the effectiveness of overall campaigns. Media audience measures were mentioned earlier. As we saw, many of the audience measurement

systems are run by independent bodies and, for obvious reasons, not by the advertising industry itself. Measures of audience figures essentially assess how many might potentially be exposed to an advert- isement, howmany actually did see it and on howmany occasions. Media is priced and purchased on the basis of figures such as these, so they are important. Increasingly the various audiencemeasurement bodies are adding qualitative assessments of their target audiences to themore quantitative ones. Recognition and recall tests have long been used to measure and evaluate advertising effectiveness. Recognition tests are based on simply asking respondents if they recognize a brand and/or its advertising. For example, a photograph of a brand or advertisement may be shown to a respondent without the brand name being visible. The respondent is asked to identify the brand in question. If this is done with respondents pre- and post-advertising we obtain a measure of the effectiveness of advertising in aiding brand recognition. Recall tests are more involved than recognition tests and ask respondents exposed to the advertising

being evaluated what they can ‘recall’ about the advertising. Clearly, this is a much sterner test of the effectiveness of a campaign than simply measuring recognition. Recall tests may be aided, where the respondent is given some kind of prompt; or unaided, where the respondent must rely totally on their memory. Both recall and recognition tests are used widely by advertisers to assess a wide range of factors. Recall tests in particular are usefulwhen assessing the effectiveness of the creative content of promotion.18

Consumer and retail audits are aimed at measuring the sales effect of advertising. In the case of retail audits the measure is of the effect of advertising on moving products into and out of retailers. Consumer audits measure the pattern of purchases by the customer, often using participants who agree to record and report the products and brands they have purchased during the week. Techniques ofmeasuring and evaluating advertising are quite sophisticated.We nowknowmuchmore

about what to measure and how to do this, increasingly through the use of electronic systems for col- lecting and analysing information. McAlister et al.19 state that advertising can elaborate a firm’s differentiation into brand equity and build

value. However, it cannot build brand equity for a cost leader because such a firm has no point of difference onwhich to build. Identifying differentiators and cost leaders on the basis of firms’ reactions to a change in accounting regulations, the authors confirm that advertising is related to sales for all firms, but it is more strongly related to firm value for differentiators than for cost leaders.

There are three rules when it comes to objective-setting: 1. Be specific; 2. Include real figures; 3. Commit to achievable timeframes. Define specific goals: ‘More Business’ is a good place to start, but if you can bemore specific, it will help you to put together more effectivemarketing ideas that will make a bigger difference, quicker. Think: do you want to attract new customers?Would it be better to tempt existing customers to come back more often? Does it make more sense to try to encourage each customer to spend more each time? Goals affect what you might do. Imagine you run a caf�e bar. Attracting more customers might lead you to creating new signage, or a local leaflet campaign, or online ads based on local geographic searches. To get customers to visit more often, you might think about a loyalty card. Getting customers to spend more might require redesigning menus or offering discounts on snacks bought with drinks.

Source: American Express, 2017.

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Developments in advertising research and practice

Advertising concepts and methods represent one of the most dynamic areas of marketing. The impor- tance of advertising, coupled with the resources devoted to this area, have meant that it is an aspect of marketing that attracts considerable research attention to extend our knowledge and management expertise.We are constantly increasing our knowledge about how advertisingworks (and does not work) to manage advertisingmore effectively. In addition to developing this knowledge, advertising is affected by trends and changes in macro-environmental factors, particularly technological trends and changes. Some of the more important developments and trends are now discussed.

The notion of brand equity

Kotler and Keller20 define brand equity as the added value endowed to products and services through individual elements of the communications mix, especially advertising. This is explained graphically in Figure 7.5. The arrows from each element that forms the marketing communications programme and brand equity respectively illustrate that each of these is an integral part of the box they are joined to.

The marketing communications programme delivers communications tactics in relation to the brand shown on the left-hand side. This imparts more abstract impressions about the brand to consumers, such as feelings about the brand, loyalty towards the brand, brand image, brand relationships and awareness of the brand. The most powerful brands, therefore, have a strong brand equity comprising elements on the right-hand side of Figure 7.5. The diagram also helps reinforce the notion of integrated marketing communications, discussed earlier. Each of the different communication tools potentially conveys something, positive or negative, about a brand to a customer, thereby adding to (if positive) or detracting

Figure 7.5 Marketing communications and brand equity

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from (if negative) the standing of the brand (its equity) in the eyes of the customer. For example, the customer may be exposed to an advertising campaign for a brand which he or she finds interesting and amusing. As a result, brand awareness is increased and a favourable brand image created. These add to the equity of the brand by increasing the opportunity of making a sale or increasing brand loyalty. However, if, persuaded by the amusing advertising, a customer visits the company website intending to find out more about the brand, but, in so doing, finds the website unattractive and difficult to negotiate, then the value of the brand in the eyes of the customer is diminished. Therefore, each and every element of the promotional mix affects the standing of the brand in the eyes of the customer.

The proliferation of advertising and advertising clutter

Increases in availability and types of media, more advertisers and greater advertising spends have contributed to a proliferation of advertising activity and messages. Consumers are inundated with advertising and the result is that it is difficult to gain the attention or interest of consumers, so themessage intended by the advertiser is often lost. This phenomenon, known as clutter or, more technically, information overload, occurs when the number of advertisements to which an audience is exposed reduces interest in, and the capability to receive, any specific message. Kent21 investigated clutter with respect to television advertising on UK network channels. His results showed that television is cluttered with advertisements for directly competing brands and this damaged the ability of target audiences to recall particular advertisements. The suggestion is that advertisers attempting to seek target audiences may be inadvertently compromising the effectiveness of their advertising. The conclusions of this and similar experiments are that highly cluttered times should be avoided and advertisers should negotiate for greater protection against clutter. More contemporary research by Rotfeld22 has taken this research further in terms of providing a partial solution to declining audience attention to advertising. In another study Chen et al.23 researched the effects of information overload on consumers’ subjective state towards buying decisions in the Internet shopping environment. Research by Darley and Smith24 suggests that, according to the ‘selectivity model’, females are

comprehensive information processors who consider both subjective and objective product attributes and respond to subtle cues, but males are selective information processors who tend to use heuristics processing andmiss subtle cues. These predictionswere tested in an experiment wheremales and females listened to either objective or subjective advertising claims for either a low-risk or a moderate-risk product. The results supported the predictions of the selectivity model with the exception that males did not respond more favourably to objective claims.

Direct response television/interactive digital television

Direct response television (DRTV) includes television advertising that asks consumers to respond directly by calling an 0800 number, visiting a website, calling for more information, or visiting a retailer. There are two types of DRTV, short form and long form. Short form is a DRTV commercial that is two minutes or less in length. Long form is longer than two minutes and is known as an infomercial. Long form is used for products that need to educate and create awareness. Research indicates how such advertising works best and how to manage it more effectively. In an early study, Carter25 found that longer DRTVadvertisements were more effective than shorter ones. She also found that advertisements which displayed a telephone number for more than ten seconds were six times as efficient as those that displayed a telephone number for less than ten seconds. A voice-over of the telephone number gave a much better response. Most DRTVexperts now agree that adverts must be at least 60 seconds long, but, surprisingly, compared with conventional TV ads, generally the longer the better.

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DRTV advertising has become popular for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) and some more durable products. Developments in IT have facilitated the growth of two-way communication of tele- vision advertising with target audiences. This is relatively new, but is destined to grow with advances in digital technology and opportunities for application on the Internet.

Zipping, zapping and muting

As television sets have remote control and recording facilities, this has led to phenomena known as zipping, zapping andmuting. Zipping is the term given to the fast-forwarding of advertisements on pre-recorded TV programmes. Zapping is the term used for channel-hopping, and muting is turning down the sound on the set when advertisements are on. Advertisers are worried about these phenomena, as they reduce the effectiveness of advertising spend. However, the effects on advertising are complex. Early research by Gilmore and Secunda26 found that as a repetition of a zipped advertisement increased, so did its recall. However, product recognition and product recall depended on having seen the product advertisement before seeing the zipped advertisement. They concluded that a zipped television advertisement can lead to product retrieval and reinforcement of previously learned information. This recognition and retrieval can have a positive effect on attitudes towards a product. Such findings suggest that extensive research is needed with regard to implications for the marketer.

Rubbermaid

Rubbermaid is a company that supplies a large range of household and industrial products. These include cleaning and storage products, office products, promotional gifts, and much more. This company has run a series of DRTV advertisements for some of their products. One, which runs for just over two minutes, features a storage system for garages called ‘fast track’. Because the advertisement runs for over two minutes there is plenty of time to explain the product and how it works. A run-time of twominuteswould be too expensive to buy on amain television channel, and the properties of the product take time to explain, unlike those of a detergent, so the company uses a specialized digital channel.

‘Compare the Market’ in: Campaign 2016

Compare TheMarket have created a buzz around their ‘Compare theMeerkat’ site, which includes a variety of content including videos and a gamewhere you can comparemeerkats such as Pilotkat and Bellykat. In 2009 the campaign saw the fictional character Aleksandr complain how he kept receiving visitors to his meerkat comparison site who were actually looking for the similarly named insurance comparison website.

While most of the site content is not at all about comparing insurance, if you decide to claim somemuch coveted meerkat merchandise, you will be subtly directed to the ‘Compare theMarket rewards’ page, where you enter your details to enquire about insurance policies.

From launch, the campaign rocketed the brand, with traffic to the website rising 200 per cent year-on-year within the first three months. Comparethemarket.com is now the fourth most visited insurance site within the UK, and ‘Aleksandr the meerkat’ has a best-selling book.

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Whilst meerkats have nothing to do with the finance industry, they have quickly evolved to become the life and soul of this comparison site, helping it stand out from a sea of similarity and establish itself as an original, forward-thinking brand.

Find a quality or USP which makes your business stand out, and develop content around that idea. It can be anything, from your origins to the way you deal with customers, to similarities in your name.

Fragmentation of media

Technology has led to an explosion in the range and types of media available to the advertiser. This is particularly true in television advertising. The growth of satellite and cable television means that audi- ence figures for many programmes are much smaller and often more specialized than they have been previously. While this means that the advertiser can reach fewer potential customers through television advertising, they are able to target selected audiences more accurately. There are many implications of this fragmentation of target audiences: for example, many marketers are moving away from large-scale ‘blockbuster’ promotions on national TV networks towards more selective promotional campaigns involvingmore of an emphasis on ‘push’ rather than ‘pull’ promotion.Pushpromotion is the use of sales promotional incentives by manufacturers to distributive intermediaries with the objective of persuading retailers and distributive intermediaries to stock (e.g. by offering additional discounts). Pull promotion is the use of advertising, branding and customer-oriented sales promotions by manufacturers aimed at ‘pulling’ customers into stores to search for specific brands, such as Kelloggs. Manufacturers using pull techniques can exercise greater control over wholesalers and retailers. Advertisers increasingly use global websites through the Internet to promote products, and this is

explained more fully in Chapter 11. We have seen how advertising strategy fits into overall marketing and promotional strategy, together

with the steps in its effective planning and management. In the remainder of this chapter we consider sales promotion and PR/publicity. Other elements of the communications mix, namely selling and direct marketing, are considered separately. Much of the framework for planning sales promotion, direct marketing and publicity – that is, the need to relate these to an overall promotional and marketing strategy, considering target customers, competitors and social/legal factors – applies in the same way as advertising. Similarly, these elements of promotion must be planned systematically, with clear measurable objectives and effective control and evaluation.

The future of advertising

Schultz27 speculates on the future of advertising, and contends that the question of predicting the future lies in a lack of understanding and meaning. He proposes a set of hypotheses to create boundaries for the discipline that can be used as the basis for the future evolution of advertising. He proposes three scenarios – creeping incrementalism, reversal of buyer/seller roles, and reinvention of the field– and goes on to suggest that those scenarios will transpire and mature based on the speed of acceptance of various technologies.

Sales promotion

In consumer markets, spend on sales promotion typically outstrips that of media advertising. It offers buyers a supplementary attraction as an incentive to engender an instant sale. As such, it is regarded as a short-term promotional tool. The category of sales promotional tools includes some of the best-known

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communications used in marketing, such as coupons, self-liquidating offers, samples, bargain packages and give-aways, which are explained later.

Scope and objectives of sales promotion

As consumers have developed a resistance to advertising, the use of sales promotion has increased. There is scope for a variety of activities with sales promotion, and companies seek to create a promotion that singles them out from their competitors. Advertising is partly restricted by the media that can be used.

The role of sales promotion is to encourage purchase by temporarily improving the value of a brand. However, it is part of the overall marketing mix and should tie in with advertising, product performance and pricing. The purpose of advertising is to improve dispositions towards a brand, while the objective of sales promotion is to translate favourable attitudes into actual purchase. Advertising cannot normally close a sale because its impact is too far from the point of purchase, but sales promotion can.

Sales promotion is often managed in isolation from other elements of marketing because there is the need to gain shelf space through retailer support, and in this context it is referred to as ‘the silent salesman’.

Collectively, these tools of sales promotion are often referred to as below-the-line promotion, con- trasting with advertising, which, as discussed earlier, is termed ‘above-the-line’ expenditure. We now describe and discuss some of the more frequently used tools of sales promotion. With such a variety of techniques, we need to be sure that the planning of sales promotion is systematic, so the key steps in planning sales promotion, along with appropriate techniques, are now discussed.

Planning sales promotion

The starting point is the identification of the target audience and the specific objectives that the sales promotion intends to achieve. Sales promotion can be aimed at one or more of the following:

� consumers; � the ‘trade’ (retailers, wholesalers, distributors, etc.); � the sales force.

In consumer sales promotion, typical objectives include encouraging customers to switch brands, try a new product or purchase/consume more heavily. Much of the literature on sales promotion relates to the use of this tool in markets for fast-moving consumer goods. It is also prevalent and effective in industrial product markets, through, for example, trade fairs, executive gifts and sponsorship. Sales promotion can play an important part in a market where competition is fierce and where relatively minor ‘incentives’ to purchase might swing the balance in favour of a particular supplier.

In trade sales promotion, objectivesmight include encouraging the trade to stock a new line or exhorting them to putmore effort into selling a company’s brands to the final customer. Naturally, the tradewill only be interested in doing any of these if it is profitable. Because of this, effective trade sales promotion needs to be supported by imaginativemarketing, including sales promotion efforts to the trade’s customer. More importantly, the trade will need to be convinced that there is a market for the product.

Promotion aimed at motivating the company’s own sales force might include these objectives: stimulating greater effort to support a new product launch, encouraging the opening of new accounts and encouraging more visits per day.

We see that achieving a given objective may require targeting sales promotion at various parties. Where this is the case, it needs to be effectively co-ordinated and controlled along with other elements of the marketing and promotional mix. The next step is to select the most appropriate and cost-effective sales promotional tools. There is little empirical evidence to suggest which tools work best in which

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situation and why. As an indication of the types of sales promotion tools available for each target audience, we outline the major ones used for consumers, trade and the field sales force.

Consumer sales promotion

Coupons: the consumer must be in possession of a coupon or voucher of a particular value which can then be ‘redeemed’ at a local store to obtain the product or products named on the voucher at the usual price, less the value of the voucher. There is usually a deadline, and the offer often applies to a particular size in the range of products, which usually means that the consumer, in order to take advantage of the offer, must purchase the product within a shorter space of time than normal. The effect of this is to increase the rate of stock-turn for both the retailer and the manufacturer. A problem is that most redemptions aremade by people whowould normally have bought the product,

so the true value of the scheme is difficult to ascertain, although in oligopolistic situations (explained in Chapter 5) some might switch brands as a result of the offer. However, where the voucher constitutes an introductory offer on a relatively new product, the ‘bargain’ element sometimes persuades consumers to switch brands. Self-liquidating offer: an example here is where amanufacturer of a brand of canned food purchases a

quantity of kitchen knives from a supplier at a price of £1per knife. The foodmanufacturer then ‘offers’ to sell the knives to the consuming public at the cost price of £1 or thereabouts, plus proof of purchase (e.g. the till receipt) from a particular size of the manufacturer’s brand of canned food. The advantage to the retailer and the manufacturer is that stock-turn rate is increased. The consumer benefits by being able to purchase the knives at trade price. This type of operation is termed self-liquidating because capital used by the manufacturer in purchasing the knives is returned by the consumer. Until relatively recently, manufacturers making such offers used to ask for proof of purchase in the

form of the actual label or a token from the can’s label. Legislation has nowmade this illegal, as the view was taken by the UK and other countries that the public should not be coerced into making purchases that they may not want, particularly in relation to those purchasing simply to take advantage of the offer. This, incidentally, is themain reasonwhy there are now fewer consumer competitions on offer, as the rule now is that no purchase should be necessary to enter a contest, so manufacturers are naturally reluctant to offer expensive contests when they cannot directly see the benefits of such promotions. Sampling: many manufacturers, particularly in the areas of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs),

give away free samples of their products. The sample is often of a smaller size than the normal pack size and it is hoped that customers will try the product, like it, and purchase it in future. Again, this is usually reserved for new entrants to a market and its advantage is that if consumers are given a sample of shampoo, for example, they are unlikely to buy their usual brand until they have used the free sample, by which time they might decide to switch from their usual brand next time they purchase. Bargain packages: there are two main forms of this promotional technique. One is where the product

is advertised at a particular price but the pack is marked ‘50p off’ (known as a flash pack), which means that the purchase price will be reduced by that amount, but only on products so marked, which is another way of saying ‘while stocks last’. Many people take advantage of this type of offer, but they include regular purchasers, many of whom stock up with the product at the bargain price and do not purchase again until their stocks have run down. Legislation was enacted in the UK that makes it difficult for manufacturers to use this tactic, as the problem is ‘50 pence off what?’ The fixing of retail prices by manufacturers is not legal as a result of the Resale Prices Act (1964 and 1976) and retailers can sell at whatever price they feel is appropriate. In 2001 Levi’s jeans were being imported by Tesco from South America, from what is called the ‘grey market’, and sold in its stores at a discount. Levi’s insisted that its retailers sell at stipulated prices and stopped Tesco selling its goods without permission through the European Court of Justice, who ruled that Levi’s had the right to stipulate who sold its products. In this

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wayLevi’swas able to exercise control over the distribution and price of its products.Manufacturers now find it easier to use tactics like ‘10 per cent extra free’.

The second form of this technique is ‘buy one, get one free’ (BOGOF), which is two for the price of one. Sometimes, a smaller sized pack (termed a ‘limpet pack’) is attached to the large-size pack (of toothpaste, for example). This method does not help the retailer somuch as themanufacturer, who is able to increase turnover of large packs, sales of whichmay have been sluggish, and at the same timemaintain the turnover of the smaller pack. Competitive brands of toothpaste are unlikely to be purchased by the customer until their stocks have run down.

Give-aways: this is often aimed at the younger end of various market segments, and has been used extensively by breakfast cereal companies. A small toy or gift is put into every packet of cereal in an attempt to use the influencing power of children.

Many FMCGmarketers ‘bundle’ their promotional offers using a combination of promotional tools in a campaign: for example, a two-for-one offer on a brand may be combined with a promotional offer of a free product with the purchase, such as free Bolognese saucewith a pasta purchase. Bundled promotional campaigns are successful in persuading customers to purchase or switch brands, as they offer good value for money, although they can be expensive for the marketer.

Trade promotions

Frequently used trade promotions include:

� Discounts/cash allowances: a percentage discount or cash allowance given for each bulk case purchased.

� Additional products with order: extra products given with each unit ordered: for example, if a case of 12 is purchased, one extra is given free (colloquially called a ‘baker’s dozen’).

� Merchandising allowances: financial allowances to a retailer for featuring and selling the manu- facturer’s products.

� Advertising allowances/co-operative advertising: compensates retailers for featuring a manufac- turer’s products in a newspaper advertisement featuring the retailer; alternatively, the supplier may organize collaborative advertising with the trade.

� Exhibitions: in some trades exhibitions are almost obligatory. Awell-known example in the UK is the Ideal Home Exhibition, which is held annually. It features all possible goods which can be used in a home, and exhibits ‘model homes’ which are fully furnished and can be visited and inspected. Another international example is the annual Frankfurt motor show.

Many exhibitions are on an industrial scale, including examples such as the Motor Show, the Office Equipment Exhibition and the Hardware Trades Fair. Many of these exhibitions are mounted solely for the trade and the public are not allowed admittance.

Sales force promotions

This is a popular area for the application of sales promotional techniques such as sales contests, bonus prizes and sales incentives and gifts.

Appropriateness of sales promotions

The most appropriate tools in this context vary according to the type of product market, sales promotion objectives, target audience and the emphasis of marketing strategy: for example, a ‘push’ versus ‘pull’

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strategy. Often consumers, trade and the sales force will be targeted, so it is important that multifaceted campaigns are well co-ordinated. Before a full-scale sales promotion is launched, as with advertising, it is advisable to pre-test the

promotional vehicles selected. This can be done by using focus groups, selected in-store tests or full-scale test marketing. If testing is successful, indicating that the sales promotion will achieve its required objectives, a full-scale campaign can be implemented. An important factor in assessing the success of a sales promotion campaign is the effect on sales,

which should be compared with the costs of the campaign and alternative ways of spending this budget. In measuring the sales effectiveness of such a promotion, it is important to monitor sales over a longer period than the duration of the campaign. This is because there can be a ‘lagged’ effect. If the pro- motional campaign has been aimed at generating a short-term increase in sales and market share, any such increases will often be followed by a downturn in sales and market share compared with immediately before the campaign. This drop is due to customers having stocked up as a result of an effective sales promotion campaign. After a time, sales will return to normal, albeit at a new and hopefully higher level than before the campaign. A complicating factor concerns what is known as a ‘lead’ effect, which is where, in anticipation of the sales promotion, customers delay purchases they would otherwise havemade. Similarly, salespersonsmay hold back on selling effort if they expect a sales contest with prizes to be introduced in the future. Such factors add to the need to evaluate and control sales promotion.

Developments in sales promotion research and practice

Sales promotion is constantly being researched and techniques are being developed and used alongside traditional methods. Some interesting developments are: In-store sales promotion – promotional kiosks: in-store sales promotions have traditionally used

techniques such as leaflets, demonstrations and merchandising. Allied to developments in IT, pro- motional kiosks have been developed. These are in-store kiosks where potential customers are presented with visual and verbal information regarding products in the store, their features, uses, unique selling points and stock availability. Interactive video is used in these kiosks. Advantages for in-store kiosk systems include:

� they provide a means of showing an extended range of products; � customers can consider alternatives if desired items are not in stock; � the customer can browse through a range of products and pay for specific products in stock; � they can be used to offer a 24-hour ‘through-the-wall’ shopping service like automatic teller

machines that are used for banking services.

A variation is the touch screens used in large grocery supermarkets. Touch screens are located in the entrance foyer of the stores and are activated by customers swiping their loyalty cards through the sensor. Having done this, the customer is able to trace through promotional offers in the store on that day. The use of customer loyalty cards, backed up through the database system, enables the promotional offers dis- played to be tailored to a degree to the personal shopping profile of the individual customer in terms of product and brand choice. If the customer is interested in any of the promotional offers on the screen then he/she presses the screen, and the appropriate promotional coupons are issued. Packaging design: this is a powerful area of promotion. Innovative packaging design is able to

demonstrate market share and profitability improvements for the marketer. Companies are turning their attention to the potential for this below-the-line promotion element of marketing. Blair and Rosenburg28

have shown the potential impact of effective packaging design. They cite the effect of a redesigned

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package forMcVities JaffaCakes.When this long-established product was languishing in themarket, the company rejuvenated the product packaging and market share increased rapidly. In the UK a reform to the Trademarks Act has allowed shapes, sounds and smells to be registered as trademarks. The large number of applications is testament to brand owners’ perception of the need to redesign packaging and to protect the redesigned packaging as quickly as possible.

Point of sale material and in-store merchandising: trends in the use of sales promotions in the communications mix is recognition of the importance of point-of-sale promotion (POS) and in-store merchandising activities. The increasing power of retailers and the ensuing fight by manufacturers for limited shelf space has made this activity more popular. Research has shown that up to 70 per cent of customers make their brand choices in store, so there is increased need to reinforce brand differentiation at the point of sale. As a result, in-storemerchandising and POS are sophisticated and fully integrated into the promotional mix as a key part of a brand’s long-term positioning.

Have one on me

An example of how point-of-sale can be used as part of a planned promotional campaign is that developed by the design and promotional agency The House for J.D.Wetherspoon Company. The promotion was based on a 19-day beer festival which centred on introducing Wetherspoons’ customers to a range of beers they had not heard of, let alone tried, and hence widening their tastes. A central facet of the campaign was the use of point-of-sale material designed by The House. This included a range of special⅓-pint glasses so it was possible to try three different ales and still only drink one pint. In addition to these special glasses, staff wore special ‘taste three ales’ T-shirts. Special beer mats were produced for the bar areas and there were tasting notes on the beers on offer for customers to pick up and read. The result was success in which point-of-sale promotion was crucial.

Source: www.thehouse.co.uk.

Increased use of information technology: this is having a major effect on the marketer. For example, more sophisticated and powerful databases enable better targeting of sales promotional campaigns. As mentioned earlier, Sainsbury’s stores use touch screens enabling promotional offers to be linked to individual customer purchasing patterns.Many retailer loyalty schemes and the ensuing databaseswhich stem from them enable the marketer to identify targets for promotional campaigns. The effects of a promotional campaign can be rapidly and accurately measured and evaluated using developments in IT. This enables the marketer to evaluate a campaign while it is ongoing and make any modifications to increase its effectiveness.

Emphasis on building loyalty: what has traditionally been seen as a promotional tool used to encourage short-term brand switching on the part of customers is increasingly being used to encourage and develop company, brand or store loyalty. The use of loyalty cards in retailing is one approach to using promotional techniques to engender customer loyalty. The growth in the recognition of the importance of customer loyalty is linked to the growth of relationship marketing, which is discussed in Chapter 9. At this stage, it is sufficient to note that marketers are increasingly aware of the value of customer loyalty as a marketing asset and have put more effort into building and maintaining this loyalty. Sales promotion campaigns which lock in customers have increased in recent years. There is a danger, however, that customers become loyal to the loyalty scheme rather than to the marketer or the brand.

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The introduction of a loyalty card scheme was a factor in Tesco becoming the largest grocery supermarket retailer in the UK. The loyalty card was introduced to enhance customer loyalty directly by offering rewards as an incentive to shop there regularly. Launched in February 1995, Tesco’s loyalty card was the first such successful scheme in the UK.Many competitors felt the scheme would be a short-term gimmick and customers would tire of it. Not long after, these competitors realized that the scheme was very successful and quickly moved to introduce their own schemes. Sainsbury’s said when it introduced its scheme in June 1996 that it was motivated by the perception of being at a competitive disadvantage without one. Asda introduced a scheme in 1994, which was not successful, and discontinued it in mid- 1999 to focus on its price rollback campaign to enhance customer loyalty. Morrisons did not initially participate in loyalty cards, as they believed that competitive pricing is more effective at retaining customers than a loyalty card. However, this changed in 2015, when they introduced their ‘& More’ loyalty card. In March 2016 ‘My Lidl’ was launched with a rewards element, competitions and product samplings offered to its subscribers. Their website allowed customers to chat, leave product reviews and receive the latest news. Controversially, a considerable amount of sales promotion directed at building customer loyalty is

aimed at children. Research in the UK reported in Marketing Week29 showed that children are sus- ceptible to some sales promotional campaigns, especially, for example, the use of free gifts, T-shirts, models, and so on. This susceptibility is heightened where the campaign can be linked to a film character or theme. For example, some of the most successful sales promotion campaigns of the late 1990s made use of the interest in dinosaurs triggered by the popularity of the Jurassic Park films, the first of whichwas released in June 1993. TheAdvertising Standards Authority (ASA), which operates a Code of Advertising Practice (CAP), has just introduced a new code (Rule 5.4.2),30 which states: ‘Marketing communications addressed to or targeted directly at children must not include a direct exhortation to children to buy an advertised product or persuade their parents or other adults to buy an advertised product for them.’ This comes into force on 1 July 2017. It has, therefore, taken almost 20 years for this practice to be outlawed. Direct marketing: this major element of the promotional mix is a relative newcomer. In some ways,

directmarketing is not new: directmail catalogues as a basis formarketing products have been around for many years. However, the use of these techniques has grown considerably in recent years. As with other categories of the promotional mix, direct marketing encompasses a plethora of different tools and techniques. As a promotional tool direct marketing can also be considered under the ‘place’ element of the marketing mix as a channel of distribution in its own right. Within the context of direct marketing we include telemarketing and electronicmarketing (e-marketing), whose application is normally direct from business-to-customer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B). Techniques of direct marketing have become increasingly important, and Chapter 10 considers these techniques and their application in a promotional context.

Public relations and sponsorship

Recent years have witnessed an increasingly professional approach to managing this area of marketing communications. Public relations (PR) has replaced the term ‘publicity’ for this type of promotion. Publicity, somewhat confusingly, is often used to denote these activities. PR is a broader concept than publicity, as it relates to more strategic issues. Sponsorship can be included as a promotional category in its own right or sometimes as a sales

promotion technique. We feel that because sponsorship is normally associated with promoting the company’s image and name among its publics it is most appropriately considered alongside other PR activities. We now outline the main issues in managing these elements of the promotional mix.

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Public relations (PR)

PR’s concern is to promote the image of a company and its products and services. Unlike other pro- motional activities, PR does not necessarily involve the company in direct costs: for example, the company may issue a press release with a view to having its contents published free of charge if the publisher feels it is sufficiently newsworthy or interesting to their readers. News items that are generated through this means tend to be more ‘believable’ than ‘paid for’ advertising, so from the company’s point of view it can be very effective. The fact that it is sometimes not paid for does notmean it is unimportant or not to be integrated with other elements of a company’s promotional mix. The old adage that there is ‘no such thing as bad publicity’ is simply not true. Bad publicity can seriously affect a company’s image and sales.

The launch of the now highly successful Mercedes ‘A’ Class model was marred by bad publicity. The so-called ‘moose test’, conducted in Sweden in 1997 by the journalist Robert Collin from the motor magazineTeknikens Värld, was designed to test the easewithwhich a newmodel could be steered around an object such as a moose appearing on the highway. The test showed that in its original design form the ‘A’ Class was susceptible to rolling over. The tests and the failure of the ‘A’ Class to pass them made worldwide news, as the test was done independently. To make the situation worse, a much older and widely mocked design of Trabant car, from the former German Democratic Republic, managed the test perfectly. In short, the ensuing publicity for the safety-conscious and highly respected engineering image of Mercedes was a disaster. The product had to be recalled and redesigned.

Public relations tools include:

� Press releases: these are essentially news that a company issues in objective, journalistic form in the hope that it will be printed in the form in which it is received by the editor.

� Press conference: ameetingwhere amajor announcement ismade and atwhich guests are invited to ask questions. A press conference may be given in preference to a press release if the matter under review merits some explanation that may not be covered adequately in the press release itself.

� Press receptions (not a substitute for a press release): it is at press receptions, which aremajor events in themselves, that important announcements are made: for example, a new model of car. Such receptions need to be well planned and guests receive ‘programme invitations’. A press reception is not as formal as a press conference, as it is normally done in a more relaxed and sociable manner, usually accompanied by some kind of hospitality.

� Facility visits: in these, representatives, often including the media, are given the opportunity to inspect some special aspects of a firm’s operations. A visit may involve a tour around a new factory.

Effective PR management requires building up good and trusting relationships with opinion leaders, especially in the press andmagazines. Publicity is a tactical tool within the broader framework of PR. PR is a deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. In this context PRhas awider role to play than simply publicity, as illustrated below when we examine what is termed ‘the publics of PR’:

� Community activities: these are where the organization acts in support of local and national activi- ties and partakes in the development of a community relations programme.

� Employee relations: this is an important internal aspect of PR, as there are benefits to involving the workforce in terms of establishing and maintaining a mutual understanding.

� Government relations: both local and national politicians are important sources of information for an organization, in terms of, for example, legislative changes that might affect the business.

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The lobbying of politicians is not without its critics, but it is a perfectly acceptable procedure in industry and government relationships.

� The financial community: this involves commercial and merchant banks, investors and share analysts as well as city journalists, who are all ‘publics’ with whom an organization needs to communicate in the context of financial matters.

� Distributors: these are intermediaries in the distribution channel and include wholesalers, retailers, agents, brokers, dealers, and so on. They all need information about products and services to have the knowledge and confidence necessary to become effective resellers.

� Consumers: these are often thought of as the only ‘public’ and they need to be co-ordinated with other areas of marketing communications, such as advertising and sales promotion. Educating consumers and creating and maintaining interest among target audiences can lead to favourable attitudes being generated towards a company’s products and services.

� Opinion leaders: these include trade associations and pressure groups. PR must attempt to under- stand the position of all important external groups, even if the group is opposed to the company. If effective communication through PR takes place, it is better for factual information to be the basis of debate rather than hearsay or exaggeration.

� Media: PR has a role to play in the development of relationships with the broadcasting media. As mentioned already, the aim is to achieve appropriate broadcasting of information a company may create as part of a well-organized PR campaign.

PR is a sub-set of marketing communications which includes advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, selling and interactive/Internet marketing. TheChartered Institute of Public Relations defines PR as the discipline that looks after reputation, with the aim of understanding and providing support to influence opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish andmaintain goodwill and mutual understanding between a organization and its publics.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is sometimes viewed as being a sales promotional activity, but it should be considered as a component of PR. It involves a company supporting in someway something or someone it feels will help in the overall marketing and sales of its products or services, albeit indirectly. The ‘something’ or ‘someone’ being sponsored can be a sportsperson, an event such as the Olympics or a cause such as Aids prevention. Commercial sponsorship has been a rapidly growing area of promotion. There are many reasons for

this. The sponsoring of a particular event or person enables the sponsor to achieve more cost-effective awareness with the target audience generated by the event, or by the publicity associated with the individual, thanmight otherwise be possible through conventional promotional tools such as advertising. Millions watched the March 2009 Oxford–Cambridge University Boat Race on independent television, which is a large audience for any sponsor whose name might be attached to one of the boats for a relatively modest outlay. Who cares about it? ITV’s 7.6 million peak viewers, plus more than 100 media people and 250,000 spectators lining the towpath in one of London’s largest annual public events. In a wider context, 112 countries requested film of the race to screen live or as highlights for an estimated 200 million people around the world. Large investments are made by marketers on event and celebrity endorsement contracts. Tripp and

Jensen31 have suggested that the use of such promotion is based on the premise that source effects (i.e. the celebrity herself or himself) play an important role in persuasive communication. They give examples of the impact of such endorsement on sales. Michael Jordan, the US basketball star, signed a multi-million pound sponsorship contract with Nike and the company’s market share increased by 20 per cent over the

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previous quarter. However, their research points to the possible detrimental effects of celebrities becoming involved in promotion, especially when the celebrity is involved in multiple product advertising. It is suggested that too many endorsements might damage credibility, which may have a negative impact on sales. Sponsorship based on celebrity endorsement in particular is not a panacea for marketers. Another risk associated with using celebrities is that if, for some reason, the reputation or image of the celebrity becomes ‘tarnished’, this may have a detrimental effect on the sponsor’s image.

Batra and Keller32 contend that, with shifting media patterns and divided customer attention, com- munications are increasingly important. Their research offers insights and advice as to how traditional and new media interact and affect consumer decision-making. They go on to outline a framework fea- turing models to improve integrated marketing communications.

Summary

To understand and plan the promotional element of the marketing mix, it is important to appreciate how communications work. Marketing effectiveness is highly correlated with the effectiveness with which the marketer communicates to the target audience, and this requires co-ordinating the variety of ways in which this communication is achieved. All the elements of the marketing mix, not just communications, potentially contribute to this process. In particular, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relations, sponsorship and personal selling must be seen as a total marketing communications package and managed from this perspective.

When it comes to managing individual elements of the promotional mix, there are differences in application, purpose and implementation; the overall process is the same. Clear objectives must be set, couched in communication terms, and wherever possible quantified. On this basis, budgets can be set and promotional campaigns developed. Each of the promotional tools and the overall marketing communications strategymust be carefully evaluated and controlled. Only by following a systematic, planned and co-ordinated approach to marketing communications can expenditures on this area of strategic marketing be justified.

Key terms

Promotion 199 Encoding 199 Media planning 201 Decoding 201 Selective perception 201 Selective distortion 201 Noise 201 Audience response repertoire 204 AIDA model 204 Hierarchy of Effects model 204 DAGMAR model 204 ATR model 204 Promo-tools 206 Communications mix 206

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) 209

Informative advertising 209 Persuasive advertising 210 Reminder advertising 210 Product adoption model 210 Unique selling point (USP) 213 Copy platform 214 Above-the-line promotion (ATL) 215 Below-the-line promotion (BTL) 215 Recognition 215 Brand equity 218 Clutter 219 Information overload 219

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Notes

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Journal of Marketing, October. 3 Colley, R.H. (1983 [1961]), Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results, New York: Associ- ation of National Advertisers.

4 Jones, J.P. (1991), ‘Over-promise and under-delivery’, Marketing and Research Today, November: 195–203. 5 Mulhern, F. (2009), ‘Integrated marketing communications: from media channels to digital connectivity’,

Journal of Marketing Communications, 15(2/3): 85–101. 6 Smith, T.M., Gopalkrishna, S. and Chatterjee, R. (2006), ‘A three stage model of integrated marketing com- munications at the marketing–sales interface’, Journal of Marketing Research, 43(4): 564–79.

7 Lee, W.J., O’Cass, A. and Sok, P. (2017), ‘Unpacking brand management superiority: examining the interplay of brandmanagement capability, brandorientation and formalisation’,European Journal ofMarketing, 51(1): 177–99.

8 Snyder, W. (2017), Ethics in Advertising, Oxford: Routledge. 9 Rogers, E.M. (1962), Diffusion of Innovations, New York: Free Press.

10 Ko, E., Kim, E.U. and Lee, E.K. (2009), ‘Modelling consumer adoption of mobile shopping for fashion products in Korea’, Psychology and Marketing, 26(7): 669–87.

11 Eriksson, K., Kerem, K. and Nilsson, D. (2008), ‘The adoption of commercial innovations in the former Central and Eastern European markets: the case of Internet banking in Estonia’, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 26(3): 154–69.

12 Palda, K.S. (1966), ‘The hypothesis of a hierarchy of effects – a partial evaluation’, Journal of Marketing Research, 3(1): February.

13 Smith, R., Chen, J. and Yang, X. (2008), ‘The impact of advertising creativity on the hierarchy of effects’, Journal of Advertising, 37(4): 47–61.

14 Williams, M. (2009), ‘Does shock advertising still work?’ Campaign, online, www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/ close-up-does-shock-advertising-work/900778. Accessed 29 April 2017.

15 Opree, S.J., Buijzen, M. and Reijmersdal, E.A. (2016), ‘The impact of advertising on children’s psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction’, European Journal of Marketing, 50(11): 1975–92.

16 Burnett, L. (1961), Confessions of an Advertising Man, Chicago: Leo Burnett Co., p. 61. 17 Maloney, J.C. (1966), ‘Attitude measurement and formation’. Paper presented at the Test Market Design and

Measurement Workshop, American Marketing Association, Chicago, Illinois, 21 April. 18 Baack,D.,Wilson,R. andTill, B.D. (2008), ‘Creativity andmemory effects’, Journal ofAdvertising, 37(4): 85–94. 19 McAlister, L., Srinivasan, R., Jindal, N. and Canella, A.A. (2016), ‘Advertising effectiveness: the moderating

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Direct response television (DRTV) 219

Infomercial 219 Zipping 220 Zapping 220 Muting 220 Push promotion 221 Pull promotion 221

Sales promotion 221 Self-liquidating offer 223 Point-of-sale promotion (POS) 226 Business-to-customer (B2C) 227 Business-to-business (B2B) 227 Public relations (PR) 227 Publicity 227 Sponsorship 229

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24 Darley, W.K. and Smith, R.E. (2013), ‘Gender differences in information processing strategies: an empirical test of the selectivity model in advertising response’, Journal of Advertising, 42: 41–56.

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works’, Journal of Advertising Research, 34(May/June): 35. 29 ‘Power Points’, Marketing Week, 3 February 2000: 43–7. 30 Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) (2017) Code of Advertising Practice (CAP). 31 Tripp, C. and Jensen, T.D. (1993), ‘Effects of multiple product endorsement’, Journal of Consumer Research,

20(4): 548. 32 Batra, R. and Keller, K.L. (2016), ‘Integrating marketing communications: new findings, new lessons and new

ideas’, Journal of Marketing, 80(6): 122–45.

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