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Advertising

Learning Objectives Upon completion of this chapter the student will be able to:

• Describe the types of advertising and the advantages and disadvantages of advertising.

• Discuss the roles of the target market, objectives, and the budget in the advertising plan.

• List the types of advertising and creative strategies used when developing advertising plans.

• Explain the Five W’s of media planning and define common media terms.

• Describe the media planning process including selection of media and development of a media plan.

4

© Ekaterina VoinovaiStock/Thinkstock

Pre-Test Chapter 4

Pre-Test 1. The purpose of advertising is to

a) give the correct target audience the most effective message at the best price possible. b) communicate with research-specified target market segments in a personal manner. c) effectively market and sell unique products at the highest profit margins possible. d) efficiently communicate a message about a company or product through the use of

unpaid publicity. 2. Most of the money in an advertising budget is used for

a) production costs. b) advertising agency salaries. c) media planner salaries. d) media buys.

3. Which type of advertising strategy is most often associated with humor? a) Brand imaging b) Brand positioning strategy c) Affective strategy d) Resonance strategy

4. refer(s) to the number of people a media buy reaches in the primary target audience, combined with the frequency. a) Gross rating points (GRPs) b) Targeted rating points c) Ratings d) Cume

5. What helps determine where to place ads in order to reach the largest audience at the lowest cost? a) Key media problem b) Media vehicles c) Media kit d) Media objectives

Answers 1. a) give the correct target audience the most effective message at the best price possible. The

correct answer can be found in Section 4.1 2. d) media buys. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.2 3. c) Affective strategy. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.3 4. b) Targeted rating points. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.4 5. a) Key media problem. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.5

Introduction Chapter 4

Introduction Pepsi MAX ran an ad that showed NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon disguised as a geek. He went to a car dealership and chose a flashy sports car to test drive and then took the salesperson on a wild ride that scared him. The salesperson was so upset that he wanted to get police involved. Viewers thought the video was hilarious and spread the word for others to watch. While this video ad cam- paign may have appeared to be an amateur video, a lot of thought and planning occurred prior to the launch of this campaign. The video on YouTube was very successful with over 36 million views (The top 20 most-shared video ad campaigns for March 2013—pranks & hoaxes 2013).

Pepsi MAX Test Drive This video shows the popular ad featuring NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5mHPo2yDG8

In this chapter we discuss planning for advertising, one of the executions of an IMC plan. The IMC plan will have numerous subplans that call for the execution of IMC tactics (marketing commu- nications mix). Keep in mind that not all companies include advertising in their IMC mix. Some companies may for example, include only public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. The IMC mix is determined by looking at objectives, strategy, and budget.

IMC planners typically develop their subplans simultaneously and then the plans are added to the overall IMC plan. What does this mean? This means that IMC professionals develop the overall IMC plan with input from subject experts in each of the tactical areas, which include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity, direct marketing, electronic and Internet marketing, and branding.

For smaller businesses the overall IMC plan may be developed by the same person. In that case, the individual responsible for the plan’s development must create and execute all the tactical areas. In this case, the IMC professional typically begins with the advertising plan, adding the sales plan and then inserting other areas such as the sales promotion plan, the direct marketing plan, the electronic/social media plan, the public relations and publicity plan, and the brand plan. Plans developed for the tactical executions follow the same format as the overall IMC plan.

Once the marketing plan and budget are reviewed, the development of the IMC program begins. A plan must be developed for each of the IMC tactical areas. Each tactical area contains the same components (objectives, strategy, execution, and budget). So the advertising plan would include advertising objectives, advertising strategy, advertising execution(s) (message, media, and advertis- ing tactics), and the budget.

Once the individual plans are in place, it’s up to the chief marketing officer (CMO) or the chief marketing communications officer (CMCO) to integrate all of the plans into one cohesive plan. Once the plan is developed and in place, the plan is executed. At this point all the IMC mix strate- gies are integrated, the ads are produced, the media time and space purchased, and a system for evaluation and control is put into place. The evaluation and control function is to make sure all objectives are being met and to evaluate the effectiveness of the overall IMC plan. If things aren’t

Types of Advertising, Advantages and Disadvantages, and the Advertising Plan Chapter 4

going “according to plan,” the IMC head must create systems and tasks that allow for the control of the program with methods of making changes to the overall plan built into the evaluation and control function.

To better understand each of the tactical areas in the IMC plan we have devoted a chapter to each. We begin with the advertising area.

4.1 Types of Advertising, Advantages and Disadvantages, and the Advertising Plan

Welcome to the world of advertising. Advertising is one of the tools considered for the develop- ment of the integrated marketing communications program. Once the IMC mix is determined, most of the integrated marketing communications planning is done simultaneously by profes- sionals in each of the content areas (advertising, sales promotions, public relations, and the other areas). When not done simultaneously, advertising is typically the first content area of IMC that gets planned. Once the advertising is developed, other areas of IMC are integrated into the basic advertising plan to create the overall IMC plan.

It’s the job of the IMC manager to make sure each of the areas of IMC is totally integrated in a seamless fashion. Saying this is easy; trying to integrate with elements of synergy is a bit harder. In this chapter we will explain the components of a basic advertising plan. The plan will include the media recommendations as well as the creative recommendations for all advertising communication.

Although advertising was defined in Chapter 1, let’s take a closer look. When you tell someone you work in marketing, the first thing that typically comes to that person’s mind is advertising or selling. Advertising is not selling or marketing. Rather, advertising is a tactic used by marketers to communicate with their various stakeholders and other audiences (Ogden and Rarick, 2010). Advertising has the following characteristics:

a) The purpose of advertising is to provide the best possible selling message to the right tar- get audience at the best possible price.

b) Advertising is paid. Therefore, advertisers have full control of the content and media placement of the advertisements.

c) Advertising is a nonpersonal way of communicating to a large audience.

There are two forms of advertising: institutional advertising and product advertising. Product advertising is a form of advertising that focuses on the end user. Its purpose is to communicate with large numbers of end users. End users will be made aware of an idea, product, or service. The advertising typically focuses on the consumer wants and needs that are satisfied by the product or service.

Institutional advertising promotes a company or organization instead of a specific product or service. Institutional advertising is used to build or enhance an image or reputation, promote goodwill, advocate a philosophy, or create awareness of an organization. When an organization promotes a point of view or philosophy it is called advocacy advertising, a subset of institutional advertising. Institutional and advocacy advertising overlap with public relations. The difference is that a company must pay for institutional and advocacy advertising while a company may not pay for some public relations efforts.

Types of Advertising, Advantages and Disadvantages, and the Advertising Plan Chapter 4

Advantages and Disadvantages of Advertising There are several advantages to using advertising as part of a company’s IMC mix. It is advertis- ing’s job to inform, persuade and remind consumers about business and organizational products and other offerings. Advertising can be used to educate people. The government often uses adver- tising to educate people on health and social issues such as the importance of getting a flu shot. Advertising also helps people with their day-to-day shopping experiences by informing shoppers about sales.

Another advantage of advertising is its ability to reach a mass audience. For example, over 100 million people watched the Superbowl in 2012. The ads that played dur- ing the game were discussed and were rewatched on social media. Advertising can be used to drive imme- diate responses (sales, traffic, likes) from consumers. Advertising is also a great tool to help create or maintain brand or company awareness. Brand loyalty is almost always a goal of good advertising. Advertising can also initiate customer feedback, both positive and negative. For example, many advertisers remove ads when their customers find the ads offensive or in poor taste.

The primary disadvantage of advertising is the cost. While advertising reaches a large audience, which can reduce the cost per contact, the out-of-pocket expense is very high. High costs can prohibit smaller businesses from advertising. Another disadvantage is clutter. There are many estimates on how many advertisements a person is exposed to on a daily basis. Depending on the source, the figure can be as high as 6,000. A more realistic figure is provided by Marah Creative (www.marahcreative.com), a digital design firm out of Portland Oregon, which states that 287 advertisements a day is a more reasonable figure

© Feng Yu/iStock/Thinkstock

▲▲ Classified advertising is an example of product advertising. PRNewsFoto/Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc.

▲▲ This is an example of advocacy advertising, a type of institu- tional advertising. Kenneth Cole Company is making a social statement about voting in the primary elections.

Advertising Archive/Courtesy Everett Collection

▲▲ This is an example of advertising used to inform peo- ple on antibiotic misuse. What other advertisements have you seen that inform the public?

Types of Advertising, Advantages and Disadvantages, and the Advertising Plan Chapter 4

(Koller, 2011). Even with the more conservative estimate, people can’t escape advertising. Clutter means there is more competition to get noticed by consumers. Many consumers may not notice an advertisement because it gets lost in the clutter.

Advertising can also hurt a brand when there is poor execution. Abercrombie & Fitch came under criticism for its line of shirts that featured unflattering stereotypes of Asians. Although the com- pany pulled the shirts, many felt the company was racist for selling the shirts in the first place. Advertising has also been criticized for promoting materialism, especially in children. According to a study of Dutch children, “Ads exacerbate kids’ desire for material things, and this desire gradu- ally leads them to equate consumer goods with happiness and success” (Jacobs, 2013). Table 4.1 summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of advertising.

Related to poor execution are ethical considerations. While ethics was covered in Chapter 2, it’s worthwhile to mention the importance of ethics when developing advertising strategy and tactics. Current laws define rules and regulations and help guide ethical decisions. For example, laws make it illegal to sell cigarettes and alcohol to minors. Often when vulnerable populations such as chil- dren or the economically disadvantaged are targeted, the organization’s values and ethics are put to the test. The usage of sexual images to sell products is also a gray area, which many believe can border on unethical behavior. While there are self-regulatory bodies in the advertising industry, such as the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council (www.asrcreviews.org), it’s often up to consumers to make sure companies are accountable for advertising messages. Social media gives consumers a platform to voice concerns.

Table 4.1 Advantages and disadvantages of advertising

Advantages Disadvantages

• Ability to inform, persuade, remind, and educate customers about a product, company, brand, event, or cause

• Capacity to reach a large audience

• Drives customer response

• Builds brand recognition and loyalty

• Initiates customer feedback

• High total cost

• Small companies may not have resources to use advertising

• Clutter

• Can damage brand if poor execution

• Can be misleading

• Reputation for adding to a materialistic society

The Advertising Plan The development of an effective advertising program is contingent on the development of an out- standing advertising plan. The advertising plan focuses on issues involved in the development and execution of messages aimed at targeted customers. The advertising plan is built in much the same way as the overall IMC plan; however, the focus is on advertising alone.

There are numerous steps in the development of the advertising plan. This written document is used as a guide by advertisers in the development of the overall communication program. Prior to developing the plan, an advertiser wants to have as much information as possible. Additionally, the planner must understand the internal and external marketing environments that may have an impact on the advertising’s effectiveness. It is also important to make sure that the plan is inte- grated in a seamless way with other areas of the marketing plan. Figure 4.1 depicts the steps in advertising plan development.

Stating the Target Market, Developing Objectives, and Creating the Budget Chapter 4

In the following sections, we will examine each of these steps in more detail.

›  Learning Check Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What is the definition of advertising? 2. What is advertising’s purpose? 3. What are the types of advertising? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of advertising? Do you think the advantages out-

weigh the disadvantages? Why or why not? 5. What purpose does the advertising plan serve? 6. What are the components of an advertising plan?

4.2 Stating the Target Market, Developing Objectives, and Creating the Budget

Putting together an effective advertising plan begins with stating the target market, developing the advertising communication objectives, and creating a budget. In this section, we will examine these first three steps.

State the Target Market and Define the Target Audience Step one is to state the target market (TM). A description of the target market using one or more of the four “ics” (geographics, psychographics, demographics, and behavioristics) is provided and can typically be obtained from the company’s marketing plan. The target market description should be used to drive the development of all of the tactical plans. Because it’s important for the IMC plan- ner to know why the target market was chosen, it’s a good idea to include the TM rationale when stating the target market.

f04.01_OMM651.ai

Steps 1 and 2 • State the target

market • Develop the

advertising communication objectives

Steps 3 and 4 • Create the

advertising budget

• Develop advertising strategies (focus on the creative strategy)

Steps 5 and 6 • Include creative

execution examples

• List the media recommendations

Steps 7 and 8 • State the key

problem • Develop

media objectives

Steps 9 and 10 • Develop the

media strategy • Develop the

media plan

Figure 4.1 Steps in creating an advertising plan

Stating the Target Market, Developing Objectives, and Creating the Budget Chapter 4

In this step the target audience is also determined. As you may recall from an earlier chapter, the target market refers to those consumers toward whom the marketing plan is aimed. The target audience, on the other hand, is the group of people toward whom the advertising plan is aimed. Often the target audience is different from the target market because the company wants to reach only a subset of the target market with the advertising plan.

It’s also helpful to include a typical customer profile in the target market and target audience state- ments. As stated in a previous chapter, a typical customer profile is a short statement that describes the organization’s average customer. It is not uncommon to have more than one profile, especially for firms that have high market expertise and are very good at market segmentation.

Develop the Advertising Communication Objectives Objectives are very important to include in all IMC tactical plans. The advertising objectives will drive the development of objectives for the other areas of execution. When developing the objec- tives keep these two questions in mind:

1. What is the advertising supposed to do? Does it support the IMC plan? Does it lead the IMC campaign?

2. What impact is the advertising going to have on the TM? How is it integrated into the overall campaign in order to achieve the overall IMC objectives?

Old Spice Advertisement After watching the video, can you determine the target market for this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu5jL-6Z_Js&list=PLoF_PWSjd6xXR5bEE8GXByeLbEhSbipZB

If you guessed men with an active lifestyle, you are correct.

Advertising objectives should flow from the overall marketing objectives. Because of that, we rec- ommend a programmed approach to developing advertising objectives as described in the steps below.

Step 1: State the Key Fact The key fact is a simple statement that provides the planner information on the product or service being offered, the advertising and marketing environment, competitors, and the target market.

The key fact should

• be written from a consumer perspective, thus the use of marketing and advertising research to understand the consumer is an important aspect of the key fact;

• indicate why consumers purchase or do not purchase (if available) the product or service; • be about one paragraph and written in consumer language; • serve as a guide to the development of the rest of the objectives.

Hypothetical key fact example:

Toyota Camry is a mid-size vehicle known for safety and reliability. Families like the mid-size car because it is affordable and has a sporty look. The car is dependable and long lasting with great gas mileage that makes it appealing to the 35–54 age demographic.

Stating the Target Market, Developing Objectives, and Creating the Budget Chapter 4

Step 2: Define the Key Problem The key problem is the main problem that the advertising campaign will attempt to solve. Potential problems include the following:

1. Awareness problem—consumers are unaware of the products and services offered. 2. Image problem—IMC practitioners want to change or modify a public image of a person,

product, or service. 3. Product or service problem—there may be quality issues with the product or service which the

ad campaign will address. 4. Problems exist in other tactical areas such as public relations.

The key marketing problem should be written from the marcom manager’s point of view and should be a paragraph or less in length. The key problem should be related to a situation where advertising can impact the solution. If the advertising function is not able to solve the key market- ing problem, it may be left to the other areas of IMC or to the marketing department. Keep in mind that advertising can’t solve all problems, especially in other tactical areas. For example, problems with pricing are rarely solved by advertising.

Hypothetical key problem example:

Research performed for Toyota Camry revealed that many consumers no longer connect with the brand and are choosing other brands instead. This perception has to be overcome to increase the number of consumers who choose Camry over other vehicles. In addition, brand loyalty for the Toyota Camry has dropped in the last few years. Toyota Camry needs to improve the connection with current customers to keep customers from defecting to other brands.

Step 3: List the IMC Communications Objectives This step explains why the advertising program will have an impact on the consumer. The explana- tion should be limited to two or three paragraphs and include a bulleted list to make it easy to read and understand. Questions to consider include the following:

• What message are you trying to convey to the target market? • How do you think the customers will respond to the message?

Hypothetical IMC communications objectives example:

The objective of the “Connections” campaign is to increase brand loyalty and sales among current users from 600,000 units per year to 1,000,000 units per year. The message of the campaign is to celebrate the lives of people who own a Camry and to entice others to join the Camry social experience (Saatchi & Saatchi, 2012). Viewers of the ads should identify with the emotional scenes depicted and want to be part of the Toyota Camry experience.

The examples above were based on Toyota Camry’s “Connections” campaign.

Since objectives are written and used for evaluative purposes, they must be clear and concise and follow the guidelines for developing objectives explained in Chapter 3. Advertising objectives may be short-, medium-, or long-term. In the development of IMC and advertising objectives, the objec- tives are developed for the duration of each IMC campaign, typically one year.

Objectives are difficult to develop and write, but have a lasting impact on the campaign and are used as one of the evaluative tools. When writing objectives, a desired outcome should be

Stating the Target Market, Developing Objectives, and Creating the Budget Chapter 4

associated with each objective. Therefore, marcom managers need to know which communication effects they’re trying to achieve. There are common words often associated with objectives. These words will strengthen the value of those objectives. Words often used in writing advertising objec- tives include awareness, brand loyalty, understanding, trust, image, or attitude. Remember there are numerous individuals and groups that are creating plans based upon objectives. They are also used to provide personnel raises and evaluations.

Create the Advertising Budget The advertising budget is used to track financial obligations of the advertising department. Budgeting for advertising occurs in exactly the same way it does for the marketing and IMC plans. Typically in advertising, a bottom-up budgeting system is used; however, many advertisers use a top-down approach depending on their strategy and operational needs and wants. It is important to spend time looking at the budget as it will determine the scope of advertising activities.

The majority of the advertising budget will cover activities associated with media buys. In addition, monies must be set aside for the production of advertisements. The advertising budget comes out of the total IMC budget, and advertising shares the budgeted amounts with the other tactical areas of IMC. In order to achieve true integration, advertisers must leave enough monies to execute other integrated marketing communications functions such as direct marketing and sales promotions. This is the basis for choosing bottom-up budgeting.

Other considerations need to be taken into account as well. For example, the market size will have an impact on the budget. Typically the larger the market, the more resources are necessary to reach

Case in Point: Pepsi Fights to Regain Market Share In 2011, PepsiCo was losing market share to Coca-Cola® and in an effort to regain market share, launched a new ad campaign. At the time the brand was third in sales after Coke and Diet Coke. To combat the loss in market share, PepsiCo increased TV advertising for North America by 30%. The com- pany also entered into a $60 million sponsorship deal with The X Factor, a popular talent search television show (Stafford, 2012).

Investors had expressed concerns that CEO, Indra Nooyi, is spending too much time on healthier brands (fruit juice and food) and not enough time on the sodas. Ms. Nooyi’s goal is to double the rev- enue of nutritious products to $30 billion by 2020 (Stafford, 2012).

Despite featuring Beyoncé in the advertising, as of 2013, PepsiCo is still in third place. In a conference call with analysts, CEO Nooyi stated, “The cola category continues to be a challenge” (Choi, 2013).

Reflection Questions: 1. Why do companies focus on market share when developing ad campaigns? 2. Does increasing the budget automatically increase market share? Why or why not? 3. What advice would you give PepsiCo?

Marka/SuperStock

▲▲ Coca-Cola® remains the top soda in terms of sales and market share.

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

consumers in the market. Market share is also an issue. Market share is the percent of the overall market owned by a particular company. Most objectives contain return-on-investment goals or market share goals. In order to increase market share, additional resources are usually required. Areas or markets that are underserved and offer future revenue potential may need additional funding.

One of the reasons an advertising budget is developed is to match it with the overall IMC budget and compare it to the other IMC tactical budgets. Whenever available, advertisers want to take advantage of the economies of scale offered by making larger media buys. The ability to do this depends upon how integrated the IMC plan is and how the IMC budgets were developed.

The objectives of the campaign help to determine the resources needed and aid in budget alloca- tion. Once the advertising budget has been developed, an overall advertising strategy is developed that focuses on achieving the stated objectives.

›  Learning Check Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. Why is it important to restate the target market in the advertising plan? 2. What are the steps involved in developing advertising communication objectives? 3. How is an advertising budget developed?

4.3 Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Once the target market has been stated, the advertising objectives have been developed, and the budget has been created, the next step in creating an advertising plan involves developing an over- all advertising and creative strategy. This includes providing creative execution examples to your stakeholders.

Advertising Strategy The advertising strategy guides advertisers as they begin to develop their tactical executions. The strategy provides all IMC planners enough information so that the campaign becomes integrated. The strategy helps direct everyone toward the achievement of the advertising objectives. The devel- opment of an advertising strategy is especially tricky because this is the area of advertising that requires creativity. Creativity involves generating new and novel ideas that offer a unique view of a product, service, or idea. According to advertising professionals, creativity includes divergence and relevance (Till and Baack, 2005). When an advertisement includes elements that are different or unusual it has divergence. Relevance refers to the impact or degree to which the elements of an advertisement are meaningful, useful, or valuable (MacInnis and Jaworski, 1989). If an advertise- ment has relevance and divergence, it’s said to be creative. Higher degrees of divergence and rele- vance in an ad make the ad more creative. Generally, the most successful ads contain these elements.

The Creative Strategy The main section of the advertising strategy is the development of the creative strategy (also referred to as creative message strategy or copy platform). The creative strategy is an executive summary

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

of the message the advertiser wants to communi- cate to its various audiences. This strategy should be used by all personnel involved in the develop- ment of the IMC campaign and program. The creative strategy comes out of the creative brief. The creative brief may contain objectives, infor- mation on the target market and key influencers, competitors, product or service features, a single basic benefit of the product or service, support for benefit claims, the tone of the advertising, current audience behaviors and perceptions, desired audi- ence behaviors and perceptions, and desired con- sumer action. The brief helps the advertiser create the creative strategy. The creative strategy is one of the most important areas of the IMC plan and is detail oriented. A few simple steps can be fol- lowed in order to make sure the creative strategy is developed with a systems-based approach. The following paragraphs discuss elements of a cre- ative brief.

Restate the target market. Because the target mar- ket is at the center of all decisions (marketing concept) it is stated and restated many times so that every person on the team knows and the cus-

tomer is kept at the center of all decisions. Often this information is already developed. As empha- sized before, the four “ics” and the typical customer profile help one understand the audience.

List the principal competition. A competitive analysis should have been completed in a situation analysis. For this section, the comprehensive list is not necessary, but the market leader and major competitors should be included. If there are secondary competitors that have significant market share, they should be listed as well. It is important to identify the product market in which the brand is competing as well as the key players in the market. The brand’s advantages and disadvan- tages should be compared to key competitors. This section is brief (one or two paragraphs). Use charts and graphs if available to reduce the amount of text.

Provide a consumer promise. This is where the promise to the customer is explained. In this sec- tion a specific, two-sentence promise to the consumer is stated. The promise must be a solution to a consumer problem. In addition, it should generate a strong motivation to induce the consumer to act. Finally, the promise must be believable to the consumer.

Provide a “reason why.” Based upon the consumer promise, give the audience a reason to buy the product or service. The reason should include facts and documentation to back up the consumer promise. This statement should be able to back up any product claims made by the advertiser. Make facts relevant and informative. It must be interesting to the consumer as well. For example, “9 out of 10 dentists recommend Colgate” gives a fact that is both relevant and informative.

PRNewsFoto/Sears Holdings Corporation

▲▲ Ads that are creative are unusual (divergence) and have impact (relevance).

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

GoPro Camera After watching this video can you determine what the consumer promise is? Why would people buy the camera? Even though the advertisement is over

five minutes long there are still over 20 million views of the ad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PDXmYoF5U

List any corporate or organizational requirements. Does the corporation require a certain color palate? Do they require tag lines? Does the logo belong in the ad? Are there legal restrictions or implications that will impact the advertising campaign? Restrictions or mandatory information should be included.

The creative brief is specific to the product, company, organization, or service, so each brief will contain different elements. The elements above are typically the minimum required for a creative brief. Although the creative brief is short (thus the name), it has relevant information that will guide all decisions. Once the brief is completed, it’s time to generate the overall creative strategy. Often the strategy will be in both written and graphic format (Figure 4.2). The creative strategy will provide a road map for the other IMC areas as well as for advertisers. See Template: Creative Strategy Development.

f04.02_OMM651.ai

Message: You deserve a

break! Let RoboVacuum clean for you!

Product: RoboVacuum: A robot vacuum cleaner

that runs by itself

Competition: Primary: Roomba

Secondary: Traditional vacuums

Objective: Make RoboVacuum a

household name. Increase sales by 10% in one year.

Strategy: Resonance strategy to

showcase how happy users are with the product.

Company: RoboVacuum Project: Magazine Ad Deadline: Tomorrow

Positioning: Value: Best quality;

lowest price

Mandatory • Social media tie-in • Warning for pet safety

Reason why • Rated the best new

product of 2013 • Improved battery that lasts 10 hours • Saves time and effort • Best price in comparison to competition • Picks up toughest dirt • Transitions to carpet easily

Figure 4.2 Visual example of a creative brief

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

Types of Strategy Although there are many different strategies available to the advertiser, there are main categories used for advertising planning. Sometimes an ad can use more than one strategy to communicate to consumers. The main strategies are shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2 Main types of advertising strategy

Strategy Example

Affective. This includes the reliance on emotions to influence consumers. Humor and fear are typical approaches with an affective strategy.

Anti-smoking campaign—This ad from the CDC uses viewer’s emotions such as fear and love for family, to influence the consumer to quit smoking.

Brand Imaging. In brand imaging, the advertiser tries to create an overall image or personality for the brand or product based upon psychological claims.

Stuart Weitzman—This ad associates the brand with sexy high-end fashion.

Template: Creative Strategy Development Creative Strategy

Target audience

Competitive considerations

Creative objective

Advertising strategy

1. The promise

2. Reason why

3. Product, brand, service positioning

4. Corporate, organizational, legal requirements

Rationale for the strategy

PRNewsFoto/Stuart Weitzman

AP Photo/CDC

(continued)

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

Strategy Example

Unique Selling Proposition (USP). This strategy looks at a physical feature of a product or service that is stronger or better than the competition. There must be proof of superiority when utilizing this strategy. This strategy gets to the concept of a value proposition; generate value for the product or service then communicate that value to the audience. It’s always a good idea to know the USP and value proposition even if different strategy is undertaken.

Tide Detergent—This ad uses research to substantiate the product claims that Tide gets clothes cleaner than any other soap.

Resonance. In a resonance strategy the advertiser attempts to connect with the consumer utilizing a consumer’s experiences with a product. The idea is to communicate to the consumer that this brand is the “one to buy.” A show-and-tell execution often accompanies this strategy.

SodaStream—This is an image still from a SodaStream commercial that depicts people who are typical of the target market to show-and-tell how fun and easy it is to use the product.

Product or Brand Positioning. This is a long-term strategy that relies on relation- ship marketing. It allows the advertiser to develop a unique position for its brand and to “position” the brand in the consumer’s mind in relation to the brands offered by competitors. This strategy works well with many consumer products as consumers tend to rank brands and products in their minds based upon preconceived ideas and notions about the product such as quality, price, or longevity.

Subaru—Subaru has positioned its brand as one for young, active consumers who care about their families and pets. Loyalty is a key component of their brand posi- tioning strategy.

Generic. When entering a new market, advertisers have little information to help them assess the environment and may opt for a generic strategy. This strategy provides a straightforward product benefit claim. There is no claim of superiority over the competition. This strategy is very effective in situations where there is no or little competition.

Shine ’n Jam PomWave—In this ad the company explains why the product should be purchased. The ad depicts a person with styled hair who is typical of the target market.

Advertising Archive/Courtesy Everett Collection

AP Photo/SodaStream

PRNewsFoto/Subaru of America, Inc.

PRNewsFoto/Ampro Industries, Inc.

Developing the Advertising and Creative Strategy Chapter 4

With the creative brief and strategy in hand, it’s time to work on the development of some samples to show the client.

Creative Executions When developing the IMC plan, most clients want to see examples of what the advertising is going to look like prior to the actual rollout of the campaign. Additionally, the creative department staff need to see physical renditions of what they plan to use in the advertising campaign to research and make sure no errors exist. Therefore most advertising professionals will include creative samples or examples within the advertising plan. When the account is pitched the client will always want to look at examples. There are many different creative executions that can be included within an advertising plan. Provide many samples of executions to give decision makers and clients the big idea for the campaign. The examples must be tied with the media plan and only contain executions of media that are being considered. Samples of creative executions that will appear in traditional media as well as new media should be included. Media options typically found in an advertising plan include the following.

Traditional Media

• Print layout • Copy (text that will be used in the ad) • Radio scripts • Out-of-home mock-up ads • Storyboards for television ads • Press release samples

New Media

• Screen shots • Sample blogs • Satellite radio copy • Samples of instant messaging communications • Email copy • Sample viral videos • Games to be embedded • M-commerce advertisements • E-commerce advertisements • Podcast samples

This is a partial list of suggested sample executions. There may be more, or more often, fewer sam- ples. Issues involved with new media and electronic media will be discussed in a later chapter.

Ford™ B-Max Take a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the filming of a Ford B-Max commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvP6A6YQFY

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Concurrently, when developing sample executions, media must also be developed. As previously mentioned, the creative executions should be developed with the media in mind. Let’s take a look at what it takes to develop a media plan.

›  Learning Check Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What is the difference between advertising strategy and creative strategy? 2. What are the types of strategy used to develop communication messages? 3. How are vehicles for creative executions determined?

4.4 Media Planning Basics In addition to creative strategies, another key component of the advertising plan is the development of a media plan. The media plan is closely tied to all aspects of the advertising plan and decisions made on media often support other IMC tools such as newspapers needed for the delivery of cou- pons (sales promotion IMC tactic). We’ll begin by examining some common components of the media plan.

The Five W’s of Media Planning When developing a media plan it is important to concentrate on the reasons behind the plan’s development. In order to make sure you have all of the relevant content in the plan it is useful to ensure it includes the five W’s of media planning. The five W’s associated with the development of the media include who, when, why, what, and where. Each of these areas must be included some- where in the advertising plan, and the most advantageous place is the media plan.

Who? Who refers to the target audience. The target market and target audience are generally very similar, but not always. Often the target audience is different from the target market because the company wants to reach only a subset of the target market with the message. Think of advertis- ers involved in the cereal industry. Many cereals are consumed by children. Since many children do not have the ability to buy cereal, parents typically make purchases. The parents purchase the cereal, which is consumed by the children. Children may have some influence on the parent’s pur- chase. Because of that, many cereal advertisers include children in their target audience because kids often see an ad about product and then persuade parents to purchase the product. In this case, the target market is adults, but the target audience is children.

When? When represents the best times to advertise. Most products have buying times or buying seasons associated with them. Marketers and advertisers must be ready to sell products when the consumer is ready to purchase. Advertising when consumers aren’t engaged in the purchase or don’t see a need or want for the product is a waste of time, effort, and money. Because of this, media buys are timed. The result is a media flighting chart or media schedule.

Why? Why refers to the rationale in making the media purchase. Why is one vehicle (type of medium) better than another? Why is the timing for the advertising selected? These decisions help create a more efficient advertising plan.

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What? What indicates the items that need to be communicated to the target audience. What spe- cifically, is the advertiser trying to tell the audience? What unique aspect of the product or service would the audience like to know?

Where? Where indicates resource allocation. Typically this refers to the budget and available mon- ies that can be spent on each of the various media under consideration. At some point in the plan, the advertiser must indicate how much money will be spent on the individual media buys and the total media buys.

Now let’s take a look at the terms used in media planning and buying.

Common Media Terms As stated earlier, one of the problems with developing a media plan and communicating the plan to clients and managers is the inconsistency in media terminology. Below are explanations for the major terms used in media planning and buys. While reach and frequency were introduced in an earlier chapter, it helps to expand upon them here.

Reach, Frequency, and GRPs Reach refers to the number of people exposed to a particular medium’s communication at least once during an advertising campaign. This is often expressed as a percentage. Time lengths for this percentage and for the corresponding time frame, in media, are typically in four-week peri- ods. Every person exposed to the advertising message during that four-week period is said to have been reached. Although many people may have been exposed to this message more than once, each person is only counted once when calculating total reach. Media planners will often use words like unduplicated reach, cumulative audience (referred to as cume) and net coverage to describe reach. Because advertisers want to reach as many people in the target audience as pos- sible, they will usually use more than one media vehicle. An advertising campaign may include television such as Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as well as magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Rolling Stone. Often media planners want to extend their reach so they will use outdoor media, radio, or perhaps integrated forms of social media. When developing objectives based on reach it helps to remember that as reach is increased, adver- tising costs go up.

Reach only indicates the percentage of people exposed to the advertising message, it doesn’t indicate how many times that person was exposed. To understand how many times people were exposed to the message (or the exposure rate) advertisers need to plan for frequency.

Frequency, a key to creating effective advertising, is the average number of times the targeted audi- ence was exposed to a given advertising message during the media planning period, usually a four- week period. Because the number used to indicate frequency is an average, media planners will often use the term average frequency.

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Calculating Frequency Let’s take a look at an example of calculating frequency. Let’s say that 90% of the targeted audience has been reached at least one time. Let’s also say that, out of that 90%, 20% were reached three times, 20% were reached four times, 10% were reached five times, and 50% were reached only once. What is the total frequency?

Answer (20 × 3) + (20 × 4) + (10 × 5) + (50 × 1) = 240 = 2.67 90 90

The frequency for the advertising message was 2.67. This means that the targeted audience was exposed to the ad an average of 2.67 times in the four-week period.

Gross Rating Points (GRPs) are referred to as grips. Gross rating points combine reach with fre- quency to develop a metric or summary measurement that provides a weight for a given media schedule. The GRPs will give the media planner an idea of how much weight is needed to generate sufficient reach and frequency to meet the media objectives. Message weight is the total number of advertising messages delivered by a vehicle in a given schedule and indicates the size of the adver- tising effort being placed per vehicle. The GRPs indicate the gross coverage, or duplicated audience for a particular media schedule. Keep in mind that reach refers to unduplicated audience coverage (also known as net coverage). To calculate the GRPs you multiply reach times frequency (r × f).

In the previous example the reach was 90% (or 90), and the frequency was 2.67, which creates 240.3 GRPs (90 × 2.67 = 240.3). It’s the job of the media planner to decide how many GRPs are needed to deliver the required reach and frequency. Because the media schedule is developed prior to obtain- ing the reach and frequency numbers, ratings are used as indicators of reach. Ratings represent the percentage of the population that has been exposed to a broadcast or single edition of a particular medium (newspapers, television, radio, magazines, etc.). A media vehicle will provide the media planner with reach figures. Many companies specialize in the research, development, and report- ing of reach. For example, Nielsen provides ratings (reach) for television, and Arbitron provides ratings (reach) for radio.

Because GRPs rely on reporting total audience reach using duplicated reach estimates, there is often wasted coverage. In order to eliminate the wasted coverage, another metric may be used which is called targeted rating points (or trips). Targeted rating points (TRPs) focus on the number of people in the primary target audience the media buy will reach, along with the frequency. Because of this, media coverage waste is avoided. Waste occurs when the targeted market is overexposed to a message. The dollars spent on that media schedule are wasted.

Continuity Another common and important media objective is continuity. Each media planner must create continuity within the media plan. Continuity is created by addressing the timing of the advertis- ing campaign. In other words the media planner must determine how the advertising is to be located and executed throughout the entire advertising or marketing communication campaign. The central decision is to use research resources to determine when the advertising should run. Should the advertising run throughout the entire campaign which is typical for many consumer convenience goods, or should the planner opt to frontload the campaign (i.e., spend heavily upfront when the campaign is launched and then reduce expenditures throughout the remainder of the

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campaign)? The decision is based upon the type of product or service being advertised along with professional opinions of the marketing and advertising managers in conjunction with the media planner. Improper planning may render the advertising campaign ineffective. For example, if the media schedule is uniform there may not be enough weight to impact the audience during impor- tant buying seasons or periods. A front-loaded or concentrated campaign may leave the advertiser with little or no advertising during certain periods of the year. Generally the media planner will look at three areas when creating continuity for the campaign: 1) continuous scheduling, 2) pulsing and 3) flighting.

Continuous scheduling provides an equal amount of advertising expenditure throughout the entire campaign. With continuous scheduling, the assumption is that consumption of the prod- uct occurs evenly throughout the year or campaign period. Food retailers often use continuous schedules for the sale of bread, milk, and other staples. If the product or service consumption is not uniform, or continuous (i.e., if there are high periods of consumption followed by lower periods) a continuous schedule is probably not the most efficient or best schedule to employ in order to create continuity.

Another choice is pulsing. When using pulsing, some advertising runs throughout the campaign period but this advertising is supplemented with additional advertising in high-consumption peri- ods. This keeps the brand in front of the consumer during the entire campaign, but takes advantage of times when the consumers are more willing to part with their dollars. Many children’s products such as toys are placed in a pulsing schedule in order to keep the consumers aware of the products, but then during the high-consumption period (usually October through December) additional advertising is run to take advantage of the consumer’s propensity to spend during this time period.

When using a flighting schedule, there may be no advertising during certain periods, but large expenditures during other periods. In the example above, a small toy company may not have enough money to advertise using a continuous or pulsing schedule. The company may opt to spend the majority of its money during holiday seasons and little or no advertising during low- consumption periods. There is some similarity between pulsing and flighting, but in pulsing, some advertising is run during the entire period while in flighting that does not occur. As mentioned, advertising is limited by resources, in particular financial resources. All advertising campaigns are limited by budget. In order to get the biggest bang for their advertising dollars, media planners must compare the effectiveness of the various media and figure out which medium (or media) will deliver the greatest number of consumers for the least amount of money. Comparisons between media costs and effectiveness may be measured by the cost per thousand metric.

Cost per Thousand Cost per thousand (or CPM) will help the advertiser compare costs across media. The CPM refers to the cost of reaching 1,000 people through an identified medium. Typically the media planner will want to calculate the costs associated with reaching 1,000 people in the target audience, mak- ing the CPM representative of the advertiser’s unique market. There may be a major difference in the CPMs calculated for all media versus the CPM calculation for a targeted audience. In order to reduce confusion, the CPM measurement for the target market or target audience is identified as CPM-TM (cost per thousand for the target market). The calculation of a CPM is relatively easy. The cost of the advertisement to be placed is divided by the number of total contacts for the medium. In the case of CPM-TM the number of the total targeted audience should be used.

CPM = Cost of the advertisement/Number of contacts (in thousands)

CPM-TM = Cost of the advertisement/Number of targeted contacts (in thousands)

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The cost per thousand method is relatively safe to use if the media planner is comparing CPMs for a given media category (such as broadcast or print), but may not be as effective when comparing data across media categories and vehicles (comparing the CPM for radio versus the CPM for televi- sion). A calculated CPM for radio may be lower than television; however, radio may not be able to deliver a function needed for effective advertising such as show and tell. An additional caveat about comparing CPMs is that there are different costs associated with media buys even within a given medium. For example, it may not be wise to compare a CPM for radio drive time versus a morning radio buy. There are also different costs associated with the purchase of color ads versus black and white ads within a magazine. Advertisers should keep CPM in mind, but make sure they get the impact they’re looking for in terms of their creative executions.

Creating a Balance When media planners develop their media objectives of cost, reach, frequency, weight (GRPs), and continuity, they realize that each of the objectives may have an adverse or inverse relationship with each other. In other words, to generate greater reach, frequency must be sacrificed, and to generate greater frequency, reach may have to be sacrificed. Keep in mind that media planners work within a fairly strict budget so they need to decide which of the objectives are the most important. Marketers seek measurable results for every dollar they spend. With planning, the ad may generate a lot of continuity but what is the impact on the CPM? Do marketers want to increase frequency during heavy consumption times? What is the impact of the product? Does the product or service lend itself to one particular medium or do all the media have the same effectiveness for the product?

›  Learning Check Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What are the five W’s of media planning and why are they important? 2. How are reach, frequency, and GRPs related? 3. What is continuity?

Case in Point: The Media Kit—Cosmopolitan Most organizations that sell advertising space prepare media kits. The media kit is a document that provides advertisers and advertising agencies with information concerning rates, readership, and publication requirements. Although the kits can be in paper format, more companies are placing their media kits online.

Cosmopolitan (Cosmo) is a women’s magazine that targets women ages 18–49. As can be seen from the media kit, the majority of readers (58.7%) are women between the ages of 18–34. The media kit also lists CPM for a four-color page (P4C) in comparison to competitors. To check out the media kit go to www.cosmomediakit.com.

Reflection Questions: 1. What is the education level for Cosmo readers? 2. Which of the competitors of Cosmo has the least expensive CPM? The most expensive? 3. How can a media kit help sell advertising space?

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4.5 The Media Planning Process Now that we’ve defined some basic components of the media plan, such as the five W’s and other important terms, we will build on that foundation by discussing how those terms and components come together in the media planning process. Advertising media communicate with consumers using tools such as newspapers, radio, television, Internet, and billboards. Just as in the develop- ment of the overall advertising plan, the media plan includes objectives and specifies a key problem that the media plan will attempt to solve. The media key problem and objectives are related to the overall advertising plan’s key problem and objectives, only more specific to media.

List the Media Recommendations In the media portion of the advertising plan, the advertiser must lay down the overall plan for media buys and utilization. The major premise of the media plan is to be as exhaustive as possible in media inclusion, yet the plan must be as brief as possible. In new product or service campaigns the media plan will be very detailed. Media development for current products and services can use past media patterns thus reducing the overall detail of the plan. In any given media plan, the key media problem, media objectives, and overall strategy should be included. Always include a ratio- nale as to why the various media have been selected.

The key media problem deals with the situations that can be solved by the media plan (i.e., the vehicles used to get the overall message through the media and to the targeted audience). The key media problem helps the media planner decide where, in the media mix, emphasis should be placed in order to reach the highest number of audience members at the lowest cost. The media mix will include all of the various media vehicles intended for use during the campaign. A media vehicle refers to a specific message carrier within a given media category. Thus, USA Today and The New York Times are print vehicles, while Sullivan and Son and NCIS are broadcast vehicles. The key media problem can also help the media planner by defining media terms that will be used for the campaign. Problems occur during the development, planning, and presentation of media if incon- sistent terms are used to create the media plan. Because terminology inconsistences often exist in the media world, the section on media terms will help to generate an understanding of verbiage media planner’s use. Additionally, problems will occur if planners have insufficient data and infor- mation to develop the plan, insufficient time to put together the plan, and insufficiently developed systems to track the effectiveness of any given media campaign.

Develop Media Objectives Prior to executing the media plan, media planners must develop objectives they feel will solve the key media problem and help the media buyers generate and select the correct media vehicles. The reason media objectives are developed is to help advertisers and media planners translate the overall marketing objectives into communication objectives that media can achieve. Additionally, clients want to know if the objectives they’ve provided the advertisers are being met. Checking to see if the objectives were achieved assists in this purpose. Media objectives must be realistic and achievable as well as quantified. If one can’t measure the objectives, one can’t manage the media.

Media objectives use media jargon and at first seem difficult to understand. The following are vari- ous areas (minimally) that media managers need to address when developing their objectives:

• Reach and frequency • Continuity

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• Geographic, cyber, or market weighting • Budget constraints and media availability • Targeted markets and targeted audiences • Gross rating points • Targeted rating points • Length of campaign • IMC mix integration • Flexibility • Sustainability

A rationale for each objective must also be provided to give decision makers a better view and “rea- son why” to accept the objectives.

Develop the Media Strategy When developing the media plan, planners need to create media strategies and rationale for each of the strategies. When putting the plan together, each of the media they plan to use is listed and a rationale is provided in support of why they are using each specific medium. They relate the media strategies to the media objectives. This allows planners to control the media by making sure they are functioning and performing the way they’ve planned. They may also have to explain why they’re not using particular media. Although not exhaustive, the following list provides informa- tion that needs to be addressed somewhere in the media plan.

• The type of media selected (i.e., media classes) • Rationale for the utilization of the media and for strategic decisions • Criteria used to select the media • CPM • Market weighting • Allocation of the budget to various media classes including the dollar amounts and the per-

centages of the total budget assigned to each media class • Budget allocation strategy for the various geographic regions of the audience and the geo-

graphic coverage of the media • Time-period budget allocation (yearly, monthly, four-week, quarterly, etc.) • Reach and frequency levels and the corresponding GRPs or TRPs • Market sizes for the primary and secondary markets and any other markets to be reached • Media units that will be used (15-, 30-, or 60-second broadcast advertisements; full page; half

page; quarter page advertisements, etc.) • Media schedule • Key competitors and a key competitor analysis • The relationships of the strategies

Since the media strategies deal with how media objectives will be achieved, they are expressed in a series of statements. These statements are measured against the campaign results to see if they were successful or had limited or no success. Monetary allocations for the plan must be shown so that the marketing communication managers can allocate the budgeted monies according to seasonal- ity, geographic markets with the highest level of sales, target audiences (focusing on heavy users,

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brand loyalty, etc.), and other important areas. The media plan will have the following basic infor- mation: 1) the media mix, 2) media classes (and format of those classes), 3) geographics, 4) flighting versus continuity issues, and 5) media seasonality.

The Media Mix The first choice made when deciding on which media to use is “do you want a mix of media, one medium, or no media?” Decisions are guided by the pros and cons of each medium available. Media planners have many options when it comes to the purchase of media. The budget will guide which of the options are available for use. The options are summarized in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3 Pros and cons of selected media

Print (e.g., newspapers, magazines, playbills, directories, organizational publications, trade publications, tabloids)

Newspapers Pros:

• Good reach/high circulation.

• The longevity is good

• High acceptance and credibility for many markets

• Short lead-times for placing and providing finished advertisements

• Great medium for FSIs (Free-standing inserts) and couponing

• Differing sections (sports, entertainment, etc.) offer demographic targeting

• Can create different size and shapes for advertisements

Cons:

• Clutter. Often have information overload for some consumers

• Very little exclusivity or protection from competing ads

• Subscription and newsstand sales, for many newspapers, are diminishing due to the online presence of other news content as well as the newspapers own online editions

• Rates are on the rise

• Newspapers are a passive medium which offers little engagement for the reader

• High levels of local and national competition

Magazines Pros:

• Unique advertising spaces and technologies for advertisers who want to cut through the clutter by using stickers, pre-printed inserts, pop-up ads, fold-outs, etc.

• Targeted readership in terms of psycho- graphic and demographic interests

• Allow for regionally directed ads (even in national consumer magazines)

• Geographic selectivity in larger markets (city by city)

• Printed on high quality paper which allows higher quality photographs and illustrations

• Great for branding and image campaigns

• Long shelf life and high pass-along value (multiple readers for each magazine); some magazines are collected and coveted

Cons:

• Advertising space is expensive

• Frequency is typically limited because many are published monthly forcing the advertiser to wait to change the advertising message

• There is a high ratio of advertising to editorial content adding to clutter

• The lead time for ad placement and prepara- tion of copy is long

• Many magazines are going online (called e-zines) which has reduced the need and want for print versions

• Magazine readership, in relation to other print media, is low; only about 3% of consumer’s leisure time engaging with media is spent on reading a magazine

• Magazines reach a low percentage of the overall target market

(continued)

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Broadcast (also known as electronic, includes radio and television)

Television Pros:

• Used by more people

• The duration of time for television use is the highest for any medium

• Typically this medium has excellent reach

• Television, because of its show-and-tell ability, has high impact

• Has potential to increase viral marketing because more television programs and advertisements are shown online and through social media such as YouTube and Hulu

• Allows for creativity

• Useful for branding and image campaigns

• Multiple variations of advertising messaging can be used

• Television has day parts allowing for messaging during different times of day

• Advertising rates are low for the amount of reach generated

Cons:

• Technologies allow consumers to record different programming without having to watch advertisements

• Viewing is seasonal

• Production costs for television ads are high

• The CPM is high

• Television requires more frequency than other media because of the low viewer recall

• Consumers often zap and zip or skip and surf during television commercials

• Overexposure of an ad can occur which irritates consumers

Radio Pros:

• Day parts can be targeted

• There is a low CPM

• Reach is very good

• Frequency is easily maximized because of lower costs

• Allows for a longer message

• Allows for more elaborate messaging

• Typically geographically targeted, although there is also national radio allowing the advertiser to reach the entire country

• Production costs are relatively low

• Advertising is flexible and easily changed

• Advertising is locally relevant to consumers

Cons:

• Consumers can skip commercials or change stations during advertisements

• Radio is a passive medium; most listeners are engaged in other activities when listening to the radio

• Different day parts often deliver different types of listeners making it somewhat difficult to reach an exact audience (even on the same station)

• Radio stations overlap significantly with other stations in a market, which increases costs when the advertiser has to purchase spots on multiple stations

(continued)

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Out-of-Home (including billboard, transit, and bus shelter ads)

Outdoor Pros:

• Advances in outdoor advertising, especially billboards, have opened up more possibili- ties such as tri-boards or tri-wave boards that change messages in five-to-eight second intervals; additional attention-getting digital displays create high resolution much like television

• The CPM for outdoor is relatively low

• Advertising is very large and attention getting (high impact)

• Geographic areas can be targeted

• Simple advertisements are effective

• Useful for reminder advertising

• Advertisements can embed other technolo- gies like temperature and time

Cons:

• The advertising message must be very brief

• Advertising space is limited

• Changing messages or correcting errors are difficult and expensive

• Inventory (or space) is limited in many of the major markets and good locations

• Recall of ads (especially billboards) can be low

• Brand, product, or company image can be damaged based on the location of the billboard and its immediate surroundings

• Effectiveness and total reach are both relative to the traffic patterns, traffic flow, and weather

• Effective to provide directions to a site

Online (banner and block ads, video pre-roll, pay per click links, paid positioning, search optimization)

Online

This will be discussed in a later chapter.

Pros:

• Advertising messages can be changed easily

• Online advertising can be engaging to the consumer

• Costs associated with advertising online are relatively low

• Number of people spending time online increases every year

• Demographic, geographic or psychographic targeting is possible online, more so than on other media

Cons:

• Clutter—there are millions of websites (and more being generated every year) to choose from

• Effectiveness is difficult to measure

• Most people don’t go online for the adver- tising and view ads as intrusive

• Although changing, the advertiser (or agency) is responsible for tracking click- throughs, hits, and the actions taken from online advertising

Sources: Ogden and Rarick, 2010; Ogden and Crescitelli, 2008; Ogden, 1998

Media Classes The second area to look at when developing the strategy is which media classes to choose. Media classes are subgroups of the media mix. For example, if using television as a medium should it be national television? Should it be network? Cable? Which print media should be used? Will the Hollywood Reporter be sufficient or are additional magazines needed to present the message?

Media Geographics When analyzing media geographics one needs to concentrate on the geographical areas where the advertising message is going to be delivered. What specific geographical markets will receive the message? Any methodologies developed that have identified advantageous areas should be included in this section. Most advertisers will refer to the brand development index (BDI) and category development index (CDI) to help make a research-based geographic decision as to where the advertising should run.

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Media Seasonality As stated earlier, advertising messages should run when the consumers are ready to make a pur- chase. Most products and services have seasons when consumers have more interest in a product or service. Think about athletics and sports. When would be the best time to sell baseballs? At the end of the professional baseball season consumers have less want or need for the products. Thus adver- tising baseballs in January is a waste of time, energy, and money. Although not normally the case, advertising may run during slow seasons to try and stimulate demand for a product or service. Clearance sales for off-season merchandise are an example of advertising to stimulate demand.

Flighting versus Continuity Any and all strategic decisions in regard to flighting and continuity must be consistent with the other strategies. A statement of how the media plan will achieve the media objectives, which in turn show how the IMC strategies will be achieved, is beneficial. A useful statement dealing with flighting and continuity may read “to use pulsing throughout the entire campaign allowing for front-end loading to launch the new product during the introductory period of the campaign.”

Develop the Media Plan The last step in planning media is to put everything in writing in the form of a media plan. All information discussed above is inserted into the plan with specific information on how the entire plan will come together to achieve the desired objectives. The media plan should also provide graphic information about what the plan will look like using a series of Excel spreadsheets, dia- grams, charts, graphs, and tables. The information in the media plan will vary depending upon the product, service, and desires of the advertiser and advertising, or marcom agency. Media buyers and others involved in the marketing communication function will want to see an overview of the plan and be able to access the information at a glance. Each media plan should minimally have the following sections or information:

1. Media vehicles 2. Reach, frequency, and GRPs 3. Costs (especially CPMs) 4. Tables or charts (for each individual market a separate media plan is needed) that provide

information on media used, when the ads will appear or run (i.e., a time line), advertising sizes, day parts (if needed), and GRP or TRP levels as well as seasonality, planned expenditures, and reach and frequency levels

5. Additional information such as sales-to-advertising comparisons; ROAE (return on advertis- ing expenditures) projections; user analyses; and reviews of competitive sales, media time, and creative messaging

Graphs and charts are especially useful when reporting media plans. They allow the readers (especially media buyers) to make decisions about the media and which media to include in the campaign.

Figure 4.3 shows part of a media plan. This media plan is targeted toward males age 24–54. There are media choices in cable and national television (heavy on sports-related channels). Network radio is also used. Most of the advertising is during March and April. The media plan generated 430 GRPs for national television and 240 GRPs for radio for a total of 670 GRPs. The total cost for national television was $4,491,622 and $297,438 for radio for a total of $4,789,060. The plan also shows a breakdown of expenditures by period.

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Rationale When presenting a media plan to upper management or to the client, it is essential that data are included that help defend the plan. Rationale explains the reason why a specific vehicle and execu- tion was chosen. The rationale can be long and extensive; however, it is more often short and obvi- ous to the readers and decision makers. Media planners should include supporting documentation from outside research that helps strengthen the concepts and the plan. Enough information must be provided to allow the decision makers the ability to understand what is being accomplished and the “big picture” of the advertising campaign.

f04.05_OMM651.ai

31 7 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

GRPs $ Net 14 21 28 4 11 18 25 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29 6 13 20 27 3 10 17 24

National TV National TV–Male Cable: 30s National TV–Male Cable: 15s Total Male Cable National TV–Scripps: 30s National TV–Scripps: 15s Total Scripps National TV–TWC: 30s National TV–TWC: 15s Total TWC Blended Sports: 30s Blended Sports: 15s Total Blended Sports MLB: 30s MLB: 15s Total MLB ESPN: 30s ESPN: 15s Total ESPN Total National TV GRPs Total National TV Spend

$812,901 $262,993

$1,075,894 $913,594 $418,989

$1,332,582 $166,246

$75,918 $242,164

$495,511 $263, 780

$759,291 $313,371 $372,128

$685,500 $281,388 $114,803

$396,191

$4,491,622

Network Radio Network Radio: 15s Network Radio: 30s Network Radio: 60s Total Network Radio Total Network Radio Spend

$82,049 $48,809

$166,580

$297,438

104 65

169 42 37 79 16 14 30 31 33 64 16 38 54 19 15 34

430

110 80 50

240 $97,438 $200,000

$1,896,198 $2,595,424

Target: M25–54 Spot Radio Day part Mix: AMD–35%, PMD–35%, WKND–20%, DAY–10% Nat’l TV Day part Mix: Cable–40%, Scripps–18% TWC–7%, BL Sports–15%, MLB–12%, ESPN–8%

41 41 16 6 9 9 14 17 16

50 50 30 23 16 12 12 10 8 6 6 5 7 13

18 18 15 15 13 4 4 4 4 2 2 2 2 6 6 6 6 6 6

11 8 5 7

8 8 10 10 5 7

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Figure 4.3 Portion of a media plan

Post-Test Chapter 4

›  Learning Check Reflect on your learning by answering the following questions:

1. What are pros and cons of print media? 2. How does broadcast media compare to print media? 3. What are media classes? 4. How are flighting and continuity related?

Summary and Resources In this chapter the concept of advertising and advertising’s place in the integrated marketing com- munication plan were discussed. Overall, it’s important to understand the target market and target audience for products and services as these are the bases for the creation of the advertising and media plans. Information was provided to assist the advertiser in the development of the overall advertising campaign and where that campaign integrates with the marketing plan. The chapter also focused on explaining the differences between advertising and marketing and the interrela- tionship between those concepts.

The five W’s of media planning and media execution were presented and definitions of media ter- minology and concepts were also presented. The chapter closed with information on how to put the media plan together and where the media plan is used within the overall advertising and IMC plan.

Post-Test 1. The purpose of advertising is to

a) give the correct target audience the most effective message at the best price possible. b) communicate with research-specified target market segments in a personal manner. c) effectively market and sell unique products at the highest profit margins possible. d) efficiently communicate a message about a company or product through the use of

unpaid publicity. 2. Most of the money in an advertising budget is used for

a) production costs. b) advertising agency salaries. c) media planner salaries. d) media buys.

3. Which type of advertising strategy is most often associated with humor? a) Brand imaging b) Brand positioning strategy c) Affective strategy d) Resonance strategy

Post-Test Chapter 4

4. refer(s) to the number of people a media buy reaches in the primary target audience, combined with the frequency. a) Gross rating points (GRPs) b) Targeted rating points c) Ratings d) Cume

5. What helps determine where to place ads in order to reach the largest audience at the lowest cost? a) Key media problem b) Media vehicles c) Media kit d) Media objectives

6. What is the biggest disadvantage associated with advertising? a) It does not drive consumer responses immediately. b) It is expensive. c) It initiates feedback from customers. d) It does not do a good job of educating people.

7. If twice as many people purchase Brand A tortilla chips than Brand B tortilla chips, Brand A is said to have a larger a) market share. b) market size. c) budget. d) target audience.

8. Which of the following is NOT a usual element of a creative brief? a) A discussion of the major competition b) Budget information about the campaign’s costs c) A solution to a consumer problem d) Legal or corporate requirements for the campaign

9. A media planner has decided to run a television ad regularly throughout most the campaign period, but increase its frequency during the winter holiday shopping season. This can best be described as an example of a) continuous scheduling. b) pulsing. c) flighting schedule. d) uniform scheduling.

10. In a media plan, a newspaper such as the Washington Post is known as a a) broadcast vehicle. b) print vehicle. c) key media problem. d) media kit.

Key Ideas Chapter 4

Answers 1. a) give the correct target audience the most effective message at the best price possible.

The correct answer can be found in Section 4.1. 2. d) media buys. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.2. 3. c) Affective strategy. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.3. 4. b) Targeted rating points. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.4. 5. a) Key media problem. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.5. 6. b) It is expensive. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.1. 7. a) market share. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.2. 8. b) Budget information about the campaign’s costs. The correct answer can be found in

Section 4.3. 9. b) pulsing. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.4.

10. b) print vehicle. The correct answer can be found in Section 4.5.

Key Ideas • Advertising requires planning just as marketing and IMC does. An advertising plan guides

advertisers in the development of an advertising campaign that is synergistic and seamless in regard to the other IMC variables.

• When creating an IMC plan, advertising is typically the first area explored as it reaches the largest number of consumers.

• Product advertising features a product and is aimed toward the end user. Institutional adver- tising features a company, organization, or some other type of institution and its intent is to develop goodwill for the company or organization.

• An advertising plan should always focus on the consumer or targeted audience. • A key fact is used to help develop the creative portion of the advertising plan. A key fact is a

simple statement (in consumer language) that provides immediate information on the prod- uct or service being offered to the marketplace.

• A key problem is an issue that the IMC plan, and advertising in particular, is attempting to solve. The key problem serves as a base for the development of the overall advertising plan.

• Because money is limited, a budget needs to be created that explains where all advertising expenditures will be made. The budget should be integrated into the overall IMC budget and should have line items in order to assess the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. Budgets should also include discretionary amounts in order to take advantage of media sales (or other activities offered to an advertiser).

• Marketers and advertisers are cognizant about market share. Market share gives an indica- tion of how well an advertiser and the company he or she represents are doing in the market- place. Market share is the amount of a market owned by a company or organization.

• It is essential to have an advertising strategy that is integrated into the overall IMC strategy. The advertising strategy is used to guide all advertising executions. In advertising, advertis- ers also develop a creative strategy or copy platform that is also used as a guide in the devel- opment of the campaign.

• Creative executions are samples of what the overall advertising campaign may look like. When looking at utilizing television, storyboards are created to give planners an idea of what

Key Terms Chapter 4

the commercials will look like once they’re aired. A storyboard is an example of a creative execution.

• The guiding principal of media planning is using the five W’s. They are who, what, where, why, and when. Each of these questions should be answered prior to executing a campaign.

Key Terms advertising plan A written document that will be used to guide advertisers in the development of the overall communication’s program.

advocacy advertising A type of institutional advertising that occurs when an organization pro- motes a point of view or philosophy.

copy platform Another term for the creative summary.

continuity Maintaining a stable and continuous advertising schedule during a campaign.

continuous scheduling Scheduling an equal amount of advertising expenditures throughout an entire campaign.

cost per thousand (CPM) The amount of money expended to reach 1,000 consumers. CPM is used to compare the cost of media.

creative brief An outline of basic advertising steps used to develop the overall advertising strategy.

creative strategy A creative strategy is developed to generate the message an advertiser wants to send to its consumers; the creative strategy is also referred to as the creative message strategy or simply the copy platform.

divergence One element of creativity associated with advertising; if the advertisement’s elements are different or unusual, the ad is said to have divergence.

flighting When planning media, flighting is a pattern where there is no advertising during some periods of an advertising campaign, but large expenditures on advertising during times when consumers are ready to purchase and there is high product or service consumption.

gross rating points (GRPs) Reach × frequency for an overall audience.

institutional advertising Focuses on communicating issues about a business or organization as opposed to a product or service.

key fact A simple statement that provides the planner information on the product or service being offered, the advertising and marketing environment, competitors, and the target market.

key problem Defining the area where the advertisers feel they need to use human and financial resources that will best create an effective plan.

market share The percent of the overall market owned by a particular company.

media classes Subgroups of the media mix.

media kit A document that provides advertisers and advertising agencies information concern- ing rates, readership and publication requirements.

Critical Thinking Exercises Chapter 4

media mix The different types of media vehicles that will be used in an advertising campaign.

media vehicles The specific message carriers within a media category.

message weight The total number of advertising messages delivered by a vehicle in a given schedule; indicates the size of the advertising effort being placed per vehicle.

product advertising A type of advertising where the advertiser focuses on the end user.

pulsing A pattern in which advertising runs consistently throughout an entire campaign, with additional advertising during high consumption periods.

ratings The percentage of people exposed to a particular broadcast or print medium.

relevance The inclusion of various elements in an advertisement that tend to be useful or mean- ingful to the consumer; they help drive value for the consumer.

target audience The consumers toward whom the advertising is aimed.

targeted rating points (TRPs) Reach x frequency for the people in the target audience; targeted rating points differ from gross rating points by assessing only the consumers in an organization’s target market.

Discussion Questions 1. What are the main types of advertising and when are they used? 2. What are the main sections in an advertising plan? 3. How is an advertising budget developed? 4. Explain the different types of creative strategies used by companies to develop an

advertisement. 5. What are the five W’s of media planning and why are they important?

Critical Thinking Exercises 1. Find six advertisements that illustrate the strategies listed below and explain why you believe

they are good examples.

• Affective • Unique selling proposition • Brand imaging • Resonance • Product or brand positioning • Generic

2. Select an advertising campaign on television or the Internet and identify the target market and target audience. What other media could be used to reach this market?

3. Select three advertisements and define the problem that you think the ads are designed to solve. Develop two communication objectives that you think the ad is designed to accomplish.

Continuing Project Chapter 4

Continuing Project Below is a template for a media plan. Continue using the product you selected in Chapters 1–3 and develop a media plan. Insert the appropriate information and save the plan to be used as part of the advertising plan (that template can be found within the chapter). Remember that the media plan and the entire advertising plan will become part of the overall IMC plan.

• State the key media recomme

ndations (make sure these reco

m-

mendations com e from the IMC

plan and object ives):

• State the key media problem:

• State the me dia objectives:

• Develop and i nsert the media

strategies:

• Rationale:

• Media tactics (This is the ove

rall media plan. Include any flig

ht-

ing schedules, m edia flowcharts

, media schedule s, and other

information incl uding rationale,

which will assis t the planners a

nd

advertisers in u nderstanding wh

at you hope to a ccomplish):

Case Study Chapter 4

Additional Resources Redbooks—Contains profiles of 13,500 international advertising agencies, including informa-

tion on their accounts, specialization, gross billings, and contact information: http://www. redbooks.com/

Ad Council—The site of the leading producer of public service advertising: http://www.adcouncil.org/

Ad Age—Provides industry news, statistics, and a career center: http://www.adage.com

Creativity—View newly released TV commercials: http://creativity-online.com/

Advertising Educational Foundation—Features information for advertising instructors and students: http://www.aef.com/index.html

American Advertising Agencies—Link to advertising agencies by city: http://www.american adagencies.com/

Case Study: Aflac and its Duck Companies put a lot of time and effort into developing their brand through advertising and other IMC tactics. Often celebrity spokespeople and mascots are used to strengthen the brand message. What does a company do when its spokesperson acts in ways that are inconsistent with the brand? Aflac found itself in a precarious situation in 2011 when Gilbert Gottfried, the distinctive voice of the insurer’s quacking duck in the United States, behaved unprofessionally.

After an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, Gottfried used Twitter to post a string of tasteless jokes about the event. Company spokespeople immediately fired Gottfried, who had been the voice for the duck since 2000. The actions were upsetting for the company and many customers, in part, because one in four homes in Japan buys insurance from Aflac.

After Gottfried was fired the company was faced with an advertising dilemma: What should be done about the voice of the mascot? The company held a contest and 12,500 people tried out. After a month of auditions, the company chose Dan McKeague of Hugo, Minnesota. Aflac’s advertising agency, The Kaplan Thaler Group, helped the company find the new voice. In addition to passing a background check, contestants had to convey a range of emotion while quacking the word, “Aflac” (Anderson, 2011). McKeague got a one-year contract in the low six figures which will be renewed if successful. The first commercial with the new duck voice aired May 1, 2011.

The duck is an important part of the Aflac brand and has become an internationally recognizable figure and voice. The Aflac duck is enshrined on Madison Avenue’s Walk of Fame in New York City as one of America’s Favorite Advertising Icons. Aflac is also known for advertising creativity. A 2013 ad campaign from Aflac featured an injured duck that can’t quack because of a fractured beak which put him in the hospital. The spot uses humor to show customers that injury can happen to anyone and how Aflac insurance can help. According to Jay Williams, advertising agency creative director, “The duck has become so well-known and well liked. We wanted to find a new way to harness that affection. The thought came to us: The duck is a working actor. This is what he does. He’s in commer- cials, and he talks about the brand. So, we thought there could be a humorous way to make the duck a metaphor for the people Aflac helps” (Nudd, 2013).

In a follow-up to these initial ads, a new advertising campaign called “Speech Therapy” was aired. In the commercial the Aflac duck is training with an enthusiastic speech pathologist played by

(continued)

Case Study Chapter 4

actress Jammie Patton. The duck is trying to relearn how to quack “Aflaaaaac.” Aflac Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Michael Zuna said. “The ad will make you laugh, but it also car- ries a serious message about why millions of Americans use Aflac to help protect themselves and their families from the financial impact of an unexpected accident or illness” (Aflac Press Release, 2013). Social media was also used to encourage people to send the duck a get well card.

To watch one of the spots follow this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzj741z4q1k

Critical Thinking Questions 1. What role do mascots play in advertising campaigns? 2. Does humor make serious issues more acceptable when used in advertising? 3. How do you think Aflac handled the tweeting by Gottfried? 4. What precautions do international businesses have to take with advertising? 5. Describe Aflac’s advertising strategy and why it is or is not effective.