UNIT II

LESSON 3 - SETTING ADVERTISING GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

ADVERTISING PLANNING
DEVELOPING ADVERTISING STRATEGY AND
IDENTIFICATION OF CREATIVE CONCEPTS

Structure
2.1 Introduction to advertising goals
2.2 Objectives
2.3 Definitions
2.4 Importance of advertising
2.5 Features of Advertising
2.6 Role of Advertising in marketing mix
2.7 Advertising strategy
2.8 Creative concept in advertising
2.9 Summary
2.10 Suggested readings

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING GOALS

Advertising is the best way to communicate to the customers. Advertising helps

informs the customers about the brands available in the market and the variety of products
useful to them. Advertising is for everybody including kids, young and old. It is done using
various media types, with different techniques and methods most suited.

Advertising plays a very important role in today’s age of competition. Advertising

is one thing which has become a necessity for everybody in today’s day to day life, be it the
producer, the traders, or the customer. Advertising is an important part. Advertising helps
increasing sales

Advertising helps producers or the companies to know their competitors and plan
accordingly to meet up the level of competition.

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 If any company wants to introduce or launch a new product in the market,
advertising will make a ground for the product. Advertising helps making people aware of the
new product so that the consumers come and try the product.

Advertising helps creating goodwill for the company and gains customer loyalty
after reaching a mature age.

The demand for the product keeps on coming with the help of advertising and
demand and supply become a never ending process.

Advertising is important for the society

Advertising helps educating people. There are some social issues also which
advertising deals with like child labour, liquor consumption, girl child killing, smoking,
family planning education, etc. thus, advertising plays a very important role in society.

According to American Marketing Association "advertising is any paid form of

non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified
sponsor". Advertising is used for communicating business information to the present and
prospective customers. It usually provides information about the advertising firm, its product
qualities, place of availability of its products, etc. Advertisement is indispensable for both the
sellers and the buyers. However, it is more important for the sellers. In the modern age of
large scale production, producers cannot think of pushing sale of their products without
advertising them. Advertisement supplements personal selling to a great extent. Advertising
has acquired great importance in the modern world where tough competition in the market
and fast changes in technology, we find fashion and taste in the customers.

2.2 OBJECTIVES

After completion of this lesson the student will be able to understand:

 Meaning, Nature and Features of Advertising
 Objectives of Advertising
 Importance of Advertising
 Active Participant in Advertising
 Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix
 Role of Advertising in Society Advertising and Brand building

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2.3 DEFINITIONS

 “The purpose of advertising is to sell goods, services or ideas to a large group of

prospective purchaser”. -Huegy & Mitchell
 “The main objective of advertising is to inform, to persuade and remind the target
audience about the advertiser’s product”. - Russell H. Colley
 American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-
personal presentation of ideas, goods and services by an indentified sponsor”.
 According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity”.
 According to Gardner, “Advertising is the means of mass selling that has grown up
parallel with and has been made necessary to mass production”.
 According to Wheeler, “Advertising is any form of paid non-personal presentation of
ideas, goods or services for the purpose of inducting people to buy.”
 According to Richard Buskirk, “Advertising is a paid form of non-personal
presentation of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.”
 According to William J. Stanton, “Advertising consists of all the activities involves in
presenting to a group, a non-personal, oral or visual, openly sponsored message
regarding disseminated through one or more media and is paid for by an identified
sponsor.”
 “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods,
services, or ideas by an identified sponsor.”Philip Kotler:

2.4 IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING

Several companies are producing goods and products, which are critical for a
customer to fulfil their needs. However, with tremendous competition and limited span of
attention for a customer, it becomes difficult for a customer to know about a product or a
service. Hence advertising plays an important role in communication the value proposition of
a company’s offering to the customer. An advertisement clearly highlights the product/
service, its utility and also builds a connect with the customer. Advertising and marketing a
brand enables to reach out, teach about the product and ensure that the customer is aware
about the company. All these things can influence the buying behaviour of a customer.

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 These days companies have dedicated teams and managers who look after
the advertising strategy of a company. The role of these employees is to have an advertising
plan, allocate an advertising budget, create an advertising campaignand ensure that the ad
reaches out to as many customers as possible.

Components of advertising

Advertising can be broadly broken down into four major components:

1. Advertising strategy- Focuses on the message, customer segment to be targeted and the
budget

2. Advertising media- Choosing the most appropriate advertising channel, medium or media

to reach out to the customers

3. Creative idea- This is the message or the visual which can be made to attract the customer

4. Creative execution- The final advertisement created based on the creative idea.

2.5 FEATURES OF ADVERTISING

1. Communication : Advertising is means of mass communication reaching the masses. It is

a non-personal communication because it is addressed to masses.

2. Information : Advertising informs the buyers about the benefits they would get when they
purchase a particular product. However, the information given should be complete and true.

3. Persuasion : The advertiser expects to create a favourable attitude which will lead to
favourable actions. Any advertising process attempts at converting the prospects into
customers. It is thus an indirect salesmanship and essentially a persuasion technique.

4. Profit Maximisation : True advertising does not attempt at maximising profits by

increasing the cost but by promoting the sales. This way It won‟t lead to increase the price of
the product. Thus, it has a higher sales approach rather than the higher-cost approach.

5. Non-Personal Presentation : Salesmanship is personal selling whereas advertising is

non-personal in character. Advertising is not meant for anyone individual but for all. There is
absence of personal appeal in advertising.

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 6. Identified Sponsor : A sponsor may be an individual or a firm who pays for the
advertisement. The name of reputed company may increase sale or products. The product
gets good market because of its identity with the reputed corporate body.

7. Consumer Choice : Advertising facilitates consumer choice. It enables consumers to

purchase goods as per their budget requirement and choice. Right choice makes consumer
happy and satisfied.

8. Art, Science and Profession : Advertising is an art because it represents a field of

creativity. Advertising is a science because it has a body of organised knowledge.
Advertising is profession is now treated as a profession with its professional bodies and code
of conduct for members.

9. Element of Marking Mix : Advertising is an important element of promotion mix.

Advertising has proved to be of great utility to sell goods and services. Large manufactures
spend crores of rupees on advertising.

10. Element of Creativity : A good advertising campaign involves lot of creativity and
imagination. When the message of the advertiser matches the expectations of consumers,
such creativity makes way for successful campaign.

2.6 ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN MARKETING MIX

Marketing mix consist of four important variables of marketing, i.e. 4Ps-Product,
Price, Promotion and Place. Apart from the traditional 4 Ps, there are also other variables, i.e.
Packaging, Postion, and Pace. Advertising is an element of promotion. However, it not only
assists in promoting the product, but also affects the other variables of marketing mix. This
can be explained as follows:

1. Advertising and Product : A product is normally a set of physical elements, such as

quality, shape, size, colour and other features. The product may be of very high quality .At
times, the product is so designed that it requires careful handling and operations. Buyers must
be informed and educated on the various aspects of the product. This can be effectively done
through advertising. Thus, advertising plays the role of information and education.

2. Advertising and Price : The price is the exchange value of the product. A marketer may
bring out a very high quality product with additional features as compared to competitors. In

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such a case, price would be definitely high. But buyers may not be willing to pay a high price
would be definitely high. Here comes advertising. Advertising can convince buyers regarding
the superiority of the brand and thus its value for money. This can be done by associating the
product with prestigious people, situations, or events. Alternatively when a firm offers a low
price products the job of advertising needs to stress the price advantage by using hard hitting
copy. It is not just enough to convince, but it is desirable to persuade the buyer. Thus
advertising plays the role of conviction and persuasion.

3. Advertising and Place : Place refers to physical distribution and the stores where the
goods are available Marketer should see to it that the goods are available at the convenient
place and that too at the right time when the buyers need it. To facilitate effective distribution
and expansion of market, advertising is of great significance. Thus advertising do help in
effective distribution and market expansion.

4. Advertising and Promotion : Promotion consists of advertising, publicity, personal

selling and sales promotion technique. Businessmen today have to face a lot of competition.
Every seller needs effective promotion to survive and succeed in this competitive business
world. Advertising can play a significant role to put forward the claim of seller, and to
counter the claims of competitor. Through effective advertising, sellers can face competition
and also help to develop brand image and brand loyalty.

5. Advertising and Pace : Pace refers to the speed in marketing decisions and actions. It
involves among other things the launch of new products or brand variations at greater speed
than before. As and when new brands are launched, advertising plays an important role of
informing, educating and persuading the customers to buy the product.

6. Advertising and Packaging : The main purpose of packaging is protection of the product
during transit, and preservation of quality and quantity. Nowadays, marketers take lot of
efforts to develop and design attractive packages as they carry advertising value. A creatively
design package attract the attention of the customers. It also carries an assurance of quality
and creates confidence in the minds of customers to buy the product.

7. Advertising and Positioning : Product positioning aims at creating and maintaining a

distinct image of the brands in the minds of the customers. Through advertising the marketer
can convey the positioning of the brand and accordingly can influence the buying decision of
the target audience.

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2.7 ADVERTISING STRATEGY

Every business or product needs promotion for reaching out to the consumers.
Advertising strategy is created to fulfill this very purpose. The period of an advertising
strategymay range from a few months to a year.

Steps to develop an advertising strategy:

1. Defining the Product or Service – Before developing the plans and strategies for
advertising, the product or service offered by the company is clearly defined. This
means that the position of the product in the market is determined. You have to
understand the product and its customer base for effectively marketing it to the people
at large. It is also important to understand the primary objective of the product or
company.

2. Understanding the target audience – This is an important step in creating a strategy

for advertising. Various factors are to be considered for determining the target
audience such as demographic factors, psychographic factors, behavioural patterns,
etc. The advertising plan is created after considering these factors. For e.g. cosmetic
and beauty products are aimed at the women audience. The advertising strategy is
derived accordingly.

3. Market research – Once the target market is determined, the next step is to study the
market for that particular product. Research about the products already available in
the market, what problems are faced in getting those products, what does the
consumer desire from such products and such other issues. A marketing and
advertising plan can be derived with the help of this study. Also, find out the latest
trends in the market.

4. Developing a marketing plan – The strategies formed with the help of market
research can be put down as the plan of action for marketing the product. This means,
a marketing plan is created after determining the current trends in the market. The
marketing plan aims to create a niche of the product so that it stands out among the
competition. The plan of action also helps to establish the positioning of product.

5. Deciding communication media – The marketing plan is put to action using various
channels of communication. It is important to choose the right media or a media mix

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 for advertising. This depends on the product or service that is being marketed. The
choice of the medium is made after considering the target audience and market
research. If a physiology equipment is to be marketed, its advertisement will be put up
as flyers or brochures in a doctor’s clinic or hospitals; in health magazines and
websites and so on.

6. Budget - The budget may be determined either before or after creating an advertising
strategy. It can be based on the resources available to the company. If the company
has an expensive budget, they can carry out high impact advertising extensively. They
can create effective advertising strategy without worrying about the finance. On the
other hand, if the company has limited budget, that alone dictates the advertising
strategy. Because, at every step of the market plan and advertising strategy, they have
to consider the budget.

7. Marketing methods – Company can consider from among two types of methods to
advertise while creating the strategy. They are push method and pull method. They
can decide to go with either depending on their strategy and objective. Push method
aims to convince the retailers or sales person to promote the product, whereas pull
method is directly aimed at the consumers.

8. Modifying advertising strategy - This process does not end on creating and
implementing the advertising strategy. One has to stay in touch with the trends in
marketing and modify the marketing strategy time to time.

2.8 CREATIVE CONCEPT IN ADVERTISING

A creative concept is an overarching “Big Idea” that captures audience interest,

influences their emotional response and inspires them to take action. It is a unifying theme
that can be used across all campaign messages, calls to action, communication channels and
audiences. Typically, the creative concept is embodied in a headline, tagline and a key visual.
Successful creative concepts are distinctive, memorable, unifying and relevant. Some
examples include: Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign, the “Got Milk?” 

Creative concepts are based on the communication strategy and creative brief. This

ensures that concepts are informed by a strong understanding of the situation, the audience,

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the channels that will be used, the objectives the campaign seeks to reach and the benefits the
audience will respond to. The creative team develops multiple creative concepts based on this
information and then concept tests them to determine which one resonates best with the
audience.

Developing creative concepts is also important because it allows the team to:

 Test which benefit is most appealing to the audience

 See how the campaign will work (or not) across multiple media channels

 Identify an idea that ties the whole campaign together

 Reach the audience more effectively by finding ‘big ideas’ that resonate with them

THE ADVERTISING CONCEPT DEFINES FRAMEWORK

The advertising concept is basically the framework in which the campaign has to be
situated. Important points to consider are consumer benefits (for example: This shop sell
Cds), the reason why (for example: This shop is the cheapest) and the tonality (for example:
the use of teasing words in campaign slogans). The more an ad includes criteria like catching
of interest, relevance, credibility, retentivity, and continuity the more it will be successful.
The target group plays an important role as well.

Strategies to catch attention/interest

a) Emotion related subjects

A subject, which means also a brand name, can be remembered more easily if the
mind finds itself in an emotional cited state. This has been confirmed by experiments in the
field of educational psychology.

An example for an emotion related advertising is the anti tabac ad 'You don't always
die from tobacco'. (Marlboro) Cowboys in the city sing a country song with changed
wordings "You don't always die from tobacco". One of them is able to sing only because of
using an advice, as he has lost his voice related to a tobacco related disease. People are
around that show emotions of disgust.

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b) Repeating of an ad

It is in the human nature to remember a message consciously after seeing it in average

seven times. That's why some brands focus on a repeated showing of the ad.

c) Celebrity presents product

Having a celebrity promoting a product can have the effect that people think this
product is mainly used in a higher class society and therefore increases the attractiveness of
achieving it.

d) Expert knowledge

Testimonials of product users or/and experts. For instance, "three out of four dentists
recommend..." Showing science is convincing as well. This is usually shown throughout
microscopical photos, white coats or charts.

e) Artificial lack

Through the strategy of pretending artificial lack advertising seeks to make people
buy quickly without giving them time to think about. An example is Futurshop is selling the
professional Graphic Tablet. The tablet can only be purchased online and the "sale ends"
usually in a quite limited timeframe and "quantity remaining" is low.

f) Conjunction with desirable situations

The product is visually or in terms of sound shown in conjunction with desirable

situations. These situations can i.e. be created through attractive models or picturesque
landscapes. This makes the product more desirable as well.

g) Use of avatars

Avatars representing certain characteristics are used. For example, a housewife

receives the cleaning product Mr. Clean with a male avatar. She can project a very attractive
characteristic onto this avatar and finally the product.

h) Shocking

Shocking advertising with negative associated subjects is used as well. A well-known

example is the Benetton campaigns by Oliviero Toscani, showing blood-soaked clothes of a

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soldier. A softer form of shocking could be the communication of surprising information, like
statistical facts.

2.9 SUMMARY

But are creative ads more effective in inspiring people to buy products than ads that
simply catalogue product attributes or benefits? Numerous laboratory experiments have
found that creative messages get more attention and lead to positive attitudes about the
products being marketed, but there’s no firm evidence that shows how those messages
influence purchase behaviour. Similarly, there is remarkably little empirical research that ties
creative messaging to actual sales revenues. Because product and brand managers—and the
agencies pitching to them—have lacked a systematic way to assess the effectiveness of their
ads, creative advertising has been a crapshoot.

Questions for discussion

1. Write in detail the features of advertising.

2. Elaborate on the role of advertising in marketing mix.
3. Explain about the need for understanding advertising strategy.
4. Discuss the significance of creative concept in advertising..
5. Elucidate on the various concepts of advertising.

2.10SUGGESTED READINGS
http://www.publishyourarticles.net
http://managementstudyguide.com
http://www.mbaskool.com/business-concepts/
http://vle.du.ac.in/mod/book
http://archive.mu.ac.in
https://www.b2bmarketing.net
http://brigitteschuster.com/campaign-concepts-for-advertising-and-marketing

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