American Association of Advertising Agencies - Essay Example

?Ans1. American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) defines the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications as an approach which is used to achieve the desired aims of a marketing campaign through utilization of various promotional methods and themes which reinforce each other. Primarily, the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) blends the promotional tools of marketing so that they are able to perform in harmony with each other. Promotion is one of the ‘Ps’ in marketing mix and the tools when blended together, work optimally rather than in isolation. The integration is further augmented, beyond just communication when other levels of integration e.g. Data integration, internal and external integration and Vertical and Horizontal Integration is achieved. Horizontal Integration means that all the business functions of an organization are working in harmony with each other. For example, distribution, production, sales and finance departments should be conscious of the messages they deliver to the clients and must work in cohesion to achieve objectives of the business. Whereas, different departments like advertising and sales can fuse through data integration through marketing information system. On the other hand, Vertical Integration refers to the fact that communication and marketing aims must augment the higher organizational aims and objectives. Internal and External Integration are also very important components of Integrated Marketing Concept. Internal Integrations requires that all the employees of an organization are kept informed regarding strategic and tactical changes being implemented in the company. Moreover, they must be kept involved in the new developments from which the organization is undergoing, the new standards being set by the management and strategic partnership being envisaged. On the other hand, External Integration refers to a scheme in which all the external partners and stakeholders of the organization e.g. Public Relation agencies and Advertising blend seamlessly to provide a workable solution to the problems of the company. A lot of effort is required for Integrated Marketing Communications to deliver its desired benefits however, it can create a competitive advantage for the company compared to an organization which uses traditional techniques for promotion and advertising. Through Integrated Marketing Communication, a company is able to develop a meaningful relationship with its customers through helping them through various stages of purchasing process. Thus, through Integrated Marketing Communication, an organization is able to retain its customers for life which gives it an edge over other companies. The organizations which utilize IMC concept are much more likely to yield profitability than the organizations which use traditional methods of communication. In fact, a unified message delivered by an organization is much more effective than a host of disjointed messages. A crystal clear and consolidated message is well received among the potential customers than myriad of commercials messages delivered every day. Integrated Marketing Communication can boosts sales of a company by disseminating a message which helps increase customers’ awareness and eases their choices. Company’s strategy to deliver timely information and special offers at the right time assists the customers in purchasing process. Finally, Integrated Marketing saves a lot of expenditure for the organizations as it reduces the need of duplication. Photography and graphics can be shared by various departments e.g. sales and advertising. This also reduces the time and workload on different section of the company as a single agency is responsible for all the communication needs. Ans4. An efficient channel of communication has to be selected by the communicator in order to get the desired results. In marketing practices, usually two types of communication channels are employed; personal and non-personal. Personal communication channels refer to the practice whereby; two or more people talk face to face, via telephone or a communicator to an audience. This kind of communication is advantageous if necessary feedback is received and sales are individualized. This category of communication is sub-divided into advocate, expert and social channels. Advocate channel is one in which an individual from company’s sales department talks to the prospective buyers. Expert channels are those where company’s expert o the field communicated with the targeted consumers. Social channels are those where friends, family and neighbors talk about the product with targeted audience. On the other hand, non-personal channels of communication events, media and atmosphere. Media refers to print media, electronic media, printed and non-printed media, web page advertising and display media. Atmosphere refers to the environment which can enhance knowledge of individuals regarding a product. Events are pre-arranged programs designed by the advertising and promotion departments in order to convey particular information to the targeted audience. Personal communication channels are generally thought of as more effective than non-personal communication methods mainly due to two reasons. Firstly, word of mouth sources do not cost much but are more convincing than traditional non personal communication messages. Word of mouth methodology is in fact the only method of communication which is used for the customers and is disseminated by the customers. Loyal and contented customers not only buy the product again and again but are also a source of free advertising for the product. Organizations must look after their loyal customers and constantly keep in touch with them by giving them promotional offers, offering discounts and presenting a small gift. Secondly, word of mouth sources do not cost anything at all. A satisfied customer is merely a walking and talking billboard for the companies who will not only advertise the product wherever he goes and with whomever he communicates but will also buy the product again and again. Firms can enhance personal channels of communication by identifying influential individuals or businesses and devoting extra attention to them. This would allow other to follow the market leader in accepting novel ideas. Ans5. Advertising and Marketing are two different and separate functions which are sometimes incorrectly taken as one. The marketing plans and objectives of the company are a mean to determine the advertising strategy, objective and plans. Therefore, marketing objectives precede the advertising objectives and must therefore be developed prior to setting advertising objectives. The objectives of advertising typically include increased sales, penetration in the targeted market, branding and more customers. Similarly, promotional objectives also take root from the marketing objectives of the company. The advertising and promotional objectives of a company are never same as marketing objectives. To most of the managers of businesses, the sole objective of a promotional program is to increase sales. They are of the view that the company spends a hefty amount of budget on promotional programs to increase the sale of the product or the service. The promotional programs depict the investments of scarce resources made by the company which require financial justification. Managers usually compare the investment they make on advertising campaigns on the basis of financial ratios such as return on investment (ROI). However, it is quite difficult to determine or quantify the specific return from the investments made in advertising and promotional campaigns. Managers usually perceive that since the company has invested in advertising and promotional campaigns, it should get a return in measureable quantities such as increase in sales or increase in market share. They generally consider that the objectives of a campaign must be based on the results of the sale which a business is able to produce. For example, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive recently joined Proctor and Gamble in the “at home tooth whitening kit” program. The objective of Colgate through this promotional strategy was to enhance its sales whereas Unilever desired to increase its market share through this program. Resultantly, both the companies have engaged many private firms for accountability of their performance. This has in turn led o many companies developing their own tools to measure the ROI of both companies in respect of what they have invested in the advertising and promotional campaign. However, it pertinent to note at this juncture that advertising and promotional activity alone cannot guarantee sales and profit for the company. In the world of business, poor sales can result due to any of the marketing mix factors e.g product design, distribution, packaging, quality or price of the product. Although advertising can spread awareness among the consumers, it cannot force them to buy the product until its priced appropriately or is readily available in the market. Therefore, all the marketing mix functions must blend seamlessly to produce good sales and profit for the company. Another factor to be considered is that the results of an advertising or promotional campaign come after an extended period of time. The investment made on promotional campaigns does not show immediate effects in terms of sales. These campaigns may create a favorable group of customers willing to buy the product but it does not force the customer to buy until he intrudes the market which may not happen very soon. Another issue with sales objective is that the media team responsible for creating interesting ads requires guidance of the managers in terms of targeted audience, the response sought and the nature of message required to be sent. This can be undertaken with the help of setting communication objectives for the company. Ans6. The basic need which human beings experience is the need for food, shelter and clothing. These are considered necessities and cannot be depicted as needs through advertisements. However, there are a number of products and services which although do not qualify in the category of necessity, actually make the life of the consumers more comfortable. The aim of advertising is to generate demand for all such products and services. To accomplish this, advertising banks on different kinds of appeals to persuade consumers to buy these products. Such appeals are developed in a manner that project a positive image of the individuals who are already using the product or service. Different kind of advertising appeals are generated by the advertising companies to manipulate the decision making of the consumers. These appeals fall in the category of rational and emotional appeals. Rational appeals in advertising tend to focus on the individual’s practical or utilitarian needs regarding a specific service or a product. These appeals try to disseminate the information regarding product or a service and their envisaged benefits to the individuals who would use them. Such appeals are mainly advertised in print media and are primarily suited for products which require higher degree of involvement due to their complex nature. The appeals which fall in this category are feature, competitive advantage, favorable price, news and product/ service popularity appeals. Feature appeals tend to focus on major characteristics of products or services e.g. advertisement of Macintosh Power Mac G5 asserted to be world’s fastest desktop. Competitive advantage appeal tends to compare a product with other similar ones and claim overall superiority. The advertisement of LG washing machine depicts a table which shows how the brand’s washing machine is superior to other brands. The theme of favorable price offer appeal is the lucrative price offers for the product especially during major upcoming festivals e.g. “special Christmas offer”. News appeal generally focuses on the advertisement through print media regarding a new product or innovations brought in the product. For example, Maruti Alto ad claimed that Alto has made its debut outside Japan, in India. The focus of popularity appeal is that a wide customer base is using the product or service satisfactorily which proves the viability and quality of the product. Emotional appeal refers to the form of advertising where the company tends to focus on psychological or emotional needs of the consumers. Consumers are driven emotionally and psychologically to make purchases to satisfy their personal and social desires. The various types of appeal which fall under this category are personal, social, fear, humor and sex appeal. Personal Appeal tends to focus on the personal emotions of the consumer such as joy, pride, love, self esteem, comfort, nostalgia and stimulation. For example Gillette razor ad says “best a man can get”. Social appeal targets the social aspects of the consumers such as rejection, affiliation, recognition, status and respect. The mother’s day advertisements are an example of this type of appeal. Fear appeal is another effective manner in which consumers can be lured to buy products or services. Such ads mainly relate to safety appliances, life insurance and health and beauty products for both men and women. Humor appeal is another element which is frequently exploited by the advertising agencies to gain access to the consumers. About 30% of advertisements are based on humor. The Ad of ESPN where a fat man is shown sitting on a sofa and blending completely with it gives a message with humor. Sex appeal ads have always been sold successfully. Sexual contents or gestures in an ad can raise the sensuality among the audience which may force them to buy the product or service. This tact is also used to make the product more interesting. However, the ad should not cross the line between sensuality and vulgarity. For example, the Ad for having safe sex and avoiding AIDS shows Hitler having sex with a lady with the caption “AIDS is a mass murderer”. Ans7. Humor is a type of appeal which is often used by advertising agencies as a tool for selling goods and services. Humor ads appeals to the emotional part of the individual consumers with a message engrained in between. Television provides hosts of opportunities for the companies to exploit audiovisual options for developing humorous ads. Moreover, print media has also got a lot potential to explore the lighter side of the argument. One of the concerns regarding humorous advertisements is their ability to distract from the original message. A humorous advertisement may be interesting and emotionally motivating which is able to develop positive public attitude towards the product or the service. Similarly, humorous advertisements also sometimes lead to increased retention power of the audience. However, at times it also happens that the advertisement is so funny that individuals are engrossed in the humor that was presented whereas the original message is neglected. A related issue which often debated regarding the humorous ads is their ability to wear out with time. Analysts argue that overexposure of information in a short span of time tends to create a feeling of dislike among the audience and consequently they move away from the advertisement. The wear out of advertisements can happen due to several reasons. Firstly, it loses its importance due to inattention of the audience. The individuals may not look at the ads after several disclosures and thus the message loses its effectiveness. Secondly, audience may also get annoyed due to overexposure or repeated telecast of ads within a short span of time. Although wear out of advertisements is an issue for all types of commercials, some experts argue that humorous ads tend to wear out faster than other type of advertisements. This is because once the audience understands the joke; it no longer remains interesting for them. On the other hand the pro humorous advertisement advocates argue that an advertisement filled with humor and jokes is tolerated by the audience much longer than the routine commercials therefore, humor ads last longer than the humor ads. The fact however is, which is also what I personally believe that both types of advertisements; humorous and non-humorous wear out at the same pace. This view was augmented by a study conducted by Research System Corporation which observes that humorous ads wear out at the same pace as do any other ads which include social, personal, price reduction, competitive advantage and news appeal advertisements. The typical time period for an ad to remain effective for the audience is approximately eight weeks. Some experts however, do not agree with this view. According to another research by Video Storyboard Tests, humorous ads do wear out quicker than other type of ads. According to the President of the company, humorous ads are funny the first time, acceptable the second time and boring the third time. Advertising agencies get around this problem by continuously making humorous ads for their products and services so that when one advertisement wears out, other is ready to takes its place. Ans8. Radio is a powerful medium for advertising purposes. It provides great opportunities for businesses; both small and large to increase their customer base. Imagine the number of consumers one can reach out through just one advertisement on air through radio. A company operating in a big city can air its advertisement through radio channels which can be heard by millions of morning and evening car commuters. Although radio is an effective mode of communication, making sure that the message is passed on to maximum consumers effectively is the key to success in radio advertisement. This entails that media buyers take care of some basic factors while purchasing advertising time on radio. Firstly, in order to make the purchase in a most cost effective manner, the buyer must do a comprehensive market research for best airtime prices offered by the radio operators. Moreover, negotiations for a long term contract are often beneficial financially as companies tend to provide such contracts at discounted rates with no fear of price revisions over the period of contract. Secondly, length of commercial air time should also be considered seriously. Mostly, companies offer 60 seconds length of commercial time however, many others offer lesser on air time of 30 sec, 15 sec or even lesser time period. Obviously, the financial implications of each time period are different therefore, the time of advertisement can be chosen as per budget of the company. Thirdly, company must decide what time of the day is most suitable for their advertisements to go on-air. Prime time slots are generally in the morning and in the late evenings when individuals are commuting to work or home. For the people who listen to live music streaming, mid morning hours and late lunch hours are most suitable for advertising. These prime times are definitely the best time to air ads however, they cost the most as well. For small budget companies, one of the best alternatives is the rotator ads which are squeezed in during the programs or other ads. There is a fair chance that these ads are aired during prime time without the price tag of prime time ads. Another factor to consider before buying ad time on radio is to choose the best radio station to air the advertisement. This requires a comprehensive research on the targeted audience, their age, education, geographical location etc. Having finalized the requirement of the demographics of the targeted audience, it would be easier to choose a radio station which is heard by most of the individuals fitting he established demographics. Lastly, a business should keep a track of the audience who has turned into customers through listening to radio ads. This can be done by either airing a catchy URL of the website of the business or by offering redeemable coupon codes. Ans9. In today’s aggressive business market, contemporary strategies are no longer viable to pull customers. The customers today face an ever increasing diversified market which entails focused and dedicated promotional efforts. Seeing this change in the consumer market, the retailers have changed the way they do business. They have started keeping account of the consumer needs, their behavior, attitudes motivations, concerns and desires. Through this account building, retailers are able to create dynamic substitutes to traditional marketing structures in order to capitalize on the customers’ needs. Resultantly, retailers are directly associated with the marketing mix of the consumers which has further attracted more retailers to innovate strategies. Account Specific Marketing, also sometimes referred to as ‘co-marketing’ is a form of marketing in which two businesses, companies or brands take part in promotional endeavors by providing a co-branded product or service. In this type of marketing, both brands support and promote a product or a service through promotional activity and in turn share the results and yields of the promotional efforts. This is primarily done to reach a larger customer base. A product being promoted by a single company reaches the customer base of the same company only with single promotion efforts however, with two brands supporting a single product, the promotion efforts are doubled whereas; the product reaches the customer base of two brands. For example, Coppertone’s promotional agency developed an account specific promotion called “Spot the dog scavenger hunt” in which individuals were encouraged to find the dog of little Miss Coppertone whom had lost it in Wall-Mart store. The prize included Wall-Mart rebate coupons and Coppertone’s sprays. The Account Specific Marketing strategy has affected sales promotion strategies of businesses in a number of ways. Many different types of sales promotion strategies have been adopted by companies to boost their sales. For example Volvo and LEGOLAND teamed up in 2003 in what was considered as an unlikely blend of companies. Volvo was the official car for the LEGOLAND theme park which even had a Volvo driving school. Similarly, Volvo promoted LEGOLAND in its safety awareness promotional activities and employee programs. Similarly Proctor and Gamble and Breast Cancer Foundation team up every October to help spread breast cancer awareness. During the even the colors of P&G products changes to pink all the employees wear a pink Breast Cancer ribbon. A series of promotional activities are undertaken during the joint venture which aims to boost sales of P&G and raise funds for breast cancer affecters. Ans10. Publicity refers to the news about an organization or a person which is usually advertised in print or broadcast media. Often, publicity and PR is taken as synonyms of each other however, publicity is a part of PR. Publicity is in fact the long term strategy of the company or an organization and is usually always positive. Moreover, PR is controlled by the organization itself and is often based on the paid advertisements or news provided by the company’s PR department. On the other hand, publicity can both be negative and positive. It is not controlled by the organization and is not paid for. Both negative and positive publicity originates from sources outside the organization. Usually, the PR department of a firm controls and disseminates news about the organization. The power of publicity is an important constant which detaches it from the remaining IMC elements. Publicity can work for and against the company and can easily ruin a well reputed company or enhance the standings of low playing product. There are a number of factors due to which publicity has become a powerful element of IMC program. Firstly, publicity is considered as a highly reliable source of information. As it does not originate from the company, consumers tend to give more weight to this type of information as compared to other elements of IMC program. Secondly, publicity is usually considered to be supported by the medium which broadcasts or publishes it. Thirdly, the frequency of exposure of the information and its news value also makes it a powerful entity. Lastly, as publicity is news itself, individuals tend to consider passing on information which has news value. Therefore, publicity ends up being a free source of credible and word of mouth information about the company and its products. Of course not all the news is good news. Publicity can ruin the organization in a matter of minutes if not handled properly. An example of how bad publicity worked against an organization is the case of Susan G. Komen. In January, 2012, the organization decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood which created a great mess in the media. This was not because of the reason that it stopped funding the organization, it was because of the news and communication that took place around it. The CEO and founder of the organization Nancy Brinker was unable to satisfy the media regarding their decision. It was clear that the organization has not thought of the connotations of not funding an institution which provided free breast cancer treatment to the deserving populace. Although the company reversed their decision, the damage was already done with top executives leaving the company, volunteers looking elsewhere for services and donors funding directly to Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, a good publicity stunt can land the business in unimaginable profit. For example, Taco Bell Corp printed a news article in New York Times which said that Taco Bell has bought Liberty Bell in a move to lower national debt. Millions of enthusiasts and individuals called the National Heritage Institution to confirm the news and by mid-afternoon, as suspected by many, Taco Bell admitted that it was an April Fool’s day prank. Ans11. Many companies across the globe are engaging in a business concept known as Custom Publishing. Although it is a modern business concept, it has proved to be very successful for many businesses. In traditional publishing, companies advertise their products and services in leading magazines and journals however, in custom publishing; the companies have their own in-house magazine. Many leading companies across the globe e.g. Sony, IKEA, Starbucks and Wal-Mart have started their own in-house magazines and reaping many benefits out of this practice. Although some analysts do not agree with this idea of marketing calling it phony publishing, I personally believe that this practice can extend the brand image of the company to newer heights. In fact, having an in-house magazine can be beneficial in many ways. TO start with, it can be considered classy to have your own magazine to publish or advertise your products. Moreover, it’s too less expensive than having to advertise in some other leading magazine or journal. Therefore, apart from cutting costs on businesses advertisement budget, the in-house magazine also makes the brand of the company better and bigger. Owning a magazine does not only make it possible for the company to advertise their own products and services, it is also a great way to tell the potential and existing customers about your company’s policy and CSR. Another advantage of owning an in-house custom magazine is that it provides a controlled and transportable shopping cart for the businesses to sell their products to the customers. Retention of customers is another important factor which is forcing the companies to start their in-house magazines. In the aggressive business market of today, companies are emphasizing more and more on retaining existing customers. An in-house magazine allows a company to interact with their customers and provide them with information and entertainment at the same time and keeping them updated on the services and products. In-house magazine publication is also a good way to build of transform the brand of the company. In order to do so, a company requires communicating with their customers in a manner that they feel interested in the information being disseminated to them. Companies can do this by carefully carving their message in a controlled fashion according to the demographics of their customers and disseminating it through their custom magazines to change their perceptions. One of the most important reasons of creating an in-house magazine is that companies can create magazine contents which are able to blend with every type of media available to reach out their customers. This means that an in-house print magazine can take the shape of online magazine or mobile content or even a short video for publishing on internet or television. Thus all media channels can be integrated to increase the effectiveness of advertising campaign manifolds. Lastly, in-house magazines are a good idea for a company that wants to retain their customers over a longer duration of time. A strong affiliation can be built by the company with their customers due to regular communications. This not only increases the customer’s trust in the company’s products and services but also provides valuable feedback from the customers. Ans12. Advertising through commercials is the most noticeable business practice nowadays. Through these commercials, businesses tend to lure the public into buying their product or services. By doing so, they also risk harsh public criticism if their message is inappropriate or does not fulfill the promises made by the company. Commercials are both criticized and admired by the analysts due to their great influence on the society and economy of the country. Critics also argue a great deal about the close monitoring and censorship of the commercials as compared to other programs broadcasted by TV networks. Some critics are of the view that TV commercials should be treated similar to other programs and should be subjected to same amount of attention and censorship; after all they still are TV programs. However, most of the opponents of this theory are of the view that TV commercials must be scrutinized more closely as they have a great impact on our social and economic values. I also agree with this belief due to many reasons. Firstly, commercials provide an added value to the brand and thus which make them sell more. For example, people mostly prefer Coca-Cola and Calvin Kline brands on others not necessarily because these are functioning well, but because the commercials have given the products an added value. Therefore, if commercials are making people buy things they must be scrutinized for not projecting a potentially harmful product. Tobacco company commercials are often a topic of debate among analysts due to their potential harmful nature. In my opinion such ads which tend to divert public opinion should be banned altogether or at least aired at times when most of the youth of the nation is busy doing something more constructive than watching commercials. Another social implication of the commercials is their ability to deceive general public by making false or un-measureable promises e.g. “the best product”, “best way to fly” etc. These promises not only shatter the confidence of the customers but can also be self defeating for the company as well. Also the fact that commercials do not provide the complete information creates a lot of the problems for the consumers. A mobile company commercial which advertises free calls to its customers does not provide the complete definition of the word free as perceived by the company. As a result the consumer ends up losing money in the form of hidden cots which were not elaborated by the company in the commercial. Too much of advertising is also another problem which is required to be scrutinized by the regulating authorities. At times the actual program is lesser in duration than the commercials in between the intermissions. This frustrates the public and tends to divert their attention from, for example, the informational program that they were watching. Another powerful argument that supports the belief that commercials should be subjected to closer scrutiny comes from the proponents of minority rights. At times, TV commercials become insensitive to the rights of minorities, old aged individuals, immigrants and the disabled to an extent that these groups feel offended by the contents. This in turn disintegrates the social harmony required for a society to function effectively. At times the contents of the commercials are also offensive for the moral values of the society as well. For example many people consider Victoria Secret commercials extremely offensive especially when underage children are watching television; be it with their parents. Commercials related to AIDS are also often offensive and do not completely comply with our moral standards. Such ads although exhume a positive message for the society in general, are a source of inappropriateness for underage children. Read More