1. Introduction
Advertising is everywhere. But we tend to ignore it. But the more we ignore it the more advertisers find new ways of making it more conspicuous
a. Advertising is any form of paid for non-personal comm. About an organization, a product, service or idea, by an identified sponsor through various media.
- The ‘paid’ aspect of this definition reflects that fact that the space/time for advertising must be bought
- The ‘non personal’ component means that advertising involves mass media (TV, radio, magazines, newspapers) that can transmit messages to a large number of people at one time. There is generally no opportunity for immediate feedback from the recipient
b. Advertising is “truth well told”
2. Classifications of Advertising
Advertising can be classified by four main criteria
- Target audience
- Geographic area
- Medium
- Purpose
Consumer advertising
a. By target audience
Business advertising
Advertising is normally aimed at a particular segment of the population (target audience).
If you see an advert that doesn’t appeal to you, maybe it is because it is not aimed at any of the groups that you belong to.
Consumer advertising
These are ads that are typically directed at people who buy the product for their own personal use (consumers).
Consumer advertising always uses mass media e.g. TV, radio….
Business Advertising
It is meant for businesses or trade shows.
It rarely uses mass media, and it is often invisible to consumers
Mostly, business advertising makes use of direct mails, professional journals, etc
E.g. sending an advert to farmers, teachers, etc
Local Advertising
b. By Geographic Area
International Advertising
Local Advertising
It is the kind of advertising done in an organization’s immediate trading area.
International Advertising
It is also called global advertising. It is aimed at foreign markets.
c. By Medium
Advertising can be classified on the basis of the medium used to transmit the message (e.g. radio, TV).
An advertising medium is any paid means used to present an advertisement to its target audience.
NB Word of mouth therefore is not an advertising medium
d. By Purpose
Advertising can also be classified on the basis of the sponsor’s objectives
- Some ads promote a good/service
- Others promote ideas
- Some ads try to push the target audience to action (these ads seek immediate and direct response from the audience)
- Others try to create awareness or understanding of a good/service (such ads create interest in a product in order to influence the audience to select a specific brand)
3. Short history of advertising
a) early advertising
- In 3000 BC, Babylonians merchants used to hire people to shout out goods and prices to passersby.
- The Romans wrote announcements on city walls
- By the 15th century adverts were abundant in Europe
- In 1625 the first news book containing ads was printed in England
b) Industrialization and the Civil war
- By 1840s, the telegraph made communication over long distances possible
- Railroads linked cities and states and manufacturers wanted access to larger markets for their goods
- In 1841, advertising copywriter (Volney Palmer) recognized that merchants needed to reach consumers beyond their local newspaper readership. He contacted Philadelphia newspapers and brokered the sale of advertising space between them and interested advertisers
c) World war 1 and 2
- Around world war 1, advertising had become more complex, more creative, and more expensive and it was conducted on a large scale
- Around the second world war, there was the development of mass media which had a large impact on advertising
d) Evolution of Television commercials
- There was need for advertisers to reach more viewers
- Televisions began selling commercial time in 60-second segments
- A commercial (spot) had to stand out and be remembered, leading to more creativity in television advertising
- A large number of commercials were similar with similar quality. There was need for to boost brand awareness.
Brand identification was achieved through slogans.
- The number of commercials grew and the length of the advert time shrank.
- Today, the price of commercials has continued to rise while the length of time shrinks.
- Commercials became less about the products, (there was little time to give information) but more about the people who use them. Image advertising was born
- This has led to 1 second commercials (blink ads)
Functions and Effects of Advertising
Functions
- To identify products and differentiate them from others e.g. thro packaging
- To communicate information about the product, its features and its location of sale
- To induce customers to try new products
- To increase product sale
- To build value, brand preference and loyalty
Effects
- Effect on the value of the product
- Effect on price
4. Consumer Advertising
Consumer advertising is aimed at selling goods to the consumer.
There are generally two types of goods that are bought by the general public
i) Consumer goods
ii) Consumer durables
Consumer Goods
They enjoy massive and repeated sales
They include foods, drinks, and toiletries (fast moving consumer goods: FMCGs)
Pharmaceuticals which are packed, branded and retailed (Over the counter medicines: OTCs)
Consumer Durables
They are usually more expensive and less frequently bought
Consumer durables are of a more permanent nature than consumer goods
They include clothes, furniture, domestic appliances, entertainment goods e.g. TV, radio, mechanical equipment e.g. cars etc
The two types of goods are advertised through media with other consumer services to the appropriate social grades.
Organization of the Consumer Advertising Industry
There are three main components of the advertising industry
a) Advertisers
b) Advertising agencies
c) Media
Advertisers
Advertisers can range from those that spend so little in advertising e.g. by use of posters, to those that spend huge amounts in international media.
At a basic level, there are two different types of advertisers
- National advertisers
- Retail advertisers
a) National advertisers
They sell their ideas of products or services all across the country
They emphasize more on the product or service, not its location of sale
E.g. coke juz wants to sell coke, it doesn’t matter if you buy the soft drink from a local restaurant or a big supermarket or a small shop
b) Retail advertisers
They are also called local advertisers
They advertise in only one trading area
A retail advertiser only wants to attract customers to a specific store or place of business
E.g. local restaurants, car dealers etc
Some advertisers are both national and retail. Someme advertise all over the country and use their individual stores to highlight specific sales and promotions
Naturally, the way organizations handle their advertising depends on their size
But whether large or small, all advertisers must attend to several basic functions
a) Planning the ad and deciding where they will appear
b) Budgeting
c) Coordinating the advertising with other departments in the organization
d) Supervising the work of an outside agency that produces the ad
Agencies
An agency is an independent business organization composed of creative people who develop, prepare and place advertising for sellers seeking to find customers for their goods and services.
Agencies can be classified by the range of services they offer
- Full time agencies
- Media buying services
- Creative boutiques
Full time agencies
They handle all phases of the advertising process for its clients
They plan, create, produce and place ads
In addition they may also provide marketing services such as sales promotions, show exhibitions etc
There is no need for a client to deal with any other company to help in promoting its products
Media buying services
They specialize in buying radio and television time and selling it to advertisers and advertising agencies
The service sells time to the advertiser, orders the spots from various stations and monitors the stations to see if the advert actually runs
Creative Boutique
They specialize in the actual creation of ads
In general, they create imaginative and distinctive advertising themes and produce innovative and original ads.
A company that uses creative boutique would have to employ another agency to perform the planning, buying and administrative functions connected with advertising
FUNCTIONS OF A FULL-SERVICE AGENCY
- studying the product/service and determining its marketable characteristics and how it relates to competition
- Studying the potential market, possible distribution plans and likely advertising media
- Launching the execution phase (writing and editing the ad, buying media space, delivering the ads to the media, verifying that all ads appear)
- working closely with the client’s salespeople to ensure they get the greatest possible benefit from the ads
5. Advertising Creativity
Due to competition, finding a clear advertising message is extremely important for advertisers.
Presently, consumers go beyond ‘is the message clear?’ slogan
Consumers want the artistic part of an advert
This is the reason why advertising creativity is very crucial to advertisers
Is there an ad that u admire coz of its creative insight? E.g. Aerial, coke, soko ugali.
What is advertising creativity?
It is the ability to generate fresh, unique and appropriate ideas that can be used as solutions to communication problems in advertising.
Creativity is also the artistic element of an ad that shows how a message strategy will be executed.
It is the artistic, aesthetic value and originality of an advert (art).
Art
In its broadest sense, the term art refers to a system of principles that guide us in creating beauty.
In advertising, art refers to the whole presentation, visual and verbal of a commercial advertisement.
It is more of the ‘body language’ of an advert as compared to the spoken language.
In advertising, art shapes the message into a complete communication that appeals to the senses as well as the mind
For art to be achieved, an advertising designer must understand the principles of sound colour, balance, proportion etc and how they relate to enhance one another. When it is presented that way, it achieves the task of presenting a vivid idea, which is a factor common to all good advertising.
It TV adverts, art is easy to pick out because there is use of both sight and view to attract viewers
In radio adverts, directors and designers must ensure that they create visual pictures in the minds of the listeners (beer/ soft drink/lotion)
NB. Every advert uses art, it is only that some art is inferior.
Artistic Principles
Balance
i) Formal balance – it has a perfect symmetry. There are matched elements on both sides of the ad. This technique strikes a dignified, stable image.
j) Informal balance – it has elements with different shapes, colour, intensity etc. many designers use informal balance to make the ad more interesting, imaginative and exciting
Movement
It is the principle of design that causes the audience to read the material in the designed sequence
The Creative Process
In advertising, creativity is best seen as a process which is achieved when some organized approach is followed. It involves the following
- immersion
- Digestion
- Illumination
- Reality/ Verification
Importance of creativity in advertising
- Creativity is central to determining the success of a product or service.
- It ensures that an ad breaks through the competition clutter by grabbing the consumer’s attention and leaving an impact on them
- Creativity satisfies consumers desires and goals on a product
Advertising appeals
An advertising appeal is an approach used to attract the attention of consumers or to influence their feelings towards a product, service or cause
Through appeals, advertising influences the purchase decision
It is something that moves people, speaks to their needs/wants and excites their interests
Human Needs – Basis for Appeals
The best advertisement is a satisfied customer (Drucker 1954)
The basic concept in advertising and marketing is to satisfy consumer’s needs and wants.
All advertising appeals are created for the purpose of activating human needs and wants
The advertiser must determine the needs at which the advertising message could be directed
The most popular needs theory was developed by Abraham Maslow (Hierarchy of needs theory)
The theory states that human beings have a number of different needs.
The needs are grouped into five sets and arranged in a hierarchy which rank in order of importance from lower level needs (Biogenic) to high level needs (psychogenic)
According to him, human beings have the following needs
a) Physiological needs (food, water, clothing)
b) Safety needs (security, protection, freedom from stress, stability, routine)
c) Social needs (Affection, belongingness friendship, love, e.g. marriage, clubs)
d) Esteem needs (respect, social approval, achievement, self worth, desire for status etc)
e) Self-actualization needs (becoming everything that one is capable of becoming, physically, mentally, spiritually)
According to Maslow, each higher need dominates an individual when the lower need is satisfied.
A person who has satisfied with the physiological and safety needs will be obsessed with satisfying the social needs
If a lower level need experiences some deprivation, it may temporarily become dominant again.
According to the theory, there is some overlap between each level, as no need is ever completely satisfied. But the major driving force within the individual is the lowest level of need that remains largely unsatisfied.
Even when two or more needs operate at the same time, there is a need that is more dominant in every individual.
In a society where basic physiological needs are not fulfilled, advertisers of food and drinks are more likely t prevail
In a society where the basic are satisfied, the advertiser should concentrate on depicting the basic needs as though they can help to satisfy a higher level.
Customers’ Needs and Wants
According to consumer psychology, there are two major aspects of consumer satisfaction
i) Satisfaction of needs
j) Fulfillment of wants
A need exists when there is a gap between what customers have and what they would like to have (need deficiency)
- why would u want to fly first class? (self esteem)
- Why would you visit a restaurant? (physiological/social fulfillment)
- why would you order for the most expensive dish on the menu? (self esteem)
A customer who has 20 pairs of shoes and wants to purchase a 21st pair may be said to want the extra pair, not to need it.
Emotional and Rational Appeals
There are two major types of appeals
Emotional appeal
It is meant to stimulate the emotions of customers, making the customer think they need a product.
They attempt to appeal to the consumer’s psychological, social or emotional needs
Such an advert is written to arouse humor, love, desire etc
It taps into basic human needs like the need for safety, social interaction, love, beauty
They ensure that the writing and graphic elements of the message speak to the consumers though a subconscious language, such that consumers reject traditional messages. There is massive use of colour , music, tonality. (smile of the consumer, tone of the announcer) Consumers act on feelings, non-rational and childlike minds.
Rational Appeal
It focuses on the consumer’s practical and functional needs for the product or service
It is practical advertising based on facts and features of a product.
It is based on logic, and it supplies the consumer with reasons for purchasing a product.
Some rational approaches include
a) Feature appeals e.g. has the highest quality
b) Competitive advantage appeals e.g. Bic is the best
c) Price appeals e.g. lowest prices in town
d) Popularity appeals e.g. Mimi ni Member, I wd like to buy the world a coke
NB
The best advertising emphasizes both emotional and rational appeals
Although people buy more for emotional reasons rather than rational ones, the best advertising provides both.
Buying Motives
When we ask the question “why do people buy we are in reality asking the motivation behind purchase. Motivation is the why of human behaviour.
Motives, or needs are the main springs of consumer behaviour. A need/motive is something that prompts a consumer to act.
Significant buying motives include the following
a) Unconscious motivation
People have motivations that they cannot account for. They may not really be aware of everything they want, but they will often have biases, tastes or attitudes which strongly influence their buying behaviour.
b) Power motive
People buy many things to exercise power over others
c) Competence motives
People have a desire to have job mastery and professional achievement. e.g. a doc may buy many equipments for the sake of competence. A teacher/student many bks
d) Affiliation motive
Man is a social creature, he constantly seeks the company of others. In many lifestyle advertising of products like cigarettes and soft drinks, we make use of affiliation motive.
e) Security needs
Investments decisions, medicines, insurance policies etc are sold on the basis of this need. Umbrellas, rainwear, are also purchased on this need. This need operates at a conscious and sub-conscious level
f) social needs
The need for belongingness. E.g. airline and vacation advertisements, memberships of rotary clubs
g) Esteem needs
They are needs for distinction, achievement, status, or independence.eg automobiles give people social status
h) Comfort and convenience
Furniture, interior décor, footware,kitchen gargets like mixers, fridges,etc, calculators, computers
i) envy
Shakespear says “Envy, thy name is woman” we want the good dress of others, cosmetics that others use,fashionwear, etc
j) Curiosity
We are interested to know about the known and unknown things. Books, games, quizzes, tourist destinations etc are all sold on this basis
k) Fashion
Fashion changes with time. People tend to purchase items depending on his tide of fashion
6. Advertising Communication
Advertising is a form of communication used to boost the sale of goods and services
It is used to communicate messages which include;
a) Name of a product or service,
b) How a product or service could potentially benefit the consumer,
c) Persuading consumers to purchase or consume more of a particular brand,
d) Reinforcing brand image etc.
e) A mediocre advertising message, which is properly directed, stands a better chance of success than a professionally developed message which is directed to the wrong audience.
Advertising message is most powerful when it is used on a narrowly defined audience, with narrowly defined objectives
Advertising Communication models
Advertising communication models are theories about "how advertising works." These theories or models attempt to explain and describe the process by which advertising communicates with and effectively persuades individuals to take action.
A complete account of the overall advertising process requires at least four steps
(1) Exposure to an ad or series of ads in a campaign, via media,
(2) Processing the elements of each ad in the intended manner
(3) Communication effects, connected to the brand, which in appropriate circumstances produce
(4) Action, such as purchase of the brand.
An advertising communication model therefore consists of decisions at four levels:
A. BUYER: Target audience action objectives
B. BRAND: Communication objectives
C. AD(S): Processing objectives
D. MEDIA: Exposure plan
Media
The media serves as the connection between a company and its customers. Choosing a medium to use in advertising is a difficult decision
advertising specialists evaluate media along four dimensions
a) Reach : how many people are intended to reach the audience
b) Frequency: How often will the message be received
c) Selectivity: does the media actually reach potential customers?
d) Efficiency: How much does it cost to reach a certain number of people
Major types of advertising media
Media advertising is still dominated by TV and radio. Other media include newspapers, posters, billboards etc
a) Press
The press includes newspapers, magazines, trade journals etc.
Advertisements in newspapers are known as insertions
Magazines offer a selective audience. Advertisers select adverts that suit the magazine audience
b) television
it is the most expensive medium of advertising, and offers a relatively wide coverage. It is generally open to major advertisers. It combines the virtues of both he story teller and the demonstrator.
It is unselective in its audience
c) Radio
It is a cost-effective way of reaching audiences because it is cheaper. However, the type of messages conveyed are limited because of lack of visual elements
d) Posters
It is a specialist medium. It is mostly used to support other media
Apart from the above factors, advertisers have to take into account other factors before deciding on the medium to use.
E.g. 1) the creative limitations imposed by the physical properties of each medium TV for example enables the advertiser to show the product in action on the other hand, TV adverts are short and cannot be used to present a deal of technical information
A magazine ad can be in full colour and can present a large amount of data, but it might not have the same impact as a TV ad
Psychology in Advertising
Advertisers need to know who are their consumers, why the consumers behave the way they do, the influences of their behaviour and how these influences can be exploited in favour of the advertiser. All these is called consumer behaviour.
It is the process and activities people engage in when searching for, selecting, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services so as to satisfy their needs and desires
In consumer behaviour, there are different roles played by different people;
a) initiator – he/she determines that some need or want is unfulfilled.
b) Infuencer – is the one who consciously or unconsciously influences the decision to buy or to use the product
c) Buyer – is the one who makes the purchase
d) User- the one who uses/consumes the product
In consumer psychology, we shall focus on the buyer because this is the person whose behaviour is overt and visible. All the other role players affect the buyer
Consumer behaviour
It is a decision process and physical activity of making a purchase.
The ultimate purchase is preceded by an interplay of several variables.
The mental activity resulting into the final purchase may be complex and it may happen over a period of time; or it may be quick and simple.
Variables of purchasing
1.The consumer recognizes an unfulfilled want or need (problem recognition).
2.This decision leads to information search which could be conscious or unconscious (relying on past experiences, asking friends, shopkeepers etc).
3.Consumer evaluates information and arrives at a purchasing decision
4.He/she makes the actual purchase (quantity to buy, from which outlet etc)
5.He/she consumes the product which either satisfies or dissatisfies him- leading to a search for alternative choices
- Why is it important for promotional planners to understand consumer behavior?
- What are some aspects of consumer behaviour that they need to understand?
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