Advertising Media Planner - A Priemer

1. Introduction

The two basic tasks of marketing communications are message creation and message dissemination. Media planning supports message dissemination. Media planning helps you determine which media to use--be it television programs, newspapers, bus-stop posters, in-store displays, banner ads on the Web, or a flyer on Facebook. It also tells you when and where to use media in order to reach your desired audience. Simply put, media planning refers to the process of selecting media time and space to disseminate advertising messages in order to accomplish marketing objectives. When advertisers run commercials during the Super Bowl game at more than $2.5 million per thirty-second spot, for example, media planners are involved in the negotiation and placement.
Media planners often see their role from a brand contact perspective. Instead of focusing solely on what medium is used for message dissemination, media planners also pay attention to how to create and manage brand contact. Brand contact is any planned and unplanned form of exposure to and interaction with a product or service. For example, when you see an ad for Volkswagen on TV, hear a Mazda's "zoom zoom" slogan on the radio, are told by a friend that her iPod is the greatest invention, or sample a a new flavor of Piranha energy drink at the grocery store, you are having a brand contact. Television commercials, radio ads, and product sampling are planned forms of brand contact. Word of mouth is an unplanned brand contact -- advertisers normally do not plan for word of mouth. From the consumer's perspective, however, unplanned forms of brand contact may be more influential because they are less suspicious compared to advertising.
The brand contact perspective shows how the role of media planners has expanded. First, media planners have moved from focusing only on traditional media to integrating traditional media and new media. New media -- cable and satellite television, satellite radio, business-to-business e-media, consumer Internet, movie screen advertising and videogame advertising -- is playing an increasingly significant role. Spending on new advertising media is forecast to grow at a compound annual rate of 16.9 percent from 2005-2009, reaching $68.62 billion by 2009, while traditional media advertising is expected to rise only 4.2 percent on a compound annual basis during the same period to $192.28 billion.[1]
Second, media planners are making more use of product placements now, in lieu of advertising insertions. Advertising insertions, like print ads or television commercials, are made separately from the content and are inserted into it. The ads are distinct from the articles or TV programs, not a part of them. As a result, the ads seem intrusive. In contrast, product placement (also called brand placement or branded entertainment) blends product information with the content itself. Whether content is a television program, movie, video game or other form of entertainment, product placement puts the brand message into the entertainment content. For example, in the movie E.T., the extraterrestrial eats Reese's Pieces candy. The candy was authentically integrated into the movie ?and sales of Reese's Pieces soared 80% after the movie, catapulting the new product to mainstream status.[2] On the other hand, inappropriate or excessive product placements may do more harm than good to the brand.

Creative Strategies in Advertising

In advertising, different creative strategies are used in order to obtain consumer attention and provoke shoppers to purchase or use a specific product. Advertisers use different ways of thinking to create catchy slogans that capture consumer attention. Creative strategies promotepublicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.

These ways of thinking are divided into three basic descriptions: Weak strategies, mid-strength strategies and strong strategies. The strategies labeled "strong, mid-strength, and weak are generic phrases used in the text books referenced below to help students understand the intensity of each different type of advertising strategy. Advertisements, weak, mid-strength, and strong can be found in television, radio, andmagazines/print.

Since the beginning of advertising, strategies have been created, starting with the simplest (weak) strategies in the 1940s.

Weak strategies

Generic and Pre-emptive strategies describe the two weakest forms of advertising that were most popular through the 1940s.

• A generic strategy gives a product attribution. An example of this would be how the beef industry chose to advertise their product. With their slogan, “Beef, it's what's for dinner,” consumers aren't learning anything new about the product.
• The Beef slogan simply states beef as a dinner item. It enhances the product in no other way.

A pre-emptive strategy is a form of advertising that makes a generic claim stronger. An example of a pre-emptive strategy can be found inFolgers Coffee. As many of us know, most all coffee is grown in the mountains. Folgers took that fact and claimed it as their own with their slogan, “Folgers: Mountain Grown Coffee.”

Middle-strength strategies

Secondly, are the mid-strength strategies: unique positioning strategy, brand image and positioning.

A unique positioning strategy is proving that something about your product is truly unique. This is commonly found when producers take an average product and add a new, unique element to it. An example of Unique Positioning Strategy would be in Crest toothpaste. Crest added the unique feature of Scope in their product to differentiate it from other brands of toothpaste.

• A downfall in Unique positioning strategy advertising is that if a unique feature increases sales on one product, many other brands are likely to adopt the “unique” feature, making the end product not so unique.

Positioning is one of the most common forms of advertising. It was developed in the 1970s and is still widely used today. In positioning one brand will take its product and “position” it against a competing product.

• An example of positioning can be found in the rental car company Avis slogan. With The Hertz car company being the leader in rental car services, Avis took their number two position and used it to their advantage by creating the slogan, “When you're number two, you try harder.”

Brand Image is another very common way companies choose to advertise. In brand image, an advertiser is not trying to create rational thinking. This type of advertising strives to create emotion and give a brand a personality. A common way of doing this is by using a celebrity as a spokesperson.

• A great example of brand image is found in Proactive Acne Solutions. In each of their commercials they have celebrities sharing their Proactive experiences, giving the brand a face people want to be

Strong strategies

The third and strongest form of creative strategy includes affective advertising and resonance advertising.

Making people feel really good about a product is called affective advertising. This is difficult to do, but often humor and an honest character can make affective advertising possible.

• A great example of affective advertising is found in the “Geico” commercials. By creating a friendly, honest, funny gecko as a spokesperson, consumers tend to trust what the gecko is saying and find humor in his actions. This creates a good feeling about the actual service “Geico” offers.

Lastly, resonance advertising is a way of identifying with consumers. If an advertiser can create a campaign that certain target markets identify with, then resonance advertising has been achieved.

• An example of resonance advertising is in “Tide” detergent ads. Many times mothers are busy doing laundry in between sports practices and driving their children around in mini vans. Their recognition with soccer moms makes “Tide” a favorite pick among women with children who are very involved in activities.

Common Advertising Strategies

 

1. Ideal Kids

The kids in commercials are often a little older and a little more perfect than the target audience of the ad. They are, in other words, role models for what the advertiser wants children in the target audience to think they want to be like. A commercial that is targeting eight year-olds, for instance, will show 11 or 12 year-old models playing with an eight year old's toy.

2. Heart Strings

Commercials often create an emotional ambience that draws you into the advertisement and makes you feel good. The McDonald's commercials featuring father and daughter eating out together, or the AT&T Reach Out and Touch Someone ads are good examples. We are more attracted by products that make us feel good.

3. Amazing Toys

Many toy commercials show their toys in life-like fashion, doing incredible things. Airplanes do loop-the-loops and cars do wheelies, dolls cry and spring-loaded missiles hit gorillas dead in the chest. This would be fine if the toys really did these things.

4. Life-like Settings

Barbie struts her stuff on the beach with waves crashing in the background, space aliens fly through dark outer space and all-terrain vehicles leap over rivers and trenches. The rocks, dirt, sand and water don't come with the toys, however.

5. Sounds Good

Music and other sound effects add to the excitement of commercials. Sound can make toys seem more life-like or less life-like, as in a music video. Either way, they help set the mood advertisers want.

6. Cute Celebrities

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sell pizza. Spuds McKenzie sells beer. "Joe Cool" camel sells cigarettes. All of these are ways of helping children identify with products either now or for the future.

7. Selective Editing

Selective editing is used in all commercials, but especially in commercials for athletic toys like frisbees or footballs. Commercials show only brilliant catches and perfect throws. Unfortunately, that's not the way most children experience these toys.

8. Family Fun.

"This is something the whole family can do together!" or "This is something Mom will be glad to buy for you." Many commercials show parents enjoying their children's fun as if the toy will bring more family togetherness.

9. Excitement!

Watch the expressions on children's faces. Never a dull moment, never boring. "This toy is the most fun since fried bananas!" they seem to say. How can your child help thinking the toy's great?

10. Star Power.

Sports heroes, movie stars, and teenage heart throbs tell our children what to eat and what to wear. Children listen, not realizing that the star is paid handsomely for the endorsement.

Why Advertising is so important?

Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium.
Advertising has a number of benefits for the advertiser. The advertiser has control over the message. The advert and its message, to an extent, would be designed to the specifications of the advertiser. So the advertiser can focus its message at a huge number of potential consumers in a single hit, at a relatively low cost per head. Advertising is quick relative to other elements of the marketing communications mix (for example personal selling, where an entire sales force would need to be briefed - or even recruited). Therefore an advertiser has the opportunity to communicate with all (or many of) its target audience simultaneously.

Advertising Media
Outdoor (Posters or transport)	New Media - Mobile devices	New Media Internet - websites and search engines
Newspapers (Local and National)	Television	Magazines
Radio	Cinema	Others . . .

Planning for advertising Advertising agencies and their clients plan for advertising. Any plan should address the following stages:

• Who is the potential TARGET AUDIENCE of the advert?
• WHAT do I wish to communicate to this target audience?
• Why is this message so IMPORTANT to them?
• What is the BEST MEDIUM for this message to take (see some of the possible media above)?
• What would be the most appropriate TIMING?
• What RESOURCES will the advertising campaign need?
• How do we CONTROL our advertising and monitor success?

There are two key categories of advertising, namely 'above-the-line' and 'below-the-line.' The definitions owe a lot to the historical development of advertising agencies and how they charge for their services. In a nutshell, 'above-the-line' is any work done involving media where a commission is taken by an advertising agency, and 'below-the-line' is work done for a client where a standard charge replaces commission. So TV advertising is 'above-the-line' since an agency would book commercial time on behalf of a client, but placing an advert in a series of local newspapers is 'below-the-line,' because newspapers tend to apply their own costing approach where no commission is taken by the agency i.e. instead the agency charges the client a transparent fee. There are many facets and elements to advertising - too many to be covered in this short lesson. Try some of the other lessons to build your knowledgedvertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium. Advertising has a number of benefits for the advertiser. The advertiser has control over the message. The advert and its message, to an extent, would be designed to the specifications of the advertiser. So the advertiser can focus its message at a huge number of potential consumers in a single hit, at a relatively low cost per head. Advertising is quick relative to other elements of the marketing communications mix (for example personal selling, where an entire sales force would need to be briefed - or even recruited). Therefore an advertiser has the opportunity to communicate with all (or many of) its target audience simultaneously.

Advertisers Still in Love with Soap Operas despite IPL

The Indian Premier League may have been making people glued to television sets, but general entertainment channels are not losing sleep over the impact on their advertising revenues due to the T20 cricket league.
According to media planners and industry players, the general entertainment channels (GEC), which telecast daily soaps at the time of the matches, are holding on their own against the onslaught of the Indian Premier League (IPL), even getting their advertising inventories full.
“This year, there isn’t a profound impact on the ad revenues of the GECs because of the IPL. The reason is the fact that last year, the sentiment around this time was grim because of the economic slowdown,” media agency MEC India’s National Trading Head H Vishwanath told PTI.
This year, however, companies in sectors like FMCG and auto are looking at better advertising spends and have bought slots across GECs as well, he added.
His view is shared by officials of GECs like Zee and Star Plus, which air popular serials like ‘Pavitra Rishta’, ‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo’ and ‘Sapna Babul Ka...Bidaai’ and ‘Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai’, respectively in the prime time slot coinciding with the matches.
“Our inventory is full and there has been no impact of IPL on our advertising revenues,” Zee TV Head (Marketing) Akash Chawla said, adding that lesser rates of GECs coupled with good viewership have helped in paying dividends to advertisers.
As per industry estimates, the advertisement rates for IPL are about five-six times more than that of GECs. While a five to six second slot during the IPL would cost around Rs5 lakh, the same duration ad on a GEC prime time slot would be charged around Rs60,000-Rs 1 lakh.
The cost differential has helped GECs stick to their existing rates, despite a big attraction for IPL among many advertisers.
STAR India executive vice-president (Marketing) Anupam Vasudev said, “There is no change in ad rates of GECs due to the IPL.”
Advertisement remains the major contributor to GECs’ revenues with 80 per cent coming from it and rest from subscription.

Creative Photographs!

Here is the link for all those who love creative photographs

Click here - Linkme

Advertising Tips for Small Businesses

Word of mouth is excellent small business advertising – but it’s slow, and may be practically non-existent for new businesses. If you want to grow your customer base more quickly, you have to advertise.

This collection of small business advertising ideas presents both the tried and true and advertising ideas you may not have tried yet – advertising ideas for your small business to effectively reach your target market and attract new customers

1. The Yellow Pages.

There’s still a lot of people who use the yellow pages to find the businesses they’re looking for – and they won’t find you if your small business isn’t listed there. Get the biggest yellow page ad you can afford; the more visibility the better.

2. Newspaper advertising.
Besides box ads and advertising inserts, local newspapers also often offer special advertising features showcasing particular businesses – all powerful small business advertising opportunities. Don’t overlook special interest newspapers as an advertising idea if they exist in your area. They may be delivered to exactly the audience you want to reach.

3. Direct mail.
Direct mail can be very effective small business advertising – and is much more favourably received than other direct marketing media, such as email or telemarketing. And even if you don’t have a mailing list, you can still geographically target your mail.

4. Magazine advertising.
This advertising idea can be a very effective way of reaching a target market. The trick is to choose the magazines or e-zines that best match the market you’re targeting.

5. Business cards.
Sure, they’re advertising. Every time you hand one out to a prospective client or customer, you’re advertising your small business. But why not take this advertising idea further and Make Your Business Card a Marketing Vehicle?

6. Joining professional/business organizations.
Every professional or business organization offers exclusive advertising opportunities for their members, ranging from free promotion on the organization’s website through special section newspaper advertising. And being a member can be good small business advertising in itself.

7. Vehicle advertising.
The reason you see so many vehicles emblazoned with advertising is that it works; vehicle advertising is very visible small business advertising. If you’re not ready for custom graphics or a magnet quad sign that sit atop your vehicle, go for a magnetic sign that you can take off when you want.

8. Sending promos with invoices.
Little advertising ideas can be powerful, too. If you’re sending out an invoice, why not take the opportunity to include some small business advertising? To draw new customers, try something such as a “bring-a-friend” promotion.

9. Cable TV advertising.
So you can’t afford to advertise your business during the Super Bowl. That doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the household reach of TV. Cable TV companies offer advertising ideas within the budget of small businesses, from advertising on the TV Guide Listings or Real Estate channels through running infomercials.