Advertising Management - PU - IV Sem

Unit -1
Introduction and Objective Setting

The word advertising comes from the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of
towards". Some of the definitions given by various authors are:
According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the activities involved in

presenting to an audience a non-personal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product
or organization."
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.
Definition of Advertising –
1. American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-personal
presentation of ideas, goods and services by an indentified sponsor”.
2. According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity”.
3. According to Gardner, “Advertising is the means of mass selling that has grown up parallel
with and has been made necessary to mass production”.
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 Maximization: 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
Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

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.
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.
Objectives of Advertising –
The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something – a product, a service or an idea. In

addition to this general objective, advertising is also used by the modern business enterprises
for certain specific objectives which are listed below :
1. To introduce a new product by creating interest for it among the prospective customers.
2. To support personal selling programme. Advertising maybe used to open customers'
doors for salesman.
3. To reach people inaccessible to salesman.
4. To enter a new market or attract a new group of customers.
5. To light competition in the market and to increase the sales as seen in the fierce
competition between Coke and Pepsi.
6. To enhance the goodwill of the enterprise by promising better quality products and
services.
7. To improve dealer relations. Advertising supports the dealers in selling the product.
Dealers are attracted towards a product which is advertised effectively.
8. To warn the public against imitation of an enterprise's products.
Importance of Advertising –
Advertising has become an essential marketing activity in the modern era of large scale
production and serve competition in the market. It performs the following functions:

1. Promotion of Sales: It promotes the sale of goods and services by informing and
persuading the people to buy them. A good advertising campaign helps in winning new
customers both in the national as wet as in the international markets.
2. Introduction of New Product: It helps the introduction of new products in the market.
A business enterprise can introduce itself and its product to the public through
advertising. A new enterprise can't make an impact on the prospective customers
without the help of advertising. Advertising enables quick publicity in the market.
3. Creation of Good Public Image: It builds up the reputation of the advertiser.
Advertising enables a business firm to communicate its achievements in an effort to
satisfy the customers' needs. This increases the goodwill and reputation of the firm
which is necessary to fight against competition in the market.
4. Mass Production: Advertising facilitates large-scale production. Advertising
encourages production of goods in large-scale because the business firm knows that it
will be able to sell on large-scale with the help of advertising. Mass production reduces
the cost of production per unit by the economical use of various factors of production.
5. Research: Advertising stimulates research and development activities. Advertising has
become a competitive marketing activity. Every firm tries to differentiate its product
from the substitutes available in the market through advertising. This compels every
business firm to do more and more research to find new products and their new uses. If
a firm does not engage in research and development activities, it will be out of the
market in the near future.
6. Education of People: Advertising educates the people about new products and their
uses. Advertising message about the utility of a product enables the people to widen
their knowledge. It is advertising which has helped people in adopting new ways of life
and giving-up old habits. It has contributed a lot towards the betterment of the
standard of living of the society.
7. Support to Press: Advertising provides an important source of revenue to the
publishers and magazines. It enables to increase the circulation of their publication by
selling them at lower rates. People are also benefited because they get publications at
cheaper rates. Advertising is also a source of revenue for TV network. For instance,
Doordarshan and ZeeTV insert ads before, in between and after various programmes
and earn millions of rupees through ads. Such income could be used for increasing the
quality of programmes and extending coverage.
Role of Advertising in Marketing Process –
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, Position, 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 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.
Role of Advertising in Society –
Advertising is the integral part of every day's life. It is a pervasive method of marketing in
society. Though the methods by which marketers advertise have changed over the decades, the

role and purpose of advertising has changed over the period of time. Without advertising
modern society cannot survive .Advertising is useful to society in following ways.
Encourage Purchasing - Encouraging people to purchase goods and services is the main role
of advertising. Some industries rely on advertising more than others: A cereal company, for
instance, must advertise more aggressively, due to the wide arrange of competing products,
than a power company that faces little to no competition. Advertisers often influence members
of society to purchase products based on instilling a feeling of scarcity or lack.
Reflect cultural trends - Advertising bridges the gap among people by communicating varied
culture through advertising message. It brings variation in the social life.
Promotes Economic growth - Advertising contributes to bring about all round development
of the economy by increasing demand and by encouraging economic activities it fuels the desire
to shop and, in turn, shopping stimulates the economy.
Improves standard of living - Advertising is an economic activity. It provides opportunities to

people to improve their income. It motivates people to consume more material and thereby
improves their standard of living.
Provides employment: Effective advertising generates demand for goods and services. High
demand calls for more production which requires more of physical and human resources thus
creating employment opportunities.
Approaches in Brand building:
To make brand distinctive: brand building can be done through repetitive advertising. Also by
highlighting unique selling proposition one can distinguish brand from one another.
1. Constant innovation: Consumers need continuous innovation and new products. It is

not always a new product even an improvement on the existing product is acceptable to
the consumers. Through intensive advertising such brands are build which is time
consuming.
2. Domination of brand: brand building largely depends on the domination is creates on
the competitors. Domination can take place either in national market or in niche market.
3. Prompt availability: Prompt delivery of the product is one of the factors that ensure
brand building. This is possible if there is proper coordination between the finance,
production, and marketing department.
4. Integration of new and old media: Consumers have ever changing demand. Due to
availability of various media option the seller can push the product in the market by
blend multiple media option. Thus advertising messages are flashed to consumers
through media mix.
Advertising Communication and Persuasion Process:

Consumer communication and persuasion is an essential part of any Marketing Strategy. In
fact, it is the starting point of all improvement as consumer voices provide companies with the

data such as where they are lacking and what all they could do to improve the product or
service. In order to create persuasive communications, the sponsor (who may be person, a for-
profit company, or a not-for-profit group) must first establish the objectives of the
communication, then select the appropriate audience for the message and the appropriate media
through which to reach them, and then design (encode) the message in a manner that is
appropriate to each medium and to each audience. The communications strategy should also
include a prior feedback mechanism that alerts the sponsor to any need for modifications or
adjustments to the media or the message.
Communications strategy - In developing its communications strategy, the sponsor must

establish the primary communications objectives. These might consist of creating awareness of
a service, promoting sales of a product, encouraging (or discouraging) certain practices,
attracting retail patronage, reducing post purchase dissonance, creating goodwill or a favorable
image, or any combination of these and other communications objectives.
There are numerous models claiming to depict how persuasive communications work. The
cognitive models depict a process in which exposure to a message leads to interest and desire
for the product and ultimately to buying behavior. For many decades, this general model had
been widely adopted by advertisements.
Target audience - An essential component of a communications strategy is selecting the

appropriate audience. It is important to remember that an audience is made up of individuals-in
many cases, great numbers of individuals. Because each individual has his or her own traits,
characteristics, interests, needs, experience and knowledge, it is essential for the sender to
segment the audience into groups that are homogeneous in terms of some relevant
characteristic. Segmentation enables the sender to create specific messages for each target
group and to run them in specific media that are seen, heard, or read by the relevant target
group. It is unlikely that a marketer could develop a single message that would appeal
simultaneously to its total audience. Efforts to use “universal” appeals phrased in simple
language that everyone can understand invariably result in unsuccessful advertisements to
which few people relate.
Companies that have many diverse audiences sometimes find it useful to develop a
communications strategy that consists of an overall communications message to all their
audiences, from which they spin off a series of related messages targeted directly to the specific
interests of individual segments. In addition, to maintain positive communications with all of
their publics, most large organizations have public relations departments or employ public
relations consultants to broadcast favorable information about the company and to suppress
unfavorable information.
Media strategy - Media strategy is an essential component of a communications plan. It calls

for the placement of ads in the specific media read, viewed or heard by each targeted audience.
To accomplish this, advertisers develop, through research, a customer profile of their target
customers that includes the specific media they read or watch. Media organizations regularly
research their own audiences in order to develop descriptive audience profiles. A cost effective

media choice is one that closely matches the advertiser’s consumer profile to a medium’s
audience profile.
The Web is the newest advertising medium, and using it to communicate effectively with
customers still represents a challenge to marketers. A recent study identified three groups of
factors that marketers should consider when building a Web site:
1. providing information search tools such as easy site navigation, complete product
information and ability to customize the content
2. incorporating designs that enhance the enjoyment of the site’s users
3. Providing tools that support the transaction such as security ease of entering the
information and quick response time.
Table compares the potential persuasive impact of major advertising media along the
dimensions of targeting precision, constructing a persuasive message, degree of psychological
noise, feedback and relative cost.
Message strategies - The message is the thought, idea, attitude, image, or other information
that the sender wishes to convey to the intended audience. In trying to encode the message in a
form that will enable the audience to understand its precise meaning, the sender must know
exactly what he or she is trying to say and why. The sender must also know the target
audiences personal characteristics in terms of education, interests, needs and experience. The
sender must then design a message strategy through words and/or pictures that will be
perceived and accurately interpreted by the target audience. One study developed a list of
messages elements designed to appeal to three personality types
1. Righteous buyer: who looks to recommendations from the independent sources such as
consumer reports?
2. Social buyer: who relies on the recommendations of friends on celebrity endorsements
and testimonials?
3. Pragmatic buyer: who looks for the best value for the money, though not necessarily the
least expensive?
Message structure presentation - Some of the decision that marketers must make in
designing the message include the use of resonance, positive or negative message framing, one-
sided or two-sided messages, comparative advertising, and the order of presentation.
Resonance - Advertising resonance is defined as wordplay, often used to create a double

meaning used in combination with a relevant picture. By using the resonance in ads marketers
can improve the chances that their ads will be noticed by the consumers and create favorable
and lasting impressions.
Message framing - Should a marketer stress the benefits to be gained by using a specific
product (positive message framing) or the benefits to be lost by not using the product
(Negative message framing)? Research suggests that the appropriate message framing decision
depends on the consumer’s attitudes and characteristics as well as the product itself.

One sided versus two sided messages - Should marketers tell their audience only the good
points about their products or should they also tell them the bad (or the commonplace)? Should
they pretend that their products are only ones of their kinds, or should they acknowledge
competing products? These are very real strategy questions that marketers face every day, and
the answers depend on the nature of the competition face every day, and the answers depend on
the nature of the competition. However, when competition does exist and when it is likely to be
vocal, such advertisers tend to lose credibility with the consumer.
It the audience is friendly (eg: if it uses the advertisers products), if it initially favors the
communicators position, or if it is not likely to hear an opposing argument, then one-
sided(supportive)message that stresses only favorable information is most affective. However, if
the audience is critical or unfriendly (e.g., if it uses competitive products).if is well educated, or
if it is likely to hear opposing claims, then a two-sided(refutational) message is likely to be more
effective. Two sided advertising messages tend to be more credible than one sided advertising
messages because they acknowledge that the advertised brand had shortcomings. Two sided
messages can also be very effective when consumers are likely to see competitor’s negative
counter claims or when consumer attitude toward the brand are already negative.
Comparative Advertising - Comparative advertising is a widely used marketing strategy in

which a marketer claims product superiority for its brand over one or more explicitly named or
implicitly identified competitors, either on an overall basis or on selected product attributes.
Comparative advertising is useful for product positioning, for target market selection, and for
brand-positioning strategies.
Order Effects - It is best to produce a commercial first or last? Should you give the bad news
first or last? Communication researchers have found that the order in which a message is
presented affects audience receptivity. For this reason, politicians and other professional
communicators often jockey for position when they address an audience sequentially; they are
aware that the first and the last speeches are more likely to be retained in the audience memory
than those in between.
Repetition - Repetition is an important factor in learning. Thus, if is not surprising that

repetition, or frequency of the ad, affects persuasion, ad recall, brand-name recall, and brand
preferences. Multiple message exposures give consumers more opportunity to internalize
products attributes, to develop more or stronger cue associations, to develop more positive
attitudes, and an increased willingness to resist competitive counterpersuation efforts. In low-
involvement situations, individuals are more likely to regard message claims that are repeated
frequently as more truthful than those repeated with less frequency. Different ads depicting
different applications of the same promotional theme enhance the memorability of the brand
advertised.
Advertising appeals - Sometimes objective, factual appeals are more effective in persuading a
target audience; at other times emotional appeals are more effective. It depends on the kind of
audience to be reached and their degree of involvement in the products category. In general,
however, logical, reason-why appeals are more effective in persuading educated audiences and

emotional appeals are more effective in persuading less-educated consumers. The following
section examines the effectiveness of several frequently used emotional appeals.
Fear appeals - Fear is an emotional response to some actual or perceived threat or danger.
Advertisers use fear appeals in some situations to evoke the desired emotional response and
motivate audience to take steps to remove the treat. Some people humorously call these as
‘slice-of-death’ ads. Toothpaste, deodorants, helmets, anti-dandruff shampoos, life insurance and
a large number of other products and services use fear appeals.
In some situations, it appears to be quite reasonable for advertisers to consider using fear with
explicit purpose of persuading the audience to elicit a favorable response. Fear is a powerful
motivator, but only up to a point. Ad messages using fear appeals have been used to promote
social causes as well, such as wearing helmets while driving two-wheelers autos, safe driving,
paying taxes, the dread of drugs, dangers of smoking and AIDS, etc.
Humor appeals - Humor generates feelings of amusement and pleasure and, for this reason it
has a potential for the feeling to become associated with the brand and affect consumer
attitudes towards the brand and probably its image. Humor can also affect information
processing by attracting attention, improving brand name recall, creating pleasant mood and
reducing the chances of counter-arguing.
Abrasive Advertising - How effective can unpleasant or annoying ads are? The memory of an
unpleasant commercial that antagonizes listeners or viewers may dissipate over time, leaving
only the brand name in the minds of consumers.
All of us have at one time or another been repelled by so called agony commercials, which
depict in diagrammatic detail the internal and intestinal effects of heartburn, indigestion,
clogged sinus cavities, hammer induced headaches, and the like.
Pharmaceutical companies often run such commercials with great success that are not visible
and thus elicit little sympathy from family and friends.
Gender based advertising- In our highly permissive society, sensual advertising seems to
permeate the print media and the airwaves. Advertisers are increasingly trying to provoke
attention with suggestive illustrations, crude language, and nudity in their efforts to appear
‘hip’ and contemporary. In today’s advertising, there is a lot of explicit and daring sexual
imagery, extending far beyond the traditional product categories of fashion and fragrance into
such categories as shampoo, beer, cars and home construction.
Audience Participation - The provision of feedback changes the communication process from
one way to two way communications. This is important to senders because it enables them to
determine whether and how well communication has taken place. But feedback also is
important to receivers because it enables them to participate, to be involved, to experience in
some way the message itself. Participation by the receiver reinforces the message. An
experienced communicator asks questions and opinions of an audience to draw them into the
discussion.

Integrated Marketing Communication:
Meaning of IMC- Integrated Marketing Communications is a simple concept. It ensures that
all forms of communications and messages are carefully linked together. Integrated marketing
communications (IMC) is a process of managing customer relationships that drive brand value
primarily through communication efforts. Such efforts often include cross-functional processes
that create and nourish profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders by
strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to these groups and encouraging
data-driven, purposeful dialog with them.
IMC includes the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues,
and sources within a company into a seamless program in order to maximize the impact on end
users at a minimal cost. Ideally, IMC is implemented by developing comprehensive databases
on customers and prospects, segmenting these current and potential customers into groups
with certain common awareness levels, predispositions, and behaviors, and developing
messages and media strategies that guide the communication tactics to meet marketing
objectives. In doing this, IMC builds and reinforces mutually profitable relationships with
customers and other important stakeholders and generates synergy by coordinating all
elements in the promotional mix into a program that possesses clarity, consistency, and
maximum impact.
Definition of IMC: According to American Association of Advertising Agencies IMC is a

“concept of marketing communication planning that recognises the added value of a
comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communication discipline”.
Tools of IMC -

Advertising:
Advertisement is a non-personal presentation of an idea or a product (where as personal selling

or salesmanship help in personal promotional.) Advertisement supplements personal selling to
a great extent. Advertising has, acquired great importance in the modern India characterized
by tough competition in the market and fast changes in technology, and fashion and taste
customers. It creates an active role in integrated marketing communication mix as it creates.
• Good image
• Top of the mind awareness
• Counterclaim the competitors
• Reinforce positive attitude
Publicity:
Publicity is the non-personal presentation. It originates from the desk of the editor. It aims at
only informing the public about the events, person, firm etc. There is no control on the
publicity by the advertiser as it comes from the media owner. Publicity can be favorable or
unfavorable. Large firms have separate publicity or public relation department for publicity and
cordial public relation. The secret of the publicity is to get placement in the desired media.
Thus the use of publicity provides various advantages to the seller they are:
• It is available free of cost

• It provides more information than advertising as it comes from the editors desk
• Consumer believe publicity more than advertising
Public relation:
A Public relations is defined as a management function which identifies, establishes, and

maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the public. Public
relations consider multiple audiences (consumers, employees, suppliers, vendors, etc.) and uses
two-way communication to monitor feedback and adjust both its message and the
organization's actions for maximum benefit. It is used to generate goodwill for the
organization. Public relation helps the company and its public by relating each other for mutual
benefits. The main objective of public relation is:
• To remove misunderstanding, doubts, confusion, and wrong impression in the minds of

different social groups
• To maintain good corporate image.
• To have the public support to the future of the company.
• To fulfill social responsibility.
Sales promotion:
Sales promotions are direct inducements that offer extra incentives to enhance or accelerate the
product's movement from producer to consumer. Sales promotion constitutes devices like
contests, coupons, free samples, premium, and point of purchase material. Sales promotion is

action oriented. It motivates customers to buy the goods under incentive plans. Sales
promotion not only covers consumers but also dealers and wholesalers. It acts as a connecting
link between advertising and salesmanship. Thus in a competitive marketing sales promotion
act as a effective tool to an advertiser to solve several short term hurdles in marketing.
Personal Selling:
Personal selling includes all person-to-person contact with customers with the purpose of
introducing the product to the customer, convincing him or her of the product's value, and
closing the sale. The role of personal selling varies from organization to organization,
depending on the nature and size of the company, the industry, and the products or services it
is marketing. Many marketing executives realize that both sales and non-sales employees act as
salespeople for their organization in one way or another.
Personal selling is the most effective way to make a sale because of the interpersonal
communication between the salesperson and the prospect. Messages can be tailored to
particular situations, immediate feedback can be processed, and message strategies can be
changed to accommodate the feedback.
Packaging:
A properly designed package can induce the prospects to buy the product. A well designed
package can communicate the type and quality of the product. Packaging plays an important
role in converting the minds of the consumers as it provides
• Providing information of the product.

• Protection of goods while transportation and handling
• Preservation of quality of the products.
• Promotion of the product.
Internet:
Just as direct marketing has become a prominent player in the promotional mix, so too has the
Internet. Virtually unheard of in the 1980s, the 1990s saw this new medium explode onto the
scene, being adopted by families, businesses and other organizations more quickly than any
other medium in history. Web sites provide a new way of transmitting information,
entertainment, and advertising, and have generated a new dimension in marketing: electronic
commerce. E-commerce is the term used to describe the act of selling goods and services over
the Internet. In other words, the Internet has become more that a communication channel; it is
a marketing channel itself with companies such as Amazon.com, CDNow, eBay, and others
selling goods via the Internet to individuals around the globe.
The interactivity of the Internet is perhaps its greatest asset. By communicating with
customers, prospects, and others one-on-one, firms can build databases that help them meet
specific needs of individuals, thus building a loyal customer base.

Sponsorships:
Many advertisers heavily rely on sponsorship in order to create positive feelings toward a
company. Sponsorships increase awareness of a company or product, build loyalty with a
specific target audience, help differentiate a product from its competitors, provide
merchandising opportunities, demonstrate commitment to a community or ethnic group, or
impact the bottom line.
Like advertising, sponsorships are initiated to build long-term associations. Organizations

sometimes compare sponsorships with advertising by using gross impressions or cost-per-
thousand measurements. However, the value of sponsorships can be very difficult to measure.
Companies considering sponsorships should consider the short-term public relations value of
sponsorships and the long-term goals of the organization. Sports sponsorships make up about
two-thirds of all sponsorships.
Trade shows and Exhibition:
It is one of the oldest forms of promoting the sales of products. Trade shows and exhibition
provide opportunities for face-to-face contact with prospects, enable new companies to create a
viable customer base in a short period of time, and allow small and midsize companies that may
not be visited on a regular basis by salespeople to become familiar with suppliers and vendors.
Because many trade shows generate media attention, they have also become popular venues for
introducing new products and providing a stage for executives to gain visibility. In India, India
trade promotion organization (ITPO) has been set up by the government to organized trade
fairs and exhibitions.
Importance of IMC
1) Awareness: IMC tools play an important role in creating awareness of the products
with respect to brand name and brand availability. It brings to the notice of the
potential customer the new varieties of goods available in the market.
2) Information: Product information is needed when the product is recently launched in
the market. Potential customer must know about the product, features. IMC provides
this information through various techniques so that the buyer can take correct decision
while buying the goods.
3) To increase sales: A proper communication mix tends to increase the sales of the
organization. This is possible as increased sales bring economies of large scale
production which enables the seller to reduce cost and increase profit.
4) To inform the intermediaries: IMC act as a communication channel between the
sellers and the intermediaries like dealer and agents. These intermediaries are regularly
informed through sales literature, pamphlets, brochures, price list etc.
5) Expansion of the market: IMC help the seller to expand the business from local level to
regional level and to national level. This expansion provides his goodwill, recognition
throughout the country.

6) More specialized media: It used to be said that mass media was enough to cover any
advertiser's needs. But with ever increasing ad clutter, shorter attention spans and
greater resistance to advertising, customers now tend to be a lot more selective: they
shut out the stuff they feel they don't need, and go with the stuff that they want.
Therefore with IMC sellers can retain the attention of customer by diverting their
attention through various Communication Mix.
Steps Involved In Framing Integrated Marketing Communication:

It is likely that integrated marketing communication will be expected to make a number of
contributions toward meeting the marketing objectives. Thus the main steps in designing IMC
are:
1) Identification of target audience: Defining the target audience is one of the first steps in
designing the IMC. While thinking about the target audience one must look well beyond
traditional demographic considerations. It is also important to 'think ahead 'and ask the
following question.
• What are the relevant target buyer groups?

• What are the target group's demographic, lifestyle, and psychographic profile?
• How is the trade involved?
2) Determining the communication objectives: The next step is setting the communication
objectives. There may be different communication objectives like increase in sales, brand image
and good will, expansion of business. Thus the seller has to evaluate all this objectives and
select the one which he intends to achieve.
3) Determining the message: An effective message should get attention, hold interest, arouse
desire, & obtain action (AIDA model). In practice, few messages take the consumer all the way
from awareness to purchase, but the AIDA framework suggests the desirable qualities of a
good message. In putting the message together, the marketing communicator must decide what
to say & how to say it. , who should say it. Thus the communicator should focuss more on
message content, message format and message structure.
4) Selecting the communication channel: There are two broad types of communication
channels - Personal and Non personal.
• Personal Communication Channels: In personal Communication channels, two or

more people communicate directly with each other. They might communicate face-to-
face, over the telephone, through the mail or even through an internet chat. Personal
Communication channels are effective because they are allowed for personal addressing
the feedback.
• Non Personal Communication Channels: Non personal communication channels
include media at most yearend events. Media consists of:
1. Print media -newspapers, magazines, direct mail etc.
2. Broadcast media-radio, television etc.

3. Electronic media-audiotapes, videotapes, CD-ROM, web page etc.
4. Display media-billboards, signs, posters, banners, hoardings etc.
Most of the non personal messages come through paid media.
5). Determining the budget: This is one of the most important decisions of IMC process. The
effective IMC depends upon the budget set for communication Mix. The marketer prepares the
budget taking into nature of the customers, objectives, nature of competitions and also
availability of funds.
6) Promotion Mix decision. After determining budget it is essential to determine the

promotional mix. Promotional mix is the combination of various tools like advertising, public
relation, personnel selling and so on. Because of different marketing environment thee has to be
variation in communication mix. One medium which is effective in one market may not be
equally effective in another market.
7) Implementation of promotion mix: The marketer then makes an arrangement to

implement the communication mix. The seller has to select the right media in order to put
across the promotion message.
8) Follow up: Here the advertiser has to review the performance in terms of sales and
purchase. If the performance is as per communication objectives there is nothing to worry. On
the other hand if the performance falls below the communication objectives then certain
corrective step have to be taken.
Advertising Planning Process and Execution

Steps in Advertising Process - “Mass demand has been created almost entirely through the
development of Advertising”: Calvin Coolidge in the New York Public Library.
For the development of advertising and to get best results one need to follow the advertising
process step by step. The following are the steps involved in the process of advertising:
1. Step 1 - Briefing: the advertiser needs to brief about the product or the service which
has to be advertised and doing the SWOT analysis of the company and the product.
2. Step 2 - Knowing the Objective: one should first know the objective or the purpose of
advertising. i.e. what message is to be delivered to the audience?
3. Step 3 - Research: this step involves finding out the market behavior, knowing the
competitors, what type of advertising they are using, what is the response of the
consumers, availability of the resources needed in the process, etc.
4. Step 4 - Target Audience: the next step is to identify the target consumers most likely
to buy the product. The target should be appropriately identified without any confusion.
For e.g. if the product is a health drink for growing kids, then the target customers will
be the parents who are going to buy it and not the kids who are going to drink it.

5. Step 5 - Media Selection: now that the target audience is identified, one should select
an appropriate media for advertising so that the customers who are to be informed
about the product and are willing to buy are successfully reached.
6. Step 6 - Setting the Budget: then the advertising budget has to be planned so that
there is no short of funds or excess of funds during the process of advertising and also
there are no losses to the company.
7. Step 7 - Designing and Creating the Ad: first the design that is the outline of ad on
papers is made by the copywriters of the agency, and then the actual creation of ad is
done with help of the art directors and the creative personnel of the agency.
8. Step 8 - Perfection: then the created ad is re-examined and the ad is redefined to make
it perfect to enter the market.
9. Step 9 - Place and Time of Ad: the next step is to decide where and when the ad will
be shown. The place will be decided according to the target customers where the ad is
most visible clearly to them. The finalization of time on which the ad will be telecasted
or shown on the selected media will be done by the traffic department of the agency.
10. Step 10 - Execution: finally advertise is released with perfect creation, perfect
placement and perfect timing in the market.
11. Step 11 - Performance: the last step is to judge the performance of the ad in terms of
the response from the customers, whether they are satisfied with the ad and the product,
did the ad reached all the targeted people, was the advertise capable enough to compete
with the other players, etc. Every point is studied properly and changes are made, if any.
Planning Advertising -
An advertising campaign is a systematic effort to achieve some predetermined objectives. It

may be a political campaign for elections or a social campaign to raise money, or a systematic
effort to promote a product or service.
According to Dunn and Barban “An advertising campaign includes a series of ads placed in
various media, that are designed to meet objectives and are based on an analysis of marketing
and communication situation”
A company undertakes an advertising campaign in order to rationally analyse the advertising

opportunities and communication issues to achieve its sales and profit objectives. An ad
campaign is usually guided by the promotion and advertising plans, which evolve from its
marketing objectives and Strategy.
Steps in Planning an Advertising Campaign - There are seven steps involved in planning an
advertisement campaign:-

(i) Appraisal of Advertising opportunity – According to Neil H Borden there are five
conditions which govern the advertising opportunity, if these opportunities are present it will
help in achieving advertising objectives if not advertising may not have a positive effect. These
five conditions are:-
• Presence of positive primary demand – If there is enough primary demand for a product
category i.e. the product is in its growth stage the advertiser is more likely to be
successful, if not then advertising may fail to achieve sales and profit objectives.
• Opportunity for product differentiation – If the product has a good chance to be
differentiated from other similar products on the basis of its specific attributes or
benefits, there is a good chance that advertising it will be successful.
• Hidden or not readily noticeable qualities of a product – If a product has some hidden
benefits or complex features which are difficult to understand, advertising will help in
successfully communicating these hidden features to the customer and influence their
buying decision.
• Presence of powerful emotional buying motives – Products with strong advertising
appeals may address the emotional motives of a consumer and influence them to make a
purchase.
• Availability of sufficient funds – A firm must have enough funds to make a noticeable
impact in the competitive market through its advertising, if a firm lacks such funds it
does not make sense to advertise.

An advertiser must carry out a careful assessment different conditions present in a particular
market situation and then decide whether advertising will be fruitful for the company or not.
Sales promotion may be helpful in absence of these conditions.
(ii) Analyzing and defining target market – In order to advertise effectively, advertisers
must have a clear understanding of the market goals and their advertising objectives. They
must explore two basic questions –
• Where we are today?

• How did we get here?
The main task is to find best prospects in respect to demographic characteristics, geographic
location and psychological variables and behaviour patterns. The advertisers must strive to
know about the lifestyle of the consumer and accessibility of the target market in order to
effectively communicate the advertising message reach the right target audience. Defining a
target market requires an advertiser to find out answers to the following questions –
• Who buys the product?

• What do they really buy?
• When do they buy?
• How often do they buy?
• How is the product used?
• What are the perceptions or attitudes regarding the brand or product?
(iii) Setting advertising objectives – Advertisers use the hierarchy of effects model (AIDA,
DAGMAR, Lavidge and Steiner Model) to set up advertising objectives. Objectives must be set
for an advertising campaign as well as for each ad in each medium used. The objectives set are
based on the following factors and any change in these factors may lead to a change in
advertising objectives. These factors are:-
• Consumer needs and wants

• The extent of product or brand reputation
• Changes in economic scenario
• Changes in marketing environment
(iv) Determining the Advertising Budget – The advertising budget is basically a plan to
allocate financial resources to an advertising campaign for future operations and is reviewed
constantly keeping in mind the changing marketing conditions. The budget controls the
expenditures by fixing a limit.
The budget decisions are usually taken by the top management. A “top down” or “build up”
approach may be used by the management for fixing a budget. The advertising activities of the
competitors must also be studied in order to set an appropriate budget and maintain the
existing market position.

(v) Deciding media and Creative Strategy – The media plan involves decisions about target
market, product and its positioning, media and the advertising message in the creation of
advertisements. It is developed simultaneously with the creative plan. Media plan determines
the best way to reach the target audience; the goal is to communicate the message effectively by
finding the perfect combination of media that will cater to a large market at a lower cost.
To develop an effective media plan the advertiser must aim to define the media habits of the
target audience and determine the most appropriate medium in terms of reach and frequency.
The timing, campaign length, media closing dates, exposure desired must be considered.
The Creative strategy is concerned with what message to deliver for achieving the advertising
objectives. The creative process involves development of central theme, idea and image. It is
essential that there is similarity and continuity between different advertisements. Similarity
and continuity may be visual, verbal, aural or attitudinal. The most common techniques that
advertisers use to accomplish similarity and continuity are;-
• In case of print ads using same fonts, logos, pictures, layout

• Using same spokesperson
• Using similar theme, story or character
• Using catch phrases
• Using same music, jingle or voice
(vi) Creating ads, Pre-testing and Releasing ads – After planning an Advertisement
campaign team of copywriters and artists create an advertisement according to the media plan,
creative strategy and the budget.
Pretesting is important to avoid costly mistakes. Firms now focus on the pretesting of ads by
using efficient techniques such as market tests, focus groups, surveys, simulations etc. This is
due to –
• Rising costs of media

• Pool of advertising messages competing to get noticed
• Negative impact of the advertisement
(vii) Evaluating the Final Result or Post-testing – It is done to evaluate the final result of
the campaign for measuring its effectiveness. It determines to what extent the advertising
objectives have been accomplished. It also provides a feedback from the audience which helps in
future planning.
DAGMAR
DAGMAR is a marketing expression that stands for “Defining Advertising Goals for Measured
Advertising Results”. It is a marketing tool to compute the results of an advertising campaign.
DAGMAR attempts to guide customers through ACCA model. According to this approach,
every purchase encounters four steps; Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, and Action.
DAGMAR method is an established technique of creating effective advertising.
DAGMAR is an advertising model proposed by Russell Colley in 1961. Russell Colley
advocated that effective advertising seeks to communicate rather than to sell. Advertisers
discover whether their message conveyed enough information and understanding of a product
to their consumers and also its respective benefits from clear objectives.
The DAGMAR Model
1. AWARENESS -
• Awareness of the existence of a product or a service is needful before the purchase

behaviour is expected. The fundamental task of advertising activity is to improve the
consumer awareness of the product.

• Once the consumer awareness has been provided to the target audience, it should not be
forsaken. The target audience tends to get distracted by other competing messages if
they are ignored.
• Awareness has to be created, developed, refined and maintained according to the
characteristics of the market and the scenario of the organization at any given point of
time.
• The objective is to create awareness about the product amongst the target audience.
2. COMPREHENSION
• Awareness on its own is not sufficient to stimulate a purchase. Information and

understanding about the product and the organisation are essential. This can be
achieved by providing information about the brand features.
• Example: In an attempt to persuade people to budge for a new toothpaste brand, it may
be necessary to compare the product with other toothpaste brands, and provide an
additional usage benefit, such as more effective than other toothpaste because it contains
salt or that this particular toothpaste is vegetarian toothpaste, which will, in turn,
attract more customers.
• The objective is to provide all the information about the product.
3. CONVICTION
• Conviction is the next step where the customer evaluates different products and plans to
buy the product. At this stage, a sense of conviction is established, and by creating
interests and preferences, customers are convinced that a certain product should be tried
at the next purchase.
• At this step, the job of the advertising activity is to mould the audience’s beliefs and
persuade them to buy it. This is often achieved through messages that convey the
superiority of the products over the others by flaunting the rewards or incentives for
using the product.
• Example: Thumbs up featured the incentive of social acceptance as “grown up”. It
implied that those who preferred other soft drinks were kids.
• The objective is to create a positive mental disposition to buy a product.
4. ACTION
• This is the final step which involves the final purchase of the product. The objective is
to motivate the customer to buy the product.
Advantages of DAGMAR Approach - A major contribution of Colley’s DAGMAR

approach was a specification of what constitutes a good objective.

According to Russell Colley, there are various advantages of well-founded objectives. These
are:
• Be concrete and measurable

• Have a well-defined target audience or market
• Identify the benchmark and the degree of change
• Specify a timeframe to accomplish the objective
TARGET AUDIENCE
• DAGMAR claims the target audience is well defined. A group of potential customers,
who have the highest likelihood of purchasing the product, is the target market.
Identifying the target market includes the process of demographic, geographic, and
psychological segmentation. Target markets can be segmented into Primary and
secondary groups.
• Primary markets are the main target audience, on whom the marketing efforts are
mainly focused.
• Secondary markets are the target audience on whom the marketing efforts will focus
after the primary market goals are achieved. After identifying the target audience, the
organization devises objectives for advertising and later the objectives for
communication.
CONCRETE AND MEASURABLE
• The objective of communication should be a precise and clear statement of whatever

message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target audience.
• The specification must include all the details and descriptions of the measurement
procedure.

SPECIFIED TIMEFRAME AND BENCHMARKS
• A good objective has a specified time frame, during which the objective is to be achieved.
Understanding the specifications enables advertisers to define goals that will yield the
best result.
• Setting a specific timeframe assures effective evaluation of results. The timeframe
should be realistic to prohibit skewed results from static marketing.
• Creating the benchmark is essential for an appropriate measurement of the effectiveness
of the advertisement.
WRITTEN GOAL
• The goal should be committed on a paper. When the goals are clearly written, basic
shortfalls and flaws are exposed, it becomes eventually easy to determine whether the
goal contains the crucial aspects of the DAGMAR approach.
OBJECTIVES OF DAGMAR APPROACH
• Persuade a prospect to visit the showroom.

• Growth in market share.
• Improve sales turnover.
• Perform complete selling function.
• Advertise a special reason to buy.
• Stimulate impulse sales.
• Remind people to buy.
• Create awareness about the product and brand existence.
• Create favourable emotional disposition towards the product.
• Impart information regarding benefits and distinctive features of the product.
• Combat and offset competitive claims.
• Correct false impressions, wrong information and other hindrances to sales.
• Aid sales force with sales promotion and selling activities and boost their morale.
• Establish brand recognition and acceptance.
EXAMPLE OF DAGMAR APPROACH
Let’s suppose that an ABC company wants to evaluate the effectiveness of marketing campaign
for its latest product launched. The company starts evaluating the commercial that is designed
to persuade potential consumers through the four stages of the buying process:
1. In the AWARENESS stage, company ABC spreads awareness among the consumers
about its new product launched in the market.
2. In the COMPREHENSION stage, company ABC portrays to its consumers the features
and distinctiveness of the new product and reminds the consumers of the company
ABC’s logo and brand name.

3. In the CONVICTION stage, company ABC attaches the consumer emotionally to the
new product so that the consumer establishes an emotional preference for the company
ABC’s brand.
4. In the ACTION stage, company ABC makes sales.
Company ABC then evaluates the success of the marketing effort using DAGMAR. The
company measures that how fast the customer processed through the four stages of the
purchase and how many sales were generated. In cases where the customer is distracted and
deviated from buying the product, and the company doesn’t meet sales goals, the company
needs to change its ad campaign.
Advertising is strongly associated with economic cycles across major world economies. The
DAGMAR method is a long-established method of creating effective advertising. The idea
behind the method is to “communicate rather than sell”.
AIDA Approach
The AIDA Model Hierarchy - The steps involved in an AIDA model are:
1. Attention: The first step in marketing or advertising is to consider how to attract the
attention of consumers.
2. Interest: Once the consumer is aware that the product or service exists, the business
must work on increasing the potential customer’s interest level.
For example, Disney boosts interest in upcoming tours by announcing stars who will be
performing on the tours.
3. Desire: After the consumer is interested in the product or service, then the goal is to
make consumers desire it, moving their mindset from “I like it” to “I want it.”
For example, if the Disney stars for the upcoming tour communicate to the target
audience about how great the show is going to be, the audience is more likely to want to
go.
4. Action: The ultimate goal is to drive the receiver of the marketing campaign to initiate
action and purchase the product or service.
Therefore, the AIDA model says that Awareness leads to Interest, which leads to Desire, and
finally, Action.
First Step: Attention
Often, the attention part is overlooked by many marketers. It is assumed that the product or
service already got the attention of the consumers – which may or may not be the case. In any
event, don’t just assume that everyone is already aware of your product. One of the best
approaches to attracting consumer attention is what’s called “creative disruption” – breaking
existing patterns of behavior through a highly creative message. This can be done in several
ways:
• Placing advertisements in unexpected situations or locations. This is often referred to as
guerrilla marketing.
• Creating shock in advertisements through provocative imagery.
• An intensely targeted message. This is also referred to as personalization.
Essentially, the goal is to make consumers aware that a product or service exists.
Second Step: Interest
Creating interest is generally the hardest part. For example, if the product or service is not
inherently interesting, this can be very difficult to achieve. Make sure that advertising
information is broken up and easy to read, with interesting subheadings and illustrations.
Focus on what is most relevant for your target market in relation to your product or service,
and on conveying only the most important message you want to communicate to consumers.
A good example of this is Wendy’s “Where’s the beef?” ad campaign that focused on the fact
that Wendy’s hamburgers contained more beef than their competitors’ hamburgers.
Third Step: Desire
The second and third steps of the AIDA model go together. As you are hopefully building
interest in a product or service, it is important that you help customers realize why they “need’
this product or service. Think about how the content in infomercials is presented – they aim to
provide interesting information on the product, along with the benefits of buying it – benefits
that ideally make consumers want the product more and more. Infomercials do this extremely
well by showing the product being used in several creative situations. Convey to the audience
the value of the product or service, and why they need it in their life.
Fourth Step: Action
The last step of the AIDA model is getting your consumer to initiate action. The advertisement
should end with a call to action – a statement that is designed to get an immediate response
from the consumer. For example, Netflix uses persuasive text to convince the consumer to try
their free trial. Netflix communicates how convenient their product is and highlights its value,
then urges consumers to sign up for a free trial.
Good advertising should elicit a sense of urgency that motivates consumers to take action
RIGHT NOW. One commonly used method for achieving this goal is making limited time
offers (such as free shipping).
New Developments in the AIDA Model
Many criticize the AIDA model for being too simplistic. For example, the AIDA model does
not take into consideration different possible points of sale. Marketing will be very different for

a customer visiting an online store than it is for a customer looking to purchase a new car at a
dealership. Therefore, there are many variations of the AIDA model such as the:
1. AIDCAS (Action, Interest, Desire, Confidence, Action, Satisfaction) model

2. REAN (Reach, Engage, Activate, and Nurture) model
3. NAITDASE (Need, Attention, and Interest; Trust, Design, and Action; Satisfaction and
Evaluation) model
AIDA Model Example
Having understood the stages, let us understand it better through an AIDA model for Netflix
in India. It is a big task for Netflix to appeal to and convert Indian users who are accustomed to
free content. Here’s what Netflix do to attract them –
STAGE 1: Creating Awareness
Netflix uses some common advertising mediums to inform the users about the offering. The
mediums are –
• Print advertisements
• Youtube Advertisements
• Display Advertisements (Adwords)
• Partnerships with service providers like Airtel
It advertises about some really famous shows like Narcos and some Indian Netflix Originals
like Sacred Games which are exclusive on Netflix.
STAGE 2: Generating Interest
Once the users are aware and visit the Netflix’s landing pages, they are offered a one-month
free trial to explore experience all the shows and features on Netflix.
• Watch anywhere you go Netflix
STAGE 3: Securing Desire
As the viewers experience some features, they get used to the seamless viewing experience. At
this point, the following additional features create the desire to purchase the subscription plans
–
• Netflix Exclusive movies, shows, and documentaries.

• High-resolution videos
• Support for every device (watch anywhere you go)
• Multiple TV series and movies from Hollywood, Bollywood, and other regional
industries.
• Multiple profiles under one account
• Download and watch offline option

• No ads while streaming videos
• Personalized recommendations of TV shows and movies, based on viewing patterns
• Multi-screen viewing
• Continue watching a video from where you left
• Support for low-speed internet devices, etc.
STAGE 4: Enabling Action
Once the user is hooked to the offering, Netflix converts him into a real customer who pays.
This is done by offering a variety of subscription plans and an option to stop the subscription
any time.
Developments in the AIDA Model
The AIDA model has been modified into many variants, which include the role of new digital
media and post-purchase behaviour. However, the basic sequence remains Cognition- Affect-
Behaviour.
Some of these variants are:
1. Basic AIDA Model: Awareness→ Interest→ Desire→ Action

2. Lavidge et al’s Hierarchy of Effects: Awareness→ Knowledge→ Liking→ Preference→
Conviction→ Purchase
3. Modified AIDA Model: Awareness→ Interest→ Conviction →Desire→ Action
(purchase or consumption)
4. AIDAS Model: Attention → Interest → Desire → Action → Satisfaction
Creating Advertising Programme

COPY DECISION
Advertisement Layout
Meaning: Layout is the logical arrangement of components of an advertisement in the copy. It

refers to the overall structure, the position assigned to the various elements of the copy and
illustrations. It is deciding on the placement of headlines, copy, illustrations, marketer‟s name,
logo and the amount of free space in an advertisement copy. Thus, the physical arrangement of
all the elements of advertisement is called layout. It is concerned with placing all the elements
of the advertisement more attractively within the allotted space and time. The pattern of layout
varies according to the medium to be used.
Definition: According to Sandage and Fryburger, “The plan of an advertisement, detailing the
arrangement of various parts and relative spatial importance of each is referred to as layout”.
Preparation of a layout: A layout is a plan for the guidance of the printer in arranging the
units of an advertisement. Usually the layout man or visualiser prepares a rough Layout which

is submitted to the client for approval and he draws the finished layout for the guidance of the
printer. In the creation of television commercials the layout is known as a „Storyboard’ which a
series of pictures is of frames that coincides with the audio or sound script. A Radio does not
utilize illustrations, except those that the medium can create with a description. Television, of
course makes an extensive use of illustrations. A well conceived layout can be instrumental in
obtaining attention comprehension, attitude change and behavior change. Advertisers employ
various layout techniques to attain their objectives.
Functions of an Advertising Layout:
An advertisement layout is a blueprint. The main functions of layout are:-
(i) Assembling Different Parts – The main function of layout is to assemble and
arrange the different parts or elements of an advertisement illustration, headline sub
headlines, slogans, body text and the identification mark etc. And boarder and other
graphic materials – into a unified presentation of the sales message. In all the
layouts present these elements in the same size, form, shape, position and proportion
as desired by the advertiser in the final ad, proof , Thus layout gives both creative
personals (copywriter and artists ) and the advertiser who pays for it a good idea of
how the finished ad will finally appear.
(ii) Opportunity of Modification - The layout offers an opportunity to the creative
teams, agency management and the advertiser to suggest modification before its
final approval and actual construction and production begins.
(iii) Specification for Costs – The layout provides specification for estimating costs and
it is a guide for engravers typographers and other craft workers to follow in
producing the advertisement.
Principles of Design and Layout
It is not necessary that all elements of advertisement copy must form part of the copy. They
appear in today’s ads with varying degree of frequency. The components of the copy must be
decorated or positioned on the basis of certain basic principals regardless of the number of
elements in an add. The following five principles of good composition are important to anyone
who creates or evaluates the advertisement - (1) Balance; (2) Proportion (3) Contrast and
emphasis, (4) Eye –movement, and (5) Unity.
(1) Balance – A layout may be called balanced if equal weight or forces are equidistant from
a reference point or a light weight is placed at a greater distance from the reference
point than a heavy weight. Balance is the law of nature. The reference point or fulcrum
is the optical centre of the advertisement. The artists with a given area or space, are to
place all the elements within this space. Optical centre of fulcrum of the ad is often a
point approximately two – thirds of the distance forms the bottom. It is the reference of
the layout.
(2) Proportion- Proportion is closely related to balance since it refers to the division of
space among layout elements for a pleasing optical effect. Good proportion in an
advertisement requires a desired emphasis on each element in terms of size and position.
If the major appeal in an advertisement is product’s price. The price should be displayed
in proportionate space position.
(3) Contrast and Emphasis – Contrast means variety. It gives life to the whole
composition and adds emphasis to selected important elements. An advertiser always
looks to advertisements from completion point of view and desires the policy of the
most important elements to attract the attention of the people. An advertisement with
good contrast may attract the attention of customers Contrast maybe visible in a
number of ways. It may be witnessed through sizes, shapes and colours. Different
colours sizes and shapes of elements in an advertisement add contrast. The varying
directions, of design elements (Vertical trees, horizontal pavements arched rainbows)
add contrast; too there must be sales communication purpose behind every layout
decision made.
(4) Eye Movement – Eye movement is the design principle which helps move the eyes of
the readers from element to element in the order given in the hierarchy of effects model
for effective communication of the message in advertising. An effective ad uses
movement to lead its reading audience from initial message awareness through product
knowledge and brand preference, to ultimate action (intent to purchase). Direction and
sequence are two terms for the same element and artists may perform it in many ways.
Mechanical eye direction may be created by devices such as pointing fingers lines
arrows or even a bouncing ball that moves from unit to unit. Planned eye movement
should follow the established reading patterns too, such as the tendency to start to top
left corner of a page and read through to the lower right corner. The eyes also moves
naturally from large items to small from dark to light and from colours to not – colours.
(5) Unity or Harmony – Unity or harmony is another important design principle.
Although each element should be considered as a separate unit in striving for balance,
proportion, contrast and eye movement. The complete layout or design should appear as
a unified composition. Common methods of securing unity in layouts are (i) use of
consistent typographical design. (ii) repetition of the same shapes and motifs, (iii) the
overlapping of elements (iv) use of a boarder to hold elements together and (v)
avoidance of too much which space between various element.
Although unity and contrast seem conflicting but integrated they function quite smoothly
together if they operate at cross purposes, if the artists strive for balance here too as well as in
the layout overall. Unity contributes orderliness to elements – a state of coherence, and if they
are properly placed. Contrasting Size shapes colours and directions can flow together
beautifully.
Elements of a layout: An advertising copy is the means by which the advertiser’s ideas are
given expression to in a message to readers. Regardless of its length and brevity copy refers to
all the reading matters of an advertisement, including the headline, subheadlines, text or
body, and the name of the firm or the standard initials of the advertiser. As we have seen that
advertising has so many immediate purposes but its ultimate goal is to stimulate sales. As a
reader turns the pages of a magazine or newspaper, he notices so many advertisements but a
great variation in copy. Some copy may be so sticking that the reader takes immediate action

and rush to the nearest dealer to purchase it while there may be some other copy or copies that
he does not like or it does not click to his mind. The first copy conforms to the requisites of a
good copy. A copywriter must take pains in making up a sound advertisement copy containing
its various components i.e. headlines, subhead lines, illustrations etc. The following are the
main components of an advertisement copy
1. Background 9. Name Plate
2. Border 10. Price
3. Caption 11. Product
4. Coupon 12. Slogan
5. Decoration 13. Space
6. Heading 14. Sub-heading
7. Illustration 15. Text
8. Mascot 16. Trademark
1. Background: The background for the advertisements should be somewhat catchy and
colourful. The arrangement of background differs from medium to medium and
advertisement to advertisement. In short, background should be suitable for the
contents of the advertisement.
2. Border: It is defined as the frame of the advertisement. Border is employed to impart
the reading atmosphere. The border may be light or heavy, obvious, plain or fanciful.
The border may also contain a logo.
3. Caption: It refers to the subtitle. But in most of the advertisement it is converted into
heading or sub-heading.
4. Coupon: Coupon is that part of the advertisement which is intended for the convenience
of the prospective customer in communicating with the advertiser. The coupon must
contain the name and full postal address of the firm followed by the offer. The offer
should be brief and clear. There should be space for name and address of the prospective
customer. The usual shape of the coupon is triangular or rectangular.
5. Decoration: Advertisement decoration is the ornament of the advertisement. This is
done to emphasis the advertisement message.
6. Heading: The heading or headline is defined as the title of the advertisement. The
words in the heading should be short.
7. Illustration: Illustrations are the part of layout that pictures the basic theme of the
advertisement. It has the power to capture the attention of the reader. The
advertisements become richer by the use of illustrations.
8. Mascot: It is known as the trade character or trade figure. It is an illustration of either
a real or an imaginary figure or personality given in the advertisement.

9. Name Plate (logo): The name plate or name block is the signature of the advertiser. It
represents the personality of the company and its product.
10. Price: It is another part of layout. The price of the product should be featured clearly.
The price is usually taken in the concluding lines of the copy.
11. Product: It refers to the representation of the product offered for sale. A very popular
practice is to show the product in use with illustrations.
12. Slogan: Slogan is a sales argument. The arrangement of slogan in the layout is
determined by the importance of its relation to the advertising message.
13. Space: Space refers to the entire space left in the space hired by the advertiser. This
depends on the design of the copy.
14. Subheading: It is a secondary heading. It is given to support the heading or to pick out
the various selling points given in the text.
15. Text: Text or body of the advertisement refers to the general reading matter. It is the
subject matter of the copy. It should be neither too wide nor too narrow.
16. Trade mark: It is a word or design by which a product is defined. If the trade, marks
are registered it can be included in the layout.
CREATIVITY IN ADVERTISING
The creative part of advertising involves the process of selecting and presenting the messages.
The business of conceiving, writing, designing and producing these messages is called
“advertising creativity” and the key wordsmith is called a copywriter or copy chief or copy
supervisor. The success of advertising depends to a great extent on the quality of the message
or copy of advertisement rather than the money spent on advertising.
The conventional theory of advertising includes the concept of AIDA (Attention, Interest,
Desire and Action). Most of the advertisers believe that the message in advertisement copy
must attract the attention and interest of the consumer if buying is to result. But they forget
that only good advertisement copy or good message can attract the attention and interest of
the receiver until and unless the much advertise product attributes have a strong impact on
consumers. The consumers come to know the existence of the product only through the
advertisement. Advertising tries to persuade the consumers that they need the product. But if
the product attributes fail to satisfy the need of buyers, good creativity will not pay.
Creativity is an art. An artiste, writer, poet, novelists, play writer takes well known ideas,
words and phrases and relates them in a fresh, often brilliant manner while preparing an
advertising copy. They combine the product attributes and the ideas, words and phrases in such
a manner that persuades the consumers to buy the product. This combination really represents
and art or a creativity. A child can draw a smiling picture of a woman, but it does not carry a
creative message of some worth.
The advertising copy writer writes with a purpose to achieve client’s objectives to express
features or attributes of particular products and services, presented in terms of consumer
benefits and in the language most appropriate to defined target audience. Thus advertising

messages should present merchandise in ways that interest people in buying. Print ads and
broadcast commercials portray products as problem solvers or methods whereby wants and
needs may fulfilled. When creating, copy writer builds messages according to specific plans, to
fulfill specific objectives, and he should follow a disciplined way in creating them. In the words
of Alfred Polite –“Advertising creativity has to follow rules which are guided by a well defined
purpose, by an analysis of thoughts supplied by imagination, by a selection of the useful ones
which meet the purpose.
Activities Comprising Creative Design task Process
Although there is no one set form for designing the process. There are various variables that
are typically parts of the creative design process. These activities are:
(1) Advertising objectives- The main objective of advertising is to aid the selling process
through communication with existing and prospective customers. Most advertisements
inform and persuade. Some are designed to establish attitudes and buying behaviours of
the patterns. Still others strive to reinforce or to change existing shopping habits brand
images and usage patterns. The advertisement copy must achieve the advertising
communication objectives. Now, it is the responsibility of the creative specialists to
translate the information available to them into an advertisement or a basic theme for
an advertising campaign that will achieve the advertiser’s objective.
(2) Information to creative People- The second task of the creative people, after getting
the advertising objectives, is to product for collecting the various information relating
to the product and the marketing mix. Creative design people prepare for the design
task by examining the information on the product which is to be offered in the
advertising. This makes for the integration of advertising messages with the other
components of the marketing mix. Such types of information may be gathered in
meetings between the creative personnel and the marketing managers for the product..
(3) Target Audience - The next step in the creative process is to make the copywriter
available description of the demographic and psychographic make-up of the specific
target audience for whom the ad is being created vis-à-vis the product. Quantitative
data such as age, sex, marital status, occupation, income, education, place of residence,
must be supplemented by information on consumer attitudes (related to advertised
product, and its competitors as well as to the types of creative claims being considered
for the message)on relevant media, shopping and buying habits and on product usages.
Thus any information that describes target audience is useful.
(4) Copy and Layout Design - The next task before the creative personnel is to turn to
the creative task which is the design of the copy and layout. Creative personnel,
including, artists, art directors, and copy writers, must design an approach to the
communication of the messages that carry pre-determined advertising objectives. Part
of the process involves writing copy, the verbal text of the advertisement. The copy
then must be integrated with illustrations into an overall design for the advertisement’s
layout. The design of the copy and the layout is an art that requires special skills.

(5) Credibility or Back-up Claim - whatever message is designed, it must be a cluster of
truth. Truth is essential in advertising. The truth is not truth until people believe in it.
They cannot believe in it if they do not know what we are saying if they do not listen to
us; they cannot listen to us unless we are interesting and finally we cannot be
interesting if we say facts in a fresh, original and imaginative way. In order to establish
credibility for our promises, we need to support it with facts and with satisfactions. So,
truth is essential in advertising and must be supported with facts.
(6) Copy Layout Tests - The role of creativity in advertising is very important and should
not be underestimated. An important aid to the creative design task is the use of copy
layout tests to assess and compare alternatives. After the copy layout is released,
samples can be drawn from target audiences to test its effectiveness in specific
conditions. Then respondents are asked to give their opinion on the various aspects of
the ad including how well it can be seen or read or heard under specific conditions, how
quickly and easily the message can be understood, how interesting an ad is liked, how
believable it is or how it will influence audience behaviour.
(7) Allocation to Creative Task - The next important task to creativity is the allocation
of funds towards this task. Since there is little in the way of modeling effort to help in
this decision, the allocation task is usually done judgmentally.
(8) Creative Strategy and Tactics- Finally every copy strategy must describe the mood
and tone of all the forthcoming ad or commercial; cheerful, dramatic, business like and
whatever. All types of written materials, such as art work, layout and script must be
used as components of printed or broadcast advertisements.
Thus, creativity in advertising is the most important part of the advertising programme. It is
an art and should be provided sufficient funds in order to achieve the business and marketing
objectives.
QUALITIES OF ADVERTISEMENT COPY-
The important of a good advertisement copy can hardly be overemphasized. All the planning,
research and expense would go waste if proper care is not taken in drafting an advertisement
copy that will achieve the purpose of advertising. The psychological aims of an advertisement
are that the public must be made to (i) look, (ii) like, (iii) learn and (iv) buy. In other words a
scientifically drafted copy should (a) attract primary initial attention, (b) hold attention in an
interesting way, awaken and stimulate interest, (c) bring about an association of impression
which will have permanence or memory value, (d) convince persuade, and induce to purchase
the product, and (e) suggest and lead to specific response to encourage the decision to buy.
The person who drafts and prepares the copy, must be thoroughly acquainted with the mental
process and be imaginative enough to think of words and patterns which may produce at
desired effect on prospects i.e., it must creates an urge in the minds of prospects to go for the
product advertised.
A good copy of advertisement should possess the following characteristics or qualities or

values-

1. Attention value,
2. Suggestive value,
3. Memorising value,
4. Conviction value,
5. Sentimental appeal value,
6. Education value,
7. Instinctive value,
1. Attention Value- An advertisement copy must attract the attention of the potential
consumers. If it fails in this mission, the whole money and efforts will go waste though
it possesses all other values because everything else follows this. So, it must have
display value. The copy should be planned, drafted and displayed so ingeniously that it
may compel even the most casual or involuntary reader to notice it and read it with
interest. It should be designed in such a fashion that the attention of a busiest person
may be drawn immediately. Various devices can be used to make the copy attractive
such as:-
(a) Use of Pictures. Picture has the immense display and attention value.
(b) Use of Display Type or Heading. Use of appropriate to headings enhances the
value of an advertisement copy to a great extent. To invite attention, the
heading should be brief and meaningful, made up of three or four words and
should be printed in emphatic bold display types.
(c) Border etc. – Attractive border can be used to compel the attention of the
readers. The boarder must have a distinctive look so as to separate it from the
rest of the setting.
(d) Price Quotation – Prices should not be quoted on the advertisement copy
except when they are very low as in clearance sale or special offers. But if an
appeal is being made to high class customers who care more for quality than for
price, a price quotation should be avoided and emphasis should be laid on quality.
(e) Reply Coupons – Reply coupons inserted in an advertisement in an unusual
setting are yet another way of attracting attention of the readers to the copy.
2. Suggestive Value - The next task would be to offer a suggestion about the use and the
utility of the product that may remain inscribed on the mind of the reader even when he
forget where he really saw the advertisement. Slogans, Pictures, phrases and suggesting
may be used for this purpose. They should be drafted and used as to drive home to the
reader the utility of the product in everyday situation.
3. Memorising Value – The copy of the advertisement should be so drafted and laid out
that the product will stick to the mind of the individual reader. Repetition of
advertisement with slogan is an effective method of creating a memorising value.

Pictures and photographs confirming to the suggestion will have tremendous
memorizing value.
4. Conviction Value – An advertisement copy can prove effective and achieve the desired
end when the suggestion contained in it is backed by convincing arguments. The
advertiser must be careful to include the statement in the advertisement copy which
does not conform to the product.
5. Sentimental Value – Sentiments play a very important role in advertising, particularly
in the case of food articles. Sentiments reflect the personal feelings and attitudes of an
individual towards various things. They indicate reactions of a person in favour or
against a particular product. The advertiser or manufacturer should make a sincere
attempt to make an appeal to the sentiments of as may prospects as possible.
6. Educational Value – A good copy of advertisement must possess educative value
because the object of modern advertising is not merely to satisfy the existing demand
but to create future demand. So a good copy of advertisement should educate the
general public about the uses of the new product or the new uses of the same product. It
will certainly increase the demand of the product and demand creation is one of the
most important objectives of the advertisement.
7. Instinctive Appeal Value – Human thoughts and actions are guided by instincts and
inclination. All that one thinks or does has its roots in one instinct or the other.
Instincts are the underlying forces which compel the men to act in certain ways. The
most important function of an advertisement copy is to induce, persuade and motivate
the prospects to think‟ well of a product and to take to its use. Advertising, essentially,
is the motivation of the potential consumer and for this purpose; the advertiser should
attempt to make an appeal to some basic instincts to get success in motivating the
prospects. Generally speaking, the following are the basic instincts which an advertiser
should keep in his mind-
a. Self Preservation Instinct – Many of our thoughts and actions are inspired by
our anxiety to preserves our person our health, our family and our belongings.
The sale of products like medicines, clothes etc., may be promoted by appeal to
this anxiety.
b. Hoarding Instinct – Banking institutions, insurance companies or other
government and non- government saving organizations serve to hoarding
instinct of the people. Slogans like „Up and Up go your Savings‟ may be used
for this purpose.
c. Parental Instinct – Parental instinct takes the form of love and affection for the
children. Those advertisers who deal in children requirements like garments,
toys baby food etc. May promote this instinct in parents i.e., motherly feelings of
women or parental sentiments of men through their advertisement copy.
d. Self Display Instinct – Instinct of self display is promoted by the advertisers of
readymade clothing, women’s dresses. Jewellery etc. An advertisement copy
drafted for these products must be directed towards the aesthetic sense of the
people by showing happy and likeable people in dresses and jewellery that are
being advertised.

e. Something for Nothing Instinct – Everybody has a vague desire to get
something without paying anything for it. This desire is, more or less, present in
everybody irrespective of the status or income. An advertisement copy that
contains an offer of a prize of a gift is likely to tempt quite a many of the
customers. This instinct in widely used by lottery ticket sellers by offering one
free ticket with the purchase of 10 tickets or by drycleaners by the offering
„three for two‟ bargain.
On the basis of the above basic instincts, the following themes or central ideas may be laid
down for advertisement copies meant advertise different types of product-
1. Pride – This theme can be used to popularize luxury articles among riches, the
possession of which gives them a distinctive status and a feeling of pride.
2. Beauty – This theme is used in advertisements for cosmetics, perfumeries, toilet soaps
etc., for men and women.
3. Health - In drugs and food products advertisement they use of this theme is used.
4. Economy – It is central theme in advertisement of clearance sales or bargain purchases.
5. Comfort – The advertisements for fans electric appliance refrigerators etc. generally
contain this feeling of comforts.
6. Fear – Themes stressing the fear of death accident personal loss through burglary
frenetic and other untoward happenings in life are generally used by insurance
companies or banking companies. The traffic police is also using this theme in their
notes of caution i.e., life is short Don’t make is shorter‟
7. Parental Affection - All advertisement copies of products meant for children such as
toys body foods and dresses etc use this feeling.
8. Patriotism – This theme may be used in advertisement for those who use foreign
products.
9. Achievement – This theme is used generally by large concerns engaged in the
production of goods necessary for the development of country’s economy.
10. Emulation and Imitation – This theme is used where people buy more not to satisfy
their genuine requirement, but as their neighbors happen to possess them.
Thus, a good advertisement copy must possess the above qualities to make it an ideal
advertisement.
CLASSIFICATION OF COPY
It is true that copywriting is an art and the copywriter has a very important role to play in
advertising creativity. Copywriting does not admit any stereotyped rules and classification.
There are various styles in which a copy can be prepared and presented. The following types of
copy may be studied-
1. Descriptive Copy – This type of copy describes the pertinent and relevant
characteristics features of the product. It is very simple and of non- technical nature. It

does not have any specialty which can attract the attention of the target consumers or
may compel them to read it. It is very much similar to a press account or news item
simply giving relevant information to the public without any stylish touch.
2. Scientific Copy – Such types of copies are technical in nature and generally used by
drugs and pharmaceutical firms elaborating the propositions of properties and
constituents of the product. It provides full information about the product and the
producer. This type of copy is usually meant for professional or for those who are really
interested in such types of information.
3. Institutional Copy – Institutional advertisement copy aims at selling the name of the
advertiser or the institution that is producing or selling the products or services. The
main objective of such type of advertisements is to create, maintain or increase the
goodwill of the product or of brand or of the department or of the selling house as a
whole, Institutional copy invites the target consumers to the selling outlet. Such a copy
seeks to build goodwill through publicizing the policies, customer services,
Conveniences and general features of superiority of the store over the rivals.
4. Topical Copy – Herein and attempts is made to appeal to the general public by linking
the theme of the copy with some current event but it should not look absurd. It
commands a good deal of interest because of that sensational event which lives in the
minds of the public.
5. Reason why Copy – This type of advertisement copy offers the readers reasons why
they should buy the advertised goods. It narrates the positive points of difference from
other brands of the same product category in an endeavour to convince the reader from
product’s qualitative aspect. It directs its appeal to the intellect or judgment rather than
to emotions or senses. It substantiates the superiority of the merchandise with the tests
performance. Records testimonials, guarantees or construction data.
6. Human Interest Copy – It makes its appeal to the emotions and the senses rather than
to the intellect and judgment. Sympathy fear, bonus, curosity and other emotional
appeals like appeals to the senses of sight hearing touch taste, and smell are used in such
type of copy. Human interest copy presents the product in relation to people instead of
confirming to facts about product. As emotions are many and always new, it may be
made more exciting an artful than reason why copy. It affords a refreshing change.
Human interest copy can take various forms:-
i. Humorous Copy - It exploits the sense of humor of the people. It turns the
reader laughter. All examples and statements in such copy are fully to make the
reader smile.
ii. Fear Copy - It appeals to the sense of fear and arouses the interest of people to
save their lives, properties and other belongings. Such copy of advertisement
should be drawn carefully so that it may not carry an unpleasant association of
readers‟ minds with the advertiser’s product of business Lifer Insurance
Corporation General Insurance Companies and Bank generally use this type of
copy.
iii. Story Copy - In such a copy a story is narrated me a very interesting manner to
create manner to create an impression in the minds of the people about the

product. Its ability to create interest depends upon dramatic impact it produces.
Experience of customers can also be narrated in the story.
iv. Predicament Copy – It is often used to advantage when it shows an article of
merchandise in a case that provides a dramatic explanation of its advantages.
Predicament copy usually overlaps the other three kinds of human interest
copies
7. Colloquial copy or Conversational Copy – The colloquial copy presents the message
in the way of conversation. It uses an informal language and conversation takes place in
terms of „I‟ and „You‟ with personal reference to reader and the advertiser. In such
copy the style is one of a personal talk or one of an eyewitness account.
8. Personality Copy - This copy attempts to encase the opinion of personality – real or
imaginary – about the product. Usually the personality is real. The photograph of the
personality (a person specialized to concerned field) is given with the text of the copy
with a view to convince the readers through the moral influence of his name. Invariably,
such copy shows a certificate or a testimonial of such influential person.
9. Prestige Copy - This pattern is usually for in institutional advertising which aims at
creating an atmosphere about the product or the firm and may not directly advise the
product for sale. Such a copy is occasionally used and is very much similar to the
personality copy in impression which also strives to enhance the prestige of the
advertising firm indirectly by visualizing the name of the eminent personality.
10. Educational Copy – The copy is designed to educate the general public about the
attributes of the product. Usually introductory appeal is made in this style when the
product is introduced in the market for the first time; it is the duty of every producer or
advertiser to tell everything relevant about the product to the public in such a manner
that it may get a warm welcome among customers. Such an advertisement copy depicts
the specialties to the product category. The advertiser may insist only one or two
attributes of the product which is more sensational such as introduction of a low priced
item without the loss of quality or a product developed from a new technology
indigenous or imported etc.
11. Suggestive Copy - A suggestive copy tries to suggest or convey the message to the
readers directly or indirectly to pursue them to purchase the product. It is useful where
the reader is confused about the quality of a product brand and is not in a position to
take a decision about the purchase of the product.
12. Expository Copy – Just opposite of suggestive copy it expository copy. It does not
conceal anything about the product but exposes. The message is quite clear and it needs
no inference, no taxing on mind, no thinking, Even a cursory glance rakes it quite easy
to remembers or to pick – up.
13. Questioning copy – Questioning copy as the term suggests. In Corporate a series of
questions expected to be answered by them readers. The advertiser puts no narration,
statement or reason of its own in order to pursue the readers to buy the product. The
question arouses the curiosity in the minds of the readers and makes them think of it.
Thus there are various types of copies of advertisement on the basis of their style of
presentation.

BACKGROUND OF MAKING AN ADVERTISEMENT/ CREATING ADVERTISING
In Print advertising, the key format elements are the headlines, the visuals, subheads, body
copy, slogans, seals, logotypes logos, and signature. Copywriters can correlate the headline,
visual, and subhead to the attention step of the creative pyramid. The interest step typically
corresponds to the sub-headline and the first paragraph of body copy. Body copy handles
credibility and desire, and the action step takes place with to logo, slogan, and signature block.
(a) The Headline: Effective headlines attract attention, engage the audience, explain the
visual, lead the audience into the body of the ad, and present the selling message. The
headline is the most important thing as advertiser says to the prospect. It explains or
gives greater meaning to the visual and then immediately dictates the advertiser’s
position in that person’s mind, whether or not the prospects choose to read on.
Ideally, headlines present the complete selling idea. Working off the visual, the headline
creates the mood and tells the reader to take action through implication and triggers a
recognition response, which reinforces brand recognition and brand preference. Also,
the headline should present product news. Consumers look for new products, new uses
for old products, or improvements on old products. If they haven’t been overused in a
category,
‘Power’ words that imply newness can increase readership and should be employed
whenever honestly applicable. Examples include free, now, amazing, suddenly,
announcing, introducing, it’s here, improved, at last, revolutionary, just arrived, and
important development.
(b) Subheads: The subheads, an additional smaller headline, may appear above the headline
or below it. A subhead above the headline, called a kicker or over line) is often
underlined. Subheads may also appear in body copy. Subheads are usually set smaller
than the headline but larger than the body copy or text. Subheads generally appear in
boldface heavier) type or a different color. Like a headline, the subhead transmits key
sales points fast. But it usually carries less important information than the headline.
Subheads are important for two reasons: most individuals read only the headline and
subheads, and subheads usually support the interest step best. Subheads are longer and
more like sentences. They serve as stepping-stones from the headline to the body copy,
telegraphing what’s to come.
(c) Body Copy: The advertiser tells the complete sales story in the body copy or text. The
body copy comprises the interest, credibility, desire, and often even the action steps. It is
a logical continuation of the headline and subheads, set in smaller type. Body copy
covers the features, benefits, and utility of the product or service. The body copy is
typically read by only one out of ten readers, so the writer must speak to the reader’s
self –interest, explaining how the product or service satisfies the customer’s need. The
best ads focus on one big idea or one clear benefit. Copywriters often read their copy
aloud to hear how it sounds, even if it’s intended for print media. The ear is a powerful
copywriting tool.

(d) Slogans: Many slogans also called theme lines o r taglines begin as successful headlines.
Through continuous use, they become standard statements, not just in advertising but
also for salespeople and company employees.
Slogans have two basic purposes: to provide continuity to a series of ads in a
campaign and to reduce an advertising message strategy to a brief, repeatable, and
memorable positioning statement. DeBeers’ ads, for example, still use the famous slogan
“Diamonds are forever”.
It is a phrase or a sentence that describes the benefit derived from the product or one of
the product’s most important attributes. The term slogan comes from the Gaelic words
sluagh gairm, meaning battle cry. These days it is the battle cry in the field of sales and
marketing. It consists of a single phrase by which an advertiser conveys an important
idea, which will presumably lead readers or audience to remember and think favorably
of this company. Slogan is thus a short and catchy phrase that gets the attention of the
audience, is easy to remember and comes off the tongue easily.
Slogan can of different types:
a. Slogan that emphasizes product or reward- every product has some reward to
offer consumers. It may have some hidden quality that differentiates a product
from the competitors.
b. Slogans that emphasizes action to be taken- the slogan might urge directly that
you use the product or service
(e) Seals, Logos, and Signatures: A seal is awarded only when a product meets standards
established by a particular organization. Since these organizations are recognized
authorities, their seals provide an independent, valued endorsement for the advertiser’s
product. Logotypes and signatures cut sign cuts are special designs of the advertiser’s
company or product name. They appear in all company ads and, like trademarks, give
the product individuality and provide quick recognition at that point of purchase.
Advertising Layout Strategy
Proportional guideline:
1. Illustration-65%
2. Headline-10%
3. Copy-20%
4. Logo- 5%
Illustration: In most ads, the illustration is used to attract attention. Large, single illustrations
attracted the most attention. Though the headline may be the "stopper", the illustration is the
most critical element in the ad's success. It can also visually communicate product benefits and
concept, and lead the reader into the headline and copy.
Headline: The headline is used to attract attention, arouse interest, and make the ad more
attractive and readable. However, it should not be over 10 words and more than 15 % of the
ad's total area.

Copy: Style of typeface used in the headline, subhead and copy will impact the mood and
readability of the advertisement. Mixed type should be either very similar or very different.
Mixing more than two or three at most different typefaces makes an ad busy and confusing.
Logo: Because we read left to right and top to bottom, the logo or company signature can be
strategically placed in the lower right hand corner of an advertisement. With this position, the
logo is the last element we see and most likely remember. Direct the viewer's eye from the
page's top, down through the center and end at the page's bottom. The eye sees the illustration
first, and then we read down from there. Headlines located below the illustration pull 10% more
readers.
Emphasis: The optical center of an ad is in the center and two-thirds up from the bottom. This
should be the ad's focal point.
Proportional use of space: The proportional use of space in an ad is dependent upon the
product and market target. Product ads that try to communicate an image perfume, jewelry,
etc. will have a greater proportion of illustration and little copy. Conversely, an ad for a
technical product will have more copy.
White Space: At least 20 % of an ad should be blank white space). Ample white space helps
gain attention, create contrast, and unify the advertisement. White space is probably the most
underestimated element in advertisements.
Bleed: A page without a border is called a bleed because the ink bleeds through the
surrounding white border into the trim space. An obvious benefit of this technique is that the
ad itself becomes larger. Although most publishers charge extra for bleeds, this cost is often
justified by the ads extra impact. A bleed carries the implication of action, freedom, and
adventure and tends to make the ad more lifelike. In research, it is found that nearly half of all
high readership ads used bleeds. Conversely, only 14% of low readership ads used this
technique.
Borders: In contrast, borders set up continuity, structure, and formality. Borders can isolate
the ad from surrounding copy and other ads -forcing you to focus on the advertisement.
However, they tend to make the ad appear smaller.
LAYOUT STEPS
The various steps in the layout are the progression from visualization to the final artwork,
when it is ready for sending for production. The art director or the visualizer starts with the
thumbnail sketches also known as idea-generation miniatures. These are simple drawings that
contain an ad’s basic elements. A good layout should have the following basic elements:
1. Balance: Balance is a fundamental law of nature and life. Odd things stand out. Balance
way is defined as a matter of weight distribution. In layout, it is related to the optical

center of an advertisement. The optical center is the point, which the eye designates as
the center of an area.
2. Proportion: Proportion is related to balance but is concerned primarily with the
division of the space and the emphasis needed to be according to each element.
Proportion also involves the tone of the ad, i.e. the amount of light areas in relation to
the dark one and the amount of colour required and the decision to avoid color.
3. Movement: Eyes follow a particular movement. This is the result of reading a
particular kind of script early from life. Readers of western and Devanagri script are
habitual of looking at the reading material from left to right and then from top to
bottom. The Arabic script, in which Persian and Urdu are written, goes from right to
left.
4. Unity: Unification of the layout is what is meant by the term unity. All the elements in
the ad, must be united to be a composite whole. This is achieved when the element tie
into once another by making use of the same basic shapes. Unity can be achieved by
grouping the elements, by encasing the ad in a border, by aligning one element with
another or by the overlapping of elements.
5. Mood: Sizes, textures, colours, illustrations, and the type also contribute to create a
mood for the ad. It is always ideal to choose type from one family to create the right
harmony and mood. Similarly the white space will also create the appropriate mood.
The two basic devices of illustrating an ad are photography and drawing.
a. Photography: Pictures in advertisements create a feeling of immediacy, live
action, speed, empathy, association, and flexibility. And it is not a matter of
coincidence that the majority of ads contain pictures. The pictures encompass a
variety of subjects, like, people, animals, flowers, monuments, birds, objects, etc.
These are selected on the basis of the aim of the ad. The selection of right
characters is very important. Professional photography is a specialized area, and
agencies generally have on their panel photographers from various fields of
specialization, like fashion, nature, profiles, table top, industry, children, etc.
b. Drawings: Illustration is used in an ad, when visualizer feels that its impact will
be more than that of a photograph. A number of techniques are used in
producing drawings. In line drawing, everything is sharp, precise and in black
and white without any gray tones. Cartoons are generally done as line drawings.
Wash drawing is defined as an illustration, using tones and shades and can be in
one or more colours. It can be both in realist or impressionist style. Fashion and
furniture ads at times use this technique, as these look attractive and distinct.
6. Colour Psychology: No reference to advertising can be complete unless one speaks
about colour, or rather the role of colour. Colour adds realism, besides beauty and
distinctiveness. The right blend of colours adds a dash of magic to the ad. Some scholars
feel that people’s reaction to colour is based on a person’s national origin and culture.
Colours also have a psychology of their own and various colours depict various moods.
7. Typography: Typography is the art of selecting typefaces, of which there are hundreds
of designs; blending different typefaces; casting off the number of word to fit spaces’ and
marking up copy for typesetting, using different sizes and weights. Good typography

leads to legibility readability, and attractiveness, and certain designs of type can create
style and character or be characteristics of the advertised subject. Typography is yet
another area that needs to be considered carefully, especially in print advertising
material. Typesetters and photo composers swear by various types, conveying specific
moods and ambience. Type styles are chosen, keeping in view the objectives and
strategy of the campaign.

Unit -2
Media
TYPES OF MEDIA AND INTERMEDIA COMPARISON
Selection of a right type of advertising media is a difficult task. Any media that is selected must
be capable of accomplishing at least the three main objectives:
1. It must reach the largest number of people possible.

2. It must attract their attention.
3. It must be economical.
But in practice there is hardly any single media that satisfies the above three objectives. There
are number of advertising media choices available to the company in India. However, the real
managerial task is to identify from among them the one (s) which is relevant for the company.
For this purpose the management should consider the following factors:
1. The Nature of the Product: The nature of the product determines the choice of the
advertising media. For instance, cinema, television, colour periodicals would be the
obvious choice for products like fabrics and toilets requiring visual presentation. In this
connection, management should develop a product-media match.
2. Market Requirements: While selecting advertising media, the company’s market
requirements should be considered. When they meet these requirements, they lend
themselves to good use. For example, specialised high fashion colour magazines would
be the proper media for consumers with high income groups and sophisticated tastes.
Similarly, outdoor media would be appropriate when consumer action is to be induced at
the point of purchase.
3. Advertising Objectives: The advertising objectives also determine the type of media to
be selected. For example, the press is preferred to project corporate image while radio
and television is relevant for product advertising.
4. Distribution Strategy: The advertising media should be compatible with the
distribution strategy adopted by the company. For example, if the company is selling
through middlemen wholesalers and retailers etc., then outdoor advertising media duly
supported by television, radio and cinema etc. may help to pull the product out of
channel.
5. Nature of the Message and Appeals: The nature of advertising message appeal also
determines the advertising media for a company. The media should be able to carry the
message and appeal to the right persons in the perspective. For example, if time is the
essence of communication, daily newspaper and radio may be the best choice. Mass
consumption items like soaps, toothpastes, hair oil etc. may determine television,
newspapers as the best selection.
6. Budget: The budget available for advertising purpose will decide the choice of media of
advertising. For example, a manufacturer having comparatively large funds for

advertising may choose television or radio or both as a media of advertising. On the
other hand a medium or small sized businessman may prefer newspaper and magazine
as an advertising media.
7. Competitors Choices: A company should also take into account the wisdom of
competitors’ media choices despite differences in advertising objectives and
appropriations. It is not desirable to outright dismiss their choices. Generally, the
advertising media used by competitors are preferred so as to make an impressive appeal
for the product.
8. Media Circulation: The company should take into account the circulation of the
advertising media. Media circulation must match the distribution pattern of the product.
This applies to the press media. Circulation should not be confused with readership.
Circulation means the number of copies sold after deduction of free copies, returns and
other differences between the total number of printed copies and total number sold at
full price. The advertising media selected should have maximum circulation, such as
Hindustan Times etc.
9. Media Availability: The question of media availability is quite relevant while
considering advertising media alternatives because not all medias are available to a
company at all times whenever required. For instance, in 1973, and 1974, owing to
acute newsprint shortage, space availability in national dailies was a real problem.
10. Penetration: How can we penetrate the market most thoroughly or how can we reach
the greatest number of potential customers is also an important factor influencing the
choice of a particular advertising media. Shall we reach housewives at the kitchen-sink
by means of television or radio and which is likely to have the greater impact? This fact
should be considered.
11. Size and Nature of the Business Enterprise: The size and nature of the business
enterprise also play an important part in making a choice for the advertising media.
Different media will suit to departmental stores, chain stores, small shops,
manufacturers and producers etc. A big business enterprise may make use of television,
radio and newspapers having national network, whereas a small unit may prefer local
newspapers and cinema-slides etc.
Thus the above factors are generally considered while selecting the advertising media for
selling the products.
Radio Advertising: Today, radio has emerged as one of our major advertising media. It
provides a very large coverage of audience in urban and rural areas. Now almost every family
has a radio set in our country. Radio advertising in India was started in 1967 when a
commercial service on “Vividh Bharati” was started. Commercial broadcasting is now
undertaken by Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Poona, Nagpur and Bangalore stations etc. of
All-India Radio. Ceylon Radio Commercial Broadcasting is quite popular throughout the
country. Commercial broadcasting is a major source of income. Today, radio advertising is
extremely popular with both trade and industry as the demand exceeds the time. Radio
advertising may be described as „word of mouth advertising on a wide scale‟. The advertiser

delivers the message orally and not visually. It makes appeal to the ear and not to the eye with
the effect that the message is conveyed to the masses whether literate or illiterate.
Advantages or Merits of Radio Advertising
1. Radio advertising is quite popular in India on account of the following advantages:

2. It has a wide coverage. Even illiterate people are covered under this media. It can
convey message even to small remote areas.
3. It is quite flexible as it can be used on a national or local level according to the need.
4. It gives message of the advertiser at the door of the prospects when they are in a
respective mood.
5. It easily catches the attention of the people.
6. Today radio advertising is a major source of income.
7. It claims the advantage of memorising value. In this connection, psychologists say that
anything learnt through the ears is not easily forgotten.
8. Radio advertising affords variety of programmes including entertainment on account of
which the goodwill is developed. People buy the product advertised by radio because
they enjoy the free show.
9. Radio advertising has human touch unequalled by any other media.
Disadvantages, Demerits or Limitations of Radio Advertising
Radio advertising has the following disadvantages, demerits or limitations :
1. The message given by radio advertising is short-lived.

2. It is costly and is beyond the reach of small and medium sized advertisers.
3. It only appeals to the sense of hearing and thus does not portray visually a picture of the
package of the product.
4. It is not suitable for all kinds of products, such as industrial goods which are not needed
by the average radio listener. It is useful only for the goods of common use.
5. Radio advertisements are very brief and thus details cannot be elaborated.
6. Since there is a multiplicity of advertisements in a very short time, it is most likely that
the listener may forget the name of the product.
7. There is no possibility of demonstration in case of radio advertising.
8. It is a selective media of advertising.
• FM broadcasting: FM broadcasting is a broadcast technology pioneered by Edwin

Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation (FM) to provide high-fidelity sound
over broadcast radio. The term "FM band" is effectively shorthand for "frequency band
in which FM is used for broadcasting". This term can upset purists because it conflates
a modulation scheme with a range of frequencies.
• Modulation characteristics: Frequency modulation (FM) is a form of modulation
which conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its frequency (contrast this
with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its

frequency remains constant). In analog applications, the instantaneous frequency of the
carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal. This form
of modulation is commonly used in the FM broadcast band.
Pre-emphasis and de-emphasis: Random noise has a triangular spectral distribution in an FM

system, with the effect that noise occurs predominantly at the highest frequencies within the
baseband. This can be offset, to a limited extent, by boosting the high frequencies before
transmission and reducing them by a corresponding amount in the receiver. Reducing the high
frequencies in the receiver also reduces the high-frequency noise. These processes of boosting
and then reducing certain frequencies are known as pre-emphasis and de-emphasis,
respectively.
The amount of pre-emphasis that can be applied is limited by the fact that many forms of
contemporary music contain more high-frequency energy than the musical styles which
prevailed at the birth of FM broadcasting. They cannot be pre-emphasized as much because it
would cause excessive deviation of the FM carrier. Systems more modern than FM
broadcasting tend to use either programme-dependent variable pre-emphasis; e.g., dbx in the
BTSC TV sound system or none at all.
INTERNET ADVERTISING
The Internet facility has developed around for some 30 years. It actually began in the early
1960 in USA, where the US Department of Defense saw it as a means of supercomputer
communication for researchers and military facilities across the country. Until it commercial
explosed in 1990s, the Internet remained a relatively obscure network of linked computers -
mostly by academics, military researchers, and scientists around the world to send and receive
electronic mail, transfer files, and find or retrieve information from databases –
At present, Internet the fastest growing medium in history, offers incredible opportunities for a
wide range of people in both business and advertising. For advertisers, there is a whole new
world of potential customers.
Type of Internet Advertising:
Ads on the Internet can take a variety by forms. Most advertising on Internet can be classified
as websites, banners, buttons, sponsorships, interstitials, Meta ads, classified ads, and e-mail
ads.
• Websites: Some companies consider their whole website as an ad. However, a website
is more than an ad - it’s an alternative location where customers, prospects,
shareholders, investors, and others can come to find out more about the company, its
products and services. Some companies use their website like an extended brochure to
promote their goods and services. Others treat their website as an online catalog store,
conducting business right on the Net. Still other website act in information and
entertainment provides. Website typically consist of a home page and an indefinite

number of subsequent pages that users can visit for further information. A web page
refers to a single HTML (hypertext markup language) file, which, when viewed with a
browser, may actually be several screens long. A large website may have hundreds of
these pages of information. This means the site contains hundreds of different
documents of various lengths (from 1 to 10 or more screen), each probably covering a
different subject.
• Banners: The ad banner is the basic form of web advertising. A banner is a little
billboard that spreads across the top or bottom of the Web page. At present one comes
across larger banner ads that can dominate the screen or even provide television
commercials. When users click their mouse pointer on the banner, it sends them to the
advertiser’s site or a buffer page.
• Buttons: These are similar to banners. They are small version of the banner those often
look like an icon usually provides a link to an advertiser’s home page. Since they take
less space than banner, they are less expensive.
• Sponsorships: A form of advertising on the Internet that is getting popular is the
sponsorship of Web pages. Corporations sponsor entire sections of a publisher’s Web
page or sponsor single events for a limited period of time, usually calculated in months.
In exchange for sponsorship support, companies are given extensive recognition on the
site. Sometimes an added-value package is created by integrating the sponsor’s brand
with the publisher’s content. For instance, a Web page on Olympics or some other
spots can be sponsored by a business firm.
• Interstitials: This is a dynamic form of Net advertising. It is a catch all term for a
variety of animated ads that pop up on the screen while the computer downloads a
website that the user has clicked on. There are now many types of interstitials including
pop-up windows, splash screens, superstitials, etc.
• Meta Ads: Used in search engines (such as Yahoo, Google, etc.), a met ad is an
advertisement displayed on the results page of a search, specific to the searched item.
Meta ads are also referred to as keyword advertising. This method enables an advertiser
to target a specific audience. Advertisers can pay search engines to display their banners
only when relevant keywords are searched for by a user. For example, if a user searched
for the term “handicrafts and handlooms”, the Meta ads displayed might be for
handicrafts and handlooms items.
• Classified Ads: Another growing area for Internet advertisers in the classified ad
websites. Some of these websites offer free classified advertising opportunities because
ad banners of other advertisers support them. They are similar to newspaper classified
ads. You can search for homes, cars, jobs, toys, shoes etc.
• E-Mail Advertising: Advertisers can send e-mail advertising to customers who have
asked for it. It is similar to direct mail advertising, and therefore, it is the most effective
form of internet advertising. However, there is too much of span via the e-mail. Span
refers to unsolicited, mass e-mail advertising for product or service that is sent by an
unknown entity to e-mail addresses.

Advantage of Internet Advertising:
• Interactive Medium: It allows consumers to directly interact with an advertiser,

thereby establishing future relationships.
• Enormous Audience: With an audience of about 500 million people world wide (some
estimates put the figure at 1 billion people), the internet is the only true global medium,
providing information and commercial opportunities that are immediately accessible
around the world.
• Immediate Response: Products and information are available on demand made by the
consumer, thereby, providing instant feedback for the advertiser.
• Selective Targeting: Advertisers can reach the right target audience, especially
through the Meta ads.
• Proximity to Purchase: It may be the greatest advantage of Internet advertising.
Purchasers can be targeted right wither they are, right at the moment when they are
considering of making a purchase.
• Affluent Market: Most of the Internet users belong to middle-upper class or upper
class audience. Therefore, Internet medium enables to reach the affluent market of the
society.
• Provides In-depth Information: Internet provides in-depth information about a
company and/or products. Commercial websites provide detailed information about
products or services to the Internet users seeking information.
• Reaches Business-to-Business Users: The Internet medium can reach to B2B users
when they are still at work, not only business related information, but also consumer
products advertising while they are working.
Disadvantages of Internet Advertising:
• Lack Mass-Media Efficiency: Internet is not a mass medium as the case of radio and
television. Therefore, it may never offer mass media efficiency. Most marketers in
developing countries like India, may find it as too complex, too cluttered or not worth
the time and efforts.
• Slow Downloads: The downloading of websites is very slow in many parts of the
world, including India. The ads that pop up in between only irritate the Internet users.
• Problem of Span: There is too much of Spam via the e-mail. Therefore, e-mail users do
not consider going through even the responsible ads.
• Problem of Online Purchases: In India, most consumers would like to physically
inspect the goods before purchases. Therefore, they may not place orders online. Again,
most people do not believe the internet as a safe place for financial transaction.
• Untested Medium: There is hardly any research to test the effectiveness of Internet
advertising. Therefore, a good number of markets in India do not give much importance
to Internet advertising.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING
It is said that to-day television advertising is the best selling media ever invented. It has a
potential advertising impact unmatched by any other media. It is a means of bringing actual
demonstration in the homes of the prospects and is therefore more effective media when
compared with radio. That is why the position of radio advertising has now being gradually
taken by television advertising.
Commercial television advertising was introduced in India on January 1, 1976 on the pattern of
All India Radio. Thus, as an advertising media, television is of recent origin in India. It is also
known by the name of Doordarshan in India. Television makes full use of sight, sound and
motion and thereby maximises impact on audience. On colour TVs, now colour may also be
used to add to the impact. The coverage of television is increasing at a rapid pace in India. This
media is particularly advantageous for those advertisers whose products require demonstration.
Sponsored programmes have also been started on television in India.
Advantages or Merits of Television Advertising Television advertising has the following

advantages:
• The main advantage of television advertising is that it combines the advantages of both
radio and cinema. Thus it is a most powerful audio-visual media.
• It makes the message more attractive and impressive.
• It is most advantageous to those advertisers whose products and service require
demonstration.
• It is a source of major income to Doordarshan.
• It possesses geographical selectivity. An advertiser can place his advertisements on
selected few stations as per his requirements.
• It has a wide coverage. At present television services are available to more than 80% of
India’s population.
Disadvantages or Demerits or Limitations of Television Advertising
• Television Advertising is subject to the following demerits or limitations:

• It is very expensive advertising media and would certainly exclude the small
advertisers.
• Television message is short-lived.
• The range within which the telecasting reaches the audience is very limited.
• In case of India, an average Indian cannot afford television as it is quite costly.
• Television advertisements are very brief due to high cost of advertising on television.
• Television advertising is a very deliberate media, requiring long term planning, the
gaining of approval from the authority and also lacking flexibility.

PRESS ADVERTISING
Meaning of Press Advertising: Press advertising is the most popular and effective method of
publicity today. It has become the part of the culture and political life of people today. Press,
also referred to as print, is an advertising media comprising all those vehicles owned by others
and which can carry the advertising message in print to be read by target customers. In India,
this media is very commonly used by companies and account for nearly 70 per cent of their
total expenditure on advertising media.
Forms or Types: Press advertising takes the following two major forms:
Newspapers: NP Newspapers are bought largely for their news values. Newspapers may be
national/local daily/weekly. These are a good vehicle to pass on information about new
products, current products and price-off deals. They can be used for local, national and regional
market coverage. In India, there are a number of newspapers both in English and also in
regional languages. Many newspapers in English and Hindi have nationwide coverage. So a
message given in newspapers may have a better impression on the minds of the people and it
may be more specific, clear, complex and lengthy. Currently, 1173 daily newspapers and 5280
weekly newspapers are published in India, out of which the largest number is accounted for by
the Hindi language newspapers followed by Urdu, Marathi and English newspapers in terms of
number, and English, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi and Gujarati in terms of circulation. Among
the states, the largest number of newspapers are published in Uttar Pradesh followed by
Maharashtra and Karnataka. Among the prominent national English language dailies are the
Times of India, Hindustan, Indian Express, Statesman and Economic Times etc., whereas
among the national Hindi language dailies include Hindustan Times, Navbharat Times,
National Dunia and in Rajasthan - Rajasthan Patrika. However, among the different language
groups, companies in India, both in the state and private sector, largely use English dailies as
their advertising media. Small enterprises prefer local newspapers as their advertising media.
The newspapers charge on the basis of column centimetre space used by the advertiser. They
also charge premium for special positions and provide concession for space booking on contract.
However, these rates vary from newspaper to newspaper as per their circular and coverage.
Advantages or Merits of Newspaper Advertising Media: The advantages of merits of

newspaper advertising media may be summed up as under:
• Their coverage is high as they reach every nook and corner in a very short time.
• They offer a lot of flexibility. According to the convenience and necessity of the
advertiser, the shape, size and appeal may be frequently changed to suit the need of the
advertiser.
• High frequency enables speedy preparation and publication of advertisement.
• It is the cheapest media of advertising as far as its cost per reader is concerned.

• The daily newspaper have strong repetitive value as it offers an opportunity to the
advertiser to repeat is message at a short interval of only one day.
• The public response towards newspaper advertising is very quick.
• By inserting local advertisements (in local newspapers), the effectiveness of advertising
copy could be tested quite easily.
• By inserting frequent advertisements in the newspapers, their visual appeals may be
created very easily.
• The reputation of the newspapers is available to the advertisers and their products also.
Leading newspapers provide space to reputed and reliable concerns only.
• Newspaper advertising provides geographic selectivity.
Disadvantages or Demerits or Limitations of Newspaper Advertising Media: The

following are the disadvantages or demerits or limitations of newspaper advertising media :
• The life of a newspaper is very short, i.e., only for the day. It is said, “Nothing is alive as
today’s newspaper” and “Nothing is dead as yesterday’s newspaper.”
• There is waste of circulation. The advertisement is carried even to those places where
there is no market existing nor the possibility of creating a new market in the near
future.
• If the customers are limited in numbers, advertising in newspapers may be ineffective
and costly too.
• Visual effects may not be created in practice as the newspapers are generally printed on
cheap newsprint.
• There is lack of uniformity in advertising requirements. Lack of uniformity of
publishers‟ requirements with respect to rates, size, type of copy and so on.
• Newspaper advertising is less popular in undeveloped countries where the masses are
illiterate ignorant and poor.
Magazines and Journals: Another media under press advertising media is magazines and
journals. They offer selective circulation throughout the country at a cost within reasonable
budget limits. These are published periodically at regular intervals, i.e., weekly, fortnightly,
monthly, quarterly or annually. Magazines and Journals are read at leisure and with care when
the reader is mentally prepared to receive the advertisements. It has a long effective life. From
the advertiser’s point of view, magazines may be classified under five groups : (i) Special
Interest Magazines; (ii) Trade Magazines; (iii) Technical Magazines; (iv) Professional
Magazines; and (v) Regional Magazines.
Advantages or Merits of Magazines and Journals: The following are the advantages of
magazines and journals as an advertising media:
• The life of magazine is considerably longer than that of newspapers. These are kept
ready for weeks and months.
• Better reproduction of advertisement than newspapers is provided.

• Magazines are highly selective in nature and waste of circulation is avoided.
• Magazine advertising create prestige, reputation and an image of quality.
• The number of readers per copy in case of magazine advertising is quite high. There is
multiplicity of readership.
• Magazines are ideals for introduction new ideas.
• Magazine readership is usually a leisurely home readership for enjoyment relaxation,
and with guards down.
• The printing, paper, colour combination is more attractive in case of magazine
advertising than newspaper advertising.
• Magazines reach specialised groups conveniently and effectively.
• The cost of utilising magazines for advertising is quite low.
Disadvantages or Demerits or Limitations of Magazine and Journal Advertising:
As compared to newspaper advertising, the magazine and journal advertising have the
following disadvantages, demerits or limitations:
• The chief demerit of magazine advertising is its low flexibility.

• Preparation costs for magazine copy are usually rather high and sometimes exceed the
cost of the space used in trade magazines.
• The circulation is limited as compared to newspaper advertising.
• It takes more time in printing etc. than newspaper advertising.
• The size of magazines differs widely and hence the advertiser has to prepare the copy of
advertisement according to the size of the magazine and journal.
• Change in appeal cannot be effective quickly.
FILM ADVERTISING
Meaning: Film is an audio-visual medium of communication and offers wide opportunities to

the advertiser to screen commercial films and slides produced by them. Today cinema is an
important and effective media of advertising. Suitable short films may be prepared to create a
lasting impression upon the audience. These may be presented in the form of a story or a
cartoon. Through the merits of the product are presented to the audience effectively. Such films
may be shown before the start of the feature film or during interval.
Kinds of Films Advertising:
1. Straight Advertising Films: These are most common now-a-days. These concentrate
on advertising message relating to only one product of a particular company, such as
Hindustan Lever, Tata Oil Mills (toilet preparations), D.C.M., Gwalior Rayon, Calico
etc. These are of short duration lasting from 3 to 5 minutes.

2. Documentary Films: Documentary films are mainly used for publicity aspect and in
most cases is educative in character. They are used to show various aspects of an
industry as a whole.
3. Sponsored Advertising Films: It is a very good combination of advertisement and
entertainment. Cartoon films come under this category.
In India, cinema has practically reached in all the parts of the country. Bombay has become the
hub of advertising films and slides production. With all these, cinema as an advertising media
holds great opportunities particularly, for those companies which are poised to penetrate the
rural market of our country. It is particularly relevant for advertising consumer-products and
farm inputs.
Advantages or Merits:
• It has a quite wide coverage.

• It is able to explain and demonstrate the use of a product quite conveniently.
• Appeal is made to all sections of the society.
• It is never wasted as no advertisement can escape the attention.
• It is effective and may pay rich dividend to the advertiser.
Disadvantages, Demerits or Limitation:
• The films are too short and need changes frequently.

• Production cost of a film is quite high.
• The audience may not like to waste time in seeing such films repeatedly. They resent to
it as they come for entertainment only.
• Restrictions are imposed against screening of films, e.g., there is censoring.
• For screening films, the cooperation of theatres is a must which is not easily available.
PURCHASE POINT ADVERTISING
Purchase point advertising is that advertising which is undertaken at the premises of the
manufacturer or the dealer for attracting the customers. This is a direct method because the
advertising process is either undertaken by the manufacturer directly or through the dealer.
Under this method, goods are displayed at the counters, windows or in almirahs. It is observed
that the point of purchase is the exact point where the prospects are reminded finally about a
product. It is considered as a powerful media now a day.
SPECIALTY ADVERTISING
Under this media of advertising, manufacturers provide various articles of low value free of cost
to the existing and prospective customers. The articles constitute calendars, ball-pens, diaries,
cigarette cases, bags and other executive gifts. Such articles bear the name and address of the
advertiser. It is felt that recipients will do business with the firm in the near future even though

articles are given on no obligation basis. It is also called Novelty Advertising. These articles
are given to targeted customers.
VIDEO ADVERTISING
It is now considered as the latest media of advertising. Under this method, video-cassettes ad-
films are prepared. Nearly 22 million people around the world watch Indian films on video.
India alone has video-audience of about 30 millions which is increasing day by day. There are
more than 50,000 video-libraries and about 1 lakh video-parlours/clubs in India. The video-
cassettes released in India are also being screened in thousands of luxury buses. Besides the
feature film they contain advertisements which are displayed at short intervals.
OUTDOOR OR MURAL ADVERTISING
Meaning of Outdoor or Mural Advertising: Outdoor or mural advertising is the oldest form
of advertising and remains the most common media even today. It is also called „wall
advertising‟. Outdoor advertising consists of a display of advertisements out of door which
may be in the form of posters, painted signs, field signs, neon light signs, hoardings and posters
carried by sandwitchmen. This is also referred to as mural advertising as posters consisting of a
picture, are often placed on walls particularly a large one, printed directly on a wall or large
photograph attached directly to a wall. Small playcards or posters placed outside or inside
carriages such as trams, delivery-vans, buses, railway carriages etc. also come under this
category. The new form of advertising by using balloons, kites and smoke-writing in the sky is
also a part of outdoor advertising. Outdoor advertising is not always argumentative but
suggestive. The effectiveness of such advertising materially depends on its positions. Therefore,
outdoor advertisements must be placed in such a way as can be seen by a large number of
prospective customers with ample attention. The articles suited for such advertising are those
which the masses can buy, such as food products, soaps, medicines, cigarettes, shoes, clothes
and other domestic requirements.
Main Characteristics of Outdoor Advertising:
1. It is a widespread popular advertising media which makes the goods and services of
interest to mass appeal.
2. It has a comparatively longer life.
3. It has a high coverage.
4. Most outdoor advertisements are big and dominant so it is a very powerful eye-catching
media.
5. It is a very flexible advertising media so that the advertiser can retain sites where he
needs them most.
6. It is the oldest advertising media.
7. It also consists of suitable and popular slogans which can be easily remembered by the
prospects.

Types, Forms or Kinds of Outdoor Advertising
Outdoor advertising may take any of the following forms:
1. Posters: This is the most common and popular form of outdoor advertising. These are
exhibited on a hoarding or on walls, roofs, fences, chimneys etc. A really commanding
effect can be produced by posters which cost less than any other advertising media.
Design is the basis of all poster-advertising. These mostly contain pictures. Advertising
for a movie is done in this way. Even where no pictures are used, the proper
arrangement of lettering is important. The posters should be simple, attractive and
capable of telling its story at a glance. Posters also give considerable scope for the use of
suitable and attractive colours. Humour can also be used with advantage in poster-
advertising.
2. Advertising Board: These are also posters which are kept at certain fixed places
especially at points where people frequently assemble, such as bus stops, railways,
crossings etc. Generally these advertising boards are made of metallic sheet enclosed in
a wooden frame and fixed with a panel having specified height at main junctions. These
are fixed and well set with flood-lights.
3. Vehicle Advertising: It refers to moving advertisement. It consists of placing posters
or playcards inside or outside vehicles such as trams, buses, taxies, delivery-vans,
railway carriages etc. The main advantage of this system is the small space available for
such posters. These posters are fairly sighted by the eyes and can be easily read. This
method is a very common media and is considered to be very effective.
4. Electric Displays and Signs: Signs illuminated by electricity are today to be seen in
large number in cities. This is the most modern and the most attractive form of outdoor
display. It may consist of wooden letters studded with bulbs. Sometimes with a view to
attract the attention, coloured bulbs are used and the colours are changed at short
intervals. Another device used to attract attention is to turn on the light on each letter
at a time to give the impression of the sign being written by an invisible hand.
5. Neon Signs: There are brilliantly coloured tubes available in various shades. These can
be of the still or the flashing type. These signs are more attractive and interesting than
the signs built up by a number of electric bulbs.
6. Sky Advertising (Sky Writing): Sky advertising is another modern form of outdoor
advertising. In this form of advertising media an aeroplane writes the name of the
product or the producer in the sky. It is also known as „smoke writing‟ because the
message is written in the sky by means of smoke. Large sized printed balloons are also
dropped from the aeroplane in the sky. Usually, near the circus-tents, a large sized
balloon is floated on which the name of the circus is written.
7. Sandwitchmen: They are hired persons and properly dressed who walk in the streets in
a procession with boards, posters and notices placed about them. The idea is to attract
the attention of the public. The cinema-theatres usually arrange this kind of advertising
media when a new picture is released.

8. Stickers: It is also an important form of outdoor advertising. In this case, the advertiser
enters in a contract with the popular players that whatever they will wear or use during
the match will bear the sticker of the advertiser.
9. Puppet Shows: This is purely an Indian outdoor advertising media which provided
entertainment while conveying a message. Now-a-days it is used widely in the family
planning campaign in India mostly in villages. One such show tells how a rich man of
the village who has large family, rejects the family planning campaign. But his wife has
twins and there are complications. He calls in the midwife who tells him that his wife
will not survive more births. He accepts the family planning advice and so becomes the
innovator in his village.
The above are the most common forms of the outdoor advertising. However, there ay be other
forms of this type of advertising.
Advantages or Merits of Outdoor Advertising Media
• It has a wide coverage.

• It is capable of gaining more attention of the public.
• Outdoor advertising is more useful for local dealers. Its results can be more readily
secured by using this form of advertising.
• In big cities and high traffic areas, outdoor advertising is the most effective form of
advertising.
• Outdoor advertising is more flexible.
• It offers greater selectivity because it can be used locally, regionally or even nationally.
• It can be easily remembered.
• It is quite economical.
• It has comparatively long life.
• It is a very good media to stress brand names and package identity.
Disadvantages or Demerits or Limitations of Outdoor Advertising Media
The outdoor advertising media possess the following disadvantages, demerits or limitations
and thus is subject to criticism:
• It is subject to adverse reaction of the public on the ground that the walls of the houses
are used for writing outdoor advertisement even without the permission of the owner of
the house.
• The message written under this type of advertising is too brief.
• The exact effect created on prospects is difficult to measure.
• The language used in writing on the wall advertising is usually defective and sometimes
immoral too. It has an adverse effect on the public.

ALTERNATIVE / EMERGING MEDIA OPTIONS
Meaning: There are several Media Options which have emerged due to increased popularity of
advertising. Advertising through cell phones and marketing through social sites are some of
the Emerging Media Options.
Alternative Media Options: We shall discuss the following Alternative Media Options
1. Car Cards: Car cards are small size thick papers or posters placed inside the vehicles
like the buses or railway trains. They are also posted on the window screens or the side
glasses of motor cars. The main purpose is to remind the travelers about the product.
However, it is possible that many travelers may not look at the cards while travelling.
2. Traveling Displays: These car cards are posted outside the vehicles or local trains.
Their purpose is to attract the attention outside public or of those who are standing on
railway platforms.
3. Sandwich Boards or Tall Man Advertising: Sandwich boards advertisement is carried
by a man with two posters hung on his two sides. The man is known as a sandwich man
as he is sandwich between two boards. He moves form one street to another and attracts
the attention of the passerby. To add the unusual site, sometimes, a tall man carrying
the boards walks with the support of long sticks and with funny mask and clothes and
attracts the passerby.
4. Sky Writing or Sky Balloons: In this type, a painted balloon or a plastic sheet having
advertisement message may be attached to the tail of the flying aeroplane. This being
very unusual thing. People are attracted towards it.
Advantages:
• It acts as a supporting or supplementary to press media effectively.

• It is constantly reminding prospects of the products.
• It is colourful and has a pleasing appearance. So, prospects welcome this form of
publicity.
• It has a wide appeal. At attracts all human population of literates and literates and
illiterates.
• This media is more permanent compared to newspapers, films, magazines etc.
• It provides scope for talents, skill and art.
Disadvantages:
• It is difficult in measuring response as it appeals to the general public and not in

particular.
• Selection of wrong sight, wrong materials, wrong methods etc. wastages may arise.
Also, due to damages to the posters, hoarding etc. wastages are created.
• This media can be used only as a supporting media to the others like T.V. Radio etc.

• It is alleged that the posters, hoardings, neon signs etc. spoil the natural beauty of the
places.
DISPLAY OR INDOOR PUBLICITY
To display the goods means to show the goods to the people in order to induce them to enter
the shop to buy them. It is a device by which customers and people are attracted to the shop.
Importance of Display:
1. It is only the part of publicity which allows the people to touch the products, to handle
them or to actually see them. It is more realistic in salesmanship.
2. Another importance of display is that display is an important dealer aid. The display
technique helps the dealers to conduct an effective publicity.
3. The third importance factor that has given importance to display is that, it attracts the
attention of the prospects and makes the people walk into the shops.
4. Lastly Display is importance to its effects not only on prospects but also on suspects. It
makes the message directly to the prospects through their eyes.
Different Forms of Displays:
1. Window Display: If refers to showing of goods in the window of the shop. Window of
a shop means a part of the front portion of the shop which can be seen from outside.
Windows are meant for outsiders to keep in. Window display technique is used by
retailers or small businessman because they can’t afford to spend on other Medias.
Window display is used for all types of consumer goods. It makes people eager to know
and see the products.
Following are the rules for the shopkeepers while displaying the goods in windows:
a. Normally, the windows of rectangular shapes are selected and not the vertical
one’s because they provides for adequate space and easy movement of vision.
b. The items should be arranged horizontally and not vertically because this allows
easy gaze movement. The background of window should be attractive and
pleasant.
c. The windows should not be over-crowded with items because it strains the eyes
of the viewers.
d. The position of the items displayed should be changed from time to time to
create variety.
e. Proper lighting and illumination of the window should be done so that they
focus on the special features of the product.
f. The display technique should not violate the basic rules of decent approach.
There should not be overcrowding of expensive good in too fashionable setting
otherwise, the respects would be frightened and the result would be negative.

2. Interior Decoration: It refers to the various designs and equipments used by a retailer
inside his shop. Showcases, counters, lighting arrangement, ventilation etc. It creates a
pleasant atmosphere for the prospects and increases their comforts. Effective interior
decoration does not require lot of space but it makes appropriate use of the available
space to provide for easy movement and get up.
3. Counter Display: It refers to arranging the products located within the shop. Counter
display helps the customer to know about all the items which are available in the shop.
Such a facility is not available in window display because all the items cannot be
presented in the window.
A good salesman must see that he should not show any goods which may go against the
window display. Secondly, counter display must bring out as many varieties as are
related to the particular type displayed at the window. Thirdly, the salesman must see
that goods are not placed one upon the other.
4. Showcases: In this type, the items are presented in a cupboard with glass front of
cabinets with glass front. These are similar to window display in the sense that, the
showcases should be rectangular, items should be placed horizontally. In showcases,
items of similar nature and even size should be grouped together so that, the customer
knows the varieties of the same type available. The showcases should contain all the
items available in the shops.
5. Showrooms: A showroom is used by many producers or dealers not only to expose
goods for sale but also demonstrate the uses and the working of the articles. It is meant
for presentation of technical products, sophisticated goods etc. which require lot of
explanation before buying the products. Showrooms have technically qualified persons
to assist the customers when they visit the showrooms and also advice and guide them
to understand the goods better.
6. Exhibitions: The trade exhibitions are meant for introducing new products or latest
innovations in the fields of business. They are organised by Trade Associations of
Chamber of Commerce. The main idea behind exhibitions is that various traders,
manufacturers etc. can be induced to visit and get information about the products
displayed. In exhibition there is only presentation of the products and no sale takes
place. For this purpose, the stalls are decorated and the items are presented in an
attractive manner. Exhibitions have mass approach because many people visit them.
7. Trade Fairs: Trade fair is similar to exhibition except that in the trade fair not only the
items are exhibited but are also sold. Besides, entertainment items are staged to attract
hundreds of people. Thus, there is business and fun in the trade fairs.
Characteristics of Important Media:
1. Mural Advertising:

Mural or outdoor advertising has long life. It has a general and wide appeal. It can attract
attention of numerous people; it is good to remind prospects. An advertiser has ample scope to
use his skill and art in advertising.
However, outdoor advertising has certain limitations. It cannot .have a long message. It is not
useful in selective advertising or for specialised products. It has a low retention value. Its
effectiveness cannot be accurately measured and it may lead to considerable wastage also. Bill
boards and hoarding are not welcome today on the highways due to adverse public opinion.
(They spoil the natural beauty and environment).
2. Press Advertising:
Newspapers have a general and wide appeal. It is very common method of publicity.
Newspapers are flexible and timely. Repeat advertising is possible. Periodical change in size
and contents is also easy. Selective advertising to some extent is available. Effectiveness of
advertising can be estimated by having keyed advertisements. Newspapers offer promotional
assistance. They cure the best source of market information.
Newspapers are truly a way of life to most of the literate people. They have short closing times.
Closing times refer to the period before publication when the copy must be submitted. For
newspapers, this period is only 24 hours. The adage ‘seeing is believing’ is applicable to press
advertisements. It offers greater prestige and believability.
However, newspapers have short span of life. We cannot have coloured and attractive
advertisements. Waste in advertising is considerable. Illiteracy affects its utility. Magazines
and trade journals are other means of press publicity. They are best for coloured and attractive
advertisements.
They have longer life, greater retentive value as well as reference value. Selective appeal is
possible. We can approach particular, market segment only. Waste can be reduced. However,
they need advanced planning, do not facilitate repetitive advertisements. They have limited
circulation; they have higher unit cost per contact.
3. Film Advertising:
It has a wide appeal. It can overcome language barriers. Audio-visual (sound and sight)
technique has maximum impact on audience. Sound and sight both are employed for
communicating our message. Repeat advertising is possible. However, both cost of production
as well as cost of distribution of slides and films are quite high. Selective advertising is not
possible. Effectiveness cannot be measured. Waste in film publicity can be considerable.
4. Radio Advertisements:
Of all the media, radio has the shortest closing times. Radio uses only an audio (sound) signal,
the copy can be submitted up to air time. Announcements can be made very quickly. It can

secure dealer support. It has a very wide appeal. It is suitable even for illiterate people. Repeat
message is quite common. Spoken word has greater impact than written word.
However, radio cannot permit selective advertising. It cannot give detailed information. It has
low memory value. People remember far more of what they see than of what they hear. Its cost
is high. It may not be very effective as listeners may not like it. Many a time, they are bored by
repeat messages. The length of time media is momentary. The message may be lost, if the radio
is not tuned.
5. Television Advertisement:
Television uses both video (sight) and audio (sound) signals. Television has all the advantages
of radio, namely, sound and explanation, plus the additional advantage of sight. It can appeal
through ear as well as eye. Products can be demonstrated with explanation. Television reaches
the audience almost like personal face-to-face contact. To that extent it is just like personal
salesmanship.
Full opportunity exists for product demonstration and amplification of selling points with
audio presentation. It is really a wonderful means of mass communication for creating market.
Television combines all of the elements of communication- (1) Illustration; (2) Music; (3)
Spoken words; (4) written words. We can have short commercials as well as sponsored
programmes combining entertainment with advertisement. It represents typical combination of
salesmanship and advertising.
However, television has limited market coverage. Advertising on TV is expensive. In addition

to time costs, the costs of producing TV shows are considerable. Both radio and TV messages
have no life span like the messages in printed form. TV cannot have a long advertising copy.
6. Transit Advertising:
Transit advertising consists of car-card advertising, which is located within buses, subways,
railways, and outside displays, which appear on the fronts, sides, and backs of buses or other
public transport and at transportation terminals. Transit advertising is the lowest-cost media.
It gives geographic selectivity and seasonal selectivity. It has high readership. It can reach
pedestrians and travelling public. However, non-riders are not exposed to car-cards located
inside the vehicle. Car-cards have small size and they can carry only short copy. Transit
advertising is limited in quantity by the number of public vehicles in operation.
7. Direct Mail:
Direct mail is any advertising sent by mail (postal transmission) including sales letters, folders,
pamphlets, booklets, catalogues, and the like. Direct mail is the most personal and selective
media. It reaches only the desired prospects. It has minimum waste in circulation. The
advertising copy can be very flexible. It has maximum possible personal features even without
personal contact.

It can provide detailed information about the product or service, creating lasting impression.
Its effectiveness is measurable. It can be timed at persuasion advertiser’s will. It has maximum
personal appeal. It can take any size, shape or form permitted by the post office. It is not in
direct competition with the rival’s matter. Extensive testing can be done on the product, price,
appeal or other factors before the entire mailing is sent out.
The results of direct mail advertising can be checked by means of an offer incorporated in the
mailing list. However, direct mail is costly. We may not have proper mailing list. Receiver may
consider it as junk mail as it may not have entertainment value. It is not a good means of mass
communication.
8. Advertising Specialties:
These include a wide variety of items, such as calendars, books, matches, pens, pencils, knives,
key rings, diaries, memo pads, cigarette lighters, blotters, paper weights, purses, rain-hats and
so on. They are given to advertising targets without cost or obligation. Advertiser’s name,
address, phone number, and a short sales message are imprinted on the item.
The advertiser can choose from among 5,000 specialties in the market. Advertising specialties
are reminder type of promotion. It is hoped that they will lead to customer’s orders and re-
orders. However, they have limited space available for sales message. They are also costly.
9. Point-of-Purchase Advertising:
It really represents sales promotion devices. It covers the display material used in advertising
programme. Such point-of-purchase material may include advertising on the package, window
banners, shelf-talkers, merchandise tags, package stutters, information folders and booklets and
such other displaying materials.
Advertising Media Selection – Important Strategies: With Approaches
An advertising campaign cannot contribute to success unless the target audience is exposed to
it. Each advertising medium has different characteristics and is seen or heard by different
segments of the population; no one is superior to the others. A particular medium is more
suitable for a specific purpose.
For some purposes, one medium may be superior, for other purposes, the same medium may be
unsatisfactory and unproductive. The selection of a medium requires a large number of
considerations, such as – media strategy, the use of the print media, television and radio media,
and other advertising media and approaches to media selection.
Important Strategies:
1. Media Strategy: An effective media strategy is based on sound and precise marketing
direction and marketing considerations. It is a well-known fact that media strategy is

marketing strategy and a media problem is a marketing problem. The media strategy is
developed within the framework of the marketing strategy.
The two strategies are compatible at the end of the process. Marketing objectives are attained
with the use of media strategy. The marketing strategy plays a definitive role to achieve
marketing objectives, while the media strategy spells out what role and how the media plan will
assist in the accomplishment of marketing strategies.
Media strategy is developed on the basis of the marketing strategy. The marketing component
strategies are unified and organised by marketing strategies. The media strategy is directly
concerned with the attainment of media objectives. The developing and determining of media
strategy involves a consideration of media objectives, the factors affecting media use, the form
of the strategy, the determination of media strategy, the use of computers and models in media
strategy.
i. Media Objectives: Developing media objectives is the initial step in developing a strategy.
The media objectives are the goals to be reached through a proper use of media resources. A
media strategy indicates how media characteristics or tools will attain those goals. Media
objectives are developed within the limits of the marketing objectives. This is the reason why
media objectives are formulated only after the marketing objectives have been determined by
management.
The basic media objective is to introduce a new product, build a high level of product
awareness, and promote a trial use of it among the primary target audience. The media sustain
the continuity of the impressions developed by innovators and opinion leaders. They stimulate
trial and repurchase. The media objective varies with the life cycle of the product.
In the initial stage of the product life cycle, the objective is to maximise the awareness of it by
consumers. At the maturity stage, continuity of purchase becomes the main objective. During
the declining stages of product use, the media remind the consumers that the products shall
retain their appealing attributes.
The media objectives are reach, frequency and continuity respectively for the early, maturity
and declining stages of the product life cycle. The advertising or media objective is analysed in
the light of constraints and components.
ii. Factors Affecting Media Use: In developing a media strategy, the factors affecting the use
of media should be considered.
The important factors are:
a. The product,
b. Market,
c. Channel,
d. Message,
e. Media, and

f. Budget.
iii. Form of Media Strategy: The media strategy has been formulated in the light of different
considerations-exposure, segmentation effect, media option, source effect and repetition.
iv. Determining Media Strategy: A media strategy is determined in the light of marketing
strategies, viz., new product strategies, market share strategies, brand image strategies,
corporate image strategies, sales promotion strategies, test marketing strategies, product cycle
strategies, competition strategies and advertising budget strategies.
The media strategy is a supportive strategy of all these strategies. Advertising is the dominant
function of the marketing function. Therefore, the media or advertising strategy may play a
significant role in the formulation of marketing strategies. The media strategy may be
determined, keeping in view these strategies.
Product life cycle, competition and budgets-these are the important determinants of a media
strategy. In the beginning of the marketing of new products, the pull strategy is used. In a
competitive situation, the push strategy may be more useful. The budget is the main constraint
of these strategies. The market and products positions are also considered when determining
the media strategy.
The media strategy includes:
a. Media mix,
b. Media scheduling, and
c. Media planning.
v. Use of Computers and Models: The use of computers and models in determining media
strategy is increasing as a result of the increased size and complexities of media schedules. The
computer has been used since the late fifties. Market segmentation, product positioning, media
complex, media agency etc., are easily decided by computers.
The media models are linear programming models, heuristic models, simulation models. The
prospective customers, along with the alternative media schedules, are placed in the computer
and each schedule is evaluated in terms of its reach to the potential customers.
Approaches to Media Selection: The purpose of media selection is to transmit the message of
advertising to the target audience effectively and economically. The selection of media
involves the selection of a particular source or vehicle of advertisement and its utilisation over
a period of time. The constraints in the media selection are the requirements of a suitable
message, the nature of the audience and the budget.
Therefore, the media planner should consider them seriously and purposively. The effectiveness
of an advertising message and medium depends on the class of medium, media vehicles and uses
of the media over a time. The number of vehicles, the quality of the vehicle and scheduling are
important considerations in media selection.

The exposure, audience composition, coverage, penetration, reach, frequency, continuity,
qualitative considerations and several other factors are borne in mind at the time of media
selection. The print media have several exposures at different times. On the other hand, the
broadcasting media have a short life, because people forget after listening to the ad message.
The term audience composition refers to the characteristics of the people in the target audience.
Some media have greater impact on the target audience while others have less impact on them.
Audience composition is used as the primary means of comparison between the media
alternatives.
The term audience coverage refers to the capacity of the media to reach a large audience within
a particular range. Coverage can be extended by adding new media to the schedule because
their delivery potentials are increased by such activities. The term reach is applied to the
overall media plan.
It is a measure of the total number of unduplicated homes, families and individuals reached by
an ad. During a particular period, the number of individuals watching or listening to an
advertisement for the first time is known as reach. Penetration is a measure of the share of the
target market.
Frequency refers to the number of different times the same person is exposed to the advertising
message during a particular period. Continuity is a function of the media schedule and is a
measure of the regularity of the advertising effort. The term qualitative aspect of media
selection refers to the receptive frame of mind of the audience to act upon the advertisement
message.
All these factors are considered for media selection, which covers:
i. The main approaches, and

ii. Media scheduling.
i. Main Approaches: The main approach to media selection is made in the light of:
a. The maximum exposure desired,

b. The cost per thousand audiences,
c. Computerised approaches,
d. Optimising approaches, and
e. Non-optimising approaches.
ii. Media Scheduling: Media scheduling involves the micro scheduling problem and the macro
scheduling problem. Micro scheduling is done when demand is even throughout the year. It can
be done by dividing the whole programme and budget by twelve to get one month’s schedule of
media and budget. But the sale of many products is subject to seasonal variations.
The advertisers have to consider the seasonal demand and the effects of the previous
advertising on the present demand. Competitive advertising and delayed effects of advertising

are also determined when scheduling the media. Advertising has a lagged effect on the
awareness of consumers, and on factory sales.
After coming to a decision about the macro scheduling of funds, the media planner then
considers how best to allocate expenditure within each monthly period. Micro scheduling
patterns are classified on the basis of concentration, continuity and intermittently-phased out
ads throughout the year.
The advertising objectives, type of product, nature of the market, distribution channels,
repetitiveness, etc., are used when coming to a decision on micro scheduling. It has been
observed that the greater the frequency or repetition, the greater will be the retention power in
respect of the advertised products.
SETTING ADVERTISING BUDGET
Some people think that money spent on advertising is expenditure. Some consider it a waste of
money. Some are of the opinion that we spend money on advertising because our competitors
spend a lot of money on it. They consider advertising as an evil. Here we do not intend to
discuss the benefits of advertising and its necessity for business growth and survival.
Nowadays, money spent on advertising is treated as a long term investment in the image of a
brand. Planned advertising expenditure is required to build a consumer franchise for the
advertised brand, apart from its being of direct return. That is why every business enterprise
spends a lot of money on advertising campaign every year out of its budget provisions.
Advertising budget is an estimation of total expenses that are to be incurred on advertising

during a given period of time. The advertising budget includes items of expenditure relating to
advertising programmes, cost of space, advertising material (including advertising copy)
production expenses, media expenses, agency commission and advertising research etc. In the
most elementary form, it states the proposed advertising expenditure and informs and suggests
the company management of the anticipated cost of executing the advertising plan. It is the
translation of advertising plan into money. The advertising budget must be realistic, flexible
and adequate for the advertising programmes. The advertising budget must consider the
advertising goals and the size must relate to advertising needs. It should be tailored to suit the
needs of the business enterprises. An advertising budget will show also how much, where and
for what purposes the amount provided in the budget is to be spent. The amount provided in
the advertising budget is not fixed arbitrarily but is determined on scientific lines keeping in
view the nature of the product, size of the market to be covered by the enterprise, types of
consumers and the strategy of the competitors etc. it is a plan for the company’s future
advertising programme. It provides a programme of the best assortment of types of advertising
to be undertaken along with its time table and frequency. In addition to planning function, the
advertising budget also serves as a control of advertising expenditure.

Process of Advertising Budget
Advertising budget is prepared by the advertising manager of the company. The advertising
budget process includes the following major steps:
1. Collection of Data and Preparation of Advertising Budget: The starting point of

any advertising budget process is the determination of the size of advertising
appropriation. The requisite information keeping in view with the products, packaging,
target markets, advertising copy, new product introductions, types of consumers, extent
of competition along with the competitors‟ strategy, media selection etc. is gathered.
Having decided upon the above variables, the advertising manager takes a decision on
the very important issue „how much to spend‟ for advertising. Once the total
expenditure is arrived at, the next step is the apportionment of this fund among various
advertising units over a period. By advertising unit, we mean a specific advertisement
delivered through various media vehicles. The fund allocation has to take into account
the market potential within various segments, the time period and the geographical
areas over which advertising will be spread in accordance with the overall advertising
strategy.
2. Presentation and Approval of the Budget: After the preparation of advertising
budget, the next step in a budget making process is to present the same before the top
management through the chief of the marketing division for necessary approval. In
some organizations, there is a separate budget committee, comprising of the
representatives of the financial and other functional areas. The budget committee or the
top management, as the case may be, will evaluate such proposed expenditure to achieve
the targeted sales in a given budgeted period. Since advertising budget is employed to
increase sales, the advertising budget must be compatible with the sales goals of the
company. Besides increasing sales, it should be adequate enough for the new product to
make a successful entry in the chosen segment of the market. After considering all these
factors if satisfied, the budget committee or the top management, as the case may be,
will finally accord his approval over the budget proposals and thus will return the same
to the advertising manager for execution.
3. Budget Execution: After the approval, the next step in budget making process is the
execution of the budget. During the execution of the budget, the advertising manager
has to exercise monitoring control so that the funds that have been allocated are spent
in accordance to the approval plan and in economical manner. Whenever there are
critical changes in the marketing situation, necessitating an adjustment in the
advertising support, the necessary modifications should be effected in the advertising
budget. That is why, advertising budgets should be flexible and provision is made for
the contingency account to face the critical changes in the marketing environment. The
advertising manager should be duly authorized by the budget committee or the top
management for making the required modifications etc. as and when required.
4. Control of Budget: The fourth and the last step in the budget making process is to
have a control over the budget. It is the prime duty of the advertising manager to see
whether the actual expenditure coincide with the budgeted expenditure or not. The

advertising manager should also see that the amount appropriated for advertising is
being used only on the item and activity as expressed in the budget.
Determining Advertising Appropriation
Advertising appropriation is that part of company’s budget which is to be spent or, say,
invested on media, men and other advertising material so as to impersonally communicate with
the target-prospective customers. Determining the appropriation advertising outlay is essential
for the development of creative media strategies because in a large measure the tempo and
tenor of the advertising campaigns depend on how much is available for spending. However,
from the managerial point of view, it is the most difficult work.
Cost factor is one of the deciding factors in determining the advertising appropriation. A cost
analysis study of different media of advertisement and their effectiveness should be considered
while determining the advertising appropriation.
METHODS OF FRAMING THE ADVERTISING BUDGET
Actually there are no scientific methods available which can be employed in determining the
amount of the advertising fund to be spent during a given period. However, there are several
approaches which may serve as guidelines to advertising appropriation decisions. These
approaches are called methods. These should not be employed blindly because there is no single
method which is applicable to all the situations and may provide correct results. The popular
methods which are commonly used in determining advertising appropriation or for framing the
advertising budget are as follows:
1. Affordable Method: In this method one has to find out what the company can afford in
a given business situation. Particularly, those companies which have limited resources
use this method. When funds availability is a constraint, a limited fund is allocated after
other unavoidable expenses have been duly met. Under this method it is usually
assumed that advertisers do not spend too heavily. Under this method, advertising
activity is blocked-up at last.
Merits and Demerits (Weaknesses): Since the company does not spend more than it can
afford and, therefore, there is an element of financial discipline in this method. Nevertheless,
this method suffers from the following weaknesses:
1. The budget decisions are left to the whim of the management and thus are not based on
rational business needs. Whims are most irrelevant and subjective rather than based on
an objective approach.
2. It overlooks the contributory rule of advertising in the achievement of marketing
objectives.
3. It also ignores the need, importance, nature of advertisement and other factors like
long-range planning of advertising investment.

On the whole, affordable method is not a scientific one and hence is used by small companies
only.
2. Percentage of Sales Method: Under this method, the amount to be appropriated to

advertising is arrived at by multiplying the value of past year’s sales or the projected
sales for the budget period with a pre-determined percentage. It may be explained as
under:
Advertising = Past year's sales or anticipated sales or both X Predetermined percentage

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Appropriation
The sales on which advertising appropriation is based may be historical – immediate past year’s
or an average of past years or anticipated or both. Percentage figures, on the other hand, may
be arrived at on the basis of management’s historical experience, judgment or industry practice.
Merits: This method is most popular with managements on account of the following reasons :
1. It is a very simple, workable and relatively safe method.

2. Since it directly relates advertising expenditure to sales, it seems to be very satisfactory
for many advertisers.
3. It encourages management to think in terms of the relationship between advertising
expenses, prices and profits.
4. By relating appropriation to sales, this method ensures that the advertiser will spend
only what he can afford. Advertising will earn its share out of sales.
5. It helps the industry in preventing advertising wars because advertising expenses are
proportional to market share/sales.
Demerits or Weaknesses: Inspite of being the most popular method of framing advertising
budget, this method is subject to criticism on account of the following weaknesses :
1. It considers advertising as the result of sales whereas the fact is that it is the cause of
sales.
2. It discourages experimentation with counter-cyclical advertising and aggressive selling.
3. It does not provide a logical basis for the choice of a multiplier, i.e., percentage.
4. It militates against the planning of long range advertising programmes.
5. It represents a static approach to advertising and does not allow it to repond to market
needs and advertising opportunities. For example, when sales decline for some reasons a
better course of action might be to maintain the level of promotional activity until the
sales decline can be corrected.
6. It is not a scientific method.

Inspite of the above weaknesses and criticism, percentage of sales method is very popular and is
widely used in Indian industries also.
3. Competitive Parity Method: This method envisages determination of advertising

appropriation in such a way that a company maintains parity with its competitors‟
advertising outlays. This method is based on the principle that you are at par with
competitors. Spend as much as the competitors do. Here, advertising is taken as a
defensive device and not an offensive tool to achieve marketing objectives. Advertisers
want to spend as much as their competitors are spending so that they are not placed at
any disadvantage. For this purpose, company has to collect relevant data about
competitors‟ advertising appropriation, for example, previous year‟s absolute figures,
advertising/sales ratios etc.
Merits:
1. This method is most appropriate where competition is rigorous as the management is
supposed to keep itself in line with its competitors. Under this method, the management
always keeps himself alert.
2. It reduces considerably the possibilities of advertising wars amongst competitors.
3. It enables the management to maintain or increase its share of the market in accordance
with the objectives of the company.
4. It enables the management to monitor the marketing programmes of its competitors.
Thereby the marketing strategy may be changed accordingly.
Demerits or Weaknesses:
1. It is not a rational method because the need, size, problem, opportunities and resources
of every company vary considerably from each other. These are hardly similar to each
other.
2. There is no empirical or other evidence to suggest that competitive parity in advertising
appropriations has prevented advertising wars.
3. The use of competition as a yardstick for appropriation makes it easy for a company to
ignore the needs of analyzing the realities of its own competitive situation and to
visualize the possibility of other and better available strategies.
4. Objective and Task Method: Objective and Task Method for framing the advertising
budget is considered to be the most desirable and realistic method. It is also known as
“research-objective method”. It envisages appropriation of advertising funds on the
basis of objectives to be achieved and the task involved therein. It means advertising
objectives are set for the coming budget period and the cost of achieving these
objectives are calculated in details in terms of task to be performed, the total of which
indicates the appropriation level. In short, this method includes :
a. Defining advertising objectives as far as possible in quantitative terms.
b. Outlining and listing tasks to be performed in achieving these objectives.

c. Estimating the cost of performing these tasks. This method takes into
consideration the fact that advertising is an investment and an effective vehicle
of achieving company’s objectives.
Merits:
1. This method is more realistic, imaginative, objective, and replaces the rule of thumb and
customary thinking.
2. It forces the management to think in terms of advertising objectives and awakens it to
the need for their achievement.
3. It is flexible and may be adapted to changing company needs.
4. This method has a special merit in the introduction of a new product.
5. It does not operate on the inaccuracies of the percentage of sales basis.
Demerits or Weaknesses:
• This method is difficult to use, for it calls for adequate research data and past
experience.
• This method is objective-oriented. However, its objectives are ill-defined, the whole
expenditure and the efforts will then go to waste.
• It is difficult to translate objectives into task that will lead to objective achievement.
• On the whole, this Objective and Task Method is more rational, realistic, pragmatic and
need based as compared to other methods.
5. Return on Investment Method: In this method money spent on advertisement is

considered as an investment and not an expenditure. It is an investment in the sense
that a certain return in terms of profit is expected under this method. The advertising
budget is prepared; under this method by taking into account the increased profits
generated by an increase in sales and goodwill on account of advertising. If sales and
profits are higher, the excess may be assumed to the result of advertising.
The major problem in this method, however, is that the return is very often spread over
a period of time, hence it may be difficult to arrive at an appropriate budget
appropriation on the basis of this method. Inspite of this problem, the return on
investment method is no doubt a realistic way of approaching the problem because it co-
relates the sales and profits generated by advertising.
6. Judgement Method: Judgement method of framing an advertising budget is based

upon the judgement of experienced managers of the company. This method is also
referred as the “arbitrary method” because it is based on the arbitrary thinking of some
experienced managers only, this not based on any scientific lines. This method involves
no clerical or statistical or field work. It is solely based upon the experience and
judgement of some old and experienced managers. They frame the advertising budget

considering all situations, i.e., objectives, anticipated behaviour of the customers and the
competitors, market to be covered, types and cost of media etc.
Although this method is very cheap and simple but is not reliable as it is based on the
subjective approach of its experienced managers and is subject to bias and error.
7. Fixed Sum Per Unit Method: This method is similar to the percentage of sales method
except that a specific amount per unit is appropriated rather than a percentage of the
value of sales. The advertising appropriation may be based on units of a product sold in
the previous period or on a forecast of unit sales in future period. This method is most
suitable in advertising appropriations for industrial and durable consumer products.
The most important advantage of this method is that despite price changes advertising
appropriation may be kept unaltered.
From the above study, it is evident that no single method is perfect and free from defects.
Hence a mix of the above methods may be used in accordance to the requirements and need of
the company for framing the budget keeping in view the marketing objectives of the company.
APPROACHES TO ADVERTISING BUDGET
Nothing except the mint can make money without advertising. Mass production and mass
distribution totally depend on advertising. That is why the advertiser spends lakhs of rupees
every year on advertising campaign just to influence consumers and prospective customers to
purchase the company’s products. Now the question arises whether the money spent on
advertising should be treated as an expenditure or investment. Opinions differ on this subject.
These may be classified under the following two heads:
Traditional Approach - Money Spent on Advertising is an Expenditure : The traditional

approach is that money spent on advertising should be treated as an expenditure and hence
should be debited to Profit and Loss Account of the business enterprise at the end of each year.
Advertisers treat the cost of advertising like other costs appearing on the debit side of the
Trading and Profit and Loss Account in order to earn more profits during a given period. That
is why most accountants list the advertising expenditure as a business expense and the
revenues authorities do accept this view for income purposes also. They further argue that
press, radio and television advertisements have short life span and thus why the money spent
on advertisement should not be debited to Profit and Loss Account in the same accounting
year. The fruits of the advertisement have already been derived in the form of increase in sales
during the concerning accounting year. In their opinion there is no rational reasoning in
carrying forward the advertising expenditure onwards for a number of years.
Modern Approach - Money Spent on Advertising is an Investment: The modern and the
correct approach about the money spent on advertising is that it is an investment because (i)
advertising contributes not only the current sales but the future sales also; (ii) Creates image of
the product or brand and of the advertiser; (iii) builds goodwill and confirms acceptance for
future products also; and (iv) consequently serves as an investment towards future profits also.

Joel Dean, a leading business economist, considered advertising as a capital investment rather
than a current expenditure. Like other capital assets, the advertising provides larger returns in
future also.
From the above discussions, we conclude that money spent on advertising should be treated as
an investment and not expenditure. It is a capital investment like investment in other capital
assets.
Creativity in Media Planning
Creativity in advertising is an art. It is concerned with the perception, attitude, values,

personality, and motivation including buying motives. It also include visualisation techniques,
types of advertising copy and its elements such as headline, slogan etc. All these elements must
be creative in attracting the attention of consumers.
CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
Consumer psychology deals with consumer behaviour. Consumer psychology is the process
whereby individuals decide whether, what, when, where, how and from whom to purchase
goods and services. In consumer behaviour we consider not only why, how, and what people
buy but other factors also, such as where, how and under what circumstances the purchases are
made. The decisions taken by consumers in relation to the purchases are influenced by various
factors. They are aimed at solving consumer’s problems.
Factors Influencing Consumer Psychology
According to Philip Kotler, the major factors which influence consumer psychology or
behaviour are as follows:
1. Culture: The most important determinant of consumer behaviour is the culture. In case
of animals, their behaviour is generally triggered by instinct, whereas in case of human
beings, behaviour is normally learned. When the child grows up, he is largely influenced
by all tose things which he sees around him. It includes his family and the society as a
whole in which he lives. His preferences and behaviour patterns etc. are all influenced
and result in his behaving in a particular way. Marketers try to spot cultural shifts so
that they can aim their marketing activities accordingly. For example, Indian culture
emphasises the purchasing and wearing of new dresses on festivals like Deepawali.
Naturally, there will be good demand of new dresses on the eve of Deepawali. These are
variables within the cultural aspect of consumer behaviour.
2. Subculture: Within a culture group, there is a smaller group, which has been termed as
subculture by Philip Kotler. He gives as illustrations, groups such as, Catholics and
Jews; racial groups such as blacks and whites having their different culture styles and
attitudes. Similar subculture segmentation can also be applied in India where we have
several types of linguistic, religious and communal groups (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh,

Christian etc.) as well as behaviour patterns which vary from north to south and east to
west.
3. Social Class: It refers to several homogeneous groups that exist in the society. For
instance, take the case of caste system in India. Different castes constitute different
social groups. People within such a social class tend to behave on similar lines as per the
caste pattern. They can be motivated by similar marketing appeals.
4. Personal Factors: According to Philip Kotler, personal factors also influence buying
decisions of the consumers. Personal outward characteristics, such as age, income,
occupation, life style and personality also count. Tastes in clothes, furniture, food,
recreation etc. vary according to age and income of the individual.
As modern marketing is customer-oriented, the study of consumer’s behaviour is vital in

framing production policies, price policies, decisions regarding channels of distribution and
above all decisions regarding sales promotion.
Consumer psychology aims at understanding the consumers’ behaviour, the factors responsible
for such behaviour and the factors that can influence decision of the advertisers. Each individual
customer has a different psychology. His character, nature, status, taste, aptitude and inner
forces are different. Consumer behaviour analysis is useful in estimating the potential size of a
market for a product in the market segmentation, in locating preferred trends in product
development, in finding out suitable communication methods with consumers and finally in
designing the most favourable media mix to achieve the advertising objectives. A clear
understanding of consumer behaviour is essential in advertising planning.
BUYING MOTIVES
Buying motives are the urges which compete consumers to buy. People buy the product
because they need them. Thus need motivates people to demand product. Hunger is a need
which motivates man to demand food and therefore, he purchases food items.
Buying motive is a combination of two words buying + motive. Buying means the urge for the
satisfaction of which a consumer makes such purchase. Motive is the force which inspires the
consumer to make a purchase and which directs his behaviour. Thus, a buying motive is the
force for the satisfaction of which a customer purchases some goods and services.
Classification of Buying Motives: Buying motives are generally classified as follows:
1. Primary Motives: They are the basic needs of men. An individual has to satisfy such
motives to some extent or the other. They exhort the strongest influence. They are
according to psychologists biogenic needs. Examples of such motives are food, drink,
security etc.
2. Secondary Motives: When a person overcomes the basic needs than secondary motives
come into existence. They are developed or learned. Since they are developed or learned,
they vary with the conditions of learning. They may be less dependable motives.

Although for some products they may influence as strongly as primary motives. The
most commonly known secondary buying motives are as follows:
3. Fear: This is a very powerful motive. It forces a person to do many things which
otherwise he would have not done. Fears may be of several types. Thus there are fears
of meeting with an accident, fears of financial loss, fears of loss of wealth, fears of
uncertainly of human life etc.
4. Profit: This motive springs from a person’s desire to have more money. A person
requires money to satisfy many wants. This motive may take two forms: (a) to make
money; and (b) to save money. The first form is positive whereas the second one is
negative. The persons of the first form will spend money in order to accumulate it
further but those of the first form will spend money in order to accumulate it further but
those of the second form may prove misers as they want to save only.
5. Vanity: This is also an important motive. It also influences Purchase of many articles.
Normally women suffer from vanity. They require being flattered. The sale price of
sarees, perfumes, beauty aids, etc. depend upon the principle of vanity.
6. Habit: It is said “habits once formed become second nature.” They are powerful forces
to initiate purchases. Therefore this motive is equally important. A person may chew
paan or supari, smoke cigarettes inhale snuff out of habits.
7. Curiosity: Man does many things out of curiosity. Man landed on the moon out of
sheer curiosity to find out whether life existed on it or not. A person may put efforts to
acquire knowledge out of curiosity. Curiosity of children cannot be disputed.
8. Gender: The most powerful motive is sex. It is powerful because it has greater impact
on human nature. All the changing fashions in dresses owe their origin to this motive.
Thus boys and girls dress will to win over each other. The sale of fashionable articles is
due to sex.
9. Love: A man purchases household goods, toys, tonic, children’s food etc., out of love
and affection towards his children. When we analyse love as a motive, it may be parent’s
love for children and their close kith and kin.
10. Comfort: It is said “man does not live by bread alone.” He wants additional things over
and above food, clothing and shelter. Modern age has provided great comforts to man.
Good furniture, air-conditioners etc., are purchased by man in order to lead a
comfortable life.
11. Patronage Motive: In addition to the motives described above, another set of motive
spring up which are known as patronage motives. Patronage motives exist out of
buyers‟ desire to purchase or patronise a particular seller rather than other sellers. A
person may patronise a particular store because of (i) Location of the store, (ii) Services
rendered by the store, (iii) Reputation of the store in the locality, (iv) Attitude of the
salesman, and (v) Goods available.
SELLING POINTS
Selling points refer to important features of a product that influence the decision of people to
buy it. They indicate the advantages accruing to those who decide to buy the product. The
unique methods of production, and design, varied colours, suitable, sizes, special merits,

attractive packing, liberal discounts, and competitive prices and so on constitute the selling
points of an article.
Selling points differed from product to product. Necessity goods are sold on points of utility,
durability and price, speciality goods are sold on the basis of unique utility, economy,
convenience, and comfort. Likewise, luxury goods are saleable on the score of the points which
underline fashion, prestige, variety and so on. If these selling points are revealed to the
prospects, they will motivate them to own the product.
Essentials of Selling Points: The essentials of selling points are as follows:
• It must be Truthful: A copywriter should try to create repeat business for his firm
through his copy. In order to achieve to achieve the same, he has to include true facts in
his copy. False claims and misleading statements will destroy repeat business.
• It should be Specific: It means, a claim made by a copywriter should be supported by
facts or explanations. Therefore expressions such as most delightful, most dependable,
most economical etc., will be meaningless if they are not properly amplified and
supported by explanations.
• It must be Believable: The facts and figures finished should be such as can be easily
believed by readers. Sometimes readers fail to accept facts and figures though it is
correct. Therefore the copywriter should cautiously proceed with while giving details of
the product.
• It must be Understood by the Reader: The copywriter should have before him the
prospects while writing the copy. Therefore the ideas should be easily communicated,
since a reader will not waste much of his time in reading it. In short, the language used
in the copy should depend upon the type of readers.
Buying motives are concerned with the urges which compel the prospect to buy. Selling points
are the talking points for the salesmen.
VISUALISATION
Visualisation is a mental process. Visualisation means seeing in the mind’s eye the form of the
idea as it would appear in the advertisement. It is communicated to the prospects by way of an
advertisement. Fundamentally, visualisation is the process of playing with different ideas. A
visualiser must possess fertile mind so as to develop worthwhile ideas. Later, these ideas are
transformed into effective advertising message.
Advertisement comprises of several component parts like headline, sub-headline, slogan, body-
text, illustration etc. Visualisation is the skill to determine which elements an advertisement
should contain and also how they should be featured. Through a gradual process, a visualiser
imagines how his advertisement will appear when it takes the final form. Visualisation is
generally undertaken by copywriters and art directors.

Visualisation is the process of seeing through one’s mind’s eye about the construction of it. It is
forming initially a mental picture of the idea that would appear in the Advertisement.
Visualisation is a process of creating ideas about overall construction and contents of the
advertisement i.e. the layout, the contents, the size of headlines, the colours etc. Visulation
takes place before the copy is thought of and before preparing illustrations. Visulation helps in
converting abstract ideas into concrete forms or shape of layout of an advertisement.
Visulation thus, deals with language - language of vision which is also a very powerful means of
communication of one‟s thoughts, emotions, feelings, ideas etc.
However, it differs from layout because it is an abstract form whereas layout is a concrete
physical arrangement of things in the advertisement. Visualisation precedes layout and layout
is the result of visualisation.
Process of Visualization:
The process of visualisation is a team work of copy writers, artists, producers etc. who work
together to develop ad copies not only for press media but even for Radio, TV. and other media.
Because of the importance of visualisation in introducing creativity in ad copies, the process of
visualisation has become a specialised profession of some people who offer expertised services in
visualisation.
The visualiser may follow the following steps to conceptualise an idea for advertisement:
1. Study the product / service to be advertised i.e. its features, merits, uses, etc.
2. Study advertising objectives: the objective may be to influence the consumer or it may
be to influence the dealers to stock the product or the objective may be to counter
competitive advertising.
3. Collect relevant information: about the product, competitors’ products, prospects and
other relevant information.
4. Conceptualise ideas by adopting various techniques such as brain storming,
juxtaposition and association, divergent thinking, etc., taking into account the relevant
information.
5. Analyse the ideas from various angles-as to how the prospect would view it and
interpret it, how far it will be effective, what impact it will make and so on.
6. Select two or three version or ideas which require further probing. The visualiser than
passes on the ideas to the copywriter and the artist.
Techniques of Visualisation
The well-know techniques of visualisation are as follows:
1. Identifying or Pinning Down the Problem: The matter to be advertised must be in

co-relation with the problem. Thus, the problem must be first clearly laid down so that
the advertising copy can be accordingly prepared.

2. Forming Pool of Observations Facts Collected and Information Gathered: Before
preparing an advertising copy and its construction, the several types of information has
to be collected. This collection should be properly arranged in sequence, so that the
entire amount of information can be used when needed.
3. Generating Brain Waves: This involves thinking on the part of the copy-writer. In
this process, the information collected is thought over and a tank of storage collection is
formed in the mind.
4. Brain Storming: It means group thinking and generating cross-currents of ideas,
thoughts and imagination. Group discussions are arranged in which exchange of
thoughts takes place and ideas of each other are know.
5. Mediation: Then follows the analysis and synthesis of the ideas. In this stage, the
search for tranquility and calmness of mind takes place, where a quiet churning of ideas
after waves and storms would lead to the obtaining of vision.
6. Rough Layout: A sketch of a rough work out is prepared of final vision which is the
preliminary stage of visualisation.
7. Giving Final Shape: Copy, art work, layout design and illustrations are the products of
final touches given to the vision that is the idea is given the final form. All these
techniques of visualisation are time-tested.
COPY
A Copy means a written matter in any advertisement. It may consist only one word or many
words. A copy consist of headlines, subheads, captions etc. The copy supports the illustration
and contains description of the products merits, demerits, uses, services etc.
A copy is the heart of an advertisement. It shoulders the responsibility for influencing the
buyers.
Characteristics of Copy:
1. Brevity: A copy should be brief because readers have no time to go through the lengthy
text and they must be able to, read within a short time. So a copy should use simple
language and small and easy words. The message should be concise and precise.
2. Clarity: A copy should be self-explanatory. The message to be delivered must be clear
at first reading.
3. Aptness: The message should be pointed towards the prospects. It must have a tone
agreeable to the respects. The viewers‟ attention should be led to the product and the
message should be coached in such a way that it would create interest inn the readers to
read the message.
4. Interesting: A copy should be interesting-provoking. It must stimulate the readers‟
curiosity to read the message. The reader should himself decide to read „0 the message
in detail.

5. Sincerity: Sincerity can be achieved by using acts and quoting figures. Vague
generalisations or stray opinions must be avoided. Sincerity can be achieved if the copy
contains one or two illustrations so that the message will have an instantaneous appeal.
6. Personal: The message should be directly addressed to the readers so that every reader
forms the opinion that it is directed to him only. This kind of direct personal attitude
catches and retains the reader’s or listener’s attention.
7. Convincing: A copy provides information with a view to create in the mind of a reader
first a desire and then a conviction to possess the product. This means that the copy
should be persuasive enough to lead the readers towards buying the product.
Types of Copy:
1. Scientific Copy: A Scientific copy is prepared for technical products describing about
the features, advantages, uses, contents and all the technical details about it. It is
prepared for machineries, computers etc. Scientific copy is directed, towards well versed
customers who know about the product. For instance, a medicine may be advertised to
appeal to doctors. Thus, it explains the ordinary people in general and professional men
in particular about the technicalities of the product.
2. Descriptive Copy: It is a non-technical copy presented in such a manner that any
layman can easily understand. It does not require a professional expert to an the copy. It
is just an ordinary, announcement of new items.
3. Narrative Copy: It is in the form of a fictitious story which narrates the uses
advantages, after effect etc., of the product. The story narrated is humurous to make it
interesting.
4. Topical Copy: This copy establish a connection between the product and a particular
happening e.g., A watch company may advertise that those who were successful in
climbing Mount Everest had with them the watches of the company thus proving their
excellent quality.
5. Personality Copy: This copy takes advantages of the opinion of an important
personality. The statements are made by leading personalities like sportsman, film
actors, politicians etc. Their statements act as certificates about the superior quality to
increase the sales.
6. Colloquial Copy: In this type, informal language may be used to convey the message.
The terms which are used in daily conversation are in the copy.
7. Reasoning Copy: It is one which reasons to the customer as to why he should buy a
product. This copy explains to the customer in detail all the particular product must be
purchased.
8. Questioning Copy: In this type, the text asks one or more questions to readers not for
any answer but only for the sake of response to it. For e.g. Do you want quiet holiday in
Summer? (Then stay at Hotel ABC at the XYZ hill station).
9. Prestige Copy: In this type, the position and prestige of the customer is emphasised. It
creates a favorable atmosphere by changing the position of the customer for the sale of
product. Normally luxury items are advertised by such copies.

Elements of Copy: A copy normally includes the following elements or parts:
1. Main Headline: Headlines is the starting or the top line of an advertisement, usually
printed in bold and of larger type size. The prime function of the headline is to gain
immediate attention.
2. Sub-Headlines: At times, some ads have more than one headline. Of these, one is
usually the main headline, and the others are sub-headlines. There may be overlines that
precede the main headline and there can underlines - that follow the main headline. The
subheadlines are used to support or to complete the meaning of the main headline.
3. Body Copy: It refers to the text of the advertising message. Favourable information
about the product and its features is provided in the copy text. It is through effective
copy writing the audience can be converted into prospects and the prospects into
customers.
4. Captions: Captions do form part of copy text. Captions are small sentences that seem to
come out the mouth of the people shown in the ads. Comic strip type of copy make use
of captions. For example, you must have come across such captions in the print ads of
Tortoise Mosquito Coil.
5. Slogans: Most ads do make use of slogan. It is a small catchy phrase used to sum up the
advertising message. Ideally the slogan should be short, preferably 3 to 6 words. Many
a times the slogan says it all. For instance, the best tobacco money can buy Rothmans.
6. Logo: Logos or signature cuts are special designs of the advertiser or its products
which are used to facilitate identification. There is no rule as to where a logo should be
placed. However, in most of the cases, the logo is placed at bottom right.
HEADLINE
A headline is a word or phrase printed in large letters above the advertising message. Headline
gives in brief a fair, idea of the contents of the copy. A good headline attracts attention and
arouses interest. So that the reader would be induced to read the advertisement.
Normally, the headline finds 10010 of the entire copy. Some advertising men believe that 50%
to 75% of the performance of an advertisement must be credited to the headline.
As people go through a newspaper or a magazine the headline is the only thing that attracts its
attention. Thus the headline carriages the heaviest burden of attracting readers to the
advertisement.
Role of Headline: A headline plays a significant role in advertise by performing the following
important functions:
a. to attract attention of readers to the ad;

b. to attract attention of the target consumers easily and quickly and to persuade them to
read the whole of the ad;
c. to create curiosity and interest in the ad;
d. to make the illustration and the copy more meaningful;

e. to introduce a unique selling proposition;
f. to sort out useful ads from useless ads;
g. to serve as the essence of the whole ad copy.
In the words of David Ogilvy, the advertising guru, “The headline is the most important
element in most advertising. It is the telegram, which decides for the reader whether to read
the copy”.
Essentials of a Good Headline:
a. Original: A good headline should be unique and should not be an immitation of any
other headline. Originality of headline creates a separate interest in the minds of
readers.
b. Concise: A good headline must be brief i.e. it should not have more than 8 to 10 words
and should form a maximum of two lines.
c. Specific: The headline should be relevant and appropriate to the copy and illustration. It
should convey the advertising message specifically and not vaguely.
d. Provocative: A good headline should be forceful enough to induce the readers to go
through the copy and the entire advertisement.
Classification of Headlines
Benefits Headline: Such headlines indicates the benefits of the product or the service advertised.
a. News Style Headline: It emphasizes on the quality, performances, services, advantages

of the product list these types, words like Now. Atleast etc. are added to the headline.
b. Advice Headline: It advices the customers to purchase a product or avail of a service
which will be beneficial to them. e.g. “How to bake better cakes”.
c. Challenging Type of Headline: This type of headline challenges the customer about
the quality service, price, performance etc. Such headlines emphasis on the superiority of
the advertisers’ product.
d. Selective Headline: A selective headline is directly appealed to a selected group of
customers. It may be specially directed towards children, students, housewives to be
used by those selected customers.
e. Situation Headline: It puts the customer in a situation and enquires whether the
prefers to be in such a situation. Such headlines support the illustration.
f. Label Headline: A label headline announces not only about the label of the product but
also the selling points. Such headlines are introducing type or warning type.
SLOGAN
A slogan is phrase or sentence used repeatedly by a company or an organisation or an

advertiser to aid in the formulation of his message. A slogan is repeatedly used to create certain
kind of effect on the minds of people. Slogan is an important part of advertising copy. Like
headlines and illustrations, slogans are communication devices which are used to present an

idea rapidly and concisely. It may be used throughout an advertising campaign or over a period
of many years. Some advertisers develop and use new slogans for each new advertising
campaign. A slogan suggests the thing and he advertises. It suggests the use of product again
and again or several times so that readers know it by heart. Generally, slogans are used for
headlines in advertisements. They are similar in structure to the summarizing headlines and try
to summarise some advertising idea just as a headline does. Slogans are mainly used in outdoor
advertising. In such outdoor advertising, a slogan becomes headline and the sales message.
Slogans are generally developed from incidents in the life of a product; such incident that
optimise the use or value of a product when the incident is happily expressed in a pleasing
phrase and is used in advertising. The right frame having appeal becomes a good slogan.
A slogan sentence used repeatedly by a company of any organisation to create an impression in

the minds of the customers.
A slogan should suggest the thing it advertises. Slogans be used fur headlines in
advertisements because of the limitation on the length of a copy in this medium. The slogan
then becomes headline and sales message all in one.
Good slogans are not invented monthly by the advertiser. But they develop from incidents in
the life of a product of clause of a product etc. Then a incident is happily expressed in a pleasing
phrase and used in advertising, it becomes a good slogan e.g.
a. “Any surface that needs ainting needs Asian Paints”.

b. “A filter so true that the taste comes through”. (Bristol Cigarette).
Characteristics of a Good Slogan: A good slogan should:
a. Contain a definite sales idea :

b. Be compact in their construction:
c. Be hardly more than 7 words long:
An ideal slogan is short, simple, easily remembered and filled with pleasing suggestion of the
product. The simplest slogans are the hardest to create. To create a good slogan is to define
what you want to say in as many words as necessary.
LOGO
The word logo comes from the Greek word logos meaning simply the world. The noun logo
also appears in the Bible signifying the word of God. Today the world logo is used in
marketing and in advertising parlance. From the coveted double R of Rolis Royce to the
immediately recognizable script that Coca-Cola uses, logos are quickly identified by everyone.
Apart from large corporations in every country even the small businessman and one-man
enterprises have adopted the corporate logo as a means for creating brand recognition and
corporate image.

Need for Logo: The need for a logo arises from the need to be different, followed closely by
the need to be recognised.
Your own given name could be a good example of a logo. In your childhood days, the name is a
device to attract your attention and to differentiate you from others. Over time as one grow up,
the name takes on newer meanings to yourself and finally becomes a matter of great pride when
you dash off a signature on a letter, cheques or some other document. It is your expression
(difference, distinction and recognition) saying “this is me”.
The company’s logo is the corporate signature. It reposes in itself the collective pride of the
company and is designed with great care to represent the personality of the company and
product. Diversified Corporation use a variety of symbols as part of their logos. ITC uses the
upwards steeply, which also conveys the sense of growth as well as excellence.
Welcome group uses unique folded hands symbols to denote hospitality in the inimitable Indian
style. Others too use Indian leitmotifs like LIC which uses two supped hands to denote security
is care. Logos today go beyond just being mere symbols. They represent the spirit, the belief of
companies and brands. Logos the world over have their own logic which is distinguishable,
easily recognised and identifiable.
ILLUSTRATION
An illustration is a picture, photograph or drawing that is used in the advertisement to convey

visually the idea or message of the advertisement. An illustration, therefore, means a picture
used in an advertisement to tell the prospects the message of an advertisement. The presence or
absence of a picture in an advertisement can cause marked difference in its effectiveness. With
the help of illustration over-emphasis in the subject matter can be avoided and display appeal
can be made clear and direct. The inadequacy of language is compensated for the use of an
illustration.
Essentials of a good illustration:
1. It must support and compliment the copy theme and not detract from it.
2. It must be “faithful reproduction” of the advertised product, if the illustration is that of
the product.
3. The use of colour combination in an illustration must be in harmony with fundamental
human nature, as it influences the emotional behaviour of individuals.
4. It must be simple enough to convey the ad message clearly, easily and quickly.
5. It must be suggestive in design and construction. Though simple, it must be attractive,
appealing and beautiful to look at.
6. It must create a lasting impression on the mind of the reader.
7. It must match with the lifestyle of the target consumer.
8. It must occupy the proper place in the total layout of an ad.
9. It must be capable of reproduction in the various advertising media.
10. It must match with the headline of an ad and convey the same message to the reader.

11. It must be original, unusual, and unique in design and presentation in an ad.
12. Multiple illustrations must be used with a purpose in an orderly manner.
13. Finally, illustrations must occupy and enjoy a dominant place in outdoor ads like
posters, or, billboards.
Functions of Illustration:
1. Quick Attention: Without illustration an advertisement may look dull and unattractive.
Illustration helps consumers to quickly understand the message and motivates them to
buy the product. Therefore, illustration must capture the attention of the readers.
2. Demonstrate the Product: Illustration shows the product and its features at a glance.
Illustration indicates use of the product and how it works. Demonstration is usually
visual and it passes on the message immediately.
3. Creates Right Atmosphere: Illustration creates the right atmosphere by using rainfall,
river and forest with the picture of the product. Such illustration has soothing effect on
the consumers.
4. Communicate Message: Illustration can carry the advertising message quickly e.g., a
bottle of perfume conveys quickly the idea that the perfume is being advertised.
5. Support to Copy: Illustration is an important part of copy. Pictures carry message
instantly and support the message given in the copy.
6. Symbolize the Quality: The visuals used in the advertisement indicates power, speed,
value, strength, etc. e.g. MRF Tyres -Myscled Man, symbolizes strength and quickly of
tyres.
7. Dramatise the Advertisement: Illustration dramatizes - story of the product. Illustration
supports the headline of the advertisement by pointing out the details of the product.
8. Provides Technical Details: Many consumers buying consumer durable products are
interested to know the technical details of the product. Advertisements of computers,
washing machines, refrigerators and cell phones gives many technical details of the
product through picture of the product.
9. Lasting Impact: Illustration can make lasting impact on the mind of the consumers.
Seeing is more convincing than being told. Pictures represent reality.
10. Fights Illiteracy: In a country like our where a large number of people are illiterate,
picture of a soap immediately communicates to all what the advertisement is about.
Types of Illustrations: There are various methods by which an illustration can be prepared.
They are:
1. Product Alone: In this type, major portion of illustration is covered by the product for
e.g. advertisement that shows Colgate tooth paste. The purpose is to give more
importance to the product and to create image in the minds of prospects.
2. Product in a Setting: In this type, the product is presented along with a background
which is favourable to it i.e. it is presented in an atmosphere wherein it is used.
3. Product in Use or Action: In this type, model may not be shown using the product or
the product may be shown in movement for e.g. A Cigarette company does not show

merely a cigarette or packet but it shows a person smoking a cigarette of a particular
brand.
4. Result of a Products Use: In this type, the after effect of the product may be shown. The
attention is to emphasis advantages or benefits more dearly. For e.g. an advertisement
of a cupboard of a cupboard will show the space available, various as shelves etc.
5. Dramatisation of a Headline: In this type, the illustration supports the head line i.e.
whatever is given in the headlines is shown in action in the illustrations are combined,
the effect is that the interest and attention of the reader is attracted.
6. Dramatisation of a Situation: In this type, the illustration presents a situation in which a
customer will be if he uses the product or if he does not use a product.
7. Comparison: In this type, the illustration compares two superior products of the same or
different type. The basic idea is to relate the product to a concept which is established
and familiar to consumer.
8. Contrast: While shows the similarity between two ideas, contrast emphasis the
difference between two products of the same type e.g. A modem appliance may be
contrasted with an old fashioned model.
9. Magnifying Details: In this type, the important features or minute features are
explained in details. It is used to embassies specific advantages.
10. Symbolic Illustrations: This illustration shows a reorganised symbol along with an idea,
and the advertiser using a symbol may hope to identify this product with what the
symbol stands for in the mind of the reader.
LAYOUT
A layout is a sketched plan of a proposed advertisement. It includes the headline, rough

illustration and copy which serve as plan for the advertisement. Layout is a working sketched
plan showing the size, positions and color weight values of the different elements that make up
the complete advertisement. Layout thus refers to the total exposure of an advertisement.
Layout is important in an advertising plan. It enables the advertiser to visualize how the
complete advertisement will look when published. It also gives the printer the location of each
unit in the advertisement. Layout is usually prepared to seek approval of the client and to see
approval of the client and to see the overall impact.
Features of a Good Layout: Following are the main features of good layout:
1. Balance: Balance in layout means achieving a proper distribution of weight through the
arrangement of the elements. Balance should be maintained in size, colour shape and
density of elements. There are two kinds of balance; formal and informal.
2. Formal balancing means placing of identical or similar items on both the sides of optical
centre. Informal balancing means spreading of elements at different places in the
advertisement or have large illustration which cover a major portion from the optical
centre.

3. Movement: There should be mobility in the advertisement. It provides a visual type of
flow and sequence. It is more used in case of items which are mobile in nature e.g. an
advertisement of an automobile should have illustration which shows mobility in it.
4. Movement guides the render’s eye from one element to another and makes sure that he
does not miss anything. Movement should start from the left hand top corner of the
advertisement to the right hand bottom corner.
5. Gaze Motion: It is the direction of movements of the reader‟s eye. The element of
advertisement should be placed in such a manner that there is an easy flow in the
movement of eyes of the reader. An illustration showing a person walking in a
particular direction on will cause the render to look in that direction.
6. Structural Motion: A good layout should. Utilize lines, arrows, signs which will
indicate or point out to the important elements of the advertisement.
7. Proportion: It involves appropriate division of the space between the various elements
like the headline, illustration, subheads, copy etc. In a headline oriented advertisement,
headline should be given major space and in an illustration oriented advertisement,
illustration will dominate the space.
8. Whide Space: Whide space is the area not occupied by copy. Effective use of whide
space helps to establish a sense of proportion. Whide space helps in reducing a crowdy
appearance and brings prestige and luxury in an advertisement.
9. Unity: There should be unity between the elements i.e. there should be proper
correlation between the headline and copy or illustration and copy. Unity is also
achieved when the elements appears as component part or a single unit.
10. Clarity: It implies that the various elements should be arranged in such a manner that
the message is understood clearly. The layout should not be too complicated and tricky
but must be easy to read and understand. The type, size, design should be selected for
easy reading.
11. Simplicity: It implies that too many elements in an advertisement should be avoided.
Those elements. Which can be dropped without destroying the message should be
dropped. The simpler the Layout, the clearer the message.
12. Emphasis: It implies that the important elements should be given much emphasis.
Emphasis must be brought about by placing the most important feature at or near the
optical centre. There should be emphasis on the various selling points and the purpose
of advertising depending upon the requirements. Layout should emphasis on education,
information and persuasion.
Types of Layout:
1. Standard Layout: It consists of a dominant illustration, headline, body copy and

signature, generally in that order. It is highly popular in the field of advertising.
2. Editorial Layout: The advertisement resembles editorial matter or press reports in a
publication. Main emphasis is on body copy. Words dominate the advertisement and
illustration may be missing or given less importance.
3. Poster Layout: Total stress is on the visual. Copy is very short and illustration
provides details e.g., advertisements of soft drinks and chocolates.

4. Cartoon Layout: Cartoon type illustrations and matching copy is used to attract
attention e.g., advertisement of Amul butter and Tortoise coil.
5. Comic-Strip Layout: The layout follows the pattern of the comic strip by telling a
story with the use of sequence of drawings.
6. Picture Caption Layout: Pictures and captions are used to explain different aspects of
the product or services e.g., advertisement of automobile or mixer grander. It is suitable
to advertise costly consumer durable products.
7. Picture-Cluster Layout: The layout performs the same function as in the case of
picture-caption layout. Captions are not used. Cluster of several vertical and horizontal
rectangles are used.
Process of Layout: The final layout is the outcome of several stages. The various stages are as
follows:
1. Thought Sketch or Thumbnail Sketch: The first stage is the thought sketch or
thumbnail sketch. Many-a-times, artist begins with small, rough sketches of possible
layouts. These sketches provide a quick and convenient way to get different design
ideas. At first the headline and illustration are roughly prepared. The location of logo
and body copy is indicated. The artist may prepare several thumbnail sketches before
arriving at one that holds promise for further development.
2. Roughs Layout: The second stage is the rough layout, which is a refinement of the
thought sketch. Some artists prefer the start with a rough layout, bypassing the
thumbnail sketch stage. One or more rough layouts may be prepared. In this case
headlines, slogan and illustrations are roughly drawn.
3. Finished Layout: When a final rough layout is selected, then it is transformed into a
finished layout. This layout is much more detailed and carefully drawn than the rough
layout. The illustration is more or less finalised. Headlines are carefully executed, and
body copy is neatly ruled in the lines and blocks of copy of varying lengths to indicate
intention and paragraphs. This layout is normally shown to the client for approval.
4. Comprehensive Layout: Sometimes, the artist may prepare a comprehensive layout. It
is more complete in respect of art work, headline and slogan. Sometimes such layout
looks more beautiful than the final ad. If it is photograph, the artist will paste the
photograph on the layout. Comprehensive layouts may be prepared to give the client a
clear idea about the final ad.
5. Working or Mechanical Layout: Really speaking these are not actually layouts. These
are blueprints for production. The working layouts indicate the exact placement of all
the elements in the ad specifies typeface and size and includes relevant instruction for
the typographer and engraver. The final ad is prepared from the working layout.

Unit -3
Advertising Agencies
MEANING AND DEFINITION
The advertising agency carry out the activity on behalf of their client against remuneration
called fees. They conduct market research, consumer research, product research etc. They
advice the manufacturer on product design or package design, pricing of product channels of
distribution. Besides, they advice on the market condition from time to time.
Advertising agency conduct the production activities of visualization, layout, illustration,

headlines, copy etc. They also help in the selection of proper media and the frequency at which
the advertisement should be presented.
Thus, the advertising agency relieves the burden of the trader or manufacturer of the
responsibility of advertising, production and distribution.
Definition:
The American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) defines an advertising agency as :

“An independent business organization, composed of creative and business people, who develop,
repair and place advertisements in advertising media for sellers seeking to find customers for
their goods and services”.
SERVICE RENDERED BY AN AD AGENCY
The main function of advertising agency is to see that its client’s advertising leads to greater
profits in the long run. The agency thus plans, prepares and places with advertising with the
objective. The main function of a full-service advertising agency are as follows:
Selection of Clients: The first and the foremost function of an advertising agency is to contact
and select clients who are desirous of advertising their products, services or anything which
they want to sell. The preference in contacting and choosing the clients is given to those firms
which have sound values, able management, efficient operative products and services. The
financial position, size and nature of business, efficient management and operative products etc.
must be given due weight.
Media Selection: Media selection is another major function of the advertising agency. In
making a media selection several factors such as cost, circulation, population which it serves,
audiences, nature of the product, types of customers and above all needs of the clients should be
kept in mind.
Advertising Planning: The third as well as the major function of advertising agency is the
advertising planning for its clients. For this purpose, the advertising agency requires a detailed

knowledge of the firm‟s products, its advertising history, market conditions, channel of
distribution, knowledge of competitors‟ products and their advertising techniques, field to be
covered, nature and type of consumers etc. Next planning job is to decide about the advertising
medium in which the advertisement is to appear. The advertising message must be adapted to
the medium in which it is to appear.
Creative Function: The creative function starts when the planning function ends. It includes
the preparation of an advertising copy, layout, illustration, photographs, advertising messages,
theme of advertisement etc. These functions are performed by a varied group of creative people
including writers, designers, artists, producers, photographers and graphic art specialists
employed by the advertising agency.
Research Function: It is the fifth major function of an advertising agency. It supports the
decisions taken in the media and creative areas. In this connection the advertising agency
gathers and analyse actual information about the product, extent of market, competitors‟
strategies and buyers‟ habits etc. that may help the creative personnel to make the advertising
copy more attractive and effective.
Approval of the Client: As soon as the advertising copy etc. are prepared, the next function of
the advertising agency is to show the copy to his client and obtain his approval. In case if any
changes are suggested by the client, the same may be incorporated and thus the final approval
should be taken from the client.
Marketing Function: The advertising agency also performs marketing functions such as
selecting target consumers, designing products and packages, developing channels of
distribution strategy, determining prices and rate of discount etc. It gives useful advice to its
clients with regard to the nature and trend of the market conditions. Accordingly, the client
produces goods keeping in his mind the prevailing conditions in the market.
Evaluation Function: Simply drafting advertising copy and handing over the same to the
media is not enough. The next major function of the advertising agency is to have an
exhaustive evaluation of the advertising effects for the benefit of his client. In case of any
deficiency, necessary suggestions should be given and the same be made effective after approval
of the client.
Coordination Function: The last but not the least important function of the advertising
agency is to establish effective coordination with client’s sales force and distribution network to
ensure the long running success of the advertising campaign. Each time the advertising agency
contacts the client regarding advertising media to be used and the number of times the
advertisement is to be repeated after giving effect to changes, if any, as suggested by the
advertiser.
AGENCY SELECTION CRITERION
Following are some points to be taken in account while selecting the advertising agency:

1. Suitability: The advertising agency which suits the requirement of manufacturer or
trader is selected depending upon the type of advertisement, location of agency, credit
policies, etc. Normally, an agency which is located near the advertisers place is selected.
This helps in approaching the agency. Secondly, the size of agency in terms of
personnel, projects, and services provided is considered. Thirdly, the connections and
relations with the various media. Fourthly, the policies like conservative policy,
outgoing policies etc. are taken into account. Finally, the advertising also considers
whether the agency has competitors account or not.
2. Facilities and Services Provided: Some agencies have modern facilities of
photography, type setting, printing, filming etc. The agencies which provide maximum
services with minimum costing preferred.
3. Imagination: Imaginations and creative skills of the personnel of agency is duly
considered. Creativity in photography, layout, copy writing, media etc. creates an
identity and unique for the products and services of the advertiser.
4. Past Record: Past records of the agency in terms of number of clients, effectiveness,
credit reputation etc. helps in selecting the agency. The advertiser enquires about the
agency’s timeliners, punctuality, past record helps to show whether the agency is
reliable or not.
5. Reputation: The reputation of the advertising agency helps in selection. The popularity
of the agency depends upon timeliners, successful presentation, good relations, prompt
services etc.
6. Management: Proper selection of advertising agency depends on the ownership and
management and their policies. Their policies may be either conservative or dynamic
which influence the selection.
7. Rates Charged: The advertiser considers the rates charged by the agency. Normally,
the rates depend on reputation, facilities provided techniques adopted etc. Therefore, an
advertiser will select such agency which will provide facility according to his
requirement and which suits its budget.
8. Size of the Agency: The size of the advertising agency must be considered. The larger
the size, the more it is preferred, however, at times, small is beautiful because a small
agency may give more attention to its client’s work.
AGENCY ACCREDITATION
The principle of accreditation by the Indian Newspaper Society, Doordarshan and All India
Radio, ensures professional status to ad. Agencies. Accredited agencies enjoy credit from the
media owners. They pass this benefit to their clients who also enjoy credit facilities. Moreover
such agencies have to follow the code of ethics laid down by the media owners. This ensures
that the client gets a minimum standard of the Ad Campaign.
The granting of accreditation to an agency means that the agency has fulfilled the following
criteria:

1. The agency has fulfilled the minimum business limits with Doordarshan / AIR and the
Indian Newspapers Society.
2. The agency has proved its creditworthiness during the period of its provisional
accreditation status.
3. The agency has adhered to the rules of accreditation as specified by the media.
AGENCY CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
Agency client relationship must be that of mutual trust and confidence. The perfect relationship
results in optimum advertising effectiveness at a reasonable cost and reasonable compensation
for the agency. It is characterized by continuous and complete two way communication
between individuals in the two organizations in an atmosphere of mutual trust.
Interdependency of the advertiser and the agency helps in creating effective advertising as part
of the company’s marketing effort.
What the clients have to do?:
1. Treat the agency with courtesy at all times.

2. Provide all possible information about the product that is to be advertised and about the
organization. This facilitates the agency to do their job much better.
3. Not unnecessarily bargain for the fees charged by the agency.
4. Motivate the agency to do a good work. Agency charges such as media bills, fees and
other costs must be paid well in time. In no way the client should wait for the agency to
remind of payment.
5. Not change the agency for the sake of change.
6. Approve the proposals submitted by the agency. The client should not argue for the
sake of arguing.
7. Give sufficient time to the agency to develop a good advertising campaign. The client
should not put the agency unnecessarily in deadline crisis.
8. Reduce disputes to a minimum.
9. Finalise well in advance the charges for a particular plan or campaign.
10. Up-date the agency with any information from his side that would help the agency to
serve the client better.
Yet, whenever something goes wrong, the brunt of criticism comes on the agency and many
times the relationship terminates. Many a times, there is a change just for the sake of change.
Advertisers prefer an agency that is currently popular in the market, such as the Lintas and the
Everest in India. Sometimes the agency itself voluntarily resigns from an account on some
ground or the other. There may be different puritans, opinions, thoughts, etc., or the agency
may be wanting to accept another competitive account. Usually an agency keeps on abandoning
consistently losing accounts, i.e. those advertisers who make losses over the years. It may also

resign when a client becomes over-bearing. May creative people in the field of advertising do
not like to be simply dictated by their clients about their own professional work. If things go
too far, such clients may be abandoned. However, client turnover is not a healthy practice as it
puts both the parties to a loss. But under the unavoidable circumstances, there may be no other
alternative but to turnover too another client.
ORGANISATION STRUCTURE OF AN ADVERTISING AGENCY
Meaning: The organization structure differs from agency to agency depending upon functions
performed and size of the business.
Because of the highly personalized nature of the advertising agency business, it is difficult to
say which type of organizational structure would be suitable for it. Many agencies are
organized according to the personal preferences of the management. Most large and medium
sized agencies followed one of the two systems, the group system and the departmental system
and some combine them.
1. Group System: Under this system the writers, artist, media planners, buyers and other
specialists are assigned to a group of accounts. All are under the general direction of an
account executive or group head.
2. Departmental System: Under the departmental system, same type of specialists are
grouped in the same department. For instance, all writers in the copy department, all
artists in the art department and so on.
Organisation and Working of an Advertising Agency:
Since advertising agency is an independent business organisation, it may be in the form of a

sole proprietorship, partnership or Joint Stock Company form of organisation. However, an
advertising agency of reasonable size may naturally adopt the Joint Stock Company form of
organisation. In such a case, it may have a Board of Directors under the Managing Director.
Under the Board of Directors we may have General Manager and the General Manager may
have a number of Departmental Managers under his control. The number of Departmental
Managers will vary from one advertising agency to another advertising agency as per the
nature and size of business. The organisational structure of a large sized or reasonably sized
advertising agency is as follows:
Advertising Agency Limited
Board of Directors
General Manager
Contact Media Copy Radio & TV Production Merchandising
Department Department Department Department Department
Art Mechanical Research Finance PR
Department Department Department Department Department

Departments of an Advertising Agency
The organisation of an advertising agency may be divided in various departments entrusted

with a specialised function to be performed under each departmental manager who is
specialised in the task allotted to him. The main departments of a large sized or reasonably
sized advertising agency are as follows:
1. Contact Department: Contact department works under a senior executive officer

known as the departmental manager. The main function of this department is to contact
the new clients on the one hand and maintain the existing clients on the other hand. A
number of contact men works under him. They function as the liaison people between
the agency and the client. The contact men represent the agency when in the
advertiser’s office; they study the advertiser’s need and inform the various departments
what is required by the respective clients.
2. Art Department: This department is headed by the art manager who is assisted by
artists, layout men and visualisers. A visualiser is a person who prepares the rough
layout of the advertisement which is later developed into a comprehensive layout. The
art department is responsible for the physical appearance of the advertisement for
preparing layouts, illustrations, photos and for specifying the types to be used.
3. Media Department: This is a very important department which works under the
supervision and control of a media manager. This department is entrusted with the
work of selection of media for the advertiser according to the needs, directions and
budget of the client. He remains in constant touch with different medias.
4. Mechanical Production Department: It is also a very important department which
works under the control of a technical manager. The main function of this department is
to look after block-making, printing, proof-reading and such other technical jobs.
5. Copy Department: This department is headed by a copy manager and is duly assisted
by a number of copy-writers. This department is concerned with the preparation of a
copy for all advertisements. Copy-writing requires flair and fluency of language,
imagination and a method of representation. The department works closely with the art,
research and accounts departments. It is also an important department.
6. Research Department: In case of large sized advertising agencies a separate research
department is established under the supervision and control of a research manager. The
research manager is assisted by a number of analysts, investigators, marketing
assistants, statistical clerks and librarians etc. The main function of this department is
to study markets, medias and other subjects of interest to the advertising agency. It
helps better advertising for clients.
7. Radio and T.V. Production Department: In case the advertising agency provides
advertisements on the radio and television, it would have a separate department for this
purpose. This department works under the supervision and control of a manager who is
duly assisted by a number of assistants, musical consultants, script-writers etc.
8. Finance Department: The main function of finance department is to arrange and
control finance. Thus this department is responsible for maintaining proper accounts,
billing and collection of dues from the clients, verifying whether the advertisement in

the different media actually appeared on the days it was scheduled, if so whether
correctly, and whether the text was properly printed and also looking after all the
routine matters relating to accounting, recording etc.
9. Merchandising Department: In case of large sized advertising agency, a separate
merchandising department is established under the supervision and control of a
merchandising manager which is specialist in displays, exhibits and preparation of
various advertising aids.
10. Public Relation Department: In case of a large sized advertising agency, a separate
public relation department is established under the supervision and control of a public
relation officer - manager. The main function of this department is to establish and
maintain contact and mutual understanding between the organisation and the public. It
performs a liaison work between the clients and the various sections of the public -
customers, employees and shareholders etc.
METHODS OF REMUNERATING/ COMPENSATING AN ADVERTISING AGENCY
The method of remunerating the advertising agency has been a subject of much discussion
now-a-days at almost all the meetings of advertising agency associations and advertisement
clubs. There are basically the following three methods of remunerating an advertising-agency
in practice in our country:
1. Commission Method: This is the oldest, and most common method of remunerating an
advertising agency. Under this method the advertising agency has a fixed commission
by the media owners on the advertising bill for the advertising space bought by the
respective advertising agency. The fixed rate of commission is 15% in India as well as in
U.S.A. Though the rate of commission varies from media to media and from country to
country but the rate of 15% is almost universal. For example, an advertising agency
places a full age advertisement in a magazine at an agreed charge of Rs. 50,000. The
magazine will bill the agency for Rs. 50,000 less 15% i.e., Rs. 42,500 net. The
advertising agency will bill the advertiser for Rs. 50,000 (cost of advertisement charged
by the media). Thus the difference of Rs. 7,500 will be treated as the remuneration of the
advertising agency. Generally, a cash discount @ Rs. 2% is also offered by the media for
prompt payment within a stated period. This cash discount is usually passed on to the
advertiser on similar terms by the advertising agency. The general criticism of this
method is that the advertising agency is always tempted to recommend expensive media
in order to draw a higher remuneration.
2. Fee System: The fee system came into effect following a controversy between the
advertiser and the advertising agency. The former argued that 15% commission was too
high a rate, whereas the agency took the stand that it was unremunerative in view of
many services rendered to the client by the advertising agency. Under fee system, the
agency payment consists only the service charges which are to be computed on the basis
of cost plus system. Under the system a certain fixed percentage (flat rate) on cost may
be charged from the client as fee to be paid to the agency along with the bill. This
system enables the advertising agency to make fair profits on services rendered by it

and, in turn, the advertiser pays for what he gets - nothing more and nothing less. The
fee system is generally used in radio and television-advertising.
3. Service Charges: Under this method, service charges are added to the cost of materials
and services bought by the advertising agency for the client in art work, photography,
typography, plates etc. Normally, it is cost plus 15%. In actual practice one of the above
methods of compensation or a combination of the fee-and-media-commission plan or a
method by which commission granted by the media are credited against profession fee,
is used. When new product advertising is involved, the advertising agencies are
remunerated on a special fee basis.
According to David Ogilvy, the fee approach to agency compensation has five edges over
the commission system:
1. The agency can be more objective in its recommendations as so many clients believe.
2. The agency has adequate incentive to provide non-commissionable services if needed.
3. The agency’s income is stabilized. Unforeseen cuts in advertising expenditure do not
result in red figures or temporary personnel layoffs.
4. The fee enables the agency to make a fair profit on services rendered. The advertiser, in
turn, pays for what he gets—no more, no less.
5. Every fee account pays its own way. Unprofitable accounts do not ride on the coattails
of profitable accounts.
Some modified compensation methods: The agency’s compensation level depends upon how
well they meet the predetermined performance goals for its clients such as sales or market
share. Agency agencies may be compensated in a variety of ways including:

1. Commissions from Media: The agency is compensated based on the time or space it
purchases for its client. The commission has traditionally been 15% (16 2/3% for
outdoor) but now is often negotiated downward. Many advertisers have moved to a
negotiated commission system that takes the form of reduced percentage rates, variable
commission rates and minimum and maximum compensation rates.
2. Fixed-Fee method: The agency charges a basic monthly fee for all of its services and
credits to the client any media commissions earned. Under a fee-commission
combination, the media commissions received by the agency are credited against the fee.
If commissions are less than the agreed-on fee, the client must make up the difference.
3. Cost-Plus Agreement: Under this compensation method, the client agrees to pay the
agency a fee based on the costs of its work plus some agreed-on profit margin. This
system requires the agency to keep detailed records of costs incurred in working on a
client’s account.
4. Incentive-Based Compensation: This type of Advertising Agency Compensation
Methods is becoming more prevalent as marketers strive to make their agencies more
accountable and reduce costs.
5. Value-Based Compensation: Agencies are guaranteed only recouped costs, with any
profit coming only in certain agreed-upon targets are met.
6. Percentage Charges: When agencies purchase services from other outside agencies
they typically add a percentage in the form of a markup charge as their compensation.
These markups usually range from 18 to 20 percent.
ADVERTISING RESEARCH
Advertising research is the systematic, scientific and continuous process of studying consumers
within the context of market situations, product attributes and competitors' strategies. A well-
conducted research programme provides inputs that are the foundation of an advertising
campaign.
Definition: Advertising research is defined as the systematic gathering recording and

analysing of data relating to the effectiveness of advertising.
Need for Advertising Research:
1. Target Audience: It can be identified through ad research and accordingly the message
can be directed to the right audience.

2. Media Mix: It enables to determine the proper media mix that can be employed to run
the ad campaign. Proper media is selected to reach more effectively to particular groups
of potential customers.
3. Unique Selling Proposition (USP): Advertising research helps to discover USP that
can be effectively presented in the ad.
4. Costly Errors can be Minimised: Advertising research can prevent the advertiser from
making costly mistakes. It can be over-budgeting, selecting wrong media, directing the
ad message to wrong audience etc.
5. Budget Amount: Advertising research also enables to determine the proper amount
that can be effectively spent on advertising. Proper budget amount can be allocated and
utilised using the ad at the right time and at the right frequency.
6. Layout, Copy and Illustration: It can help to develop effective layout, copy and
illustrations that would be most effective in gaining consumer attention and in inducing
effective readership of ad.
7. Appeals in Advertising: Through proper conduct of consumer research, one can
understand their likes and dislikes, tastes and preferences. The study can be made of
their buying motives. Accordingly appropriate appeals can be developed to stimulate
demand among the various groups of prospects.
8. Competitive Advertising: Proper advertising research can help to develop not only
creative ads but also competitive ads. To face the challenges posed by competitors
claimed in their advertisement and other marketing efforts.
Importance of Research in Advertising: Following points justify the need and importance of
advertising research:
1. Target Audience: Target market/audience can be identified through ad research and

accordingly the message can be directed to the right target audience.
2. Media-Mix: It enables to determine the proper media/media-mix that can be employed
to run the ad campaign. Proper media is selected to reach more effectively to particular
groups of potential customers.
3. Unique-Selling Proportion (USP): Research may reveal a unique buyer benefit that no
one had thought of before. Advertising research helps to discover USP that can be
effectively presented in the ad.
4. Costly Errors Can be Minimized: Advertising research can prevent the advertiser
from making cost mistakes. Mistakes can often be committed in over budgeting,
selecting wrong media. Directing the ad message to wrong audience etc.
5. Budget Amount: Advertising research also enables to determine the proper amount
that can be effectively spent on advertising. Proper budget amount can be allocated and
utilized by using the ads at the right time and at the right frequency.
6. Layout, Copy and Illustrations: It can help to develop effective layout, copy
illustration that would be most effective in gaining consumer attention and in inducing
effective readership / viewer ship of the ads.
7. Appeals in Advertising: Through proper conduct of consumer research, one can
understand their likes, dislikes, tastes and preferences. A study can be made of their

buying motives. Accordingly appropriate appeals can be developed to stimulate demand
among the various groups of prospects. And as such the most effective ad campaign
theme can be devised and used to bring about desired response from the consumers.
8. Competitive Advertising: Proper advertising research can help to develop not only
creative ads but also competitive ads to face the challenges posed by competitors claims
in their advertisement and other marketing efforts.
Types of advertising research: Advertising research can be sub-divided into the three major
areas:
a. Budget Research: It is covered with the amount of money allocated to advertising.

b. Media Research: It concerned with advertising research, frequency, efficiency and the
effectiveness of different media and combinations of media in reaching target customers.
c. Copy Research: It deals with what is said and how it is said in the employed media. All
these areas are interrelated and interdependent. For example, the use of inappropriate
media would affect even the most effective advertising message. Media effectiveness
may also be influenced by the available budget.
TESTING OF AN ADVERTISEMENT
Ad testing deals with the measurement advertisement effectiveness. What constitutes

effectiveness? Which variables (s) should be tested, or, measured to know the degree of
advertising effectiveness?
Meaning: In practice, the following four categories of variables, are, generally, tested viz. (1)
message variables, (2) media variables, (3) scheduling variables and (4) budgeting variables.
1. Message Variables: In the case of an advertising message in an advertising message in

a typical print advertisement the variable to be tested would be the headline, the
illustration, the body test, the layout, and the typography, individually as well as
severally. In the case of television commercials, the variables to be tested would be
appeals, themes, propositions, rhetorical style, audio-visual devices, format illustration
technique, staging casting music, sound effects, etc.
2. Media Variables: The media testing opportunities are considered at the following four
levels, viz.,
a. The advertiser must decide the type of media, such as, newspapers, magazines,
television, radio or direct-mail, etc., he intends to use.
b. The advertiser then, must decide the sub-class of media, he is to use. For
example, what king of newspapers : Daily Sunday,
c. Evening or Morning Newspapers. Likewise, what kind of television and / or
radio: sport, Network, or, Regional channels, in the same way, what kind of
magazines : General, Women, Sports, Healthcare, etc.
d. The advertiser, then must selected specific media vehicles, what newspapers in
Mumbai, which television channels in Delhi, and what media mix is to be used?

e. Finally, he must determine space units i.e. full page, or, half pages, or, quarter
pages broadcast time units, such as 60 seconds, 20 seconds, and the position of
the ad in print media as well as in television.
3. Scheduling Variables: Consumer behaviour is generally influenced by the time factor,
such as season of the year, occasions like Diwali, Christmas, Id day of month or week,
etc. timing of television commercials frequency continuity are also important factors.
4. Budgeting Variables: Budget affects, and is affected by all other advertising variable.
How much money should be spent on advertising? How should be the total amount of
money be allocated to markets, to media to sales territories and to specific items in the
product line? The advertiser must measure the relationship between budgeting
variables and profit yields.
Need of Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness:
1. Achieve Awareness: Testing of advertisement will show whether there is an increased

influence of the advertising message, product or service advertised. Testing enables, the
advertiser to be aware of all the reasons why an advertisement has been effective or
otherwise.
2. Affects Attitudes: Testing enables the advertiser to know whether the attitude of the
prospects towards the advertised product or service has been changed or not, it also
enables him to understand whether any message of the advertisement is recollected by
the customer.
3. Actuate Action: Advertisement testing enables the advertiser to analyse the response
by the prospects to an advertisements. It gives him an idea of when, how, why a
customer’s accepts a particular products or rejects it. This will help him to present the
product in such manner that he (prospects) takes a favourable or positive action.
4. Judge Overall Effectiveness: Testing of advertisement-helps the advertiser injudging
the total effectiveness of a particular advertisement in respect of their headlines, layout,
copy, illustrations, layout or any other quality that is important within the
advertisement.
Thus, advertising evaluation can be done before the campaign is over. The main object of
evaluating the campaign is “to get all the bugs out” before sending precious money. When
advertisements are tested after the campaign it is called “postmortem” of an advertisement
effectiveness.
The advertising can be evaluate or tested before or after its application. Both have got various
advantages.
Pre-Testing Methods: An advertisement can be tested at two stages namely: (a) prior to the
commencement, and (b) after the commencement of the advertising campaign. The former
stage is called pre-testing and the later post-testing.
The following are the pre-testing methods:

1. Proposition Tests: Tests of creative strategies are called proposition tests. Strategy
refers to the alternative course which can be tried to know most suitable course of
action. For example, the advertising campaign of a watch manufacturing company
might follow such strategies as: (i) It is stylish watch for fashion conscious man. (ii) It is
a dependable watch. (iii) It is an inexpensive watch and looks like a watch that costs
twice the price.
Each proposition reflects a different advertising strategy for watches. Fashionable
appearance, expensive appearance and reliable. To choose which is the best
representative sample of prospective watch buyers would be shown all three on
individual cards as if they were different watches. The sample respondents would then
be asked to choose between the watches, and to give their choices. The most widely
acceptable proposition would be established as an advertising strategy.
2. Concept Testing: Under this method, testing is carried out in the same way as
Proposition Testing, except that roughly drawn advertisement concepts are used
instead of placing alternative strategies on the cards. As the public is not used to look at
rough advertisement concept, the respondents must be explained in advance that what
they are about to be shown are rough layout of the artist. Headlines should be shown
clearly and such irrelevant details must be excluded as: Cufflinks on a shirt because this
may give a chance to worry the respondents about why they are there, whether they are
fashionable and so on. Concept tests are used to measure the interest and credibility of
different advertising approaches.
3. Sales Area Testing: The most reliable method of testing the effectiveness of any
advertising is initially to run it in one or two selected areas. This testing is used to
facilitate launching advertising campaign on a large scale, because effectiveness is first
tested in a smaller area.
4. Folio Tests: Folio tests are used for press advertisements that are finished or near
finished form. Test advertisement along with a couple of advertisements is placed into a
folder. The Folio composed in this way is then placed before the selected few consumers
who are expected to give their reactions. The rest advertisement is singled out later in
the interview and the consumer is asked to discuss its appeal and motivational power in
creating interest, arousing desire and attracting attention. This method of pre-testing
spots out the most responsive advertisement.
5. Project Tests: Television commercials are sometimes tested in consumers‟ home by
means of portable movie projectors. Often the commercial is inserted in a short
sequence from an entertainment film. After showing the film to the consumers, the
interviewer asks their opinion about the commercial.
6. Trailer Tests: In trailer testing, a trailer or van is parked in a parking zone of a
shopping centre and people are invited to come in for interviews. Everyone who enters
the trailer is shown a television commercial on a rear screen projector and questioned
about it. This method is very economical for it costs less to bring people into, the trailer
for interview.
7. Consumer Jury Tests: Consumer jury tests are based on the rating given on
advertisement by a typical group of consumers. Rating implies comparison of one

advertisement with several others. A consumer jury test is made in a variety of ways.
The usual procedure is to ask a relatively small group of consumers, who represent
potential buyers of the product to rate alternative pieces of copy. Different data
collection methods may be used in implementing a consumer jury test. For example,
personal interviews may be used or a group may be assembled and the members may be
asked to rate on the alternative copy.
8. Rating Scales: This method of copy testing requires the establishment of standards for
effective copy and numerical weights for each standard. The weights or values indicate
the relative worth of a standard in the overall success of copy. Advertisements are then
rated according to scale value and a numerical score is obtained.
9. Portfolio Tests: These tests are named after the manner in which advertisements to be
tested are packaged. A group of advertisements usually a mixture of advertisements to
be tested is placed in portfolio. Sometimes, advertisements are actually placed in dummy
copies of newspapers and magazines. Respondents are given the folio and asked to go
through it, reading whatever interests them and taking as much time as they want.
After completing this task, the respondents are asked to recall the advertisements what
they can remember.
10. Simulated Tests: Simulated tests are tests in which consumers are exposed to
alternative pieces of copies through point of purchase displays of direct mail. These tests
are simple and less expensive to implement than actual sales tests. However, they are
artificial.
Benefits of Pre-Testing:
• To check clerical, grammatical, printing or technical errors.

• To make communication more effective from readers points of view.
• Minimise waste in advertising.
• To make it m ore meaningful and effective.
• It is simple, less time consuming, and less costly.
Methods of Post-Testing:
Tests that are applied after the commencement of the advertising campaign are called post-
tests. Post-testing enables to study the impact of advertising on the effective sales promotion.
The following are the methods of Post-testing:
1. Recognition Tests: Under this method the respondents are asked to point out the
contents of those advertisements which they might have seen. The objective of this test
is to know the degree of effective impact of advertisement.
2. Recall Tests: Under recall tests the entire advertising campaign is considered as
against recognition tests. Where only specific advertisements are considered Recall
tests are applied to measure the attention, interest and memory value of advertisements
after they have been launched.

3. Inquiry and Coupon Response: Under inquiry testing, the advertiser sends a free
sample to the reader, on request. The reader is expected to mail the coupon to take
advantage of the offer. It is quite likely that such advertisements are given
simultaneously in different publications of the newspaper or magazine. The
advertisements are keyed in order to know which of the several advertisements resulted
into more response. It is assumed that the advertisement which brings largest number
of inquiries is superior to others.
4. Split-Run Test: It is a modification of inquiry test. An advertiser takes two
advertisements in magazine offering split-run facilities. The two advertisements differ
in one respect only e.g., one advertisement presents the cold drink in a transparent
bottle and the other advertisement presents the cold drink in a non-transparent bottle.
The advertisement is keyed. Now, in two different markets i.e., cold drink marketed in
transparent bottle is more, it is taken for granted that this advertisement has been more
successful compared to the second one.
5. Psychological Tests: A variety of psychological tests are used which include story
telling, word association, sentence completion, depth interviewing etc. This test
attempts to find out what the respondent has been in different advertisements and what
they mean to him. These tests can be conducted only by trained interviewers.
6. Focus Interviews: In this method some selected consumers are called and are asked to
deliberate discussion on the advertisements presented to them. The attention of the
members of the panel is focused on certain aspect of the advertisement. The opinion
expressed by the participants becomes the basis to study the effectiveness of advertising.
7. Readership Test: This method attempts to study the impact of advertising in
increasing the product awareness by the consumers. Readership test facilitates the
relative importance and effectiveness of advertisement published in national press. The
readers are asked to tell where they have read the advertisement and how it has
increased their awareness about the product.
The various methods used to study the effectiveness of an advertisement provide information
about the impact of an advertisement on the product awareness and bringing about a change in
the attitude of the consumers.
Benefits of Post-Testing:
• To find out the extent to which the ad has been noticed, seen or read.
• To find the extent to which the message is understood by the readers.
• To measure the memory value of advertising.
• To find the impact of advertising on consumer buying behaviour.
• To see whether ad is accomplishing its objectives.
• To evaluate the comparative effectiveness of different ads in terms of appeals, layout
illustration etc.
• To improve future advertising efforts.

PRE-TESTING METHODS
Before the advertising campaign is undertaken, the advertiser checks or test advertisement in
respect to its effectiveness. The main object of evaluating the advertisement before the
campaign is “to get all the bugs out” from it. The pre-testing methods of checking advertising
effectiveness are as follows:
1. Check List Method: It is simplest method of testing. In this method a questionnaire is

prepared by the researcher containing items that are commonly found in all types of ads. Then
he has to put a tick mark against the item appearing in the ad. This method can be used to find
out attention value, interest value, under-standing and education value etc. It is easy to
conduct, less time and money is consumed. But it is difficult to judge consumer reactions by a
mere check list.
The jury members of consumers are asked certain question like:

• Which of these ads would you notice first?
• Which of these ads would you like most?
• Which of these ads would make you to buy the brand?
• Which of these ads can be easily read and understood?
• Which of these ads are more believable?
2. Consumer Jury Method: A consumer jury is a small group of people who may be
considered typical buyers of the product or service advertised. The advertiser enquires with
them and their opinions on an advertisement are sought. On the basis of their opinions, he may
accept or reject the advertisement campaign.
a. Order of Merit Rating: In this case various ads are shown to the jury of consumers at a
time and asked to place them in rank order. Each rank can be assigned certain points,
then chart will be prepared and maximum points to be assigned by all members will be
selected.
b. Paired Comparison: In this type, a member of jury is shown two ads at a time and is
asked to select the better one. This procedure will continue until each ad from the lot is
paired with every other ad. The final conclusion may be drawn.
Merits of Consumer Jury Test:
1. It can be conducted within a short period of time.

2. Less costly.
3. It does not require actual running of ads.
4. Size of jury members need not be large i.e. 10 to 50 members.
5. Members can be motivated to give unbiased replies.
Demerits of Consumer Jury Test:

1. It is unrealistic as the ads are not seen in real life condition.
2. There may be biased opinion.
3. Selection of jury members is a real problem.
4. Test based on opinion rather than study.
5. There may be inconsistency in ranking by different members.
3. Sales Area Test: In this method a campaign, is run with different appeals in separate
comparable markets (usually cities) for a particular period of time, the effectiveness of the ad
campaign is evaluated by comparing actual sales made to consumers in different markets. That
sales are which is giving highest sales is considered as more effective and accordingly ad copy is
selected.
4. Procedure: The procedure is to select two groups of cities (market area), one group is called
(Control group of cities) and other is called (The test group of cities) each group contains three
cities. The existing ad campaign is continued in control group and new ad campaign is run in
test group. The testing period is divided into three stages, ranging between 3 to 6 months.
• First stage is called as Pre-test. During this period sales are checked in several groups
to determine the trends in sales in normal conditions.
• Second stage is called as “actual test period”, in which test campaign is seen in the test
group of cities.
• The third stage is called as “Post-test period”, in which sales are checked to find out
effect of advertising campaign.
• Now sales results of the control groups are compared with the results of the test groups.
If the sales show a better performance, the new campaign is treated as effective and later
on is run over the entire market area.
• Evaluation: Ad. campaign is run on a small scale to find out - its effectiveness before
running the ad over entire market of this test is conducted properly, it provides
authentic results. However, (i) It is time consuming, (ii) It is expensive, (iii) It poses a
problem in respect of selection of cities maintaining comparable situations.
4. Inquiry Coupon Response: Under this, the advertiser sends an inquiry coupon through
newspapers or magazines which will have to be sent back to the advertiser duly filled in by the
respondent. The number of inquiries or coupons sent back will ascertain the effectiveness of the
advertisement. The enquiry test can also be conducted by direct mail. One of the types of this
test is called as split run test. In this case two Ads are selected for the test. First ad is published
in first half of the number of copies and second Ad is given remaining half of the number of
copies. The ad showing maximum response is selected.
Merits:
1. It can be used to check the relative effectiveness of several ads by remaining them on a
limited basis.
2. It is easily implemented and comparable.
Demerits: 1. It is time consuming. 2. It is expensive.

Other Methods:
Projective Technique: The purpose of this test is to avoid the drawback of direct questioning
and allow the respondent to reveal his feelings about an advertising situation various types of
projective techniques are:
a. Depth Interview: The respondent is given the advertising material and is asked to
express his opinion freely. The interviewer studies the respondent about his feelings and
motivation.
b. Word Association: The researcher presents a word and the respondent is asked to
reply with first word or throught that comes to his mind. For example? What is the
first things you think I say toothpaste? Or automobile?
c. Sentence Completion: The researcher shows an incomplete picture or puts an
incomplete sentence and the respondent is asked to complete the picture or sentence.
POST-TESTING METHODS:
Advertising evaluation can be done even after the advertising campaign is over When
advertisements are tested after the campaign is over, it is known as “postmortem” of the
advertisement effectiveness. The post-testing methods of advertising effectiveness are as
follows:
1. Recall Tests: This test is made to measure the memory value of the reader (respondent).
The procedure is to select a group of respondents and it is confirmed that they have read the
particular issue of the magazine. The respondents are given cards on which the names of all
products advertised in the issue are shown. The respondents are asked to list each ad they think
have seen and tell what it looks like. Question can be asked on the message, colour, headline,
etc. to find out the impact value.
The merit of the test is to measure the depth of impression which an ad leaves on the
respondents mind. This test can also be conducted with some aid and are called as “aided recall
test”.
2. Readership Test: This test finds out what the readers read and how well they remember it.
The advertisement to be tested is to be published in a newspaper or a magazine. The an
interviewer carrying a copy of that medium asks the persons to be interviewed and asks them
which newspapers or magazines, they read, what advertisements have been seen and
remembered and their effectiveness. The advantage of this method is that, a comparative
evaluation is possible and it focuses on the ways of getting attention.
However, the drawback of this method is that it assumes that readership means sales. It is not
always that whatever advertisements we read we do buy.

Attitude and Opinion Test:
These tests are conducted to measure the attitudes and opinions of the customers towards a
firm’s advertising, its products and policies. For such tests measuring scales have been
developed to study the consumer attitudes and opinion.
Keying on an Advertisement
After preparation of an advertisement is over, it is to be inserted in newspaper and/or

magazines. Thereafter, the advertiser has to check the effectiveness of the advertisement. For
this purpose, he has to adopt certain methods to ascertain what enquiry is received from which
advertisement. This process of identifying the enquiries pertaining to a specific advertisement
is known as keying an advertisement. Advertisement can be keyed by inserting coupons in the
advertisement is known as keying an advertisement. Advertisement can be keyed by inserting
coupons in the advertisement itself. This coupon is given a key number or some identification
mark which helps their sorting. The readers are requested to fill in their names and addresses
in the coupons and mail them to the advertiser for getting a catalogue of further information.
The number of coupons received back gives an idea about the effectiveness of the
advertisement.
MOTIVATIONAL RESEARCH
Motivation research is a form of consumer research which has gained ground over the recent
years. Motivation Research is the currently popular term used to describe the application of
psychiatric and psychological techniques to obtain a better understanding of why people
respond as they do to products, ads and various other marketing situations.
• It is an attempt to discover and explain why the consumer behaviour differs; why he or
she behaves in a particular way?
• What appeals and sales programmes will best influence his or her decision to act or buy
or not to act or not to buy?
• It concentrates on emotional or hidden stimuli to consumer action.
Thus, motivation research is an attempt to uncover the consumer’s suppressed (conscious) and
repressed (unconscious) motives. In suppression, the consumer remains aware of his motives
but does not care to admit their existence to others for the fear of ridicule, punishment or being
ostracized.
Information about the motivating factor remains in the conscious mind, however. Repression
implies a more serious rejection of knowledge about a motive because; the individual will not
admit motive’s existence even to himself.
It is a careful probing beyond the surface “why” offered by consumers to explain their actions.
As a branch of marketing research, it aims to discover the real reasons for their purchasing
preferences via sample questionnaires, interviews and the like.

The theme of above definitions is that motivation research is to discover underlying motives,
desires, instincts and emotions which provoke human behaviour and, in market research, true
reasons why people buy or do not buy certain goods as distinct from the reasons they express
or even imagine they act upon. The distinguishing feature of motivation research is probing
“beneath the skin”, or “below the surface”.
Today, the most challenging task of marketing research is to predict how people will react and
why they react in a particular way in a given situation. “How they react”? Can be answered
with ease and confidence. Say, how the consumers receive the new product, package advertising
message and the like where surveys cross tabulations and analysis can help to find the answers.
However, more difficult task is one of finding out “why people” react in a particular way? By
merely asking consumers why they like or dislike a product or an advertisement or a package,
one cannot get satisfactory answers.
The answers differ widely and are misleading very often. These answers are misleading not
because people are dishonest, but merely because they do not know really why? Wrong or
unbelievable answers are given because of two possible reasons:
1. Conscious or unconscious attempt to rationalize their behaviour and

2. Preference for not disclosing their real reasons for ranking.
Conventional research does not answer this but motivation research does. It is the psycho-
analysis that helps in overcoming the inability or the reluctance of people to tell why they like
or dislike a product or a service. This is known as penetrating below the surface to reach sub-
consciousness.
The relations between a consumer and a product are partly conscious and partly sub-
conscious. The ‘price’ of a motor car, for example, is conscious relationship.
A person no doubt is worried and particular about kilometers per litre, cost per kilometer, boot-
space acceleration and the like but his product preference of sub-conscious type is ‘sex symbol’.
Car is an extension of man’s personality which is known by motivation research. Precisely,

motivation research is the art of finding out why? Without asking why?
The best example of understanding is one of choosing a girl as a housewife. Ask a sober
looking young man as to what type of woman he wants to marry; the answer may be “the quiet,
home-loving more concerned about the food she cooks for me than the clothes, ornaments and
make-up aids she wants”.
Observe him at parties and get-togethers and you will find that he is after a woman attractively
clothed with gleaning make-up appealing to his hidden motives. Thus, motivation research is
something that goes beneath the line. Thus, it is an attempt to market below the line.

Techniques of Motivation Research:
The techniques used in motivation research are of two types namely, Projective Techniques
and Depth Interviews.
Projective Techniques: These projective techniques represent the test conducted to establish
the personalities of the respondents and their reactions to product media advertisement
package product design and the like. They project or reflect the subject’s thought about what
he or she sees, feels, perceives thus producing the reactions. These tests are derived from
clinical psychology and work on the postulation that if an individual is placed in an ambiguous
situation, he is guided by his own perceptions to describe the situation.
They often provide, an insight into the motives that lie below the level of consciousness and
when the respondent is likely to rationalize his motives consciously or unconsciously; his
responses tend to reflect his own attitudes and beliefs by indirection and discretion; they are his
own perceptions and interpretations to the situation to which he is exposed.
There are five most commonly administered tests of this kind namely:
1. Thematic Appreciation Test.

2. Sentence Completion Test.
3. Word Association Test.
4. Paired Picture Test and
5. Third Person Test.
1. Thematic Appreciation Test (TAT): Under this test, the respondent is presented with a
picture or series of pictures of a scene or scenes involving people and objects associated with
goods or services in questions. These are unstructured, doubtful in action and very often
neutral giving no expression or motions. The respondent is to study the picture or the pictures
and construct a story.
His narrations or readings are interpreted by a skilled analyst. Thus, the picture may be of a
young man scribbling on a piece of a paper. Here, the respondent is to read as to whether the
person in picture is writing. If so what? For whom? And why? And so on.
2. Sentence Completion Test (SCT): Sentence completion tests are designed to discover
emotional responses of the respondent. It is the easiest, most useful and reliable test to get the
correct information in an indirect manner. The respondent is asked to complete the sentence
given.
For instance, the questions may be, in case of ladies:
1. I like instant coffee because……………

2. I use talcum powder because…………..
3. I use electric kitchen gadgets because………………….
4. I do not use pain-killers like aspirin because……………..
5. I do not like red, brown and black colours because…………………….. In case of men,
these questions may be
(a) I liked filter tipped cigarettes because………………….
(b) I gave up smoking because…………………
(c) I love natural proteins because………………..
(d) I prefer cold coffee because………………
(e) I do not use foam beds because……………….
The way the questions are asked, do not reflect right or wrong answers. However, the
emotional values and tensions are reflected in the answers so given.
3. Word Association Test (WAT): Word association test is similar to that of sentence
completion test. The only difference is that instead of an incomplete sentence, a list of words
ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five is given. This is the oldest and the simplest kind of
test. The respondent is to match the word. That is, the word suggested by the researcher is to
be associated by the respondent by the most fitting word he thinks. This is widely used to
measure the effect of the brand names and advertising messages. Here, it is not possible to give
all the seventy-five words. On illustrative basis, let us have fifteen words:
1. Perfume………..
2. Tooth paste
3. Hair oil………..
4. Shampoo……………………….
5. Shoes…………
6. Two-wheelers…………
7. Four-wheelers…………
8. Tyre………………………
9. Glass wares………….
10. Ink………..
11. Pencils…………
12. Fridges…………………….
13. Cupboards…………
14. Television………………….
15. Video cassettes………………
Thus, a respondent may give his preferences as ‘Colgate’ or ‘Promise’ or ‘Close-up’ or ‘Forhans’
in case of tooth paste. On the basis of such answers, it is possible to determine a scale of
preference.

4. Paired Picture Test (PPT): This is another very appealing and easy to administer test.
Paired picture test means that the respondent is given a pair of pictures almost identical in all
respects except in one. For instance, the researcher may be interested in knowing the reaction
of respondents to a new brand of refrigerator.
The pair of pictures may show a woman opening refrigerator which is moderately priced with a
usual brand; another picture of the same woman opening the refrigerator door of another
brand.
Looking to these two pictures, the respondent is to give his own feelings or reactions. Though
the same pair is shown to so many respondents, the reactions differ from person to person.
Instead of using the usual figures, cartoons may be introduced. The analyst gets here the inner
feelings of an individual for this analysis purpose.
5. Third Person Test (TPT): The format of this test is that the respondent is given a
photograph of a third person—may be a friend, a colleague, a neighbour, a star, a player, a
professional and the like The point involved is that the researcher is interested in knowing
what the third person thinks of an issue as heard through the respondent.
It is assumed that the respondent’s answer will reveal his own inner feelings more clearly
through the third person than otherwise it would have been possible. The best example of this
kind the test conducted on American house-wives in connection with ‘instant coffee’. Prior to
the test, the attitude of house-wives was “It does not taste good”, with the test being conducted,
the real attitude was “A lady using instant coffee is lazy, spend-thrift and not a good
housewife”. This amply clears the fact how the test revealed the naked truth.
COPY RESEARCH
Copy testing is a specialised discipline of market research that evaluates the effectiveness of an
advertisement based on consumer responses, feedback, and behaviour. Copy testing is also
known as pre-testing. It encompasses testing of all media channels including television, social
media, print, radio, and internet. Pre-testing is worthwhile for a company to comprehend
whether an advertisement carries a message strong enough to register in its prospects’ mind.
Before the release of an advertisement, there are multiple tests which are done to measure the
effectiveness of the campaign. These assessments are conducted even after the ad is transmitted
to determine the effectiveness of it.
The main resolve of copy testing is to square ads which are unlikely to connect with the
audience. If in case the prospects don’t connect with the ad, the chances are that they might get
a wrong message or that the ad might go unnoticed. Organisations often employ market
research firms for evaluation. The ad is relayed to a small group of people, and their responses
are evaluated. The responses are further quantified to give a meaningful review to the
company. Here the market analysts analyse real-time responses post watching the
advertisement. The analysis is done with respect to various factors like the facial expression

after watching the ad, how and what the respondents felt, and so on. Copy testing often
evaluates ad based on demographics and certain changes in the ad are made with respect to its
demographics.
Memory tests (recall/recognition), direct response tests, persuasion tests, continuous

measurement tests, psychological response tests are some of the quantitative methods of copy
testing. These techniques are based on statistical principles and reliability.
TYPES OF COPY TESTING
Advertisements can be pretested at several levels. Pretesting that occurs in the creative process
is called concept testing. Pretesting done in the later stages is called copy testing. These tests
are helpful to select one amongst various ad executions. Copy tests are usually conducted using
quantitative research methods.
Types of Copy Testing: There are seven main copy testing techniques namely-
1. Consumer Jury
2. Rating Scales
3. Portfolio tests
4. Psychological tests
5. Physiological tests
6. Sales tests
7. Day-after recall Tests

1. Consumer Jury Test:
• A consumer jury test is a method of testing advertisements that involves asking

consumers to compare, rank and evaluate your advertisements.
• It is the most traditional and simplest amongst all the copy testing methods. A personal
interview may be conducted, or a group of about 50 to 100 people may be assembled and
requested voting based on their preferences, interests or even influences to purchase the
product.
• It then presents a rating given by a group of audiences who mostly represent the
potential buyers of the product. A consumer jury method is controlled and cost-
effective.
This method has a few disadvantages like
• The consumer may become a self-appointed expert.

• Possibilities of a halo effect
• Numbers of evaluated ads are limited.
• Preferences may overpower objectivity.
Example: Analyzing Television programs and commercials using a Program Analyzer.
2. Rating Scale Copy Testing
• Rating scale requires established standards for a productive copy and numerical weights
for each standard. Advertisements are later rated according to scale values, and a
numerical grade or a percentage is obtained.
• A rating scale test provides a list against which you can check your ad. It also assists in
determining and singling out the elements that are good and bad in an ad copy.
• The weights may be assigned to different aspects on the basis of which the copy is to be
tested depending on their scale of significance.
• This method is mostly used by professional advertising agencies which rate
advertisements without any trouble.
Example of Rating Scale Copy Testing

3. Portfolio Tests
• Portfolio testing is a copy testing technique in which some dummy copies are kept in a
folio along with the regular advertisement.
• A group of ads mostly test ads and control ads, or a combination of both are placed in a
portfolio.
• After going through a portfolio of a different variety of a particular advertisement,
respondents nominated from the target market are asked to remember in detail those
ads that they remember.
• The ad giving a minimum playback is considered to be the best one.
• It is important to observe whether the choice of advertisement is a dummy
advertisement or the regular one.
• If found dummy, the actual advertisement is improvised accordingly.
Disadvantages of portfolio tests
• Various factors other than creativity and presentation may affect recall.
• Recalling may not prove to be the best way.
4. Psychological Tests
• Psychological Copy testing is a technique in which various methods including word

association, sentence completion, depth, interview and storytelling are welcome.
• A catalogue of reactions namely self-pity, security, fear, nostalgia, and so on are set.
• Alternative ads are then rated based on how readers respond.
• The psychological technique is difficult to implement since skilled interviewers are
required.
• Copy testing is psychological in nature; hence some psychological tests are
administered.
READABILITY AND COMPREHENSION
In this test, the ease of readability is ascertained by a series of questions and techniques
developed by psychologists before the ad is relayed. This technique ascertains the depth of
understanding of the reader through the advertisement.
TESTS OF BELIEVABILITY
The effectiveness of an advertisement can be gauged by the degree of credibility the consumers
have in the product. Scale technique is used to measure the credibility by putting forward
certain statements of product claims. The statement that gets the maximum votes is declared as
the most effective statement.

ATTITUDE TESTS
Psychologists have come up with various attitude tests that can be applied to copy testing. In
this, the prospective consumers are exposed to sample messages. The psychologist or the
interviewer asks a series of questions to ascertain the attitudes evolved from the messages.
TRIPLE HOSTILITY TESTS
This advertising technique seeks consumer association with the product and its brand name.
This test is helpful when an advertisement relays a specific theme or slogan, which the reader
may recall. This is also known as a theme presentation technique.
5. Physiological Testing
In physiological copy testing, tests are conducted using special laboratory equipment’s which
records individual physiological responses to the ads.
• Here the physiological reaction of the respondents is considered more crucial than what
he says.
• There are three elementary instruments that are used in these kinds of tests- the Eye
Moment Camera, Galvanometer and the Pupilometric device.
EYE MOMENT CAMERA
Eye moment camera measures the eye moments of consumers across the layout of test ads. The
direction of the eyes and the pauses made are taken note of so that the areas of interest are
gauged.
GALVANOMETER
A galvanometer measures skin responses to ad stimuli like the perspiration through the palms.
Increase in the perspiration decreases resistance and faster the current passes, hence tension is
generated. The greater the tension, more effective the ad is considered to be. This technique
cannot be used for ads that are very sensitive.
PUPILOMETER OR PERCEPTOSCOPE DEVICES
Pupilometer was designed by Eckhard Hess and James Polk. A pupilometer records changes in
pupil dilation. Dilation demonstrates reading and attention. Contraction depicts dislike of the
respondents to what is being read. It evaluates interesting visual stimuli. The left eye is
photographed to record dilation.
6. Sales Copy Testing
• In this technique, advertising campaigns are conducted in the markets chosen for
testing.

• The effectiveness is ascertained by the actual sales in these markets.
• The market with the highest sales is considered as the best market for an effective sales
campaign.
• Certain suitable changes are made in the other markets for the campaign.
• Sales tests are very practical measures to evaluate advertising effectiveness when
advertising is the dominant element and the only variable in a company’s marketing
plan.
• Sales tests cannot be conducted instantly.
• These forms of tests, especially the field studies prove to be very expensive and time-
consuming.
7. Day-After Recall Test
• A day after recall test is a method of measuring the percentage of people who recall
seeing the ad the day-after it was relayed on the television.
• It is done to make sure that the ad message is passed on to the consumers.
• The consumer response is possessed by conducting interviews on a one-on-one basis.
• Test standardization is employed to avoid misleading results.
• Day-after recall test advocates increase in sample size.
• The day-after recall tests are one of the oldest forms of copy testing.
• Few advertisers still employ because of limited data and analysis.
There are a few disadvantages of this copy testing technique
• Interviews prove to be expensive.

• Few people report seeing an un-seen ad.
Example: HUL launched an ad for AXE Signature, in which a subtle form of romance is used
with the main message of its lasting fragrance. If the consumer after watching the ad can only
recall the romance part then the ad is not considered to have done well on a recall test.
The marketing campaign is an expensive affair. To ensure that your organization obtains
maximum benefits for its investment, it is critical that you conduct research and testing before
the campaign, and repeat its effectiveness again. In general, copy testing is appropriate for a
strategic research in which one aims to scrutinize the relative effectiveness of one advertising
theory over the other. Copy testing assists in the evaluative research in which one attempts to
take a final call.
MEASUREMENT OF ADVETISING EFFECTIVENESS
All advertising efforts are directed mainly towards the achievement of business, marketing and
advertising objectives i.e., to increase the sales turnover and thus to market the maximum
profit. The advertiser spends lakhs of rupees in to this advertising activity. In the background

of all these efforts, is an attempt to attract the customer towards the product through
advertising.
As soon as the advertising campaign is over, a need is generally arisen to measure the
effectiveness of the campaign. Whether, it has achieved the desired results i.e. desired sales
profitability or results in terms the change in customer behaviour in favour of the company’s
product which will naturally, affect the future sale of the product.
In order to measure the effectiveness of advertising copy, two types of tests-pretests and post
tests- can be undertaken. Pretests are generally conducted in the beginning of the creation
process or at the end of creation process or production stage. There are several pre and post
tests techniques to measure the effectiveness of the advertising copy. The effectiveness of
advertising in a particular media may also be measured in any of the following ways – (a) by
giving different addresses to different media, (b) different newspapers may be selected for
advertisements of different departments, (c) coupon blank etc. May be provided with the
advertisement or (d) enquiry from consumers should mention the name of the source of
information. The technique is known as keying the advertising.
Thus in measuring the effectiveness of advertising we include measuring of the effectiveness of

advertising campaign, advertising copy and the effectiveness of individual media. This chapter
deals these three problems.
Importance of measuring the Effectiveness of Advertising
(1) It acts as a Safety measure: Testing effectiveness of advertising helps in finding out
ineffective advertisement and advertising campaigns. It facilitates timely adjustments in
advertising to make advertising consumer oriented and result oriented. Thus waste of money in
faulty advertising can be avoided.
(2) Provides feedback for remedial measures: Testing effectiveness of advertising provides
useful information to the advertisers to take remedial steps against ineffective advertisements.
(3) Avoids possible failure: Advertisers are not sure of results of advertising from a particular
advertising campaign. Evaluating advertising effectives helps in estimating the results in order
to avoid complete loss.
(4) To justify the Investment in Advertising: The expenditure on advertisement is

considered to be an investment. The investment in advertising is a marketing investment and
its objectives should be spelt out clearly indicating the results expected from the campaign. The
rate and size of return should be determined in advance. If the expected rate of return is
achieved in terms of additional profits, the advertisement can be considered as effective one.
(5) To know the communication Effect: The effectiveness of the advertisement can be
measured in terms of their communication effects on the target consumers or audience. The
main purpose of advertising is communicated the general public, and existing and prospective

consumers, various information about the product and the company. It is therefore desirable to
seek post measurements of advertising in order to determine whether advertisement have been
seen or heard or in other words whether they have communicated the theme, message or appeal
of the advertising.
(6) Compare two markets: Under this procedure, advertising is published in test markets and
results are contrasted with other. Markets – so called control markets – which have had the
regular advertising programme. The measurements made to determine results may be
measurements of change in sales, change in consumer attitudes, changes in dealer display. and
so on depending upon the objectives sought by the advertiser.
METHODS OF MEASURING ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS
Advertising is aimed at improving the sales volume of a concern so its effectiveness can be
evaluated by its impact on sales. Most of the managers believe that the advertisement directly
affects the sales volume and hence they evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising campaign
by the increase in the sales volume.
There may be two types measures (i) Direct measures: and (ii) Indirect measures:-
(1) Direct Measures of Advertising Effectiveness: Under direct measures, a relationship

between advertising and sales is established. A comparison of sales of two periods or two
periods or two markets may be done and the corresponding changes may be noted. The
following are some of the methods that are generally used in measuring that advertising effects.
(a) Historical Sales Method: Some insights into the effectiveness of past advertising may
be obtained by measuring the relationship between the advertising expenditure and the total
sales of the product. A multiple regression analysis of advertising expenditure and sales over
several time periods may be calculated. It would show how the changes in advertising
expenditure have corresponding changes in sales volume. This technique estimates the
contribution that advertising has made to explaining in a co relational manner rather than a
casual sales, the variation in sales over the time periods covered in the study
(b) Experimental Control: The other measure of advertising effectiveness is the method of
experimental control where a casual relationship between advertising and sales is established.
This method is quite expensive when related to other advertising effectiveness measures yet it
is possible to isolate advertising contribution to sales. Moreover this can be done as a pre-test
to aid advertising in choosing between alternative creative designs. Media schedules
expenditure levels or some combination of these advertising decision areas.
One experimental approach to measuring the sales effectiveness of advertising is test

marketing.
(i) Before-after with Control Group Design: This classic design uses several test and
control cities (Fig. 14.1) in this design two types of cities are selected. Cities in which

advertising campaigns are affected may be named as test cities and other cities may be called
central cities.
First of all, the normal sales level is calculated for both type of cities prior to advertising
campaign, and then the advertising campaign is presented to the test cities and not the central
cities. The effect of advertising campaign, can then, be measured by subtracting the amount of
post campaign figure of sale from the pre campaign sale figures in test cities.
A Before-after with Control Group Design for Measuring the Effectiveness of Advertising
Campaigns
Test cities Control cities
Pre-campaign measure of sales Yes Yes
Advertising campaign Yes No
Post-Campaign measure of Sales Yes Yes
The difference of post and pre campaign sales in cities is the result of advertising and all other
factors that affect the sales.
(ii) Multivariable Experimental Designs: While the experimental design discussed above
yields a reasonably accurate estimate of the effects of the advertising on sales, it is not
successful in explaining the success or failure of the campaign itself. Multivariable designs
Produce these explanations and are, therefore used by some very large firm because of their
diagnostic value.
The power of this multivariable factorial design is explained by G.H.Brown, former Fords
Director of Marketing Research. For any single medium, eight possible geographic areas have
been exposed and eight have not been exposed. Thus, in this experimental model it is possible
to evaluate how each individual medium behaves alone and in all possible to evaluate how each
individual medium behaves alone and in all possible combinations with other media.
(2) Indirect Measures: As it is very difficult to measure the direct effect of advertising on
company’s profits or sales, most firms rely heavily on indirect measures. These measures do not
evaluate the effects of advertisements directing on sales or profits but all other factors such as
customer awareness or attitude or customer recall of advertising message affect the sales or
profits or goals of the business indirectly.
Despite the uncertainties about the relationship between the intermediate effects of advertising
and the ultimate results, there is no other alternative but to use indirect measures. The most
commonly used measures are –
(1) Exposure to Advertisement: In order to be effective, the advertisement must gain

exposure. The management is concerned about the number of target audiences who see or hear
the organisation message set in the advertisement. Without exposure, advertisement is bound
to failure.

Marketers or advertisers may obtain an idea of exposure generated by the medium by
examining its circulation or audience data which reveal the number of copies of the magazine,
newspaper or journal sold the number of persons passing the billboards or riding in transit
facilities, or the number of persons living in the televiewing or radio listening area, and the
number of persons switching on their T.V. and radio sets at various points of time. This
number can be estimated by interviewing the numbers of the audience for different media.
(2) Attention or Recall of Advertising Message Content: This is one of the widely used
measures of advertising results. Under this measure, a recall of the message content among a
specified group or groups or prospective customers is measured within 24 hours of the
exposure of the advertisement.
Attention value is the chief quality of the advertising copy the advertisements cannot be said to
be effective unless they attract the attention of the target consumers. There are two methods
for evaluating the attention getting value of the advertisements. One is pre-test and the other is
post-test.
In a pre-test evaluation, the consumers are asked to indicate the extent to which they recognise
or recall the advertisement, they have already seen. This test is conducted in the laboratory
setting. Here consumers read, hear or listen to the advertisement and then researchers ask
question regarding the advertisement just to test the recall and then evaluate it.
In post-test method, the consumers are asked questions about the indication of recognition or
recall after the advertisement has been run. These measures assume that customers can recall
or recognise what they have viewed or listened to. Various mechanical devices are being used in
the western countries which provide indices of attention such as eye-camera etc.
(3) Brand Awareness: The marketers who rely heavily on advertising often appraise its
effectiveness by measuring the customer’s awareness about the particular product or brand.
The assumption of this type of measure is that there is a direct relationship between the
advertisements and the awareness. This type of measure is also subject to the same criticisms as
is applicable to direct measures of effectiveness (sales measures because awareness is also not
the direct result of the advertisements. It is also affected by many other factors. But, for new
products, changes in awareness can often be attributed to the influence of advertising.
(4) Comprehension: Consumers generally use advertisements as a means of obtaining

information about the product, brand or the manufacturer. They cannot be informed unless
they comprehend the message (grasp the message mentally and understand it fully). Various
tests for valuating comprehension are available –
One is recall tests – an indicator of comprehension because it is evident that consumers recall
what they comprehend. Another measure of the variable is to ask questions about subjects how
much they have comprehended a message they have recently heard or seen. One may employ
somewhat imprecise test of the comprehension of a newspaper and radio advertisement. One
may ask typical target consumers from time to time such questions like „what did you think of

our new commercial? and Did it get the message across? The answers of these questions will
provide sufficient insight into advertising decision making.
(5) Attitude Change: Since advertising is considered to be one way of influencing the state of
the mind of the audience towards a product, service or organisation, the results are very often
measured in terms of attitudes among groups exposed to advertising communication. Several
measures are used ranging from asking the questions about willingness to buy the likelihood of
buying to the measurement of the extent to which specific attributes (such as modern or new)
are associated with a product.
(6) Action: One objective of advertisement may be assumed to be to stimulate action or

behaviour. The action or intention to take an action may be measured on the intention to buy
measuring instrument. Under this type of measure, consumers are asked to respond why they
are interested in purchasing the product or brand.
One type of action that advertisers attempt to induce is buying behaviour. The assumption is
that if an increase in sales follows a decrease in advertising expenditure, the change in sales
levels are good indicators of the effectiveness of advertising. Logic suggests that measurement
of sales is preferable to other measurements.
Thus, these above measures (direct or indirect) are used to evaluate the effectiveness of
advertisements. It seems from the analysis of the above methods of measuring effectiveness that
directly or indirectly changes in sales or profits are taken as the measuring rod of the
effectiveness of the advertising.
PRE-TEST AND POST-TEST OF ADVERTISING COPY
Almost every firm spends thousands of rupees on advertising every year; it is very much
pertinent to know the effectiveness of the advertisement copy. The main purpose of every
advertising is to arouse the interests of the people in the firm’s product can everyone be
perused by the same advertisement? Or will the same advertisement satisfy all types of people?
The simple answer is in negative because people differ so greatly in their wants, in the
economic and other motives which actuate them, and in the various ways by which their
interest is aroused. It is why some advertisements are more effective than others. The amount
is spent on advertising not only because the advertisement does not get to the right people but
because it carries an appeal which does not interest those to whom it goes. An often quoted
remark about advertisement is that half the money spent on advertising is wasted; but no one
knows which half.
For this purpose, advertising copy research is done to see how will an advertisement succeeds
in attracting the attention and stimulating the desire and action of the people for whom it is
made and how will it delivers the intended message about a product or an idea. Advertisement
copy is done to be sure of its effectiveness.

Copy Testing: Copy testing is a tool involving a procedure where the effectiveness of an
advertisement is measured before it appears in its final form, during and after its exposure to
the audience to determine whether and to what extent, it has accomplished its assigned task. In
this way, the copy testing is a method used to control the effectiveness of future advertising. It
addresses the following questions –
(a) Will a proposed copy theme be effective at achieving advertising objectives?

(b) Does the set of advertisings that makes up an advertising campaign create the desired
interest level and image? And
(c) Will an individual advertisement attract the attention of the audience?
Types of Tests: The various methods of testing advertising copy are
1. Pre-test methods
2. Post-test methods
3. Concurrent methods
1. Pre-Test Methods: Pre-test method refers to testing the potentiality of a message or copy
before printing or broadcasting. It is useful because the concepts in advertising may appear to
be simple and effective to the advertiser or advertising to be simple and effective to the
advertiser or advertising agency. It may be difficult from the layman‟s point of view. All the
elements in the advertising copy requires careful pre-testing to see that the matter it intends to
be conveyed has been really conveyed, „prevention is better than care‟. Pre testing methods are
adopted on this basis. The following are some of the pre-testing methods.
a. Check list method

b. Consumer Jury method
c. Sales Area Test
d. Questionnaire
e. Recall test
f. Reaction test
g. Readability test
h. Eye-movement test
a. Checklist Method: The copywriters use checklist method to test the effectiveness of
advertising copy. The purpose of this method is to ensure that all elements of the advertising
copy are included with due importance in the advertisement. As it is a pretest method
omissions can be included in the copy before release of the advertisement.
A checklist is a list of good qualities to be possessed by an effective advertisement. The

researcher has to compare the advertisement with the checklist and tick the items present in
the advertisement copy. Accordingly a copywriter can draw specific conclusions and make
suitable changes in the advertising copy.

b. Consumer Jury method: This method essentially involves the exposure of alternative
advertisements to a sample of jury; of prospects and the securing of their opinion and reactions
to the advertisements. This test is designed to learn from a typical group of prospective
customers gathered in one place or a sample of prospects that are independently, visited by
interviewers or contacted by mail their preference for one advertisement over the other or for
several advertisements out of a group. Advertisements which are unpublished are mocked up on
a separate sheet and these are presented before the consumer jury either in personal interviews
or group interviews.
c. Sales Area Test: Under this method advertising campaign is run in the markets selected for
testing purposes. The impact of the campaign is evaluated by actual sales in the selected
markets. The market with high sales is considered the best market for effective sales campaign.
In other markets suitable changes are made in the advertising campaign.
d. Questionnaire Method: It is a list of questions related to an experiment. It contains

questions and provides space for answers. The draft of an advertisement along with some
relevant questions is to be sent to a group of target consumers or advertising experts. Their
opinions are collected and analysed to find out whether the proposed advertisement is
satisfactory or not.
e. Recall test Method: Under this method, advertising copies are shown to a group of
prospects. After few minutes they are asked to recall and reproduce them. This method is used
to find out how far the advertisements are impressive.
f. Reaction test: The potential effect of an advertisement is judged with the help of certain
instruments, which measure heartbeats, blood pressure, pupil dilution etc. Their reactions
reveal the psychological or nervous effects of advertising.
g. Readability test: All the listeners of advertisements cannot read it equally. So respondents
are drawn from different socio economic and geographical backgrounds. This method is used to
find out the level of effectiveness when and advertisement is read.
h. Eye movement test: The movements of eyes of the respondents are recorded by using eye
observation camera when advertisements are shown to them in a screen. This helps to find out
the attention value of advertisement.
2) Post-Test Techniques: The following are the post-test techniques for measuring the
effectiveness of the advertisements –
(1) Recognition Test – It determines the readership of the advertisement in the newspapers
and journals. This test is conducted by personal interviews with readers, and magazines or
newspapers. The interviewers locate the readers of the particular issue of the magazine in
question. They, then, go through the magazine page by page with the respondent indicating
those advertising elements which he or she recognise as having read.

The data collected by this test indicate the proportion of qualified readership of a publication
who claims to have „seen‟, „read some‟ or „read most of the elements of the individual
advertisement. These measurements may also seek to obtain quantitative data regarding the
parts of an advertisement which were seen or heard.
(2) Recall or Impact Test – The recognition test measurers the stopping power of the
advertising but goes not tell us what the readers understood or retained of the advertisement.
The recall test is designed to measure the impression of readers or viewers of the
advertisement. If a reader has a favorable impression of the advertisement, he will certainly
retain something of the advertisement. The measures of interest would be obtained by
interviewing the readers or viewers or listeners, days after the advertisement or commercial is
appeared in the newspaper, or on T.V. Interviewer asks the questions from the readers /
viewers and in response to the question asked, the reader reveals the accuracy and depth of his
impression by his answers.
(3) Psychological Analysis – The whole process of advertising is psychological in character. It

is therefore, natural to apply some psychological tests to measure the effectiveness of the
advertising. Four psychological testing techniques are most commonly used –
(a) Tests of readability and comprehension;

(b) Tests of Believability
(c) Attitude tests; and
(d) Triple Associates Test.
(a)Tests of Readability and Comprehension: It this technique, by means of a series of

penetrating questions and by other techniques developed by psychologists, the ease of
readability and comprehension is determined, in advance of publication. It is determined by the
interviewer under this method whether and to what extent the readers have gone through the
advertisement.
(b)Tests of Believability: An advertisement message effective. ness can be measured by the

degree of credibility the readers have in the product. A scale technique is generally employed to
measure the credibility by putting several statements or product claims before. the consumers
and are created by them. The statement or product Claims gets the highest priority votes may
be taken as the most effective statement or claim.
(c) Attitude Tests: A number of attitude tests are developed by the psychologists who can be
applied to copy testing. Typical consumers are exposed to sample advertising messages, either
printed or oral. The interviewer then asks series of penetrating questions, to determine the
attitude produced by these various message. Psychological reactions such as age, involvement,
the eye of person who would use the product and the personality of the product reflected by the
advertisement being tested, are obtained. The researcher looks especially for elements in the
advertising which arouse psychological hostility.

(a) Triple Hostility Tests – these ties in advertising with recall by seeking to learn the extent
of the consumer association with the product, the brand name and copy theme. The test is
useful only when the advertising features a specific theme or slogan, which the reader may
remember. This procedure is sometimes known as theme penetration.
3) Concurrent Methods: Under this method, tests are conducted while the consumers are
exposed to different types of media. For instance, a magazine reader may be observed while
reading the magazine. Which carries an advertisement? The concurrent methods are
1. Consumer diaries
2. Co-incidental surveys and
3. Electronic devices.
1. Consumer diaries: Under this method, diaries are supplied to a few selected customers.
They are also informed to record the details of advertisements they listen or read. The diaries
are collected periodically. The result obtained from such a survey reveals the effectiveness of
advertisement.
2. Co-incidental surveys: This method is also called as co-incidental telephone method. Under
this method, samples of customers are selected and calls are made at the time of broadcast of
the advertisement programme. The data obtained and analysed will give a picture about the
effectiveness of an advertisement.
3. Electronic devices: Now day’s electronic devices are widely used to measure the
effectiveness of an advertisement. They are mainly used in broadcast media. These are auto
meters, track electronic units etc. The following methods are also used to measure the impact
of advertisement on the sales volume.
I. Historical method and
II. Experimental method
I. Historical method: Under this method, recorded facts related to sales before and after
advertisements are compared. If an advertisement is followed with more sales, advertisement is
considered to be more effective.
II. Experimental method: Under this method, the entire sales territory is divided into three or
four sub-areas. The advertiser spent different amount for advertising in different areas. Then
collects facts regarding sales from these sub-areas, the result is used to measure the
effectiveness of advertisement in boosting sales. Following the result obtained, the advertiser
prepares his advertising budget for future action.
An advertiser has to adopt some follow up measures to increase the effectiveness of

advertisement. For this consumers may be contacted through direct mail after the
advertisement is placed.

Keying the Advertising
It is a fashion to advertise. Every advertiser wants to assess the effectiveness of advertising.

The problem of assessment becomes more complicated when advertiser advertises through
various media. Selection of media is not an easy job. Which media responded to the satisfaction
of the advertiser? Is not an easy question to be answered? In other words there arises the
problem of choosing how to advertise, and through which media naturally one would select a
media – mix that would serve one purpose the most. This can be easily done by keying the
advertising. Keying means to adopt such methods at the time of adverting so that results may
be very easily assured and to do so either of the following may be adopted.
1. Different address may be given to difference media, so that enquiries received may be
scrutinized to find out which media, responds the best. The best media may be selected
and continued for advertisements and the rest may be stopped to avoid unnecessary
waste of time and money.
2. Different papers may be selected for the advertisement of different departments. so as to
know which paper suits the requirements and of which department.
3. A coupon, blank order or space may be provided with the advertisement paper with a
request that all requires should be media along with the coupon, or blank order or space
duly filled in.
4. A request can be made to the enquirer or the prospective buyer, along with the
advertisement that he should mention the name of the particular media which is the
source of his information while making any enquiry. A scrutiny of all those inquiries
may give an idea which paper or media is the best suited.
COMMUNICATION EFFECTS OF ADVERTISEMENT
The management should attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertising campaign if
the firm’s advertising goals are to be achieved and the ad effectiveness is to be increased. By
regular evaluation of the effectiveness, the short comings and the plus points would be revealed
and the management would be able to improve the campaign by negating the shortcomings and
retaining the favorable point. For this purpose, it is very necessary to know how advertising
affects the buyer’s behaviors. But this is very difficult task because measurements are imperfect
and imprecise. The effectiveness of advertising can be measured by the extent, it to which it
achieves the objectives set for it. If it succeeds in attaining the objectives, advertising can be
said to be effective otherwise it will be a waste of money and time. In this sense, advertising can
be recognized as a business activity like other activities.
In a very real sense the integrity of promotional activities rests on how well those activities
work. An advertising budget that is spent on some poorly defined task or on undefined tasks
may be regarded as an economic waste as compared to that spent to achieve the well defined
objectives for which the results can be measured. Any social institution upon which a
significant portion of our total productive efforts is expanded should be able to point to its
specific accomplishment. Indeed, it is a source of discomfort that specific results of advertising

activities have not always been subject to precise measurement. Both practitioners and critics
feel that promotional activities should only be accepted as socio – economic – institution with
full right and privileges “when the means exist to prove that advertising super are productive
rupees‟ It is undoubtedly a source of embarrassment that we cannot exactly measure the
effectiveness of advertising in definitive terms. The exact result of advertisement expenditure is
very difficult to predict because.-
(a) The reaction of consumer – buyers to the advertising efforts cannot be known in
advance.
(b) The reaction of competitors in the field cannot be guessed in anticipation and
(c) The unexpected events (such as change in social and economic environment and the
government policies etc.) cannot be accurately anticipated. Such events may influence
the results of the advertising efforts.
If we take a hypothetical case of a retailer who contract to spent Rs.5000 on advertisement with
a local newspaper for a special sales even. The advertisement is seen and the response is much
greater than it is anticipated. What caused the success of sale? They message theme colours
etc., of the advertisement or the low prices quoted during the sale of the superior quality of the
product or absence of competition in the market on the day or the favorable weather conditions
or the goodwill of the firm etc. The overwhelming success of the sale is the joint result of all
the above variables and it is quite impossible to isolate the role of any one variable. It is so
because the cause and effect – relationship cannot be established in advance when a multitude of
variable impinge upon a particular event. It is entirely possible that a poor advertising support
may push up the sale because everything else falls into its proper place or the reverse may be
possible. But it does not mean that that we cannot measure the effects of particulars advertising
effort.
The advertising executives are much concerned about the assessment of the effectiveness of the
advertising efforts. For this purpose, the management needs answers to such questions as: was
the advertising campaign really successful in attaining the advertising goals? Were our T.V.
commercials as good as those of our competitors? will the print advertisement, which we have
designed, make consumers aware of our new product? To get answers of these questions,
various tests of effectiveness (Pre- tests and post – tests ) are deeded to determine whether
proposed advertisement should be used, and if they are not satisfactory how they might be
improved, and whether ongoing campaign should be stopped continued or changed. Pre- tests
are conducted before exposing target consumers to the advertisements and post tests after
consumers have been exposed to them.
As indicated earlier, the advertisers are interested in knowing what they are getting for their
advertising rupees, So they test the proposed advertisement with pretest and measure the
actual results with a post test. In the past, protesting was done by the advertising agencies but
now the advertisers have been taking an increasingly active role in protesting process. Pretest
may be done either before an advertisement has been designed or executed after it is ready for
public distribution or at both points.

During protesting there is often research on three vital questions:-
(i) Do consumers feel that the advertisement communicates something desirable about
the product?
(ii) Does the message have an exclusive appeal that differentiates the product from that of
the competitors?
(iii) Is the advertisement believable?
Although a lot of money is spent on protesting yet the advertisers like to confirm the results by
post testing of their promotional campaigns due to the following reasons:-
(i) There is a need produce more effective advertising by retaining the good and
removing the bad.
(ii) The advertising executives can prove to the satisfaction of the management that a
higher advertising budget will benefit the firm.
(iii) There is a need for measuring the results to determine the level of expenditure that is
most promising.
Most research focuses on the communication effect rather than sales effect because it is a long
run process. In the short run, however sales may be slight and important but in the long run its
effects on brands and companies may be of great importance. Indirectly it will affect the sales in
the long run, by changing the consumer awareness and attitude. The advertisers are therefore,
concerned with their impact on consumer awareness and attitude. The communication effect on
sales may be presented in the following figure:-
Communication Effect on Sales

Awareness
↓
Attitude
↓
Trial
↓
Satisfaction
↓
Purchases or repurchase
Awareness builds a favorable or at least a curious attitude towards the product which leads to
experimentation. If consumer is satisfied with the trial he may decide to purchase the product.
There are many critical and unresolved issues in determining how to test the communication
effects of advertising. Among these are:-
(1) Exposure Conditions – Should advertising be tested under realistic conditions or

under more controlled laboratory conditions?
(2) Execution – Protesting a finished advertisement as an expensive and time consuming.
Does protesting a preliminary execution produce accurate and useful data?

(3) Quality Vs. Quantity Data - Quantitative data are the easiest and the almost precise
measurement. But qualitative data collected through interviews may provide
information that short answer questions never can.
Many types of advertising tests are conducted (different methods of pretests and post – test are
given in question number) In T.V. commercials are tested by inviting a group of people to the
studio to view a programme. The audience is then surveyed about the commercials. Print
advertisements are tested through dummy magazine portfolio tests.
Compunction Effectiveness Vs Sales Effectiveness
It is easier to assess the communication effect of advertising than the sales effect. Many firms
try to measure the effectiveness of advertising in terms of sales results but this practice is
always misleading. Since, the effect is the result of so many variables, a distinct effect of
advertising on sales cannot be correctly measured, Although there may be some exceptions.
For example direct mail advertising can effectively be measured by the inquiries received. But
in many situations the exact relationship between advertising activity and sales cannot be
established satisfactorily.
We can correctly assume that some sales will occur even though there is no advertising or little
advertising or conversely there will be no increase in sales after the point of saturation is
reached or it may be that sales will show a decreasing trend at this point in spite of large
amount of expenditure on advertising is done. It is so because advertising is no the only
variable that effect the sales.
Thus, we may conduct that sales effect of advertising is difficult to measure because a number
of variables affect the quantum of tales and the contribution of advertisement cannot be
measured separately unless all other variables are presumed to be constant. This situation is
quite hypothetical and almost non-existent. Added to this is the fact that advertisement itself is
made of a variety of variables such as media, messages, colours, page or time of the day,
locations, the size of the headline and the appeals used. Thus even if the advertising variable is
separated this would still not answer the question about the effectiveness of the individual
components of the advertising campaign. So advertisers try to measure the communication
effect of the advertising.

Unit – 4
Special Issues in Advertising

Corporate Image Building Advertising
Corporate Image: Corporate image is the picture a company’s audiences have of it. It will be
determined by all a company’s actions. The problem a company faces is that different audiences
will interpret a message in different ways. The management of the corporate image is thus an
ongoing task.
Corporate image includes information and inferences about the company as an employer, as a
seller, as an investment and as a corporate citizen. A company will have more than one image
depending on the nature of the interaction it has with the different groups. Since people tend to
"humanize" companies, corporate image may also include characteristics often attributed to
humans such as "caring", "friendly", and "ruthless" and so on.
The first step in attempting to influence and manage the corporate image of an organization is
to understand the process by which corporate image is formed. The figure provides a
conceptual framework of the corporate image formation process. The framework suggests that
there are numerous sources that influence and hence affect the image of an organization. These
sources can be broadly classified into two major groups or spheres of influence: a) internal and
controllable sphere of influence; and b) external and non-controllable sphere of influence
Internal Spheres of Influence: Within the internal sphere of influence are at least five major
sources that help form a corporate image:
a) Corporate personality and identity: Corporate Personality and Corporate Identity: Every
company has a "personality" which can be defined as the sum total of the characteristics of that
organization. These characteristics can be quantitative (e.g., size of organization, volume of
sales) or qualitative (e.g. reputation, quality of products and services) in nature; and they serve
to distinguish one organization from another. These qualitative and quantitative characteristics
collectively comprise the corporate personality.
The term, corporate personality, refers to who and what the company is, rather than how the
company is perceived by the public.
A company also has an "identity" which can be described as an ideal self-image. Ideal self-image
is that image which the company would like the public to hold.
b) Corporate advertising: Corporate advertising seeks to inform and influence the public's
attitudes about a company's actions, characteristics, or viewpoints is a tool often used to deliver
this information and, by doing so, influence stakeholders' image of the corporation

c) Brand image: Brand image consists of functional, symbolic and experiential aspects of the
product or service including the influence of product advertising on the brand. Intuitively, one
would expect a significant interaction between brand image and corporate image. This is
especially true for brand names such as Coke or Sony, where the company name (or a part of it)
is also the brand name. In such cases the interaction effect would be maximum.
d) Public relations: Public relation programs can be used to project an image of a company
that is environmentally conscious which can do wonders for the company.
e) Frontline employee behavior: In many situations, direct contact with frontline employees
of the company serves to form impressions about the company. The courtesy and knowledge of
the telephone receptionist, the efficiency of the service engineer or the sincere concern of a sales
manager in dealing with the complaints of a customer, will help form or reinforce an
organization’s image.
External sphere of influence
a) Industry Image
b) Country-of-Origin Image Research has shown that knowledge of the country-of-
origin affects both the image of the brand and the company (Darling & Arnold, 1988).
This interaction helps explain the halo effect associated with Japanese cars and
German machinery. Consumers, for example, may form an image that Mitsubishi is a
maker of high quality automobiles just knowing Mitsubishi is a Japanese company
without ever having had direct dealings with the company.
c) Press Reports: There is also a link between company public relations, press reports
and the image of the company.
d) Word-of-mouth: Word-of-mouth is personal communications between two or more
people. This includes stakeholder's conversations with family, friends, colleagues,
acquaintances, and so on. In the absence of direct interaction with the organization,
the stakeholder may form opinions and impressions of the organization based on what
others say about the company.
Corporate Communication is the process that translates corporate identity into a corporate
image. The identity needs to be communicated to employees, customers, suppliers and
shareholders if it is to have any value. The role of design within this is to visually signify what
a company stands for.” The development of an image should revolve around many things
including:
• Staff training to help develop a customer service “culture”

• Community awards, including Certificates of Merit for sporting and cultural
achievement and Staff Excellence Awards
• School education programs
• Council’s involvement in community activities and events
• The wearing of Corporate uniform by staff
• The wearing of a name badge by staff in all encounters with the public

• The preparation of cost effective, informative and interesting publications. Surveys and
the invitation for public comment, where appropriate, should be included in some of
these publications to evaluate stakeholder interest and to promote community
involvement.
Some of the important roles for developing Corporate Image:
1. Role of the General Manager and Directors

i) The General Manager and Directors should rate the enhancement of
Company’s corporate image highly in the day to day running of the
organisation and its functions i.e. informing the customer of what is
happening on a weekly or even daily basis
2. The Role of the Customer First Manager in Corporate Image
i) To prepare, develop and review the Corporate Image.
ii) To manage and oversee the implementation of the Strategy
3. The Role of the Communications Officer in Corporate Image
i) To have input into the development and review of the Corporate Image.
ii) To implement those sections of the Strategy and Action Plan which are the
responsibility of the Communications Officer?
iii) To receive information from the various Departments that will, through its
dissemination, improve and enhance the corporate image of the company
4. The Role of Staff in Corporate Image
i) Staff members are at the forefront in liaison with the company’s stakeholders.
Each and every action that is performed by staff members is deemed to be an
act of the company. Therefore, the way the staff deal with customers at the
counter, in the field, on the telephone and in response to written or electronic
requests will reflect on the organisation. As a result they are in the best
position to recommend changes to Management which will benefit both the
customer, in the form of superior levels of service, and the company, by way
of time and cost savings
PUBLIC RELATION OF AN ORGANISATION
Public relations are a discipline of management that can greatly enhance the communication
process and, therefore, the image of the organization. It is one of the most important tools in
building a positive corporate image.
Importance of Public Relations of an organization
Public relations enable the community to gain an impression of the organisation and this
perception will be the basis for, and the influencing factor in, establishing the company’s
corporate image. The organizations as an entity, and each individual involved, have important
roles to play in raising the profile of the organisation and achieving good public relations.

The following guidelines are submitted:
1. The management should respect the role of the media to inform the public and therefore
should not expect the media’s view to be always positive and in accordance with those of
Council.
2. Councillors should be mindful of the public nature of their meetings and of the
expectations the electors have in respect of their chosen representatives.
3. Company should operate an open access policy. Directors (or in their absence,section
Managers) should supply information to the media when requested in accordance with
various codes, policies and resolutions of the same
4. It is vital to be aware of all the staff members as they being a critical component in
achieving a corporate image.
5. Regular team meetings need to be set in place to ensure that communication flow exists.
Staff members should be encouraged to strive for excellence in every facet of their work
and should be consulted, not only on ways to improve work performance, but also to
enhance the corporate image through effective public relations in the work place.
6. It should also be ensured that knowledge, confidence, a positive attitude and an
appearance that reflects the corporate image are attributes that all staff embrace; not
just those in regular contact with the public.
7. All the related information and objectives should be conveyed to staff on a regular basis
through informal discussions with work groups, monthly team meetings
COMPONENTS OF AN INDIVIDUAL IMAGE
In order to create a positive professional image, impression management must effectively

accomplish two tasks: build credibility and maintain authenticity. When you present yourself in
a manner that is both true to self and valued and believed by others, impression management
can yield a host of favorable outcomes for you, your team, and your organization.
Everyone in the organisation has a role to play in developing and enhancing the corporate
image. It is essential for a leader to be natural and humane in practice and analysis. The most
important goal is to measure against your own experiences. Very often what makes leaders
great is that they could transcend personal feelings to help a person to see only they can help
themselves to be more productive but also more effective and intelligent.
Keys to enhance Individual Image:
To understand the core competencies and character traits you want people to associate with
you. Assess how others currently perceive you.
• Employ appropriate traditional and social identity-based impression management

strategies.
• Pay attention to the balancing act—build credibility while maintaining authenticity.

If you are the leader in charge, you have the authority to make the decision, but also the
responsibility to do so and take the consequences. Authority and responsibility go hand in
hand.
• Consider carefully before you commit or act and if necessary take extra time to consider
the implications, risks and how to implement strategies. Another one that sounds
obvious, but consistency, integrity, ingenuity and reliability are things that make or
break leaders.
• It is important to communicate wisely and never consider it a weakness to ask for help.
When a person is too proud to ask for help it sows the seeds of failure early as when
they cannot ask for help or advise when it is really needed, either emotionally or
symbolically as a way to save face, they lose their ability to act and implement change or
strategy, as well as losing integrity and ability to inspire at one stroke.
• Not only does everyone start somewhere, but no one ever stops learning and expanding
in experience and knowledge. Sometimes we may feel wise and capable but be able to be
stunned at the most simple of insights.
• Know what is going on and stay in touch. Not only within your team, but in the
company, your clients, your suppliers and the general world around you.
• Be proactive. Oddly enough some individuals love or loathe this word. It means being
aware and acting against possible problems and also to make possible opportunities into
real opportunities.
Vital components an individual must inculcate;
• A positive attitude towards, and belief in the organization

• Innovation and creativity in furthering the organization’s objectives
• Being accountable for their own performance
• Understanding the importance of their contribution and role in the organization
• Accepting ownership of problems and responsibility for solving them
• To actively seek opportunities to enhance knowledge and experience
• Be respectful of, and helpful to, colleagues and able to openly discuss problems and
issues.
Effective corporate branding requires all company employees to adopt and behave according to
a company's set of core values. Thus, strong corporate brands are associated with employees
who are closely aligned with the core corporate values. Values are especially important as they
are at the core of the corporate brand, are critical to how service brands differentiate
themselves, and can inspire behavioral changes, motivation and commitment.
ADVERTISING AND CORPORATE IMAGE
In an increasingly competitive marketplace, greater emphasis is being placed on brand image

development as the basis for consumer discrimination. Advertising has a central role to play in
developing brand image, whether at the corporate, retail or product level. It informs consumers

of the functional capabilities of the brand while simultaneously imbuing the brand with
symbolic values and meanings relevant to the consumer.
Corporate Advertising
Corporate Advertising as a basic tool of Public Relations is that broad area of non-product
advertising aim specifically at enhancing company’s image and increasing lacking awareness.
It can be defined as “paid use of media that seeks to benefit the image of the corporation as a
whole rather than its product or services alone”
Corporate Advertising is a promotional strategy that is designed to not only interest

consumers in products and services offered by an organization, but also to cultivate a positive
reputation among consumers and others written the business world. The focus of Corporate
Advertising is on the company itself, with the attention to the products produced by the
organization being a byproduct of the advertising effort.
Types of Corporate Advertising: The four types of corporate advertising commonly used by
organizations are:
1. PR Ad
2. Institutionally Ad
3. Corporate Identity Ad
4. Recruitment Ad
PUBLIC RELATIONS AD: It is typically used to improve the company’s relations with
labour, government, customers or even suppliers. Thus, when a company sponsors arts events,
programmes on television or charitable activities, they are engaging in PR. PR Ad is used when
a company wishes to communicate directly with one of its important publics to express its
feelings or to enhance its point of view to that particular audience. They are designed to
enhance a company’s general community citizenship and to create public goodwill.
INSTITUTIONAL AD: otherwise called corporate advertisement Institutional advertising is

marketing designed to promote a company rather than a specific good or service. It can be
designed to make the public more aware of a company or to improve the reputation and image
of an existing company. Depending on the company, this can be a form of brand advertising.
Institutional Ads serve these purposes amongst others:
• To report company’s achievement or accomplishment

• To position company competitively in the market place
• To reflect a change in corporate personality
• To shove up stock prices of companies
• To improve employees morale
• To avoid communication problems with agents, dealers, suppliers, customers etc.

CORPORATE IDENTITY AD: This is embarked upon on rare occasion such as when
organization decides to change its name, logo, address, trademark or corporate signature or in
case of a merger. When such occasions occur, there is need for Corporate Identity Advertising,
this is to communicate the change to the public.
RECRUITMENT AD: This is used when the prime objective is to attract employment
applications. Recruitment advertising, also known as Recruitment Communications and
Recruitment Agency, includes all communications used by an organization to attract talent to
work within it.
Recruitment advertisements typically have a uniform layout and contain the following
elements:
• the job title heading and location

• an explanatory paragraph describing the company, including the Employer Brand
• a description of the position
• entry qualifications
• the remuneration package (not always provided by the employer)
• further details and from where application forms may be sought
Image Advertising: It is a type of marketing that attempts to improve the company's

reputation or increase the acknowledgment of its importance in relation to its competitors.
This ad educates the public about the company's leadership and market position in an attempt
to show the company as a primary reason a particular industry is prospering or beneficially
impacting consumers.
Opinion, or Advocacy, Advertising: This corporate advertising is primarily concerned with

influencing public opinion on issues of importance to the company. The ad is educational, and
may not even mention the company in a major way.
Its role is to implement product flow through the channels of distribution; to act as a catalyst in
acquainting the consumer and to induce him to buy the product. Advertising is a device of
persuasive communication through which a prospective industrial buyer becomes aware of the
company and its product. Through the awareness or knowledge thus acquired the buyer shows
interest or liking for the product and finally makes purchases at least on trial basis. One may
then say that the ultimate purpose of advertising is to create sales which of course depends on
the functional relationship between non-personal communication (through advertising
messages) and sales.
Advertising as a tool that aids in increasing demand for a product and, thus opens the way for
large scale production at lower cost which ultimately passed on to the consumers in terms of
lower price they pay for the product. Also, it increases the variety and quality of good offered,
stimulates competition in technical progress, subsidizes the press and television services and
thus, helps in providing employment.

Advertising for Social Cause
Since advertisement is directed at the society, it affects the society in many ways, Society is
concerned with how the advertising is done and its effects on it. Advertising is criticizedon the
grounds of the deception, manipulation, bad taste and manipulating consumers againsttheir
will. It is believed that the persuasiveness of the Ad has an impact on the value system ofthe
society. The consumer is deceived when the benefits he perceives are far below hisexpectations.
This could be due to miscommunication or improper emphasis on attributes. Advertisement as
a whole should not be misleading. It should not conceal material facts andgive a true picture of
the benefits, the cost and the offer. For example:
“Buy X brand of batteries with a trip to U.S.A.”
The Ad is misleading it should be written as,
“Buy X brand of batteries with a chance of a trip to U.S.A.”
Social and Ethical Issues in Advertising
Advertising is criticized of manipulating the buyers to make a decision against their will or
interest. Playing on the sub-conscious mind, motives and various form of appeals. The appeals
generated by the advertisements are sometimes so strong that the consumer fully believe in
them and does not apply his/her mind to make a decision and buys it without much thought.
Advertising has also been criticized to be in bad taste because of:

• Moral concerns about advertising of harmful products—Tobacco, Alcohol etc.
• Objection to over emphasis on sex—sex appeals.
• Objection to occasion of exposure when children are present with the adults.
• Objection to advertising strategy of excessive repetition of the Ad.
• It is accused of attaching too much importance to the material aspects of life.
• It promotes certain individuals as stereotypes. Women are always shown in the role of a
mother or a housewife, instead of business executives except in few cases. Similarly,
business executives are shown with a cigar. Women are shown to create a romantic
situation.
• Too much advertising on children is considered a matter of great concern.
• Advertising provides sensitivity to price. It shows differentiation among closely
resembling brands.
• Advertising causes insecurity by making people worry about tooth decay, body odors,
and lack of self-confidence. It creates fear in the mind of the consumer e.g.,
L.I.C. “Get you insured for the future is not known”.
“We will all get old one day—Let us help each other”.
In spite of the above criticism, the advertisement has come to stay in the system. It
communicates and makes goods available. It promotes purchases and stimulates consumption.
It is an essential part of marketing strategy. It promotes a number of social issues and brings
awareness in the masses. The subjects of family planning, health care, prevention of accidents
are the major themes. If certain codes, rules and regulations are followed advertising benefits
overweigh those of criticism. The Ad must be legal, honest, truthful and decent. This will
ensure the expansion of the advertising both in India and abroad.
CLASSIFICATION OF SOCIAL ADVERTISING
Social advertisements have become a mainstay of advertising scene and all media carry multiple
social advertisements. Social advertising can be differentiated on the basis of the issues they
focus on, the media on which they are run and the languages in which they are conducted.
Sponsor: One of the most common ways of classifying social advertising is on the basis of the
advertiser. In India often government and its various ministries run social advertising at
national level to address issues such as awareness against disasters, promotion of Indian
tourism and payment of Income Tax. In fact, government had been the leading advertiser in
terms of volume for the years 2006 and 2007. Local units of state governments such as Mumbai
Police uses advertising for alerting citizens against terrorism, while Municipal Corporation of
Greater Mumbai (MCGM) urges people through advertising to keep the city clean. Non-profit
organisations such as Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) run advertising for early
detection and prevention of cancer. Media is the advertiser when television channel, Aaj Tak
seeks public support for issues such as eve-teasing and second hand smoke. Companies are

regular advertisers; Maruti Udyog had launched advertisements for inculcating safe driving
practices among people.
Objectives of the advertising campaign: On the basis of the objectives that social advertising
intends to achieve, it can be classified into awareness oriented and action oriented campaigns.
Some social advertisements are aimed at just informing the audience about a matter such as
government informing the audience about a new power plant it has set up for facilitating power
supply through social advertisements in media. While social advertising by NGO, working for
orphans, would expect a concrete action from the audience such as sponsoring a child's
education.
Nature of change expected by social advertising: Social advertising may be classified on the
basis of the change or the difference that they intend to bring about. The changes can be in
attitude, behaviour and sometimes even both. These changes could vary on the basis of time
they take; some could be achieved on immediate basis while others may take time to ensue.
Further, these changes may be obvious and easily visible and sometimes they may actually take
place but may not be visible. Social advertising waged against discrimination, suffered by AIDS
patients at work, aim to bring attitudinal changes among the general people. Here the purpose
of advertisement is to create awareness about the issue and the change expected is in the
attitude of the audience. Moreover the expected attitudinal change may take considerable time
to sink in and even if the change takes place it may not be visible at all. On the other hand,
there is social advertising aimed at bringing about changes in the audience's behaviour. Social
advertising appealing audience, to use seat belts while driving, is a visible change that can be
brought about in a short time, especially if the system involves penalising the offenders.
Time frame: On the basis of time frame social advertising can be classified into time bound
social advertising and social advertising without any specific time frame. The popular Pulse
Polio drive is conducted on specific dates and as such appeals parents to bring their children for
the oral polio vaccinations on the prescribed dates. The advertisements by tax authorities for
paying service or income tax want their audience to file their tax returns before the deadlines.
While social advertisements for donating eyes or organs do not have any time frame. In case
the audience is convinced with the idea of donating they can complete the formalities for
donation as per their wish.
Relevance in terms of duration or event: In certain cases social advertising are relevant only
for a particular duration or event and later it seems meaningless. Social advertisements based
on fund raising for earthquake victims, in a particular village, will have relevance only for few
days or months after the earthquake. Social advertisements on long distance trains introduced
by railway ministry, during festive seasons, will not hold any relevance after the season is over.
Whereas, appeal to plant more trees or save water will perhaps never cease its relevance as it is
not connected to any event.
Target audience: Social advertising can be classified on the basis of the target audience they
are meant for. There are social advertisements that are targeted towards a specific segment of
the society such as anti tobacco advertisements that are specifically targeted towards smokers.

Whereas some social advertisements are pervasive in their appeal and do not target any specific
audience like fostering brotherhood.
Geographic area covered: On the basis of the geographical area social advertising can be
classified into local, regional, national and international. Some social advertisements are limited
in their scope and their applicability is limited to a particular locality. A hospital organising
health camp for people from specific locality will restrict its advertisement to the locality only.
A state government advertises about employment schemes for people only belonging to its
state. The health ministry of India promoting social advertisements, against consumption of
tobacco products in public places, are applicable nationwide. The United Nations promoting
advertisement against terrorism has an international appeal.
Independent social advertising versus social advertising as a part of social marketing:

Social advertising can be a part of social marketing and in such case is expected to function as
per the role assigned to it under social marketing. In India to tackle the AIDS epidemic, social
marketing adopts various approaches, such as distributing free condoms, providing treatment
to the patients at subsidized rates and conducting lectures on sex education for youth. Along
with all these, AIDS related social advertising is also promoted in keeping with the need of the
entire social marketing effort aimed at fighting AIDS. On the other hand there are social
advertisements conducted on issues independently like eve-teasing and domestic violence just
to create awareness that may not be part of social marketing.
Paid versus free social advertising: On the basis of the money involved in running social
advertisements, social advertising can be categorised as in free or paidup advertisements. Some
social advertising, because of their noble cause, may enjoy contributions from different
quarters, like advertising agency providing creative service for free and media allotting free
space or slots. In some cases social advertisements can be conducted by paying for the services
undertaken exactly in the same manner in which commercial advertisements are run. The
professional advertising agency is hired to create advertisements and media is paid for the
number of slots or spaces utilised.
Direct versus indirect benefits: Social advertising can be classified on the basis of the
beneficiaries likely to gain from social advertising. Certain social advertisements bring benefit
to the audience and in certain conditions it benefits some other party. The advertisements
promoting regular check-ups for women above 40 years of age, for cancer detection/prevention
are likely to benefit the women themselves who take up tests regularly. Whereas a charitable
institution working for aged people seeks donations from the citizens that will benefit the
inmates of the institution and will not bring any direct benefit to the donors. Thus, social
advertising can be classified in multiple ways. These social advertisements on the basis of issues
they focus can be divided into four categories:-Social advertisements on health, Social
advertisements on national integration, Social advertisements on agriculture, and Social
advertisements on women.
Division of social advertisements on the basis of issues

Relation of social advertising to the advertiser's line of product or service: This
classification is applicable to social advertising campaigns that are run by business
organisations such as manufacturers or service providers apart from government and
nongovernmental organisations. The contribution to the cause is the cost of obtaining
objectives of goodwill, high employee morale and enhanced corporate and brand image, though
in certain cases the organisations also seem to make higher sales and increase their market
share by taking advantage of social cause advertising. The social advertising conducted by such
advertisers basically falls in two categories, issues connected in some way to the line of product
or service they manufacture/provide and the issues not connected in any way to their line of
business. Car manufacturers promoting use of seatbelts and liquor manufacturers creating
awareness about drunken driving are social advertisements associated with the advertisers
businesses. In some cases the advertisers adopt a social cause not associated with their line of
business, either out of genuine concern or out of profit motive. For example a manufacturing
organisation conducting social advertising to raise awareness on female feticide or child abuse
will be benefited by way of goodwill only without any material gain. But an organisation
appealing to audience to buy the company's brands because the profit from sales will be used for
a noble cause is actually trying to use the social cause as a peg to motivate the socially aware
customer to buy the brand and show their support. The organisation in such cases stands to
gain a positive image amongst its audience as well as make monetary benefits by riding on the
social issue. Idea Cellular’s campaign of Use Mobile Save Paper and Tata Tea’s Jaago Re
campaign are the best examples of using social messages in the products.
APPEALS IN SOCIAL ADVERTISING
One of the most critical decisions about creative strategy in advertising involves the choice of
an appropriate appeal. As Creative advertising appeal for product is used to attract the
consumer to buy a particular product similarly a nicely built advertising campaign with
different approach is used to influence the feelings of people for an idea or service. The

advertising agencies use different tricks and types of advertising appeals that influence the
mind of the people targeted in a particular group. Through the use of different kind of appeals,
advertising attempts to communicate and influence the behaviour of individuals. Some ads are
designed with the objective to appeal to the rational and logical aspect of the people’s decision
making process and others might try to evoke some desired emotional response. A vast amount
of time, money and energy goes into the creative work of developing advertising appeals to
influence the behavior of people. Developing advertising appeals is a challenging task. It is
typically the responsibility of creative people in the advertising agency.
Advertising appeals aim to influence the people in a way to create social awareness and bring
about a change / shift in the mind sets of people. The message conveyed through advertising
appeals influences the decisions of public. Advertising uses appeals as a way of persuading
people for necessary development. There are different types of appeals used in social
advertising- Rational, Emotional and Moral.
Rational appeals: The advertisement “smoking is injurious” gives individuals a rational reason
to not to smoke.
Emotional appeal: Emotional appeals attempt to use negative and positive emotions that will
motivate the behaviour. Emotions are those mental agitations or excited states of feeling which
prompt people to accept the idea. Emotional appeals, unlike rational appeals, are not preceded
by careful analysis of the pros and cons of adopting a particular behaviour. This relates to the
customers‟ social and/or psychological needs for a social idea. This appeal is so effective
because many consumers‟ motives for attitude change are emotional. Many advertisers believe
that emotional appeal is the best appeal to change the individuals thinking. The Immunization
advertisement appeals to parents and encourage them to immunize the child properly if they
wish to see their children happy and comfortable.
Humour Appeals: Humour is one of the most common advertising appeals used by the
advertisers. Humour appeals evoke the feelings of amusement and pleasure and thus help in
attracting attention, creating a good mood. Humorous ads can be created by using an
interesting and entertaining storyline. Humour is also reflected in the jingles, the satire and the
buns used in the ads. It is used in many advertisements. It is an excellent tool to catch the
viewers‟ attention and help in achieving instant recall which can work well.
Fear Appeal: It also comes under emotional appeal because fear is also an emotion. Fear is also
an important factor that can have an incredible influence on individuals. Fear is often used in
social marketing campaigns. The advertisement tries to show the negative consequences, if the
individual fails to adopt it. This creates fear in their minds and persuades them to follow. The
Polio advertisement says- any child can get the polio disesase, so go to polio booth and
vaccinate the child to avoid the disease.
Music Appeal: Music can be used as types of advertising appeals as it has a certain intrinsic
value and can help in increasing the persuasiveness of the advertisement. It can also help catch

attention and increase customer recall. In Respect Nation advertisement, one of the old social
advertisements, National anthem is played in background music in a very attractive manner. It
shows that we should respect our national anthem in a standing position.
Statistics Appeal: Advertisements also use statistics and figures to display aspects of the idea
in general. This is used to build confidence among the people to adopt the behaviour. For
example, in the advertisements of stop female foeticide, ratio of girls and boys are presented in
a very decent way to inform the people.
Celebrity Appeal: Famous celebrities are chosen to endorse the ad. The public gets attracted
to see their favourite celebrity and tend to use the idea the celebrity is endorsing. For example,
Amitabh Bachchan is seen promoting Pulse Polio Movement. Most of his fans would follow
him and go to polio booth for polio vaccination.
Industrial Advertising
The most popular terminology used for industrial advertising is Business to Business
advertising. This type of advertising generally includes a company advertising its products or
services for the companies which actually uses same or similar products or services or we can
say that the advertising company should produce the products which the other company needs
for its productions or functions. For e.g. some mineral water companies which work on a
smaller scale outsource the packaging bottles, the caps for bottles, the cover with name printed
on it, etc. so for this, the advertisements of the manufacturers of bottles, caps and outer
packaging paper can work.
A smaller to smaller and largest of all, every company has to do industrial advertising. For e.g.
if a company is making coffee powder, it will sell its powder to the distributors who in turn will
sale it to the retailers and wholesalers and also to the big companies who has a coffee machine
for their employees. Thus companies manufacturing any products can be advertised to the
other companies, like raw materials, the machineries used by other companies, spare parts of
the machines which makes it work, anything.
Role of Industrial Advertising
• It minimizes the hunt for buyers.

• It helps in increasing sales of the company.
• It helps in making more and more distribution channels.
• It makes company work more efficiently to produce the desired product or service.
• It creates awareness among the customers or other companies about the products and
services.
Process of Industrial Advertising
The strategies used in industrial advertising differ from company to company, as different
companies have different products to be advertised. So, a single rule cannot work for all the

companies’ advertisements. But the basic process which can lead to a successful advertisement
is: knowing the objective for advertising - identifying the target companies - researching about
the market conditions and the competitors - creating the ad to be delivered - selecting media to
be used - what should be the budget allotted - execution of the advertisement - getting the
feedbacks from the customers.
Media types in Industrial Advertising
The media generally used in the industrial advertising is print media and direct marketing.
Print Media includes business magazines, trade publications, newspapers, technical journals,
etc. To make print media work efficiently, there are some do’s and don’ts to be kept in mind:
• Visual image of the ad should be very sharp and prominent

• The ad should be so impressive that readers get attracted towards reading it
• The highlight should be on the service or product offered and not the source by which it
is being offered
• Let the ad be simple to be read (with no difficult fonts)
• The picture shown should not be irrelevant with the product.
• The ad should reflect the company’s image.
• The ad should to be in logical sequence if it is of two or more pages.
• Headlines should be catchy and suiting the product image.
• And lastly, at the bottom of the page, the company name, address and phone number of
the respected office should be mentioned clearly without fail.
Direct Marketing includes:
a. Direct Mail - here, the newsletters, data sheets, and the brochures of the company are
directly mailed to the customers’ postal address.
b. Telephonic Advertising - the advertising is done by calling up the customers on there
telephones, giving messages on mobile phones, etc.

c. Online Advertising - includes companies sending e-mails to the customers or other
companies enclosing information about their products ant services, putting online
banners, providing e-shopping options, etc.
The advertisers also use other ways for promoting their products like participating in trade
shows, trade expos, and fairs.
Thus, the companies can use any or every type of advertising, the important motto being
increase in sales, producing best quality products, maintaining good relations with the
customers, and achieving the desired goal.
Common Types of Industrial Advertising: Like other forms of advertising, industrial

advertising should be based on a marketing strategy that incorporates information about your
target customers, competitors, market, and unique selling proposition. These elements allow
you to identify the best places to reach the consumers who need your products.
Industrial advertising is usually placed in industry-specific channels, which allows businesses to

narrowly target other businesses who need their goods and services. These channels include:
• Trade shows or business fairs.

• Industry publications, such as trade magazines or websites.
• Direct mail advertisements, including brochures, postcards, or catalogs.
• Cold calling or emailing.
• Word-of-mouth or referral advertising.
Regulations of Advertising in India
There are Regulation and Control over Advertising business. The Government of India has
setup separate ministry to promote, regulate and control over advertising. We shall discuss
each of regulatory and controlling agencies of advertising separately as follows:
ADVERTISING STANDARDS COUNCIL OF INDIA (ASCI)
There are certain laws, standards and codes which provide guidelines for ethical and
professional management of business. These laws are called self regulation laws. These self-
regulation laws provide guidelines for the advertisers, publications and advertising agencies.
These laws mainly prohibit those aspects of advertising which are either untruth or harmful to
the society. There are more chances of being wrong or untruth advertisements in the market,
which mislead the consumers. Unethical advertisements not only harm the consumers but it
also produces losses to the society. In long run such advertisements do not succeed.
Codes of ASCI: The main objective of the code is to control the content of every
advertisement. This is helpful to manufactures also as it regulates their ads. Because of these
codes the consumers are mostly benefited as they are not supplied wrong information and they
are not misled.

Objectives: The codes of ASCI have following objectives:
1. It ensures the truthfulness in the advertisements and checks that no misleading

information is presented.
2. It puts control on offensive ads of public decency.
3. It ensures true and fair competition and avoids artificial competition.
4. It restricts ads of hazardous products from the society.
Characteristics: The codes laid-down by ASCI have following characteristics:
1. Extent of Application: The code applies to all the advertisements that appear by any
media. For example it may be on television, over radio, in cinema or posters.
2. Code and Consumers: The code does not permit any ad misleading the consumers. The
untruthful advertisements with false information’s are not allowed. If any such ad is
presented, the consumers can bring it to the notice of ASCI.
3. Aim of Code: The code is laid down with the aim to ensure the public protection and
guard them against false and untruthful advertisements.
4. Responsibility of Media Owner: Any media owner must view each advertisement
offered for publication to them from the point of view of the code. If the feels that any
particular ad is against the code, he can approach to ASCI and inform accordingly. If
ASCI find the violation of code, the media owner must not publish the advertisement.
5. Ads for Children: The ASCI code also keeps control on ads meant for children. Such
ads should not contain any information or idea either in illustration or words, which
might cause moral, physical or mental harm to children.
6. Code and Foreign Ads: The ASCI code is limited to advertisements Published in India
only. It does not apply to advertisements on foreign medias.
7. Identical Ads: The code also requires that an ad should not be just a copy of other
advertisements. It should not be identical in respect of general layout, copy clogs, visual,
presentation, music, etc. This restriction is put in order to avoid confusion and
misleading of consumers.
DOORDARSHAN CODE
Advertising should be designed as to conform to the laws of the country and should not offend
against morality, decency and religious susceptibilities of the people.
1. No advertisement should be permitted:
a. To derides any race, caste, colour, creed, nationality except wherein such usage would
be for the specific purpose of effective dramatisation, such as combating prejudice;
b. Which is against any of the objective principles, or provision of the constitution of
India;
c. Which will tend to incite people to crime or to promote disorder, violence, or breach of
law or glorifies violence or obscurity in any way;
d. Which presents criminality as desirable;

e. Which would be adversely affect friendly relations with foreign States;
f. Which exploits the national emblem, or any part of constitution, of the person or
personality of a national leader of State Dignitary;
g. Advertisements must not be directed towards any religious or political end or have any
relations to any industrial dispute;
h. Advertisement for services concerned with the following are not acceptable : (a) Money
lenders; (b) Chit Funds and Savings Schemes other than those conducted by
nationalized banks; (c) Matrimonial agencies; (d) Unlicensed employment services; (e)
Fortune-tellers or sooth-Sayers, etc., and those with the claim of hypnotism would be
excluded from advertising on TV;
i. Betting, tips and guide books, etc., relating to horse-racing or other games of chance
shall not be accepted;
j. No advertisement shall contain reference which are likely to lead the public to infer that
the product advertised or any of its ingredients has some special property or quality
which is incapable of being established, e.g., cure for baldness;
k. Scientific or statistical excepts from technical literature, etc., must be used only with a
proper sense of responsibility to the ordinary viewer. Irrelevant data and scientific
jargon must not be used to make claims appear to have a scientific basis they do not
possess. Statistics of limited validity should not be presented in such a way to make in
appear that they are universally true;
2. Advertisers of their agents must be prepared to produce evidence to substantiate any claims
or illustrations.
3. No advertisement message shall in any way be presented as News.
4. The items advertised shall not suffer from any defect or efficiency as mentioned in Consumer
Protection Act, 1986.
5. No advertisement shall contain the words „Guarantee tee‟ or „Guaranteed‟, etc., unless the
full terms of the guarantee are available for inspection by the Director General Doordarshan,
and are clearly set out in the advertisement and are made available to the purchaser in writing
at the point of sale or with the goods.
6. In its depiction of women no ad shall violate the constitutional guarantees to all citizens such
as equality of status and opportunity and dignity of the individual. In particular, no
advertisement shall be permitted which projects a derogatory image of women. Women must
not be portrayed in a manner that emphasizes passive, submissive qualities and encourages
them to pay a subordinate, secondary role in the family and society. The portrayal of men and
women should not encourage mutual disrespect. Advertiser shall ensure that the portrayal of
the female form is tasteful and aesthetic, and is within the well established norms of good taste
and decency.

7. No advertisement for a product or service shall be accepted if it suggests in any way that
unless the children themselves buy or encourage other people to buy the products or services,
they will be failing in their duty or lacking in loyalty to any person.
8. No advertisement of any kind of jewellery or precious stones shall be accepted. Also no ad

should be permitted on cigarettes, alcohol, tobacco products and other intoxicants.
9. Information to consumer in matters of weight, quality or prices of products were given shall
be accurate. Any such effects which might startle the viewing public must be incorporated in
advertisements. For example the use of the following sound effects will not be permitted:
(i) Rapid gunfire or rifle shorts (ii) Sirens (iii) Bombardments (iv) Screams (v) Raucusus
laughter and like
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a branch of the Government of India is the
apex body for formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to
information, broadcasting, the press and films in India. The Ministry is responsible for the
administration of Prasar Bharati-the broadcasting arm of the Indian Government. The Censor
Board of India is the other important body under this ministry being responsible for the
regulation of motion pictures shown in India.
• Organisation
• Broadcasting
• FM Radio Phase(FM Radio Broadcasting Services Through Private Agencies)
• Conditional Access System (CAS)
• Community Radio Stations
• Prasar Bharati
• Doordarshan
• Akashvani (All India Radio)
• Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited Uplinking/Downlinking of TV
Channels Content Regulation on Private TV Channels DIRECT TO HOME(DTH)
• Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
• Headend-in-the-Sky (HITS)
• Digital television transition
• Radio And Television Licence Around The World Broadcasting Authority of India
Information
• Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP)
• Directorate of Field Publicity
• Photo Division
• Publications Division
• Research Reference & Training Division

• Song & Drama Division
• Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI)
• Press Council of India
• Press Information Bureau (PIB)
• Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC)
• Films
• Directorate of Film Festivals (DFAI)
• Films Division (FD)
• Central Board of Film Certification
• Children's Film Society, India
• Film and Television Institute of India (FTII)
• Film Certification Appellate Tribunal
• National Film Archive of India (NFAI)
• Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
• National Film Development Corporation
Criticism and Controversies: The Ministry has often been criticized for the actions of the
various bodies under it:
Doordarshan: This is the Indian Public Television Broadcaster. It has posted losses for several
years despite being granted exclusive access to several events including cricket matches and
having the largest terrestrial network in the country. The decision of the Censor Board of India
to censor some films due to political reasons like foreign ones while allowing several others
which may often contain several suggestive and deeply disturbing scenes has been questionable.
Arbitrary actions taken in the past to ban television channels which ostensibly showed explicit
scenes, as well as actions taken to ban general use websites like Yahoo Groups, have been
widely criticized in most quarters of the country. All India Radio is the only radio broadcaster
allowed to broadcast news within India, though this is likely to change with the
recommendations of the TRAI.
Consumerism and Advertising
The word consumerism is associated with a wide range of ideas and thinkers, ranging from
American economist John Kenneth Galbraith and his book The Affluent Society to the French
postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard. While definitions of the word and responses to it
vary, consumerism in this text is defined in two parts:
1. We identify ourselves with the products we buy. Consumerism goes beyond the idea
that our brands (whether we wear Nike shoes or TOMS shoes, whether we drive a
Dodge Charger or a Toyota Prius) are symbols of who we are. Consumerism means our

products aren’t just things we wear to make statements. They are us; they incarnate the
way we think and act.
2. If we are what we buy, then we need to buy in order to be. Purchasing consumer items,
in other words, isn’t something we do to dispatch with necessities so that we can get on
with the real concerns of our lives—things like falling in love; starting a family; and
finding a satisfying job, good friends, and fulfilling pastimes. Instead, buying becomes
the way we do all those things. The consumption of goods doesn’t just dominate our
lives; it’s what we do to live.
The subject of consumerism goes beyond business ethics to include every aspect of economic
life and then further to cultural studies, political science, and philosophy. Staying within
business ethics, however, and specifically with advertising, the subject of consumerism
provokes the following questions:
• Does advertising create desires (and is there anything wrong with that)?
• Do advertisers have a responsibility to restrain their power?
• Should there be different rules for advertising aimed at children?
• Is advertising too intrusive in our lives?
Does Advertising Create Desires (and Is There Anything Wrong with That)?
Our society is affluent. With the exception of marginal cases, all Americans today eat better,
enjoy more effective shelter from winter cold and summer heat, are healthier, and live longer
than, say, the king of France in 1750. In fact, necessity in the sense of basic life needs hardly
exists. We struggle heroically to afford a better car than our neighbor, to have a bigger home
than our high-school classmates, to be thin and pay the doctor for a perfectly shaped nose, and
so on, but no one worries about famine. Our economic struggles aren’t about putting food on
the table; they’re about eating in the most desirable restaurant.
How do we decide, however, what we want—and even what we want desperately—when we

don’t truly need anything anymore? One answer is that we create needs for ourselves. All of us
have had this experience. For our entire lives we lived without iPhones (or even without cell
phones), but now, somehow, getting halfway to work or campus and discovering we left our
phone at home causes a nervous breakdown.
Advertising plays a role in this need creation. Take the Old Spice body wash ad. Body wash as a
personal grooming product was virtually unheard of in the United States until only a few years
ago. More, as a product with specific characteristics, it’s hard to see how it marks an advance
over old-fashioned soap. This absence of obvious, practical worth at least partially explains why
the Old Spice ad provides very little information about the product and nothing by way of
comparison with other, similar options (like soap). Still, the Old Spice body wash is a hit. The
exact techniques the ad uses are a matter for psychologists, but as the sales numbers show, the
thirty-second reel first shown during the Super Bowl has herded a lot of guys into the idea that
they need to have it.

Is there anything wrong with that? One objection starts by pointing out that corporations
producing these goods and selling them with slick ad campaigns aren’t satisfying consumer
needs; they’re trying to change who consumers are by making them need new things. Instead
of fabricating products consumers want, corporations now fabricate consumers to want their
products, and that possibly violates the demand that we respect the dignity and autonomy of
others. The principle, for example, that we treat others as ends and not means is clearly
transgressed by any advertising that creates needs. First, guys out in the world aren’t being
respected as “ends,” as individuals worthy of respect when corporations stop producing their
required products better or more cheaply. Second, guys out in the word are being treated as
means—as simple instruments of the corporations’ projects—when their desires are
manipulated and used to satisfy the corporations’ desire to make money.
Another argument against this kind of desire-creating advertising starts from a rights
approach. According to the theory that freedom is the highest good, we’re all licensed to do
whatever we want as long as our acts don’t curtail the freedom of others. The argument could
be made that using sophisticated advertising campaigns to manipulate what people want is, in
effect, curtailing their freedom at the most fundamental level. Old Spice’s advertising strategy
is enslaving people to desires that they didn’t freely choose.
A final argument against need creation with advertising is the broad utilitarian worry that
consumers are being converted into chronically, even permanently unhappy people because
they have no way to actually satisfy their desires. If you work to attain something you’ve been
told you’re supposed to want, and the second you get it some new company enters with the
news that now there’s something else you need, the emotional condition of not being satisfied
threatens to become permanent. Like mice trapped on a running wheel, consumers are caught
chasing after a durable satisfaction they can’t ever reach.
On the other side of the argument, defenders and advocates of desire-creating advertisements
like the one Old Spice presented claim (correctly) that their announcements aren’t violating the
most traditional and fundamental marketing duty, which is to tell the truth. The Old Spice ad,
in fact, doesn’t really say anything that’s either true or false. Given that, given that there’s no
attempt to mislead, the company is perfectly within its rights to provide visions of new kinds of
lives for consumers to consider, accept or reject, buy or pass over.
Stronger, advocates claim that consumers are adults and attempts to shield them from ads like
those Old Spice produced don’t protect their identity and dignity; instead, they deny consumers
options. Consequently, ethical claims that ads aiming to generate new desires should be
constrained actually violate consumer dignity by treating them like children. We should all be
free, the argument concludes, to redefine and remake ourselves and our desires in as many ways
as possible. By offering options, advertising is expanding our freedom to create and live new,
unforeseen lives.

Do Advertisers Have a Responsibility to Restrain Their Power?
The Old Spice ad didn’t end after its thirty seconds of fame on the Super Bowl broadcast. The
actor Isaiah Mustafa went on to became a Twitter sensation. By promising to respond to
questions tweeted his way, he effectively launched a second phase of the marketing effort, one
designed to stretch out the idea that body wash is big and important: it’s what people are
talking about, and if you don’t know about it and what’s going on, you’re out of the loop, not
relevant. The tone of the invitation to Twitter users to get involved stayed true to the original
commercial. Mustafa asked people to “look for my incredibly manly and witty and amazing
responses” to their questions.
On YouTube, Mustafa’s status went to instant legend: not only has his commercial been viewed
about 20 million times (by people who actually want to watch and pay attention and at zero
cost to Old Spice), there’s also a long list of copycat videos, derivative videos, spoof videos, and
on and on. The depth of the advertising campaign is now virtually infinite. You could pass
years watching and listening and reading the social media generated and inspired by the
original commercial.
All that is advertising. It’s not paid, it’s not exactly planned, but it is part of the general idea.
When Old Spice spent big money to get a Super Bowl slot for their ad, they weren’t only trying
to reach a large audience; they were also hoping to do exactly what they did: set off a firestorm
of attention and social media buzz.
Called viral advertising, this consumer-involved marketing strategy drives even further from
traditional, informational advertising than the activity of branding. Where branding attempts
to attach an attitude and reputation to a product or company independent of specific, factual
characteristics, viral ads attempt to involve consumers and exploit them to do the company’s
promotional work. When viral advertising is working, the activity of branding is being carried
out for free by the very people the advertising is meant to affect. In a certain sense, consumers
are advertising to themselves. Of course, consumers aren’t rushing to donate their energy and
time to a giant corporation; they need to be enticed and teased. The Super Bowl ad with its
irresistible humor and gender-driven come-on does that—it provokes consumers to get
involved.
Viral ads—and the techniques of public enticement making them spread contagiously—come in
many forms. One ethical discussion, however, surrounding nearly all viral advertising can be
framed as a discussion about knowledge and resource exploitation. Two critical factors enabled
Old Spice, along with its advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, to generate so much volunteer
help in their endeavor to get the body wash buzz going:

Knowledge of consumer behavior
Tremendous resources—especially money and creative advertising talent—that allowed them

to act on their knowledge
Compared with the typical person watching a TV commercial, the raw power of Old Spice is
nearly immeasurable. When they aim their piles of money and sharp advertising experts
toward specific consumers, consumers are overwhelmed. Without the time required to learn all
the skills and strategies employed by today’s advertisers, they literally don’t even know what’s
hitting them. From that fact, this ethical question arises: Don’t today’s sophisticated marketers
have a responsibility to inform consumers of what they’re up to so that potential purchasers can
at least begin to defend themselves?
Making the last point stronger, isn’t the economic asymmetry—the huge imbalance in
monetary power and commercial knowledge favoring today’s professional advertisers—actually
an obligation to restraint, a responsibility to not employ their strongest efforts given how
comparatively weak and defenseless individual consumers are? The “yes” answer rests on the
duty of fairness—that is, that we treat equals equally and unequals unequally. In this case, the
duty applies to companies just as it does to people. Frequently people say to large, muscle-
bound characters caught up in a conflict with someone smaller, “Go pick on someone your own
size.” It’s simply unfair to challenge another who really has no chance. This duty comes
forward very graphically on a video snippet from MTV’s Jersey Shore when a thin girl attacks
the physically impressive Ronnie. He just shoves her aside. When her boyfriend, however,
who’s about Ronnie’s size and age, shows up and starts swinging, he ends up getting a good
thumping. Leaving aside the ethics of fistfights, it doesn’t take profound thought to see that
Ronnie understands his superior physical power is also a responsibility when harassed by a
comparative weakling to hold himself in check.
While the case of Old Spice and Wieden+Kennedy isn’t quite as transparent as Ronnie on the
street, it does obey the same logic: all their power and marketing expertise is both a power over
consumers and an equally forceful responsibility not to exercise it. Compare that situation with
the famous “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” advertising campaign. No one objects to powerhouse Apple
taking some figurative swings at powerhouse Microsoft since that company clearly has the
means to defend itself. When a corporation manipulates innocent and relatively powerless
individual consumers at home on the sofa, however, it’s difficult to avoid seeing something
unfair happening.
The argument on the other side is that consumers aren’t powerless. There’s no real imbalance
of might here because consumers today, armed with their Twitter accounts and Facebook
pages, are perfectly capable of standing up to even the mightiest corporations. Viral messaging,
in other words, goes both ways. Old Spice may use it to manipulate men, but individual men are
perfectly free and capable of setting up a Facebook group dedicated to recounting how rancid
Old Spice products actually are. Beneath this response, there’s the fundamental claim that
individuals in the modern world are free and responsible for their own behavior, and if they end

up voluntarily advertising for Old Spice and don’t like it, they shouldn’t complain: they should
just stop tweeting messages to Isaiah Mustafa.
Further, the proposition that consumers need to be protected from Old Spice is an infringement
on the dignity of those who are out in the world buying. Because today’s consumers connected
to social media are alert and plugged in, because even a solitary guy in pajamas in his basement
running his own YouTube channel or Facebook group can be as influential as any corporation,
attempts to shield him are nothing less than disrespectful confinements of his power.
Protection, in this case, is just another word for condescension.
Social Media Advertising
So, What Is Social Advertising?
Social advertising is the process of creating and deploying clickable ads to reach target
audiences through social media platforms, messaging apps, news feeds, and even outside apps
and websites. Companies use social advertising campaigns to build brand awareness, generate
leads, and/or capture sales revenue.
Social advertising is particularly effective at driving engagement and conversions because

social media platforms offer a treasure trove of highly specific and actionable user data.
Audiences can be defined based on past behavior, purchase history, and/or how well users
match up with target persona demographics and interests.
Targeted audiences may be completely unfamiliar with the brand and/or product being
advertised. But the message has a good chance of resonating and getting an immediate
response in a data-rich and highly personalized social media environment.
Growth of Social Advertising
Social advertising continues to grow at an accelerating rate. As recently as 2015, traditional

advertising was still king: companies spent twice as much on TV, radio, and print as they did
on social advertising. In 2019, for the first time ever, social advertising in the U.S. is expected
to eclipse advertising via traditional channels.
Spend Statistics
Since the start of 2019, spending on social advertising has already topped $100 billion—a 37%
increase over this time last year—and is expected to grow at an annual rate of 24.5%. By 2023,
companies will likely invest over $242 billion in social advertising campaigns. Facebook and
Google earned 60% of social advertising dollars ($65 billion) in 2018. Although their market
share is expected to hold fairly steady in 2019, Facebook and Google may see their revenues
climb to $77 billion in the U.S. alone.

Benefits of Social Advertising
Social media permeates daily life. It’s where users keep up with friends, interests, and events on
a daily basis. In 2018, there were nearly 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, and 73% of
Americans were using more than one social media platform.
The sheer numbers of people who can be reached through social media platforms is staggering.
But there are other benefits, perhaps even more important ones, that make social advertising a
uniquely valuable investment.
1. Brand Awareness: Social advertising offers startups and small businesses a fighting
chance in a crowded, noisy field of competitors. In fact, there’s no better way to reach
people who would likely be interested in a new product, service, or app based on their
individual characteristics, interests, and past behaviors. Likes, shares, tags, and
comments can not only create a buzz for a brand or offering in a very short time but
also influence users’ social networks.
2. Improved Conversion Rates: By virtue of how and where social advertising appears,
and how precisely it’s targeted, it’s less likely to trigger people’s natural resistance to
sales. It’s also likelier to grab users’ attention, as they’re more actively engaged on
social media platforms than with traditional channels. Responding to social ads feels as
natural as it is easy; signups, downloads, and purchases are just a click away. For all
these reasons, social advertising offers one of the highest conversion rates of any
marketing medium.
3. Efficient ROI: Social advertising is a relatively low-cost approach that offers ultra-
specific user data and unmatched targeting abilities. During the course of their
campaigns, social advertisers can easily assess and optimize ad performance and count
on steadier, more predictable response rates. As social advertising propels growth,
startups can scale quickly on a limited budget.
4. Brand Loyalty: Although the cost of acquiring new customers through social
advertising is relatively low, loyal repeat customers tend to spend more—67% more, on
average, than new customers. Social advertising not only keeps brands top of mind for
past buyers but also reaffirms their choices and turns them into brand ambassadors who
are eager to bring friends and family on board.
5. Marketing Insights: Social advertisers can measure both brand sentiment and
campaign performance via ad impressions and engagement, increases in followers, brand
mentions, traffic driven to the website, and leads/sales generated. Advertisers can also
see what’s working with various target audiences and refine their social ad campaigns
and branding strategies in a timely, cost-effective way.
Social Advertising Platforms
This section summarize the major advantages and ad formats of five social advertising
channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google App Campaigns.

1. Facebook: Facebook has the largest user base of any platform (2 billion users) and the
largest share of display ads of any social network. It also offers the highest ROI for
social advertisers. Currently serving 7 million advertisers and counting, Facebook is
continuously revisiting its “relevance diagnostics” to provide the most actionable data
and ensure efficient advertising spend.
Facebook Targeting Capabilities: Facebook advertisers can segment audiences

depending on campaign strategy (website conversion, app install, or app engagement).
To target prospects who are similar to their existing customers, advertisers can build
lookalike audiences in the U.S. and around the world using Facebook’s native audience-
building tool or a time-saving third-party alternative. Targeting criteria can include
location, demographics (age, gender, education, relationship status, job title, and more),
interests, behavior (past purchases, device usage), and connections (with brand pages or
events). Facebook’s Audience Network tool allows advertisers to reach users outside the
platform (websites, apps, videos, etc.) and specify where their ads will be seen.
Types of Facebook Ads: Facebook creative offers something for every type of business
and social advertising campaign:
• Photo ads
• Video ads
• Carousel ads (up to 10 images or videos, each with a separate link)
• Slideshow ads (static images that move)
• Collection ads (featured product photos and pricing)
• Instant Experience (formerly Canvas ads)
• Messenger ads (appearing on the home screen of Messenger app)
• Event Responses
2. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the world’s leading career- and professional networking-oriented

site. The platform currently boasts 610 million users, with 4 out of 5 in decision-making
roles. Cost per click can run higher than on other platforms, but for companies looking
to target B2B prospects, LinkedIn is a solid advertising investment.
LinkedIn Targeting Capabilities: LinkedIn users can be targeted based on language,

demographics, geographic location, title, company size, job experience, industry,
education, and interests.
Types of LinkedIn Ads: Companies can advertise via Sponsored content (news feed),
Sponsored InMail, and/or text ads. Ad formats include single image, video, carousel
image, message, text, and dynamic.
3. Pinterest: As a hub for wedding, cooking, and fashion ideas, Pinterest has a mostly
female user base. Users are free to “pin” ideas they like, including sponsored content, to
their own boards for connected users to see and share. A majority of users (55%) say

they use Pinterest specifically to shop, even if they wait to purchase, and 98% have tried
new things they discovered on the platform.
Pinterest Targeting Capabilities: Advertisers can target customers, people who’ve

engaged their brand on Pinterest, previous website visitors, and/or “act alike” audiences
based on their interests, Pinterest search keywords (with tools such as match types,
negative keywords, and search term reports), demographics, location, language(s), and
digital device(s).
Types of Pinterest Ads: Note: When users pin these ads to their boards, the ads’
“Promoted” tags disappear.
• Promoted pins
• One-tap pins (takes the user directly to a landing page)
• Promoted carousels
• Promoted video pins
• Promoted app pins (allows mobile app downloads directly from Pinterest)
• Buyable pins (one tap reveals product info)
• Story pins
4. Instagram: Instagram is a highly visual platform with more than 800 million monthly
users and 25 million business profiles. Half of Instagram users follow one or more
brands, 60% have learned about a new product or service through the platform, and 70%
have searched Instagram for a particular business.
Instagram Targeting Capabilities: Targeting options include location, demographics,

interests, and behaviors. Advertisers can build custom audiences (current customers)
and/or lookalike audiences (prospects) based on any combination of criteria, or they can
use Instagram’s automated targeting tool.
Types of Instagram Ads:
• Stories ads (5-second photos or videos of up to 2 minutes, with a 24-hour limit)

• Video ads (up to 60 seconds)
• Photo ads
• Carousel ads
• Collection ads
5. Google App Campaigns: Google App Campaigns offers broad reach and visibility.
Google takes advertisers’ text and creative elements from their Google play store
listing to create and deploy ads across a variety of channels including Google search,
Google Play, YouTube, websites, and other apps. As of this year, Google App
Campaigns has helped drive 17+ billion app installs.

Google App Campaigns Targeting Capabilities: Google automates targeting based
on an advertiser’s campaign focus: new users (installs), users who’ve taken specific in-
app actions, and/or users who are likely to make in-app purchases.
Types of Google App Campaign Ads
On mobile phones and tablets:
• Text ads
• Image ads
• App promotion ads
• HTML 5 ads (built with Google Web Designer)
Within apps on mobile phones and tablets:
• Text ads
• Image ads
• App promotion ads
• Image app promotion ads
• Video app promotion ads
• TrueView for app promotion ads
• Responsive display ads
Social Ad Creation
Thanks to its relatively low cost and sophisticated targeting tools, social advertising is fertile
ground for startups, SMBs, and established brands alike. High-quality creative—the product of
expert analysis, planning, development, and testing—is the only way to achieve breakout wins.
Establish Ground Rules
Define the boundaries and ideals for creative concepts and development. Start with brand
guidelines related to logos, fonts, colors, copy, and styling. Decide on color pallets and basic
preferences (simple or stylized, elegant or dramatic, etc.). Look for existing assets that conform
to these requirements.
Focus on Top-Performing Ad Types
1. Basics in motion—a simple video or animation of a game or product

2. Brand in motion—a video that emphasizes the brand
3. Benefit in motion—starts with a still, then animates a product’s benefits with
typography and short copy
4. Demo in motion—a video emphasizing how a product works

Aim High with Video Ads
• Open strong. The first 3 seconds matter most.

• Emphasize sound, but only if it’s important.
• Use clear, concise copy to support the message.
• Make the ad only as long as it needs to be.
• Lean into your art and story. If you have great characters, use them.
Social Advertising Best Practices
A successful social advertising campaign has three pillars: a well-defined strategy, detailed
planning, and streamlined execution. Following are best practices for every campaign phase.
1. Platform Selection: Consider the general makeup and characteristics of users of various
platforms and how they compare with your audience personas. Some platforms may be a better
fit for your brand, product, or service than others. CPI, targeting precision, and
creative/formatting flexibility are important considerations as well.
2. Ad Budget: Pay per impression (CPM) or pay per click (PPC)? The choice depends on
whether you’re more interested in brand awareness or conversions. Pay for every 1,000
impressions, regardless of engagement, for increased visibility. If you’re focused on
conversions, PPC may be the best use of your social advertising budget.
3. Ad Creative: Analyze past campaign successes and brainstorm to develop a hypothesis about
creative approaches and elements that are likely to resonate and perform best. If you know
which of your brand’s organic posts have been most successful, use those insights as well.
4. Creative Testing: Creative testing reveals high-performing ads and elements that drive
ROI. But it can also produce financial waste, as 19 out of 20 new ads will fail to outperform a
current winner. To test creative concepts efficiently, follow these three simple rules:
• If results are too slow, increase your bids by the same percentage.
• If ads are under delivering, make the same changes to all ads.
• Pause and rerun text to get clean data.
These are just some of the graphic and layout elements you can test, depending on performance
data:
• Image layout
• Grid layout
• Mobile device in the image vs. no mobile device
• Text in image
• Logos
• Calls to action (language, color, and look and color of the button)

• User-generated vs. stock photos
• Background colors/gradients/textures/images
• Use of characters
• One vs. multiple products displayed
• Video duration (5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds)
• Branding placement (first vs. last 3 seconds, north or south, east or west, include or
exclude)
• Gameplay (gameplay vs. trailers, characters or no characters, text overlaid or excluded,
fast-action sequence)
6. Ad Optimization
To determine winners as you test, you’ll need to take multiple KPIs into account (both lift and
results). Test and iterate continuously to fine-tune your creative efforts and accelerate your
gains.

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Unit -1

Introduction and Objective Setting

According to William J. Stanton, "Advertising consists of all the activities involved in

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

2. According to Webstar, “Advertising is to give public notice or to announce publicity”.

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

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

The fundamental purpose of advertising is to sell something – a product, a service or an idea. In

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Role of Advertising in Marketing Process –

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

Role of Advertising in Society –

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Improves standard of living - Advertising is an economic activity. It provides opportunities to

Approaches in Brand building:

1. Constant innovation: Consumers need continuous innovation and new products. It is

Advertising Communication and Persuasion Process:

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Communications strategy - In developing its communications strategy, the sponsor must

Target audience - An essential component of a communications strategy is selecting the

Media strategy - Media strategy is an essential component of a communications plan. It calls

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Resonance - Advertising resonance is defined as wordplay, often used to create a double

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Comparative Advertising - Comparative advertising is a widely used marketing strategy in

Repetition - Repetition is an important factor in learning. Thus, if is not surprising that

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Definition of IMC: According to American Association of Advertising Agencies IMC is a

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Advertisement is a non-personal presentation of an idea or a product (where as personal selling

• It is available free of cost

A Public relations is defined as a management function which identifies, establishes, and

• To remove misunderstanding, doubts, confusion, and wrong impression in the minds of

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

• Providing information of the product.

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Like advertising, sponsorships are initiated to build long-term associations. Organizations

Trade shows and Exhibition:

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Steps Involved In Framing Integrated Marketing Communication:

• What are the relevant target buyer groups?

• Personal Communication Channels: In personal Communication channels, two or

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Most of the non personal messages come through paid media.

6) Promotion Mix decision. After determining budget it is essential to determine the

7) Implementation of promotion mix: The marketer then makes an arrangement to

Advertising Planning Process and Execution

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

An advertising campaign is a systematic effort to achieve some predetermined objectives. It

A company undertakes an advertising campaign in order to rationally analyse the advertising

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

• Where we are today?

• Who buys the product?

• Consumer needs and wants

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

• In case of print ads using same fonts, logos, pictures, layout

• Rising costs of media

The DAGMAR Model

• Awareness of the existence of a product or a service is needful before the purchase

Dr. Ashish Adholiya, Asst. Professor, PIM, PAHER University, Udaipur

• Awareness on its own is not sufficient to stimulate a purchase. Information and