Unit – 5
Advertising
Q1) Explain advertisement.
A1)
The word advertising comes form the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards".
Advertising can be defined as a non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consist of all the advertisements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspaper, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, television, radios, cards, calendars, transport, etc.
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.
Definition
According to W.J Stanton, “ advertising consist of all activities involved in presenting to an audience a non – personal, sponsor – identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.
According to American marketing association, “Advertising is a paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor”.
Importance of advertisement
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 educate 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.
Q2) Explain evolution of advertising.
A2)
Evolution of advertising
Egyptians did the earliest known advertisement. They were the first to use ‘papyrus’ for advertising their goods and services. Then the Romans came. They used mosaics and artwork to promote their products. Then next, Athenians came. They took advertising to a whole new level, by hiring criers to stroll the street.
19th Century:
Thomas J. Barratt from London has been called “the father of modern advertising”. Working for the Pears Soap Company, Barratt created an effective advertising campaign which involved the use of targeted slogans, images and phrases for the company products. One of his slogans, “Good morning Have you used Pears’ soap?” was famous in its day and well into the 20th century. Pears Soap became the world’s first legally registered brand, under Barratt’s guidance and is therefore the world’s oldest continuously existing brand.
20th century –
- The first radio stations were established by radio equipment manufacturers and retailers who offered programmes in order to sell more radios to consumers in the early 1920’s.
- In the 1960s, campaigns featuring heavy spending in different mass media channels became more prominent
- To reach the target audiences extensive television and radio and magazine ads were used. Television split into hundreds of channels with different types of entertainment. This made targeting even broader in the early 1990’s.
- In the later part of 20th century internet was born. This changed the whole dynamics of advertisements. With the invention of Ad Server, marketing through the Internet opened new frontiers for advertisers. Entire corporations operated solely on advertising revenue, offering everything from coupons to free Internet access.
21st century –
Internet was the next big thing needed for the advertisement industry to grow. The use of ad server, and new technology like DSP, SSP to do precise targeting onto users, gave a tremendous boost to the industry.
With the use of Cookies on people’s computers and an increase in the mobile device, Online advertising grew three-fold with the use of personalized targeting.
The Internet has not just affected advertising alone; It changed the way, and manner people do business, interact with friends, family, etc.
Q3) Explain importance of advertising.
A3)
The word advertising comes form the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards".
Advertising can be defined as a non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consist of all the advertisements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspaper, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, television, radios, cards, calendars, transport, etc.
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.
Definition
According to W.J Stanton, “ advertising consist of all activities involved in presenting to an audience a non – personal, sponsor – identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.
According to American marketing association, “Advertising is a paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor”.
Importance of advertisement
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 educate 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.
Q4) Explain features of advertising.
A4)
The word advertising comes form the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards".
Advertising can be defined as a non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consist of all the advertisements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspaper, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, television, radios, cards, calendars, transport, etc.
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.
Definition
According to W.J Stanton, “ advertising consist of all activities involved in presenting to an audience a non – personal, sponsor – identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.
According to American marketing association, “Advertising is a paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor”.
Features of advertisement
The main features of advertising:
- Provides information: Advertising's primary purpose is to provide information about products or services to prospective buyers. The details of products such as features, uses, prices, benefits, manufacturer's name, etc; and also the key message and brand name are in the advertisements. The information supplied through advertising educate and guide consumers and facilitate them to make a correct choice while buying a product.
2. Paid communication: Advertising is a form of paid communication. The advertiser pays to the media for giving publicity to his advertising message to inform or persuade an audience regarding a product, organization, or idea. He also decides the size, slogan, etc. given in the advertisement.
3. Non-personal presentation: Advertising is non-personal in character as against salesmanship, which is a personal or face to face communication. Here, the message is given to all and not to one specific individual. This rule is applicable to all media including the press.
4. Publicity: Advertising publicizes goods, services, ideas and event events. It is primarily for giving information to consumers. This primary purpose is to provide information related to the features and benefits of goods and services of different types. It offers new ideas to customers as its contents are meaningful. The aim is to make the popularize ideas and thereby promote sales.
5. Primarily for Persuasion: Advertising aims at the persuasion of potential customers. It attracts attention towards a particular product, creates a desire to have it, and finally persuade the consumers to visit the market and purchase the same. It has a psychological impact on consumers. It influences their buying decisions.
6. Target oriented: when advertising is target oriented it becomes effective and result-oriented. A targeted advertisement intensively focuses on a specific market or particular groups of customers (like teenagers, housewives, infants, children, etc.). Thus, the selection of a particular market is called a target market.
7. Art, science and profession: Advertising is universally accepted as art, science and a profession. It is an art as it needs creativity for raising its effectiveness. It is a science as it has its principles or rules. It is also a profession as it has a code of conduct for its members and operates within standards set by its organized bodies.
8. The element of a marketing mix: Advertising is an important part of a marketing mix. It supports the sales promotion efforts of the manufacturer. It makes a positive contribution to sales promotion provided other elements in the marketing mix are reasonably favorable. Many companies spend huge funds on advertisements and public relations.
9. Creativity: Advertising is a method of presenting a product in an artistic, attractive and agreeable manner. It is possible through the element of creativity. The creative people introduce creativity in advertisements. The Ads won't succeed without creativity. Therefore, creativity is called the ‘Essence of Advertising.’
Q5) Explain importance and features of advertising.
A5)
The word advertising comes form the latin word "advertere meaning” to turn the minds of towards".
Advertising can be defined as a non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services paid by an identified sponsor. It is non personal mass communication which has become a potent means of education and mass selling. It consist of all the advertisements involved in presenting product information targeting audiences through media such as newspaper, magazines, catalogs, booklets, posters, television, radios, cards, calendars, transport, etc.
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.
Definition
According to W.J Stanton, “ advertising consist of all activities involved in presenting to an audience a non – personal, sponsor – identified, paid for a message about a product or organization.
According to American marketing association, “Advertising is a paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services of an identified sponsor”.
Importance of advertisement
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 educate 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.
Features of advertisement
The main features of advertising:
- Provides information: Advertising's primary purpose is to provide information about products or services to prospective buyers. The details of products such as features, uses, prices, benefits, manufacturer's name, etc; and also the key message and brand name are in the advertisements. The information supplied through advertising educate and guide consumers and facilitate them to make a correct choice while buying a product.
2. Paid communication: Advertising is a form of paid communication. The advertiser pays to the media for giving publicity to his advertising message to inform or persuade an audience regarding a product, organization, or idea. He also decides the size, slogan, etc. given in the advertisement.
3. Non-personal presentation: Advertising is non-personal in character as against salesmanship, which is a personal or face to face communication. Here, the message is given to all and not to one specific individual. This rule is applicable to all media including the press.
4. Publicity: Advertising publicizes goods, services, ideas and event events. It is primarily for giving information to consumers. This primary purpose is to provide information related to the features and benefits of goods and services of different types. It offers new ideas to customers as its contents are meaningful. The aim is to make the popularize ideas and thereby promote sales.
5. Primarily for Persuasion: Advertising aims at the persuasion of potential customers. It attracts attention towards a particular product, creates a desire to have it, and finally persuade the consumers to visit the market and purchase the same. It has a psychological impact on consumers. It influences their buying decisions.
6. Target oriented: when advertising is target oriented it becomes effective and result-oriented. A targeted advertisement intensively focuses on a specific market or particular groups of customers (like teenagers, housewives, infants, children, etc.). Thus, the selection of a particular market is called a target market.
7. Art, science and profession: Advertising is universally accepted as art, science and a profession. It is an art as it needs creativity for raising its effectiveness. It is a science as it has its principles or rules. It is also a profession as it has a code of conduct for its members and operates within standards set by its organized bodies.
8. The element of a marketing mix: Advertising is an important part of a marketing mix. It supports the sales promotion efforts of the manufacturer. It makes a positive contribution to sales promotion provided other elements in the marketing mix are reasonably favorable. Many companies spend huge funds on advertisements and public relations.
9. Creativity: Advertising is a method of presenting a product in an artistic, attractive and agreeable manner. It is possible through the element of creativity. The creative people introduce creativity in advertisements. The Ads won't succeed without creativity. Therefore, creativity is called the ‘Essence of Advertising.’
Q6) Explain press advertising.
A6)
Press advertising i.e., advertising through newspapers, magazines, journals, etc. is commonly used by modern businessmen. It may be noted that advertising is an important source of finance for the press or print media. Because of advertisements, the subscribers get newspapers and periodicals at subsidised rates.
(a) Newspaper Advertising:
Newspaper reading is a common habit among the educated people. Besides daily newspapers, there are bi-weekly and weekly newspapers also. Newspapers reach almost every place and are read by all kinds of people. Therefore, newspaper can be used as a medium of advertisement with great advantage.
Advertising through newspapers has the following merits:
(i) A newspaper has large circulation and a single advertisement in a newspaper can reach a large number of people.
(ii) Continuous advertisement is possible because newspaper is published daily. An advertiser can repeat his advertisement either daily or as required by him.
(iii) Newspapers provide flexibility in advertising in the sense that advertisement campaign can be initiated and stopped quickly.
(iv) Advertisements are the major source of income to the newspapers. This helps in selling the newspapers at reduced prices to the readers.
The limitations of newspaper advertising are as follows:
(i) The life of a newspaper advertisement is very short. Moreover, people devote only an insignificant part of their days’ time in reading the newspaper. Thus, advertisements are likely to draw the reader’s attention only casually.
(ii) Newspaper advertisement is successful only when the people to be communicated are educated.
(iii) Newspaper cannot be used for high class coloured advertisements. The advertisements are generally printed in black and white. Because of this, they may fail to help the customer identifying the products at the point of purchase.
(b) Magazine Advertising:
Magazines or periodicals are an excellent medium of advertisement when a high quality of printing and colour is desired in an advertisement. Magazine advertisements can be directed towards a particular class of people and thus they avoid wasteful expenditure on advertising. Many specialised magazines or journals are published which can be used for transmitting the message to the specific class of customers.
Advantage
(i) Magazines are read more carefully and at greater leisure. Advertising through magazines is more effective.
(ii) The life of the magazine advertisement is longer. Magazines are preserved for a long period of time and are read time and again.
(iii) Since advertisement copy is presented in a coloured form, it creates a better image of the product advertised.
Magazine advertising has the following limitations:
(i) Advertising through magazines is very costly.
(ii) The circulation of magazines is very small as compared to the newspapers.
(iii) Magazine advertisements are to be prepared and sent for publication well in advance. It is not possible to make the last minute change in the advertisement copy.
Q7) Explain radio advertising.
A7)
Radio advertisements have gained great popularity these days. Advertisements are broadcast from the transmitting stations of the commercial service of All India Radio and picked up by the receiving sets owned by the public. Radio advertisements or commercials are normally broadcast along with popular programmes of music. Even the sponsored programmes of interviews and plays can also be broadcast over the radio.
Advantages of Radio Advertising:
I. Scope for Mental Imagery:
Radio advertising depends solely on the spoken words. The listener does not require same amount of attention and effort as required by other media and can hear the messages while doing other things. Human voice is the only communication mode.
II. Low Cost Medium:
Radio is a low cost advertising medium. It requires only a script or a copy of pre-coded message and an announcer to read the message. Also, the cost of airtime on radio is very low. Because of the low cost of developing commercials, the absolute cost of radio advertising is very low and when it is the case of wide audience reach radio is one of the most cost efficient ways to carry advertising message to target audience.
III. Selectivity and Flexibility:
Radio advertising also offers selectivity and flexibility. Selectivity is available through the various programme formats and geographic coverage of numerous stations. The advertiser can vary the messages and the intensity of coverage of different markets to meet local conditions.
Disadvantages of Radio:
a. Perishable:
Radio has some real weaknesses as an advertising medium. Like television, radio advertising is of a perishable nature. If the listener is not available at the time of broadcast, the message is gone forever. The message requires repetition which adds to the cost and level of noise in the environment.
b. Lesser Attention:
Even though the listener is available at the time of broadcast, there may further be the problem of retaining his/her attention to the commercial. Most people do not get actively involved or attentive in listening to the radio programmes, as most often they provide the background to some other activity.
c. Absence of Visual Image:
This is another significant point of disadvantage of radio advertising. Radio advertiser cannot illustrate the product, demonstrate the product, or use any kind of visual appeal or information to attract viewer’s attention. The fleeting nature of radio messages and lack of control on the receiver’s part to process the information further restrict the scope of creativity in radio advertising.
d. Audience Fragmentation:
The rise in the number of radio stations has led to audience fragmentation and so the number of audience tuned to particular station tends to be small. This directly implies that in order to reach larger audience base, advertisers need to buy airtime on a number of stations to provide the required coverage in a target market.
e. Cluttered Environment:
As with other media, radio also faces the problem of clutter. There are two aspects of clutter problem in radio advertising. One is the increased number of brands using radio advertising to carry the message deeper and wider in the market. Secondly, the very nature of radio advertising requires repetitions which further add to the clutter in radio environment. As a consequence, advertiser needs to be more creative and should adopt more repetitions as a way to break away from clutter.
Q8) Explain film advertising.
A8)
Films are an important medium of advertisement. Business concerns usually get a short motion picture prepared and distribute it to different cinema houses for displaying it before the commencement of the regular shows or during the period of intermission.
Film advertisement is very effective since it combines spoken words and visual presentation of pictures. It also helps in selective advertisement. A trader can advertise his product only in a particular locality if he wants to attract the local customers.
The merits of film advertising are as under:
(i) Film advertisement is very effective since it combines spoken words and visual presentation of picture.
(ii) It helps in selective advertisement. A trader can advertise his products in the areas from where he wants to attract the customers.
The demerits of film advertising are as under:
(i) It is usually ignored by people when they are busy in talking.
(ii) Its effectiveness is limited as only a few people are present in the hall before the start of the feature film and during the interval.
Q9) Explain television advertising.
A9)
Television is the fast growing medium of advertisement because of huge expansion of electronic media and cable network. It makes its appeal through both the eye and the ear. Products can be demonstrated as well as explained as in film advertisement. Advertising may take the form of short commercials and sponsored programmes.
T.V. Advertising has all the merits of film advertising. It has greater effectiveness as the message is conveyed at their homes to the people. Selectivity of message can also be achieved. Commercials may be given during that time period when the prospective buyers are supposed to watch television programmes.
Advantages of Using Television as an Advertising Medium:
a. Audio-Visual Medium:
Televisions as advertising medium makes full use of both sight and sound and offers tremendous creative flexibility and makes possible dramatic life like representation of products and services. Television commercials can be used to attract the attention and interest of the potential customer through the creative use of both sight and sound in combination.
b. Enhanced Memorability:
Television permits the demonstration of the product and can discuss and explain the use of the product, its features and advantages. Television commercial gives the sense of actual product use, the nearest thing to the product experience. The use of colours in commercials further adds to the commercial effectiveness and its memorability.
c. Mass Reach:
Another advantage of television advertising which emerges due to the popularity of the medium itself is its ability to reach masses. Over the years television has truly emerged as a mass medium where everyone regardless of age, sex, income or social class watches at least some amount of television programmes and shows. There are a large number of people who watch television on a regular basis.
d. Selectivity and Flexibility:
Television has an advantage of being relatively selective and flexible in several ways. The selectivity occurs due to its programme content, broadcast time and geographic coverage which bring variation in the composition of target audience.
e. Non-Competing Environment:
Unlike print medium, television medium provides advertising exposure in a non-competitive environment. The advertising message on television appears by itself, and there are no competitive advertisements or even editorial matter to distract the viewer from the message.
Disadvantages of Using Television as an Advertising Medium:
a. High Absolute Cost:
The high absolute cost of buying airtime on television along with the cost of producing high quality commercials is the prime deterring factor in the general use of television as the advertising medium. Many small advertisers with small advertising budgets either find themselves incapable of buying airtime, or else they need to be brief in their message content.
b. Unfit to Small Target Size:
Though some selectivity is possible in television advertising due to variation in programme content or geographic area or particular air timing, yet television does not allow reaching to very specific and often small target size. The cost per exposure to target audience in such cases becomes higher due to much of the wastage exposure. Television, therefore, looses its importance in comparison to other media types such as magazine or radio as they are capable of providing more precise reach in the target market at much lesser cost.
c. Fleeting Exposures:
The advertising message on television lasts only as long as it is being presented on the screen and if the prospect is not viewing or listening at that very moment when the exposure occurs, the message is gone forever and wasted so far as that prospect is concerned.
d. Cluttered Environment:
This is another problem with television advertising as advertiser’s message is just one of the many spots being aired during the commercial break. Due to a cluttered environment television advertising tends to loose its effectiveness. Advertisers, therefore, need to be more tactical in their use of media time to enhance the attention value of advertised message.
e. Ad Avoidance:
Advertising messages are most often ignored by the viewing audience, who either leave the room on some pretext or get distracted in some other way during the commercial break. Zipping and zapping are the two greater challenges that have emerged over the last few years only. Zipping occurs when customers fast forward through commercials as they play back a previously recorded programme.
f. Lack of Accurate Audience Assessment:
Accurate assessment of audience size is another major problem with television advertising. Not only that the size of audience is difficult to compute, but it is also subject to errors in measurement. Households owning television, households using television, households tuned to the programme carrying advertising message and the prospect actually viewing the ad are the various accuracy levels of television audience measurement.
Q10) Explain direct mail advertising.
A10)
Direct mail is probably the most selective of all the advertising media. It is used to send the message directly to the customer. For this purpose, the advertiser has to maintain a mail list which can be expanded or contracted by adding or removing names from the list. But a severe limitation is posed by the difficulty of getting and maintaining a good mailing list.
Advertisements that are sent by direct mail may be in the form of circular letters, leaflet folders, calenders, booklets and catalogues. Circular letters are sent to the prospective customers to inform them about the merits of the product and to create their interest in the product.
Booklets and catalogues contain the information about the products advertised. Information about the terms of sale and prices of different varieties of the product is given to the prospective customers through catalogues.
The merits of direct mail advertising are as under:
(i) Mail advertising has a personal appeal since it is addressed to a particular person.
(ii) It maintains secrecy in advertising. The competitors do not get the information about the advertised material.
(iii) It gives flexibility in advertising. The message can be changed whenever the need arises. The mailing list can also be revised whenever the need arises.
(iv) It gives an opportunity to the advertiser to provide detailed and illustrated information about the product to the prospects.
(v) It is the most selective medium of advertisement. The advertiser saves money also by directing his advertisement to the selected people.
The demerits of direct mail advertising are given below:
(i) The coverage of direct mail advertisement is limited.
(ii) It is not possible to get the names and addresses of all the prospects when the advertisement material should be sent by mail.
(iii) Its effectiveness is doubt fid as it does not create a mass appeal.
Q11) Explain outdoor advertising.
A11)
Outdoor advertising has gained wide popularity these days. Its purpose is to attract the attention of the people at busy roads and markets. It includes the use of poster displays, bill board displays, and electric or electronic displays.
a. Poster Displays:
Posters are fixed on walls of buildings, bridges, and other public places. It is also quite common to write slogans and other message about the products in bold letters on the walls to attract the attention of the people even from a long distance. That is why, it is also known as ‘Mural Advertising’. Mural advertising is frequently used to advertise fans, fertilizers, tonics, beauty aids and other consumer items.
b. Bill Board Displays:
Painted or bill board displays involve the advertisements directly painted on the boards meant for this purpose. They are quite big in size and are fixed at outstanding locations like busy markets and crossings. They are also erected on tops of bridges and important buildings.
c. Electrical Displays:
Electrical display involves the use of electric Electronic lights or neon tubes to attract the attention of people, particularly during night. Generally, a short message is illuminated in tubes of different colours so that it is conspicuous and attractive. Electrical displays are fixed at navy traffic consumer centres.
d. Vehicular Displays:
It has become a fashion these days to use modes of public transport for advertising. The space outside and inside the buses, railway carriages and other vans may be hired by the businessmen to spread their messages. Vehicles give mobility to the message.
Outdoor advertising has the following merits:
(i) Outdoor advertising is highly flexible and is a low cost medium.
(ii) It is very useful for advertising consumer products because posters, etc. can be displayed at various crowded centres.
(iii) Outdoor advertisement attracts quick attention and requires very less time and effort on the part of the readers. A complete picture of the product can be shown through outdoor displays.
Disadvantage
(i) It can’t carry long messages as posters, hoardings, etc. are ready by the people at a glance.
(ii) It has a low retention value because people don’t devote special time to read the message.
(iii) It distracts the attention of the passersby and may even cause accidents on busy roads.
Q12) Explain window display and internet advertising.
A12)
Window Display:
Window display is an on sight method of advertising. Goods can be exhibited in artistically laid out windows at the shop fronts or at important busy centres like railway stations and bus stops. Large show rooms are organised by big manufacturers and wholesalers in the main markets to advertise their products and attend to the queries of the prospective customers.
The retailers also organise attractive display of goods in the windows of their shops. Window displays are very popular with the retailers since it helps in informing the customers about the types of goods available with them.
The main objective of window display is to draw the attention of the public and arouse their interest in the products displayed. Almost all the manufacturers insist that their products should be displayed at the retail shops. If a product is displayed properly at the point-of-purchase (POP) by the customers, it can attract many customers.
Many people having no preference for a particular brand may discover a particular brand quite appealing and attractive and may purchase it. Thus, window display creates the demand for the product. Window display acts as silent salesman.
In order to achieve the purpose of window display, cleanliness and a well-furnished appearance for the window are essential. Articles should be arranged in a systematic way and if possible price tags should also be attached with the articles. It is better if window displays are changed regularly to make the customers look at the displays every time they visit the shop.
Internet Advertising:
It is the most recent advertising medium which makes use of internet to disseminate the message. It is an interactive medium and can deliver message more effectively.
The advantages of internet advertising are as follows:
(i) It is not very expensive.
(ii) Dramatisation of message is possible.
(iii) It is an interactive media where two-way communication is possible.
The drawbacks of internet advertising are as follows:
(i) It has limited reach.
(ii) Being a new medium, its effectiveness is yet to be established.