ADVERTISING:Message Frequency and Customer Awareness, Message Reinforcement

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Lesson 34

ADVERTISING

Introduction

This lecture emphasizes on evaluation of advertising campaign before it is launched. Some

basic considerations are discussed, which if followed, give you a decent level of confidence

about the effectiveness of your campaign. Having been done with developing advertising, the

lecture also addresses fundamentals of executing advertising.

Evaluating new advertising campaign

This evaluation does not mean assessing the impact of a campaign. It is pre-launch evaluation

on the basis of five fundamental points:

A strong single basic idea: A good campaign revolves around a strong single idea. This

single idea is a reflection of brand's positioning. Brand's positioning rests on one strong

benefit, you will recall! You have to ensure that good advertising contains a single idea and

is not simply a listing of the virtues of the product. Selling idea can be based on the

following factors when you plan development and execution of advertising:

· It's new you can talk about newness.

· It offers a solution to a problem. Your punch line can be based on this aspect.

· It is thought-provoking; it should cause the consumer to think about your product

and develop some attitude and feelings towards that.

Natural growth of the idea: You have to make sure that it grows naturally out of the nature

and character of the product. It should capitalize on the virtues of the product, which the

consumer will readily see in the product. It must not try to artificially create an interest that

may not be readily related with the product.

Appeal to self-interest: It should appeal quickly to the self-interest of the consumer. The

consumer should associate the product with some service to him. If not, then he is not going

to have feelings and attitude toward your brand.

Your own custom-made approach: The campaign should follow an approach that sounds

and looks like your own. It should be distinctive in relation to your positioning and brand

persona. It should be memorable in that it can be readily associated to your brand and not

those of competitors.

It must not wander off: In its execution, it must stick to the positioning, main selling idea.

It must not wander off the main selling point into different directions? In sticking to the

main selling idea, you may point out the significance of the promise, offer reasons why this

promise is possible, or relate various attributes to the basic promise. You will recall from

lecture 20 how to assess the main attribute/benefit for positioning from customer's

standpoint.

Miscellaneous considerations: A few straightforward considerations must be taken into

account while you evaluate advertising for its effectiveness. Some of the following

questions provide valuable insights and build up your confidence about the relevance of the

campaign:

· Is it simple?

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Does it reflect the character of the product?

Is it interesting enough to get readership?

Does it take advantage of the medium?

Does it demonstrate it point?

Is it specific and thought-provoking?

If all the points really represent themselves as campaign constituents, it is a good campaign and

reflects your strategy statement and copy strategy. And, that is a reflection that your positioning

and persona are well translated.

Executing advertising is all about ensuring a high level of customer response effects. It

deals with:

· Target

market

Advertising Effectiveness

reach

and

Customer Response

· Media selection

100%

Figure 41

· Media coverage

· Message

frequency

80%

· Ad content or

copy, and value

proposition.

60%

What we need to learn here is

the "why-not" factor, that is,

40%

why may campaigns not

generate the required level of

customer response? Let's

20%

take a look at that.

For any level of awareness,

the levels of comprehension,

Purchase

Awareness

Comprehension

Intention

intention, and purchase are

consecutively lower. The

Customer Response

higher the level of awareness,

Market-Based Management by Roger J. Best

the higher is the level of

purchase. It is also important to note again that purchase level does not increase as much as

does the awareness. The accompanying graphics illustrate this fact.

To have a higher level of purchase, we have to work hard to jack up awareness. Building

awareness, therefore, is the first step toward building profits. Sustained loyalty depends on

customer retention and his coming back and back for purchasing. It is this repeat purchasing

that has a direct relationship with profitability.

The basic objective of communication is to increase awareness among the target market and not

general public. A well known and memorable campaign is no good if it does not generate the

required response.

Target Market Reach - Media Selection and Customer Awareness

In order to reach your target customers effectively, you have to have a good understanding of

their media habits, like

· What TV channels they watch?

· What newspapers and which parts they are interested in?

· What magazines they prefer?

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Brand Management (MKT624)

· What radio stations and at what time?

· How do they go to work and get exposed to the outdoor media?

· Are they internet users?

All of the factors have to be considered before you buy a combination of media to reach your

target customers. Everything adds to cost and the incremental cost has to be related to the

increment of economic benefits.

Message Frequency and Customer Awareness

Once you have chosen the media mix, the next question is how many times you should expose

your target customers to your message. Doing it too few times is not going to serve the

purpose, for the message may not make inroads into their memories.

You have to decide about the right frequency to make the message meaningfully effective in

terms of its registration. It could be "concentrated communication strategy" or "distributed

communication strategy"1. You concentrate generally for seasonal products and distribute for

the ones that generally sell round the year.

Ad Copy and Customer Response

We have learned quite a bit about the role of the ad copy toward creating awareness and

comprehension. We must be sure that the message is rightly received and interpreted at the

customers' end. One approach is to test the copy before running it nationwide, especially if it is

a TV commercial.

Fragmented media has given us the advantage of testing. If the results are positive in terms of

comprehension by the target market, you should go ahead with the campaign. Needless to say

that ad copy is best able to attract customers when it is really based on customer needs and

situations familiar to customers.

Message Reinforcement

One hard fact of communication is that it has to be continuous, repetitive and reinforcing.

Building awareness, comprehension, and intention will bring in a good customer response, but

will diminish if the message is not reinforced. That is precisely the reason that you see

advertising for soaps, ice cream, and cell phone services almost round the year.

Maintaining a high level of awareness is expensive. One approach to reinforcement that

maintains awareness and reduces copy wear-out is "pulsing", which is use of alternating

exposure periods. Other approach is "heavy-up" for seasonal items.

You go for pulsing to maintain a base awareness of your product throughout the year, while

heavy-up its message frequency before and during the high sales periods.

Summary

Advertising should be developed keeping brand positioning in mind. If positioning has been

chosen right after assessing all the product benefits from customer's standpoint, then chances

are that campaign will be based on the most appealing benefit and character of the product. It

will be simple and straight forward with no ambiguities. It should be very natural not

communicating anything that does not belong to the product.

While executing advertising, the customer response effects should be kept in mind and

campaign devised accordingly. Awareness must be created at a very high level in order to

achieve a decent level of purchase by customers.

The factors of considering the target market, message frequency, and reinforcement should be

considered carefully to execute the campaign effectively.

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Brand Management (MKT624)

Bibliography:

1. Roger J. Best: "Market-Based Management Strategies for Growing Customer Value

and Profitability"; Prentice Hall (304-309)

Suggested readings:

2. Roger J. Best: "Market-Based Management Strategies for Growing Customer Value

and Profitability"; Prentice Hall (302-322)

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