Chapter 18

Three basic approaches to advertising scheduling

-Continuous (steady) schedule. When seasonal factors are unimportant, advertising is run at a continuous or steady schedule throughout the year. -Flighting (intermittent) schedule. Periods of advertising are scheduled between periods of no advertising to reflect seasonal demand. -Pulse (burst) schedule. A flighting schedule is combined with a continuous schedule because of increases in demand, heavy periods of promotion, or introduction of a new product. For example, products such as breakfast cereals have a stable demand throughout the year and would typically use a continuous schedule of advertising. In contrast, products such as snow skis and suntan lotions have seasonal demands and receive flighting-schedule advertising during the seasonal demand period. Some products such as toys or automobiles require pulse-schedule advertising to facilitate sales throughout the year and during special periods of increased demand

competitive advertisements

Advertising that promotes a specific brand's features and benefits. The objective of these messages is to persuade the target market to select the firm's brand rather than that of a competitor. An increasingly common form of competitive advertising is *comparative* advertising, which shows one brand's strengths relative to those of competitors.

Advocacy advertisements

Advocacy advertisements state the position of a company on an issue.

Aided recall

After being shown an ad, respondents are asked whether their previous exposure to it was through reading, viewing, or listening. The Starch test shown in the accompanying photo uses aided recall to determine the percentage of those who (1) remember seeing a specific ad (noted), (2) saw or read any part of the ad identifying the product or brand (associated), (3) read any part of the ad's copy (read any), and (4) read at least half of the ad (read most). Elements of the ad are then tagged with the results, as shown in the photo.

Assessing the advertising program

An advertisement may go through posttests after it has been shown to the target audience to determine whether it accomplished its intended purpose. Five approaches common in posttesting are: aided recall, unaided recall, attitude tests, inquiry tests, sales tests. Results of posttesting the advertising copy are used to reach decisions about changes in the advertising program.

Attitude tests

Attitude tests involve asking respondents questions to measure changes in their attitudes after an advertising campaign. For example, they might be asked whether they now have a more favorable attitude toward the product advertised.

Promotion

Consumer or trade oriented

Types of appeals when designing the advertising

Fear appeals suggest to the consumer that he or she can avoid some negative experience through the purchase and use of a product or service, a change in behavior, or a reduction in the use of a product. When using fear appeals, the advertiser must be sure that the appeal is strong enough to get the audience's attention and concern but not so strong that it will lead them to tune out the message. Research suggests that overly threatening messages have a negative effect on the intention to adapt behavior. Sex appeals suggest to the audience that the product will increase the attractiveness of the user. Experts suggest that sexual content is most effective when there is a strong fit between the use of a sex appeal in the ad and the image and positioning of the brand, as seen in the bebe ad. Humorous appeals imply either directly or subtly that the product is more fun or exciting than competitors' offerings.

product advertisements (TYPE 1)

Focused on selling a product or service, product advertisements take three forms: (1) pioneering (or informational), (2) competitive (or persuasive), and (3) reminder.

Carrying out the advertising program

Full-service agency, limited service agency, in-house agency

Developing the advertising program

Identify the target audience. Understanding the lifestyles, attitudes, and demographics of the target market is essential. Specify the advertising objectives. This step helps advertisers with other choices in the promotion decision process, such as selecting media and evaluating a campaign. Advertising with an objective of Page 503creating awareness, for example, would be better matched with a magazine than a directory such as the Yellow Pages. Setting the advertising budget. (Review budgeting approaches from chapter 17) Designing the advertising. Most advertising messages are made up of both informational and persuasive elements. Includes designing message content, creating the actual message (use of spokespersons), selecting the right media, and scheduling the advertising.

Inquiry Tests

Inquiry tests involve offering additional product information, product samples, or premiums to an ad's readers or viewers. Ads generating the most inquiries are presumed to be the most effective.

Jury tests

Jury tests involve showing the ad copy to a panel of consumers and having them rate how they liked it, how much it drew their attention, and how attractive they thought it was. This approach is similar to the portfolio test in that consumer reactions are obtained. However, unlike the portfolio test, a test advertisement is not hidden within other ads.

Executing the advertising program

Pretesting, then carrying out the program

Sales Tests

Sales tests involve studies such as controlled experiments (e.g., using radio ads in one market and newspaper ads in another and comparing the results) and consumer purchase tests (measuring retail sales that result from a given advertising campaign). The most sophisticated experimental methods today allow a manufacturer, a distributor, or an advertising agency to manipulate an advertising variable (such as schedule or copy) through cable systems and observe subsequent sales effects by monitoring data collected from checkout scanners in supermarkets.

Managing the advertising program

Similar to managing the promotional program, Advertising can be managed by following the three steps (developing, executing, and evaluating) of the process.

institutional advertisements (TYPE 2)

The objective of institutional advertisements is to build goodwill or an image for an organization rather than promote a specific product or service. Four alternative forms of institutional advertisements are often used: (1) Advocacy advertisements, (2) Pioneering institutional advertisements, (3) Competitive institutional advertisements, (4) Reminder institutional advertisements.

Portfolio tests

The test ad is placed in a portfolio with several other ads and stories, and consumers are asked to read through the portfolio. Afterward, subjects are asked for their impressions of the ads on several evaluative scales, such as from "very informative" to "not very informative."

unaided recall

The unaided recall approach involves asking respondents a question such as, "What ads do you remember seeing yesterday?" without any prompting to determine whether they saw or heard advertising messages.

Theater tests

Theater testing is the most sophisticated form of pretesting. Consumers are invited to view new television shows or movies in which test commercials are also shown. Viewers register their feelings about the advertisements either on handheld electronic recording devices used during the viewing or on questionnaires afterward.

Scheduling the media

Three factors must be considered. First is the issue of buyer turnover, which is how often new buyers enter the market to buy the product. The higher the buyer turnover, the greater the amount of advertising required. A second issue in scheduling is the purchase frequency; the more frequently the product is purchased, the less repetition is required. Finally, companies must consider the forgetting rate, the speed with which buyers forget the brand if advertising is not seen.

pioneering advertisements

Used in the introductory stage of the product life cycle, pioneering advertisements tell people what a product is, what it can do, and where it can be found. The key objective of a pioneering advertisement is to inform the target market.

wasted coverage

a problem with television advertising, where people outside the target market for the product see the advertisement

Advertising

any paid form of nonpersonal communication about an organization, a product, a service, or an idea by an identified sponsor. Two types of advertisements: product and institutional

Reminder institutional advertisements

like reminder ads for products, these simply bring the company's name to the attention of the target market again.

Pioneering institutional advertisements

like the pioneering ads for products discussed earlier, are used for announcements about what a company is, what it can do, or where it is located.

infomercials

program-length (30-minute) advertisements that take an educational approach to communication with potential customers.

Competitive institutional advertisements

promote the advantages of one product class over another and are used in markets where different product classes compete for the same buyers. America's milk processors and dairy farmers use their "Milk Life" campaign to increase demand for milk as it competes against other beverages.

gross rating points (GRPs)

reach (percentage of total market) times frequency

spot ads

running BETWEEN programs, not during

frequency

the average number of times a person in the target audience is exposed to a message or advertisement.

advertising media

the means by which the message is communicated to the target audience. Newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV are examples of advertising media.

Reach

the number of different people or households exposed to an advertisement. The exact definition of reach sometimes varies among alternative media. Newspapers often use reach to describe their total circulation or the number of different households that buy the paper. Television and radio stations, in contrast, describe their reach using the term rating—the percentage of households in a market that are tuned to a particular TV show or radio station.

Reminder advertising

used to reinforce previous knowledge of a product. Reminder advertising is good for products that have achieved a well-recognized position and are in the mature phase of their product life cycle. Another type of reminder ad, *reinforcement*, is used to assure current users they made the right choice.