Question 1: - Describe the types of Advertising copy.

Answer: Advocacy advertising: Organizations use advertising to send a message intended to influence a targeted audience. In most cases there is an underlying benefit sought by an organization when they engage in advocacy advertising. Advertorial advertising: Very common these days, this is a tool to enhance the credibility of advertising copy. Consumers and readers alike have become very cynical about the hyperbole and intrusiveness associated with regular advertising and discounts it out of hand. Public service advertising: It is a corollary of corporate advertising and flourishes when economy does well. These are also released when a company can afford to talk about things other than its products. Financial advertising: 200709 had been bad for businesses. Otherwise, most companies prefer to raise finance from public directly through IPOs. Industrial advertising: These are not showy and glamorous, but occupy a huge amount of advertising space and budget. They sell all the capital goods, B-to-B and intermediary industrial products, maintenance and after care services, etc. Usually these are released in industrial journals and magazines. Specialty advertising: This is a form of sales promotion but designed by the advertising agency. A company can have its name and a slogan printed on glasses (for a manufacturer of alcoholic beverages) , caps, school bags, jackets, key chains, pens, etc. and works as a kind of brand extension. Trade advertising: This type is strictly for selling within the trade and released only in trade magazines and newspapers. They are highly technical, brief, to the point, descriptive and no-nonsense business communication. Direct Mail (DM) advertising: You will learn in detail about this tool in Unit 8. This needs special kind of copywriting, since it contains many pieces such as a personalized letter and envelope, catalogues, flyers, response cards, all pulling together to sell the brand or service. Retail advertising: The explosion of consumerism in India has crystallized this type. Especially with fancy shopping malls even in small towns now, retail advertising requires specialized copy strategy. Cooperative advertising: In this, several parties with same brands or products share the advertising expense. It is an excellent tool for malls, busy shopping areas that sell similar products, cosmetics or garment brands for instance.

Recruitment advertising: India being a young and growing nation, recruitment ads are nearly as important as consumer ads. These are released in special pages of daily newspapers, in classified sections and online. Classifieds and personal advertising: This class has grown into a huge segment in itself. It can be anything from an ad for a lost cat to an obituary or birthday greeting, lost & found to situations vacant. Since these are released by small people, they have to be written very tightly and clearly to attract maximum response without being too telegraphic or expensive. Tender advertising: This is not exactly exciting copy, but an inalienable part of serving a client. These ads inform a companys suppliers about the goods and services it requires from time to time. Notification and legal ads: This too is a bland but large category that must be released for information an individual or company may wish to communicate to the public, such as change of name, admission and recruitment notices, change of telephone numbers and addresses, intention to buy property, marriage announcements, legal termination of an employee, all the way down to employees absconding after embezzlement. Outdoor advertising: This covers a big area and includes everything from hoardings, posters, lit panels in railway stations and airports, side of buildings, lamp poles on the roadwell, anything Outside Of Home, called OOH now. Reminder and Point-of Purchase (PoP) media: These are all the in-store pieces like danglers, tents, and placemats in bars and restaurants, which just mention the brand name and color scheme of the company. Question 2: - Discuss the Innovative use of media in rural areas. Answer: In spite of fundamental differences in urban and rural psychology and buying patterns, marketers use most of the true and tried mass media for rural marketing also. The immense diversity of rural cultures and low literacy just make it more challenging. A successful campaign mixes the traditional and modern media cleverly to get the best results. Television: Due to the government supplying free televisions in rural areas for broadcasting educational and farming programmers, actual community television sets are common. But there may not be power supply, the sets may not be well maintained, and are usually kept in the house of a powerful or affluent village leader where people gather in the evening. Radio: Although radio, especially transistor radio had been wildly popular in rural areas, it has lost it hold in the past decade. But its power as a medium remains it is portable, excellent medium for the illiterate and jingles make a brand

unforgettable. Perhaps more attention should be paid to building back the power of radio as an advertising tool. Cinema: Not many rural areas have movie halls and shows have to be paid for, which pretty much takes it out of the means of rural families. Separate sitting for men and women is still prevalent, which may be as unattractive to a rural family as an urban one. However, the larger than life impact of cinema advertising remains timeless. Print: Men of Indian villages have the age-old tradition of gathering at village centers or tea shops to discuss everything from politics to plane crashes they read about in newspapers. Vernacular newspapers or newspapers that are published in local languages are read by some 24% of village folks. Wall painting and outdoor: The ancient Indian tradition of artistic self-expression of rural people through paintings on the sides of rural huts, like Madhubani have been turned into a powerful rural advertising medium by marketers. Video vans: Originally created by politicians for rural campaigns at election times, these are now used extensively by rural marketers. Usually announced way ahead of the arrival of the van in a village, they create excitement, entertainment and advertising all at the same time. Village melas and haats: Rural marketers have at their disposal many ancient, true and tried methods of communicating marketing messages to the rural folks. Religious festivals, weekly or monthly haats, seasonal melas have always been there, where huge amount of business transactions take place.

Question 3: - Briefly discuss about advertising Objectives. Answer: A company does not release entertaining television commercials or colorful press ads spending millions of rupees for some entertaining or artistic reasons. An advertiser usually has one or several of the following objectives: Increase brand awareness: Sometimes even a brand selling well may have poor brand awareness, especially in FMCG products. The users may be habitual buyers with no great awareness of the distinctive features of the brand. The campaign may aim to sharpen brand awareness by creating a focused brand personality and keep reinforcing it over a period of time. Enhance brand image: Even a successful brand may come under severe pressure from either new brand competition or another old brand introducing new features. The campaign objective may be to strengthen the clients brand image as the brand stands now, by reminding the target all its relevant benefits.

Introduce new features or improved version: In a competitive market, each producer is constantly working to incrementally improve his product just to stay ahead of competition and only then to serve his customers better. When a successful new feature or a new version altogether of the brand is introduced, a major campaign is necessary. Increase sale: As mentioned earlier, advertising is only one component of the marketing mix and in itself cannot increase sale. But it does play a huge role. Therefore, the agency has to define clearly its role in this process. Increase profit: Increasing profit is different from increasing sale. Especially in FMCG products, the top line may keep growing due to many promotional activities and price wars, yet the bottom line can tank, due to thinning margins. Increase market share: Each brand in the same product class and price band sells only to some users and not others. For instance, in bath soap market, some use Pears and some use Mysore Sandal or Dove. Each creates and protects its share of the market. Expand geographical market: Most products do well in one area of the country and not in others. South India drinks coffee, at least did until coffee prices shot up due to lucrative export. North and east India drink tea. Create corporate image: Often a corporate campaign mentions the brands only in the passing, but focuses on the companys image. The idea is that a great company by definition is expected to make great products which one can trust. Damage control: A brand or manufacturer may get stuck with bad reputation, the reason of which may not be its fault or in its control. Some years ago, a few capsules of the pain killer Tylenol were filled with poison by an emotionally deranged man in the USA, causing several deaths. Attract the best professionals: Big companies may need to create very seductive corporate images for themselves as employers to ensure that the most qualified and experienced in the profession would want to join their company as a matter of pride. Announcing new outlets: When a major product line is introduced in a new city or part of the country, huge launch campaigns are released to inform potential customers quickly about brand availability. For instance, LG electronics products now come closer to you in Ludhiana.

Question 4: - Describe the Tools and Techniques of Sales Promotion in brief

Answer: These are some of the standard tools used for sales promotions: Price discounts: intended to encourage trial use of a new or an improved and relaunched product to recruit new buyers for a mature brand or to convince existing buyers to use more of it. It also introduces a brand extension, when a new product is introduced in the same brand name in the same line of a very successful and established brand. Bonus or banded packs: In a banded pack two or more products are packed together, as in bath soap packs or tooth brush and toothpaste packs. In a bonus pack, an extra amount or piece of the product is free, when the standard size or a single unit of the product is bought at the regular price. Refunds: It is an offer by a marketer to return a certain amount of money when a product is purchased. It aims to increase the quantity or frequency of use, to encourage customers to load up on the product. For instance, for X brand of cooking oil, Rs. 4 refunded in exchange of every empty packet. Offer valid for two weeks. Rebates: These stimulate the purchase of postpone-able goods such as consumer durables and create on-shelf excitement by encouraging special displays. Refunds and rebates are generally perceived as a reward for purchase and they seem to build brand loyalty than to diminish it for using a cheap trick. Coupons: These are legal certificates offered by manufacturers and retailers. They grant specific savings on selected products when presented for redemption at the point of purchase. Manufacturers sustain the cost of advertising and distribution of coupons, redeeming their face values and paying retailers the handling fee. Sweepstakes: This is a random drawing or chance contest that may or may not have an entry requirement like buying a product or magazine. The use of sweepstakes as a promotional tactic is very large now, offering prizes like cars, foreign holidays, electronic equipment, etc. Contests: These require the entrant to perform a certain task like playing a game, answering questions accurately; fill out blanks, etc. to demonstrate a skill, which is judged in order to win a prize. At one time contests were used a lot for sales promotion, mostly due to legal restrictions on gambling that marketers feared can apply to sweepstakes. Special events: Many manufacturers, especially products which cannot be advertised such as alcoholic beverages, tobacco products if the government can still have their way and very large corporate sponsor everything from music, sports and games, childrens events, religious festivals like Durga puja in Bengal and Ganesha Chaturthi in Mumbai or national celebrations.

Premiums: This is a compensation given as an incentive for performing the act of purchase. It can be given free, or offered to a customer for a significantly reduced price, such as small prizes in a cereal box or soft drink bottle cap, or a free gift when a product is purchased at the opening of an outlet. Continuity programmers: These retain brand users over a long period by offering ongoing incentives or motivation. If the customer keeps buying the product, he gets more and more rewards, like trading stamps given for every purchase so popular in the 1960s and 70s. Sampling: When a product is new or not quite the best or a market leader, a sample given for trial free or for a very small fee is a very good way to lure away customers who use other brands. But in order to change peoples future purchasing behavior, the product difference must be obvious during the trial or the competing brands must lack that benefit.

Question 5: - What is a full service agency? What are specialist agencies? Why are they needed? Answer: A full service agency is only one component of todays bewilderingly complex marketing mix, which, like in any other concerted activity, must act together to achieve a rising sales curve. Until the late 20 th century, most good agencies were what were called full service agencies, meaning they offered almost all of the above services. These agencies offer very specialized services which include: Interpreting market research and gathering of necessary information Conceptualizing a campaign platform Executing the creative work which includes copywriting and visualizing of the advertisements, photography and selecting appropriate vernacular languages Media planning, buying space and time Correctly scheduling releases in appropriate time and publication Printing publicity materials such as brochures, folders, specification sheets, operating manuals, catalogues, technical literature, banners, posters, hoarding flexes, etc. Creating and shooting television and cinema commercials. Creating radio spots Using all other minor media and devising unconventional and innovative ones to meet clients specific needs

Specialist Agencies Now communication is so complex, specialized and fragmented that advertising services also have become so. Now there are agencies which do only the creative work or filming of commercials, or the still photography, or outdoor advertising. Media space and time buying and selling is a multi-million rupee business in itself, which in turn sells it back to smaller agencies that do not have the media clout to get good bargains and positions. Even full service advertising agencies themselves are specialized some do only FMCG products, or IT, technical, engineering, recruitment or tender advertising and carry a whole team of highly skilled and specialized professionals who are the tops in their business. It is a highly competitive world and considering the proliferation of products, services and explosion of media today, the specializations are necessary. Since advertising is a multi-billion rupee extravaganza controlled by just a handful of professionally managed high class advertising agencies, the war game of agency selection is crucial for both the sides. The process of selection spans an enormous range enclosed by the two extremes of a quiet recommendation from a satisfied client to the bizarre event called speculative presentation, where a large number of agencies are invited to display their creative capabilities.

Question 6: - Describe the Demographic influences on advertising in brief.

Answer: Demographic segments and the obvious changes in them are easier to define and analyze. Let us now see how these influence advertising

Lifestyle: India always had different lifestyles in different parts of the country, marked by language, food, religion, etc. But there was uniformity within that segment at least. Not anymore. Whole new lifestyles are in the market now, which cut across ethnic and local traditions. Urban Indias lifestyle is changing very fast. Young handsome rock star gurus like Vikas Malkani who runs a help MTV style Soul Centre in New Delhi presenting Indian philosophy in easy to follow contemporary language to tarot card reader, the interests are very different. Technology: India has an amazing capacity to adopt the latest technology available anywhere in the world. A country which did not have even television until

late 1980s, today literally consumes the latest gadgets and gizmos with limitless appetite. In a 2007 survey carried out by Economic Times Dentsu on 3,000 correspondents across India, dependence on technology is clearly defined. Some 51% of urban Indians feel life will be difficult without a mobile, 93% feel life will be really tough without text messaging, 90% cannot do without television, and Internet dependency is universal. 32% in 18-25 years age group said life would be hard without the music and camera features on a mobile. But then, this was an online survey, so a biased one. Aggressive middle class: Indian middle class has become the object of keen observation for everybody from MNC consumer products to political campaign planners. Whole books and furious research projects are being written on this phenomenon. It is a grossly over rated class, in numbers, consumption volume and desires. Rough estimate is that there are about 50 million families in India in middle class who really do buy branded products significantly. Sharia compliant banking and stock market: Sharia, the laws for finance and commercial activities permitted to the believers of Islam, is mandatory for Muslims, who do not invest in alcohol; conventional banking that gives interest, insurance, entertainment, tobacco, pork, weapons, etc. Advertising abroad: As Indian companies go abroad and Indian products are sold all over the world more and more, advertising too has to adapt to that. The whole approach has to evolve to cater to more educated, sophisticated and subtle approach that will appeal to a different class of people. Long and tedious text, careless grammar and Indian English or Hinglish have to make room for concise and clear copy and indirect approach. Mall culture: Every technical, social or economic development in the west comes to India about ten years later, in fully developed form without going through the evolutionary stages and then goes through exactly the same life cycle. Mall culture is no different. When Indian economy was opened up, organized retailing and malls spread quite quickly across the country. As early as 2006, India had around 450 malls and not all of them in the metro cities. Retail outlets: India has over 15 million retail outlets, big and small and huge domestic and international corporate are moving in to cash in on this visible result of rising incomes. Birla, Reliance, Wal-Mart are some of them. Retail mania assumes that huge supply will automatically create huge demand, not necessarily proven in reality. Retail is a business with very thin margin of profit, usually 2-3% only.