Advertising Management and Sales Promotion

Unit 1

Unit 1

Overview of Advertising Management

Structure:
1.1 Introduction
Objectives
1.2 Meaning and Framework of Advertising
How advertising works
1.3 Defining Advertising
Targeted advertising
Delayed reaction
1.4 Advertising to Persuade the Buyer
1.5 Importance of Advertising in Marketing
1.6 Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix and Positioning
Correct positioning of brand
1.7 Advertisers and Advertising Agencies
Full-service advertising agencies
Specialist agencies
1.8 Choosing an Advertising Agency
1.9 Summary
1.10 Glossary
1.11 Terminal Questions
1.12 Answers
1.13 Case Study

1.1 Introduction
Before we begin a discussion on advertising, let us take a moment to
recapitulate our understanding on advertisings higher order disciplines
marketing and marketing communication. As you have already learnt,
marketing includes many tasks right from identifying consumer needs and
wants to fulfilling them. These marketing tasks are marketing research, new
product development, distribution management, pricing, promotion, analysis
of competition, etc. These activities can be classified into four general
categories such as product, price, place (distribution) and promotion, which
are popularly known as the 4 Ps of marketing or the marketing mix.
Promotion or marketing communication refers to all activities concerned with
informing consumers about an organisations offering, persuading them to
buy it and reminding them about it from time to time. The fourth P, that is,
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promotion, comprises of activities like advertising, sales promotion, direct

marketing, public relations, personal selling and unconventional media.
Thus, advertising is one of the components of marketing communication or
promotion, and it is one of the Ps of marketing. In this unit, you will learn
about the nature of advertising, advertising agencies and advertisers. You
will also study the importance of and the role played by advertising in
marketing. Advertising is a word that creates great curiosity and conjures up
different images of varied dimensions even in a laymans mind. It is
glamour, excitement and flashy lifestyle and power and control over
consumers mind; it is hype and drama. It is also perceived as an
unimaginable reach and psychological penetration through countless media;
it is the mysterious influence of the subliminal and subconscious.
In reality, it is an extremely serious, complex and profound profession that
involves many different areas of expertise. Many unusual and talented
minds come together and work seamlessly to produce entertaining pieces of
communication in television, radio or newspapers, which ordinarily people
perceive as advertisements (ads). It demands the highest level of
excellence, talent and commitment from its professionals who are practically
addicted to it. It is also fascinating and rewarding.
Objectives:
After studying this unit, you should be able to:
relate to the concept and structure of advertising
elucidate the role of persuasion in advertising
outline the types and styles of advertising
explain how advertisers and advertising agencies work

1.2 Meaning and Framework of Advertising

Advertising is indeed an indispensable component of the modern market
economy, and it is an integral part of any commercial transaction. The loud
and shrill voice of the street hawker, the temple priest announcing the next
festival, the village marriage broker visiting houses to present the eligible
young boys and girls profile are all examples of how they are selling their
products and services; these are as effective as the highly captivating
television commercials of today. It is a complex mechanism to understand
advertising in its totality, but probably not difficult to learn how it works.
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In simple terms, advertising is a persuasive communication that aims to

change or reinforce ones prior attitudes that are predictable of future
behaviour. We are not born with the attitudes we hold towards various
objects in our environment. Rather, we acquire our attitudes and notions in
our early childhood from our parents and environment. We then change our
feelings of likes or dislikes about the objects through information about the
objects (e.g. advertising), direct experience with them (e.g. tasting a new
brand of beer) or a combination of the two.
Attitudes are not observable behaviour but rather invisible, internal
reactions. Once a certain type of attitude about an object is formed and is
repeatedly reinforced, it is stored in consumers mind in the form of either
explicit or implicit memory. Later, those episodes leading to attitudes are
retrieved automatically or strategically, quite often unaware and
unconscious, at the time of decision making, which generate certain types of
reactions.
1.2.1 How advertising works
Since attitudes have traditionally been viewed as evaluations that are stored
in memory and persist over time, the constructs of memory and attitude are
extremely valuable to understand how advertising works. The underlying
mechanisms of forming attitude and memory and a framework of how
advertising works are shown in Figure 1.1. It starts from how consumers
perceive advertising stimuli to the last step of the impact of advertising on
consumers behaviour.

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Fig. 1.1: Framework of Advertising

1.3 Defining Advertising

Advertising is defined in Webster's Dictionary as the action of calling
something to the attention of the public especially by paid announcements;
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or, to call public attention by emphasising desirable qualities so as to arouse

a desire to buy or patronise. As is commonly defined and understood,
advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of
ideas or products by an identified sponsor. The definition highlights the
following characteristics of advertising:
The fact that it is a paid form of presentation emphasises that
advertising space or time must be purchased.
Its non-personal nature emphasises the fact that it is not a direct or
personalised presentation to one individual but to the masses.
Presentation signifies the format in which advertisements
communicate.
Promotion indicates the objective of advertising.
Identified sponsor refers to the identification of the brand or the
advertiser who is communicating.
Thus, advertising is a mass media communication that attempts to persuade
audiences and build a positive attitude towards a product. Advertising
objectives can be categorised based on whether their goal is to inform,
persuade, remind or reinforce.
The objectives of advertising are as follows:

Inform Let people know what the product is, where it would be
available, what problem it would solve, etc. Informative advertising is
most rampant in the introductory stage of the product or product
category because maximum information has to be given when
something is new.

Persuade This becomes more important as the product grows or

faces increasing competition. The advertiser now needs to give more
reasons or enticements to lure consumers. One way of establishing
superiority is by comparative advertising, where you evaluate your brand
vis--vis a competitors brand directly or indirectly. The better-thancompetitor claim can be made subtly by telling the consumer how your
brand addresses his/her need and convincing him/her that no other
brand does that in the same fashion. For example, a television
commercial for Captain Cook persuaded consumers by depicting how its
salt was better flowing compared to Tata Salt.

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Remind This kind of advertising is widespread with mature products,

that is, products that are well past their introduction and rapid growth
phases. Everyone knows about the products what they do, how
beneficial they are, how they are different from other products, etc.
There are hardly any new consumers who need to be persuaded.
Hence, an advertiser needs to remind the consumer that his/her product
exists and that it is there when he/she needs it. For example, with its
witty, well-timed and creative print ads on current topics, the mature
brand Amul Butter stays on top-of-the-mind.

Reinforce This seeks to convince current consumers that they have

made the right choice. By reinforcing key benefits and depicting satisfied
consumers of the brand, an advertiser can reassure current consumers
that they have indeed spent their money well.

Advertising has long been viewed as a method of mass promotion wherein a

single message can reach an unimaginably large number of people, as in
the case of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). But, this mass
promotion approach presents problems because many people exposed to
an advertising message may not be within the marketers target group and
they may not even be interested in the product category itself. Thus, it may
be an inefficient use of promotional funds.
1.3.1 Targeted advertising
However, this is changing because new advertising technologies and the
emergence of new media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising.
Niche marketing and narrowcasting of advertising messages through a
number of innovative and imaginative communication routes are used now;
this is due to the explosion of niche media and delivery methods that reach
the targets with unerring focus. For instance, with the impending launch of
IPTV, advertisers will be able to send customised ad messages to viewers
based on the channel and programme they are watching and also on their
viewing pattern. Search engine advertising also allows advertisers to target
prospects who have a higher interest in their products. For instance, an
Internet user who does a Google keyword search on real estate in Mumbai
may be shown ads on 3BHK apartments in Juhu area.
Thus, there are special interest magazines, blog sites, Websites, radio
channels and others, which are as narrowly defined as the consumers who
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seek information. There are specialty magazines on weddings, bridal

cutouts, etc. There is also a whole industry of parenting magazines, car and
household appliance maintenance, gardening, textile and related machinery
(at one time, there were 89 publications on this alone). The bottom line is
that a product can be advertised through these special media and delivered
in the hands of existing or potential customers with deadly accuracy.
1.3.2 Delayed reaction
Advertising is considered a one-way form of marketing communication
where the message receiver (i.e. target market) is not in a position to
immediately respond to the message (e.g. seek more information or go out
and buy). However, this trend is changing. For example, in the next few
years, technology will be readily available to enable a television viewer to
click a button and request for more details on a product advertised on their
favourite TV programme. In fact, it is expected that over the next 1020
years, advertising will shift from a one-way communication model to a highly
interactive model.
Another characteristic that may change as advertising evolves is the view
that most forms of advertising (except recruitments, sale notices, etc., which
are designed to elicit instant reaction) do not stimulate immediate demand
for the product advertised. That is, customers do not immediately purchase
a product that is advertised. Therefore, it is difficult for the advertiser,
especially the ones who are spending a large amount of money on
multimedia campaigns, to audit the results of a campaign accurately. But, as
more media outlets allow customers to interact with the messages being
delivered, the ability of advertising to quickly stimulate demand that
translates into prompt buying action will improve. Also, with advanced tools
of measuring advertising performance, advertisers are able to judge better
when and how much impact an ad campaign makes on sales.
Self Assessment Questions
1. Advertising is any paid form of _____________ presentation and
promotion of ideas or products by an ___________.
2. Advertising is a persuasive communication that aims to change or
reinforce ones prior __________.
3. Advertising is a mass media communication that attempts to persuade
audiences and build a positive attitude towards a product. (True/ False)
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4. An advertiser needs to remind the consumer that the product exists

and that it is there when he needs it. (True/ False)
5. With advanced tools of measuring advertising performance, advertisers
are able to judge better when and how much impact an ad campaign
makes on sales. (True/ False)
Activity 1
See print advertisements of any two popular brands and identify the
target audience of those advertisements.

1.4 Advertising to Persuade the Buyer

Advertising works in a consumers mind at many levels, with a strong
interactivity of many emotions and motives some conscious, immediate
and cognitive, while others are quite unconscious, delayed and deep rooted.
Therefore, unless this unconscious processing of advertising is taken into
account, any research on ad effectiveness will not tell the full story. Even
though consumers are exposed to a mind-blowing amount of ad stimuli on a
24-hour basis, not so much work is done on how consumers process
advertising in an unconscious manner. Therefore, in addition to the
traditional approach of how advertising works, which views consumers as a
conscious information processor, we need to also incorporate the idea of
unconscious processing of advertising. This gives an idea of how
consumers perceive and react to their everyday exposure to the clutter of
advertising.
Targets resist unwanted communication
Given the enormity of advertising clutter and the fact that consumers are
often preoccupied with their daily life, which limits ad processing,
understanding the potential implication of ads that do not receive full
attention is important. A human mind develops natural resistance against
what it does not need or is not interested in right then. Like a coffee filter,
the mind allows to pass through and process only that information which is
useful to it at the moment and throws out or ignores the rest.
Luckily, these mind filters are not permanent. Once one decides to buy
something, even though the actual purchase or enjoyment may not take
place for years (as it is in case of properties, pilgrimages, expensive foreign
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holidays, retirement investments, insurance, childrens higher education,

high-end consumer durables, collectibles, etc.), even a small advertisement
will be noticed in spite of the clutter in the media.
Mind filters
Mind filters have many reasons. They can originate in cultural conditioning,
perceived mandatory social norms, lack of means or necessity at the
moment or just too many options available. It may also involve shutting out
the advertising efforts of some of the alternative brands that may be a better
choice than the one the consumer is using right now.
The attitudes of the consumers have also changed drastically. India has
moved swiftly from the post-independence shortage economy that was
controlled by the sellers to a marketplace that is completely controlled by the
buyers means, needs, whims and moods. Now, the consumer not only
demands to be wooed, but he/she gets bored easily and is absolutely
feckless, ready to change brands easily. The worst forms of mind filters are
indifference or even hostility towards intrusive advertising that does not
involve the target directly. India is a young country and todays youth know
their buying power well and wield it to their advantage.
Emerging research in marketing suggests that information from
unconsciously processed ads can be encoded. These findings are of vital
importance because they suggest that ads which are not explicitly recalled
or recognised at the moment can influence consumers.
Self Assessment Questions
6. In addition to the traditional approach of how advertising works, which
views consumers as a conscious information processor, we need to
also incorporate the idea of ____________ processing of advertising
which gives an idea of how consumers perceive ads.
7. Even a small advertisement will be noticed in spite of the _________ in
the media and _________ from the target audience towards unwanted
communication

1.5 Importance of Advertising in Marketing

Expenditure on advertising is huge. Market research firm Zenith Optimedia
estimates that in 2011, worldwide spending on advertising was around USD
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466 billion, and it will go up by USD 518 billion by 2013. This level of
spending supports thousands of companies and millions of jobs. In fact, in
many countries, most media such as television, radio and newspapers,
would not be in business without revenue generated through the sale of
advertising. While worldwide advertising is an important contributor to
economic growth, the role advertising plays in individual marketing
organisations differ.
For some products, advertising is the breath of life; without it, it will die a
quick death. FMCG, cars, scooters and motorbikes, fashion clothes, tasty
processed food, properties, recruitment, etc., ride primarily on the power of
advertising because they are in a highly competitive market and must
constantly keep their products in front of the prospective buyers.
In some organisations, like hospitals, there is hardly any money spent on
advertising. Instead, promotional money is spent on other options such as
personal selling through a sales team and other tools of the marketing
mix. For some smaller companies, advertising may consist of an occasional
advertisement that is on a small scale, such as placing small ads in the
classified section of a local newspaper. Even industrial goods do not require
much advertising, as opposed to other tools of promotion such as direct
marketing or personal selling.
But most organisations, large and small, that rely on marketing to create
customer interest, are engaged in consistent use of advertising to help meet
marketing objectives. This includes developing advertising campaigns
regularly, which involve a series of decisions for planning, creating,
delivering and evaluating an advertising effort.
Other roles of advertising
There is a lot of misconception about the role advertising plays in society. It
is often said that instead of wasting billions on seemingly useless
advertising, especially in the expensive electronic media, the money saved
can be used for further product development which in turn lowers the price
of products. This results in better sales of the products.
However, it really does not work like that. Advertising brings to the relevant
target audience the different options that are available in a particular product
category, because nobody can go from shop to shop and evaluate all the
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brands that are available in the different markets in the whole country before
making a purchasing decision. Moreover, even at lowered prices, the
products will not sell much because without advertisements consumers will
not be aware of the products existence, irrespective of the comparative
strength of each brand or where it is available.
Advertising also brings popular level entertainment to people. The price the
daily newspapers charge to their readers barely covers the delivery
expenses. The entire newsgathering and publishing industry is paid for by
the advertisements the paper carries. The same is true with radio and
television; even movies are largely supported by the ads they carry before
the show commences and not entirely by gate collections. Ads inform the
public about the concerts, shows and cultural events that take place in the
city. But for advertisements, life would be dull and uninformed.
Self Assessment Questions
8. For some products like FMCG, automobiles, fashion clothes, etc.,
advertising is the breath of life and they rely primarily on the power of
advertising because ___________________.
9. Most organisations do not engaged in consistent use of advertising to
meet marketing objectives as they feel it is a waste of money.
(True/False)
10. Without advertisements, consumers will not be aware of the products
existence (True/False)

1.6 Role of Advertising in Marketing Mix and Positioning

Marketing has been defined by various experts as that which covers all
activities from product conception to the last step when it reaches the
consumer. An exhaustive list of its primary activity includes:

Product, Price, Promotion, Placement (4 Ps of E. Jerome McCarthy,

1960)

Product planning, pricing, branding, channels of distribution, personal

selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, displays, servicing, physical
handling, fact finding and analysis (Borden, 1964)

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4 Ps + packaging, positioning, people, perceptions, physical facilities,

public relations, publicity, pay off, etc., are the other Ps added by other
scholars (Jethwaney & Jain, 2006)

Advertising a cost effective marketing tool

Marketing products and services is a vast area of activity that includes many
professionals and areas of expertise. A successful sale, that also induces a
repeat purchase, backed by a responsive after-sale care and customer
relationship, requires a delicate integration of all these activities in various
degrees. Advertising is only one factor in this mix.
Advertising is a marketing tool that reaches out to a vast number of people
at a relatively small cost to give detailed information about the brand, which
may otherwise be unknown, inaccessible or unavailable to the target.
1.6.1 Correct positioning of brand
Shrewd and informed positioning of a brand is a crucial factor in its success
in the marketplace. This means that it aims at certain customers and not
others. No brand can hope to sell itself to every user in the market, not even
a product of almost universal usage like a bath soap, because different
people use different brands of bath soap and stay loyal to it. Some buy
neem-based soaps that promise medicinal values, others buy perfumed
soaps that attract girls, and still others buy fairness soaps that enhance
complexion. Thus, marketers are able to sell the same product by creating a
unique place for themselves in the minds of consumers. That is why, at any
given time, there are at least 5060 bath soaps in the market, which are
doing brisk business.
Every brand in the same class has almost identical features, including the
price, just to survive competition; yet, every person has different
expectations from it. Therefore, a brand is positioned sharply by promoting
some of its features only, to appeal to a specific target group and create
loyalty for it. It does not even attempt to influence every potential user.

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In 20002001, a brand diagnostics study conducted on Boro brands

indicated the following positioning of the brand based on the
characteristics of grooming and protection (Figure 1.2).

Fig. 1.2: Mapping of Boro brand

This mapping exercise indicated that while BoroSoft was clearly

perceived as high on the cosmetic characteristic of grooming, its
association with the functional characteristic of protection was low. This
needed to be remedied because the key benefit of the brand was
protection from winter dryness. Hence, the new communication strategy
was to position BoroSoft as a dry skin specialist by highlighting and
drawing attention to the ingredient Glycerine, which had the ability to
make dry skin soft and supple. This was to be done while retaining the
brands higher cosmetic imagery, which would provide a reason to buy. A
television commercial that ran in the winter months of November to
February helped the brand achieve its objective.
(Source: www.mudra.com)

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Positioning is done by marketing communication as well as the other factors

such as price, distribution and packaging. Strictly speaking, positioning does
not have so much to do with the brands features as what it has to do to the
targets mind. It is a set of associations that is created in the consumers
mind by skilful and sustained advertising and promotion.
All delicensed Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are similar, different only in
packaging, price, promises and advertising. There may not be much
difference between Aspro and Saridon, both being salicylic acid based. Yet,
the one-time campaign of Take two Saridons, with the visual of two huge
fingers, made the brand a top seller. If two tablets make an effective
painkiller, then why not put that dose in one tablet? If one is enough, why
systematically overdose the user? Nobody argues or even questions. They
just believe and buy. Such is the power of advertising.
Brand positioning is a delicate task that needs a thorough and deep
knowledge of the market and competitors activities. It is done by the
following tools:
Using product characteristics or customer benefits
Pricequality ratio
Use or application
Class of product
Competitive status in the market
Type of user
The steps towards the positioning decision are:
Identifying the competitors
Determining how the competitors are perceived and chosen
Defining the competitors positions
Carefully analysing the customers and reasons for their selection of
brand
Positioning decision is taken by:
Potential market size and share
Market segmentation analysis
Factor of advertising
Honest appraisal of the brands performance

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1.7 Advertisers and Advertising Agencies

The advertiser is the company, individual, institution or government, which
places an advertisement in the mass media and pays for it. It may be a
manufacturer who produces a product for mass or niche consumption. It can
be a scientific or research institution which needs something, for instance
employees in a recruitment ad, or wants to inform the public about its
achievements. It can also be an educational institution announcing its
specialisations in an admission ad. It may be a government informing the
citizens about facilities it offers or its achievements, especially during
elections. Even an individual can advertise, which may range from simple
buy and sell ads to ads offering a service such as Shakuntala Devis
astrology and numerology ads. They, and many other kinds, are all
advertisers in paid mass media who often employ advertising agencies for
specific professional services.
The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) regularly undertakes
intensive promotion campaigns on press, radio, television and electronic
media for increasing egg consumption. The advertisements aim at
increasing the frequency of egg consumption in households that
consume eggs, gain entry into households that do not consume eggs and
educate the masses about the nutritive value of eggs. For example, as
shown in Figure 1.3, NECC prods consumers into consuming an egg
every day by talking about its benefits and comparing it with a multivitamin capsule.

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Fig. 1.3: NECC advertisement

Conventional media promotion is further reinforced by advertisements in

publications, documentary films, rural publicity through vans, unique
schemes of providing egg carts to unemployed youths, nutritional
booklets, mother and child care booklets, recipe booklets, exhibitions,
poultry seminars and sponsorships of sport and cultural events.
(Source: www.e2necc.com)

Most advertising is done by manufacturers who produce goods in huge

quantities and sell them to make profit. It is physically impossible for any
advertiser to contact each of his/her potential targets. So, the advertiser
resorts to secondary selling, that is, through marketing mix and mass
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advertising. The advertisers goal is twofold dissemination of accurate

information about his/her product or service and persuasion in order to
influence the purchasing decision.
1.7.1 Full-service advertising agencies
An advertising agency is the organisation that deals with the advertiser in
meeting the communication requirements of a product. Until the late 20th
century, most agencies were full-service agencies, meaning, they offered
almost all of the essential communication-related services creative
designing (art and copy), media planning and buying, client servicing,
account planning, studio operations, ad production, etc. Within these broad
categories, full-service agencies offer specialised services, which include:
Interpreting market research and gathering of the necessary information.
Conceptualising a campaign platform.
Executing the creative work, which includes copywriting and visualising
of the advertisements, photography and selecting appropriate vernacular
languages.
Media planning, which includes buying space and time.
Scheduling releases correctly at the appropriate time and in the
appropriate 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.
It is difficult to list everything that an advertising agency does for its clients
because it keeps changing to meet the rapidly shifting market needs today.
Largely, an advertising agency meets its clients needs for conventional
mass communication through several media.
1.7.2 Specialist agencies
Now communication is so complex, specialised and fragmented and
advertising services have to match this. There are agencies which only do
the creative work, or filming of commercials, or the still photography or
outdoor advertising. Buying and selling of media space and time is a multiSikkim Manipal University

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million rupee business in itself, which in turn sells it back to smaller agencies
who do not have the media clout to get good bargains and positions. Even
full-service advertising agencies themselves are specialised some
specialise only in FMCG or IT, technical, engineering, recruitment or tender
advertising and carry a whole team of highly skilled and specialised
professionals who are the toppers in their business. It is a highly competitive
world. Considering the proliferation of products, services and explosion of
media today, the specialisations are necessary.
Self Assessment Questions
11. The ___________ is the company, individual, institution or government,
which places an advertisement in the mass media and pays for it.
12. The advertisers goal is twofold - dissemination of ____________ about
his/her product or service and ________ in order to influence the
purchasing decision.
13. An advertising agency is the organisation that deals with the advertiser
in meeting the communication requirements of a product. (True/False)

1.8 Choosing an Advertising Agency

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 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. These agencies pitch to advertisers, a
process in which they try to win the business of the advertiser by presenting
their expertise and campaign ideas for the product-in-question, while
competing with other agencies.
Choosing an advertising agency is a complex task that must best serve the
interest of the advertiser and his/her product, but it is not always done with
such lofty ideals. Ignorance about the true functions of an advertising
agency, unrealistic expectations, sleazy business deals under the table,
financial constraints and over-promising by the agency can distort the
selection process. The legitimate role of advertising and thus of the
advertising agency in the marketing mix will be covered in a later unit.
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Most small advertisers do not have any regular agency at all. They contact
an agency for specific needs, usually through personal contacts, with no
commitments on either side. Different advertisers have different needs as
far as advertising is concerned. Indeed, the same advertiser may have
different needs at different times. Since ad agencies are highly specialised
now, an advertiser may maintain a whole panel of agencies to serve its
different needs much to the annoyance of the big agencies. These big
agencies may feel that one single agency can give a more integrated
service to the company, which projects a better image in the market.
Depending on the volume of business, an advertiser, especially FMCG
companies and government departments with huge budgets, may use
different agencies to handle their different requirements. These include
press, television, outdoor, event management, print and production,
recruitment, photography, exhibition design and creation, packaging design,
etc., hiring an expert agency in each field. While the advertiser gets the best
in each specialisation, there is the danger of ending up with a muddled and
fragmented image that confuses the market at a subliminal level. The ideal
solution of course is to ensure that all of them work together to maintain
some uniformity of the image, but that rarely happens.
On the professional front, selection of an advertising agency largely
depends on the budget and requirements of the advertiser on the one hand
and the size, creativity, experience, expertise, competitiveness, business
acumen and media influence of the agency on the other. However,
compatibility and the comfort level between the advertiser and the
advertising agency is an important factor because this is an intense
relationship of mutual trust and expectation between the two.
Many small advertisers make use of the services of small agencies having
few employees, who in turn subcontract the more specialised work.
Medium-sized companies rely on full-service agencies to provide whatever
services they need. Going up the food chain, only gigantic international
agencies can serve giant companies due to their media connections,
capacity to retain the best of creative professionals, global accreditations
and freedom with foreign exchange.

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Selection of an agency thus depends on many factors, none of which can

really be defined. It is mostly based on personal relationships between the
two entities at different levels.

1.9 Summary
Let us recapitulate the important concepts discussed in this unit:

Advertising is often perceived as something that entertains and distracts

people, occupies a huge amount of visual and entertainment field and
seems to serve no great purpose.

In reality, advertising is an important and crucial part of modern market

economy, and it is indispensable in todays life. It plays many roles, but
its core function is to make available to the consumer all the options for
a product category.

It is not easy to define or describe how advertising works. It works at

many levels, in many facets of thinking, feeling and acting. It is designed
to inform, persuade, remind and reinforce the target audience regarding
the advertisers product.

Advertising is a cost-effective marketing tool because its vehicle, the

mass media, reaches an enormous number of possible buyers at a low
cost per person.

Advertising connects the advertiser and target group. It is a specialised

profession and advertisers choose their agencies carefully to meet their
specific needs.

There are full-service advertising agencies who meet all of their clients
communication needs. There are also specialist agencies that do highly
specific functions. Selection of an agency depends not only on the
advertisers needs and budget, but also on the agencys expertise,
experience and media contacts.

1.10 Glossary
Persuasive: convincing or the ability to persuade or influence
Positioning: a marketing strategy that aims to make a brand occupy a
distinct position in the mind of the customer.

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Perception: a view or opinion or an understanding by means of senses or

of the mind
Brand: an identifying symbol, words, or mark that distinguishes a product or
company from its competitors
Advertising agency: organisation that deals with the advertiser in meeting
the communication requirements of a product
Advertising Campaign: series of linked advertisements or broadcast
through several media channels
Niche: a focused part of a market.
Clutter: multiple advertisements clustered together such that a viewer or
listener experiences difficulty remembering any particular advertisement.

1.11 Terminal Questions

1. Define the term advertising.
2. What are the objectives of advertising?
3. Is advertising one-way or two-way form of communication?
4. What are mind filters? Give example.
5. Explain the importance of advertising.
6. What do you mean by full-service advertising agencies? What services
they offer?

1.12 Answers
Self Assessment Questions
1. non-personal, identified sponsor
2. attitudes
3. True
4. True
5. True
6. unconscious
7. clutter, resistance
8. they are in a highly competitive market
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9. False
10. True
11. Advertiser
12. accurate information, persuasion
13. True
Terminal Questions
1. Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion
of ideas or products by an identified sponsor. Refer section 1.3.
2. The objectives are to inform, persuade, remind and re-inforce. Refer
section 1.3 for further details.
3. Advertising was traditionally considered a one-way form of marketing
communication. However, this trend is changing. Refer section 1.3.2 for
further details.
4. A human mind develops natural defense against what it does not need
and allows to pass through and process only that information which is
useful. This is called mind filter. Refer section 1.4 for further details.
5. The significance of advertising is immense. Most organisations engage
in consistent use of advertising to help meet marketing objectives. Refer
section 1.5 for further details.
6. An advertising agency is the organisation that deals with the advertiser
in meeting the communication requirements. Full-service ad agency
offer several services. Refer section 1.7.1 for further details.

1.13 Case Study

Quaker Oats Stands for a Healthy Heart
Pepsico had acquired Quaker Oats globally in 2001. In India, it was
launched nationally in 2006 and had since seen considerable success,
becoming the market leader in just 2 years, thanks to a well-planned
advertising and communications campaign. As a product, oats has various
health benefits reducing cholesterol, managing weight and providing
essential nutrients such as B-glucan, complex carbohydrates, proteins, fibre,
etc. However, it is an alien taste in the Indian market because Indians are
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used to the traditional morning breakfast of parathas, idlis and upma.

Hence, the challenge for Pepsico and its advertising agency BBDO was to
make Quaker Oats palatable and acceptable to Indian households.
Through research, the agency had learnt that about 46.9 million Indians are
likely to suffer from heart diseases by 2010. India was considered the
cardiovascular disease capital of the world and statistics showed that the
number of heart patients would double between 2005 and 2015. In the wake
of this, Pepsico and BBDO embarked on a campaign around the creative
concept Make India heart healthy. The primary objective of the campaign
was to create awareness and educate consumers about heart health, while
also informing them about the goodness of Quaker Oats. The company
hoped that this would eventually influence trials and make consumers buy
the new product. The campaign targeted middle-class husbands and wives,
who were 30 years and above with hectic lifestyles. The integrated health
drive campaign relied on various media such as print, television, radio,
digital and outdoor events, so as to engage with the target audience at all
possible touch points.
Print ads were informational in nature, apprising people of the appalling
heart health of Indians. The ad emphasised on the benefits of oats for
boosting heart health and directing people to go online and visit Pepsicos
Website goodmorningheart.com for more information (Figure 1.4).

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Fig. 1.4: Ad emphasised on the benefits of oats

A television ad depicted a young girl inspiring her father to take up the

Quaker Oats 30-day challenge to improve the health of his heart so that he
could beat a fellow students father in a contest. Another ad showed a
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housewife advising other wives to purchase Quaker Oats to improve their

husbands heart health. Both ads ended by summarising the benefits of
Quaker Oats. Yet another television commercial announced the grave
statistics of the heart condition of most Indians to an audience of corporate
executives. It urged them to join Quaker in its mission to make India heart
healthy by visiting goodmorningheart.com and learning about ones heart
health.
On the online platform, the Website goodmorningheart.com was a one-stop
shop for everything pertaining to Quaker Oats and heart. The highlight of the
Website was a smart heart challenge that prodded users to follow a Quakerrecommended healthy lifestyle and see a reduction in their cholesterol levels
within 30 days. The Website also assessed risks associated with the heart
and provided a range of solutions and information on how to stay heart
healthy. It further listed several Indian recipes using Quaker Oats and gave
diet and lifestyle tips. Banner advertising on portals such as Yahoo! and
Google created an initial buzz and led users to the Quaker Website. Further,
BBDO branded the month of October as Oatober, and various online and
offline activities followed. The result was a 54 per cent increase in sales,
while over 170,000 people signed up for the mission on the Website.
To give the campaign more credibility, scale and significance on a national
level, Pepsico collaborated with Apollo Hospitals and the Times of India. A
combined logo was unveiled in a print campaign in Times of India to kickstart the initiative. An interactive heart health test to answer the question Is
your heart older than you? was developed in association with Apollo
Hospitals for the Quaker Oats Website. As part of an outdoor event, Pepsico
also partnered with the Chennai Marathon to get more visibility. Thus,
through advertising and other tools of marketing communication, Pepsico
has made an earnest effort to own and propagate the idea of Heart Health
through Quaker Oats.
Discussion Questions:
1. How did Pepsico use advertising to persuade people to consume
Quaker Oats?
2. What kind of mind filters could Indians have had about Quaker Oats?

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3. What role could BBDO have played in designing and executing the
Heart Health campaign? Visit its Website www.bbdoindia.in and find
out if it is a full-service or a specialised agency.
(Sources: www.PepsicoIndia.co.in; Surina Sayal, Effies 2010: Knorr and Quaker
Oats open up their respective markets, while 7Up dances to glory, Retrieved on
December 6, 2010, www.afaqs.com; Gunjan Prasad, Quaker Oats pushes heart
health through integrated campaign, Retrieved on September 16, 2009,
www.campaignindia.in; www.web2visit.com)

References:
Jethwaney, J. N., & Jain, S. (2006). Advertising Management. Oxford
University Press.
E-References:
www.mudra.com
www.e2necc.com
www.PepsicoIndia.co.in
Surina Sayal, Effies 2010: Knorr and Quaker Oats open up their
respective markets, while 7Up dances to glory, Retrieved on December
6, 2010, www.afaqs.com
Gunjan Prasad, Quaker Oats pushes heart health through integrated
campaign, Retrieved on September 16, 2009, www.campaignindia.in
www.web2visit.com

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