My Journey in IIM Shillong_Priya Agrawal

My Journey..............................................................................................................................................

Measuring the Effectiveness of Promotional Programs

Measuring the Effectiveness of Promotional Programs

Reasons to Measure Effectiveness

n        Avoiding costly mistakes

n        Evaluating alternative strategies

n        Increasing the efficiency of advertising in general

Reasons Not to Measure Effectiveness

n        Cost

n        Research problems

n        Disagreement on what to test

n        The objections of creative

n        Time

Conducting Marketing Research to Measure Effectiveness

n        What to Test

     -- Communication factors

     -- Behavioral factors

n        When to Test

n        Where to Test

n        How to Test: Essentials of Effectiveness Testing

Measuring Effectiveness of Promotional Program Elements

n        Perception Research Services, Inc.

n        McCollum Spielman Worldwide

n        Competitive Media Reporting

n        The PreTesting Company, Inc.

n        Gallup & Robinson

n        TransWestern Publishing

n        Package design; out-of home media; P-O-P displays; logos; corporate identity

n        Impact of celebrity presenters

n        Business-to-business advertising; media effects

n        Package design; P-O-P displays; billboards; direct mail

n        Radio advertising recall; trade show exhibit measures

n        Telephone directory advertising effectiveness

   

Source, message and channel factors

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Nowadays, we will find that the ad maker have tried to use source, message and channels that connects with the targeted audience in the most effective manner even though it means shying away from the conventional way of using these controllable variables of communication system.

We will be looking at three things in detail:

·       Sources -> How they influence reactions to promotional messages and why one type of communicator is effective than another

·       Messages -> How structure and type of appeal influence its effectiveness

·       Channel -> How factors relate to channel or medium affect the communication process

Promotional Planning through PERSUASION MATRIX

The persuasion matrix helps assess the effect of controllable communication decisions on the consumer’s response process

·       Receiver/ Comprehension -> Can the receiver comprehend the ad?

·       Channel/ presentation -> Which media will increase presentation?

·       Message/ yielding -> What type of message will create favorable attitudes or feelings?

·       Source/ attention -> Who will be effective in getting consumers’ attention?

  

SOURCES

SOURCE FACTORS

Person involved in communicating a marketing message, either directly or indirectly 

Celebrity endorsement

SOURCE ATTRIBUTE & RECEIVER PROCESSING MODES

SOURCE CREDIBILITY

Two important dimensions

·       Expertise

·       Trustworthiness

SOURCE ATTRACTIVENESS

·       Similarity (Relevant to me/ my life)

·       Familiarity (knowledge of source through exposure)

·       Likability (Celebrities)

CELEBRITIES

USE OF CELEBRITIES

·       Endorsements: The celebrity, whether an expert or not, merely agrees to the use of his or her name and image in the promotion of the product.

·       Testimonials: The celebrity, usually an expert with experience with the product, attests to its value and worth.

·       Dramatizations: Celebrity actors or models portray the brand in use during dramatic enactments designed to show the goods.

RISKS OF USING CELEBRITIES

·       The celebrity may overshadow the product

·       The celebrity may be overexposed which reduces his or her credibility 

·       The target audience may not be receptive to celebrity endorsers

·       The celebrity’s behavior may pose a risk to the company 

MESSAGES

MESSAGE FACTORS

·       Message Structure

·       Order of presentation (primacy vs. recency): For Strongest Arguments

·       Conclusion Drawing (open vs. closed end): Explicit conclusions easily understood. High educated andegoistic: Open preferred

·       Message sidedness (one vs. two-sided): Only +ve vs Good/Bad points

·       Refutation: Both sides of issue presented, then refutes the opposing view point

·       Verbal vs. visual

MESSAGE RECALL ANDPRESENTATION ORDER 

·       Research on learning and memory generally indicates that items presentedfirst and last are remembered better than those presented in the middle

·       Think about the last TVC you saw - what all do you remember?

·       One of the reasons why product shot is towards the end of a commercialalong with a sign-off message/ brand logo

   

Ad message recall as a function of order of presentation

MESSAGE FACTORS

·       Message Appeals

·       Comparative Advertising

·       Fear Appeals

·       Humor Appeals

FEAR APPEAL AND MESSAGE ACCEPTANCE

PROS AND CONS OF USING HUMOR

Advantages

·       Aids attention and awareness

·       May aid retention of the message

·       Creates a positive mood and enhances persuasion

·       May aid name and simple copy registration

·       May serve as a distracter and reduce the level of counter arguing

Disadvantages

·       Does not aid persuasion in general

·       May harm recall and comprehension

·       May harm complex copy registration

·       Does not aid source credibility

·       Is not effective in bringing about sales

·       May wear out faster

CHANNELS

CHANNEL FACTORS

·       Personal versus non personal channels

·       Effects of alternative mass media

o   Externally paced media (broadcast)

o   Internally paced media (print, direct mail, Internet)

·       Effects of Context and Environment

o   Qualitative media effect

o   Media environment (mood states)

·       Clutter

The context in which an ad appears and the reception environment are important factors to consider in the selection of mass media. Clutter has become a serious problem for advertisers, particularly on TV, where commercials have become shorter and more numerous

Creative Strategy: Planning and Development

What is creativity?

From Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken - “Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.” 

Advertising Creativity

Advertising creativity is the ability to generate fresh, unique, and appropriate ideas that can be used as solutions to communications problems. To be appropriate and effective, a creative idea must be relevant to the target audience.

This is challenging because those who work on the creative side must take all the research, creative briefs, strategy statements, communications objectives, and other input and transform them into an advertising message. Their job is to write copy, design layouts and illustrations, or produce commercials that effectively communicate the central theme on which the campaign is based. Rather than simply stating the features or benefits of a product or service, they must put the advertising message into a form that will engage the audience’s interest and make the ads memorable.

Two perspective of creativity

Two Creative process models

Young's Creative Process

1. Immersion - Getting raw material or data, immersing one's self in the problem to get background.
2. Digestion - Ruminating on the data acquired, turning it this way and that in the mind.
3. Incubation - Ceasing analysis and putting the problem out of conscious mind for a time.
4. Illumination - Often a sudden inspiration or intuitive revelation about a potential solution.
5. Verification - Studying the idea, evaluating it, and developing it for practical usefulness.

Wallas's Creative Process

1. Preparation - Gathering information
2. Incubation - Setting problem aside
3. Illumination - Seeing the solution
4. Verification - Refining the idea

Inputs to the Creative Process

Background Research

The creative specialist should also be knowledgeable about general trends, conditions, and developments in the marketplace, as well as research on specific advertising approaches or techniques that might be effective. To assist in the preparation, incubation, and illumination stages, many agencies provide creative people with both general and product-specific pre-planning input. General pre-planning input can include books, periodicals, trade publications, scholarly journals, pictures, and clipping services, which gather and organize magazine and newspaper articles on the product, the market, and the competition, including the latter’s ads.

Product/Service-Specific Research

                This information generally comes in the form of specific studies conducted on the product or service, the target audience, or a combination of the two. Quantitative and qualitative consumer research such as attitude studies, market structure and positioning studies such as perceptual mapping and lifestyle research, focus group interviews, and demographic and psychographic profiles of users of a particular product, service, or brand are examples of product-specific pre-planning input.

Inputs to creativity

Major selling idea

A. Jerome Jeweler states in his book Creative Strategy in Advertising:

“The major selling idea should emerge as the strongest singular thing you can say about your product or service. This should be the claim with the broadest and most meaningful appeal to your target audience. Once you determine this message, be certain you can live with it; be sure it stands strong enough to remain the central issue in every ad and commercial in the campaign.”

Some of the best approaches used to pinpoint the big idea follow:

1.       Using a Unique selling proposition
2.       Creating Brand image
3.       Finding inherent drama
4.       Positioning

Reading : Advertising and Promotion, Belch & Belch