Chapter 11: Marketing Communication Strategy

Advertising

Advertising is any form of paid communication in which the sponsor or firm is identified. Traditional media
such as television, radio, newspapers or magazines are commonly used to transmit advertisements to
consumers.

Advertising the Market Share

Advertising is a popular form of marketing communication, especially for consumer packaged goods &
services. The bulk of advertising is spent on maintaining brand awareness and market share. New brands
with a small market share tend to spend proportionately more on advertising and sales promotion than
those with a large market share – for 2 reasons:

 Beyond a certain level of spending for advertising and sales promotion, diminishing returns set in,
meaning that beyond a certain level, sales or market share do not change no matter how much is
spent on advertising and sales promotion. Understanding the advertising response function helps
marketers use budgets wisely.
 A certain minimum level of exposure is needed to influence purchasing habits measurably.

Advertising and the Consumer

Advertising cannot manipulate society. Attitudes and values are deeply rooted within an individual’s
psychological make-up. Advertising seldom succeeds in changing an attitude that stems from a person’s
basic value system, or moral code, that is strongly supported by culture. Therefore marketers have to be
sure they know the needs of their target market before deciding to use humour in their advertising.

Advertising and Brand Loyalty

Customers with a high degree of brand loyalty are least susceptible to the influences of advertising for
competing goods and services. Advertisers therefore want their customers to be loyal, and they actively
encourage consumers to insist on their brand. Advertising reinforces positive attitudes towards brands.
When consumers have a neutral or favourable frame of reference towards a product or brand, they are
often positively influenced by its advertising. When consumers are already highly loyal to a brand they may
buy more of it when advertising and marketing communication for that brand increases. Consequently
advertising keeps consumers loyal to a brand or firm.

Advertising and Product Attributes

Advertising can affect the way consumer rank a brands attitude, such as colour, taste, smell and texture

Major Types of Advertising

 Institutional Advertising: AKA corporate advertising, promoted the corporation(firm) as a whole and
is designed to establish, change or maintain the firms identity. A form of institutional advertising is
called advocacy advertising and is used as a safeguard against negative consumer attitude and to
enhance the firms credibility among consumers who already favour its position
 Product Advertising: Promotes the benefits of a specific product or service
 Pioneer Advertising: Intended to stimulate primary demand for a new product or product category.
Heavily used on the introductory stage. Offers consumers in-depth information about the benefits of
the product class. Also seeks to create interest.
 Competitive Advertising: Used during growth phase of Product Life Cycle. Instead of building
demand for the product category its aim is to influence demand for a specific brand. Marketing
becomes less informative and appeals more to emotion in this phase. Advertisements begin to
 stress subtle differences between brands, with heavy emphasis on building recall of a brand name
and creating a favourable attitude.
 Comparative Advertising: Directly or indirectly compares two or more brands on one or more
specific attributes. Products experiencing sluggish growth or entering the market against strong
competitors will employ this.