THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISEMENT of consumer goods on CUSTOMER’S BRAND PREFERENCE 119

A PROJECT ON “THE IMPACT OF ADVERTISEMENT OF CONSuMER gOODS ON CuSTOMER’S BRAND PREFERENCE”

PROJECT SuBMITTED TO MAgNuS SCHOOL OF BuSINESS IN THE PARTIAL FuLFILMENT OF REQuIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEgREE MASTER OF BuSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SuBMITTED BY XYZ

uNDER THE guIDANCE OF PROF. XYZ

1

ABSTRACT Advertising is a form of communication used to help sell products and services. Typically it communicates a message including the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer. However, Advertising does typically attempt to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand of product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The crescendo of celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past 20 years or so. Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrity in influencing buyer's purchase decision. They have firm believe that likeability or a favorable attitude towards a brand is created by the use of a celebrity. The crore of rupees spent per year on celebrity endorsement contracts show that celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Sharukh khan and Sachin Tendulkar play an important role for the advertising industry. It is an established fact that celebrity endorsement can bestow unique features or special attributes upon a product that it may have lacked otherwise.

My project deals with the impact advertisement creates on a customer’s preference of a brand. In other words, how does an ad in a television,radio,newspaper ,hoardings and banners lure a customer to go and purchase the product. Does he purchase because of the benefits or because he liked the advertisement which has created a positive impact on him.

2

INTRODUCTION Advertising is the means of informing as well as influencing the general public to buy products or services through visual or oral messages. A product or service is advertised to create awareness in the minds of potential buyers. Some of the commonly used media for advertising are T.V., radio, websites, newspapers, magazines, bill-boards, hoardings etc.

As a result of economic liberalization and the changing social trends advertising industry has shown rapid growth in the last decade.

Advertising is one of the aspects of mass communication. Advertising is actually brand-building through effective communication and is essentially a service industry. It helps to forms the basis of marketing. Advertising plays a significant role in today's highly competitive world. A career in advertisement is quite glamorous and at the same time challenging with more and more agencies opening up every day. Whether its brands, companies, personalities or even voluntary or religious organizations, all of them use some form of advertising in order to be able to communicate with the target audience. The salary structure in advertising is quite high and if you have the knack for it one can reach the top. It is an ideal profession for a creative individual who can handle work-pressure. Today, new areas are emerging within advertising like event management, image management, internet marketing etc. Event management wherein events are marketed, Image management wherein a a particular profile of an individual or an organization is projected. Internet marketing has also brought about a lot of changes in advertising as Internet means that one is catering to a select group of audience rather than a mass audience .Today 'Celebrity 3

Endorsement' has attracted immense debate on whether it really contributes to the brand building process or whether it is just another lazy tool to make the brand more visible in the minds of the consumers.

Although it has been observed that the presence of a well-known personality helps in solving the problem of over-communication that is becoming more prominent these days, there are few undesirable impacts of this practice on the brand. The issue of matching the values of the celebrity with the brand values is also very important, i.e. getting the right celebrity to endorse the right brand. Consumers perceive the brand as having superior quality because it has been endorsed by a credible source.

This makes endorsement as one of the indictors of quality for any brand.

Corporate credibility along with endorser credibility plays a significant role in the attitude of the consumer towards the brand and the advertisement respectively. On the other hand, the over popularity of the celebrity sometimes overshadows the brand.

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OBJECTIVES: 1) A study on the impact of electronic media on brand preference.

2) A study on the impact of print media on brand preference.

3) A study on the impact of other media on brand preference.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN: Primary data: -Through questionnaire.

Secondary data: - Through internet Sample Procedure : Random sampling Research design: the primary data and secondary data will be studied and analyzed appropriately and interpreted to extract certain facts. Whenever necessary statistical tools and financial tools like tabulation, graphs etc will be used to present the findings effectively SCOPE OF THE STUDY This project helps in projecting the impact of advertisement on customer’s brand preference. It also shows how celebrity endorsement impact customers.

LIMITATIONS

5

1. An in depth study might not be done because of time constraints.

2. The study will be conducted in Bangalore city only.

LITERATURE REVIEW Advertising, sales promotion and public relations are mass-communication tools available to marketers. As its name suggests, mass communication uses the same message for everyone in an audience. The mass communication tools trade off the advantage of personal selling, the opportunity to tailor a message to each prospect, for the advantage of reaching many people at a lower cost per person (Etzel et al., 1997).

Today, definitions of advertising abound. We might define it as communication process, a marketing process, an economic and social process, a public relations process or information and persuasion process (Arens, 1996).

Dunn et al. (1978) viewed advertising from its functional perspectives, hence they define it as a paid, non-personal communication through various media by business firms, non-profit organization, and individuals who are in some way identified in the advertising message and who hope to inform or persuade members of a particular audience. Morden (1991) is of the opinion that advertising is used to establish a basic awareness of the product or service in the mind of the potential customer and to build up knowledge about it. Kotler (1988) sees advertising as one of the four major tools companies use to direct persuasive communications to target buyers and public noting that “it consists of non-personal forms of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship”. According to him, the purpose of advertising is to enhance potential buyers’ responses to the organization and its offering, emphasizing that “it seeks to do this providing 6

information, by channeling desire, and by supplying reasons for preferring a particular organization’s offer.

While writing on advertising nature and scope, Etzel et al. (1997) succinctly capture all advertising as having four features: (i) A verbal and or visual message (ii) A sponsor who is identified (iii) Delivery through one or more media (iv) Payment by the sponsor to the media carrying the message.

Summarizing the above, they conclude that “advertising then consist of all the activities involved in presenting to an audience a nonpersonal, sponsor-identified, paid-for message about a product or organization”.

Those views of Etzel et al. (1997) coincide with the simple but allembracing definitions of Davies (1998) and Arens (1996). For instance, while Davies states that “advertising is any paid form of non-personal media presentation promoting ideas/concepts, good s or services by an identified sponsor. Arens expressing almost the same view describes advertising as “the personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products (goods and services) or ideas by identified sponsors through various media”.

From the foregoing, it could be concluded that the purpose of advertising is to cerate awareness of the advertised product and provide information that will assist the consumer to make purchase decision, the relevance of advertising as a promotional strategy, therefore, depends on its ability to influence consumer not only to purchase but to continue to repurchase and eventually develop-brand loyalty. Consequently, many organizations expend a huge amount of money on advertising and brand management.

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A brand is a name given by a manufacturer to one (or a number) of its products or services.

Brands are used to differentiate products from their competitors. They facilitate recognition and where customers have built up favorable attitude towards the product, may speed the individual buyers through the purchase decision process.

Individual purchasers will filter out unfavourable or un-known brands and the continued purchase of the branded product will reinforce the brandloyal behaviour. Without brands, consumer couldn’t tell one product from another and advertising then would be nearly impossible

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTERS 1

PARTICULARS

PAGE NO

ABSTRACT

2

INTRODUCTION

3

OBJECTIVE

4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

5

SCOPE OF STUDY

6

LIMITATIONS

7

LITERATURE REVIEW

8

ADVERTISING i.

DEFINITION

ii.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF

1

ADVERTISING 9

iii.

MEDIA ADVERTISING ADVERTISING OBJECTIVES

10

ADVERTISING PLANNING FRAMEWORK i.

11

15 17

THE ADVERTISING PLAN

ii.

THE EXTERNAL FACTORS ADVERTISING INDUSTRY

20 9

12

i.

ADVERTISING AGENCY

ii.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

iii.

ADVERTISING BUDGET MEDIA BRIEF i.

23

DIFFICULTIES IN SELECTION OF MEDIA TYPES

13

BRAND i.

DEFINITION

ii.

SIX LEVELS OF MEANING

iii.

BRAND-FROM CONSUMER’S POINT OF VIEW

iv.

BRAND- FROM MANUFACTURER’S POINT OF

29

VIEW

14

v.

BRAND AWARENESS

vi.

BRAND KNOWLEDGE

vii.

BRAND RECOGNITION

viii.

BRAND IMAGE

BRAND PREFERENCE i.

ABOUT BRAND PREFERENCE

ii.

IMPORTANCE OF BRAND PREFERENCE

iii.

BASIC COMMUNICATION MODE

iv.

BRAND PREFERENCE CHOICE CRITERIA

v.

BRAND ENDORSEMENT BY CELEBRITIES

vi.

SCOPE OF CELEBTITY ON BRAND

40

PREFERENCE vii.

SUCCESSFUL CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

viii.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

15 16

ix.

NEED FOR CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS INFLUENCE OF ADVERTISING ON CUSTOMER’S

52

BRAND PREFERENCE ADVERTISING RESEARCH

56

i.

17

IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

ii.

MEDIA RESEARCH IMPACT OF COLOUR ON CUSTOMER’S BRAND

61

PREFERENCE 10

18

IMPACT OF PACKAGING i.

18

FORMS OF PACKAGING

ii.

SIGNIFICANCE OF A TRADE MARK ANALYTICAL INTERPRETATION i.

19 20 21 22

63

TABLES

ii.

CHARTS FINDINGS SUGGESTIONS CONCLUSIONS APPENDIX REFERENCES

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Advertising is a non-personal form of promotion that is delivered through selected media outlets that, under most circumstances, require the marketer to pay for message placement. Advertising has long been viewed as a method of mass promotion in that a single message can reach a large number of people.

But, this mass promotion approach presents problems since many exposed to an advertising message may not be within the marketer’s

target

market, and thus, may be an inefficient use of promotional

funds. However, this is changing as new advertising technologies and the emergence of new media outlets offer more options for targeted advertising. Advertising also has a history of being considered a one-way

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form of marketing communication where the message receiver (i.e., target market) is not in position to immediately respond to the message (e.g., seek more information). This too is changing. For example, in the next few years technologies will be readily available to enable a

television viewer to click a button to request more details on a product seen on their favorite TV program. In fact, it is expected that over the next 10-20 years advertising will move away from a one-way communication model and become one that is highly interactive.

Another characteristic that may change as advertising evolves is the view that advertising does not stimulate immediate demand for the product advertised. That is, customers cannot quickly purchase a product they see

advertised. But as more media outlets allow customers to interact with the messages being delivered the ability of advertising to quickly stimulate demand will improve.

INFORM UNAWARE

PERSUADE AWARENESS

INTENT

REMIND PURCHASE

S

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Advertising is only one element of the promotion mix, but it often considered prominent in the overall marketing mix design. Its high visibility and pervasiveness made it as an important social and encomia topic in Indian society. Promotion may be defined as “the co-ordination of all seller initiated efforts to set up channels of information and persuasion to facilitate the scale of a good or service.” Promotion is most often intended to be a supporting component in a marketing mix. Promotion decision must be integrated and co-ordinate with the rest of the marketing mix, particularly product/brand decisions, so that it may effectively support an entire marketing mix strategy. The promotion mix consists of four basic elements. They are: Advertising  Personal Selling  Sales Promotion, and  Publicity  Advertising is the dissemination of information by non-personal means through paid media where the source is the sponsoring organization.  Personal selling is the dissemination of information by nonpersonal methods, like face-to-face, contacts between audience and employees of the sponsoring organization. The source of information is the sponsoring organization.  Sales promotion is the dissemination of information through a wide variety of activities other than personal selling, advertising and publicity which stimulate consumer purchasing and dealer effectiveness.

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 Publicity is the disseminating of information by personal or non-personal means and is not directly paid by the organization and the organization is not the source.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF ADVERTISING It has been wrongly assumed that the advertising function is of recent origin. Evidences suggest that the Romans practiced advertising; but the earliest indication of its use in this country dates back to the middle Ages, when the use of the surname indicated a man’s occupation. The next stage in the evolution of advertising was the use of signs as a visual expression of the tradesman’s function and a means of locating the source of goods. This method is still in common use. The seller in primitive times relied upon his loud voice to attract attention and inform consumers of the availability of his services. If there were many competitors, he relied upon his own personal magnetism to attract attention to his merchandise. Often it became necessary for him to resort to persuasion to pinpoint the

advantages of his products.

Thus, the seller was doing the

complete promotion job himself. Development of retail stores, made the 15

traders to be more concerned about attracting business. Informing customers of the availability of supplies was highly important. Some types of outside promotion were necessary. Signs on stores and in prominent places around the city and notices in printed matters were sometimes used. When customers were finally attracted to the store and satisfied with the service at least once, they were still subjected to competitive influences; therefore, the merchant’s signs and advertisements reminded customers of the continuing availability of his services. Sometimes traders would talk to present and former customers in the streets, or join social organizations in order to have continuing contacts with present and potential customers.

As the markets grew larger and the number of customers increased, the importance of attracting them also grew. Increasing reliance was placed on advertising methods of informing about the availability of the products.

These advertising methods were more economical in reaching large numbers of consumers. While these advertising methods were useful for informing and reminding, they could not do the whole promotional job.

They were used only to reach each consumer personally. The merchant still used personal persuasion once the customers were attracted to his store. The invention of hand press increased the potentialities of advertising. By Shakespeare’s times, posters had made their appearance, and assumed the function of fostering demand for existing products.

Another important event was the emergence of the pamphlet as an advertising medium. The early examples of these pamphlets disclose their sponsorship by companies want to generate goodwill for their activities.

The low cost of posters and handbills encouraged a number of publishers to experiment with other methods.

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DEFINITION OF ADVERTISING

The word advertising originates from a Latin word advertise, which means to turn to. The dictionary meaning of the term is “to give public notice or to announce publicly” .Advertising may be defined as the process of buying sponsor-identified media space or time in order to promote a product or an idea.

The American Marketing Association, Chicago, has defined advertising as “any form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, goods or services, by an identified sponsor.”

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Print Media

Print media is a very commonly used medium of advertising by businessman. It includes advertising through newspaper, magazines, journals, etc. and is also called press advertising. a) Newspapers You must have read Newspapers. In our country newspapers are published in English, Sinhala and Tamil. These are the sources of news, opinions and current events. In addition, Newspapers are also a very common medium of advertising. The advertiser communicates his message through newspaper which reaches to millions of people.

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Advantages  Newspapers

normally

have

wide

circulation

and

a

single

advertisement in the newspaper can quickly reach to a large number of people.  The cost of advertising is relatively low because of wide publication.  Generally newspapers are published daily. Thus, the same advertisement can be repeated frequently and remind reader everyday.  The matter of advertisement can be given to newspapers at a very short notice. An even last minute change in the content is also possible. This makes advertising quite flexible.  Newspapers are published from different regions and in different languages. Hence, they provide greater choice to advertisers to approach the desired market, region and readers through local or regional language Limitations  Newspapers are read soon after they are received and then are kept generally in some corner of the houses. After 24 hours we get a fresh newspaper and this makes the life of the newspaper short.  People read newspapers mainly for news and pay casual attention to advertisement.  Illiterate persons can not read and thus, newspaper advertising does not benefit them.

b) Periodicals 19

Periodicals are publications which come out regularly but not on a daily basis. These may be published on a weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bimonthly, quarterly or even yearly basis. For example you must have come across magazines and journals like India Today, Femina, etc. All these periodicals have a large number of readers and thus, advertisements published in them reach a number of people.

Advantages  Periodicals have a much longer life than newspapers. These are preserved for a long period to be referred in future or read at leisure or read again, whenever required.  Periodicals have a selected readership and so advertisers can know about

their

target

customers

and

accordingly

selective

advertisements are given.

Limitations  Advertising in periodicals is costlier.  The numbers of people to whom the advertisements reach are small in comparison to newspapers.  The advertisement materials are given much in advance; hence last minute change is not possible. This reduces flexibility.

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Electronic Media

This is a very popular form of advertising in the modern day marketing. This includes Radio, television and Internet.

Radio Advertising All of us are aware about a radio and must have heard advertisements for various products in it.

In radio there are short breaks during transmission of any programme which is filled by advertisements of products and services. There are also popular programmes sponsored by advertisers.

Advantages  It is more effective as people hear it on a regular basis.  It is also useful to illiterates, who can not read and write.

21

 There are places where newspapers reading may not possible, but you can hear radio.

For example, you can hear radio while traveling on road or working at home; but you can not read newspaper. Similarly, while driving you can hear a radio but cannot read a newspaper.

Limitations  A regular listener may remember what he has heard. But, occasional listeners tend to forget what they have heard in Radio.  The message that any advertisement wants to communicate may not be proper as there is no chance to hear it again immediately.

There may be some other disturbances that distort communication.  In comparison to Television, Radio is less effective as it lacks visual impact.

Television Advertising

With rapid growth of information technology and electronic media, television has topped the list among the media of advertising. TV has the most effective impact as it appeals to both eye and the ear.

Advantages  It is most effective as it has an audio-visual impact.  With catchy slogans, song and dance sequences, famous personalities exhibiting products, TV advertising has a lasting impact.

22

 With varieties of channels and programmes advertisers have a lot of choice to select the channel and time to advertise.  With regional channels coming up any person even illiterates can watch the advertisements and understood it by seeing and hearing.

Limitations  TV advertisements are usually expensive to prepare as well as to telecast.  With almost every manufacturer trying to communicate their message through TV advertising the impact among the viewers is also reducing. Now-a-days people are switching on channels whenever there is a commercial break.

Internet It is the latest method of communication and gathering information.If you have a computer and with an access to internet you can have information from all over the world within a fraction of second. Through internet you can go to the website of any manufacturer or service provider and gather information. Sometimes when you do not have website addresses you take help of search engines or portals. In almost all the search engines or portals different manufactures or service providers advertise their products.

Advantages  Information from all over the world is made available at the doorsteps.  User can see the advertisement at their own time and as per their requirement.

23

Limitations  It is not accessible without a computer.  It is not very suitable for general public.  It is not suitable for illiterate and those having no knowledge about the operation of Internet.

Other Media All the media of advertising discussed above are mostly used by consumers while they are at home or inside any room, except radio and newspapers or magazines to some extent. Moreover in all these media, the consumer has also to spend some money to access the advertisement.

However, there are other media available, where the consumer has to spend nothing and he can see such advertisements while moving outside.

Some of such advertising are hoardings, posters, vehicular displays, gift items, etc.

Hoardings

While moving on roads you must have seen large hoardings placed on iron frames or roof tops or walls. These are normally boards on 24

which advertisements are painted or electronically designed so that they are visible during day or night. The advertisers have to pay an amount to the owners of the space, where the hoardings are placed.

Posters

Poster are printed and posted on walls, buildings, bridges etc to attract the attention of customers. Posters of films which are screened on cinema halls are a common sight in our country.

Vehicular displays

You must have seen advertisements on the public transport like buses, trains, etc. Unlike hoardings these vehicles give mobility to advertisements and cover a large number of people.

What Advertisement Is?

Advertisement is a mass communicating of information intended to persuade buyers to by products with a view to maximizing a company’s profits.

The elements of advertising are:  It is a mass communication reaching a large group of consumers.

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 It makes mass production possible.  It is non-personal communication, for it is not delivered by an actual person, nor is it addressed to a specific person.  It is a commercial communication because it is used to help assure the advertiser of a long business life with profitable sales.  Advertising can be economical, for it reaches large groups of people.  This keeps the cost per message low.  The communication is speedy, permitting an advertiser to speak to millions of buyers in a matter of a few hours. 

Advertising is identified communication. The advertiser signs his name to his advertisement for the purpose of publicizing his identity.

Advertising Objectives

Each advertisement is a specific communication that must be effective, not just for one customer, but for many target buyers. This means that specific objectives should be set for each particular advertisement campaign. Advertising is a form of promotion and like a promotion; the objectives of advertising should be specific. This requires that the target consumers should be specifically identified and that the effect which advertising is intended to have upon the consumer should be clearly indicated. The objectives of advertising were traditionally stated in terms of direct sales. Now, it is to view advertising as having communication objectives that seek to inform persuade and remind potential customers of the worth of the product. Advertising seeks to condition the consumer so that he/she may have a favorable reaction to 26

the promotional message. Advertising objectives serve as guidelines for the planning and implementation of the entire advertising programme.

The basic objectives of an advertising programme may be listed as below:  To stimulate sales amongst present, former and future consumers. It involves a decision regarding the media, e.g., TV rather than print ;  To communicate with consumers. This involves decision regarding copy;  To retain the loyalty of present and former consumers. Advertising may be used to reassure buyers that they have made the best purchase, thus building loyalty to the brand name or the firm.  To increase support. Advertising impliedly bolsters the morale of the sales force and of distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, ; it thus contributes

to

enthusiasts

and

confidence

attitude

in

the

organization. :  To project an image. Advertising is used to promote an overall image of respect and trust for an organization. This message is aimed not only at consumers, but also at the government, shareholders, and the general public. .

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ADVERTISING PLANNING FRAMEWORK Plans are nothing, planning is everything.

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

The advertising management is mainly concerned with planning and decision making. The advertising manager will be involved in the development, implementation, and overall management of an advertising plan. The development of an advertising plan essentially requires the generation and specification of alternatives. Decision making involves choosing from among the alternatives. The alternatives can be various levels of expenditure, different kinds of objectives or strategy possibilities,

28

and kinds of options with copy creation and media choices. Thus, the essence of planning is to find out the feasible alternatives and reduce them to decisions. An advertising plan reflects the planning and decision – making process and the decisions that have been arrived at in a particular product and market situation.

The Advertising Plan As pointed out earlier, advertising plan and decision making focus on three crucial areas; objectives and target selection, message strategy and tactics, and media strategy and tactics. Let us elaborate on these points: 1. Objectives and Target Selection

Objectives in advertising can be understood in many ways. An important part of the objective is the development of a precise, disciplined description of the target audience. It is often tempting to direct advertising at a broad audience; but everyone is a potential customer. It is best to consider directing the advertising to more selected groups to develop stimulating copy. It is quite possible to develop several campaigns, each directed at different segments of the market, or to develop one campaign based on multiple objectives.

2. Message Strategy and Tactics

Messages strategy must decide what the advertising is meant to communicate – by way of benefits, feelings, brand personality, or action content. Once the content of the campaign has been decided, decisions must be made on the best-most effective-ways of communicating that 29

content. The decisions, such as the choice of a spokesperson, the use of humor or fear or other tones, and the selection of particular copy, visuals, and layout, are what we call “message tactics” 3. Media Strategy and Tactics

Message strategy is concerned with decisions about how much is to be allocated to create and test advertising copy, media strategy concerns decisions on how many media rupees to spend on an advertising campaign. Media tactics comprise the decisions on which specific media (television, radio magazines, etc.) or media vehicles (Reader’s Digest, etc.) to spend these dollars.

EXTERNAL FACTORS

The

external

factors

in

the

planning

framework

are

environmental, social and legal considerations. To a considerable extent, these exist as constraints on the development of an advertising plan and decision making. In developing specific advertisement, there are certain legal constraints that must be considered. Deceptive advertising is forbidden by law. What is deceptive is often difficult, because different people can have different perceptions of the same advertisements. Thus, an advertiser who attempts to provide specific, relevant information must

30

be well aware of what constitutes deception in a legal and ethical sense and of other aspects of advertising regulation.

Even more difficult consideration for people involved in the advertising effort is broad social and economic issues as stated below.  Does advertising raise prices or inhibit competition?  Is the use of sex or fear appeals is appropriate? Women and minority groups are exploited in advertising by casting them in highly stereotyped roles.  Is it more irritating than entertaining?  Is an intrusion into an already excessively polluted environment?  Advertising directed at children.

Advertising Industry The advertising industry consists of three principal groups:  Sponsors;  Media; and  Advertising agencies or advertising departments.

Advertising agencies are of two basic types, viz., Independent; and House.

An independent agency is a business that is free to compete for and select its clients. A house agency is owned by its major client. A house agency is not completely free to serve other clients. The advertising department an integral part of the organization it serves.

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The advertising agency provides for the client a minimum of:  Media information, such as the availability of time and space  Creative skills, such as “campaign planning” and “appeal planning” and  Research capabilities, such as providing brand preference data.

What is an Advertising Agency?

An advertising agency is an independent organization set up to render specialized services in advertising in particular and in marketing in general.

Advertising agencies started as space brokers for the handling of the advertisements placed in newspapers. Over the years, the function of the agencies has changed.

Their main job today is not to aid media but to serve advertisers.

Advantage of Using Agencies  The marketer gains a number of benefits by employing agencies. An agency generally has an invaluable experience in dealing with various advertising and marketing issues.  The lessons which agency learned in working with other clients are useful inputs for the marketer.  An agency may employ specialists in the various areas of preparation and implementation of advertising plans and strategies.  The personnel are not members of the marketer’s management team. They bring objective and unbiased viewpoints to the solution of advertising and other marketing problems.

32

 The discounts that the media offer to agencies are also available to advertisers. This is a strong stimulus to them to use an agency, for the media cost is not much affected thereby.  The company normally does not have as many types of specialists as a large or medium-sized advertising agency has because an agency can spread the costs or its staff over many clients. It can do more for the same amount of money.  The company can also get an objective, outside viewpoint from an agency, assuming that the agency representatives are not acting as “Yes man” in order to keep the advertiser’s account.  A related point is that the company can benefit from the agency’s experience with many other products and clients.  Another advantage is that agency feels a greater pressure than the company’s own department to produce effective results. The relations between an agency and a client are very easy to terminate; but it is difficult to get rid of an ineffective advertising department.  The manner in which agencies are compensated, the use of an agency may not cost the advertiser a single paisa. .

ADVERTISING BUDGET

The size of the advertising budget can have an impact upon the composition of the advertising mix. In general, a limited promotion budget may impel the management to use types of promotion that would

33

not be employed otherwise, even though they are less effective than the others.

Industrial firms generally invest a larger proportion of their budgets in personal selling than in advertising, while the reverse is true of most producers of consumer goods. Organizations with small budgets may be forced to use types of advertising that are less effective than others.

Some marketers find it necessary to restrict their efforts primarily to personal selling and publicity. There are organizations with small promotion budget which take the opposite course of action. They concentrate on advertising and sales promotion, and neglect other methods. Some marketers advertise in expensive ways (through classified advertisement in newspapers and magazines) and spend virtually nothing on personal selling. There is universal difficulty of relating advertising expenditures to sales and profit results. Determining the results of advertising and consequently the amount of money to be allocated in advertising budget are complicated by several major difficulties as follows:  The effects of external variables such as population, or income, changes on economics conditions and competitive behavior;  Variations in the quality of advertising;  Uncertainly as to the time-lag effect of advertising; and  The effect of the firm’s other marketing activities, such as product improvement

and

stepped-up

personal

selling.

The

above

complexities make the companies resort to more than one method of determining the size of their advertising budget. Advertising Budget involves the allocation of a portion of the total marketing resources to the advertising function in a firm. The size of the budget allocation should be based on the potential contribution that advertising can 34

make. Advertising budgeting should be based on a careful analysis of the opportunity for using advertising. .

Media Brief

Each medium has its merits and its handicaps. The suitability and profitability of any one type varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and may vary for a single manufacturer too. Changes are the only rule. The buyers constitute his market; they are to receive his advertising coverage consists of the advertiser’s reaching the maximum number of these buyers include both his current and prospective customers. The advertiser has to determine how many there are and where they are. Then the selection process involves how to send an effective advertising message economically to the group of buyers, the length of the campaign period and the cost which he can afford-at a figure which will make the advertising effort profitable.

Difficulties in Selection of Media Types Audience Measurement: The media sell circulation or the opportunity to develop circulation. There is a gross aspect to circulation (how many products were bought last month) and a net aspect (how many of those purchasers are prospects for the product saw the advertisement in the broadcast media). Measurement of the same is not as easy as advertisers would think.

35

Reliance on a Particular type of Medium: How much of his promotion effort should a manufacturer place in magazines and how much on TV, how much in outdoor or point of purchase? Which should be dominant and which are supplementary?

These factors play a key role in selection of a particular type of media.

Media costs, the costs of space and time, are the largest single expense item in most advertising budgets. The selection of media types to be used in an undertaking, therefore, deserves and even demands, the very best thought and judgment of on the part of the top management. The points to be considered are:  Availability: Regional markets may be so limited that national circulation of magazines should not be used. A product may have so slight a market that a medium such as the radio would not be indicated for use.  Selectivity: Some ideas demand visual presentation and others demand oral presentation. The radio cannot accommodate stories requiring

a

physical

form,

and

outdoor

advertising

cannot

accommodate long stories.  Competition: is a matter which the advertiser cannot ignore. A company may select media types not used by its competitors, based on distinctiveness and domination.

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Selection of Individual Media Selection of individual media to carry advertising requires the consideration of the points like circulation; the quality and quantity of a medium’s circulation, Prestige, Influence, Readership, etc. .

Duplication

An advertiser must have coverage or else his message will not reach as many buyers as he must reach. As an advertiser adds magazine after magazine to his list to increase his coverage; he finds duplication inevitable. One way of averting duplication is to use only one of the magazines; another is to run a different advertisement. The duplication 37

limits an advertiser’s coverage. The points in favour of duplication are repetition and frequency.

Frequency

The term frequency refers to the number of advertisements of the same size appearing in an individual medium for a given period such as per day, per week, per month, or per campaign. There is no formula to determine the ideal frequency. The two factors are the size of the advertising fund and the size of the advertisement to be run. If these are known, frequency can be derived. The two other factors are the number of media and the advertising period. As the number of media increases, there is pressure for a lower frequency, or to shorten the advertising period. The other possibilities are to enlarge the fund, or to reduce the size of the advertisement. Manufacturers cannot ignore the fact that what the competitors are doing in respect of frequency. The more often a message is repeated, the greater the proportion of it the consumer remembers.

Size of advertisement The size of advertisement influences the frequency. The size of an advertisement can be derived if the advertiser: Determines the size of the advertising fund,  Decides the numbers of individual media to be used, and  Decides the number of advertisements to appear during the advertising period.

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The purpose of the advertisement may be the strongest influence in determining its size; a large space is used to announce, a small space is used to remain. The amount of copy, the number of products included in one advertisement and the illustration needs of the advertisement all help to determine size. Salesmen and dealers may also decide how large advertisements should be.

Colour

Colour is a factor which influences frequency. Colour influences the size of the advertisement and size in turn determines frequency. Colour commands a premium price.

Re-run on Advertisement Repetition has a considerable effect on advertising costs, and its frequency. Re-run is considered unless it has performed well on its first appearance. It is most common in mail order business and advertising that uses small space. It is not common for large advertisements. Indirect action advertisements should be re-run. The reinforcement of consumer memory is another benefit of a re-run. There are savings on a re-run. New readers are added whenever and advertisement is re-run.

Positioning

39

It involves the development of a marketing strategy for a particular segment of the market. It is primarily applicable to products that are not leaders in the field. These products are more successful if they concentrate on specific market segments than if they attack dominant brands. It is best accomplished through an advertising strategy, or theme, which positions advertisements in specified market segments

rand

Perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers is their ability to create, maintain, protect, and enhance brands. The American 40

Marketing Association defines a brand as follows: “A Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to

identify the goods or services of one seller or group

of sellers and

the differentiate them from those of competitors”. In essence, a brand identifies the seller or marker. It can be name, trademark, logo, or other

symbol. Under trademark law, the

seller is granted exclusive rights

to the use of the brand name in perpetuity. Brands differ from other assets such as patents and copyrights, which have expiration dates. A brand is essentially a seller’s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits,

and services consistently to the buyers. The best brands convey a warranty of quality. But a brand is an even more complex symbol. It can convey up to six levels of meaning:

Attributes: a brand brings to mind certain attributes. Mercedes suggest expensive, well-built, well-engineered, durable, high-prestige automobiles

Benefits: attributes must be translated into functional and emotional benefits. The attribute “durable” could translate into the functional benefit. The attribute “expensive” translates into the emotional benefit.

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Values: the brand also says something about the producer’s values.Mercedes stand for high performance, safety, and prestige.

Culture: the brand may represent a certain culture. The Mercedes represents German culture: organized, efficient, high quality.

Personality: the brand can project a certain personality.

Mercedes may suggest a no-nonsense boss (person), a reigning lion (animal), or an austere palace (object)

User: the brand suggests the kind if consumer who buys or uses the product. We would expect to see a 55-year-old top executive behind the wheel of Mercedes, not a 20-year- old secretary.

If a company treats a brand only a name, it misses the point. The branding challenge is to develop a deep set of positive associations of the brand.

Marketers must decide at which level(s) to anchor the brands identity. One mistake would be to promote only attributes. First, the buyer is not as interested in attributes as in benefits. Second, competitors can easily copy attributes. Third, the current attributes may become less desirable later.

Promoting the brand only on one benefit can also be risky. Suppose Mercedes touts its main benefit as “high performance”. Then several 42

competitive brands emerge with high performance as compared to other benefits. Mercedes needs the freedom to maneuver into a new benefit positioning.

From consumer’s point of view:  Identification of source of product  Assignment of responsibility to product maker  Risk reducer  Search cost reducer  Promise, bond, or pact with maker of product  Symbolic device  Signal of quality Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer.

From an economic perspective, brands allow consumers to lower search costs for products both internally and externally.  Consumers

offer

their

trust

and

loyalty

with

the

implicit

understanding that the brand will behave in certain ways and provide them utility through consistent product performance and appropriate pricing, promotion, and distribution programs and actions. Brands can serve as symbolic devices, allowing consumers to project their self-image.  Certain brads are associated with being used by certain types of people and thus reflect different values or traits. Researched have classified products and their associated attributes into three major 43

Final

Assignment

Brand

Management

categories:

search

goods,

experience goods and credence goods.

There is difficulty in assessing and interpreting product attributes and benefits so with experience and credence goods, brands may be particularly important signals of quality. Brands can reduce the risk in product decisions. These risks involve functional, physical, financial, social psychological and time risk.

From manufacturer’s point of view:  Means of identification to simplify handling  Means of legally protecting unique features  Signal of quality level to satisfied customers  Means of endowing products with unique associations  Source of competitive advantage  Source of financial returns Brands help manufacturers to organize inventory and accounting records.

A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features of the product. A brand can retain intellectual property rights, giving legal title to the brand owner. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again. This brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm and creates barriers of entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market.

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BRAND AWARENESS

Whether it is a serial in a regional satellite channel or a One Day International cricket match, there is a non-stop stream of advertisements, which clutter the commercial break. Well-established brands attempt to sustain brand recall while new ones try appealing to prospective consumers to get into their `consideration’ set. There are ads for children, housewives and youth. With advertising expenditure in the order of Rs. 8000 Crores per annum in the recent times and the proliferation of brands across categories, there is a strong need to consider 45

the effectiveness of these advertisements. The idea is not to cease

advertising but to consider how considering decisions would have to be considered with non-advertising alternatives. These nonadvertising alternatives may also enable a brand to create and sustain consistent associations, which may be desirable in terms of long-term implications. A contemporary approach that creates a synergy between various aspects of a promotional mix (advertising included) provides a refreshing approach towards marketing communications. There may be several objectives of advertising and a promotional mix could be used in

an

innovative manner to address each of these objectives

depending on the product category and target segment.

Brand Knowledge Brand knowledge refers to brand awareness (whether and when consumers know the brand) and brand image (what associations consumers have with the brand). The different dimensions of brand knowledge can be classified in a pyramid (adapted from Keller 2001), in

which each lower-level element provides the foundations of the 46

higher-level element. In other words, brand attachment stems from rational and emotional brand evaluations, which derive from functional and emotional brand associations, which require brand awareness. Brand knowledge measures are sometimes called “customer mindset” measures because they capture how the brand is perceived in the customer’s mind.

The Brand Knowledge Pyramid

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Brand awareness measures the accessibility of the brand in memory.

Brand awareness can be measured through brand recall or brand recognition.

Brand recall reflects the ability of consumers to retrieve the brand from memory when given the product category, the needs fulfilled by the category, or some other type of probe as a cue.

Brand Recognition

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Brand recognition reflects the ability of consumers to confirm prior exposure to the brand (i.e., recognize that it is an “old” brand that they have seen before and not a “new” brand that they are seeing for the first

time). In

a recognition task, consumers see a stimulus (e.g., an ad

for the brand, a brand name) and must say whether they have seen it before (e.g., last night on television, in magazine X, etc.).

It is important to make the task as realistic as possible by allowing only a short amount of time to answer the recognition question and by using realistic stimuli and context. If you want to use recognition as a measure of the performance of different marketing decisions (say, different logos or

ads), you should expose one group to one version of the target stimulus and another group to the other version of the target stimulus.

However, to make the task more realistic, both groups should also be exposed to other stimuli (e.g., competitors' brands). In a second step, people see the “old” stimuli again, along with completely new ones, and are asked to decide if each stimulus is “old” or “new” (i.e., if they have seen them before or not).

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Brand Image

Brand image is defined as consumer perceptions of a brand and is measured as the brand associations held in consumers’ memory. To measure brand image, you can either use and adapt an existing list of brand associations or start from scratch by eliciting brand associations and then measuring the strength of these associations. The outcome of this exercise is usually a short list of the positive and negative associations consumers have with the brand, ranked by strength. For comparison purposes, it is useful to report the average strength of each association with the brand and the strength of the association with competing brands, and to do this for each target segment (e.g., brand users and users of competing brands).

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Brand preference

People begin to develop preferences at a very early age. Within any product category, most consumers have a group of brands that comprise their preference set. These are the four or five up market brands the consumer will consider when making a purchase. When building preference, the goal is to first get on the consumer’s preference sets, and then to move up the set’s hierarchy to become the brand consumers prefer

the most – their up market brand. Gaining and

maintaining consumer

preference is a battle that is never really won. In every product category, consumers have more choices, more information and higher expectations than ever before. To move consumers from trial to preference, brands

51

need to deliver on their value

proposition, as well as dislodge

someone else from the consumer's existing preference set.

Preference is a scale, and brands move up, down and even off that scale with and without a vigilant brand management strategy. Pricing, promotional deals and product availability all have tremendous impact on the position of our brand in the consumer’s preference set. If all things are

equal, the best defense is to make us more relevant to consumers than the competition. The brands potential can only be fulfilled by continually reinforcing its perceived quality, up market identity and relevance to the consumer. The same branding activities that drive awareness also drive preference. And, while awareness alone will not

sustain preference, it will improve the brand’s potential for building and maintaining preference.With a great story and a large enough investment, awareness can be attained rather quickly. It takes time, however, and constant revaluation to build brand preference. Aristotle professed, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” Attaining and sustaining preference is an important step on the road to gaining brand loyalty. The ability to generate more revenue, gain greater market share and beat off the competition is the reward given by consumer toward particular brand.

Brand preference is the Selective demand for a company's brand rather than a product; the degree to which consumers prefer one brand over 52

another. In an attempt to build brand preference advertising, the advertising must persuade a target audience to consider the advantages of

a

brand, often by building its reputation as a long-established and

trusted name in the industry. If the advertising is successful, the target customer will choose the particular brand over other brands in any category.

This brings us to the question of why people prefer one brand over another. Some people like smoking Marlboro, while others prefer Camel or Winston. Is this because they have tried all cigarette brands before they chose one for them?

The reality is that different kinds of products have different images appealing to different people.

Other than the addition of television and the Internet as highly effective media, there have been few changes in advertising since its birth. Yet the mysteries about what is “good” or “bad” advertising prevail. The truth is that if your ads do not change brand preference, they are not doing their

job. If

they do change brand preference, people will be three times

more likely to purchase your product. The point to reiterate is that simply getting someone to remember your ad will not change whether or not they buy your product.

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Basic communications model for development of brand preference

To better understand the process of brand preference, let's first look at a basic communications model. The five components of this model are sender, medium, filter, receiver, and feedback. On a daily basis, we are exposed to messages (sender/medium) via our radio, television, billboards, Internet, mail, and word-of-mouth. Although these messages are pervasive, we continually screen out (perceptual screen) or ignore content that has little or no relevance to us. All messages are coded patterns and sensations – colours, sounds, odours, shapes, etc. Those messages deemed recognizable, or a basis for a relationship, are decoded and stored in our memory (filter/screen). A successful convergence between

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sender and receiver will result in

some type of response to a

brand's compelling message (feedback). Stored experiences in our longterm memory are connected through a series of nodes and networks.

Consumer prefer particular brand because they find it easier to interpret what benefits brand offers feel more confident of it and get more satisfaction from using it . Because of such consumer preference, the brand can charge a higher price, command more loyalty, and run more efficient marketing programmes

.The brand preference therefore

command a higher asset value.

Brand Preference choice criteria There are six criteria choose brand preference. The first three element categorized as “Brand building” in terms of how brand preference can be built up. And last three elements are known as “defensive” because it preserved in the face of different opportunity or different brands available in market.  Memorable: How easily particular brand are recalled?  Meaningful: To what extent particular brand prefer in corresponding category? Does it suggest something about a product ingredient or the type of person who might use the brand?  Likeability: How aesthetically appealing do customer finds the brand element? Is it inherently likeable visually, verbally and in other ways?  Transferable: Can the brand element be used to introduce in new product in the same or different categories?

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 Adaptable: How adaptable and updatable is the brand element?  Protectable: How legally protectable is the brand element? How comparatively protectable?

Brand Endorsement by Celebrities

The motif behind total branding may be decocted as an attempt to amalgamate diverse activities to win customer preference. The crescendo of celebrities endorsing brands has been steadily increasing over the past years. Marketers overtly acknowledge the power of celebrities

in

influencing

ubiquitously accepted

consumer-purchasing

decisions.

It

is

a

fact that celebrity endorsement can

bestow upon a product special attributes it might not otherwise have. But everything is not honky-dory; celebrities are after all mere mortals made of flesh and blood like us. If a celebrity can aggrandize the merits of a brand, he or she can also exacerbate the image of a brand.

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If I may take the liberty of rephrasing Aristotle’s quote on anger, "Any

brand

can get a celebrity. That is easy. But getting a celebrity

consistent with the right brand, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way... that is not easy."

Celebrity endorsements are impelled by virtue of the following motives: -

 Instant Brand Awareness and Recall  Celebrity values define, and refresh the brand image  Celebrity adds new dimensions to the brand image  Instant credibility or aspiration PR coverage  Lack of ideas  Convincing clients

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Successful Celebrity Endorsements for a Brand - An Indian Perspective

The latter part of the '80s saw the burgeoning of a new trend in India - brands started being endorsed by celebrities. Hindi film and TV stars as well as sports-persons were roped in to endorse prominent brands. Advertisements featuring stars like Tabassum (Prestige Pressure Cooker), Jalal Agha (Pan Parag), Kapil Dev (Palmolive Shaving Cream) and Sunil Gavaskar (Dinesh Suitings) became common. Of course, probably the first ad to cash in on star power in a strategic, long-term, mission statement kind of way was for Lux soap, a brand which has, perhaps as a result of this, been among the top three in the country for

58

much of its life-time. We had the Shah Rukh-Santro campaign with the objective of mitigating the impediment that an unknown Korean brand faced in the Indian market. The objective was to garner faster brand recognition, association and emotional unity with the target group.

Similarly, when S. Kumar's used Hrithik Roshan, then the hottest advertising icon for their launch advertising for Tamarind, they reckoned they spent 40-50 per cent less on media due to the sheer impact of using Hrithik. Ad recall was as high Witness the spectacular rise of Sania Mirza and Irfan Pathan in

endorsements in a matter of a few months.

Advantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand Establishment of Credibility: Approval of a brand by a star fosters a sense of trust for that brand among the target audience - this is especially true in case of new products Ensured Attention: Celebrities ensure attention of the target group by breaking the clutter of advertisements and making the ad and the brand more noticeable.

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PR Coverage: This is another reason for using celebrities. Managers

perceive celebrities as topical, which create high PR coverage.

Higher Degree of Recall: People tend to commensurate the personalities of the celebrity with the brand, thereby, increasing the recall value.

Associative Benefit: A celebrity’s preference for a brand gives out a persuasive message - because the celebrity is benefiting from the brand, the consumer will also benefit.

Mitigating a Tarnished Image : Cadbury India wanted to restore the consumer's confidence in its chocolate brands following the high-pitch worms’ controversy; so the company appointed Amitabh Bachchan for the job. It helps to reform the company’s image. .

Psychographic Connect: Celebrities are loved and adored by their fans and advertisers use stars to capitalise on these feelings to sway the fans towards their brand.

Demographic Connect: Different stars appeal differently to various demographic segments (age, gender, class, geography, etc.).

Mass Appeal: Some stars have a universal appeal and, therefore, prove to be a good bet to generate interest among the masses.

Rejuvenating a Stagnant Brand: With the objective of infusing fresh life into a stagnant brand celebrities are used.

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Disadvantages of a Celebrity Endorsing a Brand The celebrity approach has a few serious risks: -

Reputation of the Celebrity may Derogate after he/she has endorsed the Product: The behaviour of the celebrities reflect on the brand, celebrity endorsers may at times become liabilities to the brands they endorse.

The Vampire Effect: This terminology pertains to the issue of a celebrity overshadowing the brand. If there is no congruency between the celebrity and the brand, then the audience will remember the celebrity and not the brand.

Inconsistency in the Professional Popularity of the Celebrity: The celebrity may lose his or her popularity due to some lapse in professional performances.

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Multi Brand Endorsements by the Same Celebrity would Lead to Over-exposure: The novelty of a celebrity endorsement gets diluted if he does too many advertisements. This maybe termed as commoditization of celebrities, who are willing to endorse anything for big bucks.

Mismatch between the Celebrity and the Image of the Brand: Celebrities manifest a certain persona for the audience. It is of paramount importance that there is an egalitarian congruency between the persona of the celebrity and the image of the brand. Each celebrity potrays a broad range of meanings, involving a specific personality and lifestyle Despite the obvious economic advantage of using relatively unknown personalities as endorsers in advertising campaigns, the choice of celebrities to fulfill that role has become common practice for brands competing in today's cluttered media environment.

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Influence of advertising on consumer’s brand preference

The essence of being in business by any business outfits is to produce for sales and profits. In order to remain in business an organization must generate enough sales from its products to cover operating costs and post reasonable profits. For many organizations, sales

estimate is the starting point in budgeting or profit planning. It is so because it must be determined, in most cases, before production units could be arrived at while production units will in turn affect material purchases. However, taking decision on sales is the most difficult tasks facing many business executives.

This is because it is difficult to predict, estimate or determine with accuracy, potential customers’ demands as they are uncontrollable factors external to an organization. Considering, therefore, the importance of sales 63

on business survival and the connection between customers and sales, it is expedient for organizations to engage in programmes that can influence

consumers’ decision to purchase its products. This is where advertising and brand management are relevant. Advertising is a subset of promotion mix which is one of the 4ps in the marketing mix i.e product,

price, place and promotion. As a promotional strategy, advertising serve as a major tool in creating product awareness and condition the mind of a potential consumer to take eventual purchase decision.

When competition is keen and the consumers are faced with brand choice

in the market, it becomes imperative for the manufacturers to understand the major factors that can attract the attention of buyers to his own

brand.

Major

tools

companies

use

to

direct

persuasive

communications to target buyers and public noting that “it consists of nonpersonal forms of communication conducted through paid media under clear sponsorship”. According to him, the purpose of advertising is to

enhance potential buyers’ responses to the organization and its offering, emphasizing that “it seeks to do this providing information, by channeling desire, and by supplying reasons for preferring a particular organization’s offer.

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From the foregoing, it could be concluded that the purpose of advertising is to cerate awareness of the advertised product and provide information that

will assist the consumer to make purchase decision, the relevance of advertising as a promotional strategy, therefore, depends on its ability to influence consumer not only to purchase but to continue to repurchase and eventually develop-brand loyalty. Consequently, many organizations expend a huge amount of money on advertising and brand management.

A brand is a name given by a manufacturer to one (or a number) of its products or services. Brands are used to differentiate products from their competitors. They facilitate recognition and where customers have built up favorable attitude towards the product, may speed the individual buyers

through the purchase decision process. Individual purchasers will filter out unfavorable or un-known brands and the continued purchase of the branded product will reinforce the brand loyal behaviour. Without brands, consumer couldn’t tell one product from another and advertising then would be nearly impossible.

Advertiser’s primary mission is to reach prospective customers and influence their awareness, attitudes and buying behaviour. They spend a lot of money to keep individuals (markets) interested in their products. To

succeed, they need to understand what makes potential customers 65

behave the way they do. The advertisers goals is to get enough relevant market data to develop accurate profiles of buyers-to-find the common group (and symbols) for communications this involves the study of consumers behaviour: the mental and emotional processes and the physical activities of people who purchase and use goods and services to

satisfy particular needs and wants .The principal aim of consumer behaviour analysis is to explain why consumers act in particular ways under certain circumstances. It tries to determine the factors that influence

consumer behaviour, especially the economic, social and psychological aspects which can indicate the most favoured marketing mix that management should select. Consumer behaviour analysis helps to determine the direction that consumer behaviour is likely to make and to give preferred trends in product development, attributes of the alternative

communication method etc. consumer behaviours analysis

views

the consumer as another variable in the marketing sequence, a variable that cannot be controlled and that will interprete the product or service not only in terms of the physical characteristics, but in the context of this image according to the social and psychological makeup of that individual consumer (or group of consumers). Advertising helps in projecting product quality and value before the consumers. Advertising has a major influence 66

on consumers’ preference and it has, in no small measure, contributed to its success. The same thing goes for its quality. The stage a product is in its life cycle is very important to a marketer as it help in determining the type of marketing strategies to be embarked upon in respect of the said product.

ADVERTISING RESEARCH Advertising research is a branch of marketing research, and is both a sort of insurance to avoid wasting money on in effective advertising and a means of monitoring the effectiveness of a campaign while it is running and after the campaign has ended. It is also possible and advantageous to ling advertising research with other forms of marketing research which the company is undertaking. Today the advertisers have the benefits of many sorts of research, and they are usually recommended and commissioned by an advertising agency. In fact, in its own interest a good advertising agency may insist on the use of research to ensure that it produces and conducts successful advertising.

“The advertising research is applications of marketing research aimed at the measurement of advertising effectiveness and improves advertising efficiency. The primary aim of advertising is to sell an idea, goods or 67

services whereas the ultimate goal of research is to measure the impact of advertising on sales of that idea, good or service.”

Research is not confined to testing creativity. There is a wealth of independently researched statistical information on sales, readership and audience figures regarding all the principle media so that the most economic media can be used. In addition to this it is possible to control the duration of appearance of an advertisement by assessing when enough people have had the opportunity to see the advertisement a sufficient number of times.

This is in line with the IPA definition of advertising which refers to presenting “the most persuasive selling message to the right prospects for the product or service at the lowest possible cost.”

Importance of advertising research

Advertising deals with many imponderables. Its aim is to influence the minds and emotions of millions of prospective buyers. It is a mass demand creation device, so its message must be standardized.

Furthermore, conditions in the market are constantly changing. It is also expensive and highly competitive. In view of the many difficult problems which overwhelmed advertising a great deal of attention is devoted to the development of research techniques to provide better knowledge on which to base advertising decisions. The two areas are embracing the most pressing problems are those of advertising copy and advertising media.

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The ethics and effectiveness of advertising are highly controversial subjects. Measuring of advertising effectiveness poses many challenging questions to those who create, sell and utilize advertisements. It is a widely accepted fact that advertising is a great force linking the producer and the consumer. The need of research in advertising is also significant because a tremendously large number of people are dependent for their earnings from this area.

MEDIA RESEARCH Media selection is finding the most cost effective media to deliver the desired number and type of exposures to the target audience. The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types to deliver reach, frequency and impact. The major media types are T.V., newspaper, radio, magazines or journals etc.

PRINT MEDIA For many years advertisers have not been satisfied with circulation data as the sole yardstick for buying advertising media. It has been clearly demonstrated that the number of readers of a given copy of a publication not only significantly exceeds circulation but also varies from gross circulation figures as between various publications. An increasing amount 69

of research has been applied in resent years to the measurement of actual reading audiences. Techniques for measuring reading audiences are now sufficiently perfected so that these data are generally accepted and widely employed. Newspapers and magazines are the most common types of print media. As the media circulation increases so, does the attractiveness of a newspaper or magazine to an advertiser, and the medium may raise the advertising rates. The best way to measure a publications’ is through measuring its readership or total audience. Media buyers need to know the accurate circulation and readership figures to compare costs among various publications that reach similar audiences.

BROADCAST MEDIA The most extensive research in connection with broadcasting media is the measurement of listening and viewing audiences. The following methods are commonly employed.  The recall method: The recall method obtains its data through listener surveys in which the respondent is asked to report the television and radio programs he heard during a specified period of time previous to the interview.  The diary method: In the coincidental diary method a form listing broadcasting stations and time periods is left with the respondent, who makes notations of programs received. The diaries are usually designed so that they can be attached to the radio or television set for convenient recording.

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The chief advantage of this method is that the respondent records his listening or viewing at the time, thus eliminating the burden on memory. It also has the advantage of making it possible to obtain classification data regarding the listener or viewer.

The primary weakness of this method is inaccuracies of reporting because there is a constant tendency to neglect to make entries at the time the set is actually in use.  The coincidental method: In this method investigators call telephone subscribers according to a predetermined sampling pattern. It provides more accurate data than other survey methods, since it eliminates the necessity for memory or entries in a diary. Also it is based on a report of actual viewing or listening rather than mechanical evidence that the radio set was operating.  The audiometer method: The audiometer is attached to TV or radio sets at random in the homes of potential consumers. The device maintains on a magnetic tape a continuous record of the set in usage channel on and the station channel to which tuned. Its advantage is that with the aid of audiometer one can accurately measure the set in use from a valid sample. Its disadvantage is that it does not indicate who is watching the set or listening to a radio set. It only records whether the set is tuned on to a particular channel or station.

It tells nothing about the audience presence and their behavior.

Advertising research is not conducted much in India.

This is because Indian companies are not much aware of the techniques of its research and the benefit they can get out of this activity. Of late, they 71

are now spending huge amount on advertisements released in various media. But they do not initiate to find whether expenditure made by them is bringing some worthwhile results in the form of increased sales and profits.

If yes, to what extent the increase in sales is due to advertising.Because the increase in sales is due to other factors operating in the market place.

Therefore, it is the high time that the Indian business organizations understand the importance of advertising and measure its effectiveness.

For any firm incurring expenditure on advertising, it is essential that some percentage of the advertising budget should be embarked for the advertising research

Impact of colour on customer’s brand preference

Color is part of our daily lives. People use colors to express themselves and their emotions, to adapt to weather conditions (e.g., dark colors are used in winter to absorb the heat better while light colors are used in the summer to stay fresh), and 72

also to simply help themselves feel confident with their bodies and appearance. Research indicates that over 80% of visual information is

related to color: i.e., color conveys information. It identifies a product or a company, as well as the quality of the merchandise and much more . Color can influence consumers’ purchase decisions, how they see things, their emotions, and thus it is integral to marketing. Color photographs are commonly used in ads because they are thought to have superior attention getting properties. For this reason, it is extremely

important to understand how color affects attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. Marketers can then apply such knowledge to develop effective promotional strategies and tactics. For instance, a package can be

designed to appear taller or shorter: e.g., light-colored packaging may make a package appear larger, whereas darker colors may minimize the perceived size . The right colors communicate meaning and please the eye, whereas the wrong colors can be unpleasant and even unsettling. As a marketing tool, color can also be a subliminally persuasive force. As a

functional component of human vision, color can capture 73

attention, relax or irritate the eyes, and affect the legibility of text. All things considered, the right colors empower and contribute to the success of an advertising campaign, a product, a service, or even an interior space. In

contrast, using the wrong colors can be a costly mistake. Colors can also influence customers’ emotions, positively or negatively. Previous research has shown a consistent association of colors with certain feelings and experiences. For example, the color “Blue” is soothing and associated with wealth, trust, and security, whereas “Red”

connotes excitement and stimulation. For example, it is expected that viewers’ perceptions of a brand’s image/personality will reflect the image associated with the ad’s background color (e.g., a brand will be

judged to be more vibrant and exciting when it is advertised with a red background versus a more calming blue background).

Impact of Packaging Requirements of good packaging  Functional - effectively contain and protect the contents  Provide convenience during distribution, sale, opening, use, reuse, etc.  be environmentally responsible  Be cost effective 74

 Appropriately designed for target market  Eye-catching (particularly for retail/consumer Sales)  Communicate attributes and recommended use of the product and package  Compliant with retailers' requirements  Promotes image of enterprise  Distinguishable from competitors' products  Meet legal requirements for product and Packaging  Point of difference in service and supply of Product.  For a perfect product, perfect colour.

Forms of packaging  Specialty packaging — emphasizes the elegant character of the product  Packaging for double-use  Combination packaging two or more products packaged in the same container  Kaleidoscopic packaging — packaging changes continually to reflect a series or particular theme  Packaging for immediate consumption — to be thrown away after use  Packaging for resale — packed, into appropriate quantities, for the retailer or wholesaler.  Trademarks Significance of a trademark 75

 Distinguishes one company's goods from those of another  Serves as advertisement for quality  Protects both consumers and manufacturers  Used in displays and advertising campaigns

1. Age group of respondents.

AGE GROUP OF RESPONDENTS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

20-25

50

26-30

42

31-35

22

36-40

29

41-45

7

76

Figure 1. Survey Report Inference: The survey conducted shows that most of the respondents were of the age group of 2025 years and the least respondents were of 41-45 years.

2. Respondents of different gender.

RESPONDENTS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

MALE

86

FEMALE

64

77

Figure 2.Survey Report Inference : This chart shows that mostly the male are more interested in branded products than the female category.

3. Which are the favourite brands?

FAVOURITE BRANDS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

LEVIS

40

PEPE JEANS

13

WEST SIDE

12

78

SAMSUNG

10

ADIDAS

28

NIKE

16

SONY

16

REEBOK

15

Figure 3.Survey Report Inference: In this chart it is clear that the most liked brand is Levis followed by Adidas which are both apparel companies.

4. Why the brands are preferred by the respondents?

79

PREFERENCE CRITERIA

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

QUALITY

62

COMFORTABLE

42

STYLISH

23

RELIABLE

16

FEATURES

7

Figure 4.Survey Report Inference: The brands like Levis and Adidas and many more are liked by the respondents because of the good quality which shows a percentage of 41 and comfortable which has a percentage of 28.The brands are even liked because they are stylish,reliable and because of its features.

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5. From where you get the information about these brands?

INFORMATION SOURCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

NEWSPAPERS

32

TELEVISION

66

RADIO

6

INTERNET

10

HOARDINGS

11

WORD OF MOUTH

25

Figure 5.Survey Report Inference: The respondents said that they got the information of vthese brands from different media like television,newspaper,radio,word of mouth,etc..According to the survey, television has given information to 44% respondents,newspaper to 215, through word of mouth to 17% respondents,from radio to 4%,internet 7%,and last hoardings to 7% of respondents.This shows that atelevision creates more impact on customers .

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6. If you are searching for information of a brand which media will you look for?

MEDIA PREFERENCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

PRINT MEDIA

25

ELECTRONIC MEDIA

79

OTHER MEDIA

17

WORD OF MOUTH

29

Figure 6.Survey Report Inference In this chart the respondents have said about their preference of media to get information about their brands.53% have said that they prefer electronic media like television,internet.17% have voted for print media like newspapers,magazines 19% 82

said that they go with wordof mouth from friends,family,relatives,etc. and 11% choose other media.

7. Do you rely on advertisement?

DO YOU RELY ON ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

58

NO

24

SOMETIMES

56

RARELY

12

Figure7.Survey Report Inference 83

The respondents were asked whether they believe on advertisements.39% said that they rely on advertisements and utilize the information given,16% said that they do not believe,37% said that they sometmes believe if they find the information rational,and 8% rarely believe.

8. Do you change your perception of a product by just seeing the advertisement?

CHANGE OF PERCEPTION DUE TO ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

21

NO

52

SOMETIMES

59

RARELY

18

84

Figure 8.Survey Report Inference In this chart the respondents were asked if they change they thinking about a product after seeing yhe advertisement.14% respondents said that they change their perception of a product after seeing the advertisement,35% said that they do not change,39% said that sometimes they change and 12% said that it is rarely that they change their perception after seeing an advertisement.

9. Do you think advertisement is necessary for your decision making?

NECESSITY OF ADVERTISEMENT IN DECISION MAKING

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

ALWAYS NECESSARY

36 85

SOMETIMES NECESSARY

88

NOT NECESSARY

26

Figure 9.Survey Report Inference In the survey the respondents were asked how much they feel advertisement is necessary in their decision making.24% said that it is always necessary in decision making,59% said that advertisement sometimes plays a necessary part when they take a decision,and 17% said that advertisemnet is not necessary in decision making .

10. What are the factors which influence your decision making process?

FACTORS INFLUENCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS 86

DECISION MAKING PROCESS PRODUCT FEATURES

55

ADVERTISEMENT

29

COST

37

OPINION OF FRIENDS

20

OTHERS

9

Figure 10.Survey Report Inference This chart shows what are the factors considering which a respondent will be influenced to decide to buy a product.37% said that the features of the product will influence them,19% said that advertisemnet will influence them to decide as they will get lots of information about the product,25% said that the cost of the product makes 87

tham decide to buy a product,13% said that they will go by the opinion of friends and rest 6% said that there may be othrer factors which will influence them to decide

11. What do you look for in an advertisement?

WHAT YOU LOOK FOR IN AN ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

PRICE

59

BENEFITS

32

BRAND ENDORSERS

20

OFFERS

18

QUALITY

21

88

Figure 11.Survey Report Inference In the survey the respondents were asked what are the apspect that they see in an ad..40% said that thay see the price,21% said that they see that benefits shown in tha ad.,13% see the brand endorsers,12% see the offers given and 14% see the quality tpof the product shown in the ad..This shows that in larger amount customers see the price aspect when they see an ad , 12. Do you purchase a product just because your favourite celebrity is endorsing it?

DO IT YOU PURCHASE A PRODUCT BECAUSE YOUR FAVOURITE CELEBRITY IS ENDORSING

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

72

NO

50

SOMETIMES

28 89

Figure12. Survey Report Inference In this chart the question asked to the respondents was if they purchase a product only because their favourite celebrity is endorsing a particular product. For this 48% said that they purchase only because their celebruty is endirsing it,33% said that they do not purchase because of the celebrity and 19 % said that sometimes they purchase it since their favourite celebrity is endorsing it.This is clear that celebrity endirsement plays a great part in the brand preference.

13. Do you purchase a product just by getting attracted to the product?

90

DO YOU PURCHASE BY GETTING ATTRACTED TO THE PRODUCT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

45

NO

29

SOMETIMES

60

RARELY

16

Figure13.Survey Report Inference According to the survey the 30% respondent said that they buy a product by getting attracted to it,19% said that they do not buy by getting attracted ,40% said that sometimes by getting attraced they buy the product and 11% said that rarely the get attracted and purchase a product.

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14. What are the factors in an advertisement which will make you change your brand loyalty?

FACTORS WHICH CHANGE BRAND LOYALTY

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

BENEFITS

35

VALUE FOR MONEY

50

NEW FEATURES

28

DISCOUNT

19

WORD OF MOUTH

18

92

Figure 14.Survey Report Inference The respondents were asked what are the reasons which will make them change their brand loyalty.23% said that the benefits of another product may make them change their brand loyalty,33% said that the value for money may make them change,19% said that new features in another prduct may compel them,13% said discounts offered by another brands may make tham swirtchers,and last word of mouth from friends and family may make them like another brand.Through this survey it is clear that in comparison to other factors valur foe money plays a great role for customers to change the brand preference.

15. If you hear the name of a brand through advertisement what do you recall?

WHAT YOU RECALL FROM ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

MUSIC

56

TAG LINE

27

ENDORSERS

21

PRODUCT

26

BENEFITS

20

93

Figure 15.Survey Report Inference The respondents were asked what they can recall after they see or hear an ad..38% of the respondents said that they can recall the music which was played in the ad.,18% can remember the tag line,14% they remember the brand endorser, 17% can recall only the product and 13 % they recall the benefits that were shown in the ad..This makes it clearly evident that music in an ad. makes it possible for consumers to recall the particular brand.

16. What are the things that should be highlighted in an advertisement?

WHAT SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED IN AN ADVERTYISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

BENEFITS

35

TAG LINE

45 94

BRAND NAME

26

COMPANY NAME

18

ENDORSERS

12

PRODUCT FEATURES

14

Figure 16.Survey Report Inference Through this chart it is shown what are the things that should be given more priorty in an ad..23% of the respondents said that the benefits of a product should be highlighted,30% said that the tag line should be highlighted so that the customers can recall and their brand preference will increase,17% said that tha brand name should be highlighted,12% said that company name should be given more priority,8% said that endorsers should be brought in the lime light,and rest 10% said that the features of the product should be highlighted.From this survey we can say that ,tag line of a brand should be brought in lime light so that brand preference of that particular prouct will increase.

95

17. If a product is misinterpreted by your friend would you believe him or go on with your own view?

WHAT YOU DO IF A PRODUCT IS MIS INTERPRETED

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

BELIEVE MY FRIEND

39

GO WITH MY VIEW

63

REFER ADVERISEMENT

29

REFER INTERNET

19

Figure 17.Survey Report.

Inference The respondents were asked if their friend mis interprets a product what they will do.26% said that they will believe their friend and go with the product,42% said that 96

they will analyse and go with their own view,19% said that they will refert advertisement and rest 13% will refer internet to get the correct information.This shows that customers are very conscious about a product and they will evaluate themselves and buy a product.

18. Do you prefer going to any store just by seeing the offers on hoardings and banners?

DO YOU GO TO STORES BY SEEING HOARDINGS AND BANNERS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

75

NO

22

SOMETIMES

38

RARELY

15

Figure 18.Survey Report 97

Inference The respondents were asked if the go to stores by seeing the hoardings and banners.50% of the respondents said that the see the banners and hoardings and go to shop,15% said that they do not shop by seeing the banners and hoardings,255 said sometimes they do,and 105 said that it rarely happens that they see and thaen go to shop.Through this we come to know that banners and hoardings showing that product with its other facets creates brand awareness and also induces brand preference .

19. After you experience any product do you convey the message to others (positive\negative)?

DO YOU CONVEY MESSAGE AFTER YOU EXPERIENCE A PRODUCT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

79

NO

26

SOMETIMES

33

RARELY

12

98

Figure 19.Survey Report Inference The respondents were asked if they convey word of mouth after they experience a product whether it be positive or negative.53% of the respondents said that they convey word of mouth to their friends and family after they use a product,17% said that they do not do so,22% said that sometimes they do it if the product has some problem and 8% said that they rarely s[read word of mouth to any one.

20. What is your response to repeated advertisement in Tv\radio?

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO REPEATED ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

68

NO

27

GET IRRITATED

36

CHANGE THE CHANNEL

19

99

Figure 20. Survey Report Inference In this question the respondents were asked to give a feed back about repeated ads. which are shown in different media especially electronic media.45% of the respondents said that they do not have any problem ,18% said that they do not like that every moment ads are shown,24% said that they get irritated and rest 13% said that they change the channel when repeated ads of the same product comes.

21. How important is music in advertisement?

IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC IN ADVERTISEMENT

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

VERY IMPORTANT

79

SOMETIMES IMPORTANT

38 100

NOT IMPORTANT

30

Figure 21.Survey Report Inference In this survey the respondents were asked how much they feel is music important in an ad..54% of the respondents said that music plays an important role in advertisemnets,26% said that sometimes its important and 20% said that music is not important in ads..This survey proves that music in an ad boosts the quality of an ad. and also it creates a positive impact on brand prference.

101

22. Do you refer Google search before making purchasing decision?

DO YOU REFER GOOGLE SEARCH BEFORE PURCHASING

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

82

NO

25

ALWAYS

27

RARELY

16

Figure 22.Survey Report Inference 102

In the survey the respondents were asked do they refer google search before purchasing a product.54% said that they refer google search to find about the product before purchasing it.This also brings in light that now a days people are technologically aware and do search before they buy.17% said that they do not go for google search,18% said that always what ever be the product they refer internet before they purchase, and 11% of the respondents rarely do that if the product is of very importance.

23. What are the aspects you look for in internet for information on your preferred brands?

ASPECTS YOU LOOK FOR IN INTERNET

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

PRODUCT FEATURES

75

DEALER NETWORK

29

PRICE

32

DELIVERY

14

103

Figure 23.Survey Report Inference The respondents who refer internet werev asked what aspect thay look for in ainternet about a brand or a product.50% of the respondents said that the refer internet to know about the product features,19% said they look for dealer network

24. Does the internet advertisement in the website create brand awareness?

DOES INTERNET ADVERTISEMENT CREATE BRAND AWARENESS

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

78

NO

22

SOMETIMES

35

RARELY

15

104

Figure 24.Survey Report Inference In this survey 52% of the respondents said that internet creates brand awareness,15% said that it does not create brand awareness,23% said that it sometimes creates brand awareness,10% said that rarely it does so.This shows that internet really creates brand awareness

25. Do you think internet is the most reliable source of information?

IS INTERNET A RELIABLE SOURCE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

82

NO

41 105

SOMETIMES

27

Figure 25.Survey Report Inference 55% said that internet is a very reliable source.this means that customer’s believe in internet advertisemnet which will help in creating good brand preference .

26. Have you ever online shopping?

HAVE YOU DONE ON LINE

NO. OF RESPONDENTS 106

SHOPPING YES

77

NO

35

SOMETIMES

24

RARELY

14

Figure 26.Survey Report Inference 52% have said that they have done on line shopping.This means that customer’s rely on internet information about the products and also they do on line shopping .

107

27. Did you visit company’s website before purchasing?

DO YOU VISIT COMPANY’S WEBSITA BEFORE PURCHASING

NO. OF RESPONDENTS

YES

61

NO

89

Figure 27.Survey Report Inference The respondents were asked if they visit company’s website before they purchase.41% said that they visit company’s website before they purchase and 59% said that they do not visit. This shows that though they do not visit company’s website they visit other search engines to know about the product.

108

FINDINGS  The most preferred brand is Levis with 48 respondents out of 150 respondents.  62 respondents prefer their brands because of its quality.  66 of the respondents acquire information about their brands from television.  79 respondents said that they would prefer electronic media than any other media to get information about a brand.  58 respondents said that they rely on advertisement which shows that advertisement is important.  59 respondents said that sometimes they change their perception of a brand by seeing an advertisement.  55 respondents have said that product features influence their decision making process.  59 respondents out of 150 said that they look for the price of a product in

an advertisement.  72 respondents said that they purchase a product because their favourite celebrity is endorsing it.  50 respondents said that value for money shown in an ad makes them change their brand loyalty.

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 When it was asked what they recall after seeing or hearing an ad 56 respondents said music.  45 respondents said that the tag line should be highlighted in an advertisement.  75 respondents have said that they go to the stores by seeing the hoardings and banners.  79 respondents said that they spread word of mouth after experiencing a product.  79 respondents said that music is very important in an advertisement.  82 respondents said that they refer google search before purchasing a product.  78 respondents said that internet advertisement really creates brand awareness about a product.  82 respondents said that internet is a reliable source for collecting information about a brand.  77 respondents said that they have done on line shopping.  89 respondents said that they do not refer company’s website before purchasing.

CONCLUSION

110

 According to this study, it has found out that people notice advertisements and the awareness level of the brand is good only because of advertisements.  Based on this study I would say television advertisements have more reach to the people.Customers prefer television in comparison to other media since they get both the audio and visual effects .This also proves that customer’s rely on advertisements shown in media  Customers of the age group of 20-25 are more interested in advertisements and brands.  The customers like branded products because of the quality it possesses..  For an advertisement to be effective the price, the music and the tag line should be highlighted. These three aspects create a great impact in brand preference.  Hoardings and banners also create brand awareness of a product and are important to increase brand preference.  The customer’s also spread word of mouth after they use a product.  This survey also makes it clear that customer’s(especially of the younger generation) refer internet before they purchase and they search for the product features shown in internet advertisements.

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Suggestions

 Companies should research continuously for quality improvement.  Develop more effective advertising campaigns  Advertising messages should both be persuasive and reminder-oriented.

.

 Comparative advertising is useful in this regard.

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 Television combines motion, sound, and special visual effects for which it is the most preferred media for advertisements.  To employ integrated advertising of their product.  More budgets could be devoted to TV adverts in view of the consumers’.

Appendix MAgNuS SCHOOL OF BuSINESS BANgALORE

Name: Contact No.: Address: Gender: Age : 1. Which are your favourite brands……………………………………………………………...................................

2. Why do you prefer these brands……………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. From where did you get the information about these brands o Newspapers o Television o Radio o Internet o Hoardings o Word of Mouth 4. If you are searching for information of a brand which media will you look to o Print media o Electronic media

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o Other media o Word of mouth 5. Do you rely on advertisement? o Yes o No o Sometimes o Rarely 6. Do you change your perception of a product by just seeing the advertisement? o Yes o No o Sometimes o Rarely 7. Do you think advertisement is necessary for your decision making? o Always necessary o Sometimes necessary o Not necessary

8. What are the factors which influence your decision making process? o Product features o Advertisement o Cost o Opinion of friends o Others 9. What do you look for in an advertisement? o

Price of the product

o

Benefits of the product

o

Brand endorsers

o

Offers

o

Quality of the product

10. Do you purchase a product just because your favorite celebrity is endorsing it? o

Yes

o

No

o

Sometimes

11. Do you purchase a product just by getting attracted to the advertisement?

114

o

Yes

o

No

o

Sometimes

o

Rarely

12. What are the factors in an advertisement which will make you change your brand loyalty?

o

Benefits

o

Value for money

o

New features

o

Discount

o

Word of mouth

13. If you hear the name of a brand through advertisement what do you recall? o

The music

o

The tag line

o

The endorsers

o

The product

o

The benefits

14. What are the things according to you should be highlighted in an advertisement? o The benefits o The tag line o The brand name o The company name o The endorsers o The product features 15. If a product is misinterpreted by your friend would you believe him or go on with your view? o Believe my friend o Go with my view o Refer advertisement o Refer internet 16. Do you prefer going to any store just by seeing the offers on hoardings and banners? o Yes o No o Sometimes o Rarely 17. After you experience any product do you convey the message to others (positive/negative opinion)? o

Yes

115

o

No

o

Sometimes

o

Rarely

18. What is your response to repeated advertisement in Tv/radio? o

Yes

o

No

o

Get irritated

o

Change the channel

19. How important is music in an advertisement? o Very important o Sometimes important o Not important 20. Do you refer Google search before making purchasing decision? o Yes o No o Always o Rarely 21. What are the aspects you look for in internet for information on your preferred brands? o

Product features

o

Dealer network

o

Price

o

Delivery

22. Does the Internet Advertisement in the website create brand awareness? o

Yes

o

No

o

Sometimes

o

Rarely

23. Do you think internet is the most reliable source of information? o Yes o No o Sometimes 24. Have you ever done online shopping? o

Yes

o

No

o

Sometimes

o

Rarely

25. Did you visit company’s website before purchasing?

116

o

Yes

o

No

References 1. www.geocities.com/prof_rajagopal/labr1 2. www.scribd.com/doc/../impact of celebrity endorsement on overall brands 3. www.krepublishers.com/...../ 4. www.indiamba.com/Faculty_Column/FC706/fc706 5. www.csulb.edu/colleges/cba/honors

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GLOSSARY Advertising Promotion of a product, service, or message by an identified sponsor using paid-for media.

Banner Adverts Adverts on web pages used to build brand awareness or drive traffic to the advertisers own website.

Brand The set of physical attributes of a product or service, together with the beliefs and expectations surrounding it - a unique combination which the name or logo of the product or service should evoke in the mind of the audience.

Comparative Advertising 118

Advertising which compares a company's product with that of competing brands. Must be used with caution to avoid accusations of misrepresentation from competitors.

Competitions Sales promotions that allow the consumer the possibility of winning a prize.

Competitive Advantage The product, proposition or benefit that puts a company ahead of its competitors.

Competitors Companies that sell products or services in the same market place as one another Consumer Individual who buys and uses a product or service Customer A person or company who purchases goods or services (not necessarily the end ? consumer?) .Customer Loyalty Feelings or attitudes that incline a customer either to return to a company, shop or outlet to purchase there again, or else to re-purchase a particular product, service or brand.

Customer Satisfaction The provision of goods or services which fulfil the customer?s expectations in terms of quality and service, in relation to price paid Endorsement Affirmation, usually from a celebrity, that a product is good Marketing Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. CIM's official definition.

Marketing Mix The combination of marketing inputs that affect customer motivation and behaviour.

These inputs traditionally encompass four controllable variables 'the 4 Ps': product, 119

price, promotion and place. The list has subsequently been extended to 7 Ps, the additions being people, process and 'physical evidence'.

Objectives A company's defined and measurable aims for a given period.

Packaging Material used to protect goods; also an opportunity to present the brand and logo.

Positioning The creation of an image for a product or service in the minds of customers, both specifically to that item and in relation to competitive offerings.

Promotional Mix The components of an individual promotional campaign, which are likely to include advertising, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, packaging, and sales promotion.

Quantitative Research Market research that concentrates on statistics and other numerical data, gathered through opinion polls, customer satisfaction surveys and so on. Compare 'qualitative research' .

Sampling The use of a statistically representative subset as a proxy for an entire population, for example in order to facilitate quantitative market research.

Sponsorship Specialised form of sales promotion where a company will help fund an event or support a business venture in return for publicity Stakeholder Word of Mouth The spreading of information through human interaction alone.

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