Advertising and Sales Promotion 2A

SECTION A

1 What is puffery? Should a company use a great deal of puffery in its ads? Why or why not?

2 What criteria can be used to help a company decide between an in-house advertising group and hiring an external advertising agency?

3 What is the difference between media planning and media buying? Briefly describe the various tasks of media planners and buyers

4 Write short notes on following

a) Brand Parity
b) Clutter
c) Percentage of sales method
d) Flighting schedule of advertising
e) Hierarchy of effects model
5 Explain the five functions of advertising.

6 How companies do their advertising campaign planning? Explain each step in detail?

7 Distinguish between five different forms of advertising, giving a specific example of each.

SECTION B

Read the case given below and answer the following question:
Cadbury Celebrations

All over the world, chocolate is one product that gets almost uniform recognition. This is the product which is normally targeted at the younger age groups across the world. Though, of course, there is no such specific age group that can restrict the target for chocolates. It is also universally true that chocolates are generally used for celebration; they signify sharing of joy and happiness. It is a perfect gift for all, irrespective of the age they belong to. But this scenario does not hold true to the fullest in the Indian context. India is different with respect to culture, ethnicity, consumer outlook, festivities, etc. Hence, internationally-marketed products are advertised differently here. Cadbury India Ltd., which has a global presence, stresses extensively on the media and advertising. The advertisements are innovative and customer-focused. Ethnicity and culture are largely country-specific and region-specific. It is difficult to set the framework to decide the cultural and ethnic appeals for a particular customer segment. But there are certain ethnic aspects which connect cultures despite their variations in caste, religion and race. It is interesting to note that these aspects design the advertising and positioning strategies for a product such as chocolate.

India is very peculiar in its eating habits. The food preparation though different in various regions and cultures, there is one common thread that binds, i.e., sweet. The sweets are particularly homemade and very different from the sweets the world over. Many are freshly made and consumed in a very short time span. The variety is wide and the occasions are numerous. With this backdrop, Cadbury, one of the oldest chocolate manufacturers in the world, has made its entry into Indian market with its unique positioning strategies through innovative advertisements. It has not only been able to establish itself as the largest chocolate manufacturer in the country, but has made a silent entry to eat a small chunk of share of the Indian sweet market. Its advertisements give a fine insight into how the advertisements stride into the culture and ethnicity of India. The eating habits of the Indians are different from other nations in many aspects. Their taste for sweets is also different. The kind of sweets to be offered on different

occasions is also region-specific or custom-driven. In the light of this distinctiveness, the positioning of Cadbury ‘Celebrations’ is very unique. Its advertisement has been able to catch up on the Raksha Bandhan Festival very well. There is a tradition across the nation for a girl to tie a rakhi to her brother and, in turn, he gives her a gift and sweet box. The sweet box over here is being replaced by the chocolate box of Cadbury’s ‘Celebrations’, a different kind of chocolate. This advertisement does not only ensure that the chocolates will be an integral part of raksha bandhan henceforth, but also makes a silent entry to fall into the category of Indian sweets.

One of the advertisements unearths a very embarrassing situation which most Indians are exposed to. There are many occasions during which the gifts have to be offered according to the customs and as per the decorum goes these gifts are not to be opened in front of the guests unlike in many other countries. This supports passing on of the unwanted gifts and then a situation arises when the same gift comes back to the original giver after passing many hands.

The advertisement of Cadbury ‘Celebrations’ pinpoints this particular episode very elaborately. It also whispers in the ears of those Indians about certain black patches in the name of culture which we can avoid. Though sweets are meant for festivals and celebrations they can become a part of any moment which brings joy. This is the theme of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (CDM) famous advertisement. There are many peculiarities about this copy. Firstly it, associates any happy moment with chocolate for all the age groups for any small moment of joy, say the arrival of new neighbor, or the first sign of mustache for a teenager or getting a new bike for college going friend. One more important aspect depicted in it is about the friend breaking the CDM on the new bike as a replacement of coconut. The picturization of such situations takes the direct entry into the minds of all the customer segments with different mindsets. Cadbury Dairy Milk (CDM) is the flagship product of Cadbury. Hence, it is advertised in many different ways. Here is one more instance of how it has entered into the hearts of rural India. The advertisement talks about ‘Miss Palampur’, a title won by the cow owned by a farmer, and the villagers are happily distributing sweets, i.e., CDM. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, who is featured as the proud owner of Radha, the cow, ends the commercial saying that she will appear in the films next year. This masterpiece projects the psyche of rural masses. Distributing CDM in place of sweets is again a unique feature. All the advertisements of ‘Celebrations’ series of Cadbury are unique. They make a smooth entry for perfect gift on occasions such as Deepavali which cannot be celebrated without sweets. Though chocolate does not fall into the category of Indian sweets, Cadbury Celebrations Dry Fruit collection certainly rinds the perfect place. The giggle, Rishtey pakne do with Amitabh Bachchan makes it more attractive. This is a unique way of acclimatizing advertising strategies with the deep understanding of ethnic marketing. Though the integral part of Deepavali celebrations is sweets ‘Celebrations Dry Fruit Chocolate Box’ has received an overwhelming welcome on the festive occasion. The hilarious piece of advertisement for Perk is an instance of how valuable mythological reference can be. Bollywood actress Preity Zinta requests Yamraj to pull her up while she is falling down in a valley. She removes Perk from her pocket and since Yamraj is tempted to eat it himself, he forgets about her time of departure from this material world. It ends with the association of Yam to Yummy. This advertisement, though a bit cynical about the Indian mythology, gives an insight into how ethnic aspects can be incorporated in the advertisements of non-indigenous products, so that they can secure a place in the minds of the target audience.

Advertising in itself is an attention-grabbing field for research. The television commercials are all the more appealing since the picturization of a situation connects the customers directly.

Various cultural aspects facilitate the viewers to get into the roles of the personalities portrayed in the advertisements. Since the personalities in the commercials are a direct reflection of the viewers, the impact of these advertisements is many folds. The recall level also is high with these commercials. This also allows the viewers to associate and reconfirm their own feelings. In turn, the brand image gets crystallized in the minds of the consumer to allow them to evaluate the brand against the competitor brands. Cadbury’s advertisements are unique in many ways since they associate and focus on many ethnic features from the Indian ethos. The advertisements, being brandspecific, provide the flexibility and creativity. In turn, they connect to various customer segments very well, which provides larger scope for accommodating a variety of customer segments for different brands.

QUESTION

“The advertising message is also governed by the creative strategy used to arrive at the message. Discuss the various types of creative strategies that Cadbury can use in its advertising campaigns.”

SECTION C

Q1: Any paid form of non-personal communication about an organization, good, service, or idea by an identified sponsor is called—

Publicity
Sales promotion.
Personal selling.

Q2: Advertising that promotes a specific brand’s features and benefits is—

Q3: Reminder advertisements are especially effective for products in which stage of the product life cycle?

Introduction
Growth
Maturity
Decline

Q4: A concern when using sex appeal is—

What men find sexy, women don’t.
What women find sexy, men don’t.
Sex appeal fails to gain audience attention.
The sex appeal of the ad distracts the audience from the product.

Q5: Billboard advertising is most effective for which type of advertisement?

Pioneering
Advocacy
Reminder
Comparative

Q6: The offer of one free pizza with the purchase of two pizzas at the regular price might appeal to you one evening. What is the term for this incentive offer?

Mass-market communication
Customer-oriented encoding
Consumer-oriented sales promotion
Consumer encoding

Q7: Which type of sales promotion is used when a manufacturer places one small bottle of shampoo in a clear bag and hangs it from the door of each house in a neighborhood?

A sample
A deal
A premium
A point-of-purchase display

Q8: Sales tools used to support a company’s advertising and personal selling directed to wholesalers, retailers, or distributors are called—

Trade-oriented sales promotions
Consumer promotions
Manufacturers’ promotions
Sales promotions

Q9: The increasing efforts by advertising agencies, trade associations, and marketing associations to impose standards upon themselves that reflect the values of society are called—

Self-regulation
Business practice.

Q10: Reimbursing a retailer for extra in-store support or special featuring of— the brand is called

Promotional allowance
Merchandise allowance.
Case allowance
Finance allowance.

Q11: A concern when using humor appeal is—

What adults find humorous, children do not.
What children find humorous, adults do not.
Most humorous advertisements make someone feel offended.
Humor tends to bore consumers quickly, causing “wearout.”

Q12: The objective of distributing coupons is/are to—

Stimulate demand.
Stimulate demand.
Encourage present customers to buy more, and minimize brand switching behaviour.
Encourage new product trial.

Q13: The objective of using premiums is to:

Encourage customers to return frequently or to use more of the product, and to build goodwill.
Increase trial and retaliate against competitors’ actions.
Encourage present customers to buy more; minimize brand switching behaviour.
Encourage new product trial.

Q14: The objective of using contests is to—

Stimulate demand.
Increase trial and retaliate against competitors’ actions.
Encourage present customers to buy more; minimize brand switching behaviour.
Encourage new product trial.
increase consumer purchases; build business inventory

Q15: DAGMAR stands for—

Dealing with advertising goals for measured advertising ratings
Defining adverting goals for measured advertising results
Describing advertising goals for measured advertising results
None of the above

Q16: All marketing activities that attempt to stimulate quick buyer action or immediate sales of a product are known as—

Sponsorship
Advertising
Personal selling
Sales promotion

Q17: A detergent that advertises how clean it gets clothes is appealing to the __________ consumer need.

Functional
Symbolic
Biological
Utilitarian
Q18: Which one of the following is the greatest obstacle to implementing integrated marketing communications?

Few providers of marketing communications services have the skills to execute IMC programs.
There is a lack of interest in IMC by top management.
The cost for implementing an IMC program is difficult to justify.
Little can be gained by coordinating the various marketing communications elements.

Q19: The process of translating thought into a symbolic form is known as ___________.

Encoding
Feedback
Noise
Decoding

Q20: By definition, __________ simply means that consumers come in contact with the marketer’s message

Perception
Exposure
Attention
Comprehension

Q21: Which of the following is NOT a requirement for setting advertising objectives?

Objectives must specify the amount of change.
Objectives must be stated in terms of profits.
Objectives must be realistic
Objectives must be internally consistent.

Q22: A (n) __________ advertising objective is aimed at achieving communication outcomes that precede behavior.

Precise
Planned
Indirect
Direct

Q23: The first step of the objective-and-task method is __________.

Assessing the communications functions
Establishing specific marketing objectives that need to be accomplished
Determining advertising’s role in the total communication mix
Establishing specific advertising goals in terms of the levels of measurable communication response required to achieve marketing objectives

Q24: A clothing store that sets their advertising budget by following the major competitor and adding an additional 15 percent is using the __________ method.

Percentage-of-sales
Arbitrary allocation
Objective-and-task
Competitive parity

Q25: A good copy-testing system needs to provide measurements that are ____________.

Relevant to the advertising objectives
Relevant to the advertising budget
Relevant to the advertising media
None of the above

Q26: Strength of radio advertising is ___________.

The ability to reach segmented audiences
The ability to reach prospective customers on a personal and intimate level
Low cost per thousand
All of the above

Q27: Which of the following is NOT a problem with television advertising?

Escalating advertising costs
Erosion of television viewing audiences
Substantial audience fractionalization
Inability to achieve impact

Q28: The concept of effective reach states that fewer exposures to advertisements are required __________.

When humor is used
When comparative advertising is used
For brands with higher market shares and greater customer loyalty
For expensive products

Q29: In a _________ advertising schedule, advertising is used during every period of the campaign, but the amount of advertising varies considerably from period to period

Flighting
Dated
Plotted
Pulsing

Q30: Which method of setting an advertising budget relies on analyzing competitors’ spending?

Percentage-of-sales method
Objective-and-task method
Competitive-parity method
Affordable method

Q31: Soaring media costs, focused target marketing strategies, and the growing array of new media have increased the importance of ________.

using humor to capture audience attention and interest
the competitive-parity method of setting a promotion budget
media planning
the affordable method of setting a promotion budget

Q32: The Internet, video on demand, and DVRs (digital video recorders) present which of the following problems for marketers?

consumers have difficulty attending to specific advertising messages due to advertising clutter.
Advertising is becoming more expensive.
Consumers are watching less television.
Audiences are less interested in media consumption

Q33: Developing an effective message strategy begins with identifying ________ that can be used as advertising appeals.

Customer benefits
Emotions
Sales promotions
Advertising specialties
Q34: Which of the following is not one of the major steps in media selection?

Selecting specific media vehicles.
Choosing among major media types.
Deciding on reach, frequency, and impact.
Deciding on format elements

Q35: Scheduling ads unevenly, or ________, builds awareness that is intended to be carried over to the next advertising period.

Hard hitting
Sequencing
Continuity
Pulsing

Q36: ________ use several tools, including the news, speeches, and special events.

Public relations professionals
Media planners
Advertising specialists
Advertising agencies

Q37: A.Y. McDonald, a manufacturer of pumps and plumbing valves, employs regional salespeople to sell its products to wholesalers and cities. This is an example of ________.

Sales promotion
Direct marketing
Public relations
Personal selling

Q38: You receive a report that says the 68% of your target market had been exposed to your ad campaign during a given period of time. This is an example of ________.

Reach
Engagement
Impact
Frequency

Q39: A brand’s advertising budget is often dependent upon the stage of the product life cycle that it occupies. What stage would a product be in typically if large amounts of money were being spent to develop awareness and persuade consumers to try the product?

Decline phase.
Introductory phase
Mature phase.
Growth stage.

Q40: A marketing services firm that assists companies in planning, preparing, implementing and executing all or portions of their advertising programmes is called—

A company
An ad agency
A retail outlet
A distributor