Setting Objectives

Setting Objectives

The first step in developing an advertising programme is to set advertising objec­ tives. These objectives should be based on decisions about the target market,

794 * Chapter 19 Mass Communications: Advertising, Sales Promotion and Public Relations

Figure 19.1

Main advertising derisions

positioning and marketing mix, which define the job that advertising must

achieve in the total marketing programme.

advertising objective An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished

A specific with a specific target audience during a specific period of time, 3 Advertising objec­ communication task to

tives can be classified by purpose: that is, whether their aim is to inform,

be accomplished with a persuade or remind. Table 19.1 lists examples of each of these objectives. specific target audience

Informative advertising is used heavily when introducing a new product cat­ during a specific period

of egory. In this case, the objective is to build primary demand. Thus producers of

time. compact disc players first informed consumers of the sound and convenience informative advertising

benefits of CDs. Persuasive advertising becomes more important as competition Advertising used to

increases. Here, the company's objective is to build selective demand. For inform consumers about

example, when compact disc players became established and accepted, Sony

a new product or feature began trying to persuade consumers that its brand offered the best quality for and to build primary

their money.

demand. Some persuasive advertising has become comparison advertising, in which a company directly or indirectly compares its brand with one or more other brands;

persuasive advertising Advertising used to built!

Among the most frequent users of comparison advertising or knocking selective demand for a

copy is the car industry. In the UK, Korean car maker Hyundai sought to brand by persuading

consumers thai it offers raise awareness of its cars with a series of light­hearted efforts: 'Even a

the best quality far their kettle has a longer guarantee than Rover'. Another example was the war money.

of words between two yellow­fat manufacturers. Van den Berghs, part of Unilever, provoked a battle with a campaign for its low­fat spread, Delight,

comparison advertising that made taste comparisons with St Ivel Gold, produced by Unigate, and (knocking copy)

parodied some of its ad lines. St Ivel retaliated with an ad for its Gold Advertising that

brand that targeted Flora, another Van Den Berghs product, and turned compares one brand

one of Flora's catchlines, 'For your blooming generation', into 'For your directly or indirectly tu

ballooning generation'. The argument was that Flora contained twice as one or more other

much fat as Gold, This led to a telling­off from the UK's Advertising brands. Standards Authority (ASA) on grounds that, as Flora was a different type

of spread (a full­fat margarine), St Ivel was not comparing like with like. The ASA finally urged both advertisers to refrain from using the approach. 4

There arc potential dangers in using comparison advertising, especially when comparisons are unfair and escalate into denigration of a rival's brand. The

Important Decisions in Advertising • 795

Table 19.1

Possible advertising objectives

To inform • Telling the market about a new product.

• Describing available services.

• Suggesting new uses for a product.

• Correcting false impressions.

• Informing the market of a price change.

• Reducing buyers' fears.

• Explaining how the product works.

• Building a company image.

To persuade • Building brand preference.

• Persuading buyers to purchase now. • Encouraging switching to your brand.

• Persuading buyers to receive a sales call. • Changing buyer perceptions of product attributes.

To remind • Reminding buyers that the product may lie

Keeping the product in buyers' minds during needed in the near future.

off seasons.

• Reminding buyers where to buy the product. Maintaining top­of­mind product awareness.

approach is legal in both the United States and United Kingdom, but in some other European countries it is banned. Belgium and Germany regard it as tanta­

mount to unfair competition. For example, a relatively innocuous Carlsberg commercial with the tagline 'Probably the best lager in the world' could not be run

in those countries because it implicitly identified with products offered by rivals. Similarly, the car­hire company A vis's 'We try harder' ad would not be allowed in Germany because, although nobody is named, Hertz, the no. 1, is presumed to

be the only real competitor. Efforts to produce a European directive to harmonize rules on comparative advertising across the EU have been relatively unsuccessful to date. Until such a directive is issued, however, advertisers in the region must remain sensitive to individual nations' codes of practice and legislation. This style of communication will probably always exist in one form or another, as most advertising is essentially comparative ­ after all, the aim of the advertiser is to persuade the consumer to respond to one product offering rather than another. 5

Reminder advertising is important for mature products as it keeps consumers reminder advertising thinking about the product. Expensive Coca­Cola ads on television are often

Advertising used to keep designed to remind people about Coca­Cola, not merely to inform or persuade

consumers thinking them.

about a product Advertisers might also seek to assure existing customers that they have made

the right choice. Eor example, car firms might use reinforcement advertising that depicts satisfied owners enjoying some special feature of their new car.

The choice of advertising objective is based on a good understanding of the current marketing situation. If the product is new and the company is not the market leader, but the brand is superior to the leading brand, then the adver­ tising objective is to inform and convince the market of the brand's superiority. On the other hand, if the market is mature and brand usage is declining, the advertising objective would probably be to stimulate sales by persuading customers to increase frequency of usage, or by encouraging competitors' customers to switch.

796 • Chapter 19 Mass Communications: Advertising, Sales Promotion and Public Relations