Role of different elements of ads: Logo, Company signature, Slogan, Tagline, Jingles, illustrations etc.

Logo

The effect of using logos in ads in remarkable so it is difficult to get ad logo rights. The examples can be seen for the multinational renowned brands as McDonald’s, Subway. These brands are majorly identified with their brand logos. But still you can think why is the logo so important for advertising purpose, please continue reading the next to know:

Constructs Corporate Identity and Trustworthiness While your logo is already a recognized as the symbol of your brand, people already know and trust it, so advertising with it enhances the trust factor and builds the brand’s customer identity. Several big brands use their logo in the advertising efforts and get more benefit than the brands not using the logo. That is, improving the trustworthiness will lead more business and more revenue generation.

Heightens brand exposure Using logos in advertising is essential to improve the exposure of the business or brand on the global platform. Putting the brand mark on every advertising outlets will fortify the reach of your brand and enhance the exposure to more and more potential customers. This will make way to more profit to your business as you care already a respected brand name trough different campaigns of advertising.

Helps to connect with the customers From a personal level, implementing you brand mark in the advertisements helps the customers to associate with the product type and the brand reputation along with the trust factor. Using logos for reliability is one of the most powerful ways for you to evoke a positive response from the consumers. Showing your efforts will not be so effective as it will be if you use the logo. The simple logic is if the audience can relate, then they will buy more and the logo is the tool that intensifies the features and credibility of your business.

While in this competitive market advertisement is the way to reach the audience, a logo is the part that provides the distinctness. There are myriads of enterprises providing similar items and it is the specified brand mark that makes your business existence to the customers online and offline.

Company signature

Slogan

Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company’s marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company’s brand.

Functional slogans

A marketing slogan can play a part in the interplay between rival companies. A functional slogan usually:

  • States product benefits (or brand benefits) for users (or potential buyer)
  • Implies a distinction between it and other firms’ products with constraints
  • Makes a simple, concise, clearly defined, and appropriate statement
  • Is either witty, or has distinct “personality”
  • Gives a credible impression of a brand or product
  • Makes the consumer experience an emotion; Or, creates a need or desire
  • Is hard to forget it adheres to one’s memory

The business sloganeering process communicates the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a business function for attracting customers.

Tagline

In entertainment, a tagline alternatively spelled tag line is a short text which serves to clarify a thought for, or is designed with a form of, dramatic effect. Many tagline slogans are reiterated phrases associated with an individual, social group, or product. As a variant of a branding slogan, taglines can be used in marketing materials and advertising.

The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable dramatic phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of an audio/visual product, or to reinforce and strengthen the audience’s memory of a literary product. Some taglines are successful enough to warrant inclusion in popular culture. Consulting companies which specialize in creating taglines may be hired to create a tagline for a brand or product.

Headlines versus taglines

The tagline is sometimes confused with a headline because information is only presented with the one or the other. Essentially the headline is linked to the information; Once the information changes, the headline is abandoned in favor of a new one. The tagline is related to the entertainment piece and can, therefore, appear on all the information of that product or manufacturer. It is linked to the piece and not to the concept of a specific event. If the sentence is presented next to a logo, as an integral part, it is likely to be a tagline.

Functional taglines

A tagline is sometimes used as a supplementary expression in promoting a motion picture or television program. It is an explanatory subtitle, in addition to the actual title, on posters or the CD/DVD packaging of videos and music. Taglines can have an enticing effect and are therefore an important aspect in the marketing of films and television programs. Increasingly also found in the advertising world, taglines are a form of advertising slogan. A tagline for the movie series Star Wars, for example:

Tagline: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” :Star Wars[5]

Effect: It was a long time ago in a far, far away galaxy …

Jingles

Few things can drive an advertising message home like a catchy jingle. Whether your listeners love it or hate it, a good jingle will relate your brand name with a concept, idea, or promotion. Listeners who catch your radio commercial may not notice a jaunty techno beat in the background, but they will notice your snappy jingle. The next time a listener sees a sign or ad for your business, they will immediately associate your jingle with your advertising, creating a relationship that increases the likelihood they’ll choose you next time they need you.

Jingles Are Easy to Remember

A good jingle is unique, fun, and, most importantly, memorable. A radio or TV spot is a great way to advertise, but with the steady stream of information most of us see over a short period of time, it’s easy for your message to get lost in the crowd. A jingle with your phone number, company name, or other identifying features makes it much easier for listeners to remember you, and what makes your company unique. A good jingle is catchy and creative, boasting the information you want listeners to remember above all else.

Jingles Help Define What You Have to Offer

Like most effective advertising methods, a jingle should tell the world what you have to offer that your competitors do not. As a memorable and attention-grabbing song, the right kind of jingle will enhance what your company has to offer. A good jingle will get stuck in listeners’ heads, but will also make a statement about what makes your company unique. A good jingle will leave a lasting message that will stay with potential customers long after first hearing it.

Jingles Attract Customers

In addition to enhancing brand awareness, creating a message that will stick in a listener’s memory, jingles serve one other crucial purpose: attracting customers. A clever, unique, and memorable jingle can create a bond with a listener, making her feel an emotional connection to your brand, your products, and your services. When your jingle is pleasing to listen to and full of vital information listeners want to know, you can easily create a new customer base with a few simple lines of song.

As an advertising method that has stood the test of time, jingles offer many advantages to marketers willing to take the plunge. As a simple, classic method of advertising, jingles associate your brand with a source of information, providing a memorable way for your customers to learn more about what you have to offer. Whether your jingle is something short and sweet or a little longer and more informative, the right jingle can make a world of difference in your advertising strategy.

illustrations

Role of illustration in advertising campaign can never be overlooked. People in any way related to advertising industry know how much importance photography and illustrations hold to captivate and convince the prospects, Copies and concepts are vital but without the right images all other efforts are sure to go in vain.

Various campaigns owe their success of effective marketing to the strategic incorporation of appealing illustrations. You can also find many which failed bitterly due to faulty or unplanned use of graphics. The very first element that holds the potential to grab the eyeballs and generate impression in a prospective customer are visual images. This is imperative to make him stick to your material and read your product or service benefits. Only by making him go through the advertisement, you can convert him into a customer. Therefore illustration for advertising has to be done by experts who are well trained and professional.

Underlying certain importance of illustration in advertising that are unanimously recommended.

Accuracy in illustration usages

You use illustrations to get attention and thus promote your brand, service or product. So, it is crucial that the graphics fall in line with the theme of your campaign, It should not seem odd or something least fitting to the feel and nature. If it fails to blend properly with the overall aesthetics, the visuals can be counterproductive and repeal the audience away. Message will not be communicated and the purpose will fail. Graphic design companies are very particular about accuracy.

Target audience analysis

Whom you are targeting with a campaign matters a lot. Planning of the initiative and the usage of illustrations should be done only after studying the nature, inclination and expectations of the prospects. Factors like age, gender, geographic location, financial potential, intellectual level and all other significant details should be considered. With our artwork services, you can focus sharply on the target audience and make the design really effective by ensuring absolute precision and clarity.

Illustrations and text balancing

Images obviously communicate a lot more than text. But to get maximum impact, the advertising material should have an optimal balance between text and drawings. Too much of text or unreasonably higher drawings only confuses and frustrates the customers. You should make sure that the illustrations are attractive and syncing well with the text. Quantity as well as quality in the material should elevate the effectuality of the campaign. When it comes to text, it should be clear, creative and accurate to convey the message in a convincing and appealing manner. Most of the companies outsource product illustration services to professional graphic design companies as they have artists and copywriters who work together to deliver you amazing end product.

Response on feedback

You should stay adaptive to the response of others in your team and those related to your industry before actually taking the campaign to actual audience. After getting feedbacks, be unhesitantly ready to amend the advertisement as needed. This increases the effectiveness of campaign and help you eliminate any mistakes in text or visuals before the campaign goes live.

Creating the TV commercial: Visual Techniques, Writing script, Developing storyboard, Music, Soundtrack

Visual Techniques

The conscious use of color is the first example. This technique is used every single time, in every kind of visual marketing.

The color psychology advertising technique is easy to misunderstand or get wrong. A slightly different tonality of any color could end up portraying the wrong emotion, not the one the design was aiming for.

Color is present in the background, photography, fonts, visual accents and branding elements. That’s why it’s important to think about the color palette every single time.

Consider the importance of each color and if it’s doing its job. Creative advertising relies on interesting color schemes to transmit a message without words. Simple choices like using a bold color for a call-to-action button can greatly increase the click-through rate.

Sometimes one color in a brand is so important that it becomes its own entity, like Coca-Cola Red or Tiffany Blue.

The advertisement below uses the Tiffany Blue brand color and a black and white photograph to complement. Note that the model is also giving the viewer a “direct gaze.” We’ll talk more about that later.

Focal Point

Pinpointing a focal point is just as important as the choice of colors and typography. The viewer needs to have a clear place to look at as they absorb the advertisement’s message.

Achieving a focal point can be done in a number of different ways. The rule of thirds and golden mean are actually two useful tools to help create a successful focal point.

Other techniques to settle on a focal point are:

  • Selective Focus: Keep the focal point focused and background blurry or vice versa.
  • Exposure: Manipulate dark and light areas in an image to make the focal point pop.
  • Light Source: Illuminate the focal point exclusively.

When there are two focal points, you can apply Gestalt principles to achieve a good balance. The simple ads below have strong focal points where the letters are rubbed out.

Writing script

  1. Represent Your Brand Clearly

Using both verbal and visual cues, your brand’s name, logo and perhaps even the product itself should be conveyed throughout the commercial. Don’t be secretive and wait until the end of the ad to show your brand’s face. But do be tasteful about it.

  1. Create a Storyline

The best commercials don’t just sell a product or service; they tell a story. Whether it is a heartfelt story, or a dose of humor or satire, create a storyline to which your audience can relate and connect.

  1. Develop a Signature Character or Theme

Each of the example commercials listed above aren’t simply one-off ads. Instead, they are a series of ads that carry the same them or characters throughout. These characters or theme will fortify the audience’s connection with your brand.

  1. Keep it Simple

You only have 30 to 60 seconds to get your message across and form a connection with your audience. Keep the overall concept and storyline of your commercial simple.

  1. Don’t Cut Corners

Quality is an essential element of an effective TV ad. Quality doesn’t necessarily mean you have to empty your pockets on the production of one ad. But do utilize a professional film production team to ensure the quality of your commercial.

Developing storyboard

Storyboarding is a planning convention used in television, film, cartoons and even advertising. It is the part of the pre-production process in which artists draw comic book-like representations of what the advertisement will look like — a series of panels that represent the planned shots that will eventually be filmed. In advertising, storyboarding is not always a necessary step, but it may prove useful when you finally reach the production stage of filming.

Sequential Outline

A storyboard functions similarly to an outline of a story; it is a shorthand version of the final product that you can use to plan ahead. Commercials, for example, work with limited time frames that are often no longer than 30 seconds. When you review the storyboard, you are able to estimate how much time you have to convey your information. The storyboard breaks down the commercial shot by shot, so you can determine how much time you can spend on each shot to keep the commercial within its time constraints.

Visual Guide

Storyboards also are used as a visual reference guide throughout the filming process. Since each frame of the storyboard represents a shot in the advertisement, you can refer to the storyboard to ensure two things. The first is that you get each shot that you need for the commercial without accidentally leaving anything out. The second is that you frame and shoot each shot in the manner you had planned. You are able to determine ahead of time how you will frame the subject, capture any movement and move the camera, and then simply do so according to your own instructions on the storyboard.

Time to Review

The storyboard serves as your final opportunity to review your concept and make any changes before production happens. Think of it as your last line of defense. After the storyboard is approved, you can always make changes, but doing so during the filming process may cause delays. With your storyboard, you can ensure that you have everything you need, like props, set dressings and on-screen talent, as well as ensuring that the advertisements message comes across strongly through your visual storytelling. It is your way of visualizing the final product before going through the motions of actual production.

Not Necessarily Required

Despite their common use, storyboards are not always required for a project, particularly an advertisement. For example, an extended infomercial — particularly one that is filmed before a live audience — does not necessarily lend itself to being extensively planned ahead of time. Even when you do storyboard, there are no set rules regarding your methods or how elaborate it is. Your storyboard may be as simple as a few simple stick figures and arrows. As long as it gives you the information you need, you can prepare your storyboard in any way you see fit.

Music, Soundtrack

Music in advertising refers to music integrated into (mass) electronic media advertisements to enhance its success. Music in advertising affects the way viewers perceive the brand by different means and on different levels, and “can significantly affect the emotional response to television commercials.” It also affects the musicians whose music is featured in advertisements.

Here are 5 elements that music offers to enhance commercials.

1. Evokes Emotion

One of the reasons commercials love to use music is because music has the ability to evoke a range of emotions.

2. Creates a Story

A commercial’s success often relies on its ability to tell a story.

Stories are a relatable element between the audience and the brand. That’s why music plays such a crucial role in the storytelling process. Think about the last time you saw a TV show or a movie.

Whether the audience is paying attention or not, music offers cues to them that this moment is in the storyline is important, whether dramatically or subtly.

3. Sparks Action

Music has always been a source of inspiration.

Take a listen to any national anthem and how it fiercely inspires people to stand for a nation. Like mentioned before, music’s ability to evoke emotion and inspiration is a strong one. From motivating you to do better, or taking a stand against something, music is a catalyst for change and action.

That’s why commercials that want to promote, advocate, or a take a stand on a subject use music to help propel their message. With the brand’s intent, coupled with inspirational music, people can be moved to take action and inadvertently begin to talk about the brand.

  1. Reinforces the Sale

Whether sparking action or creating a story, music is the undeniable factor to help push the brand.

Brands align themselves with an audience they want to represent.

In turn, the music they use for commercials has to fall in-line with their message. That’s why you hear gritty, electronic music in commercials geared towards a younger audience and more traditional, pleasant music for more mature audiences.

  1. Meshes with the Brand

Ultimately, a brand wants to have a uniform image and consistency in order to properly sell to its audience. That’s why it’s imperative that every detail of their image has to be precise, including their music.

As mentioned before, the music a brand chooses for it’s commercial reinforces a sale and creates emotion.

It has to be a symbol of the brand; synonymous with it. The brand’s music choice has to be embedded into its target market’s culture. That’s why music has to mesh with the brand; they are mutually exclusive.

Copywriting: Elements of Advertisement copy, Headline, sub-headline, Layout, Body copy, Slogans, Signature, closing ideas

An ‘advertising copy’ is the means by which an advertiser expresses his ideas in the form of a message to the readers. If refers to all the reading matters of an advertisement, whether short or long, and includes the headline, sub-headlines, text or body, and the name or the initial of an advertiser. An advertising copy is sometimes referred to as ‘advertising message’.

Characteristics of Advertising Copy:

The format of advertising copy must be so designed that it possesses the characteristics, or features like:

(1) Arresting pictures,

(2) Arresting headlines,

(3) Novelty and contrast of the product,

(4) Dis­tinctiveness,

(5) Message size and position (how long, how short, how it is put, etc.),

(6) Colour,

(7) Shape, and

(8) Movement.

Factors Affecting Advertising Copy:

An advertising copy must be based on the following factors:

(i) Is advertising believable?

(ii) Is advertising reliable?

(iii) Does it appeal to the consumers’ needs and wants?

(iv) Does it explain the benefits of a product realistically?

(v) Is it based on creativity? etc.

An advertising copy or message has to be designed by identifying the target audience. What are the audience needs? attitudes? preferences? It is very difficult to pinpoint various factors in detail, because much depend on the perception, attitude and social status of the audience.

The aim of advertising copy is that it shall be seen, read, the messages conveyed, and then acted upon. It is necessary that an advertisement copy creates curiosity in the mind of the prospect, invites his attention, pro­duces an impression on his memory and turns his impressions into convictions.

Essentials of a Good Advertising Copy:

Advertising copy contains the message of the advertisement. For advertising in newspa­pers, magazines and other publications, such message is conveyed through reading material in written words and pictures; for radio advertising, the message is communicated through talking material in spoken words; and for film and television advertising, the message is embodied in both reading and talking material.

According to the differing nature of advertising media, the copy of advertising may represent some reading, talking, or combined reading and talking material.

Irrespective of its nature, advertising copy in all cases is to be drawn up in conformity with certain cardinal principles as follows:

  1. Advertising copy being meant for conveying information, it must provide such information through as simple, clear, concise and complete a copy as possible. A simple and clear copy requires the use of known words and familiar phrases rather than the introduction of rare words and high- flown phrases.

Conciseness or brevity is the art of copy writing and lends much in gaining public reception for a product. A complete copy is what gives full information relating to the source and time of availability of the advertised products or services along with their costs.

  1. The copy should be drawn up with a specific objective in view rather than the general one of increasing sales. As sales are circumscribed by a number of barriers like feeling of high prices, existence of rival brands, lack of quality confidence or knowledge of poor performance, the message of the copy should be directed to dispel the wrong impression or to overcame the consumer resistance.
  2. The copy should be designed with an eye to enlist the support of prospective consumers. A general appeal to all falls into deaf ears and fails to draw the attention of any particular group or section of the community. Accompanied by a proper layout with suitable headings and illus­trations, an effective copy carries the message to those people who are likely to use the advertised products or services.
  3. The message of the advertisement is of no avail unless it can create consumers’ interest in the product. In the absence of faith or confi­dence in a business and its products, no interest can be expected on the part of consumers. For this purpose, the copy must be grounded in a tone of sincerity and believability. The message must be capable of inspiring confidence in prospective consumers and of winning their acceptance.
  4. The copy should stimulate a deep-seated human desire through making an appeal to the inner yearnings of the consumer. That is to say, the copy is to be based upon a central theme of appeal.

Component Parts or Elements of Advertising Copy:

The make-up or component parts of the copy of advertising can be viewed from two aspects:

  1. Advertising theme and
  2. Advertising layout.

(A) Advertising Theme:

A theme represents a particular view-point or a central idea with which the message is conveyed to the consuming public. The theme involves a rational appeal based upon human emotions, desires or sentiments. Such well-thought-out and specific appeals became effective in arousing desire and in initiating action on the part of consumers.

The following are the common themes used in advertising:

  1. The theme of beauty:

The sales appeal for cosmetics, perfumeries and toilet products are usually based upon the theme of beauty. Accordingly, the message of the advertisement contains expressions like “For romantic or charming appearance, use product A”, “Product B ensures alluring or exquisite complexion”, or “Care your hair with product C for glossy glimpse and luxuriant growth.”

  1. The theme of pride:

The sales message in the case of jewelleries, radios, costly clothes, motor cars and others is laid upon the theme of pride, since the acquisition of such products is deemed as proud possessions on the part of buyers. For example, “Prestige car means A”, “Radio B adds decency to any home”, “Discerning people prefer fabric C”, or “X’s Jewellery adorns fashionable ladies.”

  1. The theme of health:

Food products and drugs are advertised through reliance upon the theme of health. To take some examples, “Product A supplies boundless energy and vigour”, “Health brings happiness—and the key to health is held by product B”, “Product C keeps you free from disease”, or “Eminent physicians prescribe D for cold and cough.”

  1. The theme of comfort:

Products which aid in giving comfort to the people at work or at home are advertised through the theme of comfort. Elec­trical fans, air-conditioning plants, refrigerators and the likes belong to the group of products meant for providing comfort.

  1. The theme of economy:

This is a common appeal used in many cases for making bargaining purchase, for saving money or far protecting costly things from decay and destruction.

  1. The theme of fear:

The theme of fear is utilized by insurance companies and safety-vault operators in expanding the demand for their services. Possible dangers and their consequences are presented in the copy of advertising for initiating action on the part of their customers.

  1. The theme of emulation:

The desire for imitation is strongly implanted in human nature. By giving illustrations and factual information as to what some distinguished persons do, the message of the advertisement may call for imitation on the part of others. To take one case, “The succ­essful men all over the globe use Blade A.”

  1. The theme of distinction:

The desire for individual recognition, distinct social status and superior community standing is inherent in human beings. As an outward mark of that distinction, selected products of very expensive nature are acquired by a class of people who may be high-borns or aristocrats.

  1. The theme of affection:

Baby foods, toys and other playthings are advertised on the basis of this theme. By directing appeal towards parental love, the copy of advertising becomes effective in securing action on the part of buyers.

  1. The theme of patriotism:

The appeal for products of national origin is sometimes based upon national sentiments. For the prosperity of a nation and its citizens, the theme of patriotism makes out a case for using national products in preference to goods of foreign origin.

(B) Advertising Layout:

Layout is the logical arrangement of compo­nents of an advertisement in the copy and deals with systematic presentation of the message. The pattern of layout varies according to the medium to be used.

For newspapers and magazines, the presentation of the message is visible in written words and pictures; in radio the presentation is audible in spoken words and sound effects; and in television, both audio and visual presentations are practicable. In all cases, balance and symmetry are of prime importance in presenting the message within the allotted space or time.

Visual layout in any publication can be divided into the following three parts:

(a) Headlines:

Headlines are used in bold letters for drawing atten­tion of the consuming public. The size and length of the headline must be appropriate to the general format and page size of the publication; it must also be in keeping with the theme of advertising and with the entire make-up of the copy.

Usually, short headlines are given stressing some facts, suggestions, prepositions or convictions. In magazines and trade journals, colour printing is adopted for headlines to make than more promi­nent and conspicuous in character.

(b) Illustrations:

Illustrations are given by way of pictures, symbols or photographs for drawing attention, creating interest as well as for arousing desire. Significant illustrations may be worth a thousand words in securing public reception for the product.

But limits of decency must not be exceeded in presenting pictures or photographs which should always be in good taste. Obscene and objectionable pictures do more harm than good to the cause of advertisement.

(c) Texts:

Texts provide the heart of the message of advertisements, and they are to be woven around an advertising theme. For an individual copy, one theme is desirable; a multiplicity of themes creates confusion and weakens the strength of appeal. For presenting the text, different practices are followed in the business world.

In some cases, the text is prefaced by a statement of problem to the reader and followed by a solution thereof. In other cases, reading materials are presented in an analytical manner with pertinent facts and data. Furthermore, the text may be presented by the use of type face in one copy or of hard lettering in another copy.

Advertising copy must arrest, inform, impress and impel the reader.

A well defined advertising copy must perform the following functions:

(a) Attract Attention

(b) Command Interest

(c) Create Desire

(d) Inspire Conviction

(e) Provoke Action.

An advertising copy may be classified as under:

Educational Copy:

It aims at educating the public, regarding the use of a product. Such an advertisement copy depicts the specialties of the product, in contrast to the existing ones. People keep certain habits which cannot be easily changed. Demand can be created when such habits are changed. This type of copy introduces new habits and attracts people towards the product.

Competitive Copy:

It aims at putting forth the special features of a product. It promotes to differ one brand from competitors’ brands. It meets the challenge of the competitors.

Institutional Copy:

It sells not the products of the institution but the name of the institution. Also known as PRESTIGE or CORPORATE advertising, this is the type of advertisement used to present the company’s image. When a pharmaceutical firm takes space it describes its research skills, its contribution to society etc. The copy aims to develop and maintain a good-will for the product that the product comes from a reputed house.

Example:

MISSIONARY COPY aims at propaganda for the product.

PIONEERING COPY aims at educating the public.

GOODWILL COPY is one which does not try to sell a product but aims to sell the public some idea on the firm in general, on the quality of its product, its utility, etc.

SELLING COPY is used by the mail-order house to effect a sale by mail, or by the manufacturer who sells through retailers, to persuade the buyer to call for his brand at the retail store. It is used by the retailer to make an immediate sales of the goods, which he may have to stock.

REASON WHY COPY itself is clear as to its meaning. It explains the reasons to readers- why the advertised product is to be purchased. It aims at answering the questions raised about a product as to why, how and when the product is to be purchased.

HUMAN INTEREST COPY makes its appeal to the emotions and the senses, rather than to the intellect and judgement. It may be of many forms: Fear Copy, Humorous Copy, Story Copy etc. The examples and statements of these copies are funny and readers smile or laugh. It affects the heart rather than the mind.

SUGGESTIVE COPY directly or indirectly conveys the message, which leads to sales.

EXPOSITORY COPY is not to conceal but to expose the facts as they are clear and concise ideas are given. It explains the construction, uses, merits, operation and superiority of advertised articles.

DESCRIPTIVE COPY conveys the ideas in words or pictures so as to impress the readers’ mind and thus act upon it.

ARGUMENTATIVE COPY is a message supported by facts. 

Qualities of a Good Advertisement Copy:

An effective advertisement copy must have certain qualities which make it the best one. They are:

  1. It Must Be Simple:

It must be simple and easy to understand. A copy writer must use short, simple, understandable words and sentences. The words or sentences used must be remembered by intelligent persons and non-intelligent persons. It must make people to see it, i.e., it should arrest their attention.

  1. It Must Be Informative:

The copy must give the information which the reader wants to know about the products, in order to buy. Hence it must give the real fact. The information must be natural and straightforward. It must make people read it, i.e., people should be informed.

  1. It Must Be Concise and Complete:

The copy must be complete and brief. If it is incomplete, it fails. Brevity is essential (condensation). Completeness should never be sacrificed for brevity. It must make people to understand it.

  1. It Must Be Enthusiastic:

Salesman’s talk in the written form is the copy. The copy must tell the reader what the product or merchandise will do for him.

  1. It Must Be Honest:

It must be honest and truthful towards the public. If the copy is untrue, then the confidence and the value of publicity go down. The public should not be cheated. The public, who are the final users of the products, are the witness of the product quality.

If inferior products are sold through false advertising, they have a short life. If the firm is hiding the facts, not exposing the real position, the product tells its own weakness to the users. If the advertisement is not honest, then the products will disappear from market and the firm will be closed down within a short span of time.

  1. It Creates An Urge:

It must reveal unknown or unseen features of the products. The public should be informed about the product’s use and merits by the advertiser. It must create a goodwill in the minds of the public. Its aim must be to trust the firm and its products. It should have an effective salesmanship in absentia.

A Good Advertisement Copy:

  1. It must make people to see it.
  2. It must make people to read it.
  3. It must make people to understand it.
  4. It must make people to believe it.
  5. It must make people to buy the product.

Elements of an Advertisement Copy:

There are certain principles, which an advertisement should have. That is it must aim to arrest, inform, impress and urge the readers to act on the advertisement.

The elements are known as values and they are:

  1. Attention Value:

People are busy. They find time rarely. Almost all the people, who are able to make a purchase, do not have enough time. Under such situations, the advertisement must be able to attract the attention of readers, at a glance. There must be some specialty in the advertisement.

To make it more attractive, we may adopt the following devices:

(a) Pictures and drawings should have a direct bearing on the product.

(b) The headline must be good with a proper border.

(c) It must have a pleasing colourful presentation.

(d) It should not be congested i.e., there must be enough inter-space.

(e) The slogans must be lively.

(f) The coupons must be part of the advertisement.

By filling the coupons the needy customer must be able to get full information and thereby it becomes repeated advertisement to the seller.

  1. Suggestive Value:

The message advertised should have some suggestive and useful value to those who go through the advertisement. The words or pictures in the advertisement should have commanding power on the readers. Repetition has good effect. When one comes across the advertisement every time, he begins to consider the product.

  1. Conviction Value:

To be more effective, the statements in the advertisement must be genuine and accurate. Misrepresentation or exaggerative words must be avoided. Simple and plain facts have more effect on the readers to convince them than colourful or flattering wordings.

  1. Sentimental Value:

The sentimental feelings or the prejudiced attitude of the reader should not be affected by the advertiser; but rather, they must be respected. The likes and dislikes, habits and customs etc., of the readers may be highly considered. It must appear that the advertiser is doing it for the readers.

  1. Educative Value:

When products are manufactured for the first time, it is the duty of the producer, through advertisements, to draw the attention of the people and to tell them the use, merits, ingredients, special features etc., of the products. All people are alike, but their behaviour is different.

When the advertisement is able to change their habits and mould the tendency to use the products, the market for the products increases. People must have a feeling to see the advertisement through bearing eyes. It gives new information, suggestion and knowledge to people and directs them to go for the product.

  1. Memorizing Value:

Advertisement must create a good impression on the reader’s mind. Slogan, if it is good to read and charming to hear, has good memorizing value. Repeating the advertisement often, through attractive brand name and catchy wordy slogans, may have a memorizing value in the minds of the readers.

  1. Instinctive Value:

The advertiser must have a well-thought out plan to make a copy to be advertised. The matter or message must be arranged in such a way that the reader is able to understand and act on the message. The presentation is brief with questions tempting or compelling the people to act on. We can come across, an inducement, an aroused feeling, a temptation, an inclination etc., in such advertisements.

Creating Radio commercial: Words, Sounds, Music

A live commercial is spoken by the presenter, station announcer, or newscaster.

Here the presenter reads your script. Or they can discuss your service or product during the spoken segments of their shows.

On the other hand:

Prerecorded commercials have undergone prior production including recording, editing, mixing, adding sound effects, etc.

This can be done in-house by the station’s staff or outsourced to an agency.

Currently, most of the radio ads are 30 or 60 seconds long. But some radio spots are 15s, 10s or 5s long.

So how many words are in a 30-second ad? Easy, just refer to this table:

No of words Seconds
25 10
35 15
40-75 30
125-140 60

Sounds, Music for Radio commercial

Without visuals to rely on, the music, background sounds (e.g. Foley) or special effects you select all need to work together to convey the mood and setting of your commercial. This careful attention to detail can mean the difference between catching a listener’s attention, or fading into background noise.

For instance, if you’re a company that sells vacation packages, imagine how your target audience might be captured by the grating sound of an ice scraper on a car windshield especially when juxtaposed with the sound of ice cubes clinking together in a fresh cold drink, as waves crash in the background.

Your Audio Ad Voice Over Forms an Emotional Connection

Often, casting directors will say that as they’re listening through auditions, when they find the right voice, they “just know.”

While this might seem like an oversimplification of the casting process, when you consider how important emotional connection is to capturing attention, it makes sense. When it comes to our emotions, we’re often moved by what we hear simply by hearing it. We don’t need to think over ‘why’ we’ve reacted, all we know is that the performance connected on a visceral level.

Chances are, if the voice over has caused you to pause and take notice, it will do the same for your audience.

Tips to Creating Effective Audio Ads

Keep Your Audio Ad Simple

If your listener remembered just one key message from your ad, what would you want it to be?

Choose one important message, and focus your effort on driving it home.

When listeners are hearing your audio ad, it’s likely that they’re multi-tasking whether they’re driving, washing the dishes, or out for a run their attention is already divided. So make your ad memorable by cutting back on the information that the listener has to remember. You only have around 30 seconds or less for a typical Spotify or Pandora audio spot, so your message has to be crystal clear.

Cut to Your Audio Ad’s Value Proposition as Early as Possible

Always lead with the most important information.

This goes right back to the point above on honing in on your key message. Now that you know what you want listeners to remember, cut to the chase and spend the rest of the time you have reinforcing that message.

Even if you feel like you’re repeating yourself, your listener is more likely to retain your message if they hear it more than once!

Appreciate the Difference between Audio Ads and Radio

Even though some fundamentals, such as script writing and great voice over casting, are essential to both audio ads and radio commercials, some elements are different.

For instance, the listener isn’t likely in your geographic region, so you’ll have to consider a broader audience.

Further, the listener is much more mobile. Traditional radio tends to reach people in the car, at home, or at work. However, when it comes to online radio, listeners could be anywhere, as long as they have a connected device.

Conversational Tone in Your Audio Ad Voice over Can Be Powerful

As Dale Carnegie aptly pointed out in his classic book, ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People,’ people like listening to friendly people, who speak clearly and in a conversational manner. This has never been truer in modern times, when the relatable voice over reads are dominating the advertising space.

When you post your voice over job for your audio ad, you can provide artistic direction to auditioning voice over actors that includes a read that’s conversational and friendly.

Slower Voice over Delivery Forms a Connection with the Listener

When you’re writing a voice over script, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that the voice over talent only have a limited amount of time to deliver the whole read. You don’t want your audio ad to sound like the rapid chatter associated with disclaimer statements, such as those that appear at the end of a prescription drug commercial!

When you want your ad to be conversational, it pays to be sparing with the copy. By nature, conversations are much slower than ads you hear on television or on the radio.

Give time for the listener to mentally absorb what they’ve just heard and take action.

Loud Background Music is Distracting

You don’t necessarily need to eliminate background music, but rather, consider the volume level of the background music in comparison to the voice over, which should be heard front and center.

On the topic of background music, license a track from a music provider.

There are literally thousands of tracks to choose from online and you’ll be sure to find one that represents your brand and matches the performance style of the voice talent.

Create a Smooth Transition for the Listener

An audio ad isn’t listened to in isolation. Ads are inserted between songs, interviews and other audio content, so you’ll need to have a clean start and finish to your ad.

Avoid long pauses at the beginning of your ad, as it will give the impression that there’s dead air. On the tail end of your ad, avoid long fade-outs for the same reason.

Get creative! This is a savvy audience.

Make Your Call to Action Specific

When you embed a call-to-action (CTA), it’s important that it be as specific as possible. Drive traffic to your website or social media site by instructing listeners how and where they can learn more about your offering. Reference the exact next steps that you want your audience to take. You can even take it one step further by assigning a special landing page, URL, or code to offers that you promote in podcasts (e.g. Use promo code “PodcastListener” in the checkout cart!). That way, you’ll be able to track just how effective your audio ad is.

Record Your Audio Ad

Once you have your script completed, you need to now record the audio ad. Read our article on how to record an audio ad before you go any further in the process!

Pandora and Spotify Ad Examples

So now you have a framework to build an awesome online audio ad. However, you might want some real examples to sink your teeth into. Here are some of the best ad examples on Pandora and Spotify:

Principles of copywriting for print, OOH

Write in the Active voice

When writing web copy, you want to come across with a strong and direct tone that makes what you say crystal clear the last thing you need is for your readers to be rearranging sentences in their minds!

By using the active voice (and avoiding the passive voice), you will be ensuring your writing will be clearly understood.

Craft Headlines that are Captivating & Concise

First impressions count, doubly so online.

When it comes to making great first impressions on your website, that responsibility lies solely on your headlines.

In fact, tests conducted by Upworthy has concluded that traffic can vary by up to a whopping 500% depending just on the headline itself!

So how do we ensure our headlines are infused with the right stuff to capture attention and entice those eyeballs to read through the rest of our copy?

Simple! Focus on crafting a headline that delivers the benefit fast, is concise and hits on the key terms that resonate with your ideal reader.

The copy on Proposify’s hero banner utilizes a powerful headline that delivers on making it crystal clear about what they do and how the user will benefit.

Use Language They Know

Convincing your reader with logic is good, but connecting with their emotions gets them to relate with you, forming a strong connection with your brand!

So how do we leverage this superpower for our website copy? By speaking their language while using a tone of voice that is personality-filled, allowing your reader to easily relate to you.

Frontload Your Best Stuff

Writing web copy isn’t the same as crafting a Harry Potter novel where you start out with a slow beginning and leave the exciting best for the last, it’s the direct opposite!

You need to hook em fast within 3 seconds!

As people’s attention span become shorter than a goldfish’s, it is vital that you frontload your best information right at the start to immediately capture their attention and create a feeling of ‘I need to read more and learn more!’

Here are the top 5 to put up front and center:

  1. Your unique selling point (What makes you different from your competitors)
  2. Any special or seasonal offers that are going on
  3. The greatest benefit your product will bring
  4. Information To pre-empt your customer’s biggest worry
  5. Powerful social proof (such as reviews and testimonials)

Leverage Social Proof Smartly 

The best websites that enjoy higher conversions are the ones that strategically utilize social proof elements in their website copy.

When making a purchase online, your visitor will take cues from other people who have bought from your business and it’s no surprise people rely heavily on online reviews when making purchasing decisions.

While there are many formats and types of social proof you can gather such as:

  • Customer testimonials
  • Media features and mentions
  • Influencer endorsements
  • Brand Logos
  • Number of products sold etc

Utilize Headings & Brief Descriptions 

Remember when we mentioned keeping the headline concise?

Well, you will need to do the same for virtually the rest of your web copy – no long paragraphs telling a story, but brief descriptions placed neatly under a short and punchy heading!

The reason? Keep things simple and allow your reader to scan comfortably through your website.

Take Sumo, for example, they keep their product features descriptions highly scannable with headings that immediately get to the point.

Scripting the commercial: Clarity, coherence, pleasantness, believability, interest, Distinctiveness

Simplicity: The key in radio is to build around one central idea. Avoid confusing the listener with too many copy points. Use known words, short phrases, simple sentences structure. Keep in mind that the copy needs to be conversational. Clarity: Keep the train of thought on one straight track. Avoid side issues. Use the active voice in simple sentences. Avoid adverbs, cliches, and ambiguous phrases. Delete unnecessary words. (Test: Would the commercial be hurt if the words were deleted?

If not, take them out). Write from draft to drafi until your script becomes unmistakably clear and concise.

Coherence: Be certain that your sales message flows in logical sequence from first word to last, using smooth transitional words and phrases for easier listening.

Rapport: Remember, as far as your listeners are concerned, you are speaking only to them. Try to use a warm, personal tone, as if you were talking to one or two people.

Make frequent use of the word ‘you’. Address the listeners in terms they would use themselves.

Pleasantness: It is not necessary to entertain simply for the sake of it, but there is no

And Music point in being dull or obnoxiotls. Strike a happy medium; talk as one friend to another about the product or service.

Believability: Every product has its good points, tell the truth about them. Avoid overstatements and obvious exaggerations; they are quickly spotted and defeat the whole purpose of the commercial. Be straightforward; convey the feeling of being a trusted friend.

Interest: Nothing makes listeners indifferent faster than a boring commercial. Products and services are not fascinating in themselves; it is the way you look at them that makes them interesting. Try to give your customer some useful information as a reward for listening.

Distinctiveness: Sound different firm other commercials and set your product apart from others. Use every technique a fresh approach, a musical phrase, a particular voice quality or sound effect, to give your commercial its own character.

Compulsion: Inject your commercial with a feeling of urgency. The first few seconds are crucial; this is when you capture or lose the listener’s attention. Direct every word towards moving the prospect close; to wanting the product. During the last ten seconds, repeat. Your promise of benefit; register the name of your product. And don’t forget to urge the listener to act without delay. It is surprising how many commercials don’t do this.

Let us now examine the various types of commercials. Commercials on radio can be broadly classified under two type’s spots and sponsored programmes. It combines announcement of exact time as well as broadcast of the commercial message.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness: Stages of Evaluations and various Types of testing-Pre and Post testing, Benefits, Challenges

Advertising effectiveness refers to the measure of how well an advertising campaign achieves its intended objectives and goals. It assesses the impact and efficiency of advertising efforts in influencing consumer behavior, attitudes, and perceptions towards a product, service, or brand. Key metrics used to evaluate advertising effectiveness include brand awareness, brand recall, message comprehension, purchase intent, and ultimately, the return on investment (ROI) generated by the campaign. Effective advertising not only reaches the target audience but also resonates with them on an emotional or rational level, leading to desired outcomes such as increased sales, customer loyalty, and market share. By analyzing various performance indicators and consumer responses, advertisers can refine their strategies, optimize their messaging, and allocate resources more effectively to maximize the overall impact and success of their advertising efforts.

Measuring advertising effectiveness involves assessing the impact and return on investment (ROI) of advertising campaigns in achieving their intended objectives. It encompasses various metrics and methods to determine how well the advertising efforts have influenced consumer behavior, brand perception, and ultimately, business outcomes.

Key Measures of Advertising effectiveness:

  1. Reach and Frequency:

Assessing the extent to which the advertisement reached the target audience and how frequently they were exposed to it.

  1. Brand Awareness:

Tracking changes in brand awareness and recognition before and after the campaign.

  1. Message Recall:

Evaluating how well the audience remembers the key message or content of the advertisement.

  1. Consumer Engagement:

Monitoring audience engagement metrics such as clicks, likes, shares, and comments for digital advertising.

  1. Sales and Conversions:

Analyzing changes in sales, leads, website traffic, or other conversion metrics directly attributable to the advertising campaign.

  1. Return on Investment (ROI):

Calculating the financial return generated by the advertising campaign compared to the investment made.

Pre Testing Methods:

  • Focus Groups

Gather a group of individuals from the target market to discuss the ad. Observations and feedback on their perceptions, understanding, and emotional reactions to the ad can provide valuable insights.

  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Use structured questionnaires to gather feedback from a larger, more diverse set of potential consumers. This can include questions about the ad’s appeal, clarity, and likelihood of prompting action.

  • Concept Testing

Present the core idea or concept of the ad (before full creative development) to the target audience to gauge their initial reactions and whether the concept resonates with them.

  • Mock-ups and Storyboards

Test reactions to static representations of the ad, such as storyboards for TV commercials or mock-ups for print ads, to assess initial impressions and comprehension.

  • Animatics

For TV and video ads, create a rough animation (animatic) based on the storyboard to simulate the final ad more closely and test its effectiveness in conveying the intended message.

  • Copy Testing

Evaluate the written components of the ad, including headlines, body copy, and calls to action, to ensure they are compelling and clear to the target audience.

  • Online Testing

Utilize online platforms to test ad variations with a controlled group. Metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), engagement rates, and conversion rates can provide quantitative feedback on the ad’s performance.

  • Eye Tracking

Use eye-tracking technology to understand where viewers’ attention is focused on the ad and how they visually navigate through it. This helps in optimizing the layout and elements of the ad.

  • Physiological Response Tests

Measure physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, skin conductivity) to the ad to gauge emotional and unconscious reactions that might not be captured through self-report methods.

  • A/B Testing

Test two versions of an ad (A and B) to see which performs better on specific metrics. This is particularly useful in digital advertising to refine messages, visuals, and CTAs.

Concurrent Testing Methods:

  1. Digital Analytics and Performance Metrics

Utilizes data from digital platforms like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and ad servers. Key performance indicators (KPIs) include click-through rates (CTR), engagement rates, bounce rates, conversion rates, and time spent on a website. These metrics help assess how effectively the ad drives action.

  1. Social Media Monitoring

Tracks mentions, shares, likes, and comments across social media platforms to gauge audience engagement and sentiment in real-time. This can provide insights into what aspects of the campaign are resonating with the audience.

  1. Website Heatmaps and User Recording Tools

Heatmaps show where users are clicking, scrolling, and spending time on a website. User recording tools capture real user interactions on a website. Both can indicate how effectively website-based ads or promoted content capture and retain visitor attention.

  1. A/B Testing (Split Testing)

Involves comparing two versions of an ad by showing them to two similar audience segments at the same time to see which performs better. This method is highly effective for testing different creative elements, messaging, or calls to action.

  1. Multivariate Testing

Similar to A/B testing but tests multiple variables simultaneously to see which combination performs best. This is more complex but can provide deeper insights into how different elements of an ad interact with each other.

  1. Sales and Conversion Tracking

Directly measures the impact of ads on sales figures and conversions. This can be achieved through the use of promo codes, tracking URLs, or analytics platforms that link ad views/clicks to purchases or leads.

  1. Customer Feedback and Surveys

While the campaign is running, short surveys or feedback forms can be integrated into the advertising platform or the product website to gather immediate responses from the audience regarding the ad’s appeal, clarity, and persuasiveness.

  1. Brand Lift Studies

Conducted in real-time to assess the impact of an ad campaign on brand perception metrics such as brand awareness, ad recall, brand favorability, and purchase intent among the exposed audience versus a control group.

  1. In-Store Traffic and Sales

For retail or physical locations, monitoring in-store traffic and sales during an ad campaign can provide insights into its effectiveness in driving foot traffic and purchase behaviors.

Post Testing Methods:

  • Surveys and Questionnaires

To collect detailed feedback from the target audience about their recall, perceptions, and attitudes towards the campaign. Surveys can be distributed online, by email, or in person, asking questions about ad recall, message comprehension, and persuasiveness.

  • Focus Groups

To gather in-depth qualitative insights into how the ad was perceived by the audience. Small groups of target consumers discuss their reactions to the campaign, providing nuanced feedback on its content, appeal, and effectiveness.

  • Brand Tracking Studies

To measure the impact of the advertising campaign on key brand metrics over time. Regular surveys assess metrics like brand awareness, brand preference, and purchase intention before, during, and after the campaign.

  • Sales Analysis

To evaluate the direct impact of the advertising campaign on sales performance. Analyzing sales data before, during, and after the campaign to identify significant changes or trends attributable to the advertising efforts.

  • Market Analysis

To understand the campaign’s impact on market share and competitive positioning. Examining market research data to assess changes in market share and how the campaign influenced the brand’s position relative to competitors.

  • Digital Engagement Metrics

To review how online components of the campaign performed in engaging the audience. Analyzing web traffic, social media engagement, click-through rates, and conversion rates after the campaign has ended.

  • ROI Analysis

To calculate the return on investment of the advertising campaign. Comparing the total costs of the campaign against the generated revenues or other value indicators (e.g., leads generated) to evaluate financial effectiveness.

  • Customer Feedback and Social Listening

To collect spontaneous consumer reactions and feedback across various channels. Monitoring social media, customer reviews, and other online platforms for unsolicited feedback about the campaign and brand.

  • Experimental Designs

To isolate the effects of the advertising campaign from other variables. Using control groups and experimental groups to compare outcomes in similar environments where the only difference is exposure to the ad.

  • Attribution Modeling

To understand how different touchpoints contributed to the desired customer actions. Using statistical models to attribute conversions or sales back to specific campaign elements or touchpoints.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness Benefits:

  • Insights into Audience Behavior

By analyzing advertising effectiveness, businesses gain valuable insights into how their target audience responds to different messages, channels, and creative elements. This understanding helps tailor future campaigns to better meet audience preferences and needs.

  • Optimization of Advertising Spend

Measuring effectiveness allows businesses to identify which advertising channels and tactics deliver the best results. This information enables them to allocate resources more efficiently, focusing on strategies with the highest return on investment and eliminating or adjusting underperforming campaigns.

  • Improved Message Relevance

Understanding what resonates with the audience allows businesses to refine their messaging to be more relevant and compelling. By delivering messages that address customer pain points and preferences, businesses can increase engagement and drive action.

  • Enhanced Brand Perception

Effective advertising can positively influence brand perception and awareness. Measuring effectiveness helps businesses track changes in brand metrics such as brand awareness, perception, and loyalty, allowing them to gauge the impact of their advertising efforts on brand equity.

  • Increased Sales and Revenue

Ultimately, the goal of advertising is to drive sales and revenue. Measuring effectiveness helps businesses assess the impact of advertising campaigns on key performance indicators such as sales volume, conversion rates, and customer acquisition, allowing them to optimize strategies to maximize revenue generation.

  • Competitive Advantage

Businesses that effectively measure advertising effectiveness gain a competitive advantage by staying ahead of market trends and consumer preferences. By continuously refining their advertising strategies based on data-driven insights, they can outperform competitors and capture a larger share of the market.

  • Budget Accountability

Measuring advertising effectiveness provides businesses with concrete evidence of the return on investment for their advertising spend. This accountability ensures that marketing budgets are allocated wisely and justified based on their contribution to business objectives.

  • Strategic DecisionMaking

Armed with data on advertising effectiveness, businesses can make more informed strategic decisions about future marketing initiatives. Whether it’s launching new campaigns, entering new markets, or adjusting messaging, data-driven insights guide decision-making and increase the likelihood of success.

  • Customer Insights

Advertising effectiveness measurement can also provide insights into customer behavior, preferences, and attitudes. Understanding how customers engage with advertising can inform product development, customer service strategies, and overall business planning.

  • Continuous Improvement

Measuring advertising effectiveness is an ongoing process that allows businesses to continuously refine and improve their marketing efforts. By learning from past campaigns and iterating based on data-driven insights, businesses can adapt to changing market conditions and consumer behavior, staying relevant and competitive over time.

Measuring Advertising Effectiveness Challenges:

  1. Attribution Complexity

Determining which sales can be directly attributed to a specific advertisement is challenging, especially in multi-channel marketing environments. The consumer’s path to purchase often involves multiple touchpoints, making it difficult to identify the precise impact of a single ad.

  1. Changing Consumer Behavior

Consumer behaviors and preferences are constantly evolving, influenced by trends, economic factors, and technological advancements. This fluidity can make it difficult to isolate the effects of advertising from other variables affecting consumer decisions.

  1. Data Overload

With the vast amount of data available from digital advertising platforms, it can be overwhelming to process and analyze all the information to glean actionable insights. Finding the most relevant metrics and interpreting them correctly is a significant challenge.

  1. CrossChannel Measurement

Many businesses use a mix of advertising channels (online, TV, print, etc.), and measuring the effectiveness of these channels both individually and in combination is complex. Understanding how these channels complement or cannibalize each other is crucial for optimization.

  1. Quality of Creative Content

The effectiveness of an advertising campaign is not determined by reach and frequency alone. The creative aspect plays a crucial role, and its subjective nature makes it hard to measure. Quantifying the impact of creativity on campaign performance is a nuanced challenge.

  1. Short-term vs. Long-term Effects

Advertising can have both immediate and long-lasting effects on brand perception and sales. Disentangling these short-term and long-term impacts, and appropriately attributing value to each, complicates effectiveness measurement.

  1. External Influences

External factors such as economic changes, competitive actions, and social trends can significantly influence the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Isolating the impact of these external influences from the effect of the advertising itself is challenging.

  1. Privacy and Data Collection

Increasing consumer concern about privacy and corresponding regulatory changes can limit the amount and type of data available for measuring advertising effectiveness. These restrictions can hinder the ability to track consumer behavior across platforms and devices.

  1. Cost of Measurement

Comprehensive measurement of advertising effectiveness can be expensive, requiring investment in tools, technologies, and expertise. Smaller organizations may find the cost prohibitive, making it difficult to compete with larger entities that can afford more sophisticated measurement approaches.

Testing process for Advertising effectiveness & Method

Research can be conducted to optimise advertisements for any medium: radio, television, print (magazine, newspaper or direct mail), outdoor billboard (highway, bus, or train), or Internet. Different methods would be applied to gather the necessary data appropriately.

There are primarily two broad types of advertising research viz. Pre-testing and Post-testing. Pre­testing is testing the advertisement before running it so that the likelihood of preparing most effective ads, by allowing an opportunity to detect and eliminate weaknesses or flaws increases. Post-testing is done after the advertisement is run on the media. This is more expensive and elaborate but most realistic as well because the advertisements are tested in real life setting.

In another way of advertisement research can be classified into two types of research, customised and syndicated. Customised research is conducted for a specific client to address that client’s needs. Only that client has access to the results of the research. Syndicated research is a single research study conducted by a research company with its results available, for sale, to multiple companies.

Pre-testing:

Pre-testing, also known as copy testing is a form of customised research that predicts in-market performance of an ad, before it airs, by analysing audience levels of attention, brand linkage, motivation, entertainment, and communication, as well as breaking down the ad’s Flow of Attention and Flow of Emotion. (Young) Pre-testing is also used on ads still in rough form – e.g., animatics or ripomatics. Pre­testing is also used to identify weak spots within an ad to improve performance, to more effectively edit 60’s to 30’s or 30’s to 15’s, to select images from the spot to use in an integrated campaign’s print ad, to pull out the key moments for use in ad tracking, and to identify branding moments.

Pre-testing thus is undertaken to:

  1. Establish whether the advert ‘says’ what it was intended to
  2. Assess the likelihood of getting a response from the reader

Some of the commonly used Pre-tests are as follows

Pre-tests for Print Media Advertisements:

Consumer Jury Test:

Few consumers form a group and act as jury to show their preferences for one or two ads out of several being considered. The jury members rank the ads and respond to the questions like which was the most impressive ad or which ad provoked you most to go ahead and buy the product or which ad did you notice first and so on.

This test is conducted by two methods namely Order of Merit Rating and Paired Comparison test. In the Order of merit rating test the jury the jurors rank the advertisements as per their preference. The consensus emerges about the best ad copy at the end. But the best may be the best amongst the worst ones.

In the paired comparison test at a time two ad copies are compared one-to-one. Every single ad is compared with all others. Sources are recorded on cards. They are summed up. The winner gets the highest score. This technique is easier than order of merit. Till ten copies, there is good accuracy; which later decreases. The number of comparisons one is required to make with the help of the following formula:

  1. (n-l) / 2

Where n= the number of ads to be rested.

Portfolio Test:

Along with the regular advertisements some dummy copies are kept in a folio. Then the consumer-sample sees the folio. The consumer is then asked about what he has seen in each ads. The ad giving minimum playback is considered the best. But then it is necessary to observe whether the chosen advertisement is dummy or regular. If found dummy the actual one is improved on the same lines.

Mock Magazine Test:

Unlike the above method of keeping the advertisements in a folio, test ads are introduced in a real magazine to an experimental group to read. The control group is also exposed to the same magazine, but is without test ads. Later a recall test is conducted to assess the effectiveness о I test ads.

Direct Questioning:

A consumer jury is formed and either the whole ad or its different elements are tested by asking direct questions. Sometimes there is one single question only and sometimes an elaborate questionnaire is prepared to assess attention strength, read-through strength, affective strength and behaviour strength of the ad. For each component the copy is allotted some points. Each ad is rated from the best to the worst.

Perceptual Meaning Studies (PMS):

In this method the respondent is exposed to test the ads for a limited time period. Tachistoscope is an instrument that may be used in this test. After the respondent sees the advertisement, he is subjected to a recall test for the product, brand illustration and the main copy.

Pre-tests for Broadcast Media Advertisements:

All the above methods can be applied to broadcast media also. In addition, some special methods are available to pre-test broadcast media ads – TV and radio ads. The techniques used are:

In Home Projection Tests:

A movie projector screen is installed at consumer’s home to show him the test commercials. He is questioned before and after the exposure to the advertisements. The questions are related to the ad and the change it causes after exposure. The strong and weak points of the ads can be assessed.

Trailer Tests:

Two groups of customers are considered. Both are given discount coupons to purchase the brand under consideration and are invited to shop in a real life shopping environment, a departmental store, a shopping centre etc. The prospects are invited to the display their products. Now one group is shown the test ads whereas the other group is not. The redemption rate of coupons is measured for both groups which may give an idea about the effectiveness of test ads.

Theatre Test:

A group of people who could be a captive audience for an entertainment programme is considered and a questionnaire is sent to them. The free tickets are later sent to them for the programme where the test ads are run. On viewing these, they are asked to fill up another questionnaire. It assesses product, brand and its theme.

Live Telecast Test:

The advertisements are put on air either by narrow casting or live telecasting. These ads are test ads, and not the regular ads. Later, viewers are interviewed to know their reactions.

Some Other Pre-Testing Techniques:

Sales Experiment:

Before a product advertisement is launched nationally, a small ad campaign of one or more advertisements is run. Two or more test centres are selected to do so. The ads are run for a fixed period say one to four months and then the sales responses are noted. It is a very useful and effective measure for FMCG items and those ads who aim to motivate buyers to take an immediate sales action.

Direct Mail Tests:

A group of prospects are selected from the mailing list randomly and are sent different test ads. Then to measure the response, the orders against each lot are noted.

Physiological Testing:

In this test, rather than what respondents say, what is considered more important is the physiological reaction of the respondents. Three principal instruments to do so are:

Eye Movement Camera:

It measures how the eye moves over the layout of test ads. The route taken by the eye and also the pauses are noted so that the areas of interest and attention can be judged.

Galvanometer:

It measures skin responses to ad stimuli like perspiration by gland activity through palm. More perspiration decreases the resistance and faster current passes. The tension is generated. The greater it is, the more effective the ad is. The technique is of limited use for ads of a very sensitive nature.

Perceptoscope or Pupilometric Devices:

They record changes in pupils dilatation. Dilatation indicates reading and attention. Contraction shows dislike of the respondent to what is being read. It evaluates interesting appealing visual stimuli. It is developed by Eekhard Hess and James Polk. Left eye is photographed to record dilatation.

Pre Testing is also called copy testing by some experts. Copy testing is a specialised field of marketing research, it is the study of television commercials prior to airing them. Although also known as copy testing, pre-testing is considered the more accurate, modern name (Young) for the prediction of how effectively an ad will perform, based on the analysis of feedback gathered from the target audience. Each test will either qualify the ad as strong enough to meet company action standards for airing or identify opportunities to improve the performance of the ad through editing. (Young)

We saw various tests which are all pretests. Following is another classification of pretest or copy tests. There are four general themes woven into the last century of copy testing.

Report Card Measures:

The first theme is the quest for a valid, single-number statistic to capture the overall performance of the advertising creative. This search has spawned the creation of various report card measures. These measures are used to filter commercial executions and help management make the go/no go decision about which ads to air. (Young). The predominant copy testing measure of the 1950s and 1960s, Day-After Recall (DAR) was interpreted to measure an ad’s ability to “break through’” into the mind of the consumer and register a message from the brand in long-term memory. Once this measure was adopted by Procter and Gamble, it became a research staple.

But every thing was not that bright about these tests. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, tests were conducted to validate a link between the recall score and actual sales. For example, Procter and Gamble reviewed 10 year’s worth of split-cable tests (100 total) and found no significant relationship between recall scores and sales. (Young) In addition, Wharton University’s marketing guru Leonard Lodish conducted an even more extensive review of test market results and also failed to find a relationship between recall and sales. Harold Ross of Mapes & Ross found that persuasion was a better predictor of sales than recall.

Diagnostic Measures:

The second theme is the development of diagnostic copy testing, the main purpose of which is optimisation. Understanding why diagnostic measures such as attention, brand linkage, and motivation are high or low can help advertisers identify creative opportunities to improve executions. (Young)

But then again this method was not perfect. Different approaches have been developed by research companies to determine the report card measures of attention, brand linkage, and motivation. For example, Unilever analysed a database of commercials “triple-tested’’ using the three leading approaches to the measure of branding (Ameritest, ASI, and Millward Brown) which shows that each of the three is measuring something uncorrelated with, and therefore different from, the other two. (Kastenholtz, Kerr & Young).

Non-Verbal Measures:

The third theme is the development of non-verbal measures in response to the belief of many advertising professionals that much of a commercial’s effects – e.g. the emotional impact – may be difficult for respondents to put into words or scale on verbal rating statements. In fact, many believe the commercial’s effects may be operating below the level of consciousness. (Young) According to researcher Chuck Young, “There is something in the lovely sounds of our favorite music that we cannot verbalize – and it moves us in ways we cannot express.” (Young, p.22)

Moment-by-Moment Measures:

The fourth theme, which is a variation on the previous two, is the development of moment-by- moment measures to describe the internal dynamic structure of the viewer’s experience of the commercial, as a diagnostic counterpoint to the various gestalt measures of commercial performance or predicted impact. (Young)

In the early 1980s, the shift in analytical perspective from thinking of a commercial as the fundamental unit of measurement to be rated in its entirety, to thinking of it as a structured flow of experience, gave rise to experimentation with moment-by-moment systems. The most popular of these was the dial-a-meter response which required respondents to turn a meter, in degrees, toward one end of a scale or another to reflect their opinion of what was 011 screen at that moment.

But then the things were not that easy. Unless the dial-a-meter is calibrated by normalising the data to each individual’s reaction time, the aggregate sample data will be spread across many measurement intervals. Second, dial-a-meters contain an uncertainty range around which moment is actually being measured because of differences in respondent response times. Relatively little has been published to validate dial-a-meter diagnostics to traditional measures of overall ad performance such as recall and persuasion.

Post-Testing:

Post-testing or Ad tracking, as otherwise known, can be customised or syndicated. Tracking studies provide either periodic or continuous in-market research monitoring a brand’s performance, including brand awareness, brand preference, product usage and attitudes. Advertising tracking can be done by telephone interviews or online interviews—with the two approaches producing fundamentally different measures of consumer memories of advertising, recall versus recognition.

Purpose of Post Testing:

The purpose of ad tracking is generally to provide a measure of the combined effect of the media weight or spending level, the effectiveness of the media buy or targeting, and the quality of the advertising executions or creative. Some newer forms of online tracking, separate the issues of the quality of the creative component from the quality of the media buy and instead focus on the relative performance of ads versus the competitive ads that are airing at the same time. All forms of tracking data are used to provide inputs to Marketing Mix Models which marketing science statisticians build to estimate advertising return on investment (ROI).

Some ad tracking studies are conducted by telephone while others are conducted on the Internet. The two approaches produce very different measures of advertising awareness because the interviews tap into consumer memories of advertising using fundamentally different measures, recall versus recognition.

For example, with an Internet study, the respondent can be shown a few memorable, de-branded still images from the TV ad or a de-branded version of a print or Internet ad and then answer three significant questions:

  1. Do you recognise this ad? (Recognition measure)
  2. Please type in the sponsor of this ad. (Unaided awareness measure)

iii. Please choose from the following list, the sponsor of this ad. (Aided awareness measure)

A telephone survey does not allow for visuals. Verbal descriptions are very difficult to provide for a campaign that has several ads featuring the same character(s) in the same situation with only slight changes. Telephone is not considered a flexible enough methodology to be used in all situations.

The data that a post-test might provide are as follows:

  1. Decision Analyst
  2. Top of mind brand awareness
  3. Unaided brand awareness
  4. Aided brand awareness
  5. Brand fit
  6. Brand image ratings
  7. Brand trial
  8. Repeat purchase
  9. Frequency of use
  10. Purchase intent
  11. Price perceptions
  12. Unaided advertising awareness
  13. Aided advertising awareness
  14. Unaided advertising message recall
  15. Aided advertising message recall
  16. Aided commercial recall
  17. Ad wear out
  18. Promotion awareness and usage
  19. Market segment characteristics
  20. Media habits
  21. Lifestyle/Psychographics
  22. Demographics

Different techniques of Post-Testing:

Among the various post testing techniques used most common ones are:

  1. Penetration tests: Recognition/recall
  2. Progress tests or Sales Effects Tests.

Apart from this, perceptions, image and attitudes can also be measured to assess the effectiveness of ads. The attitude measurement may be used in combination with penetration (recall) tests.

Penetration Tests:

Daniel Starch had given the details of this test for the first time in his book Principles of Advertising (Chicago- A W Shaw, 1923). These tests are also known as Recognition/Readership Viewership tests. They are aided recall tests dating back to 1923. Since then they have been conducted in the US by the Daniel Starch Organisation. Here, the respondents are shown the issues of magazines they claim to have read. They are asked to recognise the ads, asked whether they have read them. The results are put into three categories:

(i) Noted (N): A person who only remembers having seen the ad in the issue under study

(ii) Seen-Associated (A). A person who not only remembers seeing it but also claims to have seen or read some part of it. He may even associate the ad with the product or advertiser

(iii) Read-Most (RM). The person who has read half or more of the written material in the ad.

The above categories of readers are expressed in percentage terms. This method is also adaptable to broadcast ads where commercial advertisements on tape are played. McGown (1979) gave the following formula to calculate Readers per Dollar:

Readers peere Dollar = Percent noted X Magazin’s primary readers / Space cost in Dollar

This method however is not error free. This method is always subject to reporting errors by the respondents. They might deliberately exaggerate or at times unknowingly suppress information. At times they guess answers to please the interviewer and hide the fact that he or she has not seen the advertisements.

There are however some methods as follows which might increase the efficiency of measurement.

  1. The tachistoscopic method: Advertisements are shown to the respondent, either whole or part, at high speed; and then they are asked to furnish information based on those ads.
  2. The screen method: Several screens are put over an ad which are then removed one by one an recognition is obtaited at various levels of visibility.

iii. Two more methods often used by researchers are Pre-publication control which requires a recognition survey of previously unpublished advertisements and confusion contra methods where some unpublished advertisements are mixed up with some published ones and then recall is measured.

Gallup-Robinson Impact Test:

Gallup- Robison is a commercial research firm which has formulated standardised aided recall tests to survey advertisement impact. A respondent is shown a magazine cover and is asked whether s/ he has read the issue. If yes, then s/he is asked to describe anything s/he remembers seeing in that issue. S/he is then given a deck of cards with brand names on them which appeared on the issue and is asked to indicate which ones s/he remembers seeing in the issue.

Recognition Vs Aided Recall:

  1. In the aided recall method, the test issue is kept closed, and the respondent is required to answer, entirely on the basis of his memory, whereas in the recognition method, respondents first qualify as readers of a particular issue.
  2. The aided-recall method has a more exacting requirement; in effect, it eliminates many persons of “less desirable” characteristics from the audience which is not the case with the other one.

iii. Studies in USA have revealed that the recognition method gives an average advertisement score that is six times the average PNR score.

  1. The aided-recall advertisement readers are younger, and have a lower educational, occupational and income status.
  2. A Printed Advertising Rating Methods (PARM) study has concluded that the aided-recall method gives much lower ratings, which are sensitive to such methodological factors as the lapse of time before the interview, the competence of the interviewers and the type of the sample.

Unaided Recall Tests:

This is a kind of recall test where the respondents are not given any clue to recall the ad. This proves to be more demanding than the aided recall, as respondents recalling the brands without help shows a greater degree of penetration of the ad.

Types of Unaided Recall:

Day-After- Recall (DAR):

One day after the advertisement appears the readers or viewers are questioned after that.

Total Prime Time (TPT):

Here the main item of research is viewer’s television viewing time.

Triple-Association Test (TAT):

This test measures how much a viewer or reader has learnt about the brand from the advertisement. The respondent is told about some product feature or benefit and he is to find the brand name for that. For example if a respondent is asked that which toothpaste ad shows that it has salt in it and the respondent says Colgate active salt we understand that the learning objective of the advertisement is successful.

Progress Tests:

These tests assess the total sales effect from the ad and hence is also called sales effect test. In other words, the various stages through which a customer passes and finally purchases are because of the advertisement or not is analysed. Though the increase of sales due to advertisement is slightly difficult to be measured, yet we have the following established methods

The Netapps Method:

Netapps stands for Net-Ad-Produced-Purchases. Daniel Starch and Staff Company developed this method. It takes a sample population of which some have read or viewed the advertisement and others have not. In each group those who did and did not purchase the brand under investigation are found and analysed as to what percentage bought under the influence of the advertisement.

Intend-to-buy Test:

The readers or viewers of the advertisement are asked about their intention to buy. For positive responses further investigations are done to find the strong influences in the advertisement because of which they decide to buy.

Sales Result Tests:

Following are some of sales results tests which measure the additional sales generated by the ads.

Past Sales before and after the ad are recorded and the difference is accounted for as an impact of advertisement.

An audit may be run on the dealers inventory before and after the advertisement.

Enquiry Tests:

Some consumer durables companies issue coupons as a part of the advertisement copy and when they are circulated to the customers, they are supposed to fill it up and send it back to the company. So when the customers are filling in the coupons they are seeing the ad copy as well. So from the number of coupons received estimation can be made as to the number of the readership of the advertisement.

Attitude Tests:

The change in attitude of the customers after the advertisement campaign is measured and marketers observe whether there has been any change in the customers’ attitude towards the brand under investigation. Further they assume that a positive attitude towards their brand may lead to further purchases. Generally the attitude is measured by rating it on a scales like Likert Scale, Thurstone scale, Differential Scale, Guttman Scale etc.

Thus like any other aspect of market research, advertising research also aims towards the investigation of various real facts from the market. It attempts to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of the communication efforts of the organisations. On these evaluations, many important strategic communication decisions depend. Hence it proves to be a very important area as today the organisations know that apart from the sales figures, brand image and goodwill are also very important which depends a lot on the advertising efforts.

Concept Testing v/s Copy Testing

Concept Testing

Concept testing (to be distinguished from pre-test markets and test markets which may be used at a later stage of product development research) is the process of using surveys (and sometimes qualitative methods) to evaluate consumer acceptance of a new product idea prior to the introduction of a product to the market. It is important not to confuse concept testing with advertising testing, brand testing and packaging testing, as is sometimes done. Concept testing focuses on the basic product idea, without the embellishments and puffery inherent in advertising.

It is important that the instruments (questionnaires) to test the product have a high quality themselves. Otherwise, results from data gathered surveys may be biased by measurement error. That makes the design of the testing procedure more complex. Empirical tests provide insight into the quality of the questionnaire. This can be done by:

  • Conducting cognitive interviewing. By asking a faction of potential-respondents about their interpretation of the questions and use of the questionnaire, a researcher can verify the viability of the cognitive interviewing.
  • Carrying out a small pretest of the questionnaire, using a small subset of target respondents. Results can inform a researcher of errors such as missing questions, or logical and procedural errors.
  • Estimating the measurement quality of the questions. This can be done for instance using test-retest, quasi-simplex, or mutlitrait-multimethod models.
  • Predicting the measurement quality of the question. This can be done using the software Survey Quality Predictor (SQP).

Concept testing in the new product development (NPD) process is the concept generation stage. The concept generation stage of concept testing can take on many forms. Sometimes concepts are generated incidentally, as the result of technological advances. At other times concept generation is deliberate: examples include brain-storming sessions, problem detection surveys and qualitative research. While qualitative research can provide insights into the range of reactions consumers may have, it cannot provide an indication of the likely success of the new concept; this is better left to quantitative concept-test surveys.

In the early stages of concept testing, a large field of alternative concepts might exist, requiring concept-screening surveys. Concept-screening surveys provide a quick means to narrow the field of options; however they provide little depth of insight and cannot be compared to a normative database due to interactions between concepts. For greater insight and to reach decisions on whether or not pursue further product development, monadic concept-testing surveys must be conducted.

Frequently concept testing surveys are described as either monadic, sequential monadic or comparative. The terms mainly refer to how the concepts are displayed:

1.) Monadic. The concept is evaluated in isolation.

2.) Sequential monadic. Multiple concepts are evaluated in sequence (often randomized order).

3.) Comparative. Concepts are shown next to each other.

4.) Proto-monadic. Concepts are first shown in sequence, and then next to each other.

“Monadic testing is the recommended method for most concept testing. Interaction effects and biases are avoided. Results from one test can be compared to results from previous monadic tests. A normative database can be constructed.” However, each has its specific uses and it depends on the research objectives. The decision as to which method to use is best left to experience research professionals to decide, as there are numerous implications in terms of how the results are interpreted.

Copy Testing

Copy testing is a specialized field of marketing research that determines an advertisement’s effectiveness based on consumer responses, feedback, and behavior. Also known as pre-testing, it might address all media channels including television, print, radio, outdoor signage, internet, and social media.

Automated Copy Testing is a specialized type of digital marketing specifically related to digital advertising. This involves using software to deploy copy variations of digital advertisements to a live environment and collecting data from real users. These automated copy tests will generally use a Z-test to determine the statistical significance of results. If a specific ad variation out performs the baseline in the copy test, to a desired level of statistical significance, this new copy variation should be used by the marketer.

Features

In 1982, a consortium of 21 leading advertising agencies — including N. W. Ayer, D’Arcy, Grey, McCann Erickson, Needham Harper & Steers, Ogilvy & Mather, J. Walter Thompson, and Young & Rubicam released a public document laying out the PACT (Positioning Advertising Copy Testing) Principles that constitute a good copy testing system. PACT states a good copy testing system must meet the following criteria:

  • Provides measurements which are relevant to the objectives of the advertising.
  • Requires agreement about how the results will be used in advance of each specific test.
  • Provides multiple measurements, because single measurements are generally inadequate to assess the performance of an advertisement.
  • Based on a model of human response to communications – the reception of a stimulus, the comprehension of the stimulus, and the response to the stimulus.
  • Allows for consideration of whether the advertising stimulus should be exposed more than once.
  • Recognizes that the more finished a piece of copy is, the more soundly it can be evaluated and requires, as a minimum, that alternative executions be tested in the same degree of finish.
  • Provides controls to avoid the biasing effects of the exposure context.
  • Takes into account basic considerations of sample definition.
  • Demonstrates reliability and validity.

Types of copy testing measurements

Recall

The predominant copy testing measure of the 1950s and 1960s, Burke’s Day-After Recall (DAR) was interpreted to measure an ad’s ability to “break through” into the mind of the consumer and register a message from the brand in long-term memory. Once this measure was adopted by Procter and Gamble, it became a research staple.

In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, validation efforts found no link between recall scores and actual sales (Adams & Blair; Blair; Blair & Kuse; Blair & Rabuck; Jones; Jones & Blair; MASB; Mondello; Stewart). For example, Procter and Gamble reviewed 10 year’s worth of split-cable tests (100 total) and found no significant relationship between recall scores and sales (Young, pp. 3–30). In addition, Wharton University’s Leonard Lodish conducted an even more extensive review of test market results and also failed to find a relationship between recall and sales.

The 1970s also saw a re-examination of the “breakthrough” measure. As a result, an important distinction was made between the attention-getting power of the creative execution and how well “branded” the ad was. Thus, the separate measures of attention and branding were born.

Persuasion

In the 1970s and 1980s, after DAR was determined to be a poor predictor of sales, the research industry began to depend on a measure of persuasion as an accurate predictor of sales. This shift was led, in part, by researcher Horace Schwerin who pointed out, “the obvious truth is that a claim can be well remembered but completely unimportant to the prospective buyer of the product the solution the marketer offers is addressed to the wrong need”). As with DAR, it was Procter and Gamble’s acceptance of the ARS Persuasion measure (also known as brand preference) that made it an industry standard. Recall scores were still provided in copy testing reports with the understanding that persuasion was the measure that mattered.

Diagnostic

The main purpose of diagnostic measures is optimization. Understanding diagnostic measures can help advertisers identify creative opportunities to improve executions.

Non-Verbal

Non-verbal measures were developed in response to the belief that much of a commercial’s effects e.g. the emotional impact may be difficult for respondents to put into words or scale on verbal rating statements. In fact, many believe the commercial’s effects may be operating below the level of consciousness. According to researcher Chuck Young, “There is something in the lovely sounds of our favorite music that we cannot verbalize and it moves us in ways we cannot express”.

In the 1970s, researchers sought to measure these non-verbal measures biologically by tracking brain wave activities as respondents watched commercials (Krugman). Others experimented with galvanic skin response, voice pitch analysis, and eye-tracking. These efforts were not popularly adopted, in part because of the limitations of the technology as well as the poor cost-effectiveness of what was widely perceived as academic, not actionable research.

In the early 1980s the shift in analytical perspective from thinking of a commercial as the fundamental unit of measurement to be rated in its entirety, to thinking of it as a structured flow of experience, gave rise to experimentation with moment-by-moment systems. The most popular of these was the dial-a-meter response which required respondents to turn a meter, in degrees, toward one end of a scale or another to reflect their opinion of what was on screen at that moment.

More recently, research companies have started to use psychological tests, such as the Stroop effect, to measure the emotional impact of copy. These techniques exploit the notion that viewers do not know why they react to a product, image, or ad in a certain way (or that they reacted at all) because such reactions occur outside of awareness, through changes in networks of thoughts, ideas, and images.

Rural and Urban Advertising

Rural advertising

Rural advertising is increasingly evident throughout the countryside. The majority of advertisements and hoardings are for fertilizers, hybrid seeds, diesel pumps and pesticides, not to men­tion the message of family planning.

Therefore, advertising in the Indian rural context must be seen as consisting of techniques for improving economic mobility within the country. The emergence of an active cash economy is bound to create a strong rural demand and promote consumption.

The traditional growth and dominance of urban industrial centres is undergoing rapid changes. A more equit­able distribution in rural areas would also help in slowing down the rapidly increasing influx of people from rural into urban centres.

Literacy and Media Habits:

Despite the low level of literacy in rural areas, the growth between 1971 and 1981 is significant. Five crore more people have become literate in the course of the last decade, a figure almost equal to the entire population of France. Growth in literacy levels is expec­ted to continue, and this, in turn, will lead to greater awareness of products on the part of the rural people.

Some market research studies on the media habits of farmers in Andhra, Haryana and Punjab are quite revealing they clearly show that, contrary to popular belief, organized media play a signi­ficant role in supplementing the efforts to reach rural consumers.

Other 70 per cent of the population listens to the radio; about 65 per cent in Andhra goes to the cinema. The corresponding figure for Punjab and Haryana is 26 per cent. In both these areas, over 30 per cent read newspapers regularly.

In rural India, the role that advertising plays is minor. It will enhance demand only when favourable environmental conditions have been created. Advertising does not create immediate demand. There is always an information gap.

Rural India is a set of regional markets where cultural factors play a very important role. The raw materials come from the soil; and the relatively low productivity of Indian forms is reflected in the low purchasing power of the rural buyer.

The rural advertising problem in a country like India is related to political, social and economic problems. With low incomes from farms the question that arises is- Can we afford the infrastructure of the mass media for the rural markets? The Indian rural market is very heterogeneous.

Nevertheless, public advertising is an important pre-condition for the creation of demand. The problem of the rural consumer in our country is that he is traditional; to some extent, there is homogeneity, and there are high resistance and low resistance pro­ducts amongst the rural buyers.

Rural buyers show a great many cont­radictions; and the advertising man has to understand them. For exa­mple, the poor spend lavishly on marriages; in certain parts, a rigid caste system still exists; the community is more contented with what­ever little it has. Many preach non-violence and practice violence.

For mass media men to motivate rural buyers to change their life-style is not therefore that easy. The concept of sufficiency is a hurdle to deve­lopment; and the problem of huge distances and inadequate outlets is quite considerable.

Within a rural market, there are many mini-markets based on caste, religion,’ language or other differences. All the people living in and around these markets have distinctly different life-styles. The marketing men know that the cost of distribution increases as the town gets smaller; and it is not economical to serve very small villages.

In rural areas, the effective approach to be employed to reach the buyers is to establish contact with local educators who can influ­ence them by word of mouth. Such local educators are government officials, Block Development & Extension Officers, Village Pardhans and school teachers.

Rural markets are no longer a seller’s market now. Many people have underrated the strength of the market on the assumption that India’s rural poverty restricts rural purchases only to those items which are basic necessities. This has turned out to be a myth now.

The social status, needs, expenditure on weddings, religious ceremonies and the farmers’ need for excitement, travelling and entertainment, have influenced the operations of the rural market. Many farmers travel to weekly markets to buy vegetables that they can themselves grow; but they go in order to have news, stimulation and for socialisation.

The bumper crops and the upturn in agricultural production have resulted in a considerable increase in the incomes of farmers and in their purchasing power. The increase in purchasing power in rural areas has generated vast potential markets for manufactured goods because the people want to raise their standard of living.

New appro­aches must be evolved to awaken the rural population to the range of consumption possibilities open to them. Advertising and consumer research is essential for this purpose; for it must be determined not only what the villager wants but what would motivate him to buy.

Market research and consumer surveys are essential and should cover a fairly wide area of rural life, including the attitudes and aspirations of the rural buyer.

The different approaches to reach rural buyers which may be profitably utilised include mobile publicity-cum-sales stalls, sales and cinema vans, participation in rural fairs and festivals.

The villagers are slightly hesitant about going to smart-looking shops. The relatively prosperous families generally become the pace setter group in the village; and these must initially receive the adverti­ser’s attention.

Advertising research may focus on the sources of awareness in the rural sector the media influencing the villages. It must concentrate on determining the different influences that the villager is being exposed to, either in the village or in his visits to the towns.

A villager normally makes his household purchases in a near­by small town or a fair, but visits either a district, town or a still larger market for his requirements of consumer durables. It would be useful to ascertain his motivation in selecting different markets for different purposes.

Seasonality figures prominently in rural buying habits on account of harvesting seasons, fairs, festivals and marriage, etc. These things should be plotted in advance for sales promotion; and advertising information on the styles of the rural buyer, his attitudes towards pro­cesses, durability, and the incidence of impulse buying these should be checked.

The rural buyer in general is price conscious. Cheaper and sophisticated models of agricultural machinery, sewing machines, etc., should therefore be more acceptable to the village consumer.

The goods should be made available to the rural consumer at places which are most convenient to him. Ideally, it would be desi­rable to get right down to the villages, and combine the sales and advertising effort at that level. But, practically, this would be very difficult because the selling cost would be too high if we follow this approach.

To expand sales in rural markets, hire-purchase facilities should be extended. Effective after-sales service should be extended where a distributor/dealer has been appointed. Some incentive should be given to dealers to open bank accounts in nearby banking towns.

Eighty per cent of the total population is in villages and about 60 per cent of the national income comes from rural areas. There is an inequitable distribution of this rural income amongst the rural folk.

There are two sections of the rural population: a large portion have a low income and low consumption levels; the rest are the rural rich.

Rural Advertising Mix

In rural areas, advertising in the form of outdoor publicity will- prove more effective. The use of mobile vans and audiovisual meth­ods would hold and attract the attention of the rural folk. The use of switch lights, wall writings, cars and other vehicles fitted with loud­speakers and musical instruments would boost sales in rural areas.

Demonstrations and seminars may be profitably used. A few indi­viduals are very prominent in rural areas and their word is honoured by the villagers.’ Convincing such individuals about the utility of the products will go a long way in stimulating their sales in the villages.

There is a considerable scope for outdoor publicity inside and outside the public carriers. On truck routes, hoardings may prove to be the most effective method of advertising. This type of advertising, moreover, has a definite reminder value.

What is required is the use of appro­priate colours, signs and pictures which are liked by the rural folk. Outdoor advertising in rural areas, however, should not only introduce new commodities to the market but also explain their uses and extol their virtues.

The services of commercial broadcasting too, may be profitably utilized in view of the growing popularity of radios, transistors and TV sets. In a country like ours, where 75 per cent of the people are illiterate, the importance of radios and TV sales as a means of mass communication needs hardly to be over-emphasized.

The point of purchase for most of the items is usually the weekly “haat” or market outside the village. For certain produ­cts, the point-of-purchase display that relies heavily on pictorial representation would prove very effective.

As the retailer is the final- link in the chain of communication with the consumer, retail displays would be extremely effective if the material is well planned. What is imperative for the manufacturer is to design a display that will suit the small retail shop in rural areas.

This is of crucial importance because the biggest problem of the retailer is to mar age the mass material in the limited space available. Whatever may be the medium of advertising, the largest audience in rural areas should be the growing number of literate youth.

The written word, whether it is used for advertising in the press or on a hoarding, on merchandising materials or on the container, would have to be addressed largely to the younger generation with their expectations and their aspirations.

With growing literacy in rural areas, another possible break­through in rural marketing may be achieved by the use of the mail? Order channel of communication. India’s postal network serves more than one and half lakh towns and villages.

Mail orders may be used as an ideal tool with a view to sending out goods to consumers but also as a means of promoting product messages. A recent study of advertising media, as used in the family planning campaign, has revealed that, by far, the most effective publicity medium for village audiences were the mailings to village panchayats.

The most serious difficulty in mail order business, however, is the high cost of postal parcels and the uncertainties regarding prompt and secure delivery.

Co-operatives have played a very important role in popularising the use of various agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, improved seeds, new implements, pesticides etc. The public distribution system has rightly recognized the importance of the role of co-operatives in rural areas.

For the sale of engineering goods and agricultural equipment, it is necessary to provide, for their service and repairs, facilities at a nearby place where the rural buyers are located. The demonstration and the use of the items should also be explained at this centre.

Rural Advertising – Problems of Marketing Products in Rural Areas

Problems of Marketing Agricultural Products:

There is a need for coordinating production and marketing:

(i) If production increases, the increased output must be marketed. The structural interdependence of the industrial and rural sectors and lack of co-ordination generate prob­lems which depress prices and discourage production.

(ii) Difficulties of transport and communication limit the range of physical distribution; therefore, an efficient and coordinated transport system is needed.

(iii) By their very nature agricultural products are grown in a few places and certain seasons. For a continuous supply and fair prices, therefore, storage facilities are necessary.

(iv) Cereals, vegetables, etc., last longer if packed in polythene.

(v) Market information is vital.

(vi) Poor farmers are fleeced by moneylenders. Extended credit facilities should therefore be created.

Problems of Marketing Consumer Goods in Rural Areas:

The creation of primary demand is essential. Advertising is mainly done to create awareness. That is why the radio and TV have become very popular in more than 500,000 villages. Providing goods at the retail outlets is a great challenge, therefore an intimate know­ledge of the consumer wants is essential.

The pre-eminent position of the rural sector in our economy is nothing new. Four-fifths of our people live there, and half of our national income is generated in this sector. Anyone interested in marketing has for long been conscious of the vast potential in rural India. This potential is now beginning to be seen not as a remote promise, but perhaps an immediate opportunity.

There is little doubt that the record agricultural production of the last two years, in contrast with the sharp decline which occurred two years earlier, has changed attitudes a great deal. Optimism has been encouraged by the first signs of a genuine breakthrough in agriculture.

The intelligent use of fertilizers, pesticides and better seeds has had a dramatic impact on yields, wherever they have been applied. That the agricultural yield would rise sharply, given proper inputs, has been known for decades.

What has come as surprise to the country as a whole is the enthusiasm and extent to which these new practices have been accepted. With the right products presented in the right way to the farmer an immense change can be brought about; and the image of the farmer as a tradition-bound, unenterprising individual reconciled to his poverty-stricken existence will begin to fade.

While it is wrong to overlook the fact that the change is most significant amongst the larger and more enlightened farmers in areas under irrigation or assured rainfall, it would seem reasonable to assume that it must, in the course of time, sweep over the bulk of the rural sector.

Urban Advertising

Advertising or propaganda is a show that presented by a person or institute by purpose of influence on the thoughts and acts of people. All of the urban elements side the correct signs can help to enforce the identity and economic vitality and change it to an active and strenuous place.

Although many known the emerge of advertisement simultaneously with the advent of the mass media, but since the industrial revolution advertising as a marketing communication tool evolved to become an art and a science.

According to the importance of advertising in economic and social affairs, to introduce a variety of promotions for goods and products used by companies and producers. Citizens in neighborhood and life environment are faced to urban advertising. These kinds of advertising consists of graffiti, painting, design and installation poster, announcements and notices, statues and inscriptions and various topics in the field of cultural, social, political, economic and commercial that happened in the city by state organs, public institutions, associations and companies as well as citizens can be done. Urban advertising divided to two categories: fixed and fixed. Signs, billboards and graffiti are part of urban fixed advertising and example of an urban mobile ads is bus ads. Totally signs and urban status are used as making relation. The main goals of signs and symptoms, regulation and classification and foster understanding in the urban environment. The establishment of operational rules adopted by the municipality beautify the city of Urmia generally the symptoms can be divided into six main groups: orientate, inform, guide, identify, express or terms and beauty. To be effective urban advertising medium must have certain characteristics to be considered in designing or evaluating them. Some features must be considered in designing or evaluating them. Readability, strengthening face and urban identity, harmony and respect for hierarchy and are included in the balance (table1).
Table 1: The features expected of an urban advertising

Readability Good height and size of signs and letters

Simple and rational utilization of letters and images

The limited number of messages

Strengthening face and urban identity According to the history of the city, the existing urban fabric, prospects and future role of city
Harmony Coordination between and among the different boards and panels and other elements of the urban environment

Given the signs and symptoms city as part of the urban furniture

Hierarchy and balance in the environment Giving priority to the warning signs and road signs

Concerning the relationship between symptoms and localization needs, expectations and ability to execute them

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