Advertising: a product’s lifeline

Providing people with what they need is the core marketing principle. The analysis of need remains central throughout the production stage, from idea conception to product development. As life evolves, pressures mount, demands on life build with human needs requiring some, better, more sophisticated and reliable ways to get satiated. To this end research and development help the producer hit the right spot.
Once the right product is made, it is time to sell it at the right time, at the right place to the right people. Distribution takes care of the accessibility issue. However bringing the right people to the product is not possible unless a communication channel is developed between the producer and the consumer, it is here that, promotional activities through advertisement take the larger share, playing its due role.
A communication tool: Advertisement is a tool to inform people about a product, good or service available for consumption in the market. Consumers, being remote from the product require communication by the producer, manufacturer or distributor in order to maximise sales. “Communicating” with the target market is thus the real purpose of advertisement. With increase in population and competition, the role of advertisement has changed and expanded. Though the basic role of an ad agency remains communication, it has gone a step further in becoming a mind manipulator. Advertisement is now more about capturing the imagination of the consumer. It is about considering consumer psychology placing it at the centre of product conception, design and marketing. One of the primary objectives of advertisement is to heighten expectations, to create an illusion that the product or service would perform miracles that the consumer expects. This strategy has so far worked to perfection. That is why in blind taste testing, inexpensive brands are ranked above the expensive one by the consumer. It is so, because people get what they expect. Thus building on expectations is the bottom line through which ad agencies function. Some consumers expect low pricing, some want reliability, some value high comfort, while some may want a product to do just the kind of work it is required to do like washing out dirt, quenching thirst or connecting a call. “The primary job of an ad agency is to find out what clicks with the consumer. We meet consumers and retailers to find answers to this query. Unless we know what clicks with the people, which feature should best be used to develop and cement a bond between the consumer and the product, and why one product is preferred over the other, we cannot possibly reach out to the right consumer. Advertising does not work in isolation. We cannot believe that a product would sell only because we have made one of the most creative and finest advertisements unless consumer behaviour of a particular target market is fully reflected in a product no brand acceptance can happen”, explained head of Planning and Research North Synergy International advertising agency Tauseef A. Mansury.
Branding gives recognition: “We strive to give product an identity. Putting it simply, advertising is all about turning a product into a brand,” said operating head Synergy International Mr. Ahmed. Branding provides recognition to a product. In a cluttered market place, where products are competing against one another, it is this recognition that gives the product its survival instinct. Branding is not about colour, font, name or labelling; it is about association. It is about the ability, the capacity and the reliability of a product to deliver. When turned into a brand a product becomes alive all of a sudden, something that conveys emotions, sentiments, attitude, style and a will to survive. Branding is about giving personality, lending voice, an aura to a product so that when a consumer, strolls down the aisle to shop, he gets attracted to the product. In typical marketing jargon it means giving the consumer value for money. The strength of a brand comes from quality and reliability. When a product delivers consistently what it promises, it becomes something indispensable. This promise is made in different ways. When Lux, Coke, Pantene, synergy uses celebrities to give a style statement to the products, or when Ariel testifies the attributes of its washing powder from ordinary housewives, a bond is created between the consumer and the brand, which can only remain intact if the purchase experience lives to the references made by the product. When Bank Alfalah claims to be “the caring bank”, when Ufone says “tum hee tou ho” (You are the one) when sprite asks consumers to” first drink then think” or when Head and Shoulder declares itself as “number one anti-dandruff shampoo”, the consumer is given a hope of a hassle free and manageable life. Therefore, a cordial and friendly staff at Bank Alfalah with multiple financial solutions, or a dandruff free head after using Head and Shoulders would help retain brand loyalty beyond doubt. Any deviation in the behaviour of a brand or in the behaviour of people delivering the brand could put the product in jeopardy. The contract or bond that a brand builds with its consumer eventually transcends into a mutual relation. “As a brand the product is very much part of a society like any individual living out there. A socially responsible company does not live around dead and soul-less brands. Brands pay back to its consumers and society for being accepted. McDonald’s makes a park wherever it opens its outlet. Ariel has a scholarship programme to deserving people. Bank Alfalah contributes substantially in schools for special children. These steps add to the quality and desirability of a brand,” says Operational Head Synergy International Mr. Ahmed.
Reaching target market: Talking about communication channels, Mr Tauseef is adamant in believing that, “media management is all the more important for making effective communication with the consumer. Only a right Media vehicle could ensure reaching target market at the right time. We understand that ours is an over communicated society, yet our choices to reach audience have to be rational. We cannot place an ad on any TV show or on any Radio programme interval or newspaper. Sensitivity to mood, temperament and message of the brand vis-a-vis consumer’s mood, temperament and receptivity are important things to consider. We need to look into the receptive moments as well.” Top of the mind approach has given birth to different modes of communication eventually making ours an over communicated society. But again this over communication is needed like oxygen to survive especially when so many products are competing for the same consumer.
With the invention of print media, and development of different modes of communication, transformation of information has taken varied forms. As for today this information is given to us on our door steps, either through TV or Radio commercials, by means of newspapers or magazine ads, distribution of leaflets in our homes or cars, through billboards and posters or by way of internet sites. All these communication modes are used to inform consumers about ways and means to satisfy his needs in a multiple ways. In a real sense it is this identification and satisfaction of “need phenomenon” that has made advertisement indispensable to market economy.
Advertising creates growth opportunities: Companies are spending billions in communicating with their consumers. Most of the budgets of multinational companies surpass even budgets of small countries. Warid spends Rs700 million only in Pakistan on promotion. Coco Cola spends 25% of its gross sales on advertising. Food moving consumer goods companies spend up to 40 percent of their revenue on advertising. Advertising is not taken as an expense, but an investment that would not only bring sales but build good-will for the company – a component that is calculated as revenue in the accounting books. Below are some of the figures showing 10 biggest-spending advertisers during the year, as detailed by The Nielsen Company.
1. Procter & Gamble – £195m (£158m in 2009)
2. British Sky Broadcasting – £168m (£151m in 2009)
3. Unilever – £135m (£146m in 2009)
4. Tesco – £125m (£118m in 2009)
5. Central Office of Information – £113m (£228m in 2009)
6. Asda – £110m (£103m in 2009)
7. BT – £108m (£81m in 2009)
8. DFS – £94m (£101m in 2009)
9. Reckitt Benckiser – £75m (£83m in 2009)
10. Kelloggs – £73m (£82m in 2009)
These figures show that a brand is built and maintained just like human life – sans attention a product soon looses vitality. So if it is a business, it is also about creation, sustainability and development. And an Ad agency makes these elements become possible for a company and its brand eventually giving multiple benefits to the economy in the form of job creations, income tax and contributing directly to economic growth. There is a positive correlation between the rate of investment in advertising and GDP growth in major markets. Countries that spend little in advertising are also those where economic growth is the weakest.