ADVERTISING

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTSIING

INTRODUCTIONAdvertising is virtually everywhere in daily life, and its forms and roles are both contested and admired. Some see advertising as both the mirror and the maker of culture: its words and images reflect the present and the past even as they contribute new sounds and symbols that shape the future. Others say that advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose: to sell. But most of the people agree on the fact that advertising creates "magic in the marketplace." Advertising can be defined as a paid, non personal communication of information about product or ideas by an identified sponsor through the mass media in an effort to persuade or influence behavior. Advertising is non personal as it's directed to groups of people rather than to specific individuals. Speaking in broad term advertising communicates information about products or ideas.

DEFINITION OF ADVERTISINGThe American Marketing Association defines Advertising as Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.

According to William F. Arens Advertising is the structured and composed non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services, and ideas) by indentified sponsors through various media.Advertising is virtually everywhere in daily life, and its forms and roles are both contested and admired. Some see advertising as both the mirror and the maker of culture: its words and images reflect the present and the past even as they contribute new sounds and symbols that shape the future. Others say that advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose: to sell. But most of the people agree on the fact that advertising creates "magic in the marketplace." Advertising is non personal as it's directed to groups of people rather than to specific individuals. Speaking in broad term advertising communicates information about products or ideas.

EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING

Over the centuries, the evolution of advertising has been closely tied to social, economic and technological changes that have affected the media and the message. We would study the evolution of advertising under the following heads:

The Early Days: For centuries trades people attracted attention with public criers and pictorial signs. Some Greek and Roman traders also used signs to advertise their products, as people could not read. When Johann Gutenberg invented movable type and the printing press in Germany in the mid 1400s that printed materials could be mass-produced. This led to printed pamphlets being distributed and also some primitive forms of today's billboards.

The Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution and the subsequent shift from rural to urban centres and the widening of the gap between producers and the consumers, the businesses turned to advertising quickly to reach out their potential customers.

Technological Changes: During and after the Industrial Revolution, technological advance changed both the speed and form of communication. This can be attributed to the fact that photography was invented and along with telegraph, telephone, typewriter, phonograph, and motion pictures opened up new avenues for personal and business communication. However, the inventions of radio and television changed the face of advertising forever as print and electronic media expanded the use and impact of advertising. We discuss a few of them in brief: Print Media: This would include the magazines and the newspapers. Today's newspapers and magazines offer advertisers the flexibility of targeting the audience ranging from a small local area to the whole nation or the continent. By the dawn of the twentieth century, advertising had become a social and economic fixture in the U.S. and U.K. and all the magazines and newspapers were being filled by ads of different companies and varied products. Today also the print media is an effective mode of advertisement.

Electronic Media: The electronic media would include radio and the television. The advent of the radio allowed the advertisers the liberty of using certain 'jingles' and music, which could be associated with their brand and product.

Whereas the television brought along the visuals along with the audio effects. This was a revolution and the print media found it being sidelined as far as advertising went. Talking of India, the Cable TV boom in the early nineties added to the choices available to the advertiser on a regional segment.

Growth of Advertising Organizations: Several advertising organizations came into existence during 20th century. These include Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) in 1914 in America and later on in other countries including India; Advertising Agencies Association of India in 1945, Advertising Agencies Association of America (AAAA) in 1917. These organizations gave an added impetus to the progress of advertising throughout the world.OBJECTIVES OF ADVERTISING To Create Awareness: One of the important objectives of advertising is to create awareness of the brand. Brand awareness is mostly required at the introductory stage.

To Build or Reinforce Attitude: Ads need to create, maintain and reinforce attitudes in the minds of target audience. The target audience should develop a favourable attitude towards the brand.

To Develop Brand Image: Advertising is a long-term investment to build brand image. Advertiser needs to develop intended image of the brand through effective advertising. The personalities used, the content of advertising message, the media selected etc. do help to build brand image.

To Educate the Audience : Some of the ads intend to educate the audience regarding the use of product, the handling operations, etc. Public awareness campaigns educate the citizens.

To Counter Competitors Claims: The advertisements often counter the claims made by the competitors. The advertisement usually claims the superiority of the brand in the advertisementBENEFITS OF ADVERTISING

Advertising works for the advantage of various parties. Advertising helps the manufacturer at the introductory stage as well as at the subsequent stages, and build a brand image which helps the manufacturer prosper in the market. It also facilitates proper promotion and distribution of the product. It is also beneficial to the retailers. The point of purchase displays act as an effective tool of advertising to promote goods in the stores. It also makes selling much easier for the retailers.

It also works to the benefit of the consumers. Advertising is the primary source of information about the product to the consumer. It also keeps the consumers reminding about the product. Advertising also inculcates competition which eventually benefits the consumer as they get better quality goods. Also it saves lot for the consumer during the actual buying process.CHAPTER 2

INTERNET & ADVERTISING

THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNET

Internet is fast changing the way people used to do things. Naturally, the same would have an impact on the advertisers. The Internet has been accepted as the most powerful media for advertising due to the absence of geographical barriers. The advent of the Internet and its subsequent acceptance has once again challenged the traditional forms of advertising.

Advertisers are trying to use the 'net' to advertise their products and hence 'net' their customers. Thus, with the Internet gaining prominence, advertising equations are fast changing and we, in the subsequent chapters, would like to study the impact of Internet on advertising from the customers as well as advertisers point of view.

Advertising on the Internet has certain unique features that differentiate it from other forms of advertising. Member registration helps to create database. Such a database may be used to design promotional campaigns

Opinion polls are conducted to obtain the responses from users regarding the firms' products and services

Regular newsletters are sent especially to registered users. These contain information about current updations on the site and activities being performed by the company

Contests are useful in attracting new users to websites

Coupons are used to promote sales off-line. Sending discount coupons for the products and services of the company on special occasions can do this.

CHAPTER 3

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN MARKETING MIX

Advertising and Product: A product is normally a set of physical elements such as shape, size colour, and other features. Buyers must be informed and educated on various aspects of the product. This can be effectively done through advertising. Advertising and Price: The price is the exchange value of the product. If the quality of the product is very high, then naturally the product is priced high, and the buyers may not be willing to buy the product. Advertising can convince buyers regarding the superiority of the brand and thus its value for money. This is usually done by associating the product with prestigious people, situations, or events.

Advertising and Place: Place refers to physical distribution and the stores where goods are available. Advertising is of great significance when it comes to facilitating distribution and market expansion. Advertising helps in informing the buyers about the availability of the product.

Advertising and Promotion: Promotion consists of advertising, publicity, personal selling and sales promotion techniques. Every seller needs effective promotion to survive and succeed in this competitive business world.

FIVE M's OF ADVERTISING

Advertising is an important promotional tool for any marketing campaign. So much so that whenever we think of marketing we think of advertising although it is just one of the marketing tools. Today the marketing manager has a range of advertising options to choose from - from interpersonal communication to Internet. Deciding on a correct option calls for detailed analysis aspects like objective behind advertising (Mission), company's earmarked budget (Money), content of communication through advertising (Message), advertising vehicle (Media) and impact of advertising (Measurement). These can be broadly classified in as the five Ms of advertising: MissionFirst of all the marketing manager must be clear on the company's purpose for advertising. "Increase in sales figure" will be a very broad and to a certain extent a vague objective. According to Mr. Philip Kotler, a renowned authority in this field, there can be three possible objectives behind advertising: Information - When a new product is launched, the purpose should only be to inform people about the product.

Persuasion Persuading people to actually go out and buy the product. This objective is of paramount importance because of cutthroat competition. Any advertisement must be persuasive in nature, attracting consumers towards the brand.

Reminder - This objective is relevant for well-established companies. These types of advertisements only try to remind the consumer of the brand existence. MoneyAfter the objective has been decided upon, the next step is to decide upon the budget. There are several methods for deciding on the advertising budget. The most common among them is percentage of sales method. Under this method, a certain percentage of sales are allotted for advertising expenditure. Though this method is used widely, there are some problems with this method. The first issue is what percentage the company should take? Even if a company somehow decides a percentage figure, this would mean increase in advertising expenditure when sales are up and less spending when sales are down. This in some ways is quite paradoxical, because logically the reverse should happen. The company needs to spend more on advertising when sales are down. But this method uses circular reasoning and views sales as cause for promotion! In fact sales are a result of promotion. MessageThe message, that company wants to convey, should be put in a manner that will arouse interest. Moreover it should convincingly highlight upon the product's USP. What is said is definitely important but what is more important is how it is said. The tone should be appealing. Words used should be catchy and retentive (memorable). These days both electronic as well as print media are overflowing with ads. People have no time to read or see them, and therefore they have to be attractive enough to catch the target audience's attention awareness and consequently brand preference. MediaSelecting the proper media vehicle for communicating the message goes a long way in the success of any kind of advertising. Each media vehicle has its positive and negative points, with a different reach and impact. Therefore, a company has to be very clear about its target audience. Choices available are Internet, television, newspapers, magazines, direct mails, radio and hoardings. MeasurementIt is necessary that effectiveness of any advertising be judged. Only on the basis of this measurement, can further decisions regarding continuation or termination of the particular advertising campaign be taken. An ad can be judged on the basis of its reach and impact on sales. Good advertising is one that generates brand awareness and consequently brand preference.

Thus a systematic and balanced understanding of these five Ms of advertising (Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement) will help in designing better advertising campaigns that create a favourable impact on the target audience.ROLE OF ADVERTISING IN PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLEA product like people has a life cycle. A product is subject to ups and downs during its life cycles. A product passes through 5 stages namely: Development: At this stage the company invests in R&D and the product may be test marketed. If the company is sure of introduction of the product in the market, then it may undertake advertising to generate interest in consumers and dealers. Introduction: The product enters the market at this stage. At this stage sales pick up slowly. To ensure the survival or to enhance the sales, it is very much necessary to develop brand awareness. Advertising at this stage plays a vital role in creating brand awareness and ensures smooth distribution of goods. This stage requires heavy advertising and promotion expenditure. Growth: During this stage, the product is poised for growth. The product survives competition in the market. This might be due to efficient marketing and advertising strategy. The intensive and extensive advertising brings new customers and it rapidly Maturity: At this stage the product is well settled in the market along with the competitors. The brand is well known and the customer is made more brand conscious. At this stage expenditure on advertising is made to ensure and maintain present position. It is called retentive advertising. Decline: In the last stage, sales decline due to the entry of new and improved products or due to change in consumer preferences or habits. Sales continue to fall and they continue to fall below the level where it is no longer profitable to continue. The manufacturer many modify or withdraw the product. In this stage advertising plays an insignificant role in keeping the product or brand alive in the minds of loyal users.

CHAPTER 4

MEDIA

VARIOUS MEDIA

The various media are the non-personal channels of communication that people have invented and used and continue to use. These include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards, transit cards, sandwich boards, skywriting, posters, anything that aids communicating in non-personal way ideas from one person or group to another person or group. Thus, to repeat "Advertising is the non-personal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media. Pros & Cons Pros

1) Flexibility allows focusing on a small, precisely defined segment (School newspapers) or a mass market.

2) Cost efficient-reach a large number at a low cost per person, allows the message to be repeated, and can improve public image.

3) Allows for repeating the message-lets the buyer receive and compare the messages of various competitors.

4) Very expressive, allows for dramatization.

5) Also used to build a long-term image of a product.

6) Trigger quick sales, Sears advertising a weekend sale.

Cons

1) Absolute Rs outlay very high, make a national TV ad. Approx 150,000, local ad. 60,000. 30 second spot, Superbowl 1.1 m 1995

2) Rarely provides quick feedback, or necessarily any feedback

3) Less persuasive than personal selling

4) Audience does not have to pay attention

5) Indirect feedback (without interactivity)

MEDIA PLANNING

Media Planning is a very important component of the marketing Strategy of an organization. Media Planning is defined as "Process of designing a scheduling plan that shows how advertising time and space in selected media and vehicles contribute to the achievement of marketing objectives in an advertising campaign". Media planning, in general terms, is a tool that allows the advertiser to select the most appropriate media to communicate the message in sufficient frequency towards the maximum number of potential customers at the lowest cost. The two most basic words in Media Planning are:

Medium: A medium is a carrier and deliverer of Advertisements. It is a broad general category of carries such as Newspapers, Television, Radio, Internet, Outdoor, Direct Mail, etc.

Vehicle: It is a specific carrier within a Media category. So a Zee TV would be the vehicle in the category of TV. Many a time a specific programs or sections within a medium may be termed as a vehicle.

TYPES OF MEDIA USED IN ADVERTISING

Traditional or Mass Media: TV, Radio.-Idea to reach large audience.

Niche Media: Cable TV, Direct mail, etc.-Reach the target audience with specific demographics, narrowly defined target audience.

Non-Conventional Media: Internet.

MEDIA PLANNING PROCEDURE

As mentioned earlier, Media planning is a component of the Marketing strategy of the organization. Therefore, marketing considerations must precede Media Planning. Media planning on the whole answers a lot of questions like "How many prospects do I need to Reach? "In which medium should I place the Ads? etc.

In the media strategy the target audience must be defined more clearly and thoroughly.

Target audience and advertisement must fit each other.

Kind of argumentation, aesthetics, used language etc.

Appropriate prominent endorsers (e.g., Shah Rukh Khan for Pepsi)

Advertising might communicate to different target audiences with different objectives, e.g., Increase product sales in group 14-29, Increase brand awareness and image in group 30+

Reaching target audiences by mass media advertising means: matching...

Target audience of advertisement and

Factual audience of vehicle

SOME ESSENTIAL TERMS IN MEDIA PLANNING

The main objectives of Advertising are: Inform Persuade and Remind. Media Planning is the subset of the Advertising Strategy, which in turn is the subset of the overall Marketing Strategy. In the field of Media Planning one encounters the following terms quite often: Reach: The proportion of the audience should be reached with the advertising message during a specified period. It is the number of different recipients exposed to at least one advertisement during the specified period of a campaign (usually four weeks) Frequency: How frequently are the recipients being exposed to message? In other words it is the average number of times an advertisement reaches each recipient in a given period. Weight: The amount of total advertising is needed to accomplish advertising objectives. Continuity: The amount of advertising budget being allocated over the period. There are basic types of ways in which the advertising budget is allocated: Continuous Scheduling, Pulsing and Flighting. ADVERTISING BUDGETThe term advertising budget in essence in nothing but planning the advertising expenditure. Advertising budget helps in keeping a check on advertising expenditure, provides direction for drafting of ads, helps in media selection etc.

The advertising budget is usually prepared by the advertising agency depending upon the clients requirement. Once the budget is prepared, the approval of the client i.e. the top management of the company is taken, and is revised if it needs to be.

There are various factors that determine the ad budget. These factors include objective of the ad campaign which may be creating brand awareness over a large market area, or to create brand awareness over a limited area. Competitor's ad budget, Type of target audience i.e. if the target audience belongs to the lower income group then there is no need to go for expensive computer graphics, rich locations etc and therefore the budget amount will be lower than otherwise, Frequency of ads, Type of media i.e. for example if the advertiser makes use of the broadcast media then the budget will be higher than compared to the use of newspaper , Type of product which may be cosmetics, textiles, toothpaste, soaps etc i.e. FMCG products require more advertising compared to industrial products.

Product life cycle, i.e. the five stages of the product namely development, introductory, growth, maturity and decline. Introduction of the product requires huge sums of money because the healthier the introductory stage, the longer will be the products life. Size of market area, and most importantly availability of funds, increases the sales. Repeat purchases are made and buyers become loyal. Profits and sales starts increasing and opens more distribution avenues and intensifies advertising.ADVERTISING RESEARCHAdvertising research can be defined as the systematic gathering, recording and analysis of date relating to the various aspects of advertising. To achieve maximum effectiveness of advertising it is necessary that the advertised message should reach effectively to the greatest number of prospects at the minimum possible cost.

Advertising research helps in identifying the target audience, in devising a proper media mix, revealing the Unique Selling Point (USP), helps in proper media planning, minimizing errors, selection of the right agency, creating a competitive advertisement etc.

CHAPTER 5

ADVERTSING AND PEOPLE

THE MYTH OF ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS

It's ironic that advertising can be so expensive while yielding such poor results. The argument made by the proponents of advertising is almost pathetically simple-minded: If you can measure the benefits of advertising on your business, advertising works; if you can't, then your measurements aren't good enough. Or you need more ads. Or you need a different type of ad. It's much the same type of rationalization put forth by the proponents of making yourself rich by visualizing yourself as being prosperous.

Paradoxically, even though some small-business owners are beginning to realize that advertising doesn't work, many still advertise.

Why? For a number of reasons: because they have been conditioned to believe that advertising works, because there are no other models to follow, and because bankers expect to see "advertising costs" as part of a business proposal. It's important to real wed. You've heard countless times that advertising works. To look at advertising objectively may require you to re-examine some deeply held beliefs.

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF ADVERTISING

Because its so visible, advertising gets criticized frequently, for both what it is and what it isnt. Many of the criticisms focus on the style of advertising, saying its deceptive or manipulative. Collectively we might refer to these as short-term manipulative arguments. Other criticisms focus on the social or environmental impact of advertising. These are long-term macro arguments. Because its so visible, advertising gets criticized frequently, for both what it is and what it isnt. Many of the criticisms focus on the style of advertising, saying its deceptive or manipulative. Collectively we might refer to these as short-term manipulative arguments. Other criticisms focus on the social or environmental impact of advertising. These are long-term macro arguments. The Effect of Advertising on Our Value System

A related long-term argument, often voiced by certain professional criticssociologists, journalists, consumer advocates, and government regulatorsis that advertising degrades peoples value systems by promoting a hedonistic, materialistic way of life. Advertising, they say, encourages us to buy more cars, more CDs, more clothing, and more junk we dont need. It is destroying the essence of our citizen democracy, replacing it with a self-oriented consumer democracy. Critics claim advertising manipulates us into buying things by playing on our emotions and promising greater status, social acceptance, and sex appeal. It causes people to take up harmful habits, makes poor kids buy expensive sneakers, and tempts ordinary people to buy useless products in the vain attempt to emulate celebrity endorsers. They claim advertising is so powerful consumers are helpless to defend themselves against it. The very amount of advertising we witness every day seems to suggest that every problem we have can be solved by the purchase of some product.

The Use of Stereotypes in Advertising

Advertising has long been criticized for insensitivity to minorities, women, immigrants, the disabled, the elderly, and a myriad of other groupsthat is, for not being politically correct. This long-term argument also addresses externalities because the very presence of advertising affects the nature of our culture and environment, even when we do not want it.

Since the 1980s, national advertisers have become more sensitive to the concerns of minorities and women. Latinos, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and others are now usually portrayed favourably in ads, not only because of pressure from watchdog groups, but also because its just good business; these consumers represent sizable target markets. In national advertising, the image of women is also changing from their historic depiction as either subservient housewives This may be partially due to the increasing number of women in managerial and executive positions with both advertisers and agencies.

EVALUATING ADVERTISEMENT EFFECTIVENSS

Evaluating advertising effectiveness refers to the process of finding out the effect of advertising i.e. whether it will or it has achieved the advertising objectives. The advertiser may undertake pre-tests to fins out whether the advertisement will be in a position to achieve its objectives. These tests are conducted before the campaign in launched in the market. The advertiser may conduct post-tests to find out whether the ad campaign has achieved its objectives. These tests are conducted during the running of the ad campaign or after the completion of the ad campaign.The pre-tests help in finding out the communication effect, technical errors, the effect and impression of the ad, and helps in reduction of wastage in advertising. This method includes: Check List Method : it is the simplest method of testing. The list contains items that are commonly found in all types of ads. The researchers job is to put a tick mark against the item appearing in the ad. Consumer Jury Test: A group of consumers is selected to obtain the preference for one or two out of many being considered by the advertiser. The jury members are asked to rate the ads, and are asked various questions like which of these ads would you notice first, which of these ads interest you the most, which of these ads can be easily read and understood which of these ads are more believable etc. First the members of the jury are selected, then the ad and the questionnaire is prepared, and then the test is conducted by showing the ads to the jury members, and then they are asked to fill the questionnaire. Then the reports are analyzed, and ad is selected and the campaign is run, and finally the review is obtained. Sales-Area-Test : In this method, an ad campaign is run on a small scale to find out its effectiveness before running the ad over the entire market,The post-tests helps in finding whether the ad has been seen, read or heard, if the ad was understood by the target audience, finding out the relative effectiveness of the ad, impact of the models or personalities and the appeals, and finally, if the audience believed the claims made in the ad. This method includes: Recall Test: In this method the audience is requested to recollect the ads which they read, heard or saw. The interviewer may request the respondent to recall the personality which endorses the brand, the illustration used, the type of location used for filming the ad etc. This test is conducted to find out the depth of impression which an ad leaves on the minds of the audience. Readership Test Attitude Measure Test

Inquiry Technique

Sales Technique

CHAPTER 6

CASE STUDYA CASE STUDY ON THE ADVERTISING STRATEGY OF ASIAN PAINTS

Background of the companyAsian Paints, established in 1942, is India's largest paint company and the third largest paint company in Asia. The company operates in 21 countries and has 29 paint manufacturing factories servicing 65 countries. The company operates several subsidiaries such as Berger International Limited, Apco Coatings, SCIB Paints and Taubmans. The company manufactures paints for decorative, industrial, and motor applications. Asian Paints produces a wide range of paints for decorative and industrial use. It services the automotive coatings segment through its alliance with PPG Industries USA. The alliance with Protech Chemcials, Canada, helps in catering to the powder coatings market.

Position in the marketAsian Paints is the market leader in the highly fragmented and highly competitive Indian paint Industry. Asian Paints realized the need for brand building even during sixties. The brand focused on mass and rural market. These efforts made the brand a leader during the late sixties. That was the result of the mass segmentation adopted by the brand. Rightly so because the industry was driven by channel driven promotions, building a brand at that time was" uncommon sense".Ad Campaign of Asian PaintsThe Asian Paints creative portfolio is handled largely by Ogilvy & Mather Advertising. The brand now has an iconic status in the industry thanks to some blockbuster big ideas from O&M. The brand once positioned as a mass market brand has evolved itself to a higher plane.

The campaign "Celebrate with Asian Paints" was launched after Asian Paints undertook a consumer research which revealed that Consumers felt that paints could change the mood of the space and it was a sign of festival and plenitude. From this insight came the campaign of Asian Paints associating itself with festivals.

The birth of a wonderful positioning strategy was created by O&M. The insight was that the brand is about people and homes and homes reflect the people living in it. Hence Har Ghar Kuch Kehta Hai" translated to Every Home has a story to tell". This campaign is a perfect example of a brand laddering up and connecting to a higher level in the mind of the customer. The campaigns reinforced the brand as a premium emotional brand.Along with the campaign Asian Paints also ran parallel ads for its sub brands. Saif Ali Khan endorsed the premium brand Royale. Asian paints Apcolite

The brand here is Asian paints Apcolite. The following ads were placed in different regions in India, depending on the popularity of the particular festival.The target audience here is that certain class of people, Hindus mostly who paint theirhouses every year during festive occasions. The ads relate to three festivals that is Holi, Diwali and Uttarayan. These are the ads with which any Indian can easily relate with as these use those festivals which are the most celebrated and awaited for. For example, though Uttarayan or kite flying festival is observed in most parts of Indiabut is predominant in the West (Gujarat & Maharasthra). Here, during the kite flying festival he 'phirki' is rested on an open can, with 'U' shaped grooves ut in at either end. So thatthe 'phirki' is free to move. This is done for the ease of flying kites single-handedly. His ad which has a 'phirki' a top the Asian paints container is imagerywhich people of that region would easily identify with.

Asian Paints RoyaleHere the brand is Asian Paints Royale. The following ads show that the paint does not whither off with time that is it means from 1902 to 2006 the paint has not been discoloured it is in the same way as it was when it was first applied.

Emotional connection with the customers

Asian Paints wanted to stimulate a deeper emotional connection for customers with different paint colors. Using mobile interactivity as an integral part of the creative for the nationwide television campaign helped achieve this.A SMS based contest element was added to the television campaign creative. Consumers were asked the question What is the color of love? they were then asked to SMS Red, Blue or yellow to the short code 3636 to participate in the contest.Over an 8 week period the campaign generated over 9000 SMS responses

CONCLUSIONThe ads are strategic in nature, being a part of the Asian Paints campaign promoting Asian Paints as the brand with the largest range of colours and one that will satisfy the consumer and is able to give him precisely what he wants. The advertising through the campaign is single-minded and focussed in its proposition, communication and target audience.At the time, Asian Paints had 13 brands with over 1,100 shades, targeting different niches. They were beginning to realise that though some brands like Apex emulsions, Royale interior emulsion, Apcolite and Touch Wood had high recall; none except Tractor distemper were almost generic. Therefore, they decided to promote the corporate image and the various brands under their umbrella brand Asian Paints through their communication, pushing the generic Asian Paints brand instead of pumping in investment on individual brands. This leveraged on the advantage that Asian Paints was the one company in this low-involvement segment where people actually asked for the paint by brand, breaking away from the earlier tradition where consumers were not known to be very brand-conscious in this low-involvement segment and, more often than not, relied on what the painter bought for them within the budget allocated, being more specific about the colour than its source. Advertising reflected different cultures to connect with consumers in their own language. In the South it was Pongal while Diwali in the North. The success of Asian paints is primarily attributed to the marketing acumen. The company has made excellent use of electronic and print media, besides publishing informative brochures for all its products. The companys mascot Gattu (created by the cartoonist R.K.Lakshman in 1954) created to give an ethnic touch has almost become synonymous with generic product.

BIBLIOGRAPHYAdvertising Michael Vaz

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