Advertising Final

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTSIING

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INTRODUCTION

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 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 ADVERTISING

The 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.

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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

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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.

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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 advertisement

BENEFITS 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.

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CHAPTER 2

INTERNET & ADVERTISING

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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.

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CHAPTER 3

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

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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:

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Mission

First 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.

Money

After 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.

Message

The 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

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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.

Media

Selecting 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.

Measurement

It 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-CYCLE

A 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:

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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.

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CHAPTER 4

MEDIA

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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)

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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.

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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)

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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 BUDGET

The 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.

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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 product’s 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 RESEARCH

Advertising 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.

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CHAPTER 5

ADVERTSING AND PEOPLE

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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 it’s so visible, advertising gets criticized frequently, for both what it is and what

it isn’t. Many of the criticisms focus on the style of advertising, saying it’s 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 it’s so visible, advertising gets criticized frequently,

for both what it is and what it isn’t. Many of the criticisms focus on the style of

advertising, saying it’s 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.

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The Effect of Advertising on Our Value System

A related long-term argument, often voiced by certain professional critics—sociologists,

journalists, consumer advocates, and government regulators—is that advertising degrades

people’s 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

don’t 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 groups—that 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 it’s 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.

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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 researcher’s 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,

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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

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CHAPTER 6

CASE STUDY

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A CASE STUDY ON THE ADVERTISING STRATEGY OF ‘ASIAN

PAINTS’

Background of the company

Asian 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 market

Asian 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 Paints

The 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

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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 their

houses 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 India

but 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.

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His ad which has a 'phirki' a top the Asian paints container is imagery

which people of that region would easily identify with.

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Asian Paints Royale

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Here 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.

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Emotional connection with the customers

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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

CONCLUSION

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The 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 company’s mascot “Gattu” (created by the

cartoonist R.K.Lakshman in 1954) created to give an ethnic touch – has almost become

synonymous with generic product.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Advertising – Michael Vaz

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