Page 500 - Foundations of Marketing

Advertising and Public Relations | Chapter 16 467

because consumers tend to recall the visual portions of advertisements better than the ver-
bal portions. Advertisers use a variety of illustration techniques. They may show the product
alone, in a setting, or in use, or show the results of the product’s use. For instance, the Jaguar
advertisement shows the Jaguar in its elegance and style in an artistic photo. It also provides
a description of the design of the 2012 Jaguar XFR and uses a headline, body copy, and sig-
nature to describe the exclusivity and power behind the vehicle. Illustrations can also take the
form of comparisons, contrasts, diagrams, and testimonials.
The layout of an advertisement is the physical arrangement of the illustration and the copy
(headline, subheadline, body copy, and signature). These elements can be arranged in many
ways. The final layout is the result of several stages of layout preparation. As it moves through
these stages, the layout promotes an exchange of ideas among people developing the advertis-
ing campaign and provides instructions for production personnel.

Executing the Campaign

Execution of an advertising campaign requires extensive planning and coordination, because
many tasks must be completed on time and several people and firms are involved. Production
companies, research organizations, media firms, printers, and commercial artists are just a few
of the people and firms contributing to a campaign.
Implementation requires detailed schedules to ensure that various phases of the work are
done on time. Advertising management personnel must evaluate the quality of the work and
take corrective action when necessary. After sales of Planters nut products decreased between
2005 and 2010, the company decided to revise its Mr. Peanut mascot. The silent human-
sized Mr. Peanut had changed little over the years and had lost his appeal. Planters responded
by making the mascot smaller and giving him a voice, provided by American actor Robert
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Downey Jr. Sales began to increase after the new Mr. Peanut began marketing products. In
some instances, changes are made during the campaign so it meets objectives more effectively.
For example, an auto company focusing on gas mileage may need to add more information
relative to the competition to achieve its objectives.

Evaluating Advertising Effectiveness
A variety of ways exist to test the effectiveness of advertising. They include measuring
achievement of advertising objectives; assessing effectiveness of copy, illustrations, or lay-
outs; and evaluating certain media.
Advertising can be evaluated before, during, and after the campaign. An evaluation per-
formed before the campaign begins is called a pretest . A pretest usually attempts to evaluate
the effectiveness of one or more elements of the message. To pretest advertisements, market-
ers sometimes use a consumer jury , a panel of existing or potential buyers of the advertised
product. Jurors judge one or several dimensions of two or more advertisements. Such tests
are based on the belief that consumers are more likely than advertising experts to know what
influences them. Companies can also solicit the assistance of marketing research firms, such
as Information Resources Inc. (IRI), to help assess ads.
To measure advertising effectiveness during a campaign, marketers usually rely on “inqui-
ries” or responses. In a campaign’s initial stages, an advertiser may use several advertisements
simultaneously, each containing a coupon, form, toll-free phone number, QR code, social
media site, or website through which potential customers can request information. The adver- layout The physical arrange-
tiser records the number of inquiries or responses returned from each type of advertisement. ment of an advertisement’s
If an advertiser receives 78,528 inquiries from advertisement A, 37,072 from advertisement illustration and copy
B, and 47,932 from advertisement C, advertisement A is judged superior to advertisements pretest Evaluation of adver-
B and C. Internet advertisers can also assess how many people “clicked” on an ad to obtain tisements performed before a
more product information. The outdoor advertising industry has created a system called “Eyes campaign begins
On” to determine the audiences likely to see an ad, with demographic and ethnographic data consumer jury A panel of a
included. Previous measurement systems used “Daily Effective Circulation,” which essen- product’s existing or potential
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tially evolved around traffic counts, not on interested audiences. buyers who pretest ads

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