MarketingManagement.pdf

or more brands.^2 The Burger King Corporation used comparative advertising for

its attack on McDonald’s (Burger King’s burgers are flame-broiled; McDonald’s are

fried). Schering-Plough claimed that “New OcuClear relieves three times longer

than Visine.” A company should make sure it can prove its claim of superiority

and cannot be counterattacked in a vulnerable area. Comparative advertising

works best when it elicits cognitive and affective motivations simultaneously.^3

■ Reminder advertisingis important with mature products. Expensive four-color
Coca-Cola ads in magazines are intended to remind people to purchase Coca-
Cola. A related form of advertising is reinforcement advertising, which seeks to as-
sure current purchasers that they have made the right choice. Automobile ads
often depict satisfied customers enjoying special features of their new car.

The advertising objective should emerge from a thorough analysis of the current
marketing situation. If the product class is mature, the company is the market leader,
and brand usage is low, the proper objective should be to stimulate more usage. If the
product class is new, the company is not the market leader, but the brand is superior
to the leader, then the proper objective is to convince the market of the brand’s su-
periority.

DECIDING ON THE ADVERTISING BUDGET

How does a company know if it will be spending the right amount? If it spends too
little, the effect will be negligible. If it spends too much, then some of the money
could have been put to better use. Some critics charge that large consumer-packaged-
goods firms tend to overspend on advertising as a form of insurance against not spend-
ing enough, and that industrial companies underestimate the power of company and
product image building and tend to underspend on advertising.^4
Advertising has a carryover effect that lasts beyond the current period. Although
advertising is treated as a current expense, part of it is really an investment that
builds up an intangible asset called brand equity. When $5 million is spent on capi-
tal equipment, the equipment may be treated as a five-year depreciable asset and
only one-fifth of the cost is written off in the first year. When $5 million is spent
on advertising to launch a new product, the entire cost must be written off in the
first year. This treatment of advertising reduces the company’s reported profit and
therefore limits the number of new-product launches a company can undertake in
any one year.^579

MESSAGE

• Message generation


• Message evaluation
  and selection


• Message execution


• Social-responsibility
  review MEASUREMENT
  
  
  • Communication impact
  
  
  • Sales impact
  
  
  
  

MONEY

Factors to consider:

• Stage in PLC


• Market share and
  consumer base


• Competition and clutter


• Advertising frequency


• Product substitutability

MISSION

• Sales goals


• Advertising objectives MEDIA
  
  
  • Reach, frequency, impact
  
  
  • Major media types
  
  
  • Specific media vehicles
  
  
  • Media timing
  
  
  • Geographical media
    allocation
  
  
  
  

FIGURE 5-10

The Five Ms of Advertising