Process Of Planning The Advertising Campaign free essay sample

The campaign planning is the joint effort of both the advertiser and his ad Agency. The advertiser supplies much information about the product, the channel of distribution, competition the product, and the firm. The agency may collect other information from the market, in respect of target audience etc. Advertising campaign planning simply means planning the advertising campaign. Advertising campaign planning concerns many people in the advertising agency, but mainly concerns the advertising manager (for the client), account executive, marketing manager, creative director, media planner, and PR manager. They design and plan advertising campaign for the client. Steps in Advertising Campaign Planning : The main steps in advertising campaign planning are as follows : 1. Prototype Stage : Let us assume that a manufacturer has the prototype of a new product. The basic product has been thoroughly tested, but the packaging has not been determined, it has no name, no price, and perhaps no defined market. We will write a custom essay sample on Process Of Planning The Advertising Campaign or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In some respects this seems to contradict modern marketing principles. This situation is not uncommon. The company now wish to advertise its new product and appoints an advertising agency and calls it to explore the possibilities to promote the sales. 2. Initial Briefing by Client : The most likely procedure is for the managing director to ask his advertising manager to fix up a meeting with the account executive of the advertising agency. This first meeting may be held at the factory, at the company? s head office, or at the advertising agency. Probably the best venue will be where the account executive can see the product and meet the people who have been involved in its development. The factory might be the best place, but much depends on how the company is organized. For this initial discussion, the right choice of venue can be important to the account executive? s clear understanding of the proposition. It can be dangerous for the advertising agency to start off on the wrong foot because of inadequate or faulty interpretation of policy and problems. The need then is for best possible understanding at the beginning. This is the joint responsibility of the advertising manager and the account executive. Contact Report : Whenever a meeting has been held with a client a contact report should be written at once and circulated to all those present at the meeting, with additional copies for others not in attendance who should be informed, both inside the company and inside the agency. The importance of a contact report lies in its confirmation of agreed action, so that nothing depends on people? s memories, and if it is submitted directly after the event it serves to remind of necessary action that must be taken by people present at the meeting. Agreed contact reports, when placed in a file or binder as instructions to proceed, may be referred to as the facts book. Should a dispute occur, reference can be made to the respective contact report: at the end of the year these reports from the basis of a report to the client on the year? s work. 4. Account Executive? s Report to Agency Management : The account executive will also give his superiors the account director and perhaps the agency managing director a verbal report. If new business is coming into the agency it may be necessary to make changes in the deployment of staff, engage extra staff, and consider the use or expansion of equipment and premises. 5. Account Executive? s Briefing to Agency Department Heads : The account executive now writes up a detailed, factual but as far as possible unbiased report on the assignment, setting out his understanding of the product and the client? s requirements. In this report he should try to avoid expressing any personal observations because the object is to inform others whose ideas and opinions are being sought. Each department head is asked to study the report and to attend a plans board meeting. 6. Proposition : At this stage, the account executive invites the managing director of the client company to attend a meeting at which the scheme is presented in report form with a presentation of ideas in rough visual form. At this meeting the client party may consist of the managing director, marketing manager, sales manager and advertising manager and the members of the agency party may include the account director, account executive and the marketing director. Once the scheme is approved and adopted in principle the agency will be instructed to prepare a full visual presentation at the client? s expense. Now, the agency will engage in actual copywriting, photography and drawing. Detailed media scheduling will now be done by the media buyer. 7. Presentation to Client : At this stage the complete campaign is demonstrated to the client. The campaign is presented visually. Advertising campaign planning must be flexible. Moreover, at such a meeting with the client there will be a number of company directors and  executives present who disagree with one another as well as with the agency over what makes an advertising campaign. Everyone likes to argue about advertising! The account executive, supported by the advertising manager in deal circumstances, must sell his campaign on the basis of sales and readership figures of publications, show the results of copy testing, and offer alternative media plans with evidence of the reasoning behind them. Much of the comment and criticism from the client side will often represent arguments which were considered and rejected in the agency much earlier. This has to be expected, accepted courteously and gently dismissed by means by persuasive reasoning and statistics which reveal that the agency has really taken pains to produce not just a clever scheme but one based on businesslike thinking. Once the scheme has been approved, the account executive and his companions will return to the agency, ready to execute the campaign. At this stage when the media start buyers, creative staff, print buying production and traffic takeover, working under the direction of the account executive. 11. 2. 3 Factors Influencing the Planning of an Advertising Campaign. The Organisation its reputation, position in the market. 2. The product e. g. Consumer (Perishable, durable or speciality) goods, or industrial goods etc. 3. The market the nature of customers, their income, their buying behavior, and their location. 4. The competition. 5. The absolute price of the product, Competitor? s price etc. 6. The channels of distribution. 7. The budget, the advertising theme, etc. 8. The media, the advertising schedule etc. 9. The Govt. regulations and controls, restriction on certain products, restriction on certain media to carry out certain ads.