Advertising Principles & Practice // Week 8

19.10.2016 // Week 8
Chia Yee Hsean (0322352)
Advertising Principles & Practice
Exercise: Idea Sketches, and 
Project 2: Advertising Campaign (Part 1) - Media Strategy

Lecture: Advertising Message and Choice of Media

This week's lecture touched on the relationship between the advertising message and the choice of media. It also happened to be the last formal lecture of the semester. The term "media" refers to the main communication channels (television, radio, and newspapers) regarded collectively. Meanwhile, the media strategy describes how advertisers will achieve the stated media objectives: which media will be used, where, how often and when; is a process of analyzing and choosing media for an advertising campaign. This media strategy is one of the many components of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). 

There also have been instances where the message is dependent on the medium, as the choice of medium affects how the message is perceived. Thus, the phrase "the medium is the message" by Marshal McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived.

With all these in mind, a media mix would be strategic in effectively relaying the advertising message. The development of this media strategy is in turn affected by the following aspects:

1. Market - refers to the various targets of the media plan: trade and consumer audiences; global, national, regional audiences; ethnic and socioeconomic groups; or other stakeholders. Understanding it will help companies/brands identify and appeal to the target audience.

2. Money - decisions are made on the kind of media and the geographical, demographical, behavioral, and psychographic focus of the message. The budget (and market research) will determine the medium and affects the way the message is crafted.

3. Media - The media mix should gracefully incorporate the advertising message, as well as complement each other. Therefore the message (idea) has to be flexible in so that it can be used across different media types or marketing communications.

4. Mechanics - Radio and TV ads come in a variety of timeslots and print ads come in different sizes and styles. The choice of timing and type of newspaper coincides with the type of market/audience, which then influences the advertising message to a degree. 

5. Methodology - The advertising message is designed according to the weight, reach and frequency. Weight; how strong the message should be driven to the target audience, reach; how far and wide (geographic) but also where and when, frequency; how often. 

Outcomes of the lecture:

• Understood the definition of media strategy, Integrated Market Communication (IMC), and media mix.
• Understood how the medium can be the message; the symbiosis between the advertising message and its media
• Learnt about the 5 M's, factors affecting the development of the media strategy

In-class activity

We were challenged to work as a group and create a logo to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between New Zealand and Malaysia, based on the competition brief below. So, we created mind maps of symbols and icons associated with both countries in an attempt to unite the two into a logo. We tried different approaches and combinations, although we didn't have a final logo at the end of the session.

Times Weekly Forum

In your own words, briefly explain the difference and similarities between Integrated Marketing Communications and Media Mix.

The Media mix is the combination of all the communication channels the company/brand uses to achieve its marketing objective. The media mix typically includes print ads, newspaper and radio ads, and is carefully selected to reach its target audience. The timing of these different channels should complement each other and help create the most positive impact on consumers.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) also touches on these media mix and shares the concept of coordinating many components to achieve the same goal. However, it would be better known as the overarching strategy/plan that governs the marketing of a brand/product, from all aspects including sales promotions, advertising, and public relations, among others. The IMC coordinates all these components to achieve the main marketing objective. The IMC also seeks to build and strengthen the relations between the company and consumer as well as maintain those relationships through the aforementioned aspects which are corporate image, advertising tools (e.g. advertising media), promotional tools (e.g. sponsorship programs), and integrated tools.

Instructions

Exercise: Idea Sketches

Project 2

Exercise
I've selected the stick animals idea for my advertising campaign under the suggestion/advice of Mr Vinod. With this, I conclude the idea sketches assignment with the final 5 visuals for the ad campaign:

Reflection

Experience: The lecture was relevant to our current assignment and we all took mental notes of the lecture. We also banded together to help our classmate, Nurjanna, come up with headlines for her idea sketches.

Observation: I noticed I have been inattentive and slow to respond for this week's class, which is causing me to forget details of the class.

Findings: I'm probably just tired and feeling a little overwhelmed from other stuff happening outside class. I'll soon have to get crunching though, and make good progress on my assignments. Will try to take things one at a time, be more mindful, and just BE IN THE NOW. ((aggressively tries to be positive))

Book of The Week 

I recently borrowed “ Advertising by Design: Generating and Designing Creative Ideas Across Media” by Robin Landa to learn more about the concepts and mechanisms of effective advertising campaigns. 

According to the book, an advertising campaign is a series of coordinated ads, based on an overarching strategy and closely related ideas and connected by look and feel, voice, tone, style, imagery, and tagline, where each individual ad can also stand on its own. This would require the ad campaign have a distinct core idea, and underlying central concept, hence our assignments in this module. 

The campaign should reveal a story about the brand. In marketing, they use storytelling to communicate related messages that, over a period of time, will distinguish, differentiate, reflect positively, construct or contribute to its brand personality. 

The author also included a list of what makes a good ad campaign. A few highlights are:

- viewers will notice it.

- it is distinctive to the brand

- it differentiates the brand or group

- it endears the brand to the public

- it strikes a chord in its target audience

The book offers very helpful, specific information and suggestions for advertisers, which is great for students like us working on a particular kind of assignment (hah!). I’ll probably continue reading this book for reference and sagely advice.