Chapter 6

Advertising Management

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Understand the steps of an effective advertising management process. 2. Study the roles that the company’s overall mission, its products, and its services play in advertising programs. 3. Recognize when to use an in-house advertising approach and when to go to an external advertising agency. 4. Review the steps of effective advertising campaign management programs. 5. Comprehend the functions performed by the advertising account manager and the advertising creative in preparing an advertising campaign.

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The average person is exposed to more than 600 advertisements per day. This situation represents a tremendous challenge for marketers. To be effective, an ad must first be noticed. Next, it must be remembered. Then, the message of the advertisement should incite some kind of action, such as a purchase, a shift in brand loyalty, or at least be stored in the buyer’s long-term memory.

This section deals with the role advertising plays in a completely integrated marketing communications program. This chapter focuses on advertising management, which lays the groundwork for the total advertising program. One key element in this process is to develop what is called the message theme. The message theme is an outline of key idea(s) that the advertising program is supposed to convey. The message theme should match the company’s overall marketing and IMC strategies.

Chapters 7 and 8 describe the advertising design process. Chapter 9 describes media selection. When these three tasks (message theme design, media selection, and advertisement design) have been integrated, the advertising account executive can make a better case that the IMC format has been followed.

LEAD-IN VIGNETTE

Marketing Power: Women Plus 40

The opening vignette discusses four different advertising agencies that create commercials for women over the age of 40. This market segment has a great deal of buying power and has in the past been a neglected segment.

Questions for Students:

1. How are products for women over 40 different than those under 40? 2. How should marketing professionals approach this market segment? 3. Do you think the same differences exist for men over 40? Why or why not?

IMC PLAN PRO

Effective management of an advertising program involves a partnership of members of the marketing department with all of the other companies involved. In some instances, this is limited to media providers, such as television and radio stations. In others, the company first selects an advertising agency along with other groups to perform key functions associated with an advertising campaign.

This section of the textbook uses The Boulder Stop company on the IMC Plan Pro disk to illustrate the concepts. Students should be instructed to read the introductory portions of the sample case to become familiar with the company. For Chapter 6, the IMC Management Section (4.0) along with the Objectives (4.1), Budget (4.2), and Agency Selection process (4.3) should be read. It is important that students notice that The Boulder Stop company has three different IMC Objectives. The first objective deals with the consumer market, the second with distribution channel, and the last with the business-to-business channel. In an integrated marketing plan, all must be considered simultaneously because each impacts the others.

As can be seen, the task of managing an advertising program involves careful thought, with a clear linkage between individual IMC objectives and the tactics used to reach those objectives. Advertising is just one element in the overall IMC program.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Overview of Advertising Management

An advertising management program is the process of preparing and integrating a company’s advertising efforts with the overall IMC message that already exists. Four