Key Advertising Concepts: Budgeting, Campaigns, and Execution

Posted on Mar 31, 2025 in Marketing

Advertising Budget

Meaning

To face competition and increase product sales, every company spends large amounts on advertising. Multinational corporations (MNCs) lead, spending billions, while Indian companies spend crores of rupees. Therefore, planning this spending becomes necessary. Money spent on advertising is an investment that helps not only create brand awareness but also increase the advertiser’s sales and profit.

Factors Determining Advertising Budgets

  1. Frequency of Advertising: The ad budget depends on the frequency of advertising. Ad frequency refers to the number of times an advertisement is shown. If the ad frequency is higher, the budget needs to be larger, and vice-versa. E.g., Advertisements for products such as Dettol Soap, Lizol, Airtel, etc., are frequently shown on TV media, so their ad budget is obviously larger.
  2. Competitor Activity: The advertiser’s ad budget depends on the amount spent by competitors on their ad campaigns. For instance, in the case of telecommunication companies like Vodafone, Airtel, and others, when one company increases its advertising, others often increase their ad campaign spending too.
  3. Type of Media: Various media include print media (newspapers, magazines, etc.), broadcasting media (TV, radio, etc.), outdoor media (hoardings, transit ads, etc.), digital media, and so on. The type of media affects the ad budget. E.g., TV media is costlier than newspaper and magazine media. Also, some internet sites allow advertisers to create their own websites for product promotion free of cost or for a nominal price.
  4. Type of Audience: If the target audience belongs to an upper-income group, the advertiser may need to spend more on elements like VFX, locations, and models. In that case, the ad budget increases. Thus, the type of audience influences the advertiser’s allocation of the ad budget. E.g., In ads for luxurious cars targeting upper-income groups, significant money is spent on VFX, models, locations, etc.
  5. Objective of Ad Campaign: The objectives of an ad campaign can include creating awareness, developing brand image, reminding consumers about the product, developing a positive attitude, and so on. For instance, if the objective is to develop brand image, the advertiser needs to increase ad frequency to fix the product’s image in the target audience’s mind, requiring a larger ad budget.
  6. Management Philosophy: A firm’s management philosophy influences the ad budget. Some management teams believe that advertising and profit have a positive correlation and consequently spend more on advertising.
  7. Past Ad Budgets: When deciding the ad budget amount, an advertiser can use past ad budgets as a base. Generally, advertisers spend more compared to the previous year’s ad budget. So, past ad budgets are also an important factor to consider when deciding the current ad budget.
  8. Availability of Disposable Funds: Disposable funds refer to funds available for spending after paying off all expenses. If disposable funds are higher, the advertiser will allocate more funds for the ad budget, and vice-versa.
  9. Area Coverage: The area covered by the advertisement is also considered when deciding the ad budget. If a larger area, such as national or international level advertising, needs to be covered, the ad budget must be larger. For a local area, the ad budget may be lower.

Advertising Campaign

Meaning and Definition

Advertising campaigns are groups of similar advertising messages. They share the same messages and themes placed in different types of media at fixed times. In other words, it refers to the central idea or message reflected in all the ads within an ad campaign.

In 2006, Apple launched its first ‘Get a Mac’ commercial, featuring two actors representing ‘Mac’ and ‘PC’. In their conversation, the PC character often ended up embarrassing himself. By the end of the year, Apple had launched 19 commercials under the ‘Get a Mac’ campaign. This humorous but aggressively competitive advertising campaign immediately fascinated consumers.

Steps in Planning an Advertising Campaign

  1. Market Research: The advertiser or ad agency should undertake market research for the product to be advertised. Market research helps identify the customer, understand the product, market conditions, competition, etc. This enables the design of an effective advertising campaign.
  2. Define Target Audience: The advertiser/ad agency needs to know who will buy the product and who should be targeted. Information about the target audience’s demographics and purchase behavior should be gathered. The ad campaign is then designed accordingly to influence their buying behavior.
  3. Define Objectives of Ad Campaign: The advertiser should define clear objectives for the ad campaign. These objectives can include creating awareness, developing brand image, increasing market share, etc. These objectives guide the planning process of the ad campaign.
  4. Setting the Ad Budget: At this stage, an advertiser allocates funds for the advertising campaign. While allocating funds, the advertiser needs to consider various factors such as the target market, type of media, competition, past budgets, availability of funds, etc.
  5. Deciding the Advertising Theme/Message: The advertiser/ad agency needs to decide on the ad theme or message. It should resonate with and become popular among the target audience. They consider the storyboard of the ad. E.g., The Santoor Soap ad often features a consistent theme.
  6. Selection of Media: Media refers to the channels through which the ad message is conveyed to the target audience. Various ad media include TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor advertising, the internet, etc.
  7. Media Scheduling: At this stage, the advertiser decides the timing and frequency of inserting ads in each selected medium. Various media scheduling strategies can be used, including flighting, bursting, pulsing, steady, alternative month, etc.
  8. Executing the Campaign: At this stage, the ad agency prepares the ad campaign as per the plan. It is necessary to conduct pre-testing of the ad campaign before it runs in the media. Pre-testing helps identify technical errors in the ad campaign, which can be corrected in a timely manner. Then, the ad campaign is run according to the schedule.

DAGMAR Model

DAGMAR is an advertising model proposed by Russell H. Colley in 1961. DAGMAR stands for “Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results.” He developed a model for setting advertising objectives and measuring the results of an ad campaign.

According to the DAGMAR model, the ultimate objective of advertising involves a communication task: create awareness, provide information, develop attitude, and secure action for the product from the target audience.

  1. Awareness: Before purchase behavior can be expected from the target audience, it is necessary to make them aware of the product and the company. The initial communication task of the advertising activity is to increase awareness about the product/service.
  2. Comprehension: Awareness alone is not sufficient to stimulate the purchase behavior of the target audience. Information and understanding of the product and the organization are essential. Here, the communication task of the advertising activity is to help customers understand the product’s features and the benefits of using it.
  3. Conviction: At this stage, a sense of conviction (faith) is established. By creating interest and preferences, customers are convinced that a certain product should be tried at the next purchase. Here, the communication task of the advertising activity is to mold the audience’s beliefs and persuade them to buy by conveying the product’s superiority.
  4. Action: This is the final step, involving the final purchase of the product. The objective is to motivate the customer to buy the product. It involves some action from customers, such as visiting stores or trying a brand for the first time.

Importance of Jingles and Music

Meaning

Jingles are catchy little tunes that we pick up and hum, often unconsciously, like a refrain registered in our brains that refuses to go away. Jingles make the association of memorable phrases with the product or company possible. A jingle with its repeat phrases often has a far higher recall value than visuals do. Signature tunes immediately conjure up their associated products. Music catches the attention of children and teenagers. It is important to know the target audience while composing a jingle. It is difficult to make a commercial jingle that appeals across all audiences and audience segments.

Mood briefs are generally given to the jingle singer by the Agency. They specify whether a tune should be ‘peppy,’ ‘romantic,’ or ‘joyous.’ They also provide a profile of the target audience.

Composing jingles, singing them, and making them work for the product is a highly creative art. Jingle composing involves coordination with the client, composer, musicians, singers, etc. Some brands like Titan, Airtel, and Raymond have stuck to signature tunes rather than jingles to maintain continuity of association.

It is difficult to imagine an Indian ad without a jingle. The music lingers with the audience for a long time. With an output of over 1,000 ad films for television and several hundred radio spots annually, Mumbai remains the center of jingle creation.

Execution Styles

Meaning

Execution styles refer to the manner in which an advertising message is presented to customers. The impact of the message is largely dependent on how it is presented to the audience.

  1. Straight Sell: In this style, the message focuses on the product and its attributes that will motivate consumers to purchase. It relies on straightforward presentation without exaggeration.
  2. Scientific Message: Here, an advertiser tries to prove scientifically how their product is better than the competitor’s product. This is applicable to products where competition is high. E.g., The ‘Ghadi detergent’ ad shows laboratory testing.
  3. Demonstration: This illustrates the main advantage of the product by showing it in actual use or in a relevant situation. This style is often effective as a live demonstration can be seen, helping to build trust in the minds of consumers.
  4. Testimonials: Many advertisers present their marketing communication message in the form of a testimonial, whereby a former consumer or spokesperson speaks on behalf of the product based on personal experience. To make it more effective, a celebrity can also be featured.
  5. Animated Character: This technique uses animated characters that represent the product in ads. E.g., ZooZoos were animated characters introduced by Vodafone.
  6. Dramatization: This uses the problem-solution approach, showing how the advertised brand can help resolve a problem. This execution style often creates a suspenseful situation or scenario in the form of a short story.
  7. Comparison: This type of execution involves an indirect or direct comparison of a brand against a competitor. The competing products are either explicitly named or can be precisely identified by photos, images, or trademarks.
  8. Musical: Music often has a long-lasting impact on viewers or listeners. Thus, music adds extra impact. E.g., The classic Nirma washing powder jingle.

Concept of Storyboarding

Meaning

“Storyboards are visual organizers, typically a series of illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a video, web-based training, or interactive media sequence.” Making a storyboard involves careful planning on how the scenes will be filmed. Without a storyboard, shooting a television commercial or movie would be a difficult task.

Creating a storyboard is a vital step in any video production, commercial shoot, television ad, and in films. Without a storyboard, directors and producers cannot effectively visualize what they want to show when the camera starts rolling.

Testing Advertising Effectiveness

Every firm spends significant amounts of money preparing advertisements, hence it is essential to test and understand the effectiveness of the advertisement from the consumer’s point of view. There is a possibility that advertisers show only the positive side of the product, but this perspective is not conveyed effectively to consumers. Therefore, testing the ad clarifies the attitude, perception, and outlook of consumers towards the product and the message.