Good evening,
I learned earlier tonight that an important medical appointment for my wife has been re-scheduled from Friday to Thursday (in Rochester).
Consequently, we won't be meeting as regularly scheduled tomorrow (Thursday, March 4, 2015).
We'll reconvene a week from Tuesday.
My apologies.
Have a restful and safe spring break.
Jack
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Diversity = higher ratings
(Published in this morning's Hollywood Reporter):
Diverse Casts Deliver Higher Ratings, Bigger Box Office: Study (Exclusive)
Audiences want more ethnic representation, a new UCLA study shows.
This story first appeared in the March 13 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Hollywood's racial and gender diversity is increasing. But it's not increasing quickly enough, says Darnell Hunt, lead author of the second annual Hollywood Diversity Report by UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, set for release Feb. 25. "Hollywood is not progressing at the same rate as America is diversifying," says Hunt, the center's director and a sociology professor. The U.S. population is about 40 percent minority and slightly more than half female, but, in news to no one, women and minorities are represented onscreen and behind the camera in drastically lesser proportions, the study indicates.
The problem isn't audiences: During the years the study surveys — 2012 and 2013 — viewers preferred films and television shows with moderately diverse casts, according to Nielsen ratings and box-office reports. "Audiences, regardless of their race, are clamoring for more diverse content," says co-authorAna-Christina Ramon.
The study blames the lack of diversity on agencies, guilds, studios and networks — "an industry culture that routinely devalues the talent of minorities and women," reads the report.
The authors recognize the report's time window limits its relevance, especially as racial diversity has shown big gains on TV during the 2014-15 season, but they predict their findings will encourage more progress. The study surveyed the top 200 films by global box office in 2012 and 2013, excluding foreign movies, and every broadcast, cable and digital TV series of the 2012-13 season (1,105 total).
FILM
In movies, minorities were underrepresented more than 2-to-1 (less than half as much as their share of the U.S. population) in lead roles and 2-to-1 as directors, and women lagged 2-to-1 as leads and 8-to-1 as directors (female-helmed films included 2012's Zero Dark Thirty and The Guilt Trip and 2013'sFrozen and Carrie). Meanwhile, films with casts about 30 percent diverse did best at the worldwide box office.
The diversity gaps mostly were smaller than in 2011. "There are pockets of promise," says Hunt, citing best picture winner 12 Years a Slave for upping the share of Oscar wins to 25 percent for films with a minority lead; Gravity, with seven Oscars, evened out the wins for male- and female-fronted releases. But after a 2014 Oscars race with all white acting nominees and only one best picture nominee with a black lead, "this year was a step backward from what might otherwise have been optimism from 2013," admits Hunt.
TELEVISION
Viewers like diversity, with broadcast scripted shows 41 percent to 50 percent diversely cast scoring the highest ratings in black and white households alike in 2012-13, while on cable, white and Latino viewers preferred casts with 31 percent to 40 percent diversity. Black households preferred cable shows with more than 50 percent diversity, a figure buoyed by BET programs including The Game and Kevin Hart's Real Husbands of Hollywood.
But TV remained white-heavy onscreen and behind the camera, with minorities underrepresented nearly 6-to-1 in lead roles on scripted broadcast shows and nearly 2-to-1 as leads on cable (relative to their share of the U.S. population), more than 3-to-1 as cable series creators and more than 6-to-1 as broadcast creators. Women were underrepresented about 2-to-1 as broadcast and cable creators, and their frequency as leads on broadcast dipped below 50 percent; they also remained outnumbered on cable. Both groups were underrepresented in reality programming.
Hunt is hopeful, though. "Film has always been a step or two behind television in terms of its willingness and ability to open up and diversify," he says. He feels the medium is becoming more inclusive with the bevy of new distributors and producers, particularly such digital platforms as Netflix and Amazon. "It's creating a chance for people to get in who had no shot before," says Hunt. "But they're still not getting in at the rate the tried-and-true names are."
He is "very optimistic" regarding this pilot season's push for diversity — with numerous minority-led projects ordered, several through overall deals with diverse talent including Eva Longoria and producer Will Packer — as well as the recent success of Empire, Black-ish, How to Get Away With Murder,Fresh Off the Boat and other diverse programs.
EXECUTIVES
This year, for the first time, the study surveyed diversity in 2013 in the executive ranks of TV networks and studios (96 percent white and 71 percent male) and major and mini-major film studios (94 percent white and 100 percent male). The past year's executive moves, such as Stacey Snider's jump to 20th Century Fox and Amy Pascal stepping down as co-chair at Sony Pictures, aren't reflected in this snapshot.
The report was backed financially by a half-dozen major studios and networks including the Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner. In addition to publishing the study online, Hunt and Ramon will present it to executives from each sponsor, as they did the first report in 2014. That study helped some executives make changes at their companies, including the creation of HBOAccess, a mentorship program for diverse writers and filmmakers, which Time Warner executive director of diversity and corporate social responsibility Jonathan Beane says was inspired largely by the report. "I want to make sure that what I'm preaching, I have data to support it. [The report] does that," he says.
He agrees with the researchers that the problem stems from executive attitudes during the hiring process, which perpetuates the lack of diversity in executive suites — even if unintentionally. "I don't believe it's malicious," says Beane. "It's just that people have a better eye for talent when it looks like them and has the same background as them."
Says Hunt: "It's a high-risk industry. People want to surround themselves with collaborators they're comfortable with, which tends to mean people they've networked with — and nine times out of 10, they'll look similar. It reproduces the same opportunities for the same kind of people: You're surrounding yourself with a bunch of white men to feel comfortable."
He adds that the industry won't change until that does. "It's not like there's this general trend upward, this wave everything is riding. It's very precarious," says Hunt. "It's getting better, but it's not getting better fast enough. And it's still a big problem."
Hollywood's racial and gender diversity is increasing. But it's not increasing quickly enough, says Darnell Hunt, lead author of the second annual Hollywood Diversity Report by UCLA's Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, set for release Feb. 25. "Hollywood is not progressing at the same rate as America is diversifying," says Hunt, the center's director and a sociology professor. The U.S. population is about 40 percent minority and slightly more than half female, but, in news to no one, women and minorities are represented onscreen and behind the camera in drastically lesser proportions, the study indicates.
The problem isn't audiences: During the years the study surveys — 2012 and 2013 — viewers preferred films and television shows with moderately diverse casts, according to Nielsen ratings and box-office reports. "Audiences, regardless of their race, are clamoring for more diverse content," says co-authorAna-Christina Ramon.
The study blames the lack of diversity on agencies, guilds, studios and networks — "an industry culture that routinely devalues the talent of minorities and women," reads the report.
The authors recognize the report's time window limits its relevance, especially as racial diversity has shown big gains on TV during the 2014-15 season, but they predict their findings will encourage more progress. The study surveyed the top 200 films by global box office in 2012 and 2013, excluding foreign movies, and every broadcast, cable and digital TV series of the 2012-13 season (1,105 total).
FILM
In movies, minorities were underrepresented more than 2-to-1 (less than half as much as their share of the U.S. population) in lead roles and 2-to-1 as directors, and women lagged 2-to-1 as leads and 8-to-1 as directors (female-helmed films included 2012's Zero Dark Thirty and The Guilt Trip and 2013'sFrozen and Carrie). Meanwhile, films with casts about 30 percent diverse did best at the worldwide box office.
The diversity gaps mostly were smaller than in 2011. "There are pockets of promise," says Hunt, citing best picture winner 12 Years a Slave for upping the share of Oscar wins to 25 percent for films with a minority lead; Gravity, with seven Oscars, evened out the wins for male- and female-fronted releases. But after a 2014 Oscars race with all white acting nominees and only one best picture nominee with a black lead, "this year was a step backward from what might otherwise have been optimism from 2013," admits Hunt.
TELEVISION
Viewers like diversity, with broadcast scripted shows 41 percent to 50 percent diversely cast scoring the highest ratings in black and white households alike in 2012-13, while on cable, white and Latino viewers preferred casts with 31 percent to 40 percent diversity. Black households preferred cable shows with more than 50 percent diversity, a figure buoyed by BET programs including The Game and Kevin Hart's Real Husbands of Hollywood.
But TV remained white-heavy onscreen and behind the camera, with minorities underrepresented nearly 6-to-1 in lead roles on scripted broadcast shows and nearly 2-to-1 as leads on cable (relative to their share of the U.S. population), more than 3-to-1 as cable series creators and more than 6-to-1 as broadcast creators. Women were underrepresented about 2-to-1 as broadcast and cable creators, and their frequency as leads on broadcast dipped below 50 percent; they also remained outnumbered on cable. Both groups were underrepresented in reality programming.
Read More 'Empire' Cast Tackles Diversity, 'Dynasty' and Terrence Howard During Presser Victory Lap [4]
Hunt is hopeful, though. "Film has always been a step or two behind television in terms of its willingness and ability to open up and diversify," he says. He feels the medium is becoming more inclusive with the bevy of new distributors and producers, particularly such digital platforms as Netflix and Amazon. "It's creating a chance for people to get in who had no shot before," says Hunt. "But they're still not getting in at the rate the tried-and-true names are."
He is "very optimistic" regarding this pilot season's push for diversity — with numerous minority-led projects ordered, several through overall deals with diverse talent including Eva Longoria and producer Will Packer — as well as the recent success of Empire, Black-ish, How to Get Away With Murder,Fresh Off the Boat and other diverse programs.
EXECUTIVES
This year, for the first time, the study surveyed diversity in 2013 in the executive ranks of TV networks and studios (96 percent white and 71 percent male) and major and mini-major film studios (94 percent white and 100 percent male). The past year's executive moves, such as Stacey Snider's jump to 20th Century Fox and Amy Pascal stepping down as co-chair at Sony Pictures, aren't reflected in this snapshot.
The report was backed financially by a half-dozen major studios and networks including the Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner. In addition to publishing the study online, Hunt and Ramon will present it to executives from each sponsor, as they did the first report in 2014. That study helped some executives make changes at their companies, including the creation of HBOAccess, a mentorship program for diverse writers and filmmakers, which Time Warner executive director of diversity and corporate social responsibility Jonathan Beane says was inspired largely by the report. "I want to make sure that what I'm preaching, I have data to support it. [The report] does that," he says.
He agrees with the researchers that the problem stems from executive attitudes during the hiring process, which perpetuates the lack of diversity in executive suites — even if unintentionally. "I don't believe it's malicious," says Beane. "It's just that people have a better eye for talent when it looks like them and has the same background as them."
Says Hunt: "It's a high-risk industry. People want to surround themselves with collaborators they're comfortable with, which tends to mean people they've networked with — and nine times out of 10, they'll look similar. It reproduces the same opportunities for the same kind of people: You're surrounding yourself with a bunch of white men to feel comfortable."
He adds that the industry won't change until that does. "It's not like there's this general trend upward, this wave everything is riding. It's very precarious," says Hunt. "It's getting better, but it's not getting better fast enough. And it's still a big problem."
Links:
[1] http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/diverse-casts-deliver-higher-ratings-777428&media=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news_landscape/2015/02/diverse_casts_higher_ratings_illo.jpg&description=Diverse Casts Deliver Higher Ratings, Bigger Box Office: Study (Exclusive)
[2] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tv-pilot-seasons-big-get-772331
[3] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/boom-studios-aims-more-diversity-767930
[4] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/empire-cast-tackles-diversity-dynasty-764563
[5] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eva-longoria-talks-nbcs-telenovela-765999
[6] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sag-aftra-chief-diversity-woes-764869
[1] http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/diverse-casts-deliver-higher-ratings-777428&media=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/news_landscape/2015/02/diverse_casts_higher_ratings_illo.jpg&description=Diverse Casts Deliver Higher Ratings, Bigger Box Office: Study (Exclusive)
[2] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tv-pilot-seasons-big-get-772331
[3] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/boom-studios-aims-more-diversity-767930
[4] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/empire-cast-tackles-diversity-dynasty-764563
[5] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/eva-longoria-talks-nbcs-telenovela-765999
[6] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sag-aftra-chief-diversity-woes-764869
Monday, February 23, 2015
Regarding the ESPN and Live TV articles...
Obviously, I forgot to post those articles on the blog, so you won't be responsible for them on the exam.
My apologies.
I'll include them for the next exam.
Jack
P.S. Thanks to Anthony for letting me know.
My apologies.
I'll include them for the next exam.
Jack
P.S. Thanks to Anthony for letting me know.
Price-Waterhouse-Cooper (PWC) TV Advertising Insights
TV advertising
US dominates online TV advertising from traditional broadcasters
Multichannel and online share on an upwards trajectory, as terrestrial falls
Key insights at a glance
1
Despite the growth of digital media, TV advertising remains the place to be. Global TV advertising revenue is successfully responding to the rise of newer forms of digital media. Global TV advertising revenue will grow at a CAGR of 5.5% over the next five years, confirming TV as the ‘place to be’ for advertisers looking to reach big audiences.
2
Online TV advertising will double its share of total TV advertising revenue in the next five years.Online TV advertising revenue from traditional broadcasters will increase from US$3.7bn in 2013 to US$9.7bn in 2018, and more than double its share of total TV advertising from 2.2% in 2013 to 4.5% in 2018. Traditional broadcasters still dominate and are adapting to the online video opportunity, so creating themselves a significant new revenue stream, despite competition from Internet rivals.
3
Terrestrial’s share of advertising will fall as multichannel and online grow. Terrestrial TV is the primary contributor to advertising revenues, but its share of the TV advertising market will fall from 73% in 2013 to 68% in 2018. Multichannel’s share, by contrast, will grow from 25% to 27%, while online TV advertising’s share will rise from 2.2% in 2013 to 4.5% in 2018.
4
Failure to embrace new audience measurement metrics will see TV lose advertising revenue to other digital media players. Even in the most advanced TV markets, broadcasters and advertisers are still unclear how audiences consume their content. Digital media metrics will quickly gain ground in the next five years and despite the apparent resilience of the current TV model, existing players need to adopt new metrics if they are to compete for advertising revenue in the long term.
5
TV advertising’s future development depends on current legal cases. The outcome of ongoing legal cases will significantly impact future TV business models. For example, Aereo’s Internet distribution model – and other controversies such as ‘net neutrality’ and Dish’s ‘Hopper DVR’ – have the potential to significantly impact traditional TV advertising models.
Advertising Overview
Advertising Overview
_________________________________________________________________
DEFINING ADVERTISING
Simply defined, advertising is any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor. Note the key words in italics.
Functions of Advertising
Advertising fulfills four basic functions in society:
. serves as a marketing function (helps companies sell products or services)
. advertising is educational (people learn about new or improved products or services)
. advertising plays an economic role (encourages new competition and lower prices)
. it performs a social function (helps increase productivity and raises the standard of living)
Types of Advertising
Advertising can be classified in several ways:
. target audience the specific audience for whom a product or service has an appeal
. consumer advertising targeted at the people who buy goods and services for personal use
. business-to-business aimed at people who buy products for business use
. geographic focus targets international, national, regional, or local audiences
. purpose advertising designed to accomplish a distinct goal
. primary demand promotes product category rather than a specific brand
. selective demand used to promote a particular product or service brand
. direct action ad promotes direct, short-term feedback (phone number, coupon, etc.)
. indirect action ad promotes long-term brand recognition and consumer awareness
Advertising is part of the overall marketing process. Broadly defined, marketing consists of the development, pricing, distribution, and promotion of ideas, goods and services. Advertising is only part of the general promotion process
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ADVERTISING
Advertising roots disappear in the mist of history, although we can recognize the first serious and repeated attempts at advertising shortly after Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type. The first examples came in the forms of posters, handbills, and newspaper ads. Most early newspaper ads, regardless of the product or service being promoted, looked somewhat like today’s classified ads.
With the advent of mass production in the 1800s came the parallel needs for mass consumption and mass markets. This consumer evolution became most apparent immediately following the Civil War. In little more than three decades:
. the railroad linked all parts of the country together (and manufacturers with consumers)
. the US population doubled between 1870-1900 (more consumers)
. the advent of new communication media (telephone, typewriter, high-speed printing press,
motion pictures, national magazines, photography, and rural mail delivery)
. in an age of prosperity, people had more disposable income to spend on new products
Demand for advertising soon gave rise to the advent of the advertising agency, an organization that specializes in providing advertising services to its clients. During the 1920s radio quickly became an attractive vehicle for national advertisers, and advertising sponsors quickly began supplying popular programs. For obvious reasons, both the Great Depression and WW II somewhat curtailed a more aggressive growth in the advertising industry.
From that point on, advertising’s fortunes more or less paralleled the social mood of the decades within which it existed. The Cold War of the 1950s fostered of fears aimed at advertising’s motivations and techniques, especially subliminal advertising. The 60s reflected a new creative spirit, the 70s a conservative pause and return to basics, the 80s and 90s saw an ad industry coming trying to come to grips with changing national demographics, the 2000s brought the introduction of new mass media forms, and an emerging global market economy.
In the past decade, advertising has had to learn how to use and cope with specialized cable networks, infomercials, home shopping channels, an increasingly diverse marketplace, shifting consumer attitudes, and, of course, the challenge of the Internet.
ORGANIZATION OF THE
CONSUMER ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
There are three main components of the advertising industry:
Advertisers
. national emphasis on brand names, image, product, service
. local retail emphasis on local prices, sales, location, particular stores, and promotions
Anyone in charge of advertising, whether it be a large or small store, must attend to several basic ad functions:
. planning the ads, deciding how and where they will appear
. budgeting appropriate funds for advertising
. coordinating advertisements with various departments within the organization
. if necessary, supervise any outside agency handling the advertising account
Agencies
An agency is an independent business organization composed of creative people and business people who develop, prepare, and place advertising for sellers seeking to find customers for their goods or services. Once located only in big cities, creative ad agencies are now scattered all over the country thanks to the accessibility created by new forms of mass communications.
Big-city agencies, however, many of who have merged into global-mega-agencies, still dominate the industry.
Agencies can be classified by the range of services they provide:
. full-service agencies handles all phases of the advertising process plus promotions
. media buying services buys, resells, and monitors radio and TV time slots
. creative boutiques specializes in creating imaginative and creative ad campaigns
A full-service agency starts by studying the product or service and determining its marketable characteristics and how it relates to the competition. The agency then studies the potential market, possible distribution plans, and likely advertising media. The agency presents then presents a formal presentation to the client, and if the client agrees with the plan the agency goes on to launch the execution phase (writing and producing the ads, buying ad space or time, and then verifying the ads appeared as planned).
Media
The media serves as the connection between a company and its customers, with advertisers using both obvious media (TV, radio, newspapers) and auxiliary media (billboards, direct mail, point-of-purchase ads, etc.). To make sure that the right audience sees the ad message, ad media planners help advertisers place and schedule their ads by evaluating media along four dimensions:
. reach --How many people can get the message?
. frequency --How often will the message be received?
. selectivity --Does the medium actually reach the intended potential customers?
. efficiency --How much does it cost to reach a certain number of people (usually expressed
in terms of cost per thousand people)?
Characteristics ----Papers-------Magazines-----Radio----TV----Internet-
Reach -----------------High----------Low------------ High------ High------Medium---
Frequency-----------High-----------Low------------High------ High------Medium---
Selectivity------------Low-----------High------------High------ Medium---High------
Cost--------------------Medium------Medium----------Low----- High------Medium--
In addition, advertisers must take into account the inherent characteristics of each medium. For example, TV offers sight, sound and motion, but the ad is also short lived and ill-suited to give product details; magazines, by contrast, can offer color and details but not sound and motion).
PRODUCING ADVERTISING
Typically there are four major departments within an ad department or ad agency:
. creative services people who create the ad concept, write the ad text (copy), and pro-
duce the final product
. account services responsible for the relationship between the agency and the client; an
ad agency’s account executive (AE) acts as the liaison
. marketing services recommends appropriate media for the client’s message, making use
of audience measurement data from firms like the Audit Bureau of Circulation, Arbitron, Nielsen, and MediaMetrix. Marketing Services would also handle parallel ad campaign promotions
. administration responsible for day-to-day business aspects of the agency
------
The Advertising Campaign
A campaign consists of a large number of ads all stressing the same major theme or appeal that appear in a number of media over a specified time. In simple form, here are six typical phases:
1. choosing the marketing agency
2. selecting the main appeal or theme
3. translating the theme into the various media
4. producing the ads
5. buying space and time
6. executing and evaluating the campaign
During the initial phase, much research is done to determine the target audience, the marketing objective, the appropriate price for the product or service, and the ad budget.
Positioning the product or service also comes into play at this point: positioning means fitting a product into the quality and price range of its competition--in a sense, setting it apart from the competition.
Then a coordinated overall campaign theme needs to be developed.
The next step is to translate the concept into an actual media format, attempting concept variation between media without compromising the ad campaign’s central theme. For print media, artists create a rough layout to experiment with positioning ad elements; then a comprehensive layout (the final draft) is executed.
Radio ads are often created in ways similar to a dramatic program, with scripts, sound effects, music, and professional voice talent. Television ad production starts with a storyboard, a series of drawings depicting key scenes of the planned ad; because of the costs involved, storyboards are usually shown to the client before any actual production begins. Television ads are the most expensive ads to produce, a 30-second commercial can easily cost more than $400,000.
During the production stage, the marketing department is buying time in the media mix they deemed to be the most cost effective for their target audience. The final stage has the agency doing test research both during the ads and after the run is finished to see if the ads really had the desired effect on sales.
Advertising Research
Ad research goes on during all phases of the campaign and helps agencies and their clients make informed decisions about their strategies and tactics.
. Formative research done before campaign starts to help guide creative efforts
. audience defining identifies physical demographics of target audience
. audience profiling seeks to identify attitudes, motivation, beliefs, lifestyles
. Message research
. Stage 1 pre-testing campaign messages for clarity and understanding
. Stage 2 screening print and broadcast ad prototypes; consumers tested
to recall main points, changing attitudes toward product, and which prototype ads have best effects. Advertisers often try a split-run ad test, showing two similar audiences two different ads that carry the same message to see which ad works best.
. Tracking studies examine how ads perform during and after campaign; checks to
see if the ads changed consumer attitudes or buying behaviors
ECONOMICS
(For the most current info regarding TV advertising, see PWC post).
Agency Compensation
There are three common ways ad agencies bill their clients:
1. Commissions historically, the media have given ad agencies a 15% commission on
any time and space they bought from the media; recently, however,
companies have negotiated the percentage charge, often tying the
final figure to ad performance as it affects sales
2. Agency charges represent out-of-pocket expenses linked with production of the ads
3. Fees covers services such as research, focus groups, market analysis--types
of services not traditionally treated as commissionable items
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS ADVERTISING
Low profile though it is, the business-to-business advertising industry rang up more than $200 billion in sales in 2014. Advertising directed at the business buyer rather than the general consumer, business advertising consists of four main categories:
. Trade advertises goods and services to wholesalers and retailers
. Industrial advertises items used in the production of goods and services
. Professional advertises services aimed at doctors, architects, nurses, teachers, etc.
. Agricultural advertises goods and services aimed at farmers
Consumer versus Business-to-Business
1. The target audience in business advertising is much smaller.
2. Most advertised business products tend to be technical, complicated, and high priced.
3. Buyers will be professional purchasing agents, basing purchases on reason and research.
4. Personal selling plays a much greater role in the business sector.
Media
Since the target audience for business advertising is smaller than the consumer market, a mix of highly selective media works best; buying trade magazine space, for example, counted upwards of 60 percent of all business advertising dollars spent. Trade magazines come in two formats:
. horizontal deals with a particular job function without regard to the industry
. vertical covers all interests within an entire single industry
Other selective channels with good effect include direct mail, trade catalogs, well-placed spots in traditional consumer media outlets, and web pages.
Appeals
Business ad copy tends to be long, fact filled, detailed, technical, accurate, and complete, with little, if any, emotional appeal, yet buyers pay close attention to these ads and place a premium on data accuracy and completeness. Some of the most common business ad formats are testimonials, case histories, new-product news, and demonstrations.
_________________________________________________________________
DEFINING ADVERTISING
Simply defined, advertising is any form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services usually paid for by an identified sponsor. Note the key words in italics.
Functions of Advertising
Advertising fulfills four basic functions in society:
. serves as a marketing function (helps companies sell products or services)
. advertising is educational (people learn about new or improved products or services)
. advertising plays an economic role (encourages new competition and lower prices)
. it performs a social function (helps increase productivity and raises the standard of living)
Types of Advertising
Advertising can be classified in several ways:
. target audience the specific audience for whom a product or service has an appeal
. consumer advertising targeted at the people who buy goods and services for personal use
. business-to-business aimed at people who buy products for business use
. geographic focus targets international, national, regional, or local audiences
. purpose advertising designed to accomplish a distinct goal
. primary demand promotes product category rather than a specific brand
. selective demand used to promote a particular product or service brand
. direct action ad promotes direct, short-term feedback (phone number, coupon, etc.)
. indirect action ad promotes long-term brand recognition and consumer awareness
Advertising is part of the overall marketing process. Broadly defined, marketing consists of the development, pricing, distribution, and promotion of ideas, goods and services. Advertising is only part of the general promotion process
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ADVERTISING
Advertising roots disappear in the mist of history, although we can recognize the first serious and repeated attempts at advertising shortly after Gutenberg’s invention of moveable type. The first examples came in the forms of posters, handbills, and newspaper ads. Most early newspaper ads, regardless of the product or service being promoted, looked somewhat like today’s classified ads.
With the advent of mass production in the 1800s came the parallel needs for mass consumption and mass markets. This consumer evolution became most apparent immediately following the Civil War. In little more than three decades:
. the railroad linked all parts of the country together (and manufacturers with consumers)
. the US population doubled between 1870-1900 (more consumers)
. the advent of new communication media (telephone, typewriter, high-speed printing press,
motion pictures, national magazines, photography, and rural mail delivery)
. in an age of prosperity, people had more disposable income to spend on new products
Demand for advertising soon gave rise to the advent of the advertising agency, an organization that specializes in providing advertising services to its clients. During the 1920s radio quickly became an attractive vehicle for national advertisers, and advertising sponsors quickly began supplying popular programs. For obvious reasons, both the Great Depression and WW II somewhat curtailed a more aggressive growth in the advertising industry.
From that point on, advertising’s fortunes more or less paralleled the social mood of the decades within which it existed. The Cold War of the 1950s fostered of fears aimed at advertising’s motivations and techniques, especially subliminal advertising. The 60s reflected a new creative spirit, the 70s a conservative pause and return to basics, the 80s and 90s saw an ad industry coming trying to come to grips with changing national demographics, the 2000s brought the introduction of new mass media forms, and an emerging global market economy.
In the past decade, advertising has had to learn how to use and cope with specialized cable networks, infomercials, home shopping channels, an increasingly diverse marketplace, shifting consumer attitudes, and, of course, the challenge of the Internet.
ORGANIZATION OF THE
CONSUMER ADVERTISING INDUSTRY
There are three main components of the advertising industry:
Advertisers
. national emphasis on brand names, image, product, service
. local retail emphasis on local prices, sales, location, particular stores, and promotions
Anyone in charge of advertising, whether it be a large or small store, must attend to several basic ad functions:
. planning the ads, deciding how and where they will appear
. budgeting appropriate funds for advertising
. coordinating advertisements with various departments within the organization
. if necessary, supervise any outside agency handling the advertising account
Agencies
An agency is an independent business organization composed of creative people and business people who develop, prepare, and place advertising for sellers seeking to find customers for their goods or services. Once located only in big cities, creative ad agencies are now scattered all over the country thanks to the accessibility created by new forms of mass communications.
Big-city agencies, however, many of who have merged into global-mega-agencies, still dominate the industry.
Agencies can be classified by the range of services they provide:
. full-service agencies handles all phases of the advertising process plus promotions
. media buying services buys, resells, and monitors radio and TV time slots
. creative boutiques specializes in creating imaginative and creative ad campaigns
A full-service agency starts by studying the product or service and determining its marketable characteristics and how it relates to the competition. The agency then studies the potential market, possible distribution plans, and likely advertising media. The agency presents then presents a formal presentation to the client, and if the client agrees with the plan the agency goes on to launch the execution phase (writing and producing the ads, buying ad space or time, and then verifying the ads appeared as planned).
Media
The media serves as the connection between a company and its customers, with advertisers using both obvious media (TV, radio, newspapers) and auxiliary media (billboards, direct mail, point-of-purchase ads, etc.). To make sure that the right audience sees the ad message, ad media planners help advertisers place and schedule their ads by evaluating media along four dimensions:
. reach --How many people can get the message?
. frequency --How often will the message be received?
. selectivity --Does the medium actually reach the intended potential customers?
. efficiency --How much does it cost to reach a certain number of people (usually expressed
in terms of cost per thousand people)?
Characteristics ----Papers-------Magazines-----Radio----TV----Internet-
Reach -----------------High----------Low------------ High------ High------Medium---
Frequency-----------High-----------Low------------High------ High------Medium---
Selectivity------------Low-----------High------------High------ Medium---High------
Cost--------------------Medium------Medium----------Low----- High------Medium--
In addition, advertisers must take into account the inherent characteristics of each medium. For example, TV offers sight, sound and motion, but the ad is also short lived and ill-suited to give product details; magazines, by contrast, can offer color and details but not sound and motion).
PRODUCING ADVERTISING
Typically there are four major departments within an ad department or ad agency:
. creative services people who create the ad concept, write the ad text (copy), and pro-
duce the final product
. account services responsible for the relationship between the agency and the client; an
ad agency’s account executive (AE) acts as the liaison
. marketing services recommends appropriate media for the client’s message, making use
of audience measurement data from firms like the Audit Bureau of Circulation, Arbitron, Nielsen, and MediaMetrix. Marketing Services would also handle parallel ad campaign promotions
. administration responsible for day-to-day business aspects of the agency
------
The Advertising Campaign
A campaign consists of a large number of ads all stressing the same major theme or appeal that appear in a number of media over a specified time. In simple form, here are six typical phases:
1. choosing the marketing agency
2. selecting the main appeal or theme
3. translating the theme into the various media
4. producing the ads
5. buying space and time
6. executing and evaluating the campaign
During the initial phase, much research is done to determine the target audience, the marketing objective, the appropriate price for the product or service, and the ad budget.
Positioning the product or service also comes into play at this point: positioning means fitting a product into the quality and price range of its competition--in a sense, setting it apart from the competition.
Then a coordinated overall campaign theme needs to be developed.
The next step is to translate the concept into an actual media format, attempting concept variation between media without compromising the ad campaign’s central theme. For print media, artists create a rough layout to experiment with positioning ad elements; then a comprehensive layout (the final draft) is executed.
Radio ads are often created in ways similar to a dramatic program, with scripts, sound effects, music, and professional voice talent. Television ad production starts with a storyboard, a series of drawings depicting key scenes of the planned ad; because of the costs involved, storyboards are usually shown to the client before any actual production begins. Television ads are the most expensive ads to produce, a 30-second commercial can easily cost more than $400,000.
During the production stage, the marketing department is buying time in the media mix they deemed to be the most cost effective for their target audience. The final stage has the agency doing test research both during the ads and after the run is finished to see if the ads really had the desired effect on sales.
Advertising Research
Ad research goes on during all phases of the campaign and helps agencies and their clients make informed decisions about their strategies and tactics.
. Formative research done before campaign starts to help guide creative efforts
. audience defining identifies physical demographics of target audience
. audience profiling seeks to identify attitudes, motivation, beliefs, lifestyles
. Message research
. Stage 1 pre-testing campaign messages for clarity and understanding
. Stage 2 screening print and broadcast ad prototypes; consumers tested
to recall main points, changing attitudes toward product, and which prototype ads have best effects. Advertisers often try a split-run ad test, showing two similar audiences two different ads that carry the same message to see which ad works best.
. Tracking studies examine how ads perform during and after campaign; checks to
see if the ads changed consumer attitudes or buying behaviors
ECONOMICS
(For the most current info regarding TV advertising, see PWC post).
Agency Compensation
There are three common ways ad agencies bill their clients:
1. Commissions historically, the media have given ad agencies a 15% commission on
any time and space they bought from the media; recently, however,
companies have negotiated the percentage charge, often tying the
final figure to ad performance as it affects sales
2. Agency charges represent out-of-pocket expenses linked with production of the ads
3. Fees covers services such as research, focus groups, market analysis--types
of services not traditionally treated as commissionable items
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS ADVERTISING
Low profile though it is, the business-to-business advertising industry rang up more than $200 billion in sales in 2014. Advertising directed at the business buyer rather than the general consumer, business advertising consists of four main categories:
. Trade advertises goods and services to wholesalers and retailers
. Industrial advertises items used in the production of goods and services
. Professional advertises services aimed at doctors, architects, nurses, teachers, etc.
. Agricultural advertises goods and services aimed at farmers
Consumer versus Business-to-Business
1. The target audience in business advertising is much smaller.
2. Most advertised business products tend to be technical, complicated, and high priced.
3. Buyers will be professional purchasing agents, basing purchases on reason and research.
4. Personal selling plays a much greater role in the business sector.
Media
Since the target audience for business advertising is smaller than the consumer market, a mix of highly selective media works best; buying trade magazine space, for example, counted upwards of 60 percent of all business advertising dollars spent. Trade magazines come in two formats:
. horizontal deals with a particular job function without regard to the industry
. vertical covers all interests within an entire single industry
Other selective channels with good effect include direct mail, trade catalogs, well-placed spots in traditional consumer media outlets, and web pages.
Appeals
Business ad copy tends to be long, fact filled, detailed, technical, accurate, and complete, with little, if any, emotional appeal, yet buyers pay close attention to these ads and place a premium on data accuracy and completeness. Some of the most common business ad formats are testimonials, case histories, new-product news, and demonstrations.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
My Oscar Picks
Best Picture: Birdman
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez (Birdman)
Actor: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Original Screenplay: Grand Budapest Hotel
Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game
Cinematography: Birdman
Costume Design: Grand Budapest Hotel
Editing: Boyhood
Makeup and Hairstyling: Grand Budapest Hotel
Production Design: Grand Budapest Hotel
Score: The Theory of Everything
Song: Glory (Selma)
Sound Editing: American Sniper
Sound Mixing: Whiplash
Visual Effects: Interstellar
Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon
Documentary Feature: Citizenfour
Foreign Film: Ida
Animated Short: Feast
Documentary Short: Crisis Hotline
Live Action Short: The Phone Call
Director: Alejandro Gonzalez (Birdman)
Actor: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)
Actress: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Original Screenplay: Grand Budapest Hotel
Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game
Cinematography: Birdman
Costume Design: Grand Budapest Hotel
Editing: Boyhood
Makeup and Hairstyling: Grand Budapest Hotel
Production Design: Grand Budapest Hotel
Score: The Theory of Everything
Song: Glory (Selma)
Sound Editing: American Sniper
Sound Mixing: Whiplash
Visual Effects: Interstellar
Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon
Documentary Feature: Citizenfour
Foreign Film: Ida
Animated Short: Feast
Documentary Short: Crisis Hotline
Live Action Short: The Phone Call
You have until 8:30 p.m. to enter Oscars Game
I previously stated that you only had until 6 p.m. to make your selections, but you have until 8:30 p.m..
Good luck!
Good luck!
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