Page 157 - DMGT507_SALES AND PROMOTIONS MANAGEMENT

Unit 8: Advertising Strategy: Creative Execution

The first step in preparing the radio commercial is to appoint a producer, who prepares the cost Notes
estimates, and selects a recording studio. Subsequently, the producer casts the commercial (with
or without the help of a casting director). If music is to be included in the commercial, the
producer selects a music director and chooses the music. At this stage, the producer may deem it
necessary to conduct a rehearsal. In the next phase, the music and sounds are taped separately,
and the studio mixes music, sounds with voices. The final step is to prepare the master tape for
shipping to radio stations.

8.4 Online Advertisements

The aim of marketers is to create ads that will ensure high involvement of consumers and
interactive advertising on the Internet promotes more customer involvement because the site
visitors initiate most of the action. The experience during this interaction can create favourable
or unfavourable brand attitudes.
Designing Web Site

Web pages can combine elements and design styles from all different media (print, film, sound,
and games). In addition to this, the need to search and navigate creates an entirely new design
form whose major challenge is the ease of use.
Web site pages should be designed like posters in which the graphics are eye-catching but not
demanding too much downloading time. To keep them simple, the advertiser should use one or
two typefaces and avoid the use of capitals and letter spacing that distorts the words. Black type
on a high-contrast background usually is most suitable. Everything should be big enough to be
seen on the smallest screen.
Navigation is a critical factor to move through Web pages. It should be convenient for users to
move through the site and find easily the information they look for. There should be navigation
buttons to help users return to the home page. Web sites and banners should include instructions,
such as "click here". It would be of added advantage if users can customise the site to fit their
needs in case they wish to visit it regularly.
Interactivity is another important issue. To take advantage of special strengths of this medium,
there will be interactive elements that facilitate contacting the company with questions,
complaints, suggestions, and comments etc. It is critical importance to have enough qualified
manpower to handle customer queries speedily and satisfactorily.
A major strength of Internet sites is feedback communication. An effective site collects information
from visitors in a systematic manner that can be useful in strategic planning. Copy testing
methods are being developed to evaluate a site's potential to motivate click-through behaviour.
Michael Glaspie, capturing attention with banners in order of impact depends on copy, colour,
and graphics. For copy he recommends free offers, fear, curiosity, humour, or the big promise.
For colour he recommends using yellow, orange, blue, and green instead of the reds and blacks.
Animated banners offer value because they increase ad space by rotating copy. The loading of
banners should not take too long, otherwise customers are quite likely to lose interest in the ads.

One source of inspiration of Website design comes from professor Jean Trumbo's Web page:
www.wisc.edu/agjourn/trumbo/vcindex/. Another useful site is www.eMarketers,com, an
excellent resource for designing Websites.
According to a study by Kim Doyle, Anastasia Minor, and Carolyn Weyrich, banners that sit in
the lower corner of the screen next to the scroll bar generated a 228 percent higher click-through
rate than ads at the top of the page. Banner ads that are one-third down the page generated
77 percent more click-through compared to those on the top.

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