The Advertising Pyramid: a Guide to Setting Objectives

A simple way to understand the tasks ... can perform is to think of advertising as building the .... Before a new ... is introduced, prospec­tive customers live in a desert of... totally oblivious to the product's existence. The first ... of any advertising, therefore, must be to lay the foundation of the pyramid by ... an awareness block—to acquaint some portion of those unaware people with the ..., good, service, or brand.

The next task, or level of the pyramid, is to develop the ... block—to communicate enough information so that some ... of that foundation group is not only ... of the product but also recognizes it purpose and perhaps some of its features.

Next, advertising needs to communicate enough ... about the prod­uct and its features to persuade a certain number of people to believe its ... .This is called the ... block. Of those who become convinced, some can be moved to the next block of people who actually ... the product. And finally, after all the ... steps have been accomplished, a certain percentage of those who desire the product will reach the ... of the pyramid, the ... block. These people may request... information, send in a ..., go to a store to see the good, or even purchase it.

At this point, it's important to understand that our pyramid is not...

TEXT 7. PRODUCT AND CORPORATE ADVERTISING

Product advertising is an important part of the marketing mix. Its aim is to increase sales by making a product or service known to a wider audience, and by emphasising its positive qualities. A company can advertise in a variety of ways, depending on how much it wishes to spend and the size and type of audience it wishes to target. The different media for advertising include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, the Internet and direct mail. The design and organisation of advertising campaigns is usually the job of an advertising agency.

Corporate advertising is not directly concerned with increasing sales of a particular product or service, but more with the brand image, or picture, a company wants to present to the public. Public relations (PR) experts specialise in organising activities and events which generate positive publicity for companies. Unusual advertising campaigns sometimes get extra publicity for the company by way of media reports about the campaign.

We don’t make a lot of the products you buy. We make a lot of the products you buy better.® This is the slogan that has made the BASF corporate advertising campaign the most recognized of any corporate campaign from the North American chemical industry. The fact is, we don't make many finished products. Virtually all of the 6,000-plus products that we manufacture are ingredients that enhance the finished products consumers buy daily. There are countless uses of BASF materials, from products that add comfort and convenience to your home, to those that bring brilliant color to your car, to those that keep you healthy.

We don’t make the computer screen. We make it sharper. Liquid crystals from BASF substantially improve the viewing angle and contrast for flat screens. In contrast to other highly developed liquid crystals on the market, they can be applied in a coat only micrometers thick and polymerized into a hard film that provides high contrast and sharp images at wide angles.

We don’t make the sandboard. We make it lighter. BASF manufactures acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastics that are often used as the core of sandboards, snowboards and other sporting goods. Plastic materials are well-known for providing lightweight performance in comparison to other materials.

We don’t make the dress. We make it brighter. BASF manufactures optical brighteners for finishers of polyester/cellulosic blend fabrics. In addition, the company manufactures dispersion dyes that are well-suited to polyester, and are used in sports clothing.

We don’t make the motorcycle. We make it quicker. BASF manufactures polyamide nylon, which is replacing metal in more and more automotive part applications. Because this product provides high mechanical strength, rigidity and thermal stability, it performs as well as metals and is lighter in weight. Its light weight helps make vehicles more fuel efficient and quicker.

We don’t make the sunscreen. We make it stronger. BASF’s Z-COTE microfine zinc oxide and Uvinul ultraviolet light absorbers are used to make sunscreens that provide long-lasting protection from the sun’s rays.

We don’t make the helmet. We make it tougher. BASF manufactures polyamide nylon which provides hardness, rigidity, and abrasion resistance to end-use products.

 We don’t make the bridge. We make it more durable. Emulsion latex from BASF is used as an additive to concrete to help roads cure faster and last longer. By improving concrete adherence, flexural strength and resistance to road salt, the product can help to increase the useful life of concrete bridge decking overlays by up to 25 years, saving money for municipalities and reducing inconvenience to motorists.

We don’t make the car. We make it more colorful. BASF manufactures Automotive paints and coatings for new cars in a range of colors used by major car manufacturers around the globe. In addition, the company makes and markets refinish automotive paints for repair work.

EXERCISES

Exercise 1. Answer the questions.

1. What is the difference between Product and Corporate advertising?

2. What is the main idea of the BASF corporate advertising campaign?

Exercise 2. As consumers get more used to advertising, companies have to come up with better ways of ensuring that people pay attention to their ads. hi pairs, say what you think of these recent experiments in advertising. Can you think of any new and innovative ways to advertise?

• Interrupting telephone conversations with advertising messages (in exchange for free phone calls).

• Talking ads at bank cash machines.

• Ads on toilet walls.

• Advertising on small television screens on supermarket shopping trolleys.

Exercise 3. Many advertisements contain a slogan or short phrase to attract the consumer's attention. Effective slogans are usually short, easy to remember, easy to repeat and easy to translate for international markets. Read the texts about translations of slogans and brand names, and note the problem in each case.

1. In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan 'Come alive with the Pepsi generation' came out as 'Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.'

2. When Parker marketed a pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say 'It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you.' However, the company translated 'embarrass' as 'embarazar', which means 'to become pregnant'. So the ads said 'It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant.'

3. In Italy, a campaign for Schweppes Tonic Water translated the name as Schweppes Toilet Water.

4. Colgate introduced a toothpaste in France called Cue, the name of a French pornographic magazine.

5. When Braniff Airlines translated a slogan for its comfortable seats, 'fly in leather' it came out in Spanish as 'fly naked'.

Exercise 4. In groups, write down five popular slogans in your language. Try to translate them into English. Read them out to the other groups and see if they can guess which products your translated slogans refer to.

Exercise 5. RXV, a major electronics company, has decided to advertise its latest digital camera. It has asked several advertising agencies to submit proposals for a campaign. An executive at one of these agencies has made a list of tasks to be completed before submitting its proposal to RXV.

Complete the executive's list using words from the line. Change the form of the words where necessary.

Corporate image, client, billboard, publicity, creative director, target.

Obtain, complete market information about the ¹ …… ’s product;

advantages, disadvantages, competitors, which groups of consumers the advertiser wants to ² ……. . Define marketing objectives and plan an overall advertising strategy.

• Meet with the media department to select the most appropriate means of advertising: media or posters on ³ ……. .

• Meet with the ⁴ _....... to work on the design and ideas of the campaign. Point out that these should fit in with the overall ⁵ …… the company wants to project. Explain that we must be careful not to generate any negative ⁶ …… by offending anyone.

Exercise 6. Complete the following passage about the mineral water company Perrier, putting in the correct form of the article where necessary.

In February 1990, Perrier, one of ¹ …… the most famous mineral water companies, faced ² …… serious image problem when small quantities of benzene were found in some bottles. ³ …… company decided to take 160 million bottles, worth $70 m, off the market. ⁴ …… spokesperson from ⁵ …… communications department made ⁶ …… statement to the press saying that this did not present⁷ …… health problem but he did admit that for ⁸ …… product known for purity, it was definitely ⁹ …… mistake. ¹⁰ …… independent environmental consultant carried out ¹¹ …… inspection at the Perrier plant and identified and corrected ¹² ……fault ¹³ …… same consultant said that a person spilling one drop of ¹⁴ …… lead-free petrol on their hand would absorb more benzene than if they drank a bottle of Perrier every day for a year. In this instance Perrier's policy of ¹⁵ …… honesty and its concern for ¹⁶ …… consumers saved its image and good name.