MARKETING COMMUNICATION

By: Manish Semwal

AIDAS MODEL This is one of the oldest and most popular

models of marketing communications. This hierarchical model was first proposed by St. Elmo Lewis in 1900 for personal selling with stages: attract attention, maintain interest, create desire and get the consumer to act. In 1911,Arthur Fredrick Sheldon revised the model by changing the first step to 'favourable attention' and adding a fifth step ,'permanent satisfaction'. The revised model was called AIDAS -

DAGMARRussel H. Colley (1961) pioneered an

approach known by the acronym DAGMAR – Defining Advertising Goals for Measured Advertising Results, where to establish an explicit link between ad goals and ad results, Colley distinguished 52 advertising goals that might be used with respect to a single advertisement, a year’s campaign for a product or a company’s entire advertising philosophy. 

DAGMAR Concrete and measurable: The communications task or objective should be a

precise statement of what appeal or message the advertiser wants to communicate to the target audience. Furthermore the specification should include a description of the measurement procedure.

Target audience : A key tenet to DAGMAR is that the target audience

be well defined. For example –if the goal was to increase awareness, it is essential to know the target audience precisely. The benchmark measure cannot be developed without a specification of the target segment 

DAGMARBenchmark and degree of change sought: Another important part of setting objectives is

having benchmark measures to determine where the target audience stands at the beginning of the campaign with respect to various communication response variables such as awareness, knowledge, attitudes, image, etc.

The objectives should also specify how much change or movement is being sought such as increase in awareness levels, creation of favorable attitudes or number of consumers intending to purchase the brand, etc. a benchmark is also a prerequisite to the ultimate measurement of results, an essential part of any planning program and DAGMAR in particular.

DAGMARSpecified time period A final characteristic of good objectives is the

specification of the time period during which the objective is to be accomplished, e.g. 6months, 1 year etc. The time period should be appropriate for the communication objective as simple tasks such as increasing awareness levels can be accomplished much faster than a complex goal such as repositioning a brand. 

All parties involved will understand that the results will be available for evaluating the campaign, which could lead to a contraction, expansion or change in the current effort. With a time period specified a survey to generate a set if measures can be planned and anticipated. 

DAGMARWritten Goal

Finally goals should be committed to paper. When the goals are clearly written, basic shortcomings and misunderstandings become exposed and it becomes easy to determine whether the goal contains the crucial aspects of the DAGMAR approach. 

ISSUES WITH DAGMARHierarchy of Effects Model, DAGMAR attacks the basic hierarchy model, which postulates a set of steps of awareness, comprehension, and attitude leading to action. The counterargument is that it is possible that action may precede awareness.

ISSUES WITH DAGMARRestrictions on creativity : DAGMAR is criticized on the grounds that

creative flair is lost as attention is continuously on the numbers game, such as focusing on measures of recall, attitude change and awareness rather than the looking for the big idea. Thus the creative personnel is held more accountable under DAGMAR and this may inhibit some of their work.

ISSUES WITH DAGMARSales orientation: Those who see sales as the only valid

measure of effectiveness level this criticism. The sole purpose of advertising is to generate sales. So as the completion of communications tasks may not result in purchases, the only, measure that needs to be undertaken is that of sales.

LAVIDGE AND STEINER MODELIn 1961 ,Robert J.Lavidge and Gary A. Steiner

proposed a new model for marketing communications, which used hierarchy of effects but included persuasion as an important factor in the model. This model considered the long-term effects of advertising too. According to the Lavidge and Steiner Model*,a customer who is totally unaware of the product goes through the following six steps before making a purchase:

LAVIDGE AND STEINER MODEL

PROCESS OF ADVERTING:Briefing - Advertising process starts with briefing

- a document confirming understanding between client and advertising agency on - what product to advertise, objective of advertising, time-frame of ad campaign, strategies to reach the audience, and total estimated cost.

Market Research - After briefing market research will done. Research include - comparison of advertiser's product or service with competitor's product or service, consumers' perception of their brand in comparison to their competitors, study of competitors' advertising, and response of consumers to competitors' advertising.

PROCESS OF ADVERTING:Identify Target Audience - Next step is to identify

target audience. Using the market research, the advertising agency will identify the target audience.

Media Selection - Using the research, the advertising agency or the media agency will select the media that should be used to reach the target audience in the most cost effective way.

Ad Designing & Ad Creation - At this step the creative people of advertising agency will convert the advertising communication into words and pictures. The copywriter will write the copy of advertising and the art director will visually implement the copywriter's message. The advertising agency may get the filming or taping done by outside production companies.

PROCESS OF ADVERTING:Decide Place & Time - This step is to

decide where and when the advertisement will be shown. Traffic department within the advertising agency will ensure that the commercials are ready on time and all required legal approvals have been granted. 

Execution - Finally the advertisement will be executed.

Performance Check - Once the advertisement is executed, the media agency will check its performance.

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