Editorial

Abstract

Even though operating within a different electoral system, Great Britain is rapidly following in the footsteps of the United States in the area of political communications. Electoral communications, including advertising, have found a place in the British political process.

This study seeks to find what place and is based largely on personal interviews with politicians, party officials, broadcast and print journalists, academicians and advertising agency executives.

Emphasis is on the marketing and communications efforts of the Conservative Party as the leader in the trend toward American-style campaigning. However, both the Labour Party and SDP/Liberal Alliance are also examined.     

Unlocking the Power of Integrated Marketing Communications: How Integrated Is Your IMC Program?

The future of advertising and marketing communications will be marked by an increasingly diverse collection of new digital options added to the traditional media and communication options already available to marketers. By taking advantage of the unique strengths of different communication options, and combining them and sequencing them strategically, marketers have the opportunity to drive sales and build brands in ways never before possible. Doing so, however, will require new concepts, new tools, and new thinking. Toward that goal, this article describes seven integrated marketing communications (IMC) choice criteria that marketers can use to judge how effectively and efficiently they have assembled their IMC programs. The article also outlines five priority areas for future research to help further guide the successful design and implementation of IMC programs.     

International Advertising Expenditure Trends

From the early 1990s, marketing literature began to feature a number of articles suggesting that integrated marketing communications (IMC) would have a major impact on advertising as we know it, and on client—advertising agency relationships. A counter-view appeared at that time in the literature suggesting that IMC was nothing more than co-ordinated promotion and that many companies had been doing ‘it’ for some considerable time. More recent articles have lamented that the concept has not been embraced by marketing communications specialists and that implementation has proven difficult. A common definition of IMC—and how it differs from traditional advertising, both in philosophy and in implementation—has not evolved despite considerable academic discussion on the subject. This paper reviews the most comprehensive definitions of IMC and the competing paradigms—‘new’ versus ‘nothing new’—and summarises the results of a recent two-part study that compares the perceptions of clients with those of senior ad agency personnel in New Zealand regarding how and in what ways IMC is developing there.     

The Effect of the World Wide Web on Agency—Advertiser Relationships: Towards A Strategic Framework

Buffeted by the fragmentation of media and markets, the World Wide Web has started transforming the competitive landscape in the advertising industry. Increasingly, advertising agencies are forced to compete with in-house CIS/MIS departments, public relations agencies and computer graphic studios and boutiques for Web-related accounts. Vis-à-vis the immediacy of the challenge, agencies are forced to either broaden their business horizon to include all aspects of communications or to stay focused on their core business-making advertisements for traditional media. This article examines the possible effects of the World Wide Web on the blurring of boundaries in advertiser- agency performed promotional activities, analyses the similarities in the strategies adopted in the transition from radio to television, and appraises the options which agencies face in adopting the Web.     

Children’s Responses to Traditional Versus Hybrid Advertising Formats: The Moderating Role of Persuasion Knowledge

Research on the impact of advertising on children has failed to keep pace with the rapidly changing media environment. Using an experimental approach, children’s responses towards traditional (television advertisement) versus new, hybrid advertising techniques (trailer, advergame, and their combination), and the moderating role of persuasion knowledge, are investigated. Results show that children who played an advergame have more difficulty recalling the advertised brand than children who saw a traditional television advertisement. When confronted with integrated marketing communications (a trailer followed by an advergame), children without knowledge of persuasive intent developed a more positive brand attitude than children with persuasion knowledge. The implications of these results are discussed.     

The Future of Creativity In Advertising

In the rapidly changing marketing environment, more attention is being placed on media than on message factors. Creativity, which has been shown to impact the success of a product seems to be receiving secondary attention from marketers. This research discusses the value of creative advertising, and why marketers may be less focused on message strategies. The study concludes that creativity is not dead, and will continue to remain an important factor in marketing communications into the future.     

Economic Crisis and its Impact on Promotion and Media in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

The economic crisis has redounded sharply upon marketing communications and media vehicles in Cyprus. In recession periods, communication and marketing budgets can contract while companies seek to obtain the best communication outcomes with more limited resources, both the size and the distribution of the communication mix can alter rapidly. This qualitative paper reveals that Cypriot advertising agencies now place greater emphasis upon marketing public relations (MPR) as it is perceived to be cost effective and efficient in achieving campaign objectives. The empirical data also indicates a shift towards the use of internet marketing and social media as more and more businesses are realizing the importance of consumer generated marketing and word-of-mouth/mouse marketing (WOMm).     

The Role of Advertising in the Adoption of Industrial Goods: A Look at the Raw Materials Industry

Although there is comparatively little money spent annually on industrial advertising, several studies have indicated its effectiveness and efficiency during the early stages of the industrial adoption process. This paper examines the comparative effectiveness of five promotional tools in the marketing of an undifferentiated industrial good. Within the cognitive—affective—conative adoption framework, this paper analyzes the role of both personal and non-personal media in the marketing communications process. The results of the study have application for both industrial advertising practitioners and communications researchers.     

Who is Surfing the Net?

Abstract

Unlike the traditional print and broadcast media, which have long-established advertising measurement standards, Web advertising is still in its infancy and lacks widely accepted standards of measurement. This article looks at the major firms offering Web measurement and auditing services for advertisers. It also discusses recent attempts by several industry groups to devise universally accepted standards. By the millennium it is expected that the Web advertising measurement industry will have grown up and will be delivering the audited numbers that clients and agencies will be demanding.     

The In-House Advertising Agency

This study attempts a comparative analysis of advertisers with in-house agency vs. those using an independent advertising agency. Issues under consideration are:

1. The relationship between the advertisers and the advertising agency.

2. Advertiser's satisfaction with the compensation system, i.e., 15% commission.

3. Evaluation of advertising agency performance, i.e., creative media buying, and other services.

4. The importance of advertising to the company's marketing mix.     

Factors Affecting Skepticism toward Green Advertising

Abstract

Despite the growth of green marketing, there is a shortage of studies on green communication. Thus, this research aims to understand whether consumers who are concerned about the environment conserve resources and have environmentally friendly buying habits and whether they are skeptical about the green communications conveyed by companies. Using a proposal of a model about skepticism toward green advertising, several hypotheses are tested. The results indicate that the more environmentally concerned an individual is, the more skepticism he or she will be toward green claims exhibited on packages or featured in ads. In addition, results indicated no significant differences between men and women regarding this skepticism.     

Toward a Model to Enhance Synergy of Out-of-Home Advertising Media Integration Strategies

ABSTRACT

For media planners to combine multiple media across platforms to maximize synergy is a critical challenge within integrated marketing communication. For this study, in-depth interviews were conducted with experienced media specialists in leading agencies to explore how they integrate different out-of-home advertising media platforms in IMC strategies. The feedback of these experts was then used to propose a model of strategies to enhance synergy within out-of-home advertising campaigns. This model is a first of its kind for planning out-of-home advertising media across platforms and bridges a gap in the existing literature on media synergy and out-of-home advertising media strategy.     

Observations

This article is a commentary on the theme of the 2012 ICORIA Conference held in Stockholm, which was about ‘The changing role of advertising’. We propose that the role of advertising has not changed. The role of advertising has always been, and will continue to be, to sell more of the branded product or service or to achieve a higher price that consumers are willing to pay than would obtain in the absence of advertising. What has changed in recent years is the notable worsening of the academic–practitioner divide, which has seen academic advertising researchers pursuing increasingly unrealistic laboratory studies, textbook writers continuing to ignore practitioners’ research appearing in trade publications and practitioner-oriented journals, and practitioners peeling off into high-sounding but meaningless jargon. Also evident is the tendency to regard the new electronic media as requiring a new model of how advertising communicates and persuades, which, as the authors’ textbooks explain, is sheer nonsense and contrary to the goal of integrated marketing. We provide in this article a translation of practitioners’ jargon into more scientifically acceptable terminology as well as a classification of the new advertising formats in terms of traditional analogs with main stream media advertising.     

Altered states: The effects of media and technology on the creative process in advertising agencies

The media environment has changed dramatically due to the explosion of new channels and technological innovations, which has had important ramifications not only for advertising, but also for advertising agencies and their creative processes. Using a series of interviews with agency creative directors and digital strategists, this study investigated how agencies have addressed these challenges and taken advantage of the opportunities. Its two key contributions are an updated model of the creative process and the identification of four alternative structures agencies use to create the core concept. The study also found a paradigm shift from framing technology in terms of its production value, to framing technology in terms of its strategic and creative value, as technology specialists have become involved in the strategic and creative stages of campaign development.     

Advertising Research in the Post-WTO Decade in China

This paper reviews advertising studies on China published in 13 advertising, marketing, and business journals during the decade after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) (2002-2011). Since its WTO entry, China's advertising industry (including regulatory environment and advertising practices) has fundamentally changed, turning it into the world's fastest-growing advertising market and the country with the largest pool of netizens. We adopt the "glocalization" framework to selectively highlight five themes in our review: (1) diversified/shifting cultural values, (2) language and brand names, (3) acceptable/offensive advertising, (4) media growth and control, and (5) agency management. Our discussion follows Taylor's (2005) suggested agenda for international advertising research and focuses on the implications for academic researchers and advertising professionals that these papers collectively provide. In the transitional market in China, insights from past studies are relevant for its future development in advertising both locally and globally.     

Investment in online advertising and return on sales: Does it pay to outsource the services to an advertising agency?

Abstract

The effect of investing in online advertising on a firm’s financial outcomes can depend on whether or not the development and implementation of advertising campaigns are managed by advertising agencies. Agencies may have experienced professionals or workload to perform these jobs, but the costs are greater. This paper aims to investigate the effects of investments in digital marketing on the financial outcome of a company’s services, comparing whether or not it is outsourced to advertising agencies. The secondary data relates to services advertised and marketed by a firm. We tested the possible moderating effect of outsourcing the service in the relationship between investment in online advertising (Google and Facebook) and return on sales (profit margin), by controlling the effect of covariates. Through four regression analyses, the results showed that outsourcing the service moderates the relationship. Specifically, the higher the amount of advertising investment, the more it pays to outsource the service to an advertising agency in order to generate greater profit margin. But with a low investment value, it does not pay to outsource. This study helps to identify situations in which it pays to outsource digital marketing services to an advertising agency.     

An Evaluation of Marketing Practices in Banks in Ghana

ABSTRACT

This study ascertains the extent to which the marketing concept has been adopted and implemented by banks in Ghana. It addresses a gap in an area that is currently under researched and provides insight into the banking services industry in a developing country. All sixteen licensed banks in Ghana were included in this study. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and self completed questionnaires. The results suggest that marketing departments in the banks are organised mainly within headquarters and headed by marketing and advertising/public relations managers. The marketing activities in the banks are associated with the stage where marketing orientation is perceived as advertising and public relations. There is a partial lack of marketing culture in the banks. The total and formal acceptance and understanding of the marketing concept is at an embryonic stage in the evolutionary process.     

Participation by U.S. Agencies in International Brand Advertising: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Marry ad agency executives have proclaimed the era of the global advertising agency. They observe that corporations are moving towards placement of their worldwide advertising through a single agency, and they predict that a few large “mega-agencies” will take over a majority of international advertising accounts. Yet, no published studies have examined how many brands are actually handled by the same ad agency worldwide. This paper presents the results of a survey examining the extent to which U.S. companies use the same agency to advertise abroad and in the home market. The study found that of the brands sold abroad, only about one-third are handled by the same agency both at home and abroad. This proportion does not vary significantly with advertising budgets, by product class, or between standardized and non-standardized brands. In addition, no single-agency group or “mega-agency” handles more than eight percent of the sample brands, and no agency handles a majority of its U.S. brands abroad.     

Custom Publishing

Abstract

The field of “custom communications” is a growing multi-billion dollar market. Custom publishing of magazines and books is a significant segment of the pie, proving the continuing value of print for creating stronger bonds with customers. This article describes a variety of applications for custom publishing in marketing products and services, with important implications for the promotional products industry. The author, who has ghost-written a book for a small advertising agency, focuses on the high potential for specialized magazines and well-written books that target an audience accurately. Included is cogent advice to promotional products professionals on how to go about creating an effective custom publication.     

Integrated Marketing Communications and New Product Performance in International Markets

ABSTRACT

This research probes marketing communications for international product launch. Marketing communications is found to be more visible if the firm is more marketing proficient and the market is more turbulent. The communicated messages are less consistent when the firm is more proficient in marketing and the market is more hostile, but more consistent when the firm is more internationalized and the market is more turbulent. Both visibility and message consistency of marketing communications enhance new product performance. However, greater visibility lowers message consistency, implying that message and media strategies for international product launch need to be carefully formulated and handled.