Advertising agency planning – conceptualising network relationships

This study investigated the networked relationships between agency parties involved in the process of advertising planning, internal and external to advertising agencies. The study provides a conceptual grounding for understanding the shift from dyadic to multiple relationships in advertising planning. It focuses on the degree of collaboration and integrative relationships inherent. Using a theoretically derived, grounded theory approach, depth interviews were conducted with twenty two practitioners spread across four dominant parties: advertising account management and creatives, independent media planners and researchers. Four core constructs were abstracted from the data forming the conceptual basis for a model. These were shared (agency) purpose and philosophy, personal chemistry between involved parties, power relations between parties with their incumbent conflictual tensions and finally trust between parties. The study provides an important bridgehead, opening up and exploring the increasingly networked foundations for advertising planning.     

The Risk of Collateral Damage in Advertising Campaigns

It is argued, on the basis of first principles and a case example, that 'leakage' of advertising messages beyond the target audience can generate negative reactions when 'activists' in an accidentally addressed 'meta-audience' exert 'social pressure' on the advertiser's 'micro and macro-audiences', inflicting 'collateral damage' on the advertiser in various ways. Examination of published data from industry sources shows that activists are a small sub-set of the meta-audience, but it is argued that their potential to reduce the long-term advertising effectiveness of some advertising campaigns is an issue for advertising managers and planners. Analysis of hitherto unpublished data yields a profile of one type of activist: those who complained about television advertising between 1996 and 1998. They belong to homogeneous social sub-groups that are geographically and demographically distinct from the general population, not least in conforming to the notorious north-south divide in Britain. It is proposed that this first-ever research-based profile of complainants offers a factual basis on which prudent advertising planners can predict the risk of collateral damage, and plan to minimise it by avoiding pre-disposing creative tactics or media schedules.     

Exploring the missing point of view in international advertising management: local managers in global advertising agencies

In the decades-long debates about whether standardised or adapted strategies are better for global brands, and whether centralised or decentralised international communications planning is more effective, little attention has been given to the perspective of local managers in the subsidiaries of global agencies. This paper reports on the experiences and opinions of account managers and creative directors in Korean subsidiaries, with regard to the international advertising policies of their agencies and clients. The authors find less centralisation than prior research has reported and yet more negative experiences with standardised global advertising. Creativity is a key consideration for the Korean managers, especially for products, be they consumer or industrial, that have universal demand. The perspective of subsidiary managers in multinational corporations should be considered in the advertising planning process in order to avoid conflict which could decrease the effectiveness of global campaigns.     

The advertising creative process: A study of UK agencies

Advertising agencies are hired to develop creative advertising for their clients. This paper explores the advertising creative process used by agencies when developing new creative work. Using in-depth interviews with 21 agency practitioners in the UK this study examines the stages that take place within the advertising creative process. Findings suggest the process is made up of a series of sequentially linked stages and illustrate how agencies validate advertising creative during development. The study provides insight into how agencies customise the process and identifies that agencies have different approaches to the level of client involvement. Implications for practitioners are discussed and areas for future research identified.     

Cross channel effects of search engine advertising on brick & mortar retail sales: Meta analysis of large scale field experiments on Google.com

We investigate the cross channel effects of search engine advertising on Google.com on sales in brick and mortar retail stores. Obtaining causal and actionable estimates in this context is challenging: Brick and mortar store sales vary widely on a weekly basis; offline media dominate the marketing budget; search advertising and demand are contemporaneously correlated; and estimates have to be credible to overcome agency issues between the online and offline marketing groups. We report on a meta-analysis of a population of 15 independent field experiments, in which 13 well-known U.S. multi-channel retailers spent over $4 Million in incremental search advertising. In test markets category keywords were maintained in positions 1-3 for 76 product categories with no search advertising on these keywords in the control markets. Outcomes measured include sales in the advertised categories, total store sales and Return on Ad Spending. We estimate the average effect of each outcome for this population of experiments using a Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) model. The estimates from the HB model provide causal evidence that increasing search engine advertising on broad keywords on Google.com had a positive effect on sales in brick and mortar stores for the advertised categories for this population of retailers. There also was a positive effect on total store sales. Hence the increase in sales in the advertised categories was incremental to the retailer net of any sales borrowed from non-advertised categories. The total store sales increase was a meaningful improvement compared to the baseline sales growth rates. The average Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is positive, but does not breakeven on average although several retailers achieved or exceeded break-even based only on brick and mortar sales. We examine the robustness of our findings to alternative assumptions about the data specific to this set of experiments. Our estimates suggest online and offline are linked markets, that media planners should account for the offline effects in the planning and execution of search advertising campaigns, and that these effects should be adjusted by category and retailer. Extensive replication and a unique research protocol ensure that our results are general and credible.     

Toward an Associative Model of Advertising Creativity

It has been assumed that the associative process plays a central and important role in advertising creativity. Yet, although this assumption has long been recognized, we know very little, other than intuitively, about the creative process itself. This paper represents a preliminary inquiry into this gap of advertising theory, formulating an associative model for the individual copywriter's creative process. More specifically, this study examines the relationship of associative ability, attitude, and creative ability, as conceptualized in the presented model. The findings suggest a direct and significant relationship among these three variables.     

Agency practitioners’ meta-theories of advertising

Research on practitioner theories of advertising uncovered that agency practitioners not only have definite theoretical beliefs about how advertising works, they also have meta-theoretical beliefs, fundamental presuppositions about the nature and possibility of knowledge in advertising. The meta-theoretical belief in creativity and its dictum of ‘no rules’ was found to be more important than any other guiding principle in advertising work. The primacy of creativity denies the possibility of any other moderator-focused theories that would prescribe ‘rules’ for creative content. Practitioners believe that the ontological status of advertising (as a territory defined by creativity, art and tacit skill) places it mostly outside the reach of scientific modelling. While practitioners acknowledge that knowledge about advertising is ‘layered’ (i.e. certain aspects of it are more explainable by the legitimation system of science), they also insist that the creative ‘layer’ is much thicker than other layers. A further qualifying factor is practitioners’ epistemological scepticism, which questions the validity of both academic and commercial social research as applied to advertising, and suggests instead that knowledge about advertising is better understood as ‘common sense’. The study’s findings have fundamental consequences for the professional aspirations of the advertising industry as well as the academician–practitioner gap in advertising.     

The Second Meaning of the Word “Creative” Should Be First in the Hearts of Advertising People

Abstract

Those who complain that pressure to sell is squeezing the creativity out of advertising forget, if they ever knew, that the second meaning of the word “creative” is “PRODUCTIVE”.

As the author points out, Webster's Collegiate Dictionary even spells it in capital letters.

Advertising should be interesting to the best prospects for the product advertised rather than to people who make advertising.

Writers and art directors are not typical of the mass market and the things which interest them do not necessarily interest the mass market.

Productive advertising, that is creative advertising, in the best sense of the word, talks to the best prospects for the product about things that interest them. It uses words and picures that the prospects can appreciate and understand.

It is a challenge to the highest skills of the best creative people which may be why there isn't too much productive advertising around.     

The Impact of AI on the Advertising Process: The Chinese Experience

Knowing that the demand for advertising in a growing e-commerce market cannot be sufficiently addressed in a traditional advertising operation model, advertisers and e-commerce platforms apply artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in advertising to improve efficiency and meet the market demand. From observations in the Chinese advertising market over the past five years, the authors gain insight into how AI technologies are applied in the advertising process and propose that the advertising process powered by AI technologies is composed of four steps: consumer insight discovery, ad creation, media planning and buying, and ad impact evaluation. This new advertising process, which is supported by a data-based platform with algorithms at its core, is tool based, synchronized, and highly efficient. AI has reorganized and upgraded the traditional advertising process and improved advertising efficiency; however, the new process is still born out of the traditional process and is not yet a reengineered one.     

Opportunities for and Pitfalls of Using Big Data in Advertising Research

This editorial introduces the special section on big data. We define big data by examining how it is, or will be, created in advertising environments. We propose a conceptual framework for understanding the different types of digital advertising touch points that create big data, and use the framework for identifying research opportunities. We discuss the types of research questions that big data can inform, including developing and testing theories, identifying insights, and optimizing the delivery of messages. New methods that advertisers will need to use big data are identified. Recommendations are provided for how to think about and approach big data. Using the framework, we identify specific opportunities for advertising researchers to use big data. We also discuss pitfalls in using big data.     

The Power of Creative Advertising and Consumers’ Perceived Risk

Despite the growing importance of creative advertising as an effective marketing tool, little is known about the process through which it influences preexisting attitudes for familiar brands and factors that moderate its effectiveness. To fill this gap, A 2 advertising type (creative vs. normal) by 2 product category (high risk vs. low risk) experiment was conducted. Four creative ads and four normal ads were developed for some familiar brands and were exhibited for participants. Results indicate that creative ads significantly lead to more favorable ad credibility, ad attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention than normal ads. Perceived product risk was found to moderate the effectiveness of creative ads.     

Is there gender bias when creative directors judge advertising? Name cue effect in ad evaluation

A lack of women in creative departments has been documented in previous research. These departments are seen as a male fraternity subculture in advertising agencies, where women experience many difficulties in their career progress. One of these drawbacks is gender bias in the selection of ideas' process. Male creative directors are believed to promote ideas created by men within a homosocial environment. This female perception emerged from previous qualitative research is studied experimentally for the first time. Almost 90 advertising creative directors and higher level positions assessed ads created by students in an advertising university course. In the current study, we explore the effects of ad gender authorship. Results revealed an absence of gender bias based on ad name cues, neither the gender of the ad creators nor the creatives affected the evaluations. The findings are discussed and future research is proposed.     

Explanation,Correlations and Causal Relations

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to help advertising planners evaluate audiences as they relate to cable television and new technologies. Fundamental assumptions made about television audiences and advertisers are examined with regard to new services. The article reviews and organizes the recent empirical studies concerning the audiences of new technologies. It presents a model which analyzes audience similarities and differences between new and conventional media. Also considered are directions for planning, research and the immediate future of cable advertising.     

Media allocation model using nonlinear benefit curves

An integral part of planning advertising campaigns involves the selection of those media vehicles that maximize the effectiveness of the advertising effort. This article describes a media allocation model designed to provide the media planner, responsible for a particular advertising campaign, with relevant information for use in selecting the most appropriate media vehicles and in determining the number of insertions in each vehicle. It is based on the derivation of nonlinear benefit curves for candidate media vehicles that can be derived from commercially available response data and from subjective estimates gathered from media planning experts. When tested in an actual advertising campaign, the results serve to provide relevant information that can make the media allocation decision a more objective one.     

Targeting Young Voters in a Political Campaign: Empirical Insights into an Interactive Digital Marketing Campaign in the 2007 Finnish General Election

At general elections across Europe, turnout among young people tends to be significantly lower than among older voters. Therefore, this article examines a digital marketing campaign that was targeted at young voters in the 2007 Finnish general election. More specifically, this article aims to provide insights into the creative development process of a political marketing campaign and the nature of the client-agency relationship in political campaigns. The methodology adopted in this article consisted of in-depth interviews with key informants involved in the campaign planning and implementation. The results provide new empirical insights into the challenges that political campaigner may face when they target political marketing at young voters. In addition, the results suggest that there are differences between commercial and political marketing also in a digital marketing context. Finally, the results support the view that marketing professionals have a strong role in a creative development process of a political marketing campaign. The ideas put forth herein can certainly help advertising professionals to plan political marketing campaigns that engage young people in future elections and therefore aid candidates in their quest to achieve electoral success.     

Children's Understanding of TV Advertising: Effects of Age, Gender, and Parental Influence

Parents, consumer organizations, and policy makers are generally concerned about effects of TV advertising directed towards children. These effects might be mediated by children's understanding of TV advertising, that is their ability to distinguish between TV programmes and commercials and their comprehension of advertising intent. In this paper, we investigate children's understanding of TV advertising, using verbal and non-verbal measurements. The sample consists of 153 Dutch children, ranging from 5 to 8 years old, and their parents. The results based on non-verbal measures suggest that most children are able to distinguish commercials from programmes and that they have some insight into advertising intent. The results based on verbal measures are not as conclusive; the percentage of children who show understanding of TV advertising is then substantially lower. Effects of age, gender, and parental influence are assessed using MURALS, a regression analysis technique for categorical and continuous variables, and CHAID, a technique for identifying homogeneous segments on the basis of the relationship between categorical dependent and explanatory variables. The age of a child turns out to have a positive effect. The effects of gender and parent- child interaction are rather small, both for verbal and for non-verbal measures of understanding of TV advertising. A high level of parental control of TV viewing may result in lower understanding of TV advertising. Implications for consumer policy and directions for future research are discussed.     

Impact of Sociodemographic Factors on Perceived Importance of Nutrition in Food Shopping

This study examines how the perception of a household main meal planner about the importance of nutrition in food shopping is related to the person's sociodemographic characteristics. Results of this study suggest that black, female, higher educated, and nonworking main meal planners generally perceive nutrition as more important in food shopping than do others. Findings also suggest that nutrition is more important to main meal planners who reside in cities and in the South. The results have important implications for government nutrition programs. The perceived importance of nutrition is also crucial to the success of consumer information programs that promote health and market nutritious foods.     

How divergent beliefs cause account team conflict

An exploratory, qualitative study of leading London and New York advertising agencies suggested that the differing disciplinary perspectives account team professionals bring to the advertising development process may have a deeper basis. Analysis of in-depth interviews suggested that they conceived of their respective roles in terms of implicit models of the consumer. These models were represented through particular epistemologies of consumer knowledge. The contrasting ‘epistemological models’ held by account team professionals were apparent in the differing stances on the role and function of consumer research in advertising development. The paper attempts to substantiate these speculative models with the dual aim of generating insight into the underlying dynamics of account teams and also of contributing to extant work on implicit theory in advertising practice.     

Power and responsibility: Advertising self-regulation and consumer protection in a digital world

While advertising self-regulation is generally considered effective in a closed, largely country-based system, the digital world in which we now live is an open and global system. This raises challenges for consumer protection from national regulators trying to enforce compliance from global media platforms, advertisers, and consumers. Applying the power-responsibility equilibrium, this study explores who has the power and who has the responsibility for advertising self-regulation in a digital world. In doing so, it takes an ethnographic approach, eliciting insights from 18 key stakeholders in the self-regulatory process, across the three geographical areas of Europe, United States, and Asia-Pacific. The findings highlight the need for more collaboration and alignment of self-regulatory systems and build a framework for action through embedding responsibility, aligning standards, initiating processes, and improving outcomes. Six recommendations are offered to restore the balance of power and responsibility.     

How to Monitor Competitive Advertising

Marketing managers are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits from structured and continuous monitoring of competitor advertising activity. To know quickly and accurately how much competitors are spending on their media advertising and how they are utilizing their budgets can be of profound help to marketing management, advertising agency planners and creative teams. Systematic monitoring can signal moves made by competitors—introducing new products or product modifications, special offers, new strategies and approaches to markets not previously covered. Of interest to the analyst are innovations in competitor strategies.