PREFACE Advertising is virtually everywhere in daily life, and its forms and roles are both contested and

admired. Some see advertising as both the mirror and the maker of culture: its words and images reflect the present and the past even as they contribute new sounds and symbols that shape the future. Others say that advertising is purely an economic activity with one purpose: to sell. But most of the people agree on the fact that advertising creates "magic in the marketplace." Advertising can be defined as a paid, non personal communication of information about product or ideas by an identified sponsor through the mass media in an effort to persuade or influence behavior. Advertising is non personal as its directed to groups of people rather than to specific individuals. Speaking in broad term advertising communicates information about products or ideas. THE EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISING Advertising is hardly a new phenomenon. Even a hundred years ago, advertising was an integral though sometimes unwanted part of daily life. Over the centuries, the evolution of advertising has been closely tied to social, economic and technological changes that have affected the media and the message. We would study the evolution of advertising under the following heads: The Early Days: These were the days when public education was low, few people could read, and so for centuries trades people attracted attention with public criers and pictorial signs. Some Greek and Roman traders also used signs to advertise their products, as people could not read. When Johann Gutenberg invented movable type and the printing press in Germany in the mid 1400s that printed materials could be mass-produced. This led to printed pamphlets being distributed and also some primitive forms of today's billboards. The Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution and the subsequent shift from rural to urban centers and the widening of the gap between producers and the consumers, the businesses turned to advertising quickly to reach out their potential customers. Technological Changes: During and after the Industrial Revolution, technological advance changed both the speed and form of communication. This can be attributed to the fact that photography was invented and along with telegraph, telephone, typewriter, phonograph, and motion pictures opened up new avenues for personal and business communication. However, the inventions of radio and television changed the face of advertising forever as print and electronic media expanded the use and impact of advertising. We discuss a few of them in brief: 1. Print Media: This would include the magazines and the newspapers. Today's newspapers and magazines offer advertisers the flexibility of targeting the audience ranging from a small local area to the whole nation or the continent. By the dawn of the twentieth century, advertising had become a social and economic fixture in the U.S. and U.K. and all the magazines and newspapers

were being filled by ads of different companies and varied products. Today also the print media is an effective mode of advertisement. 2. Electronic Media: The electronic media would include radio and the television. The advent of the radio allowed the advertisers the liberty of using certain 'jingles' and music, which could be associated with their brand and product. Whereas the television brought along the visuals along with the audio effects. This was a revolution and the print media found it being sidelined as far as advertising went. Talking of India, the Cable TV boom in the early nineties added to the choices available to the advertiser on a regional segment. THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNET The new millennium has brought us on the brink of the I.T. Revolution. This revolution has been aided by the advent of the Internet in a big way. Internet is fast changing the way people used to do things. Naturally, the same would have an impact on the advertisers. The Internet has been accepted as the most powerful media for advertising due to the absence of geographical barriers. The advent of the Internet and its subsequent acceptance has once again challenged the traditional forms of advertising. Advertisers are trying to use the 'net' to advertise their products and hence 'net' their customers. Thus, with the Internet gaining prominence, advertising equations are fast changing and we, in the subsequent chapters, would like to study the impact of Internet on advertising from the customers as well as advertisers point of view. TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING VERSUS INTERNET ADVERTISING The first Web advertisement was placed on the Hot Wired web site in October 1994. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Volvo, Club Med, ZIMA were the first to try it out and the Internet advertising has come a long way since then. Here, we would like to compare Internet Advertising with Traditional Advertising: TRADITIONAL ADV. (TA) TA is static. INTERNET ADV. (IA)

It is dynamic with multimediasupporting text and graphics video sound all together. Space is not a restricting factor Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc. The proportion of advertising to A web page would be 91% editorial editorial is high sometimes 50:50. and 9% advertising. Does not evoke immediate action. Invokes immediate action, as you atleast need to click on the ad. Response to the action is not First response is immediate as when immediate. the user clicks, the person is directed to other web page with more details. Advertisements are passively received. The user has high attention level and concentration while using the net,

and hence they notice the ad. Advertising does not always target a This can be very focused. very focused audience. Advertisements are ubiquitous. Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for some thing. For example the search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel agents on the net. Difficult to track the exact number of This is quite possible with Internet people who saw the advertisement. advertisements. Ads are graphic intensive and avoid Both copy and graphics are restricted copy overload. by the banner size specifications. The costs would be prohibitive to reach There are no such constraints. a global audience. OBJECTIVES OF INTERNET ADVERTISING 1. Advertising: As far as advertising on the Internet goes, all advertisements will serve to attract the user's attention and draw him to the company, which is advertising. 2. Build brand awareness: Direct or indirect methods can be used on the websites to build brand awareness of the different brands of a company. This is where the Internet scores traditional media and methods as explained below. 3. Stimulate direct action: Visitors to a company's web site should get involved with the offerings on the site. Valuable customer information can also be captured and tracked for future marketing initiatives. 4. Promote its brands: Promotional give - away or contests generate excitement while simultaneously promoting your brands online, aiding off - line sale. 5. Building a culture around its brands: This goes along with that company's traditional advertising. 6. Surrogate advertising: This is another means of surrogate advertising of the company, where all forms of traditional advertising fail. Surrogate advertising can be proved to be positive in case of advertising on the Internet. FEATURES OF INTERNET ADVERTISING 1. Advertising on the Internet has certain unique features that differentiate it from other forms of advertising. They are as follows: 2. Member registration: Member registration is an efficient tool that is used by firms to create their database. Such a database may be used to design promotional campaigns. Allowing registered users to participate in various events can follow systems of free registration. 3. Online opinion polls: Opinion polls are conducted to obtain the responses from users regarding the firms' products and services besides including topics of general interest.

4. Newsletters: Regular newsletters are sent especially to registered users. These contain information about current updations on the site and activities being performed by the company. 5. Contests and sweepstakes: Contests are useful in attracting new users to websites. They may be for simple things depending on the product or service being advertised. The prizes offered are in a wide range and usually have the logo of the company and the homepage address displayed prominently. 6. Content: The content of the advertisement can be regularly updated with news regarding the activities of the firm. A fact-based section showing the manufacturing processes of a company may also be included. The use of multimedia tools can make this more interactive. 7. E-cards: Users send free cards via e-mail from the site of the company advertising the product. The card prominently displays the logo or the baseline of the brand. The cards may be for different occasions such as birthdays, festivals, birthdays, etc. These cards are used to reinforce brand identity. Star endorsers of the brand may also be included in the picture postcard themes. 8. Downloads: Downloads may include various utilities for the computer such as icons, desktop patterns, screensavers, themes, etc. Registered users get the opportunity of downloading software. Charts and other informative articles may also be included. 9. Coupons: Coupons are used to promote sales off-line. Sending discount coupons for the products and services of the company on special occasions can do this. DEFINITION Paid form of non-personal communication about an organization or its products that is transmitted to a target audience through a mass/broadcast medium. "The paid, no personal communication of information about products or ideas by an identified sponsor through the mass media in an effort to persuade or influence behavior." Now let's take this statement apart and see what it means. NONPERSONAL First, what is "nonpersonal"? There are two basic ways to sell anything: personally and nonpersonally. Personal selling requires the seller and the buyer to get together. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The first advantage is time: the seller has time to discuss in detail everything about the product. The buyer has time to ask questions, get answers, and examine evidence for or against purchase. A second advantage of personal selling is that the seller can see you. The person he's selling to. He can see your face; see how the sales message is getting across. If you yawn or your eyes shift away, you're obviously bored, and the seller can change approach. Rhe can also see if you're hooked, see what features or benefits have your attention, and emphasize them to close the sale. Finally, the

seller can easily locate potential buyers. If you enter a store, you probably have an interest in something that store sells. Disadvantages do exist. Personal selling is, naturally enough, expensive, since it is labor-intensive and deals with only one buyer at a time. Just imagine trying to sell chewing gum or guitar picks one-on-one; it would cost a dollar a stick or pick. In addition, its advantage of time is also a disadvantage. Personal selling is time-consuming. Selling a stereo or a car can take days, and major computer and airplane sales can take years. Nonetheless, although personal selling results in more rejections than sales, and can be nerve-racking, frustrating and ego destroying for the salesperson, when the salesperson is good it is more directed and successful than advertising. From the above, it appears that personal selling is much better than advertising, which is nonpersonal. This is true. Advertising has none of the advantages of personal selling: there is very little time in which to present the sales message, there is no way to know just who the customer is or how rhe is responding to the message, the message cannot be changed in mid-course to suit the customer's reactions. Then why bother with advertising? Because its advantages exactly replace the disadvantages of personal selling, and can emulate some of the advantages. First let's look at the latter. First, advertising has, comparatively speaking, all the time in the world. Unlike personal selling, the sales message and its presentation do not have to be created on the spot with the customer watching. It can be created in as many ways as the writer can conceive, be rewritten, tested, modified, injected with every trick and appeal known to affect consumers. Second, although advertisers may not see the individual customer, nor be able to modify the sales message according to that individual's reactions at the time, it does have research about customers. The research can identify potential customers, find what message elements might influence them, and figure out how best to get that message to them. Although the research is meaningless when applied to any particular individual, it is effective when applied to large groups of customers. Third, and perhaps of most importance, advertising can be far cheaper per potential customer than personal selling. Personal selling is extremely laborintensive, dealing with one customer at a time. Advertising deals with hundreds, thousands, or millions of customers at a time, reducing the cost per customer to mere pennies. In fact, advertising costs are determined in part using a formula to determine, not cost per potential customer, but cost per thousand potential customers. Thus, it appears that advertising is a good idea as a sales tool. For small ticket items, such as chewing gum and guitar picks, advertising is cost effective to do the entire selling job. For large ticket items, such as cars and computers, advertising

can do a large part of the selling job, and personal selling is used to complete and close the sale. Advertising is nonpersonal, but effective. COMMUNICATION Communication means not only speech or pictures, but also any way one person can pass information, ideas or feelings to another. Thus communication uses all of the senses: smell, touch, taste, sound and sight. Of the five, only two are really useful in advertising -- sound and sight. The five forms of human communication can be used to send any message to potential customers. However, not all five are equal. Smell, touch and taste are of little use, but sound and sight are of great value and effectiveness. INFORMATION Information is defined as knowledge, facts or news. However, you should bear in mind that one person's information is another person's scam, particularly when advertisers talk about their products. Information comes in many forms. It can be complete or incomplete. It can be biased or deceptive. Complete information is telling someone everything there is to know about something: what it is, what it looks like, how it works, what its benefits and drawbacks are. However, to provide complete information about anything is time consuming and difficult. Thus, for advertising, information must of necessity be incomplete, not discussing everything there is to know about the subject. In advertising, what appears is everything the writer thinks the customer needs to know about the product in order to make a decision about the product. That information will generally be about how the product can benefit the customer. There is, of course, the concept of affirmative disclosure. This concept requires an advertiser to provide customers with any information that could materially affect their purchase decision. PAID FOR ". . . paid for . . . " is pretty straightforward. If an ad is created and placed in the media, the costs of creation and time or space in the media must be paid for. This is a major area in which advertising departs from public relations. PR seeks to place information about companies and/or products in the media without having to pay for the time or space. PR creates news releases and sends them to news media in hopes they will be run. Often PR departments produce events that will be covered by news media and thus receive space or time. There is no guarantee that the media will run any of the PR material.

Advertising doesn't have that problem. If time or space is bought in the media, the ads (as long as they follow the guidelines set down for good taste, legal products and services, etc.) will appear. The drawback is that ads are clearly designed to extol the virtues of products and companies, and consumers perceive any ad as at least partly puffery. PR pieces are usually not so perceived. PERSUASIVE "Persuasive" stands to reason as part of the definition of advertising. The basic purpose of advertising is to identify and differentiate one product from another in order to persuade the consumer to buy that product in preference to another. The purpose of this book is to discuss some basic elements of persuasion. PRODUCTS, SERVICES OR IDEAS Products, services or ideas are the things that advertisers want consumers to buy (in the case of ideas, "buy" means accept or agree with as well as lay out hard, cold cash). However, there is more involved in products or services than simply items for purchase. A product is not merely its function. It is actually a bundle of values, what the product means to the consumer. That bundle may contain the product's function, but also the social, psychological, economic or whatever other values are important to the consumer. Companies, through research, try to determine what values consumers want in their products, and then advertise to show how their product satisfies the customers' bundle of values better than competitors' products. To do this, the company must differentiate their product from competitors. There are three basic differentiations: perceptible, imperceptible, and induced. Perceptible Perceptible differences are those that actually exist that make one product obviously different from others of the same kind. The difference may in color or size or shape or brand name or some other way. In any case, the consumer can easily see that this car or couch or camera is different from other cars or couches or cameras. Perceptible differences allow a person to make an instant identification of one product as opposed to another. Imperceptible Imperceptible differences are those that actually exist between one product and others, but are not obvious. For example, there are imperceptible but profound differences between CP/M, MS-DOS and Apple and MacIntosh computers. You can't simply look at a computer and tell which it is; machines can and usually do look alike. And yet buying either precludes being able to use software designed for the other. Induced

For many products, there is no actual substantive difference between one and another. For many brands of cigarettes, beer, cleansers and soaps, rice, over-thecounter health products, etc., ad nauseam, there is essentially no difference between one brand and another. These products are called parity products. For these products, the only way to differentiate one from another is to induce that difference, to persuade people that there actually is some difference, and that difference is important to them. These differences are created through advertising, not through any inherent difference in the products, and that creation often uses the appeals and methods discussed in the bulk of this book. IDENTIFIED SPONSORS Identified sponsors means whoever is putting out the ad tells the audience who they are. There are two reasons for this: first, it's a legal requirement, and second, it makes good sense. Legally, a sponsor must identify herself as the sponsor of an ad. This prevents the audience from getting a misleading idea about the ad or its contents. For example, many ads that appear in newspapers look like news articles: same typeface, appearance, use of columns, etc.. If the ad is not identified as such, the audience could perceive it as news about a product, rather than an attempt to persuade the audience to buy it. Case in point: what looks like a news article discusses a weight-loss plan. In journalistic style it talks about the safety, efficacy, and reasonable price of the product. A reasonable person might perceive the "article" as having been written by a reporter who had investigated weight-loss programs and decided to objectively discuss this particular one. Such a perception is misleading, and illegal. Since it is an ad, somewhere on it there must appear the word "advertisement" to ensure the audience does not think it is an objective reporting of news. Second, it makes good sense for a sponsor to identify rherself in the ad. If the sponsor doesn't, it is possible for the audience to believe the ad is for a competitor's product, thus wasting all the time, creativity and money that went into making and placing the ad. VARIOUS MEDIA The various media are the non-personal (remember that?) channels of communication that people have invented and used and continue to use. These include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards, transit cards, sandwich boards, skywriting, posters, anything that aids communicating in a non-personal way ideas from one person or group to another person or group. They do not include people talking to each other: first, talking is personal and advertising is nonpersonal; and second, there is no way to use people talking to each other for advertising--word-of-mouth is not an advertising medium, since you can't control what is said.

Thus, to repeat "Advertising is the nonpersonal communication of information usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature about products, services or ideas by identified sponsors through the various media." PROS & CONS PROS 1. Flexibility allows you to focus on a small, precisely defined segment (School newspapers) or a mass market (baseball show = Males, 35-50). 2. Cost efficient-reach a large number at a low cost per person, allows the message to be repeated, and can improve public image. 3. Allows for repeating the message-lets the buyer receive and compare the messages of various competitors. 4. Very expressive, allows for dramatization. 5. Also used to build a long-term image of a product. 6. Trigger quick sales, Sears advertising a weekend sale. CONS 1. Absolute Rs outlay very high, make a national TV ad. Approx 150,000, local ad. 60,000. 30 second spot, Superbowl 1.1 m 1995 2. Rarely provides quick feedback, or necessarily any feedback 3. Less persuasive than personal selling 4. Audience does not have to pay attention 5. Indirect feedback (without interactivity) THE MYTH OF ADVERTISING'S EFFECTIVENESS It's ironic that advertising can be so expensive while yielding such poor results. The argument made by the proponents of advertising is almost pathetically simple-minded: If you can measure the benefits of advertising on your business, advertising works; if you can't, then your measurements aren't good enough. Or you need more ads. Or you need a different type of ad. It's much the same type of rationalization put forth by the proponents of making yourself rich by visualizing yourself as being prosperous. Paradoxically, even though some small-business owners are beginning to realize that advertising doesn't work, many still advertise. Why? For a number of reasons: because they have been conditioned to believe that advertising works, because there are no other models to follow, and because bankers expect to see "advertising costs" as part of a business proposal. It's important to realwed. You hi and you've heard countless times that advertising works. To look at advertising objectively may require you to reexamine some deeply held beliefs.

WHAT DOES ADVERTISING DO? "What 'work' does advertising do and how well does it do it? Aside from comforting purchasers by assuring them they made the right choice, aside from comforting CEOs and employees that their work is important, and aside from certain unpredictable short-term increases in consumption, most advertising does not perform as advertised. Take away the tax deductions that corporations get for advertising, and most expenditure would dry up overnight. Although elaborate proofs of advertising's impotence are available, the simple fact is that you cannot measure the relationship between increased advertising and increased sales. If you could, ad agencies would charge by how much they have increased sales, not by how much media space they have purchased."

AD O - MANIA A typical day in the life of a Mumbaikar . . .. 7 :00 am: He wakes up 7:20 am: Picks up the morning newspaper to catch up with the news only to find a huge 2 ft Pepsi bottle glaring back at him. He turns to the sports page to find a huge MRF tyre or a tin of Castrol GTX. "Forget it, Ill simply have my tea! " 9 :00 am: He is on his way to office he first takes a "Digen Verma" bus and then a "BPL Mots" train. 10:00 am: He is sending an e-mail to his colleague with several ads popping in and out of the screen. 7 :00 pm: He is driving down the Queens necklace - a woman in a hoarding luring him into buying a "Ray-Ban. 10:00 pm: He is forced to watch "Kyunki Saas Bhi . . .. " with his wife. "15 minutes of commercials in a 30 minute serial! , he retorts. Welcome to the New Age Advertising! ! ! Advertising has definitely changed over the years. But the change that we are talking about is not merely the change in the texture of the advertisements digital images, special effects, quality of printing, etc. The change we are referring to is the change in the perspective and in the way ads are communicated. The change in the theme, the approach, the "language" and even the channels who would have thought of ads on bus-stops, buses, trains, kiosks or even postcards. In the "good old days", like they say, ads used to be directly correlated to the product. A mens clothing ad would have a handsome man (preferably a film star or a cricketer ), wearing those outfits and endorsing them. A shoe polish ad would

show shoes shining after being polished. We would call these ads the First Generation ads. And then started the Second Generation of ads the age of ambiguity. On seeing an ad, one would not know whether it is a promo for a car or a suiting or a credit card until in the end you are enlightened to find it is an ad for a soft drink ! Then advertising graduated to the Third Generation of more meaningful ads. Ads that revolved around "Life" that showed the "Bigger Picture" than merely the product or service. The First Generation ads implicated practical needs like thirst, beauty, hygiene , safety, etc the basic utility of the product or service. The Third Generation ads address the "Ontological Needs", needs related to self-affirmation like a persons aspirations, emotions and relationships. Thus we find that these are more subtle, the Monte Carlo sweater ad does not show a person feeling cold in the snow and wearing the sweater. Instead, the theme is woven around a man and womans newly found love. The warmth of a sweater is related to the warmth one experiences in a relationship. Or if we see mens suitings ads like Raymond, today they depict changing roles of a man as a father, a husband, a son or a successful professional in the corporate jungle . Also, as culture changes, conventions change, depictions in the ads are also changing. The "Arial Compact" ad shows the husband washing clothes while the wife is away at office. Or the Allen Solly ad coming up with "Friday Dressing", doing away with the concept of conventional dull formal dressing by introducing "casual formals". Or the latest "Pepsi" ad which shows the showdown of our very own hero, Shahrukh, unlike conventionally the hero always gets the girl. Though ads are becoming subtle as to the communication of their product or service, on the whole, advertising has become very aggressive and loud. No one would forget the day, "Indya.com" had taken over the entire front page of "The Times of India". And today you have a "Digen Verma" hoarding every 10 yards you walk. Admen are out to grab every little gap in our time or space and stuff it with ads. Hence ads tend to be intrusive, eating out (a bit too much ) on our newspaper space, TV entertainment, the airspace of our cities almost imposing buying decisions on us. Agression in ads also comes in the form of crudeness and vulgarity, even on huge hoardings on busy streets. It was shocking to find "Bisleri" resorting to vulgarity to promote mineral water that stands for purity. Also in the name of competitive advertising, we see a lot of Softdrinks and toothpaste wars. This has resulted in companies focusing more on mocking each other than concentrating on their marketing strategies. The transition of social advertising has been equally interesting. The "Drive Safely" or the "Wear helmets when you drive" ads previously showed fear and warnings stating "Dont do this . . . " which invoked "rebellion" amongst teenagers who would still end up driving rashly or drinking. Today, such ads use humour or emotions to strike a sentimental chord ( like "someones waiting for you home") amongst the target audience.

Then there are brands like "Lux" who havent changed their communication for years they still use the same "beauty soap for film stars" concept and are still effective. Even the "Pears" soap that has been implicating "tenderness" by showing the mother - daughter relationship. Or the "Sunsilk" shampoo that says "a shampoo for every kind of hair". Well, we have seen our culture and lifestyle change and since ads reflect life, they have also undergone a transition. But the question that still lingers in our minds is that - Have the admen changed their advertising communication according to our culture changes or is advertising today changing our lifestyle and imposing a totally new value system on us! ! FIVE Ms OF ADVERTISING Advertising is an important promotional tool for any marketing campaign. So much so that whenever we think of marketing we think of advertising although it is just one of the marketing tools. Hitherto only companies with a profit motive went in for advertising. But today government bodies as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) go for high profile advertising campaigns. The purpose here is not to increase the sales figure but to increase the awareness of people regarding the relevant topics. Today the marketing manager has a range of advertising options to choose from - from interpersonal communication to Internet. Deciding on a correct option calls for a detailed analysis aspects like objective behind advertising (Mission), companys earmarked budget (Money), content of communication through advertising (Message), advertising vehicle (Media) and impact of advertising (Measurement). These can be broadly classified in as the five Ms of advertising. MISSION First of all the marketing manager must be clear on the companys purpose for advertising. "Increase in sales figure" will be a very broad and to a certain extent a vague objective. According to Mr. Philip Kotler, a renowned authority in this field, there can be three possible objectives behind advertising: Information - When a new product is launched, the purpose should only be to inform people about the product. Persuasion Persuading people to actually go out and buy the product. This objective is of paramount importance because of cutthroat competition. Any advertisement must be persuasive in nature, attracting consumers towards the brand. Reminder - This objective is relevant for well-established companies. These types of advertisements only try to remind the consumer of the brand existence. For instance whenever we hear or read yeh dil mange more, we tend to think about Pepsi. Same way we tend to associate "two minutes" with Maggie noodles. The marketing manager should establish a clear goal as on the purpose of advertising - information, persuasion or reminder. MONEY

After the objective has been decided upon, the next step is to decide upon the budget. There are several methods for deciding on the advertising budget. The most common among them is percentage of sales method. Under this method, a certain percentage of sales are allotted for advertising expenditure. Though this method is used widely, there are some problems with this method. The first issue is what percentage the company should take? Even if a company somehow decides a percentage figure, this would mean increase in advertising expenditure when sales are up and less spending when sales are down. This in some ways is quite paradoxical, because logically the reverse should happen. The company needs to spend more on advertising when sales are down. But this method uses circular reasoning and views sales as cause for promotion! In fact sales are a result of promotion. Another method suggests that a company should spend as much as its competitors are spending. This method claims that it would prevent promotional wars. But then like each individual each company is also different. It may not make any sense in spending like your competitor because competitor might be on a different footing. MESSAGE As a common experience, we love some advertisements, while the others just irritate us. An appealing ad will win consumers and will consequently induce them to purchase the product. On the other hand, irritating ads will create an adverse effect. This is why many companies hand over this task to advertising agencies, which has professionals to make impact-making ads. The message, that company wants to convey, should be put in a manner that will arouse interest. Moreover it should convincingly highlight upon the products USP. What is said is definitely important but what is more important is how it is said. The tone should be appealing. Words used should be catchy and retentive (memorable). These days both electronic as well as print media are overflowing with ads. People have no time to read or see them, and therefore they have to be attractive enough to catch the target audiences attention. This is the job of message. MEDIA Selecting the proper media vehicle for communicating the message goes a long way in the success of any kind of advertising. Each media vehicle has its positive and negative points, with a different reach and impact. Therefore, a company has to be very clear about its target audience. Choices available are Internet, television, newspapers, magazines, direct mails, radio and hoardings. Every one of this has its advantages and disadvantages. Companies often go in for a media mix, i.e. they select more than one of the available choices. Timing is of greatest significance here. Many industries face seasonal fluctuations and pass through cycles. Therefore advertising should be timed that way to take care of these fluctuations. A limited budget should be prudently allocated among these media vehicles. MEASUREMENT

It is necessary that effectiveness of any advertising be judged. Only on the basis of this measurement, can further decisions regarding continuation or termination of the particular advertising campaign be taken. An ad can be judged on the basis of its reach and impact on sales. Good advertising is one that generates brand awareness and consequently brand preference. How much of sales can be attributed to advertising, is a difficult question to answer. Sales are influenced by many factors besides advertising. It is not easy to isolate the impact of advertising on sales. Nonetheless there are some advanced statistical techniques available that can be used with the help of computer softwares like SPSS. Thus a systematic and balanced understanding of these five Ms of advertising (Mission, Money, Message, Media, and Measurement) will help in designing a better advertising campaigns that create a favourable impact on the target audience. ADVERTISING AND FALLACY OF OUGHTS Do advertisements influence our self-image and our self-esteem? A look at some of the latest TV commercials: The Wrangler Jeans ad - are the jeans taken off for fire fighting or for setting the gaping men on fire? The LML Adreno ad - A symmetry between the physics of the bike & the figure of a woman & how! The brand reminds him of his beloved & then he "rides" it. Don't smirk This is serious business. Even the images on magazine stands everywhere are full of pencil - thin models with gravity defying breasts, impossibly long legs, and incredibly thick tresses. Beautiful it may seem but on closer look one may notice the darker side the possible impact on the consumer psyche & his/her self-image. It's a wonderful feeling seeing a 10-year-old girl striding across a playground or riding her bike letting her hair blow in the wind, feeling free. Then you see that same girl at 17 and she's in torn faded jeans, flaunting her navel ring, looking anorexic, and doing weird things with her hair and her eyebrows. Research shows 80 percent of American girls wake up each morning feeling miserable about the way they look, and more than half of the girls between the ages of 12 and 14 feel better about themselves if they are dieting. We feel the "fallacy of oughts", created by the dream merchants is responsible for such a feeling. The fallacy of oughts is the mistaken belief that we must satisfy everything we ought to be, ought to do, ought to buy. These are the standards we wrongly feel we have to live up to. Once we get caught in the trap, we start the act of abusing ourselves by attempting to meet a powerful and overwhelming world of oughts. Media images contribute to the fallacy of oughts by giving constant messages of "imperfection and insecurity", by presenting unrealistic images of perfect Barbie doll -like women. Women's bodies are used and pictorially abused to sell products even as mundane as floor tiles & bathroom accessories.

Ads tend to convey the idea that appearance is all-important. Everywhere we turn, advertisements tell us what it takes to be a desirable man or woman. In this way, ads limit our understanding of self worth and our full potential. It seems so tragic to me that girls think, "If I only do 100 sit-ups, I would . . .." What becomes "unattractive" is that obsession with "if only . . . ". Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you're a failure. & using their products, chances are????? The close-up tag line 'guarantee hamaree..., kismet tumhari'. There are huge societal implications because consumers who don't feel good about themselves put themselves in a position to be mistreated by the ad makers - the hidden persuaders. PERFECTING A NEW AD CAMPAIGN After running the "Clove-oil" advertisement of Promise toothpaste successfully for more than four years, Balsara Hygiene Products decided to change the ad copy. They came out with a new campaign stressing the "extra freshness" angle of their dental cream. Unfortunately, it bombed, plunging the No.2 toothpaste brand to No.3 position, after Colgate and Close Up. The whole episode costed the company millions of rupees in lost revenues and ad/promotion expenses. Some years back, ANZ Grindlays Bank launched a revolutionary ad campaign featuring spontaneous leisure situations in colour. It was indeed revolutionary for a bank to go for such an advertising which suited a hotel or resort better. The copy gave very subtle hints about the services the bank offer. The campaign obviously was much ahead of its time and so failed to make any impact on the desired objectives. Grindlays withdrew these ads after spending crores of rupees unnecessarily. Recently, a leading cosmetics brand came out with a high budget ad film shot abroad for conveying the same message they have been advertising all of the last several years. It failed to make any impact on the consumers and they withdrew the ad after a few spots. These are just few cases in a series of never-ending flop campaigns that occur from time to time. Again and again, advertisers and their agencies seem to fall into a series of common traps when making decisions that involve marketing, media and creative strategies. Often, they result in crores of rupees in wasted efforts. Yet, almost all of them can be easily avoided. Most of the things that happen in the advertising business is predictable, and a careful analysis of available research and case histories can uncover solutions to problems, which many professionals try to solve intuitively. More often than not their intuition is wrong. During the course of my consulting and marketing experience, I have noticed a number of oft-repeated blunders that haunts the advertiser and the agency. This article is an attempt to provide a remedy to all such problems. Given below are Ten Commandments, the adherence to which would help advertisers make perfect or near-perfect campaigns.

1. Find out if your product delivers what it promises: - In order to make waves in the market place and to taste the sweetness of success, a product must live up to its positioning promise. Advertising guru David Ogilvy puts it in a different way: "The consumer is no moron ... she is your wife." Noble Soya House positioned their Great Shake as a cold beverage of great taste (The ad copy said: "Just one sip will get your toes tapping")when it was launched. Their target market was westernized teenage group and so they suppressed the soya product story. The product flopped badly, simply because it could not live up to the promise it was making. Consumers just hated the bitter after-taste of soya milk. Even after repositioning it in new markets as nutrition-based drink, it did not do any better. Years of goodwill generated through the baby food market prompted Glaxo to launch a baby powder, positioned against the undisputed market leader Johnson & Johnson. Glaxo assumed that mothers would extend their trust to this product as well. Thus came out Glaxo Tender Talc. Everything about this product was good except one. The ad pitch based solely on the Glaxo name and the aura of trust. Unfortunately for them, mothers trusted Johnson & Johnson more for the baby's outside care! The brand extension just did not work because Glaxo Tender Talc failed to deliver that trust. In a similar fashion, Aramusk, premium soap for men, was launched by Shaw Wallace way back in 1985, positioning it as an exclusive and expensive soap for men. As ill luck would have it, most consumers felt that the product was too exclusive and too expensive. They just could not identify with the advertising. Also, the largest group of triers, men of 20-30 years age, just shied away from the soap; forcing Shaw Wallace to withdraw the ad. The product simply failed to be compatible with the promise it sought to deliver. Many banks including IDBI and ICICI advertise that they are anxious to give loans, but the truth often is that they are anxious to give them only to people who really don't need them and aren't anxious to have them. Hence, most bank advertising lacks credibility. In short, before you go ahead with a campaign, decide on whether your product is capable of delivering the positioning promise. 2. Set attainable objectives: - The important thing to understand about setting advertising objectives is that most advertisers do not set sensible ones. But then these same advertisers are not sure if their advertising is paying off either. If you ask them how their campaign is going, you get answers like, "All of our people like it very much" or "It's a bit early to tell, but we think it's going to be very successful". The truth is that if you are spending Rs 10 lakhs or Rs 10 crores, you ought to be able to tell with a much greater degree of accuracy what it is doing for you, or you shouldn't be spending it. To do this, you need parameters that can be measured, such as increasing advertising objectives with specific goals, share of mind or brand awareness. Advertising campaigns are in one sense like military campaigns. In a military campaign,you set an objective like "Capture the Kargil back" or "March through McMohan Line". Then you know when the campaign is over and whether you have won or lost. Successful advertising campaigns have the same kind of criteria. They start with objectives, so you can tell how the campaign is going and whether you are winning or losing. So, perfect campaigns insist on an attainable objective as a prerequisite. 3. Measure utility before price: - One real question to ask in producing your advertising is "How much is the utility I am going to get from this really worth"? It

is foolish for a retailer to spend lakhs of rupees producing a TV spot for Diwali sales if the spot is only going to run on a local channel in one market. In most cases, he cannot possibly sell enough merchandise to LEFT that kind of expenditure. But it is equally foolish to try to sell someone a Rs 4.6 lakhs car or a Rs 15,000 vacation with a brochure that costs a few rupees a copy. There are times when utility is a function of price. An example of this is magazine coupons offering special cash discounts on purchases. Coupons in colour are perceived as being more valuable and almost always achieve a higher redemption rate. By paying greater attention to the work that has already been done by other advertisers, a lot of blunders could be averted. In almost all such cases, there is a lot of information available to guide the decision-making process. But most of us are too busy to look for it. Or we tend to think that we know the answers because we have been doing it for years, or it is a matter of judgement. It may have been a matter of judgement at one time, but not today. That is what separates good advertisers from bad ones. 4. Base budgets on objective-task formula: - Most advertisers still set their advertising budgets using a percentage of either present sales or projected sales. This method puts the cart before the horse and postulates that advertising is the result of sales, when infact it is the cause of sales. It leads to an appropriation based on the availability of funds rather than problems and opportunities. This can be a costly error. Allwyn learned this fact very late. Multinationals swallowed it. A second popular method is to base advertising appropriations on industry figures. For instance, you might use 1% of revenue if you were advertising refrigerators because that is what the industry average is. But industry averages may have no meaning in your own situation. By using them, you tend to forget your own objectives. Instead of using industry average figures, some companies use their competitors' advertising expenditures as a guide. "If they are spending Rs 10 crores, then we ought to spend Rs 10 crores too, or may be even a little more to be safe". So went the planning of a leading refrigerator maker. But you are assuming here, among other things, that your competitor knows what he is doing -- and he may not. There are several other methods as well, but the one that has the most support behind it in the professional and academic community is the objective-task method. In this method, you look at the objectives you have set for yourself, decide what needs to be done to accomplish those objectives, and then price it out. One should admire P&G for sticking to this formula, evident in their spending of several crores of rupees in building Ariel brand. Surprisingly enough, if your objectives are reasonable and attainable, the budget you arrive at by this method may more or less approximate the budget that other methods might suggest. 5. Recognise advertising opportunities: - Sometimes it helps to know a little economic theory, like grasping the basic concept of elasticity of demand. This describes the degree of response by consumers to changes in a product's price. For instance, the more essential a product is, the more inelastic the demand tends to be. That is, if the cost of rice went up by Rs 5 a kilogram, people would probably not stop buying it. However, if Double Horse Rice went up Rs 5 a kg, people might switch to Elite Rice, and if all rice rose by Rs 10 a kg, many people might shift to wheat or other staple foods. Infact, while consumers did not cut

down on their total monthly grocery bill at all during the recent inflationrecession, they did buy less mutton and more beef for the same rupees. More than that, the sales of cookery books shot up many fold! Elasticity of demand is important to understand, because if the demand for a product or service is elastic, and prices can be lowered, as in the case of fans and refrigerators where seasonal discounts attract many new customers, then a real advertising opportunity can exist. This is also the case when a retailer can get special promotional price from a manufacturer and pass it on to consumers. But too often, advertisers assume an elasticity that doesn't exist and then lowering the price, and advertising has the same overall effect as if the prices had been maintained. 6. Base your actions on valid research: - Even the most experienced marketers have been misled at times by poor research. A few years ago, a major company in the household cleaning products business was steadily losing shares of market to a competitor. In a study, one factor that seemed to make women prefer the competitor's brand was the fragrance. Women, when asked, consistently said the competitor brand "smelled better." The company proceeded to develop a fragrance, which in blindfolds tests clearly "won" over the competition. Women definitely preferred it. The new fragrance was put into the product and a new advertising campaign was launched. The sales continued the same downtrend. The company went back and did some more research. Women did indeed like the smell of their brand "better" than the competitor's. But the product was a household cleaning formula. It was supposed be pretty strong stuff. And the competitor's brand had a strong, unpleasant odour. To users, that meant more cleaning power. Research had turned up the right answer to the wrong question. The question should have been "Which product smells like it would clean better?" and not as was originally asked, "Which product smells better?" Similar invalid research was the catalyst to speed up the death of ICI's Savlon antiseptic liquid. In laboratory, Savlon was proved more effective against germs than Dettol. This helped Savlon command a leadership position in the institutional markets like hospitals. Gaining confidence from this, ICI went ahead with a campaign, launching Savlon to the household market in direct confrontation with Dettol. "The other antiseptic (meaning Dettol) kills only the gram-positive germs while Savlon kills both gram-positive and gram-negative germs"-- so went the launch campaign. Sadly, ICI did not recognise that semi-clinical messages such as this one holds no water with housewives. Savlon bombed miserably. If they had done their research right, they would have found that Savlon does not sting, it lathers well, it does not discolour like Dettol when mixed with water, it does not have Dettol's obtrusive smell, etc. Then, they could have positioned it in many different ways. Perhaps the new acquirer of Savlon would do a better job! The case of "Ms" cigarettes by GTC is no different. However, the invalidity of their research for the first cigarette for women helped them with a valid research for a low-nicotine cigarette "Legend." Products are frequently launched and advertising campaigns are rolled out based on the right answers to the wrong questions. Be sure your questions are right before you make judgments based on your answers.

7. Put message before the medium: - A good media plan should stem from knowledge of the creative strategy. Too often, it happens the other way around. Advertising is a form of communication and, as in any communication; you ought to base the decision of the form the message will take on what is to be communicated. For example, you might use the telephone to invite someone to a party. But that same telephone would be an inappropriate medium if you wanted to fire him. A formal letter would be better. A company in recent times that has blended their creative copy perfectly with medium is Hindustan Lever for their AXE Deodorants. The ads pitched on the Axe effect of sexual attraction and the media was selected only after the creative strategy had been decided. During their launch they blocked almost all the programmes of AXN channel to splash their several versions of the Axe effectads. This not only brought them attention of the target audience (men in 20s and 30s) who tried the brand several times, it effectively blocked out all competing deo brands from the AXN channel. In six months of launch Axe cornered more than 9% market share in the deo market. Every time I come across a radio or TV spot giving a telephone number to call or an address I need to write for something, it occurs to me that it came from an agency or advertiser who planned the medium first and the message second. Those kinds of messages need to be in print to work best. To have successful campaigns, you need to have your creative message before you plan on the medium of advertising. 8. Consider advertising's cumulative effect: - Many advertisers, in setting print schedules especially (where they are less likely to think in terms of reach and frequency), fail to consider the cumulative effects of advertising exposure. One swallow doesn't make a spring and one insertion doesn't make a campaign. Make sure that when you plan your perfect campaign, run your ads at least till they get noticed. Yankee Doodle succeeded in launching their ice creams with very low expenses. They released their campaign in winter with a series of ads. Since few ice cream ads appear in winter, they took off royally by grabbing much attention. According to a US study, eight insertions (once a week) doubled the number of triers that four insertions produced, but that effect stopped when the ads stopped. Fifteen insertions produced the most triers per ad dollar invested. Clearly, once is not enough, or atleast, very inefficient. 9. Use media correctly: - There is a lot of research available as to what works on TV, what works in print and so on. But many advertisers either ignore it or never bother to find out. For instance, some advertisers have very definite beliefs about what are the best days to run advertising in newspapers, but those are often the wrong beliefs. There is a lot of evidence that shows that advertising that is run on the days with the least amount of other ads receives the highest readership. Not as popularly believed about Sundays being the best days. Studies in this respect support the aforementioned viewpoint. One leading newspaper did a survey of their readers and was astonished to find that their best lineage days produced the lowest readership. So, if an advertiser persists on bunching up his ads during Sundays or some other "popular" day it might result in his receiving a lower return for each advertising rupee invested. Similarly, other advertisers demand certain positions in newspapers despite the fact that most studies show that ads on the right-hand page score as well as those on the left. Ads above the fold do

as well as those below the fold, and outside ads fare as well as those printed next to the gutter. Creativity and innovation are what really makes the difference. A good ad can outpull a bad one, as much as two times, even if the position, size, and day of the week are all exactly the same. I wonder if the target audience noticed the recent imitation by Fa of AXE. AXE, when lauched in India carried an innovation in Sunday Times with a half page flap of sexy lips which would be lifted to show the AXE effect on the main page of the paper. Mudra, the agency for Fa, attempted a similar stunt,but the creative was so bad that few people would remember it. 10. Expect advertising not to do the whole job: - Too often, advertisers expect advertising to do the whole selling job. This is obvious if you read their marketing plan, which identify advertising as "increasing sales". And yet, with the exception of direct-response advertising, advertising almost never directly sells goods. The sale is completed in a store or a showroom. Displays, competitive pricing, the salesmen, and the dealer location among things almost always affect the effectiveness of your programme. Many good campaigns fail because someone expected the advertising to make the sale. The next time you plan to launch a new campaign, make it a perfect one with the aid of these Ten Commandments. When you do, savor the taste of success for a long time. ADVERTISING NINETIES & NEW MILLENNIUM TECH SAVVY IN THE NINETIES 1990 Marks the beginning of new medium Internet Agencies open new media shops; go virtual with websites and Internet advertising Brand Equity (magazine) of The Economic Times is born 1991 First India-targetted satellite channel, Zee TV starts broadcast Close on the throes of the Gulf War enters STAR (Satellite Transmission for Asia Region) 1992 Spectrum, publisher of A&M, constitutes its own award known as 'A&M Awards' Scribes and media planners credit The Bold And The Beautiful serial on STAR Plus channel as a soap that started the cultural invasion 1993 Indias only advertising school, MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad), is born

 Tara on Zee TV becomes India's first female-centric soap 1995 Advertising Club of Bombay calls its awards as Abby Country's first brand consulting firm, SABRE (Strategic Advantage for Brand Equity) begins operations

1996 The ad fraternity hits big time for the first time by bagging three awards at the 43rd International Advertising Festival, Cannes Sun TV becomes the first regional TV channel to go live 24 hours -a day on all days of the week 1997 Media boom with the growth of cable and satellite; print medium sees an increase in titles, especially in specialised areas Government turns towards professional advertising in the private sector for its VDIS campaigns Army resorts to the services of private sector agencies Advertising on the Internet gains popularity Equitor Consulting becomes the only independent brand consultancy company in the country Several exercises in changing corporate identity For the first time ever, Indians stand the chance of winning the $ 1- million booty being offered by Gillette as part of its Football World Cup promo 1998 Events assume important role in marketing mix Rise of software TV producers banking on ad industry talent Reinventing of cinema -advertising through cinema begins 1998 Lintas becomes Ammirati Puri Lintas (APL) 1999 B2B site agencyfaqs.com launched on September 28, 1999 The Advertising Club Bombay announces the Ad Works Trophy IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM 2000

 Mudra launches magindia.com - India's first advertising and marketing gallery Lintas merges with Lowe Group to become Lowe Lintas and Partners (LLP) bigideasunlimited.com - a portal offering free and fee ideas for money launched by Alyque Padamsee and Sam Mathews Game shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati become a rage; media buying industry is bullish on KBC Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi marks the return of familyoriented soap on TV French advertising major Publicis acquires Maadhyam 2001 Trikaya Grey becomes Grey Worldwide Bharti's Rs 2.75-crore corporate TV commercial, where a baby girl is born in a football stadium, becomes the most expensive campaign of the year 2002 Lowe Lintas & Partners rechristened Lowe Worldwide For the first time in the history of HTA, a new post of president is created. Kamal Oberoi is appointed as the first president of HTA GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS: ALTRUISM AND ADVERTISING Two men sit at the bar, enjoying a beer. A commercial comes on the TV behind the bar and the announcer says that for every bottle and can sold the brewery will give five cents to charity. The two men turn to the camera and lift their beers in a salute. Pictures flash on the screen: a little girl, dressed in rags and sitting on a filthy mattress on the floor, gazes up forlornly into the camera; a starving child, its belly distended from malnutrition, its face covered with sores and flies, lies too ill and exhausted to cry; ragged children play in muddy streams that are no more than open sewers. The announcer says that, for a few cents a day, these children can get food, medicine, shelter, clothes. New pictures flash on the screen: happy, well-dressed, well-fed children. The screen displays the address and phone number to give money. Altruism is contrary to the normal purpose of advertising, to convince the individual that acquiring a certain product or service will benefit that individual. Altruism is doing things for the benefit of others. For this reason, the use of altruism in advertising requires that it be linked with some other appeal, an appeal that shows how being altruistic benefits the individual. The stronger the linked appeal, the stronger altruism will appear. The strongest appeals are self-preservation, sex and greed. Somewhat weaker, but still powerful, is self-esteem. There seems little likelihood of linking sex or greed to altruism, since they are both contrary to altruism. However, self-preservation and self-esteem both work well with altruism. When linking self-preservation to altruism, the ad will imply that giving of yourself now will result in helping you later. For example, ads promoting donations

to disease research show people that have the disease but are being helped by the research, and suggest that more research will lead to a cure. The ads also imply that you, the potential donor, are susceptible to the disease, and that your donation will help ensure that, when you get it, you can be cured. Thus, the scenes of victims and words say that you should help the afflicted and help yourself in the process. Such appeals to self-preservation are rarely overt, but do provide an undertone to the ads. Self-esteem, when linked with altruism, is a very subtle appeal. If you recall, for most men self-esteem is directly related to where he believes he fits in a hierarchy: the higher his relative position, the higher his self-esteem. Ads could say that helping others demonstrates his superiority to those others, but such an approach would run counter to most men's social sensibilities that say overt displays of superiority, better known as arrogance, are improper. For an altruistic appeal to men, linked to self-esteem, to work, it must appear that he is simply helping those less fortunate, rather than appearing that he is deigning to help. Deep down inside, he may feel a sense of superiority, but he can assuage his social conscience by telling himself that he's doing it out of a sense of fellowship. Altruism is easier to link to self-esteem for women, since for many women self-esteem is related to a sense of connectedness rather than competition. Ads asking women to be altruistic can easily show how her actions can benefit others, gaining her their appreciation and even love. For example, ads asking for donations to help children in Third World countries emphasize how grateful the children will be, and how the children will write to express their appreciation. Pictures and ad copy personalize the children so they appear as individuals in need of her individual help, giving her a personal connection with a child, implying a closeness akin to that she has with her own children. Of the other appeals (personal enjoyment, destructiveness, constructiveness, curiosity and imitation), only two can reasonably be linked with altruism, since the other three are fundamentally selfish and personal rather than selfless. Those two are constructiveness and imitation. Constructiveness can be linked to altruism through the concept of building a better world and worldview. However, this better world is, subconsciously, not for the benefit of the recipients of the altruism, but for the donor. I WANT IT, I WANT IT NOW: GREED AND ADVERTISING The spokesman stands before a picture of a book cover and says that silver is at an all-time low. He says the book contains information on how to take advantage of this fact in order to make money when the price of silver rises. He then explains how to get the book. The ad shows a credit card. If you use it, the company will donate 5% of the amount you charge on the card to a fund you can use to buy one of their cars. In this way, you can save a lot of money when you buy your next car -- from them.

The above ads have something in common: they appeal to greed, the desire to get more of what consumers need or want with the minimum of effort. GREED AS AN ADVERTISING TOOL Greed, no matter what anybody says, is a part of the human psychological make-up. Everybody wants more. Thus, as an advertising tool, greed, (or acquisition of property, to make it sound better), works well. If an ad can makes a product, or more usually a service, appear that it will help the individual get a bigger piece of the pie, then it will attract attention and generate sales. Bank, financial service and broker, franchiser, magazine subscription service, state lottery, etc. ads, and memory improvement, grade improvement, and "make a fortune in real estate" infomercials all depend on convincing people that what they sell will make possible the purchaser getting more. How does advertising convince people that they can get more if the customer buys the product? By making vague promises. Please note that the ads never state unequivocally that the purchase of the product or service will result in an increase in material goods. What the ad promises is a chance, a possibility. The most common approach is the testimonial. In this type of ad, someone who has purchased the product or service tells the audience how rich they have gotten. They will often explain how they were in dead end or low paying jobs (the better to relate to the target audience of these products). They then give paeans of praise for the product or service that showed them how to get out of their ruts and into their Rolls Royces. INDUSTRY OVERVIEW: ADVERTISING AGENCIES The advertising market in India is estimated at USD 1.6 billion for 1998, and is estimated to grow at about 12 percent to USD 1.8 billion for 1999. Revenues of advertising companies in India, which are 15 percent of the total expenditure on advertising, were USD 243 million in 1998 and are expected to reach USD 272 million in 1999. About 400 advertising agencies with a work force of 18,000 operated in the Indian advertising market in 1999. The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) segment is the largest advertiser in the Indian advertising industry, closely followed by the consumer durable segment and the automobile industry. With 80 percent of all billings, newspaper and television remain the two most popular forms of advertising. Advertisers predict this trend will continue in the coming years due to the proliferation of the print media and the growth in the cable TV and the satellite television business. Indian advertising companies with foreign collaborations control 75 percent of the Indian advertising market. Of the top 20 advertising agencies in India, 15 firms have either joint ventures or affiliations with large multinational advertising agencies. Most of these 15 multinational agencies are among the top 24 global advertising agencies. As the number of multinational companies (MNCs) grows in India, the Indian advertising industry is expected to experience more affiliations and collaboration agreements with foreign agencies.

The presence of American advertising companies in India is as old as the Indian advertising industry itself. Hindustan Thompson Associates (HTA), the largest Indian advertising agency in India has collaborated with the J. Walter Thompson Company of New York since its beginning in 1929. American advertising agencies with a long presence on the Indian advertising scene include J. Walter Thompson Company, Interpublic Group and Ogilvy & Mather. Of the top 20 advertising agencies in India, 12 have joint ventures with American advertising agencies. Other countries with agencies active in this sector include the U.K. (two equity participants), France, and Japan (one equity participant). ADVERTISING GENDER BIAS A PAIR of tiny scissors held by a male hand cuts apart criss-cross strings of a womans back, undressing her. The visual is quite often seen on popular TV channels. The scissors is one of the attachments of an army knife offered free along with a deodorant for men. A man and a woman cling to each other, womans head sunk in his chest, visible is a womans long nude back with four horizontal strings and a pair of male hands playing it as a bass/cello. This advertisement is of a music store. Agreed that advertising is a necessary instrument for business to operate and economy to run. How these imaginaries in visual and print media use and project women does unconsciously affect peoples mind, needs to be addressed. All advertisements, by and large (mainly on TV), depict sports, work situations and the outside world as focus of mans existence and kitchen as a womans world. Hardly is a woman shown as an equal partner, who is employed and is a person of her own will, e.g., in advertisement of a cigarette (in newspapers) mainly consumed by men, man is shown as a distinctive business personality with a female looking at him admiringly. The visual of a shampoo on television brings about a womans desire to get mere sapnon ka rajkumar as if this is the only goal she has. One of the texts of Amway products in the print media reads: You will find me in the praise of proud husbands. Reinforcing gender roles, these representations project a modern housewife who is fast, active, intelligent, confined to the home but commanding the kitchen. She is a caring mother, loving partner, devoted wife, ideal daughter-in-law whose happiness ranges around the health and happiness of her family. This woman, in one package, advocates the image of Sita. Above all, she is a smart buyer. Through these representations, a woman is announced as a homemaker, whether it is cooking oil (Sweekar cooking oil where she is referred as home manager) toothpaste, hair oil, detergent, electronic gadget or automobile. "Not only do these advertisements reinforce stereotypes but they are also far from real conditions of existence", maintains Jaya, a college lecturer. Not close to reality, women are shown in a neat environment with done up hair. Even while being confined to bed by pain or illness, a woman is dressed in a traditional costume

as in the ad for the ointment for pain. All beauty products like creams, shampoos, lotions and soaps highlight woman as healthy, fair and beautiful. The gap between the real and these representations does not reflect on any other aspect. On the extreme end are models, particularly in the print media, shown as new generation ultra modern women waring scanty clothes, breaking all rules and thus expressing a sense of freedom. "These imaginaries are there to befool people and create a false world of beauty," says Tanu Anuja, a doctor by profession. These representations have made beauty a pressure for women. After all what is this beauty and for whom? Many women have internalised the belief that their job is to please men and these standards of beauty, they do not realise, are set by men. The media has used this concept of beauty for commercial purposes. Not only does it increase competition among women who can afford all the products but also creates a complex among those who are unable to possess these. "A woman becomes victim of incompleteness and feels that if she does not look like models, some thing is wrong with her. She feels guilty". Feminine charm and sex is projected to boost the sale of products. Almost every advertisement of sanitary ware in prestigious magazines uses the female body. One such advertisement, of a large photograph of woman in her two-piece costume on a beach accompanied by the next, which reads looks so tempting, you wouldnt mind fishing out extra money. Though the product is more important and she is only a secondary object, but still her body is highlighted to enhance the face value of the advertisement. Instead of showing the model cleaning the bathroom (which she actually does) she is there only to attract the attention of readers. Scrutiny of the text and its relation to the image in all reveals commodification of women. She is brought on a par with the commodity and creates an impression that she is for the consumption of man. What is dominating in the advertisement is the model and her looks and not the phone. A model in her soft blue neckless skirt endorses her confidence and freedom through possession of a mobile phone. In another newspaper ad of the same product, one woman holding the mobile is dancing to glory surrounded by six men adoring her. Her presence is there only to increase the visual appeal of the advertisement. Postures and expressions of female models in many advertisements nearly lead to eroticism. In another advertisement one finds a woman whose bosom is covered with merely a strip of cloth. The advertisement is vague, the idea silly and there is no clarity of concept. One assumes from the pair of scissors (the only thing next to womans image) that it could be about opening of a grand showroom in Ludhiana. The pleasing smile of the woman seems to be soliciting that nude is in vogue. Another ad of the same shop has a nude woman with few glitters covering her private parts. Visuals of Swarovski crystal jewellery and carbon accessories are equally provocative. Not only big companies but also even local and small business entrepreneurs feel that advertisements of their products are incomplete without a woman, e.g., visuals of a photographers studio, wristwatches and bedsheets etc. The commercial slot of underwear and vests for men on TV has nothing to do with women but still a

woman is a must in them. Men and women both use all shampoos and soaps, but exclusively women using these products are depicted. Besides commercial slots, some programmes on TV also use women is a wrong way. For instance in Khulja sim sim on Star Plus all the products won in Darwaja number 1, 2 and 3 are displayed along with a tall, slim woman usually in a tunic or blouse. When the Darwaja opens, this attractive young lady is the first one to catch the viewers attention and is made to stand there just to enhance the beauty of the whole show. She does not utter a single word and silently points to the products with a broad smile. There are many commercials where women do not appear at all, for examples in ads of Calcium Sandoz (haddion ke jaan, winners ki pehchan) Dabur Chawanprash, Sona Chandi Chawanprash, Parle ji biscuits, Kisan Jam etc. on TV. Boys are shown engaged in physical activity outside home (as if girls are not suited for adventurous activities). These ads clearly demonstrate a gender bias. Browsing through magazines like Health would reveal that products of MNCs like Nestles milk powder with honey, Nestle cerelac (mere ladle ko chaiye poshak tatv sahi matra mein) etc. show only a baby boy and not a baby girl. All these products claim to have vitamins, proteins and calcium etc. for growing children. But absence of girls in these ads projects that a girl child does not require strength and energy. Even the ad of Linc pen on TV displays a boy student in boys school. It ends with the slogan "encouraging literacy" (perhaps only for boys). We have to understand the whole scenario in a commercial framework, that is understand the close relationship between industry and the media. The issue is related to these questions: To whom does a particular advertisement speak? To whom is it addressed? Who controls the media, sponsors the ad and who benefits from it? It is true that consumer capitalism depends on the continual production of novelty of fresh images to stimulate desire but at what cost? The debate can be extended to the male projection as well perpetuation of sex-specific roles and stereotypes. Even a cursory survey reveals how the representation of women is much more distorted than that of men when it comes to advertisements. PRINT: IN NEED OF GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY The recently released NRS 2002 has good news for the print industry. The overall print readership in the country has grown by 10 per cent in the last two years and currently the readership base stands at 180 million. This makes it even more competitive with TV. In fact, according to IRS 2001, round 2, the reach of print in the potential segment was close to that of TV, especially satellite TV. For instance, in the highly potential SEC AB segment, the reach of print is very significant. Today, after a decade of satellite TV in India, dailies continue to be the only medium to deliver instantaneous and significant reach across markets and audiences (though the reach is lower among women). Despite having the numbers in its favour, the growth in the revenue from print is lower than that of the media industry as a whole. Over the years, this has resulted in a decline in the share of print. In fact, the share of print has declined from 60 per cent-plus to less than 50

per cent in the last five to six years. Clearly, it is losing money to other media especially television and the Internet. Media Exposure in SEC AB Medium Base ('000) Press TV Satellite Radio Cinema Press + TV All five media All Adults 51936 85 93 67 19 26 97 98 Men 28181 93 93 67 20 31 98 99 Women 23755 75 93 67 17 20 96 97

But why is print losing money to other media? Is it because advertisers don't see it as a contemporary medium? This is a common allegation against the medium, but it is not entirely true. The print product is a much-improved product today. With better reproduction, colour supplements, split runs etc, the medium has tried to keep pace with the expectation of the advertisers. However, all these have at best helped the medium to hold on to existing revenues or grow marginally in some cases. So, if the product is better today and the potential is great, why is the industry-losing share? The answer could lie in the way marketers look at media today. Today, marketers constantly seek greater accountability for every rupee spent, both below- and above the line. With the cost of marketing a brand increasing constantly, along with a squeeze on revenues - thanks to intense competition in the marketplace -advertisers are looking for greater efficiencies from the media buck (which invariably is the largest component of his marketing costs). Satellite TV marketers recognised this need early. This resulted in channels being more responsive to clients' needs leading to Cost Per Rating Points (CPRP) deals in some cases, while in other cases, the channel genuinely tried to build brands through value adds like sponsorships, promos, interstitials etc. Today, most satellite TV marketers wish to assure/guarantee the advertiser the best benefits of a campaign. This doesn't mean that all TV campaigns are visible and successful. But of course, there is a talk of compensation before asking for the next order. Even new media like Internet and FM are talking of accountability. How often do we see this happening in print? Invariably the RO (release order) is sent or collected and the ad is carried in the print vehicle. The only interaction between the marketing team and the advertiser/agency is when it is not awarded a campaign or the rates for the campaign need to be firmed up. There is no post campaign evaluation.

Isn't it time the industry moved towards answering questions relating to its efficacy and devise a system for greater accountability? The medium has to be probed to answer some common questions: Readership is fine but how many people read my ad? What is the readership of each page, section and position? How impactful is colour vis--vis B&W? Do readers read the section 2 of the paper or its supplement? FM RADIO - THE ALTERNATIVE ADVERTISING MEDIUM? Finally! FM Radio has gone private in the country with the prospective players getting licenses to set up their radio stations in 19 major cities of the country. And one more medium may open up to the advertisers - especially the local ones with small budgets, as well as the national ones, who are interested in region-specific advertising and are looking for something more than what print offers. REACH OF RADIO The NRS 2000 estimates reach or listenership (calculated as listening at least once a week), in terms of number of all radio listeners (age 15 years plus) as 157 million or 23.7 per cent of the total population, with a slight tilt towards the higher SECs and the younger audiences among overall radio listeners. However, penetration of radio sets having access to FM is just 41.6 per cent of the urban radio-owning households. Almost 61.4 per cent of the radio-owning homes in the top eight metros have access to FM Radio. In all other town classes, this penetration is less than 31 per cent. And 29 per cent of all urban listeners listen to FM Radio at least once a week. In 16 of the 19 towns where licenses have been granted for FM Radio stations, penetration of FM sets is 60.5 per cent of all radio homes. And listenership of FM Radio is just 14.5 per cent. Not very encouraging, to begin with! FM RADIO LICENSES Ten players have won licenses to operate 37 channels in 19 cities. Bennett Coleman & Company has won the maximum bids, with licenses to operate radio stations in 12 centres (refer Table: Final Players and Cities) INVESTMENTS IN RADIO BROADCASTING It is estimated that the final cost of starting a radio station would be in the region of Rs 7 - Rs 14 crore per city, depending upon the area of operations. This cost includes license fees, all infrastructure costs including recording studios, transmission (including building transmission towers, for which players are getting together to build a single tower as a consortium), programming costs and other administrative costs. Most programming costs cannot be split over cities, as regulations stipulate that each city should have unique programming. Looking at the costs involved, major players do not expect break even before six to eight years.

PROGRAMMING MIX AND PRIME TIME Given that the limited research available points at music - mainly film music being the staple diet on radio, most players are likely to have a judicious mix of Bollywood, Indipop and Western music. Other genres of music like classical Indian, ghazals etc are expected to be featured, but only in non-prime time. And again, going by experience as well as available figures, prime time can be expected to be between 8.00 am to 10.00 am, 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm and 6.00 pm to 10.00 pm. THE NEEDS OF FM RADIO Definitely, the most important need today is for authentic data on penetration of FM radio sets and not educated guesses by research agencies. Secondly, given that even today, people listen to a diverse number of radio stations and with private players setting up multiple radio stations per city, the options for listeners are only going to increase, hence research figures on the lines of TRPs would be imperative to advertisers and broadcasters. As of now, there seems to be no mechanism and one does not know if anyone is considering this in the future. The third need is more of a business proposition. And that is an increase in the penetration of FM Radio sets. More than four out of five radio sets in urban areas and more than two in three radio sets even in the top eight metros do not have access to FM. This points to a vast untapped market. Shall we see an exchange market soon in the future? A throwback to the television days of the early eighties? VIABILITY AS A MEDIUM FOR ADVERTISING As a medium, it might be attractive to advertisers due to its (initially, depending upon negotiations) low cost per thousand, its non-intrusive nature and the fact that it is a more efficient local advertising medium than probably print or cable TV. However, in the long run, radio would have to demonstrate a reasonable amount of effective reach in order to be considered as a serious medium. SUMMARY It is a fact that radio can be a more appealing medium due to its non-intrusive nature, its immediacy and its high local content appeal. It just needs a push in the right direction at the right times to become much more than a fringe player in this competitive market where there are numerous choices for the audiences as well as the advertisers. And maybe its time has come! Lastly, it might be pertinent to note that in the USA, overall radio advertising grew by 12.1 per cent to $19.8 billion last years. Not a mean feat in a recessionary market. And not a mean feat at all considering that this was the ninth straight year of revenue growth of radio (source: Radio Advertising Bureau). More interesting is the fact that local radio advertising contributes 80 per cent of all radio-advertising revenues. So where shall we see radio in India 10 years from now?