2009

URMI ROY

ROLL NO 268

7/25/2009

USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN ADVERTISING

INTRODUCTION TO ADVERTISING

What is advertising?

According to the American Marketing Association, “Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.

What is the importance of advertising?

Advertising benefits all sections of society – producers, consumers, and the society as a whole.

BENEFITS TO PRODUCERS

a) Meeting competitionBy creating brand loyalty, it helps a business enterprise to maintain sales and market demand. It supplements personal selling and sales promotion. It creates preference for a particular product.

b) Steady demandAdvertisers create a steady demand by smoothening our seasonal and other fluctuations. By suggesting new and improved means of using a product, advertising helps to maintain demand over the year.

c) Higher sales volumeAdvertising helps in increasing demand, expanding market and enhancing sales of existing products. Through repeated advertising , a producer can create new customers and enter new markets, which creates new wants and increases sales.

d) Introduction of new productsAdvertising helps in introducing new products by creating awareness and gaining their acceptance. By informing consumers about the products, advertising stimulates their interest and persuades them to buy it.

e) GoodwillAdvertising helps in creating a good image of the firm and reputation for its products. A favourable image increases the capacity of the firm to survive competition and depression.

BENEFITS TO CONSUMERS

a) Convenience in shoppingAdvertising makes purchasing easy by reducing the time and effort involved in shopping. People become aware of the source and availability of different products and need not search them out.

b) Education to customersAdvertising provides education and knowledge to customers about new products and their diverse uses. Consumers get the benefit of better advice in safe and proper use of products.

c) Lower pricesEffective advertising reduces the costs due to large scale production and elimination of middlemen. As a result, customers get goods at lower prices. Prices of advertised goods fluctuate less widely.

d) Better qualityAdvertising is generally done through brand names. Producers try to create special features in their products to successfully communicate product differentiation. This leads to improving the product quality and variety.

BENEFITS TO SOCIETY

a) Employment generationAdvertising provides large number of employment to people engaged in designing, writing and issuing advertisements. Advertising also increases employment opportunities by increasing the volume of production and distribution.

b) Standard of livingAdvertising helps in improving the standard of living by improving quality and variety. It educates people about new uses of products and provides information for developing better ways of living.

c) Sustains pressAdvertising provides a huge source of revenue to newspapers, magazines, radio and television. As a result, public gets news at lower costs and the circulation of newspapers and magazines increase.

TECHNOLOGY USED IN OUTDOOR ADVERTISING

WALK THROUGH SCREENS

It uses ordinary water to generate a dry foggy layer, upon which the image is projected, hence making it possible to walk through the image floating in mid-air, without getting wet. This makes the type of advertising very eye catchy.

INTERACTIVE DOORS

The technology is such that it is able to sense body movements. There are projections on the floor. The moment anyone steps on it, the images change, making the entire process very attractive.

HOLO SCREEN

It is a holographic rear projection screen for point of sale applications in retail stores, window displays, airports etc. The images are bright and clear. The screens are transparent so viewers can look through. These are generally 108”x300” in size.

OUTDOOR PROJECTIONS

These are simply projections on buildings or other structures. They are huge and grab attention. Product images, brand messages and full motion videos are projected, creating impactful impression. Cliffs, hillsides and hot air balloons are also used in this kind of advertising.

PERMANENT WATER SIGNS

These are projections made on water using different lighting technologies.

DIGITAL DISPLAY BILLBOARDS

These are built and placed like traditional billboards, excepting that these have a giant LCD display screen. Ads are displayed for 6-10 seconds at a time and then other ads appear on the same screen. Hence, such advertising is flexible as different ads can be displayed at different times. It is also cheap as one simply has to design the ads and put it up for projection.

ANIMATION IN ADVERTISING

The use of animation in advertising is not a new technique, but new technology and marketing trends have affected the way it is used to sell products. Once a technique reserved for situations where there was little money or motivation to do something more creative, animation has become the technique of choice in many advertising context.

BENEFITS OF USING ANIMATION

Animated characters are timeless

For example, the Amul girl has been known for ages, but still people identify Amul with that girl. Nobody is ever tired of the girl and its changing forms.

Reasonable cost of production

The cost of production of animated advertisements is quite low. This is because, no additional expenses are incurred for production, and no additional equipments are required, no shooting is involved, no insurance of equipments is necessary. Hence, money is also saved as the process is also less time consuming.

Effective for marketing a product aimed at children

Children relate more to cartoon characters and love them also. Hence, animated characters are used for advertising children’s products as they prove to be more attention grabbing and effective in instilling interest. For example, Kellog’s Chocos had the bear to grab attention.

No limitations while dealing with animations

There are no limitations to one’s thinking and imagination. Animation depends on a person’s creativity and imagination. Any amount of special effects can be added and construed in the most intangible environments.

RECENT TRENDS

Digital Convergence

There is a growing trend for using computer technologies to deliver media programming and information. It allows one media outlet to take advantage of the features and benefits offered by other media outlets.

In-Tunnel Advertising

This consists of a series of backlit poster images which creates an illusion of a motion picture advertisement. So whenever one is travelling and such advertisements appear on the walls beside, it appears as if the images are moving along with the cars.

Emotional Advertising

Certain advertisers use an emotional touch for their ad campaigns to create a niche for themselves. Campaigns for insurance, beauty products, retirement solutions are a few such products or services using emotional advertising. For example: Surf’s “Daag Accha Hai” campaign has a mother trying to keep all the clothes white but the child, despite trying to keep his clothes clean, dirties them.

Youth Connect

Certain advertising campaigns try to connect with the youth by giving them a sense of superiority and ego boost with the advertisements. For example, Ford Ikon with the tagline “The Josh Machine” gives a sense of speed and power. Similarly Bajaj Pulsar was given the tagline “Definitely Male” to attract the youths.

Emotional Brand Connect

A few products have very unique features which are sufficient for the consumers to identify with them. For example: Bullets have a recognizable engine sound and that sound is patented. Hence it is unique. Advertisers use this uniqueness to connect with consumers. The Bullet Electra ad where a train is shown the red signal so as to give way to the bike to pass plays with the emotional brand connects. “Everybody makes way for the new Bullet Electra” is the tagline.

Online Advertising

The internet has become very popular and has encompassed all our lives. Advertisers use this fact to their advantage. They put up ads on web pages. Nowadays whenever one opens a web page, it is cluttered with advertisements.

Screen-Based Media

Children today spend most of their free time in front of the television and the computer. Thus more and more advertisements fill up the television space and web pages. Television programs now have more advertisements than program slot.

Social Networking Sites

It has become very apparent today that social networking sites are increasingly being noticed and are now gaining a lot of traction as to their overall popularity. Internet surfers as well as the advertising industry as a whole are now taking notes, and many are expecting this could have some important changes in the way Internet advertising will unfold in the near term and what to expect next. The idea is to look for new opportunities on in what's known as user-generated content. Apparently the possibilities are huge, but the risks are also quite evident and worrying. Social networking websites appear to be a very promising place to advertise on. Teenagers are there, even young adults are there.