How Advertising Agencies Work

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 644.

Role play 2

Role play 1

Choose a product or service that you might talk about with friends: cars, hi-fi equipment, holidays, language courses, a builder/painter to do work on your house or flat.

Work with a partner. One of you wants to buy one of the things. The other has just bought the product or service and recommends the make they bought or the service they used. Role play the conversation.

Read the information about advertising agencies, work with a partner and role play the situation below.

Many organizations use institutional or prestige advertising, which is designed to build up their reputation rather than to sell particular products.

Companies tend to use the services of large advertising agencies. These are likely to have more resources and more knowledge about all aspects of advertising and advertising media than a single company. The most talented advertising people generally prefer to work for agencies rather than individual companies because this gives them the chance to work on different advertising accounts (contracts to advertise products or services).

The client company generally gives the advertising agency an agreed budget; a statement of the objectives of the advertising campaign, known as a brief; and an overall advertising strategy concerning the information for the target customers. The agency creates advertisements (or adverts or ads), and develops a media plan what to use {newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema, posters, mail, etc.) and in which proportions. Agencies often produce alternative ads or commercials (ads on television and radio) that are pre-tested in newspapers, television stations, etc. in different parts of a country before a final choice is made prior to a national campaign.

The agency's media planners have to decide what percentage of the target market they want to reach (how many people will be exposed to the ads) and the number of times they are likely to see them. Advertising people talk about frequency or ‘OTS' (opportunities to see) and the threshold effect – the point at which advertising becomes effective. The timing of advertising campaigns depends on factors such as purchasing frequency and buyer tu7rnover (new buyers entering the market).

One of you is the Marketing Director for a chocolate company or a canned and frozen food company. The other is a Creative Director at an advertising agency that wants the Marketing Director to spend money on TV advertising. The Marketing Director does not want to spend money on this and suggests some of the alternatives: direct mail, tasting of the products in supermarkets. Internet advertising, sponsorship of sports/cultural events, coupons (pieces of paper showing a reduction that you can ask for when you buy something).

Role play the conversation, with each side giving reasons for their choice of marketing activities.