DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGY PLANNING FOR ADVERTISING

Strategy Planning for advertising (and other forms of communications used in Integrated Marketing Communications) is a dynamic process, whose development has been analyzed to reveal five stages.

Stage 1

This may be described as 'primitive' method that goes back to the time of ancient Greeks and Romans....it was also visible in the Egyptians civilization. It persisted in some form or another, even in the 19th century AD. Such communications indicated availability of some goods or services at a particular location, most did not give any further information not even about the attributes or features of the product or its price.

Stage 2

The only change from the 1st stage to the 2nd is the inclusion of information about the features of the product. Reasons why a particular product should be preferred over competitive products, or why specific buyers would get higher satisfaction, were not clearly enunciated...essentially this approach may be described as "manufacturers claim" that would not be of any use in the present day market scenario with well informed buyers conscious of their rights.

Stage 3

This is the first strategic attempt at setting a branded item apart from its competitors based on the concept of the Unique Selling Preposition - USP.

USP is generally depended on the physical features of ingredients competitor brand lack. Advertising based on USP may thus convince the potential buyer the superiority or suitability of the product over competition- it is thus inherently very powerful and useful but is is increasingly difficult to develop and retain due to the spread of technology. USP talks of genuinely differences but this advantage is eroded very fast.

Even with the best of laws protecting Patents and Intellectual Property Rights, technological innovations are often quickly copied or mimicked by competitors. The original brands tends to lose its competitive edge fairly fast. Hence, relying on USP for brand differentiation is an excellent idea but generally short lived.

It is relevant today, but a difficult proposition for most organizations. It must also be remembered that it is not enough to be 'unique' since the advertisement must also sell the product...the benefits must be relevant and powerful motivators in the context of the buying situations.

Stage 4

The next stage developed in late 1940s and through the 1950s and 1960s, as advertising and marketing professionals realised the shortcoming of USP - the fact that it was extremely difficult to retain or protect.

Strategists went on to develop advertising based on building a brand image or brand personality whereby the prospect was encouraged to think of a brand as not merely a bundle of physical features giving rise to tangible benefits. Advertising based on brand image & personality focussed on intangible aspects of a brand and on creating perceptual differences from competitive brands.

Stage 5

This development in strategy planning is based on the theory of 'positioning a brand' and attempts to give a sharper edge to advertising by recognizing that today's consumer lives in an 'over communicated' society. Today's consumer is exposed to a plethora of media, increasing fragmented and intrusive and hence is bombarded daily with hundreds of commercial messages-each with claims and counter-claims, impossible to remember of recall.