Supplement/Ancillary Title s7
Chapter 13
SUPPORT MEDIA
Chapter Overview
In addition to the broadcast and print media discussed in the two previous chapters, marketers have a variety of alternative media from which to choose. In fact, the number of support media continues to increase almost daily, with advertisements appearing almost everywhere. In addition to the familiar outdoor ads and transit ads, a number of new media have recently appeared. Parking meters, trash cans, restroom walls, videotapes, sidewalks, and shopping carts are just a few of the many places now carrying ads. These media, often referred to as support media are assuming an increasing role in the media mix. The purpose of this chapter is to familiarize the student with some of these media, and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Learning Objectives
1. To recognize the various support media available to the marketer in developing a promotional program
2. To develop an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of support media.
3. To know how audiences for support media are measured.
Chapter and Lecture Outline
I. THE SCOPE OF THE SUPPORT MEDIA INDUSTRY
Support media are referred to by several titles, among them alternative media, non-measured media and nontraditional media. Many advertisers, as the top 10 advertising agencies, have increased their use of nontraditional support media, and as new alternatives are developed, this use will continue to grow.
II. OUT-OF-HOME MEDIA
A variety of out-of-home advertising are available to the marketer. Outdoor billboards and signs, transit ads, station posters, and skywriting are just a few of the alternatives that can be used.
A. Outdoor Advertising—while one of the oldest advertising mediums, outdoor advertising has recently come under attack by environmentalists, city governments, and the public as a whole. The net result has been a decline in the number of billboards across the nation.
At the same time, the outdoor advertising industry continues to grow and be successful as the amount of dollars billed in this medium has increased continuously since 1982. Much of the reason for this success can be attributed to the ability of the industry to become more creative and innovative through the design of billboards as well as new media such as inflatables, rolling boards and point-of-purchase materials.
1. Advantages of outdoor advertising:
· wide coverage of local markets
· frequency
· geographical flexibility
· creativity
· ability to create awareness
· efficiency
· effectiveness
· production capabilities
2. Disadvantages include:
· high waste circulation
· limited message capabilities
· wearout
· high cost
· measurement problems
· image problems
B. Additional Outdoor Media—as noted, the outdoor advertising industry has been able to remain successful through the development of new outdoor media, as well as innovations in existing ones. Some additional outdoor media of note are aerial advertising, rolling boards, point-of-purchase media and a variety of others such as parking meters, ski-lift poles, etc.
C. In-Store Media—Advertisers spend an estimated $17 billion to promote their products in supermarkets and other stores with untypical media like displays, banners, and shelf signs. These point of purchase materials include video displays on shopping carts, kiosks that provide recipes and coupons at counters and cash registers, LED boards, and ads that broadcast over in-house screens.
D. Audience Measurement—several sources of audience measurement are available to purchasers of outdoor advertising. Pages 436-439 list a number of them.
E. Transit Advertising—another form of out-of-home advertising is transit advertising. While similar to outdoor in the sense that signs and electronic billboards are often employed, transit differs in that these ads are oriented around transportation. Buses, taxis, commuter trains, airplanes, and subways are some of the transit forms employed.
1. Types of transit advertising—three types of transit advertising are most commonly employed:
a. inside cards are found on the insides of buses, taxis or commuter trains.
b. terminal posters are those found on the backs and tops of taxis, and/or on the backs, sides and fronts of buses.
c. outside posters are found in bus and train stations, airport terminals, and on train platforms. (Exhibit 13-9)
2. Advantages of transit advertising:
· exposure
· frequency
· timeliness
· geographic selectivity
· cost
3. Disadvantages of transit advertising:
· image factors
· reach
· waste coverage
4. Audience measurement in transit—the cost basis for transit is similar to that used in outdoor. A major problem with purchasing advertising in this medium is a lack of objective audience measures and means by which to measure the effectiveness of ad placements.
Professors Notes
III. PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS MARKETING
The Promotional Products Association International defines promotional products marketing as:
“The advertising or promotional medium or method that uses promotional products such as ad specialties, premiums, business gifts, awards, prizes or commemoratives”
This definition succeeds the older definition of specialty advertising:
“...an advertising, sales promotion and motivational communications medium which employs useful articles of merchandise imprinted with an advertiser’s name, message, or logo.”
Over 15,000 advertising specialties such as ball-point pens, matchbook covers, mugs, or expensive gift items have been used to account for over $16.5 billion per year in expenditures in this medium.
A. Advantages and Disadvantages of Promotional Products Marketing—because of the wide variety of forms that this form of advertising might assume this medium offers advertisers a variety of advantages. As stated in the book, selectivity, flexibility, frequency, low cost, goodwill and the ability to supplement other media are just a few of these. At the same time, image problems brought on by the perception that many of these specialty ad forms are little more than junk, and the fact that there are so many different companies employing this medium (leading to saturation) often offset some of the advantages.
B. Audience Measurement—the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) is the trade organization of the industry. While no formal audience measurement organizations or effectiveness measures currently exist, this organization continues to originate and support research in these areas. Some of the findings of these studies are presented on page 446.
C. Yellow Pages Advertising—one of the more commonly utilized—and overlooked—forms of advertising is the Yellow Pages. Over 200 publishers produce more than 6,500 Yellow Pages throughout the U.S. A variety of Yellow Pages exists including specialized directories, audiotex, interactive and other services.
1. Advantages of Yellow Pages Advertising
· wide availability
· action-oriented ads
· costs
· high frequency of exposure
· non-intrusiveness
2. Disadvantages include:
· highly fragmented markets
· timeliness
· lack of creativity
· long lead times for ad placements
Professors Notes
IV. OTHER MEDIA
Almost everyday a new advertising medium seems to emerge. (The instructor might stimulate a lively discussion at this point by asking students where they have seen ads recently. All of those present for this discussion will be surprised!) Ads are appearing on restroom walls, in elevators, on movies and videotapes, and seemingly everywhere a message can be fit. Some of the more common and more pervasive ones are discussed here.
A. Advertising in Movie Theaters and on Videotapes—two of the fastest growing advertising media are ads at the movies and on rental movie videotapes/DVD’s. While the former has come under fire from movie makers and consumers, the latter are being used more and more for the advertising of new movies and videotapes as well as products and/or services.
1. Advantages and disadvantages of movie and videotape/DVD advertising—the text notes that the advantages associated with these forms of advertising include: high exposure, ability to create mood, low costs, high recall, and the avoidance of clutter. Disadvantages may also include cost (relative to some other media) and irritation. It is noted that the latter of these is particularly critical, as strong opposition has been voiced in this regard.
B. Product Placements in Movies—whether one considers product placements an advertising form or a form of promotion, no one can argue the fact that this means of getting exposure to a product is on the increase. Ever since the incredible success of Reese’s Pieces (in the movie ET) more and more products are appearing in movie theaters and on television. (Again, an interesting discussion can be stimulated by asking students to name products that have appeared in movies or on TV.)
1. Advantages and disadvantages of product placements—the text lists a variety of advantages and disadvantages associated with this product placements (pages 450-452). These include the advantages of: high exposure, high frequency, ability to support other media, high source association, low relative cost, and high recall. Disadvantages include: high absolute cost, low exposure time, limited message appeals, lack of control, and negative public reaction.
2. Audience measurement—no formal audience measurement organizations exist, nor is there specific effectiveness criteria established. The limited amount of data that is available in these areas is a result of specific primary studies that have been conducted.
C. In-flight Advertising- In-flight television commercials are one of the more rapidly growing mediums in use. Approximately $18 million are spent each year in in-flight commercials --mostly on international flights ($12 million).
1. Advantages and Disadvantages of In-flight Advertising—advantages of in-flight advertising include a desirable audience (high income), a captive audience, and low cost and good segmentation capabilities. Disadvantages include: irritation, limited availability of media time, lack of attention, and wearout.
Professor’s Notes
Teaching Suggestions
As the instructor is no doubt aware, there is a lot of information that can be (and needs to be) conveyed regarding support media. When students think about advertising, they usually think about broadcast and print media. In fact, there is a great deal of moneys spent to advertise in these alternative support media. Some of these media will also readily come to mind—for example, outdoor—while others are less likely to do so. Coverage of the characteristics of some of the media presented in this chapter can lead to interesting discussions. As indicated, discussions of product placements, advertising in the movies, and new places where ads are appearing generally get students involved, and may lead to heated discussions. Students may be encouraged to engage in a debate over the merits and/or ethics of some of these advertising forms.
Our lectures generally follow the outline set forth in the text. We discuss the characteristics of the various media, the advantages and disadvantages, and some of the sources of information that are available. We then tie these materials back to the media strategy chapter and the communications models chapter to demonstrate how and when such media might be employed.It is also possible to integrate films, videos and guest speakers into this coverage. The Yellow Pages Advertising Association, the SAA and many outdoor advertising agencies offer guest speaker programs and/or a variety of videotapes that can be effectively used.
Finally, outside sources such as Ad Age, and Adweek write extensively about these media, and are a great place to acquire information.The YPPA and PPA also offer print media directed to the trade and professors who teach these topics in their classes to keep them up to date.
Answers to Discussion Questions
1. Transit advertising takes a variety of forms, and many advertisers may be reluctant to use these media. Discuss some of the various forms of transit advertising and their relative advantages and disadvantages. Give examples of which products and/or services might effectively utilize this medium.
As noted in the text on page 440, there are a variety of types of transit advertising including (1). inside cards(ads inside of busses, subways, etc); (2) outside posters (those that appear on the sides of busses, trains, trolleys, etc., and on the tops of taxis; and (3). Station, platform and terminal posters (those appearing in the terminals of trains, subways, etc.
The advantages of transit advertising include:
· long length of exposure. The average rider time on transit is 30 to 44 minutes.
· potential for numerous exposures. Over 9 million persons ride transit each day, offering the possibility for numerous exposures
· high frequency. Because riders ride as a routine, the opportunity for repeat exposures is high.
· timeliness. As demonstrated in the discussion of GPS used in Boston and New York provided in the text, transit ads can be timely and geographically specific
· geographic selectivity. Again, as shown in the GPS example, transit ads can be geographically selective
· low cost. Transit ads are low in both absolute and relative cost
The disadvantages of transit advertising include:
· poor image. Transit advertising suffers from poor image with some advertisers.
· poor reach. Transit ads sometimes don’t reach sought areas—for example, suburbs and the rural areas.
· waste coverage. Transit ads provide significant waste coverage
· copy and creative limitations. Creativity is limited in transit advertising, and the amount of copy that can be comprehended is minimal for some forms (taxis, busses, etc.)
· audience mood. The mood of the audience may not always be what the advertiser is hoping for. This mood may carry over to the perception of the ad.
A variety of companies find transit advertising useful, ranging from national and international brands to local businesses. Those most likely to be concerned with it use are those who might be affected negatively by its image (for example, a doctor or lawyer advertising on a bus bench).
2. Describe what is meant by “stealth marketing.” Give examples of products and/or services that you know have employed this strategy. Then describe some of the characteristics of companies that might most benefit fro stealth marketing.
A variety of terms including stealth marketing, guerilla marketing and ambush marketing all have been used to describe a strategy of attaining free or very low cost exposure to one’s products and/or services. Akin to guerilla warfare, in which the warrior is not large enough or strong enough to compete in traditional combat, these forms of marketing attempt to market the brand through less conventional and/or traditional techniques. Rather than mass advertising, these companies may get their products exposed in a variety of methods including product placements, on-campus opinion leaders, through appearances at events, etc. The book discusses a variety of companies that have explored these methods, including the lead-in story about Samsung. Others like Calvin Klein, Revlon, Sony and P&G have also employed these methods. In the heyday of the dotcoms, guerilla marketing was even more rampant as these start-up companies employed a variety of methods to get their names noticed.