Analysis of Facts, Data and Information

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Analysis of Facts, Data and Information

Introduction

Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by and identified sponsor. Ads are a cost-effective way to disseminate messages. Organization handles advertising in different ways. A large company will often set up its own department. The advertising department’s job is to propose a budget: develop advertising strategy; approve ads and campaigns; and handle dealer displays, and other forms of advertising. Most companies use outside agencies to help create advertising campaigns and to select and purchase media use a large number of ad agencies located in different countries.

The investment in advertisement is huge but the outcome of the cost is not as expected by the companies. The reason behind the cause is that most of the consumers are not well motivated by a particular advertisement. In some cases the consumers take decision based on their personal judgments, perception or degree of necessity.

The attempt of my study is to find out the role of advertisement and the effectiveness of different advertising media toward buying decisions, and the degree of motivation on consumer by a particular advertisement. It is also my intention to describe the current trends of advertisement.

The research has been conducted in Dhaka metropolitan areas among some randomly selected customers. The main purpose of the study is to represent the total scenario of advertisement on customers.

Objectives

The major objectives of the study are-

  1. To understand the impact of advertisements on consumer buying decision.
  2. To understand people’s perception towards different advertising media.
  3. To describe the current trends of advertisement.
  4. To make recommendation.

Scope

The scope of study was all around the country, (but it is so tough due to lack of time, financial support and experience). The report covers the potential customer of Dhaka Metropolitan City as the population of the research. Because most people of these areas are easily accessible to me.

Background of the Study

In the corporate world the importance of advertising to expand the business is paramount. Advertisement helps a business to recognize the value of its customers and to capitalize on improved customer relations.

Advertising is an essential part of total promotional mix and promotion is an important part of the marketing mix. Advertising makes a psychological impact on the consumers and so gives them greater satisfaction on the use of products.

The multi-dimensional nature of advertising and its special importance are- To announce a new product or service, expand to new buyers, announce a modification or price change, new pack, the location of stockiest, make a special offer, remind, challenge competitor, maintain sales, educate customers, attract investors. It is used as a tool for selling the products, ideas and services.

The overall consumer market is very much competitive and advertisements play a vital issue to dominate in present market and assume its impact in future.

Methodology

Methodology is the procedure of collecting and processing data with a view to making report or study meaningful.

Research methodology:

Ø Structure of the research:

The research is both quantitative and descriptive because, the relevant data Ire collected from different types of customers and explained in details with applicable tables, graphs etc. Necessary written information is also available here. On the other side, it is quantitative because I consider some similar characteristics which can be measured. Research group went to several customers and convey to limited people to collect data and information to find out the impact of advertisement on consumer buying decisions.

Ø Population of the Research:

The customer of Dhaka Metropolitan City has been considered as the population of the research. Because most people of these areas are easily accessible to us.

Ø Selection of Sampling Design:

Sampling is a tool which helps to know the characteristics of population by examining only a small part of it. Out of total consumer of Dhaka I randomly selected 100 consumers and classified them in to 11 segments- Age (15-25, 26-35, 36+), Gender (Male, Female), Occupation (Student, Businessman and Employees), Income level (<5000, 10000-20000), Marital Status (Married and Single), Education (S.S.C, H.S.C, Graduate).

Ø Collection of Information:

Information collected from primary and secondary sources respectively. Primary information Ire collected through questionnaire (questionnaire are given in appendix). The interview through question was conducted among affected among the sample customers of the Dhaka region. Significant amount of information Ire collected from secondary sources i.e. books, daily newspapers, weekly, magazines, articles and web sites.

Literature Review

The focus of this chapter is to provide a selective review of the past research works related to the present study. A lot of researches have been done but very few are related with this unique one. Among the researches done the following are mentionable:

A study was conducted by 5th batch of BBA program of Department of Business Administration, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet. The topic of study was “Impact of advertising to promote sales in MNCs”.1The main findings of the study was that the consumers are facing more complex situation in making decision about what to buy—they are thrive to the term complexity that is both about using the product as well as the choice to make.

The report, “Improving Ad Performance Online”2 is for measuring online advertising’s effectiveness and branding impact. The first wave of the study was conducted in July, 2008. The reports look at ad effectiveness scores for high quality, original content sites, compared with those for overall MarketNorms, portals and ad networks. The data also shows that younger audiences (18-34 year olds) are estimated to be about twice as likely (106% better, on average) to form favorable opinions about advertised brands.

The report, “Role of Technology in Developing Advertising Strategy for Mobile Phone Companies in Bangladesh”3 was taken by the students of East West University, Dhaka, states that Ad Awareness varied from 22 to 82% depending on the number of exposures. 12, 8% of the target population searched for more information. The relevance, the credibility and the level of entertainment in the advertisements were proven to play an important role as mediators of effects on consumer.

Another report provided by Anand V. Bodapati and V. Srinivasan, titled “The Impact of Feature Advertising on Customer Store Choice”4 states that, Store managers commonly believe that advertisements of price reductions and loss leaders help to build store traffic by diverting customers from competing stores, thereby increasing store volume and profitability.

Another report is prepared by Alexandra Miehlbradt financed by DFID, SDC and Sida and implemented by Swiss contact and GTZ International. The topic of the study is “Developing the Advertising Market for SMEs in Northern Bangladesh”5. The focus of the study is the Small and Medium Enterprises in the North region of Bangladesh facing problem in marketing product in comparing to the product made in Dhaka based product. The study is conducted in a small portion of the country and only relative problem about marketing product through advertising.

Our attempt with the report is to find a clear sense how a consumer is motivated positively or negatively by an advertisement while making buying decisions.

Theoretical Review

Advertising:

The dictionary meaning of the word is ‘to announce publicly or to give public notice.’

American Marketing association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identified sponsor.”

Advertising is a paid form of communication, although some forms of advertising, such as public service announcements (PSAs), are donated space and time.

Second, not only is the message paid for, but also the sponsor is identified.

Third, most advertising tries to persuade or influence the consumer to do something, although in some cases the point of the message is simply to make consumers aware of the product or company.

Fourth, the message is conveyed through many different kinds of mass media reaching a large audience of potential consumers.

Finally, because advertising is a form of mass communication, it is also non-personal. A definition of advertising, then, includes all six features. Advertising is paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using mass media to persuade or influence an audience.

Possible Advertising Objectives:

Informative Advertisings

  • Telling the market about a new product
  • Describing available services
  • Suggesting new uses for a product
  • Correcting false impressions
  • Informing the market of a price change
  • Reducing consumers’ fears
  • Explaining how the product works
  • Building a company image

Persuasive Advertising

  • Building brand preference
  • Persuading customer to purchase now
  • Encouraging switching to your brand
  • Persuading customer to receive a
  • Changing customer’s perception of sales call

Reminder Advertising

  • Reminding consumer that the product
  • Keeping it in consumer mind
  • May be needed in the near future during off-seasons
  • Reminding consumer where to buy it
  • Maintaining its top-of-mind awareness

Profiles of major media types:

Medium Advantages Limitations
Newspapers Flexibility; timeliness; good local market coverage; broad acceptability; high believability Short life; poor reproduction quality; small pass-along audience
Television Good mass market coverage; low cost per exposure; combines sight, sound, and motion; appealing to the senses High absolute costs; high clutter; fleeting exposure; less audience selectivity
Direct mail High audience selectivity; flexibility; no ad competition within the same medium; allows personalization Relatively high cost per exposure; “junk mail” image
Radio Good local acceptance; high geographic and demographic selectivity; low cost Audio only, fleeting exposure; low attention (the half-heard” medium); fragmented audiences
Magazines High and demographic selectivity; credibility and prestige; high-quality reproduction; long life and good pass-along readership Long ad purchase lead time; high cost; no guarantee of position
Outdoor Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low cost; low message competition; good positional selectivity Little audience selectivity, creative limitations
Online High selectivity; low cost; immediacy; interactive capabilities Small, demographically skewed audience; relatively low impact; audience controls exposure

Consumer buying decision process:

This is the process that a person takes in purchasing products. This is how consumers make buying decisions. It involves the psychological process that plays an important role in buying decisions. For marketers it is important tools to analyze the way consumers experience the product learn to adopt with the product, choose and use it. So, marketers try to fully understand the consumer buying decision process.

In this stage model consumers passes from one stage to another to make a purchase. But it is not applicable for all type of product. It is mostly suitable in analyzing the new product as well as the new technological impact.

This process is consists of five stages those are arranged in step by step. These are –

  1. Need recognition
  2. Information search
  3. Evaluation of alternatives
  4. Purchase decision
  5. Post purchase behavior.

In the first step the consumer recognizes a need then he goes for the information search. In the next step collected information are evaluated for choosing the best choice, then purchase decision is made and consumer goes for the actual buy.

A. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need:

  • Perceiving a difference between a person’s ideal and actual situations big enough to trigger a decision.
  • Can be as simple as noticing an empty milk carton or it can be activated by marketing efforts.

B. Information Search: Seeking Value:

The information search stage clarifies the options open to the consumer.

Two steps of information search:

  1. Internal Search
  2. External search

Internal Search:

  • Scanning one’s memory to recall previous experiences with products or brands.
  • Often sufficient for frequently purchased products.
  • When past experience or knowledge is insufficient
  • The risk of making a wrong purchase decision is high
  • The cost of gathering information is low.

External search:

  • Personal sources, such as friends and family.
  • Public sources, including various product-rating organizations such as Consumer Reports.
  • Marketer-dominated sources, such as advertising, company websites, and salespeople

C. Alternative Evaluation: Assessing Value

The information search clarifies the problem for the consumer by:

  1. Suggesting criteria to use for the purchase
  2. Yielding brand names that might meet the criteria.
  3. Developing consumer value perception

A consumer’s evaluative criteria represent both

1. The objective attributes of a brand (such as locate speed on a portable CD player)

2. The subjective factors (such as prestige).

These criteria establish a consumer’s evoked set

1. The group of brands that a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the brands in the product class of which he or she is aware.

D. Purchase Decision: Buying Value

Three possibilities:

1. From whom to buy which depends on such considerations

· Terms of sale

· Past experience buying from the seller

· Return policy.

2. When to buy which can be influenced by

· Store atmosphere

· Time pressure

· A sale

· Pleasantness of the shopping experience.

3. Do not buy

E. Post purchase Behavior: Value in Consumption or Use

  • After buying a product, the consumer compares it with expectations and is either satisfied or dissatisfied.
  • Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects:

1. Consumer value perceptions

2. Consumer communications

3. Repeat-purchase behavior.

  • Many firms work to produce positive post purchase communications among consumers and contribute to relationship building between sellers and buyers.
  • Cognitive Dissonance. The feelings of post purchase psychological tension or anxiety a consumer often experiences
  • Firms often use ads or follow-up calls from salespeople in this post purchase stage to try to convince buyers that they made the right decision.

This study is based mostly on primary data and information. Primary data and information Ire collected through in-depth interviews of the concerned people. I have interviewed 100 customers in Dhaka city. A summary of the obtained data are given below-

Media Preference:

Print media can be considered the first revolution. Electronic media like radio and TV are the second revolution. Digital media like Internet are the third and the most spectacular revolution. Digital media draws on the features of both print and electronic media.

Search for information by a consumer over the media is largely depends on the accessibility of the media that means that the way a consumer search for information is depends on how easily they access to a particular media. That’s why electronic media is used largely and preferred most than print, audio, and Internet media.

From the observation it has been found that, 45% student, 68% businessman and employee, 45 % of age group 16-25 years, 45% of age group 26-35 years, 62% of age group above 35 years, 38% H.S.C. passed, 53% graduate, 46% male, 57% female, 46% single,67% married search information from electronic media.

Figure: Preference of electronic media

The above figure shows that electronic media has a large acceptability by the different consumer group especially by the businessman and employee and the age group above 35. The reason behind the cause is that these two groups of people are most educated and conscious about the acceptability of information

Figure: Preference of electronic media

19% student, 32% businessman and employee, 19% of age group 16-25 years, 55% of age group 26-35 years, 19% H.S.C. passed, 32% graduate, 18% male, 23% female, 20% single search information from print media.

From the above figure it is found that age group between 26-35 prefer print media largely because they are the fresh graduate and tries to find various information including job news and tries to read daily newspaper than watching the electronic media.

The rest of the people, few prefer radio, few prefer use to friend as a media.

Availability of Media:

Availability of media during specific hours of the day or night has an important bearing on media selection.

From the observation it has been found that, the student, H.S.C. passed people from age group 15-26 years and above 36 years, single, married face mostly electronic media and print media, billboard, audio media, internet accordingly to the highest value.

Figure: Availability of different media

Time Schedule of Advertisement:

Time schedule of advertisement has significant impact on consumer. Good timing played a role as well the right message, the right timing and the right place of advertising are equally important.

In case of electronic media, it has been found that most of the respondent watches television everyday.

Most of the consumers watch television in the evening. People from the age groups of 26-35 years, H.S.C passed students, male and a single segment has intentions of watching television at late nights. 10% of age group 16-25 years, 21% graduate watch television in the morning.

13% student, 14% businessman and employee, 21% of age group 16-25 years, 14% of age group 26-35 years, 9% H.S.C. passed 11% male, 9% female, 11% single, watch television in the afternoon.

70% student, 68% businessman and employee, 69 % of age group 16-25 years, 54% of age group 26-35 years, 100% of age group above 35 years, 63 % H.S.C. passed, 68% graduate, 58% male, 77% female, 60% single, 73% married watch television in the evening.

17% student, 18% businessman and employee, 32% of age group 26-35 years, 28% H.S.C. passed, 11% graduate, 31% male, 14% female, 29% single, 27% married watch television at late night.

Attitude and Preference towards Media:

In the real world of media, destinations are more typically self-selecting “consumers” of information who have the ability to select the messages they are most interested in, turn off messages that don’t interest them, focus on one message in preference to other in message rich environments, and can choose to simply not pay attention.

Although advertisements Ire created to attract its viewers, but sometimes it creates boredom to them. From the observation it has been found that, 29% student, 32% businessman and employee, 29% of age group 16-25 years, 45% of age group 26-35 years, 38% of age group above 35 years, 34% H.S.C. passed, 32% graduate, 34% male, 20% female, 29% single, 57% married feel bore while they notice ads on Television or newspaper.

35% student, 18% businessman and employee, 33% of age group 16-25 years, 45% of age group 26-35 years, 28% H.S.C. passed, 36% graduate, 23% male, 51% female, 34% single, 47% married shows no reaction on TV commercials.

65% student, 68% businessman and employee, 67% of age group 16-25 years, 55% of age group 26-35 years, 62% of age group above 35 years, 66% H.S.C. passed, 64% graduate, 72% male, 49% female, 66% single, 53% married turn the channel while they notice ads on Television, although it much depends on the availability of other channels.

Student, businessman and employee, H.S.C. passed, male, female, people from age group 15-26 years, single ranked electronic media and print media, billboard, internet, audio media accordingly to their preference.

Attitudes and preference towards different media

Attractiveness towards ads varies with media changes. The entire respondent stated that they are mostly attracted by television commercials, newspapers and magazine ads, billboards, internet, radio commercials.

Credibility:

Credibility on advertisements has significant impact on consumer buying decisions. Graduates and married people show strong believe on advertisements than young age groups, they also think that, if a product is advertised on television/ magazine/ newspaper etc. it means that the product might be of good quality and the brand is reliable and they will buy the product.

It is found that, among the respondent the electronic media take the highest place as the most credible media and print media, audio media, billboard, internet hold the place after the electronic media as least credible.

Figure: Credibility of different media

The time and place may vary the sequence, such as in USA the print media hold the first place as most credible media. The educational development of a nation determines credibility of media by consumers.

Contributing Factors on Buying Decisions:

Advertising is an element of promotion, which in turn is an element of marketing mix does affects the other elements of marketing mix. Price, quality, and brand also have significant contribution on buyers buying decisions.

Figure: Contributing factors in buying decision

All the respondent act almost same way that they think that price is the most determinate factor in buying decision, then comes quality and brands as considering factors in taking a buying decision.

It is also been found that the brand is considered firstly by the businessman and employee because they earn as much that they sometimes don’t think the quality of the product. And it is said that the quality of a brand product doesn’t always good.

Information Search by Consumer in Advertisement:

From the observation it has been found that, student, H.S.C. passed, female, single, said that they look for product information, brands, price, discounts and coupons, pop star in an advertisement.

Figure: Information Search by Consumer in Advertisement

Direct Influence of Advertisements:

49% student, 46% businessman and employee, 46% of age group 16-25 years, 32% of age group 26-35 years, 37% of age group above 35 years, 44% H.S.C. passed, 59% graduate, 38% male, 57% female, 46% single, 73% married neither like nor dislike commercials.

Figure: Neither like nor dislike advertisement by consumer

The above figure show that a large proportion of the respondent don’t like or dislike advertisement, they only watch it on various media.

From the observation it has been found that, 8% student, 9% businessman and employee, 7% of age group 16-25 years, 26% of age group above 35 years, 9% H.S.C. passed, 6% graduate, 11% male, 6% single, 23% married seem advertisement as misleading.

Figure: Advertisement is thought as misleading by the consumer

9% student, 10 % of age group 16-25 years, 37% of age group above 35 years, 9% H.S.C. passed, 6% graduate, 12% male, 6% female, 9% single, 17% married seemadvertisement as truthful.

Figure: Advertisement is thought as truthful by the respondent

Experience:

Although few people are delighted after buying the product they seen on advertisements, my study show that, most people are satisfied after using the product. Among the segments, educated and married peoples are more satisfied.

From the observation it has been found that, 6% student, 14% businessman and employee, 14% of age group 16-25 years, 9% of age group 26-35 years, above, 13% H.S.C. passed, 8% male, 20% female, said that they are delighted after using the product and services which are advertised.

Figure: Delighted after using a product which is motivated by advertisement

77% student, 68% businessman and employee, 67% of age group 16-25 years, 68% of age group 26-35 years, 62% of age group above 35 years, 62% H.S.C. passed, 85% graduate, 69% male, 71% female, 71% single, 83% married said that they are satisfied after using the product and services which are advertised.

Figure: Satisfied after using a product which is motivated by advertisement

17% student, 18% businessman and employee, 19% of age group 16-25 years, 23% of age group 26-35 years, 38% of age group above 35 years, 25% H.S.C. passed, 15% graduate, 23% male, 9% female, 29% single, 17% married said that they are dissatisfied after using the product and services which are advertised.

Figure : Dissatisfied after using a pdoduct which is motivated by advertisement

Overall impact on consumer buying:

The buying decision process is described by many researchers in many ways. The attempt of my report is to describe how advertisement affects the consumer of my country. The outcome of the report suggests that, my consumer is not aware about advertisement Ill. Many of us do not give attention on the media while an advertisement is placed on the media. A tendency of skipping of advertising is very large among the consumer.

Some of them just forget what is advertised, but can recall the jingle or slogan used in advertisement.

But, there are few people who plan to collect information from the media, then take decision of purchasing it. Other people are motivated by a particular advertisement as so much that they do not only recall advertisement but also use them in their daily life. So, I can tell that, advertisement has a golden opportunity to make success of the company but it is highest considerable factor that the advertisement should be objective, attractive, Ill prepared, and should be placed in the right media also.

Current trends of Advertising:

Most advertising is designed to promote the sale of a particular product or service. Some advertisements, however, are intended to promote an idea or influence behavior, such as encouraging people not to use illegal drugs or smoke cigarettes. These ads are often called public service ads (PSAs). Some ads promote an institution, such as the Red Cross or the United States Army, and are known as institutional advertising. Their purpose is to encourage people to volunteer or donate money or services or simply to improve the image of the institution doing the advertising. Advertising is also used to promote political parties and candidates for political office. Political advertising has become a key component of electoral campaigns in many countries. In Bangladesh, somehow some advertising campaign has done by two political party in last parliament election.

Findings

  1. Search for information by a consumer over the media is largely depends on the accessibility of the media that means that the way a consumer search for information is depends on how easily they access to a particular media.
  2. Advertising is persuasive not coercive,it cannot make people do what they do not want to do.
  3. Most people ignore advertising.
  4. From the observation it has been found that, 45% student, 68% businessman and employee, 45 % of age group 16-25 years, 45% of age group 26-35 years, 62% of age group above 35 years, 38% H.S.C. passed, 53% graduate, 46% male, 57% female, 46% single,67% married search information from electronic media.
  5. Age group between 26-35 prefer print media largely because they are the fresh graduate and tries to find various information including job news and tries to read daily newspaper than watching the electronic media.
  6. Availability of media during specific hours of the day or night has an important bearing on media selection.
  7. Time schedule of advertisement has significant impact on consumer. Good timing played a role as well the right message, the right timing and the right place of advertising are equally important.
  8. Attractiveness towards ads varies with media changes. The entire respondent stated that they are mostly attracted by television commercials, newspapers and magazine ads, billboards, internet, radio commercials.
  9. Although advertisements Ire created to attract its viewers, but sometimes it creates boredom to them.
  10. It is found that, among the respondent the electronic media take the highest place as the most credible media and print media, audio media, billboard, internet hold the place after the electronic media as least credible.

Recommendation

There are numerous factors to consider when investing in advertising. For an effective advertisement, I are recommending the following suggestion.

  1. Search for information by a consumer over the media is largely depends on the accessibility of the media. That means how easily they access to a particular media. Advertising has to be seen by its intended audience, so using the appropriate medium is essential. The media selected for advertisement should be easily accessibility.
  1. Advertising is persuasive not coercive,it cannot make people do what they do not want to do. That is why the right message, the right timing and the right place of advertising are equally important.
  1. Publicity and public relations improve the credibility of advertisement. Credibility of advertisements has significant impact on consumer buying decisions. Thus the advertiser should provide the benefit assured in the advertising, so that the people get satisfaction from their purchase.
  1. The audience has to be receptive; they must have an interest in the message. People seek for product information, brands, price, discounts and coupons, pop star in an advertisement. So, the advertiser should ensure clear and distinctive procedure for delivering such information in the advertisement.
  1. A single advertisement may be missed or forgotten. That’s why; the message has to be repetitive.
  1. Most people ignore advertising. It is important for the advertiser to ensure that they must recognize the company or its products/services by advertisements. Advertising should be regular to build awareness.
  1. Advertising should contain a positive incentive to purchase (e.g. a free gift with the purchase or a price reduction). Good advertising works because it puts the company, its products and its messages at the forefront of people’s minds. It either stimulates an early purchase, or helps to ensure that people know where to go when they decide to purchase.
  1. The advertisement must be thematically sound, communicative, interesting, and credible. It must have finality and be complete. It also must contain truthful information.

Conclusion

Advertisement is very important for the success of a company. If a company fails to realize the importance, it would be fail to meet the demand of the consumer. It is obvious that the perception, attitude, motivation of people vary. Thus the way a person motivated by an advertisement the other people do not. So, the role of advertisement viewed by the respondent varies. Some people really do not know how an advertisement affect or work. They only watch advertisement on daily newspaper, television, billboard, internet, listen advertisement on radio. The other people see the advertisement at a different angle. They answered that they are motivated by an advertisement at average. They watch advertisement on the media and think about the product whether buy or not. Some people are more interested about advertisement. They not only motivated by the advertisement but also use slogan in their daily life. So the overall process of the motivation system by an advertisement is quite critical to describe. The advertisement must be thematically sound, communicative, interesting, and credible. It must have finality and be complete. It also must contain truthful information.

Bibliography

1.“Impact of advertising to promote sales in MNCsby 5th batch of BBA program of Department of Business Administration, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet.

2.http://www.adoperationsonline.com/2009/01/08/new-research-shows-advertising-effectiveness-is-up-on-original-content-sites-despite-economic-downturn/

3. “Role of Technology in Developing Advertising Strategy for Mobile Phone Companies in Bangladesh”3 was taken by the students of East West University, Mahakali, Dhaka.

4. “The Impact of Feature Advertising on Customer Store Choice” by Anand V. Bodapati and V. Srinivasan, Graduate School of Business Stanford University.

5. “Developing the Advertising Market for SMEs in Northern Bangladesh” by Alexandra Miehlbradt,Katalyst Bangladesh, Swisscontact and GTZ International Services