A pilot study to understand the relationship between the miniscule component of

various advertising films and consumer behaviour

Jyotirmay Deb1, 2, 3
1
Research Scholar at Techno India University, 2Guest Faculty of Add-on certificate course, Department of
Journalism at Vijaygar Jyotish Ray College, 3 Faculty of BFA Digital Film Making and VFX at Techno India
University

Abstract of the paper:

Advertising is a way of mass communication intended to convince viewers, readers, and listeners to
purchase the product or to take some interest upon it. The process of purchase is a decision making process
which mostly depends upon every small component (variable) and the cumulative effect of the same of an ad
film. The marketers focus on the messages of advertisements to be delivered and the rhetorical creativity based
on some variables at consumers’ end. The basic objectives of the research is to assess the psychological
influence of advertising films; how the audio visual ad making variables work as mass communication tool and
how the elements responsible for influencing consumers to buy a product.
The paper is aiming to study the relationship between independent variables like psychological
response and consumer behaviour by gathering response of respondents (target area: Kolkata), AD film makers
and marketers and bridge the gap of understanding at two ends.

Keywords:
AD film as a mass communication tool, mass media psychology, Ad film rhetoric, consumer behaviour
Introduction:

Advertising is an important marketing communication strategy. It is an external stimulus that arouses

dormant needs. It results in ‘inner tension’ among prospective buyers which ultimately leads to different
stages of decision-making process namely identification of alternatives, evaluation of alternatives and
purchase behaviour. In this way, advertising fills “consumer-producer information gap” but the specific
meaning attributed to advertising should be viewed from different angles. According to David Ogilvy (1995),
every ad should be thought of as a contribution to the brand image. In this sense, advertising is considered as
a branding exercise. From the communication point of view, advertising is the art of flowing an idea from one
man’s head into the head of another. The single crucial reason that advertising does not work is that the
information it conveys never reaches the consumer at all, or is judged by the consumer to be redundant,
meaningless or irrelevant. In fact, advertising is communication that provides generally useful, relevant and
pertinent information upon which the consumer either acts immediately or stores for later reference,
application and use. Form the viewpoint of sending and receiving message, advertising is a fraction of the
incoming messages that the individual receives. Advertising messages seek to attract our attention and to
convert our allegiance to products, services and institutions. When compared to other communication,
advertising is a much cheaper way to reach target consumer since it uses mass media. Advertising can use
complex visual and emotional devices to increase the persuasiveness of the message. The relevance of
advertising is that it is the most effective way for reaching mass audience, creating awareness and building
preferences. In general, advertising has two objectives namely, behavioural or action objective and sales
objective. From the behavioural point of view, it is an important tool that influences the behaviour of
consumers. It is an accepted fact that all behaviour starts with motivation. Ad motivates people by arousing or
stimulating their dormant needs. An intellectually planned ad can be the door opener in the decision-making
process in buying. Various factors contribute in different dimensions to the success of an advertisement and
according to Devoe (1956), creative ability comes to its full flow to make an ad film. People could develop
central theme, they could give it shape, but only an expert could “make it swing”. In Jerome D. Scott’s (1943)
opinion, the effects on advertising outlays upon profit and liquidity of fund or firms’ resources which are
crucial and real considerations in setting outer limits for advertising. He also describes that there is a time lag
between advertising outlay and sale results. In Roose Reeves (1961) opinions, all products are not equally apt
for advertisement. There are five factors, such as, the primary demand, buying motives, hidden qualities,
differential advantage and turn over in every marketing situation, which must be analyzed carefully to
determine if the product can be advertised or not. C.B. Mamoria and R.L. Joshi (1968) state an effective
advertisement should be done strictly in the language of the customer and it should be inserted at the right
time in the right place and also in the right media. Moreover the advertisement should be communicated to the
people on whom it is aimed. In case of audio-visual advertisement, information goes from advertisers to the
viewers. It can be explained with the help of the I-SKE model (Shimamura, A. P. 2012). In this model, an
intention (I) of a film maker (in these case advertisers or AD film maker) impinges on sensation (S),
knowledge (K) and emotion (E) of the viewer through the art work (in this case ad film). In sub regional
market like Kolkata, ad film makers depend on the instructions of marketers or the companies. These
instructions are reflected as the intension of the companies, to sensitise their potential consumers through
essential information (knowledge) about their products. Emotion of the target group is kept in mind as it plays
a crucial role in decision making process.

In this paper, I have done a survey on two different publishing companies (Naba Bharati
Prakashani and Calcutta Publishers) who offer same product (reference book) to the consumers who share
almost similar stratum of the society with respect to primary demand, buying motives, differential advantage
and financial condition in terms of education (most of the Bengali medium students come from the middle
class or lower middle class family). With the help of the survey and the analysis I wanted to know if the
intension of the marketers is satisfying the expectation of the consumers or not and a feasible way forward to
serve the purpose better.

Aims and Objectives:

Aim of the paper is to find out the gap, if any, between marketers, ad film makers and the consumer with the
help of the analysis of the aesthetical information of the sub regional ad films.

To draw a relation between the dependent and independent variables is the second objective of the study.

Methodology:

I have taken two different ad films on a same product (reference book) financed by two different companies
(Naba Bharati Prakashani and Calcutta Publishers) to compare the way of execution of intension of the
marketers. I have interviewed the owners of the companies respectively to understand the impact of the
advertisements aired (Vide Table 1). I have prepared questionnaires (vide Table 2) and interviewed 50
teachers and 50 students to understand the impact of the knowledge disseminated through the advertisements
on the consumer behaviour.

Questions Answers Remarks

1. Are you confident about Yes No Neutral
your strategy of using
toppers or celebrities as
models?
2. Has your advertisement Yes No Neutral
any effect on the turn
over after being aired?
3. Do you want to change Yes No Neutral
your strategy of
advertisement from next
year onwards?
4. Give reasons for your
answer in question
number 3.
5. Do you wish to Yes No Neutral
emphasize on the
content of the product
 (Chart, Diagram, precise
answers etc.) instead of
using celebrities or
toppers?
6. Do you wish to Yes No Neutral
emphasize in the
technological aspects
(sound, cinematography
etc.) over choosing
models?

Table 1: Questionnaire for the owner of the company

Questions Answers Remarks

Naba Calcutta Others
Bharati Publishers
Prakahsani
1. Reference book of
which company do you
use/suggest?
2. Are you influenced by Yes No Neutral
advertisements aired in
TV?
3. Are you influenced to Yes No Neutral
watch the toppers of the
year as models?
4. Are you influenced to Yes No Neutral
watch the film
celebrities as models?
5. Your expectation from Good Unique Highlights
the advertisement of Models technologies on Inner
reference books content

Table 2: Datasheet of questionnaire survey for students and teachers

I have questioned the owners of the publishing houses (Calcutta publishers and Naba Bharati Prakashoni)
about the market response before and after the ad film has been aired and if they are content with the ad film
and the strategy of the making process.

Result and discussion:

The intention of both the companies is to increase the potential buyers and to accomplish this, advertisements
of Naba Bharati Prakashani showcase the uniqueness of their products through celebrities as their models
whereas Calcutta Publishers rely on the toppers of the year for the same. It was evident from the interview
that both of them were confident about their marketing strategies and both the owners individually stated that
the advertisements had little or no impact on their business (Vide Fig 1) as they think that they have their own
steady customer bases and the ad films are aired regularly to sustain their names in the brain of consumers,
but the motto of advertisement is to increase the potential consumers. Both of them are rivals to each other
and dislike the quality and content of each other’s advertisements.

Response of the two publishing houses

1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No
Confidence Effect on turn Strategy Change Content over Technologies
over models over models

Naba Bharati Prakashani Calcutta Publishers

Fig 1: Response of Naba Bharati Prakashani and Calcutta Publishers

The target consumers of these two publishers are teachers and students. I have individually interviewed 50
teachers and students each. It has reflected that most teachers and the students prefer Calcutta Publishers on
Naba Bharati Prakashani. Most of them are not influenced by the ad films aired because target consumers rely
on the contents of the book (precise answers, charts, photographs etc.) instead of models (toppers or
celebrities) and technologies (Vide Fig 2). Though not highlighted in the advertisement, students and teachers
showed a proneness to Calcutta Publishers as according to them, this publishing house offers solved question
banks of better quality than Naba Bharati Prakashani.
 Response of teachers and studnets
100
80
60
40
20
0

content
CP

Yes

Models
O

Yes

Yes

No

No

technologies
NBP

Neutral

Neutral

Neutral
No

Reference book by Influenced by Influenced by Influenced by Expectation (%)

publishers (%) advertisement (%) toppers as models celebrities as models
(%) (%)

Students Teachers

Fig 2: Response of teachers and students (NBP: Naba Bharati Prakashani, CP: Calcutta Publishers)

The data analysis show that the selected advertisers are not focusing on independent variables to be shown in
the ad films like content, preciseness of the content and smart presentation of the content of the book. This
survey has shown that, the highlights of these variable in the ad films can directly influence the consumers
thus having direct effect on the dependant variables like increase in the revenue generation, inclusion of new
customers, recurrent orders from book stores etc. The trend is not following I-SKE model (Shimamura, A. P.
2012) as the intention (I) of the owner is neither influencing the sensation (S) nor emotion (E) of the
customer, and proper knowledge (K) is not disseminated through the advertisement. That is why, the
advertisements have little or no impact on the turnover of the companies.

Conclusion:

This is a pilot survey with AD films of two companies and 100 consumers and it is revealed that there is a
huge gap between the intension of the marketers, AD film makers and the expectation of the consumers from
the AD films which needs to be bridged. For this an intense market survey, with biometry tests such as fMRI ,
eye ball tracking etc. are necessary which can be extremely helpful for different companies before making a
new products advertisement to ensure customer satisfaction.

References

1. C.B.Mamoria and R.L.Joshi (1968), “Principles and Practices of Marketing in India”, Kitab Mahal,
Allahabad, P. 391.
2. Devoe, Merill, “Effective advertising copy”, McMillan Publication Co: 1956, pp. 88-89.
3. Jerome D. Scott (1943), “Advertising When Buying is Restricted”, Harvard Business Review, Vol.
XXI (4) (summer, 1943), pp.443-454.
4. Ogilvy, David. ‘Ogilvy on advertising’, London: Prion Books Limited; 1995: p. 14.
5. Reeves Roose (1961), “Reality in Advertising”, Alfred Knopf Inc., New York, (1961)
6. Shimamura, A. P. (2012). Approaching a science of aesthetics: Issues and ideas. In A. P. Shimamura
& S. E. Palmer (Eds.), Aesthetic science: Connecting minds, brains, and experience (pp. 3–28). New
York, NY: Oxford University Press.