Advertising Planning

and
Decision Making
Plans are Nothing…..,Planning is Everything.

(Dwight D. Eisenhower)
You must learn Decision Making
 How to identify strategic choices.

 How to choose the best alternative

from among those available in a
given situation.

 How to implement strategic and

tactical decisions.
Major activity in Advertising
Management

1. Planning.

2. Decision Making.
 Essence of planning is to find out…what
are the feasible alternatives are and
reduce them to a set on which
decisions can be made.
 Decision Making involves choosing from
among the alternatives.
 A complete advertising plan reflects the
results of the planning and decision
making process and decisions that
have been made in a particular product
market situation.
 Consumer/Market
Analysis
Situation Analysis
Competitive
Analysis
Role of
Market Program AD,,SF,,Promotion
PR,Price
Communication
Obj/Seg/Pos
Persuasion Advertising Plan Msg
Process Str/Tactics
MS/Tactics

Facilitating
Implementation Agencies
S&L
Constraints

Framework for Advertising Planning & Decision Making

The three key internal factors are……….

1. Situation Analysis.

2. Market Program.

3. Advertising Plan.
Advertising Plan Components
Situation Analysis
Conduct a Situation Analysis to
specify goals and discover what
problems and opportunities exist in
the marketplace.
Conducting a Situation Analysis
enables the advertiser to select a
target segment and position based
on facts.
Annual “reality check.”
Advertising Plan Components
Situation Analysis
•Start by considering your goals.
•Marketing Objectives—how much
sales or market share should be
increased
•Advertising or Communication
Objectives—what should be said or
communicated in the ad (awareness
of new product or feature, etc.)
Topics and Questions Involved in Situation Analysis

A. Nature of Demand
1. How do buyers (consumer and industrial)
currently go about buying existing
products or services?
Describe the main types of behavior
patterns and attacks.
2. Can the market be meaningfully
segmented or broken into several
homogeneous group w.r.t “what they
want” and “how they buy”
B. Extent of demand

1. What is the size of the market now and

what will the future hold?

2. What are the current market shares, and

what are the selective demand trends?

3. Is it best to analyze the market on an

aggregate or on a segmented basis?
C. Nature of competition
1. What is the present and future structure of competition?
a. No. of competitors
b. Market Shares
c. Financial resources
d. Marketing/Production resources and skills
2. What are the current marketing programs of established
competitors? Why are they successful or unsuccessful?
3. Is there an opportunity for another competitor? Why?
4. What are the anticipated retaliatory moves of
competitors? Can they neutralize different marketing
programs we might develop?
D. Environmental Climate
1. What are the relevant PEST trends?

2. How do you evaluate these trends?

Do they represent opportunities or
problems?
E. Stage of PLC
1. In what stage of life cycle is the
product category?
a. What is the chronological age of
the product category? (Younger more
favorable than older?)
b. What is the state of consumers
knowledge of the product category?
2. What market characteristics support
your stage of life cycle evaluation?
F. Cost Structure of the Industry

What is the amount and composition

of the marginal or additional cost of
supplying increased output?
G. Skills of the firm
1. Do we have skills and experience to
perform the functions necessary to
be in the business?
2. How do our skills compare with those
of competitors?
A. Production fit
B. Marketing fit
C. And so on..
H. Financial resources of the firm
1. Do we have the funds to support an
effective marketing program?

2. Where are the funds coming from,

and when will they be available?
Situation Analysis answers to dozens of
questions, including questions of
history of product, distribution,
pricing, packaging, consumer analysis
and competition.