Steps to a Typical Ad Campaign

The Advertising Campaign

A campaign consists of a large number of ads all stressing the same major theme or appeal that appear in a number of media over a specified time. In simple form, here are six typical phases:

1. choosing the marketing agency
2. selecting the main appeal or theme
3. translating the theme into the various media
4. producing the ads
5. buying space and time
6. executing and evaluating the campaign

During the initial phase, much research is done to determine the target audience, the marketing objective, the appropriate price for the product or service, and the ad budget.

Positioning the product or service also comes into play at this point: positioning means fitting a product into the quality and price range of its competition--in a sense, setting it apart from the competition.

Then a coordinated overall campaign theme needs to be developed.

The next step is to translate the concept into an actual media format, attempting concept variation between media without compromising the ad campaign’s central theme. For print media, artists create a rough layout to experiment with positioning ad elements; then a comprehensive layout (the final draft) is executed.

Radio ads are often created in ways similar to a dramatic program, with scripts, sound effects, music, and professional voice talent. Television ad production starts with a storyboard, a series of drawings depicting key scenes of the planned ad; because of the costs involved, storyboards are usually shown to the client before any actual production begins. Television ads are the most expensive ads to produce, a 30-second commercial can easily cost more than $400,000.

During the production stage, the marketing department is buying time in the media mix they deemed to be the most cost effective for their target audience. The final stage has the agency doing test research both during the ads and after the run is finished to see if the ads really had the desired effect on sales.

Advertising Research

Ad research goes on during all phases of the campaign and helps agencies and their clients make informed decisions about their strategies and tactics.

. Formative research done before campaign starts to help guide creative efforts

. audience defining identifies physical demographics of target audience

. audience profiling seeks to identify attitudes, motivation, beliefs, lifestyles

. Message research

. Stage 1 pre-testing campaign messages for clarity and understanding

. Stage 2 screening print and broadcast ad prototypes; consumers tested
to recall main points, changing attitudes toward product, and which prototype ads have best effects. Advertisers often try a split-run ad test, showing two similar audiences two different ads that carry the same message to see which ad works best.

. Tracking studies examine how ads perform during and after campaign; checks to
see if the ads changed consumer attitudes or buying behaviors