Creating Impact by Scheduling of the Ads

Scheduling can be used to create impact.

Roadblocks

Here the ad is put on air across all channels simultaneously. It cannot be missed. It takes care of the habit of channel switching on the part of the consumer. It is a costly strategy.

Day ( Day Part ) Emphasis

Market followers follow this strategy. They are not expected to have the budget of the lead brands. A  specific day is chosen, or a day part. The advertising activity is  focused on these chosen days/day parts.Higher weights and  visibility are ensured as compared to competitors.

Teasers

Teaser ads are on air before the main ad and these have to create just interest in the main ad. They do not mention the brand as such Teasers in print can be in the same issue or successive issue . There is, however, a possibility that the consumer fails to connect the teaser to the main ad.

Multiple Spotting

The ad is repeated in the same break period. It arrests the attention of the target audience. It may compromise on overall reach delivery.

 

Ad Responses

How many exposures are enough to generate response to ads? Krugman talks of  three  exposures corresponding to curiosity, recognition and decision. A single exposure is not enough. Two exposures are effective three are optional.

The response to advertising is sales or purchases. If ads are increased ( in other words frequency), the response shows an S-curve. The response increases at an increasing rate till the bend of the curve (inflection point) after which the increases are at a decreasing rate. The concept of Effective Frequency leads to flighting as a scheduling strategy.The later research work questioned the theory of three plus effective frequency. John Philips (1995) proposed the shelf-space model of recency. If a time period of a week is considered, a single ad is capable of generating a strong purchase effect. During the same week further exposures add very little to the effect. The response function follows a concave diminishing curve. The first exposure to the ad begins the effect. It increases at an increasing rate till a bump in the curve (inflection point) after which the increase is at a decreasing rate.

Advertising has a task cut out. Remind the consumer when he is ready for the purchase. Since consumers buy everyday, presence, rather than frequency, counts. The maximum effect of advertising is when it is close to purchase. The attempt should be to maximize weekly reach at one plus. Recency is tantamount to continuity as a scheduling pattern.It works with an S-shaped response function too. Most FMCG brans have adopted recency as a scheduling option. Its success depends on the market conditions. In mature markets it is relevant. In India, perhaps flighting works better. All this is debatable.

Ad stock

Advertising recall is a function of the current advertising and previous advertising’s carry-over effect. Ad stock is s a measure of both these recalls. A fresh exposure enhances ad effect in terms of sales, brand preference or awareness. This is the response function or advertising wearing. The same effect wears out later depending on the content effectiveness, weight of the media plan, media used etc. The wear off is till the next exposure. This wear off is technically advertising decay. Ad stock is a model of communication build up and decay. Each message has its peculiar wear in and decay/wearout. The GRPs of each successive message are adjusted for the carry over effect of the previous exposures. In scheduling, the base GRPs and GRP-adjusted-for-decay are considered. Such adstock-adjusted-GRPs decline below a threshold level. It is then time to resume futher advertising activity. Such scheduling is pretty common. Still some people oppose it on the ground of recency. Recency prcludes any off-air time.Its basic premise is to have presence for as much time as possible.

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