How many of you cringe when you are watching your favourite TV show and right at that crucial moment, in comes a commercial flashing across the screen, leaving you to fend with a battle of emotions of anxiety, frustration and impatience. Yes, TV advertisements or commercials can be an absolute pain for some, while for some others they are even considered a source of entertainment. In the business world, they are key elements for marketing and branding purposes. This week’s writer highlights about the effectiveness of advertisement and how it can act as an important tool for emerging Naga entrepreneurs.
“Let’s Take a Short Commercial Break”
– Imtitola, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce
“Let’s take a short commercial break!” These words are the bane of many TV viewers around the world. Many would just switch channels, some would continue watching without really concentrating; some would leave the room or do something when commercials appear. However, some actually watch it. This shows that every viewer has different preferences.
Advertising is a form of marketing communication used to persuade the audience to take or continue with some action. It is derived from the Latin word ‘ad vertere’ which means ‘to turn toward’. The objective is to change the thinking pattern (or buying behavior) of the recipient, so that he or she is persuaded to take the action desired by the advertiser. When aired on radio or television, an advertisement is called a commercial. On the other hand, any medium that can take a message from an organization to a potential consumer can also be identified as advertising. Some of the advertising media are newspapers and magazines (known as classified ads); radio, online advertising, in-store advertising, billboard advertising, global advertising etc. In addition to this, media planning and buying agencies are responsible for planning and buying the advertising media with an incredibly competitive price for the companies so that it can reach the intended or targeted audience. MediaCom and Mindshare are some of the agencies that handle lots of top companies in India.
Today, we are witnessing a drastic change in the business world in our state Nagaland. Entrepreneurship is becoming an emerging trend and the most debated topic. Keeping up with the ever growing business enterprises is an ongoing battle but adapting to the newest and latest innovative trends is a must. Whether one is a budding entrepreneur, or an executive, it is quite dicey for one to pursue any business venture without having a proper understanding of it. In such instances, advertisements can act as a great facilitator in helping one to make a germane choice. Someone rightly said that advertisement is like a substitute elder brother who helps in decision making. Very soon, a time will come when local entrepreneurs vie with each other like Chung Ju-Yung (Hyundai) and Soichiro Honda (Honda) or Azim Premji (Wipro) and N. R. Narayana Murthy (Infosys) and Shiv Nadar (HCL) or Ogilvy and Mather Ltd (O&M) and Mudra Communication Ltd., etc. In such situations advertisements will prove to be a powerful tool that will complement in the process of operating businesses in Nagaland. No matter how impressive our products or services may be; if no one knows that it exists, we cannot sell such products and services. Our people have come up with so many exciting original products but it is not very well known in other parts of the country. One of the reasons may be because of lack of proper advertising.
Marketing is like the backbone of every business and advertising plays a key role in its marketing plan. Sometimes advertisements are deceptive by giving out false claims while promoting products and often naive consumers get conned into buying products they don’t actually need, and at times end up buying inferior products. It also tends to exaggerate greatly by criticizing the competitor’s product and since an advertisement is repeated continuously, it creates a sense of desire in the minds of the consumer to want to buy the product they see. Interestingly, the amount of money spent on advertisement is added to the distribution cost of the product. Thus, in the end it is the consumer who is paying not just the cost of the product but also the amount spent on such advertisements. But despite the negative aspects of advertisements, it is the main ingredient in any marketing strategy for every business to succeed in the present business environment. It helps in educating the people regarding the availability and new uses of the various products. It also gives the people more options in exercising their freedom of choice. It also helps people improve their standard of living by availing new and modern products. Businessmen spend huge amounts of money in advertisements and thus contribute towards the economic growth of a country. So, there is no denying the fact that advertisements are a useful tool. The bottom line is commercials that appeal to people’s optimism make them far more likely to fall in love with the brand, regardless of the type of product being advertised.
Great article! Advertisement is indeed a useful tool for consumers. It just lack originality and uses psychological methods to attract customers. No wonder a case has been filed just recently against 'two minute' noodles brand, Maggi and three bollywood actors for advertising it as good for health while Barabanki Food Safety's Easy Day Store has detected Monosodium glutamate which is bad for health. In most case, advertisement promotes fault mindset in people and ignore the harm behind it. Without doubt, it is also the best instrument for commercial purposes.