The Advertising Department - A Client

FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVERTISING

By: Ruby F. Alminar-Mutya, DBA

The Advertising Department – A Client

This department is a dependent service organization, a functional division within

the client or advertiser’s company. The advertising department is part of the structure of
the client company, and should not be confused with an advertising agency. Several
functions which may be rendered by the department are as follows:
1. Management of the advertising and sales promotion activities of the company.
This function can just be limited to small scale projects for print media, outdoor or
planning for sales promotion programs.
2. Responsible for some public relations programs.
3. Supervision of marketing researchers, including market, product, consumer, and
advertising researches.
4. Shares responsibility with higher management on agency selection.
5. Approval of advertisement done by outside advertising agencies.
6. Determination of advertising budget.
The Advertising Agency

This is an independent service organization operating outside of the control of
the advertiser or client. The agency consists of the following internal divisions:
1. Account Management Department is headed by the account executive. This is

the department where the advertiser or client, or the representative of the client’s
advertising department, communicates their requirements to the agency, for an
advertising project. This department maintains regular contact with the client to
update them on the developments of the project. Initially, it is in this department
that the client negotiates, submits requirements including researches about the
product or service, test marketing results, feasibility studies; enters into an
agreement on budget, deadline and agency commission. This group assigns
accounts to teams, and responsible for effective and efficient supervision of the
accounts.
2. Research Department is responsible for gathering additional information under

cases where data given by the client may be insufficient, to start the project. The
research group may conduct survey on areas of market, consumer, products and
advertising, on a small scale basis. If data needed is still huge, or requires higher
population sampling, then the department may sub-contract the gathering of data
to another independent research company.
3. Copy Department prepares the text or words of the advertisement. This include
the storyboard for television commercial, or the script for radio, and the layout for
print. Words of the advertisement shall be prepared by this department taken
from the facts given by the research group and documents submitted by the
client to the account management department. Text may include the features,
advantages or benefits of the products or service to be advertised.
4. Art Department translates the words into pictures. The department is

responsible for preparing the visual presentation of the advertisement. Pictures
shall be created for the words constructed by the copy group. These pictures are
called the illustration of the advertisement.
5. Media Department prepares the detailed media schedule, the list of media
selected for the delivery of the advertising message. The department may
consists of two sections: the space buying section, for print media; and the time
buying section, for broadcast media. Headed by a media director, responsible for
media planning for print, broadcast, outdoor, transit and other mass
communication tools.
6. Production Department is responsible for handling the mechanical

requirements of the advertisement including preparing several copies of the
mastertape, blueprint for distribution to media, typefacing, color reproduction.
7. Traffic Department sees to it that the advertisements are shown or published

according to schedule. Thus, the department shall deliver the advertising
blueprint or mastertape to the media desired, and supervises the advertisements
as scheduled.
The Advertising Theme
The central buying incentive featured in an advertising message is the frame of

reference, serving as stimulus to an expected response from the audience. This
stimulus is called the advertising appeal. The total advertising concept may use a
positive or negative advertising appeal. A positive advertising appeal is to build around
the concept that the consumer can obtain something beneficial from the use of the
advertised produce or service. The total advertising theme is focused on a desirable or
favorable situation as a result of using the advertised item. This is focused on an
unpleasant, unfavorable situation for not using the product or service.
This ideas created using a defined advertising appeal must be directly related to
the product benefits desired by the consumers, thus sales point must be developed. To
communicate these sales points capitalizing on features, advantages and benefits, the
advertisement may target any of these attention-getting factors: involuntary and
voluntary. Involuntary attention getting factors hold that mental processes are directed
towards something else, and not focused on looking, listening or watching an
advertisement. Thus, requiring techniques to capture portion of the consumers’
attention to give few seconds or minutes to an advertisements may be considered. On
the other hand, a voluntary attention-getting factor can be beneficial to the advertiser
since the mental processes of the consumer is really intended towards checking,
looking or reading an advertisement. This can be advertisements on “buy and sell”
magazine issue. People buy a copy purposely to look for advertisements of items or
services they intend to purchase or patronize.
Definition of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Proponents of IMC have provided slightly different perspective on this

management practice, and not all educators or practitioners agree on the precise
meaning of IMC. This text uses the following definition, which focuses on the origin and
essence of IMC and provides a succinct view of the concept.
IMC is the coordination of the promotional mix elements (advertising, public

relations, sales promotion, personal selling, direct marketing, and digital
marketing/social media) with each other and with the other elements of the brands
marketing mix (product, place, price, promotion) such that all elements speak with one
voice.
Key IMC Features
Inherent in the definition of integrated marketing communications are several

critical features. All five features are critical to both understanding the philosophy of
IMC and appreciating what must be accomplished to implement this philosophy into
practice.
1. IMC should begin with the customer or prospect - the process must start with
the customer or prospect and then work backward to the brand communicator in
determining the most appropriate messages and media to employ for the brand.
The IMC approach starts with the customer (Oit-side-in) to determine which
communication methods that will best serve their needs and motivate them to
purchase the brand. It avoids an “inside-out” approach (from company to
customer) in identifying communication vehicles.
2. Use any form or relevant contact – as carpenters, plumbers, and auto

mechanics know, some tools are more appropriate for a given task at hand.
Similarly, a truly professional marketing communicator selects the best tools
(advertising, social media, publicity, etc.) for the job.
Now, as applied to marketing communications, IMC practitioners need to

be receptive to using all forms of touchpoints, or contacts, as potential message
delivery channels. Touchpoints and contacts are used here as interchangeable
terms to mean any message medium capable of reaching target customers and
presenting the brand in a favorable light. Thus, the phrase, 360-degree
branding, suggests that brand’s touchpoints should surround the target audience.
3. Speak with a single voice – since the early origins of IMC, it was clear that
marketing communications must speak with a single voice. Coordination of
messages and media is absolutely critical to achieving a strong and unified brand
image and moving consumers to action. Failure to closely coordinate all
communication elements can result in duplicated efforts or, worse, contradictory
brand messages.
In general, the single-voice principle involves selecting a specific
positioning statement for a brand. A positioning statement is the key idea that
encapsulates what a brand is intended to stand for in its target market’s mind and
then consistently delivers the same idea across all media channels.
4. Build relationships rather than engage in flings – successful marketing

communication requires building relationships between brands and their
consumers/customers. A relationship is an enduring link between customers and
brands lead to repeat purchasing and ideally, loyalty toward a brand.
One well-known method for building customer relations is the use of
loyalty programs dedicated to creating customers who are committed to a brand
and encouraging them to satisfy most of their product or service needs form
offering organizations.
Another way relationships between brands and customers are nurtured is
by creating brand experiences that make positive and lasting impressions. This
is done by creating special events or developing exciting venues that attempt to
build the sensation that a sponsoring brand is relevant to the consumer’s life
and lifestyle.
5. Don’t lose focus of the ultimate objective: affect behavior – A final IMC feature is
the goal of affecting the behavior of the target audience. This means that
marketing communications ultimately must do more than just influence brand
awareness or enhance consumer attitudes toward the brand. Instead, successful
IMC requires that communication efforts be directed at encouraging some form of
behavioral response. The objective, in other words is to move people to action.
For example, an advertising campaign that reminds people or a recent tragedy
(e.g., Hurricane Katrina; earthquakes in Nepal, Haiti, or Japan) may be
ineffective if it merely gets people to feel sorry for the plight of residents; rather,
effectiveness is demonstrated by people contributing money to relief funds for a
given tragedy.
A similar challenge confronts antismoking proponents. Although many
people understand intellectually that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and
other ailments, these same people may think that cancer and other problems will
happen to smokers other than themselves. Hence, antismoking ads may serve
to make people aware of the problems associated with smoking, but such
campaigns may be ineffective if people continue to smoke. The IMC goal in such
a case is to develop more compelling advertisements that influence smokers to
discontinue this practice. For instance, creative appeals to normative influences
(e.g., social disapproval) or through visuals evoking emotions have been found to
significantly reduce adolescent nonsmoking intentions versus controls. Similarly,
adolescent aspirations and autonomy are found to aid anti-drug ad and
school/community-based campaigns in reducing drug use.
Sources:
Fundamentals of Advertising by Ruby F. Alminar- Mutya, DBA

Pages 8 – 12
Advertising, Promotion, and other aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications,

10th Edition by J. Craig Andrews and Terence A. Shimp
Pages 12 - 16

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FUNDAMENTALS OF ADVERTISING

By: Ruby F. Alminar-Mutya, DBA

The Advertising Department – A Client

This department is a dependent service organization, a functional division within

The Advertising Agency

1. Account Management Department is headed by the account executive. This is

2. Research Department is responsible for gathering additional information under

4. Art Department translates the words into pictures. The department is

6. Production Department is responsible for handling the mechanical

7. Traffic Department sees to it that the advertisements are shown or published

The Advertising Theme

The central buying incentive featured in an advertising message is the frame of

Definition of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Proponents of IMC have provided slightly different perspective on this

IMC is the coordination of the promotional mix elements (advertising, public

Key IMC Features

Inherent in the definition of integrated marketing communications are several

2. Use any form or relevant contact – as carpenters, plumbers, and auto

Now, as applied to marketing communications, IMC practitioners need to

4. Build relationships rather than engage in flings – successful marketing

Fundamentals of Advertising by Ruby F. Alminar- Mutya, DBA

Advertising, Promotion, and other aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications,

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