Successful Campaigns by Big Advertising Agencies

When it comes to advertising, a small business is more likely to it in house due mainly to the fact that it is very expensive to get an advertising company to do it for you. Where as a small company does not the luxury of having a large advertising budget, they need to do it by the most effective means possible.

Three examples of successful campaigns produced by big advertising agencies are:

•  The Marks & Spencer’s “Magic & Sparkle” Christmas Adverts which were made by a firm called Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe. It was run up to and including Christmas Eve. These adverts put M&S back on the map for food and clothing, boosting their sales tremendously. The adverts include many famous celebrities including Twiggy and Shirley Bassey.
• Halifax pioneered an innovative approach to bank adverts in 2000, when it allowed its staff to star in adverts, singing popular songs with the words changed to reflect financial services products. Halifax worker, Howard Brown is the regular star of the adverts. Following the merger with the Bank of Scotland, this practice has continued, with the Bank of Scotland also allowing its staff to take part. These adverts were made by a company called Roberts & Robertson, and it became very successful for them.
•  Sainsbury’s is another company that has done well out of a recent campaign to promote them selves. Sainsbury’s did this with their “Try something new today” campaign. They showed how they are now offering all sorts of new products in store that many people would not have tried or liked, but are now widely available. Their campaign’s were organised by a company called Redbus, who did market research and found out what customers want from their food shops.

There are many types of media that companies use to get their message across. These are Television, Radio, Posters and Magazines / Newspapers.

Magazines:

•  More colour pagers to give the viewer a more detailed image
• Better Reproduction and quality of the printing
•  Longer copy deadlines as some are monthly etc.
•  Few regional editions, different areas will be interested in different things
•  Diversity of subject matter, there is almost a magazine for any subject matter so you can target the exact audience
• Reach specific groups of people either by age or what they are interested in.
• Sunday colour supplement, this free magazine is often jam packed with different adverts and promotions
• Weekly women’s magazines will mean if you have a specific product such as something to do with babies etc you can put it right in their face.
•  TV Guides often have a lot of space at the back filled with more information about Television programs so products / services can be linked in with this.
•  Carry adverts for a broad range of products / services
•  Low cost per thousand, it becomes a lot cheaper when you are making many thousand copies
• Business publications given free to company executives
•  Kept for a reasonable amount of time, as they do not perish and are harder wearing than a newspaper etc.
• The amount of magazines that people often browse at when sitting in waiting rooms.
• There is no sound or movement.
• You have to book and produce a month in advance.
• Many have many pages of adverts so that they could get missed.

Posters

• Must be clear and quick to the point..
•  Relatively cheap to produce and make.
• Can be seen again and again.
• Can be placed near the shop where the product / service is currently on offer.
• Posters cabn have large impact due to the size and colour and the boldness of the print.
• They are very popular with art directors to get their message across in a different and eye catching way.
• They have to be printed and distributed way before the product / service is available so they need to be created and planned months in advance.
• Can become damaged and damaged so they need to have a level of looking after.
• The message cannot be complex as many people will not stop to read an advert specifically just glimpse at it.
• Some people see poster adverts as anti-environment.

Radio

• It gives the listeners an opportunity to use their imagination.
• You can reach listeners whilst they are doing other things such as driving etc.
• They can be local, regional or national.
• Very popular and worth while during “drive time”
•  Radio adverts are quick to produce.
•  Intensive medium, it will make people think of it, even though they may have been thinking of something completely different.
• Listeners for certain radio stations may be low and not worth while.
• It is very difficult to advertise food and clothing product by radio as people want a visual representation.
• You can buy a package from many of the bigger radio stations for certain “spots” during the day.

Cinema

• The visual power of the adverts is very effective with the visual representation and the sound in a cinema.
• It is the strongest medium of all as you are going to watch it anyway because you are sitting down waiting for the film to start and as it is on such a large scale straight in front of you.
• Campaigns can be local or national as all of the adverts can be edited onto the beginning of films by the cinema itself.
• Book / soundtrack commercials are very effective too advertise for the film at the beginning as they are about to watch the film and may be interested.
• Audiences often will chat through the adverts.

TV

• Hundreds of thousands of people watch TV every day so there is an enormous market to show the product / service to.
• Vivid colour and sound though a television, giving the viewer a good visual representation of the product / service.
• BBC channels do not have advertisements in them so that will cut down the number of viewers.
•  There are many channels on Sky that are becoming very specific to certain interests etc, so you are able to advertise to the right audience.
•  Many people either turn over when the adverts come on, or more recently with the creation of Sky+ etc you can simply fast forward them and skip them completely.